KR100863941B1 - Purge system and method of gas supply device - Google Patents

Abstract

A purge system of gas supply equipment and a purge method thereof are provided to prevent leakage of vacuum gas by installing an exhaust control valve between an exhaust valve and a vacuum generator. A vacuum valve(AV11) is formed to control a supplying state of vacuum gas. A vacuum generator(VG) is installed between the vacuum valve and an exhaust hole in order to form a vacuum state of a gas supply line by using the vacuum gas. A plurality of purge valves(AV1A,AV1B,AV7,AV9) are formed to control a supplying state of purge gas. Cylinders(100,200) are filled with reaction gas. A plurality of exhaust valves(AV4A,AV4B,AV5A,AV5B) are connected to the cylinder and the purge valves in order to exhaust the reaction gas and the purge gas. An exhaust control valve(AV10) is installed between the exhaust valve and the vacuum generator in order to control the exhausting states of the reaction gas and the purge valve. The purge valve for contacting directly the reaction gas, the exhaust valve, and the vacuum valve are maintained in opening states. The residual gas of the gas supply line is purged by opening and closing the purge valve of a non-contacting state with the reaction gas and the exhaust control valve. The purge valves include the first purge valve and the second purge valve. A plurality of backward flow prevention valves(CV2A,CV2B) are formed between the first and second purge valves in order to prevent a backward flow. A third purge valve is formed to control a supplying state of the purge gas to the second purge valve. The third purge valve includes a breather valve. The reaction gas is exhausted from the gas supply line by opening the vacuum valve and the exhaust control valve. The gas supply line is filled with the purge gas by opening the first to third valves and the exhaust valve and closing the exhaust control valve. The purge gas is exhausted from the gas supply line to the exhaust hole by closing the second purge valve and opening the exhaust control valve.

Description

PURGE SYSTEM AND METHOD OF GAS SUPPLY DEVICE

1 is a block diagram showing a purge system of a conventional gas supply device.

2 is an overall configuration diagram of a purge system of a gas supply device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a schematic representation of FIG. 2 for better understanding the operation of the present invention. FIG.

4 to 7 is a flow chart of the reaction gas and purge gas for explaining the process of performing the purge method of the gas supply apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

<Description of the code used in the main part of the drawing>

100, 200: cylinder AV1A, AV1B, AV7, AV9: purge valve

AV4A, AV4B, AV5A, AV5B: exhaust valve

CV2A, CV2B: non-return valve AV10: exhaust control valve

AV11: vacuum valve VG: vacuum generator

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to semiconductor manufacturing equipment, and more particularly, to a purge system and method of a gas supply apparatus capable of purging a gas supply line for supplying gas on a wafer. It is about.

The semiconductor wafer production process mainly includes chemical vapor deposition (CVD), photo, and etching. In order to perform such a process, a highly corrosive liquefied reaction gas such as Cl ₂ and HCl must be introduced into the process chamber. The reactant gas is stored in a container called a cylinder, and the reactant gas filled by the operation of the valve is always supplied or shut off in the process chamber at a constant pressure.

If the amount of reaction gas filled in the cylinder is lower than a certain amount by continuously using the reaction gas filled in the cylinder, it is impossible to supply the reaction gas at the pressure required in the semiconductor wafer manufacturing process, so the new cylinder is replaced with a sufficient pressure. Should be supplied.

A gas supply device to which a reaction gas is supplied is usually provided with a pair of cylinders, and when the gas filled in one cylinder is exhausted (or when the pressure of the reaction gas is low), the gas filled in the other cylinder is used. After the opening and closing state of the valve is controlled, the cylinder in which the reaction gas is exhausted is replaced.

In the cylinder replacement operation, the reactive gas remaining in the gas supply line may have a serious adverse effect on the human body or the environment, and the residual reaction gas may cause an explosion accident during the cylinder replacement operation. A purge must be carried out.

Referring to Figure 1 will be described a conventional gas supply device purge method.

First, the lines connected from the pair of cylinders 100 and 200 have the same configuration. In addition, when one cylinder is in use, the other cylinder is not used in the pair of cylinders 100 and 200. Therefore, in the following description, one cylinder (for example, 100) will be described for convenience, and the other cylinder 200 will be described in advance that the same configuration and operation as the one cylinder 100 is performed.

The cylinder 100 filled with the reaction gas (Cl ₂ , HCl, etc.) is installed, and the balance WT1 for measuring the load of the cylinder 100 is installed at the lower portion of the cylinder 100. The cylinder 100 is controlled to be opened and closed by a valve shutter VSA.

The pair of process valves AV2A and AV3A and the pressure regulator REGA provided between the valves AV2A and AV3A adjust the reaction gas discharged from the cylinder 100 to a predetermined pressure required for the process so that the process chamber ( Not shown).

The plurality of purge valves AV1A, AV7, and AV9 are installed in the purge gas supply line to supply the purge gas N ₂ when purging the gas supply line (indicated by the solid line in FIG. 1) to replace the cylinder 100. Each of the purge valves AV1A, AV7, and AV9 is provided with non-return valves CV1 and CV2A for preventing backflow of the purge gas and the reaction gas.

Exhaust valves AV4A and AV5A interlocked with the process valves AV2A and AV3A are installed to exhaust the reaction gas or purge gas. When the exhaust valves AV4A and AV5A are open, the process valves AV2A and AV3A are closed. When the exhaust valves AV4A and AV5A are closed, the process valves AV2A and AV3A are open.

At the rear end of the exhaust valves AV4A and AV5A, a vacuum generator VG for vacuuming the gas supply line is provided, and the vacuum generator VG is installed between the vacuum gas N ₂ supply line and the exhaust device. In addition, a vacuum valve AV8 is installed between the vacuum gas supply line and the vacuum generator VG to control whether the gas supply line is vacuumed.

A predetermined number of pressure gauges PT1A to PT4 are installed in the gas supply line, and the pressure gauges PT1 to PT4 measure the pressure of the gas supply line and display the result. In addition, a predetermined number of line filters LF1A and LF2 are provided in the gas supply line. The manual valve MV1A is installed between the process valve AV3 and the process chamber to finally control the supply of the reaction gas to the process chamber.

Any one of the purge valves AV1A, AV7, and AV9 (for example, AV9) is configured as a breather valve to replace the cylinder 100 through a gas supply line on the cylinder 100 side. Prevent air from entering

The valve AV8 provided between the vacuum gas supply line and the vacuum generator VG is a bleed valve, and the vacuum generator VG is corroded by a small amount of reaction gas or purge gas exhausted from the exhaust valves AV4A and AV5A. Prevent it.

In the conventional gas supply device, the purge valves AV1A, AV7, and AV9 remain closed during the process operation, and the vacuum valve AV8 is also closed. In addition, the exhaust valves AV4A and AV5A are closed and the process valves AV2A and AV3A remain open so that the reaction gas supplied from the cylinder 100 is supplied with the process valve AV2A, the pressure regulator REGA, and the process. It is supplied to the process chamber via the valve AV3A and the manual valve MV1A.

When purging the gas supply line to replace the cylinder 100, the process valves AV2A and AV3A are closed, the exhaust valves AV4A and AV5A are opened, and the vacuum valve AV8 is opened.

When the vacuum valve AV8 is opened, the vacuum gas is supplied to the vacuum generator VG through the vacuum valve AV8, and the vacuum generator VG is operated to bring the gas supply line into a vacuum state and exhaust valves AV4A and AV5A. The residual reaction gas is discharged to the exhaust system through the exhaust gas.

When the residual reaction gas is discharged and the vacuum is maintained, the purge valves AV1A, AV7 and AV9 are all opened to supply the purge gas, and the remaining reaction gas (valve and pressure regulator, etc.) is filled while the purge gas is filled in the gas supply line. The reaction gas in a liquid phase while reacting is exhausted by the pressure of the purge gas. The gas supply line is purged by repeating this process several times (for example, 300 times or more).

However, according to the conventional purge method of the gas supply device, the valves are in direct contact with the reaction gas in the exhaust process, that is, the reaction gas is repeated as the purge valves AV1A and the exhaust valves AV4A, AV5A open and close. Fusion occurs in the field. In this case, the valves are corroded due to the highly corrosive reaction gas of the chlorine series (Cl ₂ , HCl, etc.) and the life of the valve is shortened. The same applies to the pressure regulator (REGA) in direct contact with the reaction gas. For this reason, the life span is shortened.

In addition, in the related art, a bleed valve is formed between the vacuum gas supply line and the vacuum generator VG to prevent the reaction gas remaining in the exhaust process from contacting the vacuum generator VG to corrode the vacuum generator VG. As a result, even if the valve is closed, a certain amount of vacuum gas must always be discharged through the exhaust system, so a loss of vacuum gas occurs.

The present invention provides a purge system of a gas supply device that extends the life of the valves in direct contact with the reaction gas.

The present invention provides a purge system of a gas supply device which reduces the loss of vacuum gas.

The present invention provides a purge method of a gas supply device for achieving the above objects.

The present invention provides a system for purging residual gas in a gas supply line to which a reaction gas is supplied, comprising: a vacuum valve for controlling supply of vacuum gas; A vacuum generator disposed between the vacuum valve and the exhaust port and configured to vacuum the gas supply line by the vacuum gas supplied through the vacuum valve; A plurality of valves for controlling the supply of purge gas; A cylinder filled with the reaction gas; An exhaust valve connected to the cylinder and connected to the plurality of purge valves to exhaust the reaction gas and the purge gas; And an exhaust control valve disposed between the exhaust valve and the vacuum generator, the exhaust control valve controlling exhaust of the reaction gas and the purge gas, wherein the purge valve and the exhaust gas are in direct contact with the reaction gas among the plurality of purge valves. The valve and the vacuum valve are kept open and purge the residual gas of the gas supply line by opening and closing the purge valve and the exhaust control valve which are not in direct contact with the reaction gas among the plurality of purge valves.

The plurality of purge valves, the first purge valve which is installed adjacent to the cylinder; And a second purge valve for controlling supply of the purge gas to the first purge valve, and further comprising a non-return valve for preventing backflow of the purge gas between the first purge valve and the second purge valve. Include.

And a third purge valve for controlling the purge gas being supplied to the second purge valve, wherein the third purge valve includes a breath valve.

The vacuum valve is an air valve.

Opening of the vacuum valve and the exhaust control valve causes the gas supply line to be in a vacuum state so that the reaction gas is discharged to the exhaust port, opening of the first to third purge valves and the exhaust valve, and opening of the exhaust control valve. A purge gas is filled in the gas supply line by closing, and the purge gas filled in the gas supply line is discharged into the exhaust port by closing of the second purge valve and opening of the exhaust control valve.

The present invention is a vacuum valve for controlling the supply of vacuum gas, a vacuum generator installed between the vacuum valve and the exhaust port, a plurality of purge valve for controlling the supply of purge gas, the cylinder filled with the reaction gas, the reaction gas and the A purge method of a gas supply device comprising an exhaust valve for exhausting purge gas and an exhaust control valve provided between the exhaust valve and the vacuum generator, wherein the gas supply line is opened by opening the vacuum valve and the exhaust control valve. Reaction gas discharge step of being in a vacuum state and the reaction gas is discharged to the exhaust port; A purge gas filling step in which purge gas is filled in the gas supply line by opening the plurality of purge valves and the exhaust valve and closing the exhaust control valve; And a purge gas discharge step of discharging the purge gas filled in the gas supply line to the exhaust port by closing one of the plurality of purge valves and opening the exhaust control valve.

The purge gas filling step and the purge gas discharge step are repeated several times.

Hereinafter, exemplary embodiment (s) of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. First, in adding reference numerals to the elements of each drawing, it should be noted that the same elements are denoted by the same reference numerals as much as possible even if they are displayed on different drawings. In addition, in the following description there are shown a number of specific details, such as components of the specific circuit, which are provided only to help a more general understanding of the present invention that the present invention may be practiced without these specific details. It is self-evident to those of ordinary knowledge in Esau. In describing the present invention, when it is determined that a detailed description of a related known function or configuration may unnecessarily obscure the subject matter of the present invention, the detailed description thereof will be omitted.

2 is an overall configuration diagram of a purge system of a gas supply apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention, Figure 3 is a schematic representation of Figure 2 for explaining the operation of the present invention more easily, Figures 4 to 7 is a flowchart illustrating a reaction gas and a purge gas for explaining an operation of the purge method of the gas supply device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

First, the configuration of the present invention shown in Figure 2 is compared to the configuration of the conventional gas supply device shown in Figure 1 between the exhaust valves (AV4A, AV4B, AV5A, AV5B) and the vacuum generator (VG) AV10) is additionally installed.

That is, in the present invention shown in FIG. 2, the lines connected from the pair of cylinders 100 and 200 have the same configuration. In addition, when one cylinder is in use, the other cylinder is not used in the pair of cylinders 100 and 200. Therefore, in the following description, one cylinder (for example, 100) will be described for convenience, and the other cylinder 200 will be described in advance that the same configuration and operation as the one cylinder 100 is performed.

The cylinder 100 filled with the reaction gas (Cl ₂ , HCl, etc.) is installed, and the balance WT1 for measuring the load of the cylinder 100 is installed at the lower portion of the cylinder 100. The cylinder 100 is controlled to be opened and closed by a valve shutter VSA.

The pair of process valves AV2A and AV3A and the pressure regulator REGA provided between the valves AV2A and AV3A adjust the reaction gas discharged from the cylinder 100 to a predetermined pressure required for the process so that the process chamber ( Not shown).

The plurality of purge valves AV1A, AV7, and AV9 are installed in the purge gas supply line to supply the purge gas N ₂ when purging the gas supply line (indicated by the solid line in FIG. 1) to replace the cylinder 100. Each of the purge valves AV1A, AV7, and AV9 is provided with non-return valves CV1 and CV2A for preventing backflow of the purge gas and the reaction gas.

Exhaust valves AV4A and AV5A interlocked with the process valves AV2A and AV3A are installed to exhaust the reaction gas or purge gas. When the exhaust valves AV4A and AV5A are open, the process valves AV2A and AV3A are closed. When the exhaust valves AV4A and AV5A are closed, the process valves AV2A and AV3A are open.

At the rear end of the exhaust valves AV4A and AV5A, a vacuum generator VG for vacuuming the gas supply line is provided, and the vacuum generator VG is installed between the vacuum gas N ₂ supply line and the exhaust device. In addition, a vacuum valve AV11 is installed between the vacuum gas supply line and the vacuum generator VG to control whether the gas supply line is vacuumed.

A predetermined number of pressure gauges PT1A to PT4 are installed in the gas supply line, and the pressure gauges PT1 to PT4 measure the pressure of the gas supply line and display the result. In addition, a predetermined number of line filters LF1A and LF2 are provided in the gas supply line. The manual valve MV1A is installed between the process valve AV3 and the process chamber to finally control the supply of the reaction gas to the process chamber.

Any one of the purge valves AV1A, AV7, and AV9 (for example, AV9) is configured as a breather valve to replace the cylinder 100 through a gas supply line on the cylinder 100 side. Prevent air from entering

The valve AV11 installed between the vacuum gas supply line and the vacuum generator VG may be configured as a general air valve (expressed as "AV ~" in FIG. 2). This is different from installing a bleed valve between a vacuum gas supply line and a vacuum generator (VG) in a conventional gas supply device, so that even if a bleed valve is not installed, the residual reaction gas and the vacuum generator are controlled by the exhaust control valve AV10. The direct contact of the VG can be prevented, and the life of the vacuum generator VG is extended.

An operation according to an embodiment of the present invention having such a configuration will be described with reference to FIGS. 3 to 7 as follows.

3 is a simplified diagram of the configuration of FIG. 2 to aid in understanding the present invention. Although only one cylinder 100 is shown in FIG. 3, this is only a simplified illustration for clarity and it should be interpreted that a plurality of cylinders 100 and 200 are installed in an actual configuration.

In the gas supply apparatus according to the exemplary embodiment of the present invention, the purge valves AV1A, AV7 and AV9 and the exhaust control valve AV10 are kept closed during the process operation, and the vacuum valve AV11 is also closed. In addition, the exhaust valves AV4A and AV5A are closed and the process valves AV2A and AV3A remain open so that the reaction gas supplied from the cylinder 100 is supplied with the process valve AV2A, the pressure regulator REGA, and the process. It is supplied to the process chamber via the valve AV3A and the manual valve MV1A.

When the gas supply line is purged to replace the cylinder 100, the process valves AV2A and AV3A are closed, the exhaust valves AV4A and AV5A are also closed, and the vacuum valve AV11 is opened.

When the vacuum valve AV11 is opened, the vacuum gas is supplied to the vacuum generator VG through the vacuum valve AV11, and the vacuum generator VG is operated to operate the vacuum valve AV11, the non-return valve CV5 and the vacuum generator. The line connected to VG is in a vacuum state (see FIG. 4).

Thereafter, when the exhaust control valve AV10 and the exhaust valves AV4A and AV5A are opened, the residual reaction gas of the gas supply line is discharged from the exhaust valves AV4A and AV5A → check valve CV3A → exhaust control valve due to the vacuum state. Through AV10) to the exhaust device (see FIG. 5).

When all of the remaining reaction gas of the gas supply line is discharged and is in a vacuum state again, the exhaust control valve AV10 is closed and the purge valves AV1A, AV7, AV9 are all opened. Therefore, the purge gas is filled in the gas supply line (see FIG. 6).

When the purge gas is sufficiently filled in the gas supply line, the purge valve AV7 is closed, and the exhaust control valve AV10 is opened so that the purge gas filled in the gas supply line is discharged to the exhaust device through the exhaust control valve AV10. (See FIG. 7).

4 to 7 show the valve in the form of a switch in order to more easily understand the open / closed state of the valve. The state in which the rug of the switch is connected means the open state of the valve, and the state in which the rug of the switch is disconnected means the closed state of the valve.

In addition, it has been described that the purge valve AV7 is closed to shut off the supply of the purge gas after the purge gas is sufficiently filled in the gas supply line. The purge valve AV1A, which is installed adjacent to the cylinder 100 among the purge valves AV1A, AV7, and AV9, is a part in direct contact with the reaction gas, and thus, in order to prevent phenomena such as corrosion due to frequent opening and closing. It is desirable to remain open until the purge operation is complete after opening.

The purge valve AV9 installed adjacent to the purge gas supply line among the purge valves AV1A, AV7, and AV9 is a bleed valve, and even if closed, a small amount of purge gas flows through the purge valve AV9, making it difficult to create a vacuum state. Therefore, it is preferable to control the supply state of the purge gas by using the purge valve AV7 which can be completely closed due to the non-return valve CV2A.

In addition, the exhaust valves AV4A and AV5A that are in direct contact with the reaction gas are opened once in the purge operation and then remain open until the purge operation is completed. Therefore, the corrosion phenomenon is reduced by the reaction gas.

The purge gas supply process (see FIG. 6) and the purge gas discharge process (see FIG. 7) are repeatedly performed several times (preferably 300 or more times) to purge the gas supply line.

As described above, in the detailed description of the present invention, specific embodiment (s) have been described, but various modifications are possible without departing from the scope of the present invention. Therefore, the scope of the present invention should not be limited to the described embodiment (s), but should be defined by the claims below and equivalents thereof.

The present invention can extend the life of the valve because the purge operation by opening the valves that are in direct contact with the reaction gas at the time of purging the gas supply line and controlling the opening and closing of the valve that is not in direct contact with the reaction gas have.

In addition, since an exhaust control valve is installed between the exhaust valve and the vacuum generator to prevent the reaction gas from directly contacting the vacuum generator, the vacuum valve can be replaced with a conventional air valve, thereby preventing leakage of the vacuum gas. . Preventing the leakage of vacuum gas can prevent accidents caused by leakage.

Claims (7)

In the system for purging the residual gas of the gas supply line to which the reaction gas is supplied, A vacuum valve for controlling the supply of vacuum gas; A vacuum generator disposed between the vacuum valve and the exhaust port and configured to vacuum the gas supply line by the vacuum gas supplied through the vacuum valve; A plurality of purge valves for controlling the supply of purge gas; A cylinder filled with the reaction gas; An exhaust valve connected to the cylinder and connected to the plurality of purge valves to exhaust the reaction gas and the purge gas; And An exhaust control valve disposed between the exhaust valve and the vacuum generator, the exhaust control valve controlling exhaust of the reaction gas and the purge gas, Among the plurality of purge valves, the purge valve, the exhaust valve, and the vacuum valve, which are in direct contact with the reaction gas, remain open. The remaining gas of the gas supply line is purged by opening and closing the purge valve and the exhaust control valve which are not in direct contact with the reaction gas among the plurality of purge valves, The plurality of purge valves include a first purge valve disposed adjacent to the cylinder, and a second purge valve controlling supply of the purge gas to the first purge valve, wherein the first purge valve and the second purge valve are provided. Further comprising a non-return valve for preventing the back flow of the purge gas between the purge valve, Further comprising a third purge valve for controlling the purge gas is supplied to the second purge valve, The third purge valve includes a breath valve, The gas supply line is vacuumed by opening the vacuum valve and the exhaust control valve, and the reaction gas is discharged to the exhaust port. Purge gas is filled in the gas supply line by opening the first to third purge valves and the exhaust valve and closing the exhaust control valve. And the purge gas filled in the gas supply line is discharged to the exhaust port by closing the second purge valve and opening the exhaust control valve. delete delete The method of claim 1, The vacuum valve, The purge system of the gas supply device, which is an air valve. delete A vacuum valve for controlling the supply of vacuum gas, a vacuum generator provided between the vacuum valve and the exhaust port, a plurality of purge valves for controlling the supply of purge gas, a cylinder filled with a reaction gas, and the reaction gas supplied from the cylinder And an exhaust valve for exhausting the purge gas supplied through the purge valve, and an exhaust control valve provided between the exhaust valve and the vacuum generator. A reaction gas discharge step of allowing the gas supply line to be in a vacuum state by opening the vacuum valve and the exhaust control valve so that the reaction gas is discharged to the exhaust port; A purge gas filling step in which purge gas is filled in the gas supply line by opening the plurality of purge valves and the exhaust valve and closing the exhaust control valve; And A purge gas discharge step of discharging the purge gas filled in the gas supply line to the exhaust port by closing one of the plurality of purge valves and opening the exhaust control valve; Purge method of the gas supply device comprising a. The method of claim 6, A purge method of a gas supply device repeating the purge gas filling step and the purge gas discharge step several times.

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