KR100735606B1 - photo possess equipment of semiconductor device and method thereof - Google Patents

Abstract

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention [0001] The present invention relates to a semiconductor device photographic processing apparatus and a method for sufficiently cleaning a wafer introduced prior to performing a photographic process. The semiconductor device photographic processing apparatus according to the present invention comprises: an index portion for inserting, withdrawing and confirming the number of wafers for a cassette to be located; A preprocessing unit for applying a chemical to the wafer withdrawn from the index unit and being transferred to the wafer; A coating unit for applying a photoresist to the entire surface of the wafer to be transferred from the pretreatment unit; A scrubber for cleaning the bottom of the wafer; A stepper for transferring a pattern image to the wafer to which the photoresist is applied; A baking unit for curing the dried and coated photoresist on the wafer drawn out from the scrubber and the coating unit; A cooling unit cooling the wafer drawn out from the preprocessing unit and the baking unit; Robot means for transferring a wafer from each of the index portion, the pretreatment portion, the coating portion, the scrubber, the stepper, the baking portion, and the cooling portion; And a controller for controlling each component including the index unit, the pretreatment unit, the coating unit, the scrubber, the stepper, the baking unit, the cooling unit, and the robot unit. According to the semiconductor device photolithography process, it is possible to prevent process defects in the photolithography by cleaning the bottom of the wafer, thereby improving the semiconductor device manufacturing yield and reducing the manufacturing cost.

Description

Photo process equipment and method thereof             

1 is a block diagram schematically showing a configuration of a semiconductor device photographic processing apparatus according to the prior art configuration.

2 is a flowchart illustrating a photographic process according to the configuration of FIG. 1.

3 is a block diagram schematically illustrating a configuration of a semiconductor device photographic processing facility according to an embodiment of the present invention.

4 is a flowchart illustrating a photographic process according to the configuration of FIG. 3.

FIG. 5 is a configuration diagram schematically showing an example according to the configuration of the scrubber illustrated in FIG. 3 and a coupling relationship between these configurations.

FIG. 6 is a configuration diagram schematically showing another example according to the configuration of the scrubber and the coupling relationship of the configurations shown in FIG. 3.
Explanation of symbols on the main parts of the drawings
10: index portion 12: robot means

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14: pretreatment unit 16: coating unit                 

18: baking part 20: cooling part

22: stepper 24: scrubber

26a, 26b: robot chuck 28a, 28b: brush portion

30a, 30b: pure water supply

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a semiconductor device photographic processing apparatus and a method thereof, and more particularly, to a semiconductor device photographic processing apparatus and a method for performing a process by sufficiently cleaning a wafer inserted prior to performing a photographic process. .

In general, in order to manufacture a semiconductor device, a manufacturing process such as photographing, etching chemical vapor deposition, impurity implantation, and metal deposition on a wafer is selectively and repeatedly performed. The above-described photographic process of the manufacturing process is a process for transferring the at least one pattern image on the wafer to form a circuit pattern, and according to the trend of high integration of semiconductor devices, a new pattern image is accurately aligned on the wafer with respect to the previous circuit pattern. To be transferred.

As shown in FIG. 1, the photoprocessing equipment for performing such a photographing process includes an index unit 10 for confirming the number of wafers to be positioned, a robot means 12 for transporting the wafers to a required position, and And a pretreatment 14 for applying chemical to the entire surface of the wafer to improve the adhesion of the photoresist coated thereon, and a coating 16 and a coating 16 for applying the photoresist to the entire surface of the wafer. A baking portion 18 to cure the photoresist coated at < RTI ID = 0.0 >), < / RTI > the cooling portion 20 to dry or cool the wafer drawn out from the above-described preprocessing portion 14 and the baking portion 18, and a coating. And a stepper 22 for transferring the pattern image to the entire surface of the wafer, and a controller for controlling each of these configurations.

According to the above-described configuration, first, the number of wafers positioned in the index unit 10 is confirmed, and these wafers are preprocessed by the robot unit 12, the cooling unit 20, and the coating unit 16. In addition, each component connected to the baking unit 18, the cooling unit 20, and the stepper 22 is sequentially transferred to perform a work process in the component.

Prior to performing such a photo process, the wafer may be contaminated in the process of performing other processes, and in particular, various contaminants including polymers or particles remain on the bottom of the wafer during etching, metal deposition, or the like. Cases occur frequently. These contaminants locally deform the shape of the wafer adsorbed and fixed to the chuck plate of the stepper 22 (omitted for simplification of the drawing) in the course of performing the photographing process, and thus the peripheral portion including the deformed portion of the wafer. Deforms the focal point of the transferred pattern image to cause a process defect. In addition, these contaminants can contaminate the chuck plate for adsorption and fixation of the wafer, which in turn causes continuous process defects, which degrade the quality characteristics of the semiconductor device to be manufactured or the manufacturing yield due to the defects. In addition, there is a problem such as to increase the manufacturing cost of the semiconductor device. In addition, when separately configuring the wafer bottom cleaning apparatus for removing the above-mentioned contaminants, it is required to secure an installation site and a space according to the transfer of the wafer in the production line already set.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to solve the above-mentioned problems of the prior art, and secures a minimum space by arranging a device for cleaning the bottom surface of a wafer inline with a photo process facility before performing a photo process. The present invention provides a semiconductor device photolithography process and method for preventing process defects and increasing manufacturing yield accordingly.

The semiconductor device photographic processing apparatus according to the present invention for achieving the above object comprises: an indexing unit for checking the insertion, withdrawal and number of wafers of a cassette to be located; A preprocessing unit for applying a chemical to the wafer withdrawn from the index unit and being transferred to the wafer; A coating unit for applying a photoresist to the entire surface of the wafer to be transferred from the pretreatment unit; A scrubber for cleaning the bottom of the wafer; A stepper for transferring a pattern image to the wafer to which the photoresist is applied; A baking unit for curing the dried and coated photoresist on the wafer drawn out from the scrubber and the coating unit; A cooling unit for cooling the wafer drawn out from the preprocessing unit and the baking unit; Robot means for transferring a wafer from each of the index portion, the pretreatment portion, the coating portion, the scrubber, the stepper, the baking portion, and the cooling portion; And a controller for controlling each component including the index unit, the preprocessing unit, the coating unit, the scrubber, the stepper, the baking unit, the cooling unit, and the robot unit.

The scrubber may further include a robot chuck holding a wafer edge; A brush part positioned to correspond to a bottom surface of the wafer supported by the robot chuck to rotate at a high speed; And a pure water supply unit configured to supply pure water corresponding to the brush and the bottom surface of the wafer.

Preferably, the robot chuck is formed to include a plurality of pins that open and pinch in a direction toward the center of the wafer from the outside facing the edge of the wafer, and in addition, the robot chuck holds the wafer. It is preferable to configure it to rotate at high speed.

In addition, the scrubber is formed such that the bottom of the wafer is rotated upwardly while the robot chuck is holding the wafer, and the brush portion is capable of sliding in a horizontal direction opposite the bottom of the wafer from the top of the wafer. The pure water supply unit may be installed to supply pure water corresponding to the driving position of the brush unit at the upper side of the wafer.

Alternatively, the robot chuck is formed so that the bottom surface of the wafer faces downward while the wafer is held by the robot chuck, and the brush portion is installed to be able to move in a horizontal direction from the lower side of the wafer to face the bottom surface of the wafer. The supply unit may be provided to supply pure water corresponding to the driving position of the brush unit under the wafer.

On the other hand, the photographic processing method for achieving the above object comprises the steps of: extracting the wafer located in the index portion and transferred to the pre-processing portion to apply a predetermined chemical on the wafer; Cooling and drying the chemical applied on the wafer; Applying a photoresist to the cold dried wafer; Curing the photoresist; Cooling the wafer heated in the curing process; Cleaning the bottom of the wafer to which the photoresist is applied; Drying the pure water supplied in the washing process and cooling it again; And transferring the pattern image to the photoresist layer on the wafer.

Hereinafter, a semiconductor device photographic processing apparatus and a method thereof according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

Figure 3 is a block diagram schematically showing the arrangement of the components constituting the photographic processing equipment according to the present invention, Figure 4 is a flow chart showing a photographic processing process according to the photographic processing equipment shown in Figure 3, the same parts as the prior art The same reference numerals are given to the drawings, and detailed description thereof will be omitted.

As shown in FIG. 3, the photographic processing equipment according to the present invention includes an index unit 10 for confirming the number of wafers accommodated and placed in a plurality of cassettes, and the number of sheets identified by the index unit 10 is determined. The wafer is sequentially transferred to the predetermined position by the robot means 12. The wafer drawn out from the index unit 10 is first transferred to the pretreatment unit 14 which applies a predetermined chemical to the entire surface to increase the coating efficiency of the photoresist, and then the cooling unit 20 for drying the applied chemical. Is transferred to. Thereafter, the wafer is transferred to the coating portion 16 that applies the photoresist on the entire surface thereof, and in the process, the wafer coated with the photoresist is transferred to the baking portion 18 to cure the coated photoresist. After the predetermined process is transferred to the above-described cooling unit 20. In this process, the wafer is transferred to the scrubber 24 for removing contaminants remaining on the bottom surface and photoresist in the above-described coating process during the previous process, that is, etching metal deposition or the like, and then cleaned. You will go through the process.

Here, the above-described scrubber 24, as shown in Fig. 5 or 6, selectively provides the pressing force with respect to the edge portion of the wafer which is drawn out from the baking unit 18 by the robot means 12, the transfer position. Thereby, the robot chucks 26a and 26b for holding the wafer are provided, and the brush portions 28a and 28b are formed so as to rotate at a high speed selectively in close proximity to the bottom surfaces of the wafers supported by the robot chucks 26a and 26b. Moreover, the pure water supply parts 30a and 30b which correspond to the drive position of the brush parts 28a and 28b mentioned above and supply pure water to the bottom face of a wafer are comprised. In such a configuration, the above-described robot chucks 26a and 26b are formed to include a plurality of pins that open and pinch in a direction toward the center of the wafer opposite to the edge portion of the wafer. 26b) may be formed in a configuration capable of high-speed rotation in the state of holding the wafer.                     

In addition, the robot chuck 26a shown in FIG. 5 may be configured to rotate in such a manner that the bottom surface of the wafer faces upward in a state in which the wafer is held, wherein the brush portion 28a and the net supply portion 30a are described above. May be formed on the upper side of the wafer to be positioned, that is, opposed to the bottom surface of the wafer. In addition, the brush part 28a described above may be formed in a configuration in which the sliding position moves in the horizontal direction while maintaining a predetermined interval with respect to the bottom surface of the wafer corresponding to the proximity, and the pure water supply part 30a also includes the brush part 28a. In response to the driving, pure water is continuously supplied between the brush portions 28a close to the wafer bottom surface.

This configuration allows the robot chuck 26b to support the bottom of the wafer downward, as shown in FIG. 6, and the corresponding brush portion 28b is selectively in close proximity to the bottom of the wafer. At the same time as the rotation is possible to move the position in the horizontal direction, the pure water supply unit may be formed in a configuration that supplies the pure water to the driving direction of the brush portion 28b, that is, the wafer bottom portion adjacent to the brush portion 28b. It is.

On the other hand, as described above, the wafer after the cleaning process in the scrubber 24 is transferred to the baking unit 18 to dry the pure water on the wafer by the robot means 12, and then the wafer sufficiently dried The robot passes through a series of processes transferred to the stepper 22 which transfers the pattern image by the robot means. Here, the drive of each component including the above-described index unit 10, pretreatment unit 14 coating unit 16, scrubber 24, stepper 22, bake unit 18, cooling unit 20 is a controller. A configuration controlled by (omitted for simplicity of drawing) is achieved.

According to this, as the bottom surface of the wafer is cleaned by the scrubber 24 in the step before transferring the pattern image, the process defects are prevented accordingly, and the installation space of the scrubber 24 is arranged inline inside the photographic processing equipment. There is an advantage that the minimum installation space is required, and the space and the transfer means according to the transfer of the wafer is made by using the robot means of the photo processing equipment is more efficient and the production yield is improved by preventing the process failure.

Therefore, according to the present invention, as the scrubber for cleaning the bottom surface of the wafer in the photographic processing equipment is installed to secure a narrow space, the efficiency of the transfer means according to the wafer transfer is increased, and the stagnation time due to the wafer transfer is reduced. In addition, by preventing the process defect in the photographing process by cleaning the bottom surface of the wafer by a scrubber, there is an effect of improving the semiconductor device manufacturing yield and reducing the manufacturing cost.

Although the present invention has been described in detail only with respect to specific embodiments, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that modifications and variations can be made within the scope of the technical idea of the present invention, and such modifications or changes belong to the claims of the present invention. something to do.

Claims (8)

delete An index unit configured to check the insertion, withdrawal, and the number of wafers with respect to the cassette positioned; A preprocessing unit for applying a chemical to the wafer withdrawn from the index unit and being transferred to the wafer; A coating unit for applying a photoresist to the entire surface of the wafer to be transferred from the pretreatment unit; A robot chuck that grips an edge of the wafer, a brush portion that is located in close proximity to a bottom surface of the wafer supported by the robot chuck and rotates at high speed, and a pure water supply portion configured to supply pure water corresponding to the brush and the bottom surface of the wafer. A scrubber for cleaning the bottom of the wafer; A stepper for transferring a pattern image to the wafer to which the photoresist is applied; A baking unit for curing the dried and coated photoresist on the wafer drawn out from the scrubber and the coating unit; A cooling unit cooling the wafer drawn out from the preprocessing unit and the baking unit; Robot means for transferring a wafer from each of the index portion, the pretreatment portion, the coating portion, the scrubber, the stepper, the baking portion, and the cooling portion; And And a controller for controlling each component including the index unit, the pretreatment unit, the coating unit, the scrubber, the stepper, the baking unit, the cooling unit, and the robot unit. The method of claim 2, And the robot chuck is formed to include a plurality of pins which are opened and pinched in a direction toward the center of the wafer from the outside facing the wafer edge portion. The method of claim 2, And the robot chuck is configured to rotate at a high speed while the wafer is held. The method of claim 4, wherein The scrubber is formed to rotate in a state where the bottom of the wafer faces upward while the robot chuck holds the wafer, and the brush portion is installed to be movable in a horizontal direction opposite to the bottom of the wafer from the top of the wafer. And the pure water supply unit is configured to supply pure water corresponding to the driving position of the brush unit at the upper side of the wafer. The method of claim 4, wherein The scrubber is formed so that the bottom surface of the wafer faces downward while the robot chuck grips the wafer, and the brush portion is installed to be capable of sliding in a horizontal direction opposite the bottom surface of the wafer from the lower side of the wafer. And the pure water supply unit is installed to supply pure water in correspondence with a driving position of the brush unit under the wafer. delete Extracting the wafer positioned in the index unit and transferring the wafer to the pretreatment unit to apply a predetermined chemical on the wafer; Cooling and drying the chemical applied on the wafer; Applying a photoresist to the cold dried wafer; Curing the photoresist; Cooling the wafer heated in the curing process; A robot chuck that grips an edge of the wafer, a brush portion selectively positioned to be close to a bottom surface of the wafer supported by the robot chuck to rotate at a high speed, and a horizontal movement thereof; A pure water supply unit configured to supply pure water to the wafer, and cleans the bottom surface of the photoresist-coated wafer by holding the wafer and supplying pure water to the bottom thereof and rotating the brush unit at high speed to vortex the supplied pure water. Making a step; Drying the pure water supplied in the washing process and cooling it again; And Transferring the pattern image to a photoresist layer on the wafer; Semiconductor device photo processing method comprising a.

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