KR0133679B1 - Treatment apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

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Description

Processing unit

1 is a configuration diagram of a processing apparatus for explaining an embodiment of the apparatus of the present invention.

2 is an explanatory diagram of a dummy wafer placed on the quartz boat of FIG.

* Explanation of symbols for main parts of the drawings

1, 1 ': wafer 2: wafer cassette

3: quartz bow 4: processing device

5: rack stand 6: rail

7: slide mechanism 8: pushing up portion

9: lifting mechanism 10: support plate

11: rack stand 12: rail

13 conveyance mechanism 14 dummy wafer

15: middle part

The present invention relates to a processing apparatus.

Conventionally, a heat treatment furnace is used to perform a semiconductor manufacturing process, for example, an oxidation process, a diffusion process, a chemical vapor deposition, or an annealing process.

In the heat-treatment furnace, a plurality of, for example, 150, semiconductor wafers loaded with semiconductor wafers are loaded with a means of importing, for example, by soft landing technology (see Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 58-62489). It carries in into a furnace, sets it in the predetermined position, and heat-processes it.

When this heat treatment is performed, the process gas is discharged from the gas discharge port formed at one end side in the longitudinal direction of the inside of the furnace, so that it is mounted on the gas discharge port above the Quartz Boat. The gas is brought into direct contact with the wafer, and the turbulent flow of the gas which is not directly in contact with the processing gas is generated on the wafer which is mounted on both ends of a position other than that, for example, a quartz boat. do.

Therefore, in the wafer mounted on both end sides and the wafer mounted on one end side, the processing speed, the film thickness, and the like are different, and uniformity is poor despite the collective processing.

Therefore, as a means of improving such a point, both end sides of the above-mentioned turbulence of the quartz boat are generated when the movement is switched by the transfer switching device to the quartz boat for heat treatment of the semiconductor wafer brought into the wafer carrier from the previous step. A plurality of dummy wafers, for example, are mounted on each of 15 sheets.

That is, 15 dummy wafers are formed at both ends where the turbulence occurs, and 150 semiconductor wafers, for example, an object to be processed, are placed on the intermediate portion of the rectified state.

In other words, in this quartz boat, 180 wafers can be loaded and loaded, and when 15 dummy wafers are loaded on both ends, 150 wafers can be loaded in the middle.

Conventionally, at the time of moving the dummy wafer and the wafer to be processed, the number of stacking wafers and the mounting positions of the dummy wafers are stored in the ROM (Read Only Memory) in the same way as the heat treatment software.

An operator rides on every number of dummy wafers stored in this way.

Then, the target wafer was automatically shifted and shifted within the range of the number of sheets that can be placed on the intermediate portion of the above-described dummy wafer which is a position where the dummy wafer stored as described above is placed laterally.

Moreover, in one heat processing apparatus, the heat processing furnace normally has four furnaces, and the quartz boat corresponding to each inside of these four furnaces was conveyed.

However, in the conventional technique described above, since the number of dummy wafers set on the quartz boat and the mounting positions thereof are determined in advance in the ROM, marking of the ROM when setting and changing the number of dummy wafers in the middle is performed. It was a very time-consuming work, such as correction at the time of process and replacement of ROM.

Moreover, the processing conditions of each furnace may differ in four furnaces formed in one heat treatment apparatus, and the number of dummy wafers may be changed also by this processing condition.

As the number setting means of each of the processing units, the software determines the number of sheets in advance and stores them in the ROM. However, when setting and changing the number of sheets, the operation time is very long, and the manufacturing operator cannot change the number.

In addition, the movement switching device must be stopped between the above-described correction during the ROM marking process and the replacement of the ROM, and the quartz boat loaded with the wafer is transferred from the movement switching device to the heat treatment device of the next step. This is not possible, and this causes a problem in that the droop (through-put) is reduced.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in response to the above-described points, and an object of the present invention is to provide a processing apparatus that enables improvement of work efficiency by facilitating change of the number of dummy wafers.

The present invention provides a processing apparatus for carrying a processing boat containing a wafer to be processed into a processing unit, comprising: operation means for setting the number of dummy wafers by an operator in advance according to processing conditions of the processing unit; Means for automatically obtaining the number of wafers to be mounted on the processing boat based on the number of dummy wafers set by the operating means and the wafer storage capacity of the processing boat, the number of dummy wafers set by these means, and And a means for automatically transferring the wafer to the processing boat based on the number of wafers to be processed.

In addition, the present invention provides a processing apparatus for carrying a processing boat containing a wafer to be processed into a processing unit, wherein the number of dummy wafers and the mounting position of the dummy wafer on the processing boat are determined according to the processing conditions of the processing unit. To automatically determine the number of wafers to be mounted on the processing boat based on the operation means for setting by the operator in advance and the number of mother wafers set by the operation means and the wafer storage capacity of the processing boat. And means for automatically transferring the wafer to the processing boat based on the number of dummy wafers set by these means, the mounting position of the dummy wafer, and the number of wafers to be processed.

The present invention is also characterized in that in the processing apparatus, a plurality of processing units are provided, and the number of dummy wafers is free to change setting for each processing unit.

By setting the number of dummy wafers in advance and automatically changing the number of wafers to be processed according to the boats having different processing contents, it is possible to easily change the manner of the dummy wafers. It is possible to respond to ideal automation.

In addition, by changing the number of dummy wafers freely in accordance with the processing unit, the work efficiency can be improved, and the above-mentioned setting changes can be made within a short time. As a result, the operation time of the device is increased, and the droop is improved. I can do it.

EXAMPLE

Next, an embodiment in which the apparatus of the present invention is applied to a heat treatment apparatus will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

The heat treatment apparatus includes a mechanism for automatically shifting and switching a wafer into a heat treatment boat, a mechanism for moving a wafer into a loaded heat treatment furnace, a mechanism for carrying out a heat treatment furnace, a treated boat, and a processed wafer. It is composed of a mechanism for shifting the cassette to move.

First, the movement switching mechanism will be described.

FIG. 1 shows a mechanism for shifting the semiconductor wafer 1 from the wafer cassette 2 for conveying between normal processes to the boat 3 for heat treatment, for example, quartz.

The mechanism for switching wafer movement is shown in FIG.

Wafer transfer switching devices are well known in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Nos. 54-34774, 62-69633, and 61-27640.

That is, in the cassette 2, a plurality of semiconductor wafers 1, for example, can be accommodated.

Such a storage structure has a structure in which the storage structure can be stored in a vertically arranged shape with a predetermined interval in the plate thickness direction of the wafer 1. The cassette 2 is provided with a base 5 on which a plurality of cassettes can be placed.

This mounting base 5 is fixed to the slide mechanism 7 which slides along the rail 6. As shown in FIG.

In the portion on which the wafer cassette 2 of the mounting table 5 is placed, a through hole is formed in the portion 8 for pushing up the wafer for pushing up 25 wafers.

The lifting section 8 is freely moved up and down at a position higher and lower than the mounting table 5 by the elevating mechanism 9.

The upper surface of this pushing part 8 is provided with the some groove | channel in the position which engages with the several sheets of wafer 1 accommodated in the said wafer cassette 2.

Each of these grooves is set to a stable depth such that the wafer 1 does not fall in the horizontal direction while being pushed up from the bottom.

Further, the push-up section 8 has a structure in which a wafer counter capable of detecting the position and the number of the wafers 1 stored in the wafer cassette 2 by forming a sensor in each groove is provided. In this case, the presence or absence of the wafer 1 can also be monitored at the same time.

In the pushing section 8, the plurality of wafers 1 housed in the wafer cassette 2 are pushed upward from the wafer cassette 2 and set at a predetermined position (1 '). At this time, two support plates 10 for supporting these 25 wafer arrays are arranged so as to be controlled by a robot mechanism (not shown).

The support plate 10 is provided with an array of grooves at intervals corresponding to the arrangement of 25 wafers.

The pair of support plates 10 described above are configured to be moved above the heat treatment quartz boat 3 so as to be movable.

This quartz boat 3 is formed on the mounting base 11 formed on the conveyance mechanism 13 formed on the rail 12. As shown in FIG.

Moreover, four furnaces are formed in the heat processing part which is a processing apparatus.

Each of these furnaces is, for example, silicon epitaxial, a diffusion furnace, an oxidation furnace, a heating furnace, or the like.

If the processing conditions vary depending on which of the boats is loaded into any of the furnaces, the number or loading positions of the dummy wafer 14 vary.

Therefore, it is possible to input processing programs in units of furnaces from an operation panel or the like not shown.

Further, a means for judging the number of sheets of the transfer-converted to-be-processed wafer 1 mounted on the quartz boat 3 can be loaded from the number of dummy wafers 14 input in units of the respective furnaces. .

In this way, the wafer transfer switching device 4 is configured.

Next, the boat transfer mechanism and the heat treatment furnace will be described.

After the transfer of the dummy wafer and the wafer to be processed to the heat treatment boat as described above, the heat treatment boat is carried into the heat treatment furnace.

In this way, the wafer transfer switching device 4 is configured.

Next, the boat transfer mechanism and the heat treatment furnace will be described.

After the transfer of the dummy wafer and the wafer to be processed to the heat treatment boat as described above, the heat treatment boat is carried into the heat treatment furnace.

An example of such a carrying-in state is disclosed by Unexamined-Japanese-Patent No. 61-224430.

That is, the above-mentioned heat treatment boat is placed on a fork made of quartz and brought into the inside of the heat treatment furnace by a soft landing technique.

This heat treatment furnace is a horizontal furnace, and this horizontal furnace is comprised standing vertically, for example by four steps.

Each furnace can execute its processing independently.

Next, the movement switching operation of the semiconductor wafer will be described.

First, for example, on both ends of the quartz boat 3, depending on the processing conditions for performing heat treatment of the semiconductor wafer 1 to be processed in the four furnace processing units, for example, film formation, diffusion, and heating. The number of the dummy wafers 14 to be mounted on the side, that is, one end side and the other end side is set, and the operation panel or the like not shown in the processing apparatus 4 is input in advance by the operator or the like.

The number of sheets of the dummy wafers 14 of each furnace can be set in units of quartz boats 3 having different processing contents, that is, in units of four furnaces.

For example, it is possible to specify the number of sheets of dummy wafers 14 and setting positions corresponding to the respective processing furnaces.

As a means for changing the setting of the number of the dummy wafers 14 at this time, a storage mechanism such as EPROM (Erasable and Programmable Read Only Memory) or a backup power supply is applied by inputting the setting change switch of the operation panel. It may be stored in a random access memory (RAM) or the like and read as needed, or a desired number of dummy wafers 14 may be determined by a switch whose setting can be freely changed, and the method may be read as needed.

Next, the above-described movement switching device 4 is operated to move the transport mechanism 13 along the rail 912 to the mounting position.

In this mounting position, the above-mentioned quartz boat 3 is mounted on the mounting base 11 formed in the transfer mechanism 13.

The position is determined on the base 11 on which the quartz boat 3 is placed.

Moreover, the cassette which accommodated the to-be-processed wafer and the cassette which accommodated the dummy wafer are positioned and mounted on the mounting table 5.

According to the number of preset dummy wafers 14, as shown in FIG. 2, 15 dummy wafers at both ends of the quartz boat 3, for example, at one end side and 15 at the other end side are automatically It can be loaded or loaded manually by the operator.

At this time, the intermediate wafer 15 of the dummy wafer 14 on the one end side and the dummy wafer 14 on the other end side are, for example, for mounting the semiconductor wafer 1 to be processed later. The dummy wafers 14 are first mounted on positions that are open for the number of wafers 1 to be loaded.

During the operation of mounting the dummy wafer 14, the other slide mechanism 7 is set at the position where the wafer cassette 2 is mounted.

The operation of placing and mounting the plurality of wafer cassettes 2 containing the wafers to be processed on the mounting table 5 on which the position is determined is simultaneously performed.

After loading and loading the wafer cassette 2, the transfer mechanism 7 is moved to a position where the transfer mechanism 7 is exchanged.

Thereafter, the pushing up portion 8 is raised by the driving of the lifting mechanism 9.

That is, the 25 wafers 1 housed in the wafer cassette 2 described above are inserted into a plurality of grooves engaged with the respective wafers 1 formed on the upper surface of the pushing-up section 8, As a result of the lifting of the pushing section 8, the pushing section 8 is pushed upward to the position of the wafer cassette 2, that is, 1 '.

The wafer 1 pushed up in this way detects the position and the number of wafers 1 by a sensor formed in each groove of the pushing up section 8, for example, a contribution type sensor (not shown). From this position and the number of sheets, the position at which the plurality of wafers 1 described above are supported by the two support plates 10 connected to the movement switching mechanism is determined, and the desired position of the support plate 10 is determined. Support in between.

In this case, it is possible to provide the wafer counter function to the pushing section 8, and to detect the position and the number of sheets while pushing up the plurality of wafers 1.

It does not have a wafer counter function in the pushing-up part 8 with respect to the above-mentioned wafer counter, but only as a pushing-up function, in the state parallel to the mounting direction of the wafer cassette 2 of the mounting base 5 above. The wafer counter is provided side by side in the pushing section 8 to form a wafer counter. First, the position and the number of wafers 1 stored in the leading wafer cassette 2 are detected by the wafer counter. While the wafer counter is pushed up by the raising section 8 and supported at the desired position between the supporting plates 10, the wafer counter is configured to detect the wafers stored in the next wafer cassette. Even if configured, the same effect can be obtained.

Next, the to-be-processed wafer supported between two support plates 10 is moved upward between the arrays of the dummy wafers 14 of the quartz bow 3.

Then, the support plate 10 supported by the plurality of wafers 1 'is lowered and once in the intermediate portion 15 except for the mounting position of the dummy wafer 14 on the quartz boat 3. The 25 wafers 1 'are shifted six times and 150 sheets are loaded.

The operation of placing the wafer 1 on the number of dummy wafers 14 input as the processing units is the number of the wafers 1 to be loaded which can be placed on the quartz boat 3 to be switched. As a means for judging, the number of stackable wafers 1 is calculated and placed on a position other than the stacking position of the dummy wafer 14 described above.

At this time, according to the number of wafers 1 to be loaded, the above operation of the above described moving low-mechanism mechanism is repeated, and the desired number of wafers is loaded.

And the quartz boat 3 which mounted this wafer 1 'dummy wafer 14, and conveys it is conveyed to the position to which it transfers by the movement of the conveyance mechanism 13. As shown in FIG.

The quartz boat 3 is placed on the fork fork of the boat loading and conveyed to the inside of the reaction furnace by a soft landing technique, for example, to perform heat treatment.

At the time of this heat processing, a process gas is supplied from the one end side of the wafer 1 array direction in the high temperature hermetic state.

At this time, since the processing gas flows from one end side of the reaction furnace to the other end side, under the influence of the flow of the processing gas, the dummy wafer disposed at the end portion of the quartz boat 3 and the intermediate portion are disposed. In the wafer to be processed, there is a variation in the supply amount of the processing gas.

That is, as described above, dummy aperes 14 are mounted on both end sides of the quartz boat 3, not just for the purpose of manufacturing a plurality of sheets of semiconductor elements.

Gas scattered at each end of the dummy wafer 14 flows.

Therefore, the number of dummy wafers varies appropriately depending on the processing contents or the like, depending on conditions such as the temperature of the gas flowing side.

As described above, the number of dummy aperes 14 is set by, for example, an operation panel and the like, and the dummy wafer 14 is mounted on the number of sheets.

Since the processing contents of each reaction furnace are often different, the number of sheets of the dummy wafer 14 described above is freely set for the quartz boat 3 corresponding to each processing unit.

Such transfer switching and heat treatment are continuously performed, but when setting and changing the number of dummy wafers 14 to be mounted on the quartz boat 3 set in advance, the processing contents are not shown in the engraving panel of the processing apparatus 94. The unit is changed to another quartz boat 3 unit, that is, a processing unit unit of four locations.

At this time, since the setting mechanism for changing the number of dummy wafers 14 is freely used or a switch for freely changing the setting, the setting change is performed quickly, and thus the operation time of the apparatus can be lengthened.

That is, after the heat treatment is completed in the first furnace, the boat is unloaded, the transfer of the wafer suitable for the second furnace is performed, and then loaded in the second reactor.

In the above-described embodiment, the embodiment in which the number of dummy wafers mounted on the quartz boat is set and memorized by means of freely changing the setting is explained. The same can be done in setting and memorizing the number of sheets.

In the above embodiment, an example of a horizontal furnace has been described, but it is also good for a vertical furnace, and may be applied not only to the heat treatment furnace but to other treatments such as a rinser dryer.

As described above, according to this embodiment, the number of dummy wafers is changed by forming a means for automatically changing the number of wafers to be processed for shift switching as the number of dummy wafers whose processing contents are set or changed according to different boats. Since it can be performed easily, it is possible to cope with ideal automation of the semiconductor manufacturing process.

In addition, since the number of bream wafers can be changed freely by the processing unit, the above-mentioned setting can be changed within a short time by improving the work efficiency, and as a result, the operating time of the device can be lengthened and the droop can be improved. have.

Claims (4)

A processing apparatus for carrying a processing boat containing a target wafer into a processing unit, the processing apparatus comprising: operation means for setting the number of dummy wafers by an operator in advance according to processing conditions of the processing unit; Means for automatically obtaining the number of wafers to be mounted on the processing boat based on the set number of dummy wafers and the wafer storage capacity of the processing boat; the number of dummy wafers set by these means and the number of wafers to be processed. And a means for automatically shifting the movement of the wafer to the processing boat based on the number of sheets. A processing apparatus for carrying a processing boat containing a wafer to be processed into a processing unit, wherein the number of dummy wafers and the mounting position of the dummy wafer on the processing boat are set in advance by an operator according to the processing conditions of the processing unit. Means for automatically calculating the number of wafers to be mounted on the processing boat based on the number of dummy wafers set by the operating means and the wafer storage capacity of the processing boat; And a means for automatically shifting the movement of the wafer to the processing boat based on the number of dummy wafers set, the mounting position of the dummy wafer, and the number of wafers to be processed. The processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein a plurality of processing units are provided, and the number of dummy wafers is free to change the setting as soon as the processing unit. The processing apparatus according to claim 2, wherein a plurality of processing units are provided, and the number of dummy wafers can be freely changed from setting to processing unit.

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