KR101502856B1 - Substrate processing apparatus and substrate support member postion detecting method - Google Patents

Abstract

A substrate processing apparatus is disclosed. A substrate processing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention includes a processing chamber in which a substrate processing process is performed; A substrate support member provided in the process chamber, the substrate support member having a second surface formed so as to accommodate the substrate along an edge of the first upper surface; Wherein the first distance and the second distance are measured at a first distance to the first surface and a second distance to the second surface in response to rotation of the substrate support member, A detection member for outputting a signal corresponding to the detection signal; And a controller for receiving the signal and determining whether the position of the substrate support member is changed.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention [0001] The present invention relates to a substrate processing apparatus,

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Field of the Invention [0001] The present invention relates to a substrate processing apparatus, and more particularly, to a substrate processing apparatus for determining whether a position of a substrate holding member changes using a sensor.

In general, a semiconductor device is a photo lithography process that forms a pattern on a thin film surface on a semiconductor substrate by using a deposition process capable of forming a thin film on a semiconductor substrate, a mask or a pattern of a reticle , An etch process for selectively removing the thin film using a reactive gas or a chemical solution along the pattern of the thin film surface, and the like.

For example, in a semiconductor process, there is a chemical vapor deposition (CVD) process in which a thin film of an insulating film, a metal film, an organic film, or the like is formed on a predetermined substrate surface. Such chemical vapor deposition is a technique of depositing a desired thin film on the surface of a substrate by injecting a reactive gas into a vacuum chamber and applying appropriate activity and heat energy to induce a chemical reaction.

In chemical vapor deposition, various types of applied deposition techniques are developed depending on the deposition environment and the additional injection source. Typical examples include PECVD (Plasma Enhanced Chemical Vapor Deposition), LPCVD (Low Pressure CVD), APCVD (Atmospheric Pressure CVD) Metal-Organic CVD).

The metal organic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD) vaporizes the metal organic compound in the liquid state, and then supplies the generated vapor of the metal organic compound and the hydrogen compound gas to the substrate to be vaporized, And depositing a metal thin film on the substrate by a reaction.

However, when transferring / mounting the substrate in the process chamber to perform various processing processes as described above, it is very important to accurately determine the position of the susceptor on which the substrate is mounted.

Embodiments of the present invention are intended to determine whether the position of a susceptor on which a substrate is mounted varies.

Further, the embodiments of the present invention attempt to teach the substrate transfer robot automatically in response to the positional variation of the susceptor on which the substrate is placed.

The objects of the present invention are not limited thereto, and other objects not mentioned can be clearly understood by those skilled in the art from the following description.

According to an aspect of the present invention, there is provided a substrate processing apparatus comprising: a process chamber in which a substrate processing process is performed; A substrate support member provided in the process chamber, the substrate support member having a second surface formed so as to accommodate the substrate along an edge of the first upper surface; Wherein the first distance and the second distance are measured at a first distance to the first surface and a second distance to the second surface in response to rotation of the substrate support member, A detection member for outputting a signal corresponding to the detection signal; And a controller receiving the signal and determining whether the position of the substrate support member is changed.

The control unit may store the output pattern of the signal as a measurement pattern, calculate a first position value of the second surface corresponding to a predetermined reference pattern, and a second position value of the second surface corresponding to the measurement pattern The difference value is stored, and the substrate transfer robot can be taught according to the difference value.

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method of detecting the position of a substrate support member, wherein a detection member includes a first distance to an upper first surface of the substrate support member, A second distance to the bottom of the second surface; A transferring step of transferring an output signal corresponding to the first distance and the second distance to the control unit according to the rotation of the substrate support member; And a determination step of determining whether the position of the substrate support member is changed using the output signal.

Further, between the measuring step and the transmitting step, the detecting member turns off a signal corresponding to one of the first distance and the second distance to an ON signal, And outputting the result as a signal.

In addition, the determining may include: storing the output pattern of the on-signal and the off-signal as a measurement pattern; And a comparison determining step of comparing the measurement pattern with a predetermined reference pattern to determine whether the position of the substrate support member is changed.

The control unit may compare the first position value of the storage unit corresponding to the reference pattern with the second position value of the storage unit corresponding to the measurement pattern to store the difference value, And a teaching step of teaching the substrate transfer robot according to the value.

Embodiments of the present invention can prevent the possibility of dislodging the substrate that is seated on the receiving portion of the susceptor by determining whether the position of the susceptor in which the substrate is housed varies or not.

Further, the embodiments of the present invention can automatically perform the teaching operation of the substrate transfer robot in response to the positional variation of the susceptor.

1 is a cross-sectional view of a substrate processing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.
2 is a plan view of the susceptor of Fig.
FIG. 3 is a plan view showing a state where a substrate holder is inserted into the susceptor of FIG. 1; FIG.
4A is a top view of a susceptor in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention.
Figure 4b is a partial cross-sectional view of the susceptor of Figure 4a.
5 to 7B are views showing a process of measuring the reference position of the susceptor with the detecting member of FIG.
8 to 10B are views showing a process of measuring the change position of the susceptor with the detection member of FIG.

Hereinafter, a substrate processing apparatus according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. In the following description of the present invention, a detailed description of known functions and configurations incorporated herein will be omitted when it may make the subject matter of the present invention rather unclear.

1 is a cross-sectional view of a substrate processing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. 2 is a plan view of the susceptor of Fig. FIG. 3 is a plan view showing a state where a substrate holder is inserted into the susceptor of FIG. 1; FIG.

The substrate processing apparatus 1 includes a process chamber 100, a substrate support member 110, a heater 140, an exhaust unit 160, a gas injection unit 200, a detection member 130, a control unit 170, And a substrate transfer robot 181.

The process chamber 100 provides a space 10 in which a metalorganic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD) process is performed. The process chamber 100 has a top wall 103, a side wall 105 extending downwardly from the edge of the top wall 103 and a bottom wall 108 coupled to the bottom of the side wall 105. The top wall 103 and the bottom wall 108 are provided in a circular shape when viewed from above. A hole is formed in the center of the lower wall 108 of the process chamber 100. The rotation shaft 120 is inserted into the hole. An opening (not shown) through which the substrate W is carried in / out is formed in the upper wall 103 or the side wall 105, and the opening (not shown) is opened and closed by the door 115.

Referring to Figures 1 and 3, the substrate support member 110 has a substrate holder 114, a susceptor 118, and a rotating shaft 120. The substrate holder 114 has a disk shape. The substrate holder 114 may be provided with a graphite material having excellent electrical conductivity. The substrate holder 114 has a circular groove with an open top. The groove may be plural. The substrate W is placed in the groove.

Referring again to Figures 1 to 3, the susceptor 118 has a circular shape when viewed from above. The susceptor 118 is provided with a plurality of seating grooves 119 which are open at the top. The substrate holder 114 is inserted into the seating groove 119. The seating grooves 119 are arranged at equal intervals around the center axis of the susceptor 118. The diameter of the seating groove 119 is provided to be longer than the diameter of the substrate holder 114. A gap is provided between the outer surface of the substrate holder 114 and the inner surface of the seating groove 119. The bottom surface of the seating groove 119 is provided with spiral grooves 117 in the direction toward the edge of the seating groove 119 from the center of the seating groove 119. The spiral groove 117 is connected to a gas supply line (not shown). A gas supply line (not shown) supplies an inert gas. The inert gas flows along the helical grooves 117 and provides rotational force to the substrate holder 114. The substrate holder 114 floats in the seating groove 119 and is rotated about its central axis by the principle of the gas bearing. The inert gas is exhausted through a gap between the substrate holder 114 and the seating groove 119. The susceptor 118 may be represented by a substrate support member in accordance with the claims. The upper surface of the substrate support member may be represented by a first surface according to the claims. The seating groove 119 may be represented by a second side according to the claims.

Referring again to FIG. 1, one end of the rotating shaft 120 is fixedly coupled to the bottom center of the susceptor 118 to support the susceptor 118. A driver 125 is connected to the other end of the rotating shaft 120 to provide a rotating force to the susceptor 118. A gas supply line (not shown) provided in the susceptor 118 extends into the interior of the rotation shaft 120. A valve (not shown) is provided on the gas supply line 170 to regulate the pressure of the inert gas.

The heater 140 is disposed under the susceptor 118. The heater 140 heats the substrate W supported by the substrate holder 114. For example, as the heater 140, a heating means such as a radio frequency (RF) coil may be used. The high frequency (RF) coil may be arranged to spirally enclose the rotating shaft 120 on the same horizontal plane. A plate 150 is provided between the heater 140 and the susceptor 118. The plate 150 prevents process gases from entering the area where the heater 140 is provided. However, unlike the above, the heater 140 may be disposed inside the susceptor 118 to heat the substrate W.

The exhaust unit 160 has an exhaust line 163, a valve 165, and a pump 168. The exhaust line 163 extends from the center of the upper surface of the susceptor 118 to the inner center of the rotating shaft 120. The exhaust line 163 evacuates the reacted gas during or after the process and regulates the pressure in the process chamber 100. A valve 165 is provided on the exhaust line 163. A pump 168 is connected to the other end of the exhaust line 163. For example, the interior of the process chamber 100 can be regulated to a wide range of pressures ranging from a low vacuum of a few torrs to an atmospheric pressure of 760 torr. However, unlike the above, the exhaust line 163 may be provided below the side wall 105 of the process chamber 100.

The gas injection unit 200 has a supply line 210, a main line 220, and an injection hole 230. The supply line 210 is connected to the main line 220 to supply process gas to the main line 220. The main line 220 is provided annularly within the side wall 105 of the process chamber 100. The injection hole 230 is connected to the main line 220 to supply the process gas into the process chamber 100. A plurality of injection holes 230 are provided so that process gases can be uniformly supplied into the process chamber 100. The injection holes 230 are arranged along the circumference of the inner wall 102 of the process chamber 100 and may be located at the same height with respect to each other. The injection hole 230 is positioned higher than the substrate support member 110. [ The injection hole 230 may be provided in a slit shape.

Referring again to FIG. 1, the detecting member 130 measures whether the position of the substrate supporting member 110 changes. The control unit 170 receives a signal from the detection member 130 and determines whether the position of the substrate support member 110 changes. The control unit 170 teaches the substrate transfer robot 181 in accordance with the positional variation of the substrate support member 110. [ The substrate transfer robot 181 transfers the substrate into the process chamber 100 or withdraws the substrate from the process chamber 100.

Hereinafter, for convenience of description, a seating groove 119 in which grooves (117 in Fig. 2) are not shown in Figs. 4A to 10B is shown.

4A is a top view of a susceptor in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. Figure 4b is a partial cross-sectional view of the susceptor of Figure 4a.

The susceptor 118 rotates about the center axis O thereof. A plurality of seating grooves 119 are provided at equal intervals along the edge of the susceptor 118. The detecting member 420 may be provided on the upper portion of the seating groove 119. The detecting member 420 measures the distance H1 to the upper surface of the susceptor 118 and the distance H2 to the bottom of the seating groove 119. [

FIGS. 5 to 7B illustrate a process of measuring the reference position of the susceptor of FIG. 4A.

4B, the detecting member 420 measures the distance H1 to the upper surface of the susceptor 118 and the distance H2 to the bottom of the seating groove 119, respectively. The detecting member 420 passes in the order of the upper portion of the first seating groove 119a, the upper portion of the second seating groove 119b, and the upper side of the third seating groove 119c. The output signal of the detecting member 420 in the section a in which the detecting member 420 passes the upper portion of the first seating groove 119a is the section a in Fig. The output signal of the detecting member 420 in the section (b) where the detecting member 420 passes between the first seating groove 119a and the second seating groove 119b is the section b in Fig. The output signal of the detecting member 420 in the section c passing the detecting member 420 across the upper portion of the second seating groove 119b is the section c in Fig. The output signal of the detecting member 420 in the section d passing the detecting member 420 between the second seating groove 119b and the third seating groove 119c is the section d in FIG. The output signal of the detecting member 420 in the section e passing the upper part of the third seating groove 119c is the section e in FIG. In FIG. 6, the lengths of the a section, the c section, and the e section are the same. 6, the length of the section b and the length of the section d are the same. The detecting member 420 may output the section a, section c, and section e of FIG. 6 as an ON signal. The detecting member 420 may output the section b and the section d of FIG. 6 as an OFF signal. Conversely, the detecting member 420 may output the section a, section c, and section e of FIG. 6 as an OFF signal. The detecting member 420 may output the section b and the section d of FIG. 6 as an ON signal. The control unit 170 (see FIG. 1) stores the output signal of FIG. 6 as a reference pattern TO.

An example in which the control unit calculates the reference position of the susceptor corresponding to the reference pattern will be described with reference to Figs. 7A to 7B. Fig.

The control unit 170 (see Fig. 1) calculates the rotation angle [theta] = [alpha] 2 - [alpha] 1 of the susceptor 118 corresponding to the section c in Fig. The control unit 170 (see FIG. 1) calculates the position value P0 of the seating groove 119b corresponding to the reference pattern TO. The value corresponding to PO is, for example, the length of the line segment OQ with reference to FIG. 7B. The formula for calculating the length of the line OQ is as follows.

1 is the distance between the center axis O of the susceptor 118 corresponding to the angle? and the measurement reference position MP of the detecting member 420. [ l is a constant value that is initially set.

8 to 10B are views showing a process of measuring the change position of the susceptor with the detection member of FIG.

4A, the detecting member 420 measures the distance H1 to the upper surface of the susceptor 118 and the distance H2 to the bottom of the seating groove 119, respectively. The detecting member 420 passes in the order of the upper portion of the first seating groove 119a, the upper portion of the second seating groove 119b, and the upper side of the third seating groove 119c. The output signal of the detecting member 420 in the section a 'passing through the upper portion of the first seating groove 119a is the section a' in FIG. 9. The output signal of the detecting member 420 in the section b 'where the detecting member 420 passes between the first seating groove 119a and the second seating groove 119b is the section b' of FIG. The output signal of the detecting member 420 in the section c 'in which the detecting member 420 passes over the upper portion of the second seating groove 119b is the section c' in FIG. The output signal of the detecting member 420 in the section d 'through which the detecting member 420 passes between the second seating groove 119b and the third seating groove 119c is a section d' in FIG. The output signal of the detecting member 420 in the section e 'passing through the upper portion of the third receiving groove 119c is the section e' of FIG. The control unit 170 (see FIG. 1) stores the output signal of FIG. 9 as a measurement pattern T1. The control unit 170 (see FIG. 1) may determine that the susceptor 118 has left the reference position when the measurement pattern T1 is not uniformly detected as the reference pattern TO in FIG. Accordingly, the controller 170 (see FIG. 1) can stop the substrate processing process.

An example in which the controller calculates the changed position of the susceptor corresponding to the measurement pattern T1 will be described with reference to Figs. 9A to 9B.

The controller 170 (see FIG. 1) calculates the rotation angle (? '=?' 2 -? '1) of the susceptor 118 corresponding to the section c' of FIG. The control unit 170 (see FIG. 1) calculates the position value P1 of the seating groove 119b corresponding to the measurement pattern T1. The value corresponding to P1 is, for example, the length of the line segment OQ 'with reference to FIG. 9B. The formula for calculating the length of line OQ 'is as follows.

The positional change amount of the susceptor 118 is calculated from the length of the line segment OQ and the length of the line segment OQ 'calculated through the above-described process, using the following equation.

Meanwhile, the control unit 170 (see FIG. 1) can teach the substrate transfer robot that stores the calculated length of the line segment OO 'as a difference value, thereby transferring / mounting the substrate to the seating groove.

Also, the controller 170 (see FIG. 1) compares the length of the line segment OQ with the length of the line segment OQ 'to continue the process if it is within a predetermined error range, and may stop the process if it is outside the error range.

The foregoing description is merely illustrative of the technical idea of the present invention, and various changes and modifications may be made by those skilled in the art without departing from the essential characteristics of the present invention.

Therefore, the embodiments disclosed in the present invention are intended to illustrate rather than limit the scope of the present invention, and the scope of the technical idea of the present invention is not limited by these embodiments. The scope of protection of the present invention should be construed according to the following claims, and all technical ideas within the scope of equivalents should be construed as falling within the scope of the present invention.

[0001] Description of the Prior Art [0002]
100: process chamber 110: substrate support member
140: heater 150: plate
160: exhaust unit 170:
180: driving part 200: gas injection unit
210: supply line 220: main line
230: injection hole 420: detecting member

Claims (6)

A method for detecting the position of a substrate support member within a process chamber in which a substrate processing process is performed,
A first distance from the first surface of the substrate supporting member to the upper surface of the substrate support member by the detecting member, and a second distance from the second surface of the plurality of mounting grooves formed in the peripheral region of the first surface, Measuring a second distance to the bottom of the face;
A transmitting step of transmitting an output signal corresponding to the first distance and the second distance to the edge region of the substrate support member on which the detecting member is rotated to the control unit; And
Wherein the control unit determines whether the position of the substrate support member is changed using the output signal. The method according to claim 1,
Between the measuring step and the transmitting step, the detecting member outputs an ON signal corresponding to one of the first distance and the second distance as an ON signal and an OFF signal corresponding to the other one Wherein the position of the substrate support member is detected. 3. The method of claim 2,
Wherein the determining includes storing the on-signal and the off-signal in a measurement pattern; And
And comparing the measurement pattern with a preset reference pattern to determine whether the position of the substrate support member is changed. The method of claim 3,
The controller may compare the first position value of the second face corresponding to the reference pattern with the second position value of the second face corresponding to the measurement pattern and store the difference value, And a teaching step of teaching the substrate transfer robot according to the position of the substrate transfer robot. In the substrate processing apparatus,
A process chamber in which a substrate processing process is performed;
A substrate support member provided in the process chamber and having a top surface and a plurality of seating grooves formed on the edge region of the first surface, the plurality of seating grooves being formed to be sequentially arranged along the circumferential direction and having a second surface on which the substrate is mounted;
Wherein the first distance and the second distance are measured at a first distance to the first surface and a second distance to the second surface in response to rotation of the substrate support member, A detection member for outputting a signal corresponding to the detection signal; And
And a controller for receiving the signal and determining whether the position of the substrate support member is changed. 6. The method of claim 5,
Wherein the controller stores the output pattern of the signal as a measurement pattern and compares a first position value of the second face corresponding to a predetermined reference pattern with a second position value of the second face corresponding to the measurement pattern And stores the difference value, and teaches the substrate transfer robot according to the difference value.

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