KR100514392B1 - Semiconductor fabrication device for improving wafer processing throughout and the method using the same - Google Patents

Abstract

Disclosed are a semiconductor manufacturing apparatus for improving processing productivity of a semiconductor substrate and a semiconductor manufacturing method using the same. The laser generation unit oscillates a laser beam having a predetermined laser energy. The optical unit splits a laser beam and irradiates each of the plurality of semiconductor substrates. The vacuum chamber creates a vacuum atmosphere or a gas atmosphere for processing the semiconductor substrates loaded therein. The stage is disposed inside the vacuum chamber and is equipped with a plurality of chucks onto which semiconductor substrates are loaded. The chucks are driven by a motor connected to the stage. The pumping system has a pumping line for discharging the gas existing inside the vacuum chamber to the outside. According to the present invention, since the semiconductor substrates on one or more chucks can be processed simultaneously by one motor driving in the semiconductor manufacturing process, the productivity of the semiconductor substrate processing is increased and the production cost is lowered.

Description

Semiconductor fabrication device for improving wafer processing throughout and the method using the same}

The present invention relates to a semiconductor manufacturing apparatus and method, and more particularly, to a semiconductor manufacturing apparatus for improving the processing productivity of a semiconductor substrate and a semiconductor manufacturing method using the same.

In a semiconductor manufacturing process, a chamber configuration generally used in a process of processing a wafer using a laser may include a method of configuring one chuck and a stage in one chamber, and a chuck and stage in a separate chamber. In the former case, only one wafer can be processed at a time, resulting in low productivity. In the latter case, a stage, a driving motor, and a pumping system must be installed in each chamber.

Thus, if there are a plurality of chucks in the chamber and these chucks are driven by one motor and controlled by one pumping system, the productivity of semiconductor substrate processing can be increased and the process cost can be lowered.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in an effort to provide a semiconductor manufacturing apparatus and method capable of reducing process costs by increasing processing productivity of a semiconductor substrate.

In order to achieve the above technical problem, a semiconductor manufacturing apparatus according to the present invention includes: a laser generator for oscillating a laser beam having a predetermined laser energy; An optical unit which splits the laser beam and irradiates each of a plurality of semiconductor substrates; A vacuum chamber for creating a vacuum atmosphere or a gas atmosphere for processing the semiconductor substrates loaded therein; A stage disposed in the vacuum chamber, in which a plurality of chucks on which the semiconductor substrates are loaded are mounted; A motor connected to the stage to drive the chucks; And a pumping system including a pumping line for discharging the internal atmosphere of the vacuum chamber.

In accordance with another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method of manufacturing a semiconductor, comprising: loading a plurality of semiconductor substrates onto a plurality of chucks mounted on a stage of a vacuum chamber; Maintaining the vacuum chamber in a vacuum atmosphere or a uniform gas atmosphere; Dividing a laser beam having a predetermined laser energy oscillated by a laser generator into a plurality of laser beams corresponding to the plurality of chucks; Irradiating the divided laser beams onto the plurality of semiconductor substrates, respectively; Scanning while the chucks mounted on the stage are driven by one motor; And unloading the semiconductor substrate.

Preferably, the storage unit for storing the recipe for processing the semiconductor substrate; And a controller configured to output a control signal based on the recipe corresponding to the semiconductor substrate flowing into the vacuum chamber, or supply the semiconductor substrate to the vacuum chamber, and supply the processed semiconductor substrate to the vacuum chamber. A transfer module discharged from the; And a gas box for supplying a reactive gas and a purge gas in order to make the gas atmosphere of the vacuum chamber uniform.

Preferably, the chucks are driven by a plurality of screws that receive a driving force from the motor and rotate in opposite directions from one half of the linear motion guide half of the stage.

Preferably, the chucks are driven by the linear motion guide of the stage which is mounted on the outside of the chamber and flows in one direction by a screw that receives the driving force from the motor and transmits the driving force to the linear motion guide. In addition, the laser beam is divided to have the same energy or to have different energy.

According to the present invention, in a semiconductor manufacturing process for the purpose of particle removal, photoresist, polymer removal or surface fine roughness improvement, semiconductor substrates on two chucks can be processed simultaneously by one motor drive. The productivity of processing increases and the production cost is lowered.

Hereinafter, with reference to the accompanying drawings will be described in detail a preferred embodiment of the present invention. Like reference numerals in the drawings denote like elements.

1 is a view showing an embodiment of a semiconductor manufacturing apparatus according to the present invention. Referring to FIG. 1, the semiconductor manufacturing apparatus 100 includes a laser generator 102, an optical system 104, a transfer module 106, a gas box 108, a controller 110, a vacuum chamber 120, and pumping. System 140 is provided. The semiconductor manufacturing apparatus 100 is a device for performing particle removal, photoresist, polymer removal, or surface fine roughness improvement of a semiconductor substrate.

The laser generator 102 supplies a laser source and oscillates a laser beam. The laser beam is irradiated to specific regions of the semiconductor substrates 130 and 132. The oscillation period of the laser beam is several Hz to several thousand microseconds and the laser pulse duration is several fs to several microseconds. The laser generator 102 supplies laser energy capable of decomposing the material on the semiconductor substrate. An energy detector is installed in the laser generator 102 to adjust the emitted laser energy. The laser oscillation, laser pulse repetition rate and laser energy are controlled by the controller 110 which will be described later.

The optical system 104 delivers the laser beam generated by the laser generator 102 to the semiconductor substrates 130, 132 located above the chucks 126, 128. The optical system 104 includes an attenuator 10, a homogenizer (not shown), a beam splitter 20, a field lens and a doublet lens (not shown), a mirror 30, an energy detector (not shown). And a beam profiler (not shown), optionally with various lenses (not shown). The attenuator 10 adjusts the amount of energy of the laser emitted from the laser generator 102. The homogenizer makes the energy distribution of the laser beam uniform. The homogenizer is installed at the front end of the beam splitter 20 but may optionally be installed at the rear end of the beam splitter 20. The beam splitter 20 splits the laser beam so that the laser beam can be irradiated onto the two chucks 126, 128. Field and doublet lenses provide a uniform beam profile over the semiconductor substrate to be processed. The mirror 30 changes the path of the laser beam. The energy detector measures the energy irradiated onto the semiconductor substrate to be processed to calculate the laser energy density. The beam profiler measures the uniformity of the laser beam.

The optical system 104 splits the laser beam generated by the laser generator 102 into two beams. Each split beam is irradiated with the same laser energy to equally process the semiconductor substrates located above the chucks 126, 128. Alternatively, each split beam may have a different laser energy to process the semiconductor substrates differently. On the other hand, when a laser beam having a high energy is required for the removal of foreign matter on the semiconductor substrate to be processed, a laser generator may be provided corresponding to each chuck. In this case, the optical system for splitting the laser beam does not need to be provided.

The laser beam generated by the laser generator 102 has a Gaussian profile, and the beam having the Gaussian profile has a problem in that the processing of the semiconductor substrate has a non-uniform effect for each region of the semiconductor substrate. To overcome this, homogenizers have a uniform energy distribution both temporally and spatially over specific regions of the semiconductor substrate.

The transfer module 106 transfers the semiconductor substrates 130 and 132 to corresponding chucks 126 and 128, respectively. That is, the transfer module 106 supplies the semiconductor substrates 130 and 132 into the vacuum chamber 120 through the built-in cassette (not shown) and draws the processed semiconductor substrate out of the vacuum chamber 120. The transfer module 106 also includes an aligner for aligning the cassette stage with the wafer on which the cassette is placed, a cooling stage for cooling the heated semiconductor substrate during the process, a robot capable of transferring the semiconductor substrate, and dust in the air. A FFU (Fan Filter Unit) capable of suppressing particle adhesion is provided.

The gas box 108 supplies a reactive gas and a purge gas to help increase the processing efficiency of the semiconductor wafer using a laser. The gas box 108 may include a mass flow controller (MFC) for adjusting a flow rate of gas flowing into the vacuum chamber 120, an air valve for starting or blocking gas inflow into the vacuum chamber 120, and a solenoid for driving the air valve. Valves, three-way valves for purging harmful gases, check valves to prevent backflow, filters to prevent particle ingress, manual valves to control gas opening and closing manually, regulators to regulate gas pressure, and various gas piping Include.

The controller 110 controls each component of the semiconductor manufacturing apparatus 100. In particular, the controller 110 controls the laser generator 102, the optical system 104, the vacuum chamber 120, the gas box 108, the stage 121, and the transfer module 106. In the registers included in the controller 110, recipes for processing various types of semiconductor substrates are stored in a database.

The vacuum chamber 120 is maintained in vacuum or filled with gas to efficiently process the semiconductor substrates 130 and 132. Two chucks 126, 128 are disposed on the respective stages 123, 125 via the supports 122, 124. Semiconductor substrates 130 and 132 are positioned on the chucks 126 and 128. The detailed configuration of the vacuum chamber 120 is shown in FIG. Referring to FIG. 2, the vacuum chamber 120 includes a slit door 210, a quartz window (not shown), heating chucks 126 and 128, wafer rotation stages 123 and 125, a quartz focus ring (not shown), Pin up-down system (not shown), baratrone gauge (not shown), and nozzle (not shown).

The slit door 210 is responsible for opening and closing the passage through which the processing target semiconductor substrate enters or exits. The quartz window is made of quartz, a material having a high transmittance, and allows laser to be irradiated onto the semiconductor substrate to be treated. Heating chucks 126 and 128 heat the semiconductor substrate to be processed. The wafer rotation stages 123 and 125 rotate the wafer to enable multi scanning. The quartz focus ring allows the semiconductor substrate to be held accurately and prevents the laser from being irradiated to the heating chuck portion other than the substrate. The pin up-down system lifts the wafer to make it easier for the robot to hold the semiconductor substrate placed on the heating chuck. The baratron gauge measures the degree of vacuum in the vacuum chamber 120. The nozzle starts or shuts off the inlet of the reactive gas and the purge gas. The outlet is connected to the pumping system 140 to form a vacuum in the vacuum chamber 120 or to discharge the generated foreign matter. The nozzle for introducing gas into the chamber is preferably installed near the semiconductor substrate to be treated in order to maintain a uniform distribution of the purge gas or the reactive gas over the region to which the laser is irradiated. In addition, when an inert gas, which is a purge gas, is introduced into the semiconductor substrate to be treated, the adhesion of the quartz window to foreign substances generated can be prevented and a physical effect can be obtained to remove the foreign substances.

The stages 123 and 125 are mounted inside the vacuum chamber 120 and are modules for irradiating a laser beam over the entire surface of the semiconductor substrate to be processed. The size of the laser beam irradiated onto the semiconductor substrates 130 and 132 is smaller than the diameter of the substrate in the width direction, or in both the width and length directions. Therefore, the stage 121 located in the vacuum chamber 120 is flowed so that the laser beam is irradiated to the entire semiconductor substrate located above the stages 123 and 125. The stages 123 and 125 may be configured with an X or Y axis, or in some cases, a Z axis may be added, and in addition, the stages 123 and 125 may be configured in consideration of X-Y two axes.

One motor 230 is used to drive the two chucks 126, 128 by the stages 123, 125. The two chucks 126, 128 are installed on the stages 123, 125 at regular intervals. Two chucks 126 and 128 are driven by driving the stages 123 and 125 by a ball screw having a spiral direction opposite to the half of the linear motion guide 250 of the stage 121. In order to prevent particle sources by the stages 123 and 125, the motor 230 driving the stages 123 and 125 is provided outside, and the linear motion guide 250 exposed therein is a bellows 224. , 226). Ball nuts 232, 234, 236, and 238 are mounted at lower ends of both sides of each stage 123 and 125. As the linear motion guide 250 rotates by the ball nuts 232, 234, 236, and 238 coupled to the linear motion guide 250, the stages 123 and 125 are linearly reciprocated in the vacuum chamber 120. work out. Bearings 220 and 222 fixing the linear motion guide 250 are attached to an inner wall of the vacuum chamber 120 into which the linear motion guide 250 is inserted. On the other hand, limiters 240 and 242 are formed on the inner wall of the vacuum chamber 120 in parallel with the linear motion guide 250 to limit the movement of the respective stages 123 and 125. In addition, a limiter 244 is formed at the center of the linear motion guide 250 to limit the motion of the stages 123 and 125.

Unlike this, two chucks 126 and 128 are mounted on one stage 121, and the driving force is received by a driving force from one motor 230 mounted on the outside of the vacuum chamber 120. It may be configured to be driven by a linear motion guide flowing in one direction by a ball screw for transmitting the. The structure of the vacuum chamber employing this chuck drive method is shown in FIG. 3. Referring to FIG. 3, the linear motion guide 250 is threaded in a predetermined direction. Ball nuts 232 and 234 are mounted at lower ends of both sides of the stage 121. As the linear motion guide 250 rotates by the ball nuts 232 and 234 coupled to the linear motion guide 250, the stage 121 performs a linear reciprocating motion inside the vacuum chamber 120. Bearings 220 and 222 fixing the linear motion guide 250 are attached to an inner wall of the vacuum chamber 120 into which the linear motion guide 250 is inserted. Meanwhile, two chucks 126 and 128 are installed on the stage 121. On the other hand, the motor 230 for driving the stage 121 is shown outside, the linear motion guide 250 exposed therein is wrapped in the bellows (224, 226).

The pumping system 140 has a pumping line 142 that provides a passage for evacuating the atmosphere inside the chamber 120. The pumping system 140 is composed of a discharge valve of the vacuum chamber 120 and a check valve for preventing pressure, a butterfly valve (throttle valve) for adjusting the pumped amount, and a gate valve. The gate valve is composed of a soft valve for slow pumping and a rough valve for fast pumping. The pumping line 142 is connected to a vacuum pump or the like to induce the formation of a vacuum system in the vacuum chamber 120.

In the present invention, since a plurality of chucks are mounted in one vacuum chamber 120, a vacuum atmosphere may be formed by one pumping system 140. In addition, the pumping system 140 performs a function of rapidly discharging foreign matters generated by irradiating a laser onto the semiconductor substrate to be processed and preventing the foreign matters from adhering to the quartz window. Although foreign matters generated by laser irradiation on the semiconductor substrate to be treated are preferably converted into volatile gases, a large amount of foreign matters having a particle shape substantially occurs. This particle-like foreign matter is moved almost vertically in the vacuum and atmospheric conditions. Because of this, the generated particles are more likely to adhere to the quartz window, which must maintain a high transmittance. This causes a problem of energy decay when the laser beam is irradiated through the quartz window. In order to solve this problem, in the present invention, the pumping system 140 is separated into several ports so that two ports are positioned near the chuck on which the semiconductor substrate to be processed is placed, so that the foreign matters are quickly discharged before the adhesion to the quartz window and the remaining ports. Should be installed in a proper position to remove any foreign substances remaining.

The semiconductor manufacturing apparatus 100 is operated in the following manner.

Two semiconductor substrates 130, 132 are loaded onto the chucks 126, 128 mounted to the stage 121 of the vacuum chamber 120. The laser generator 102 generates a laser beam having a predetermined laser energy, such as a laser oscillation period of several Hz to several thousand Hz and a laser pulse length of several fs to several Hz.

The laser beam is split into two laser beams by the optical system 104 and irradiated to the semiconductor substrates 130 and 132, respectively. The split laser beam has the same energy for the same processing of the semiconductor substrates 130, 132 located above the chucks 126, 128. Alternatively, the laser beam split as needed may have different energy to process the semiconductor substrates 130 and 132 differently.

While maintaining the vacuum chamber 120 in a vacuum state or a uniform gas state, the chucks 126 and 128 of the stage 121 are driven by one motor while two laser beams are formed on the respective semiconductor substrates 130 and 132. Is investigated. As a result, particle removal, photoresist, polymer removal and surface fine roughness improvement are performed on the semiconductor substrates 130 and 132 located above the respective chucks 126 and 128. The semiconductor substrates 130 and 132 which have been processed are unloaded.

The semiconductor manufacturing apparatus and the semiconductor manufacturing method using the same according to the present invention can be applied to processes such as particle removal, PR and polymer removal, planarization and the like on a semiconductor substrate using a laser.

Although the present invention has been described with reference to one embodiment shown in the drawings, this is merely exemplary, and those skilled in the art will understand that various modifications and equivalent other embodiments are possible therefrom. In the present embodiment, an example in which two chucks are mounted in one stage is described. Alternatively, two or more chucks may be mounted in one stage. Therefore, the true technical protection scope of the present invention will be defined by the technical spirit of the appended claims.

According to the semiconductor manufacturing apparatus and the semiconductor manufacturing method using the same according to the present invention, since the semiconductor substrates on the two chucks can be processed simultaneously by one motor driving, the productivity of the semiconductor substrate processing is increased and the production cost is reduced. In addition, by disposing a discharge port connected to one pumping system in each chuck mounted in the vacuum chamber, it is possible to prevent contamination from generating contamination on the quartz window.

1 is a view showing an embodiment of a semiconductor manufacturing apparatus according to the present invention;

2 is a view specifically showing the vacuum chamber shown in FIG. 1, and

3 shows another embodiment of a vacuum chamber.

Claims (13)

A laser generator for oscillating a laser beam having a predetermined laser energy; An optical unit which splits the laser beam and irradiates each of a plurality of semiconductor substrates; A vacuum chamber for creating a vacuum atmosphere or a gas atmosphere for processing the semiconductor substrates loaded therein; A stage disposed in the vacuum chamber, and equipped with a plurality of chucks loaded with the semiconductor substrates; A motor connected to the stage to drive the chucks; And And a pumping system having a pumping line for discharging the internal atmosphere of the vacuum chamber. The method of claim 1. And the chucks are driven by a plurality of screws rotating in opposite directions by the motor starting from the linear motion guide half of the stage. The method of claim 1, The chuck is mounted on the outside of the chamber is a semiconductor manufacturing, characterized in that driven by the linear motion guide of the stage flows in one direction by a screw that receives the driving force from the motor to transmit the driving force to the linear motion guide Device. The method of claim 1, A storage unit for storing recipes for processing the semiconductor substrate; And And a controller configured to output a control signal based on the recipe corresponding to the semiconductor substrate introduced into the vacuum chamber. The method of claim 1, A transfer module for supplying the semiconductor substrate to the vacuum chamber and discharging the processed semiconductor substrate from the vacuum chamber; And And a gas box for supplying a reactive gas and a purge gas in order to uniformly create a gas atmosphere of the vacuum chamber. The method of claim 1, And the laser beam is split to have the same energy. The method of claim 1, And the laser beam is split to have different energies. The method of claim 1, The pumping system, A plurality of first ports disposed adjacent to each of the plurality of chucks to discharge foreign matter in a particle form generated by irradiation of the laser beam; And And at least one second port disposed at a predetermined position in the vacuum chamber to discharge remaining foreign matter. A plurality of semiconductor substrates are loaded onto the plurality of chucks mounted to the stage of the vacuum chamber; Dividing a laser beam having a predetermined laser energy oscillated by a laser generator into a plurality of laser beams corresponding to the plurality of chucks; Irradiating the divided laser beams onto the plurality of semiconductor substrates, respectively; Maintaining the vacuum chamber in a vacuum atmosphere or a uniform gas atmosphere; Scanning while the chucks of the stage are driven by one motor; And And unloading the semiconductor substrate. The method of claim 9, And the chucks are driven by a plurality of screws that rotate in opposite directions by the motor starting from the linear motion guide half of the stage. The method of claim 9, And the chucks are driven by a linear motion guide of the stage flowing in one direction by a screw transmitting a driving force generated from the motor. The method of claim 9, And the laser beam is split to have the same energy. The method of claim 9, And the laser beam is split to have different energies.