KR101367899B1 - System for substrate processing - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to a substrate processing system capable of continuously loading / unloading a plurality of substrates into a process chamber, the substrate processing system comprising: a process chamber having a first substrate entrance; Substrate supports disposed radially with respect to the center of the process chamber; And a first transfer device installed in the process chamber and transferring the substrate onto the substrate supports.

Substrate, transport, chamber

Description

Substrate Processing System {SYSTEM FOR SUBSTRATE PROCESSING}

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS For a more complete understanding of the drawings used in the detailed description of the present invention, a brief description of each drawing is provided.

1 is a view showing the overall configuration of a substrate processing system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating an unfolded state of a first transport apparatus in the substrate processing system of FIG. 1.

3 is a view showing a state in which the rotating plate arms are fitted to the substrate support.

4 is a perspective view of a first conveying apparatus installed in a process chamber.

5 and 6 are views illustrating a groove forming structure of the substrate support and an end effector fitted therein.

Description of the Related Art [0002]

100: Index 110: Atmospheric pressure conveying robot

120: carrier 200: process chamber

210: substrate supporting part 300: transfer chamber

600: first conveying device

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a substrate processing system, and more particularly, to a substrate processing system capable of processing by loading / unloading a plurality of substrates into a process chamber continuously.

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, a substrate processing system for manufacturing liquid crystal display devices, plasma display devices, and semiconductor devices has generally employed a cluster system capable of processing a plurality of substrates in a single process.

Generally, a cluster system refers to a multi-chamber type substrate processing system that includes a carrier robot (or handler) and a plurality of substrate processing modules provided therearound.

The cluster system includes a transfer chamber and a transfer robot provided freely rotatable in the transfer chamber. At each side of the transport chamber, a process chamber for carrying out the processing process of the substrate is mounted. Such a cluster system increases the throughput of a substrate by simultaneously processing a plurality of substrates or allowing various processes to proceed in succession. Another effort to increase the substrate throughput is to process a plurality of substrates simultaneously in one process chamber to increase the substrate throughput per hour.

However, even when the process chamber processes a plurality of substrates simultaneously (or continuously), time loss occurs when the substrates before and after the process are not efficiently exchanged in the process chamber.

In addition, since a typical cluster system constitutes a hexagonal transport chamber (basically composed of four process chambers and two load lock chambers), the area occupied by the transport chamber is not limited to the total area of the system, The system width which is important in the layout of the system in the line is increased more than necessary and the size of the vacuum system required to keep the transport chamber in a vacuum is increased, resulting in an increase in equipment cost and installation cost. Further, the area of the transport chamber is further increased as the number of process chambers to be installed increases.

Thus, there is a need for a substrate processing system that can simultaneously (or continuously) treat a plurality of substrates in a process chamber that processes a plurality of substrates, and more efficiently exchange substrates before and after the process.

An object of the present invention is to provide a substrate processing system and a substrate processing method thereof which can dramatically reduce an area occupied by a semiconductor processing apparatus on a plane while having the same number of process chambers.

It is another object of the present invention to provide a substrate processing system and a substrate processing method thereof that can efficiently utilize a spatial layout in a semiconductor manufacturing factory.

In addition, an object of the present invention is to provide a substrate processing system and a substrate processing method capable of minimizing an apparatus cost and an installation cost by reducing an unnecessary vacuum area.

It is another object of the present invention to provide a substrate processing system and a substrate processing method that can improve the throughput by reducing the number of processing modules corresponding to one transfer robot.

It is another object of the present invention to provide a substrate processing system having a substrate transfer apparatus having a structure capable of efficiently processing a substrate and a substrate processing method thereof.

It is another object of the present invention to provide a substrate processing system having a substrate transfer apparatus capable of reducing the transfer time of a substrate and improving productivity, and a substrate processing method thereof.

It is still another object of the present invention to provide a substrate processing system having a substrate transfer apparatus having a small driving area and a substrate processing method thereof.

It is another object of the present invention to provide a substrate processing system having a structure capable of shortening the time required for a process and a substrate processing method thereof.

It is another object of the present invention to provide a substrate processing system having a structure capable of improving the operation rate of a process chamber and a substrate processing method thereof.

The substrate processing system of the present invention for achieving the above technical problem is a process chamber having a first substrate entrance and exit; Substrate supports installed in the process chamber; And a first transfer device installed in the process chamber and transferring the substrate onto the substrate supports.

In one embodiment, the substrate supports are disposed radially about the center of the process chamber.

In one embodiment, the first transfer device is to take over the substrate before and after the processing from the outside / through the first substrate entrance, the transfer the substrate before the processing onto the substrate support, the substrate support After processing on the substrates, the substrates are turned over to the outside through the first substrate entrance.

In one embodiment, the first conveying device comprises: rotating plate arms having end effectors and pivoted onto the substrate supports, respectively; A driving unit providing a driving force for rotating and lifting / lowering the rotating plate arms; And one or more spindles connected to the drive unit and on which the rotating plate arms are mounted.

In one embodiment, the end effector comprises a horseshoe shaped border; A support portion formed at an edge to support the substrate; And an entry passage formed to prevent interference with an end effector of an object performing substrate exchange from the outside during substrate exchange with the outside through the first substrate entrance and exit of the process chamber.

In one embodiment, the substrate support includes one or more grooves formed on an outer circumferential surface so that the substrate support of the end effector is not caught when the end effector of the first conveying device is fitted.

In one embodiment, the first conveying apparatus conveys the substrates transferred from the outside of the process chamber onto the substrate supports; The substrate is lowered to the substrate supports while the end effector is fitted to each of the substrate supports.

In one embodiment, the first conveying apparatus maintains the end effector fitted to the substrate support while substrate processing is performed in the process chamber; When the substrate processing is completed, the substrate is lifted from the substrate support while being conveyed by the end effector from the substrate support.

In one embodiment, the substrate processing system further includes a second conveying device for exchanging a substrate with the first conveying device through a first substrate entrance and exit of the process chamber outside of the process chamber.

In one embodiment, the substrate processing system further includes: a transfer chamber connected to the first substrate entry port and having a second substrate entry port; And a second transfer device installed in the transfer chamber to transfer a substrate between the second substrate entrance and the first substrate entrance and exit.

In one embodiment, the second transport apparatus includes first and second transport sections symmetrically disposed on opposite sides of the second substrate entry / exit port.

In one embodiment, the substrate processing system further comprises a load lock chamber coupled to the second substrate entrance and having an atmospheric transfer robot responsible for substrate transfer between the index and the transfer chamber.

For example, embodiments of the present invention may be modified in various forms, and the scope of the present invention should not be construed as being limited by the embodiments described below. The present embodiments are provided to enable those skilled in the art to more fully understand the present invention. Therefore, the shapes and the like of the elements in the drawings are exaggerated in order to emphasize a clearer explanation. It should be noted that, in understanding each of the figures, the same elements are represented by the same reference numerals whenever possible. And detailed descriptions of known functions and configurations that may unnecessarily obscure the gist of the present invention are omitted.

(Example)

Hereinafter, the substrate processing system of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the preferred embodiments of the present invention with reference to the accompanying drawings. In the drawings, the same reference numerals are used to denote elements performing the same function.

 The basic intention of the present invention is to provide a substrate processing system with a small footprint. Also provided is a substrate processing system having a plurality of substrate processing capabilities. In addition, the present invention provides a substrate processing system capable of simultaneously processing a larger number of substrates based on an efficient substrate exchange method.

1 is a view showing the overall configuration of a substrate processing system according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating an unfolded state of a first transport apparatus in the substrate processing system of FIG. 1.

Referring to the drawings, the substrate processing system 10 according to the embodiment of the present invention is provided with a process chamber 200 in which a plurality of substrate supports 210 are installed at the rear, and the transfer chamber 300 is provided at the front end thereof. Is installed. An index 100 on which the carrier 120 is mounted is provided in front of the substrate processing system 10 and a load lock chamber 130 is provided between the index 100 and the transfer chamber 300.

Index 100 is sometimes referred to as a facility front end module (EFEM) and sometimes a load lock chamber. The load lock chamber 130 or the transfer chamber 300 may be provided with a cooling chamber (not shown) for cooling the post-processing substrate, if necessary. Or the transfer chamber 300 to perform the cooling processing function, the separate cooling chamber may be omitted. A separate preheating chamber may be provided even if preheating of the substrate to the process chamber 200 is required and it may not be separately provided if the cooling chamber or transfer chamber 300 is to perform the preheating function.

A first substrate inlet port 202 is formed between the transfer chamber 300 and the process chamber 200 and a second substrate port 302 is formed between the transfer chamber 300 and the load lock chamber 130. The first and second substrate entrances 202 and 302 are opened and closed by slit valves (not shown), respectively.

The load lock chamber 130 is equipped with an atmospheric pressure conveying robot 110 operated at atmospheric pressure. The atmospheric pressure conveying robot 110 is capable of pivoting, elevating and lowering the substrate transferring between the transfer chamber 300 and the carrier 120. The atmospheric pressure conveying robot 110 can take five substrates W out of the carrier 120 in a single operation and carry them into the transfer chamber 300.

For this purpose, the atmospheric pressure conveying robot 110 may be configured as a robot having a double arm structure having a total of 10 end effectors so that five substrates can be exchanged at the same time and five substrates after processing can be simultaneously exchanged. Alternatively, a robot having a single arm structure having at least five end effectors may be used. As described above, the atmospheric pressure conveying robot 110 can use various robots used in a conventional semiconductor manufacturing process in addition to the double arm or single arm structure shown in the present embodiment.

In the process chamber 200, five substrate supporting portions 210 are arranged in a radial manner, and a first transfer device 600 is disposed at the center. The first conveying device 600 has five rotating plate arms 610, and five substrate supports 210 are disposed on a path through which the rotating plate arms 610 rotate. The process chamber 200 is a vacuum chamber for performing a predetermined plasma processing process, and may be provided with a plasma source (not shown). The process chamber 200 may be configured to perform various substrate processing operations. For example, it can be an ashing chamber that removes the photoresist using plasma to remove the photoresist, a CVD (Chemical Vapor Deposition) chamber configured to deposit an insulating film, and form interconnect structures. And an etch chamber configured to etch apertures or openings in the insulating film. Or a PVD chamber configured to deposit a barrier film, and may be a PVD chamber configured to deposit a metal film.

The substrate W to be processed in the substrate processing system is typically a wafer substrate for producing a semiconductor circuit or a glass substrate for producing a liquid crystal display. In addition to the illustrated configuration of the present substrate processing system, multiple processing systems may be required to perform all of the processes required for the complete fabrication of an integrated circuit or chip. However, for the sake of clarity, the conventional structures or configurations that can be understood by those skilled in the art are omitted.

3 is a view showing a state in which the rotating plate arms are fitted to the substrate support, Figure 4 is a perspective view of the first conveying device installed in the process chamber.

As shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, the first conveying device 600 installed in the process chamber 200 has five rotating plate arms 610 that are rotated with end effectors 611. For example, the first conveying device 600 may have a plurality of drives and a plurality of spindles connected to the respective drives so that the plurality of rotating plate arms 610 can be rotated individually. In this embodiment, five rotating plate arms 610 are provided. However, the number of rotating plate arms 610 may be the same as the number of substrate support portions 210 provided in the process chamber 200. The rotating plate arm 610 is mounted on one spindle 620 and is pivoted and moved up and down. The spindle 620 is connected to the driver 630. The driving unit 630 provides a driving force for rotating and raising / lowering the rotating plate arm 610. Although not shown specifically, the driving unit 630 includes an electric motor for generating a driving force and a gear assembly for transmitting a generated driving force to the spindle 620 so that a plurality of rotating plate arms 610 perform desired operations do.

Referring again to FIG. 1, the five rotating plate arms 610 are spread out to the left to load / unload the substrate into substrate support portions 210 positioned at 12, 10 and 8 o'clock, respectively. And a rotating plate arm and two rotating plate arms deployed in the right direction for loading / unloading the substrate into each of the substrate supports 210 positioned at the 2 o'clock and 4 o'clock directions. As shown in FIG. 2, the five rotating plate arms 610 operate to unfold in 2, 4, 8, 10, and 12 directions (a fan-shaped shape) and are capable of rotating, lifting and lowering.

Although not shown in detail in the figure, the driving unit 630 includes an electric motor for generating a rotational force and a gear assembly for transmitting the generated rotational force to the spindle 620 to perform a desired operation of the plurality of rotational plate arms 610 do. As such, a number of rotating plate arms 610 are mounted to the spindle 620 and, as shown in FIG. 2, have a different turning radius and face the first entrance 202 of the process chamber 200. (6 o'clock) performs the operation of unfolding and folding in the left and right directions.

5 and 6 are views illustrating a groove forming structure of the substrate support and a state in which the end effector is inserted therein. Rotating plate arm 610 has an end effector 611 at its end. The end effector 611 has a horseshoe shape and has a support 613 for supporting a substrate. The support part 613 is provided in an arrangement structure and a number that can safely support the substrate (W).

Referring to the drawings, the five rotating plate arms 610 of the first conveying apparatus 600 convey the substrates transferred from the outside of the process chamber 200 to the five substrate supporting portions 210, respectively, and the substrate supporting portion 210. In the process of inserting the end effector 611 into the substrate), the substrate is lowered to the substrate support part 210. In order to prevent the protruding support portion 613 of the end effector 611 from being caught by the substrate support portion 210, the substrate support portion 210 has one or more grooves 212 formed in an appropriate number and structure on the outer circumferential surface of the substrate support body. Has

The first transfer device 600 maintains the end effector 611 fitted to the substrate support 210 while substrate processing is performed in the process chamber 200. In this case, the first conveying device 600 is located lower than the substrate W placed on the upper surface of the substrate support part 210 as a whole and does not improperly affect the substrate during the substrate processing. When the substrate processing is completed, the substrate W is lifted and transported from the substrate support 210 again in the process of exiting the end effector 611 from the substrate support 210.

As shown in FIG. 1 and FIG. 2, the second conveying apparatus 700 installed in the transfer chamber 300 includes first and second conveying portions that are symmetrically installed on both sides with a second substrate entrance and exit 302 interposed therebetween. 700a and 700b are provided. The 1st conveyance part 700a and the 2nd conveyance part 700b are responsible for loading and unloading into the process chamber 100, respectively. The first and second conveying parts 700a and 700b each have a driving part for providing rotational force, a spindle connected to the driving part, and a rotating plate arm 712 connected to the spindle. Rotating plate arm 712 has a plurality of end effectors, five of which are provided in this embodiment. Five end effectors are mounted at the ends of the plate arm 712 and the other end of the rotating plate arm 712 is connected to the spindle. The five end effectors can be provided with a chin-entry path so that the end effector of the atmospheric pressure conveying robot 110 can enter without interference.

Five end effectors at the end of the rotating plate arm 712 may have a rotatable structure for more flexible substrate takeover. In this embodiment, although the first and second transport units 700a and 700b are used to divide the loading / unloading unit, the loading / unloading unit may take charge of sequential loading and unloading operations It is possible. Or a structure in which ten end effectors are mounted on one plate arm.

The exchange of the substrate after the treatment and the substrate before the treatment between the transfer chamber 300 and the process chamber 200 is performed by the first and second conveying apparatus. At this time, the transfer chamber 300 is switched to the same vacuum state as the process chamber 200 in a state in which the second substrate entrance 302 is closed, and then the first substrate entrance 202 is opened and the substrate exchange is performed. Prior to the substrate exchange process, the first transfer device 600 pulls the substrate from the substrate support 210 and waits in front of the first substrate entrance 202.

The 2nd conveyance part 700b of the 2nd conveyance apparatus 700 takes over the five board | substrates processed from the 1st conveyance apparatus 600, carrying out a rotary reciprocating motion. The spindle 620 of the first conveying device 600 is then lifted and aligned in the loading position. The first conveying unit 700a of the second conveying apparatus 700 takes over the substrates before the process to the first conveying apparatus 600 while reciprocating the fire. When the substrate exchange is completed, the first substrate entrance 202 is closed, and as described above, the first transfer device 600 transfers the substrate to the substrate support portions 210.

After the substrate exchange between the transfer chamber 300 and the process chamber 200 is completed, the substrate exchange is performed between the transfer chamber 300 and the load lock chamber 130. The transfer chamber 300 is converted from vacuum pressure to atmospheric pressure, and the atmospheric transfer robot 110 located in the load lock chamber 130 exchanges the substrate after processing with the substrate after the second substrate entrance 302 is open. .

The substrate processing system according to the present invention can be variously modified and take various forms. It is to be understood, however, that the invention is not to be limited to the specific forms thereof, which come within the scope of the appended claims, and all such modifications and equivalents are intended to be included within the spirit and scope of the invention as defined by the appended claims. .

As described above, the present invention can quickly perform substrate exchange before and after the treatment in a substrate processing system that simultaneously or continuously processes a plurality of substrates, thereby increasing the throughput of the system to increase the overall substrate productivity. In addition, since a substrate transfer apparatus that simultaneously performs loading and unloading of a substrate is provided, it is very easy to implement a process chamber for processing a plurality of substrates. Further, the present invention can improve the productivity by reducing the substrate transportation time. Further, the present invention can drastically reduce the area and system width of the system, thereby minimizing the equipment cost and the installation cost.

Claims (12)

A process chamber having a first substrate entrance; Substrate supports installed in the process chamber; Is installed in the process chamber, to transfer the substrate onto the substrate support, Rotating plate arms each having an end effector that is pivoted onto the substrate supports, a drive unit providing driving force for rotation, lifting and lowering of the rotating plate arms, and one or more connected to the drive unit and mounted with the rotating plate arms. A substrate processing system comprising a first conveying device made of a spindle, The first conveying device The end effector remains fitted to the substrate support while substrate processing is in progress in the process chamber; And after the substrate processing is completed, lifting the substrate from the substrate support while conveying the end effector from the substrate support. The method of claim 1, And the substrate supports are disposed radially with respect to the center of the process chamber. The method according to claim 1 or 2, The first conveying device takes over the substrate before and after the process from the outside through the first substrate entrance, A substrate processing system for conveying a pre-processed substrate onto the substrate supports, and taking over substrates after processing processed on the substrate supports to the outside through the first substrate entrance. delete The method of claim 1, The end effector Horseshoe-shaped border; A support portion formed at an edge to support the substrate; And And an entry passage formed to prevent interference with an end effector of an object performing substrate exchange from the outside during substrate exchange with the outside through the first substrate entrance and exit of the process chamber. The method of claim 5, Board support And at least one groove formed on an outer circumferential surface and formed so that the substrate support of the end effector is not caught when the end effector of the first conveying device is fitted. The method of claim 1, The first conveying device Conveying substrates transferred from the outside of the process chamber onto the substrate supports; And lowering the substrate onto the substrate supports while the end effector is fitted to each of the substrate supports. delete The method of claim 1, The substrate processing system And a second transfer device for exchanging the substrate with the first transfer device through a first substrate entrance and exit of the process chamber outside of the process chamber. The method of claim 1, The substrate processing system A transfer chamber connected to the first substrate entrance and having a second substrate entrance; And And a second transfer device installed in the transfer chamber to transfer a substrate between the second substrate entrance and the first substrate entrance and exit. The method of claim 10, And the second conveying apparatus includes first and second conveying portions that are symmetrically installed at both sides with the second substrate entrance and exit therebetween. The method of claim 10, The substrate processing system And a load lock chamber coupled to said second substrate entrance and having an atmospheric transfer robot responsible for substrate transfer between an index and said transfer chamber.

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