KR101651164B1 - Substrate process system, and process module therefor - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to a substrate processing system, and more particularly, to a substrate processing system for performing substrate processing such as a deposition process on a surface of a substrate and a process module used therein.

A vacuum preliminary module for receiving a tray on which at least one substrate to be subjected to the substrate processing is loaded and for discharging a tray on which the substrate having been processed is mounted; And a process module that receives the tray loaded with the substrate from the vacuum preliminary module and performs substrate processing on the substrate loaded on the tray and transfers the tray to the vacuum preliminary module after moving the tray downward after completion of the substrate processing A substrate processing system characterized by the following features is disclosed.

Inline, process module, vacuum reserve

Description

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

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 that performs substrate processing such as a deposition process on a surface of a substrate and a process module of a substrate processing system used therein.

Semiconductors, glass substrates for LCD panels, and solar cells are manufactured by performing substrate processing processes such as deposition and etching on a substrate. Here, the deposition process refers to a process of forming a thin film on the surface of a substrate by using a chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) method or the like.

A substrate processing system for performing a substrate process such as a deposition process is composed of a substrate loading module, a load lock module, a process module, an unload lock module, and a substrate unloading module. The inline type And a cluster type in which a load lock / unload lock module and a plurality of process modules are disposed around the conveying module.

On the other hand, substrate processing systems for manufacturing solar cells are generally arranged in an in-line type. That is, in the substrate exchange module, the tray on which the plurality of substrates for the solar cells are loaded passes sequentially through the load lock module-> the process module-> the unload lock module, and the tray on which the substrate processing is completed processes the load lock module Lt; RTI ID = 0.0 > exchange module < / RTI >

In the conventional in-line type substrate processing system for manufacturing a solar cell, since the substrate exchange module for loading the substrate into the tray for the process or unloading the processed substrate from the tray is disposed on one side of the inline system, The elevator module for moving the tray up and down must be installed at the rear end of the unloading module.

However, in the conventional in-line type substrate processing system for manufacturing solar cells, since the load lock module, the process module, the unload lock module and the elevator module are sequentially installed in the substrate exchange module, the area occupied by the entire system becomes large, There is a problem that the cost remarkably increases.

Therefore, various measures are required to reduce the area and cost for installation in the substrate processing system.

Also, when the transfer distance of the substrate passing through the modules becomes long according to the increase of each module in the process of performing the substrate processing of the substrate processing system, the transfer time is increased correspondingly, so that the entire processing time for substrate processing is increased.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention to provide an in-line type substrate processing system that recognizes the necessity and problems as described above, and can reduce a manufacturing cost inevitably by reducing space for installation of a substrate processing system.

It is another object of the present invention to provide an in-line type substrate processing system that can simplify a substrate processing system to reduce manufacturing cost and significantly reduce installation space.

It is still another object of the present invention to provide an in-line type substrate processing system capable of significantly reducing the transfer distance of the substrate in the substrate processing system, thereby significantly improving the overall substrate processing speed.

The present invention has been made in order to achieve the above-mentioned object of the present invention, and it is an object of the present invention to provide a method of manufacturing a semiconductor device, which comprises a step of supplying a tray on which at least one substrate to be processed is to be processed, A spare module; And a process module that receives the tray loaded with the substrate from the vacuum preliminary module and performs substrate processing on the substrate loaded on the tray and transfers the tray to the vacuum preliminary module after moving the tray downward after completion of the substrate processing A substrate processing system characterized by the following features is disclosed.

The vacuum preliminary module includes a load lock part for receiving a tray from the substrate exchange module and transferring the tray to the process module; And an unload lock unit installed on the lower side of the load lock unit to receive the tray from the process module and transfer the tray to the substrate exchange module.

The load lock portion and the unload lock portion may be configured to be isolated from each other.

The load lock portion is further provided with a heating portion for heating the substrates mounted on the tray, and the unloading portion may further include a cooling portion for cooling the substrates mounted on the tray.

The bottom portion of the unloading lock portion may be configured to be detachable from the body of the unloading lock portion.

The vacuum preliminary module may further include a bottom surface elevating part for vertically moving the bottom part to take out the tray to the outside for replacement or maintenance of the tray in the lower space.

A lower part of the substrate exchange module or the process module may be provided with a movement path for receiving the tray after the bottom surface of the unloading part is lowered by the bottom surface elevating part.

A cleaning module for cleaning at least one of the upper surface and the lower surface of the tray may be additionally provided in the movement path.

The process module includes a vacuum chamber forming a closed process space and having a first gate receiving a tray from the load lock portion of the vacuum preliminary module and a second gate releasing the tray to the unload lock portion of the vacuum preliminary module; A shower head installed above the vacuum chamber for spraying gas for substrate processing; A tray support installed in the vacuum chamber to support the tray; And a tray elevating part installed in the vacuum chamber to raise and lower the tray supporting part.

The tray lifting unit includes a lifting and lowering driving unit for lifting the tray supporting unit vertically; A tray receiving part for supporting the edge of the tray when the tray is drawn into the vacuum chamber and being laterally moved when the tray is lifted and lowered by the lifting and lowering driving part to release support of the tray; And a tray discharging unit for supporting the edge of the tray transferred by the lifting and lowering driving unit and discharging the tray to an unloading lock unit of the vacuum preliminary module.

Wherein the tray inlet includes a support module for supporting the tray when the tray is drawn into the vacuum chamber, the support module being in a position capable of supporting the tray when the tray is drawn into the vacuum chamber, So that when the tray is lowered its movement is not interfered with.

The vacuum preliminary module is connected to the vacuum preliminary module and receives the tray from the unloading lock portion of the vacuum preliminary module, unloads at least one substrate having undergone substrate processing from the tray, loads one or more substrates to be subjected to substrate processing, And a substrate exchange module for transferring the substrate to the lock portion.

The present invention also discloses a process module of a substrate processing system having such a configuration.

The processing module of the substrate processing system according to the present invention includes a substrate exchange module and a vacuum preliminary module installed between the process module and the load lock part for transferring the tray to the process module, And an unloading lock part, and the process module is configured to raise and lower the tray for exchanging the tray with the load lock part and the unload lock part, thereby reducing the number of modules constituting the substrate processing system and reducing the manufacturing cost, There is an advantage that can be saved.

Further, the substrate processing system of the present invention, the process module of the substrate processing system used therein, may be configured such that the movement path of the tray on which the substrate is loaded is circulated in the order of substrate exchange module ⇒ vacuum preliminary module ⇒ process module ⇒ vacuum preliminary module ⇒ substrate exchange module There is an advantage that the moving distance of the tray can be reduced to remarkably improve the overall substrate processing speed.

Hereinafter, process modules of the substrate processing system and the substrate processing system according to the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

1 is a side view of the substrate processing system of Fig. 1, Fig. 3a is a cross sectional view showing a vacuum preliminary module of the substrate processing system of Fig. 1, and Figs. 4a and 4b Sectional views showing process modules of the substrate processing system of FIG. 1, and FIG. 5 is a plan view of the process module of FIG. 4A.

The substrate processing system according to the present invention is an inline type in which each module is sequentially arranged, and includes a vacuum preliminary module 200 and a process module 300, as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, do.

The vacuum preliminary module 200 receives a tray 20 on which at least one substrate 10 to be subjected to a substrate processing is loaded from a substrate exchange module 100 to be described later, Various configurations are possible as a configuration for discharging the tray 20 to the substrate exchange module 100.

1 to 3B, the vacuum preliminary module 200 includes a load lock part 210 for receiving the tray 20 from the substrate exchange module 100 and transferring the tray 20 to the process module 300, Wow; And an unloading lock part 220 provided below the load lock part 210 to receive the tray 20 from the process module 300 and transfer the tray 20 to the substrate exchange module 100.

The load lock part 210 and the unload lock part 220 are constructed as a structure for the transfer direction of the tray 20 between the substrate exchange module 100 and the process module 300, 2, the load-lock chamber 211 and the unloading chamber 221 are separated from each other by a partition wall 231, as shown in FIG. 2, And a single chamber 232 that forms a plurality of chambers.

The load lock part 210 and the unload lock part 220 are connected to the load lock part 210 so that the pressure can be changed between the atmospheric pressure and the vacuum pressure for exchanging the tray 20 with the substrate exchange module 100 and the process module 300. [ And the load-lock chamber 211 and the unload-lock chamber 221 of the unloading lock portion 220 are connected to a vacuum pump (not shown).

Gates 233, 234, 235 and 236 are formed on the front and rear sides of the chamber 232 constituting the vacuum preliminary module 200 and the gates 233, 234, And is opened and closed by valves 243, 244, 245, and 246.

Meanwhile, the vacuum preliminary module 200 performs a pre-process such as preheating before transferring the tray 20 to the process module 200 for performing substrate processing, or receives the tray 20 from the process module 200 Cooling, and the like.

For example, the load lock portion 210 includes a heating portion (not shown) for heating the substrates 10 mounted on the tray 20, an unload lock portion 220 for supporting the substrate 10 loaded on the tray 20, A cooling unit (not shown) may be additionally provided.

Here, the load lock part 210 and the unload lock part 220 can perform different processes such as heating and cooling, and are preferably isolated from each other by the partition part 231 or the like to prevent mutual influences.

The heating unit or the cooling unit installed in the load lock unit 210 and the unloading lock unit 220 may be configured to transmit heat by direct surface contact with the tray 20 or to transfer heat by radiation etc., The heating unit can be variously configured according to the heating temperature, the heating environment, etc., such as the sheath heater and the halogen heater.

The load lock part 210 and the unload lock part 220 may have various structures for supporting the tray 20 and may include a plurality of rollers and a tray 20 such as a driving device for driving the rollers The structure for transport can also be configured in various forms.

The driving unit for driving the rollers may have a variety of configurations. The driving unit may be installed outside the chamber 232 and may be connected to the rollers installed therein in various structures so as to transmit the driving force while sealing the chamber 232.

Meanwhile, the substrate exchange module 100 is connected to the vacuum preliminary module 200 to load one or more substrates 10 to be processed on the tray 20 and transfer the tray 20 to the load lock part 210 And unloading the at least one substrate 10 which has received the tray 20 from the unloading and locking unit 220 and has completed the substrate processing.

1 and 2, when the substrate 10 is loaded on the tray 20 and transported, the substrate exchange module 100 may be mounted on the tray 10, (Not shown) on which a plurality of substrates 10 are loaded and a plurality of substrates 10 are loaded on the tray 20 to load one or more substrates 10 on the tray 20 And a substrate loading apparatus 120 installed therein.

Here, the tray 20 is configured to transport one or more, preferably a plurality of, substrates 10 at one time, and can be configured in various ways according to design and design. In addition, Any materials and structures are possible.

For example, the tray 20 may be made of at least one of a nonmetal such as graphite and quartz, and a metal such as aluminum and an aluminum alloy. The shape of the tray 20 may be various shapes such as a rectangle.

The substrate 10 may be a semiconductor substrate, a glass substrate for an LCD panel, a substrate for a solar cell, and the like, and may have various shapes such as a rectangular shape and a circular shape.

Meanwhile, the tray 20 can be transported by various methods in each of the modules described later. For example, the tray 20 may be transported between rollers, belts, and the like installed in the modules 100, 200, and 300 between the modules 100, 200, and 300 as shown in FIG. 2 .

The tray supporting part 110 receives the tray 20 from the unloading part 210 of the vacuum preparation module 200 to be described later and lifts up and down the tray 20 for loading / unloading the substrate 10 A steel portion 130 may be additionally provided.

The process module 300 is a module for performing a substrate process such as a deposition process. The process module 300 can be variously configured according to the substrate process. As shown in FIGS. 1, 2 and 4A to 5, The substrate 20 is transferred to the tray 20 and the substrate 10 is loaded on the tray 20 and the tray 20 is moved in the downward direction To the spare module 200 and the unloading / locking unit 220, various configurations are possible

For example, the process module 300 may include a first gate 315 forming a closed process space S and receiving the tray 20 from the load lock portion 210 of the vacuum preliminary module 200, A vacuum chamber 310 having a second gate 316 for carrying the tray 20 to the unloading lock portion 210 of the module 200; A tray support 340 installed in the vacuum chamber 310 to support the tray 20; And a tray lifting unit 320 installed on the vacuum chamber 310 to move the tray 20 up and down.

The vacuum chamber 310 is configured to form a processing space S for performing a substrate process such as a deposition process. The vacuum chamber 310 may have various configurations. The chamber body 312 and the chamber body 312, And an upper lead 311 detachably coupled with the upper lead 311.

The chamber body 312 has an open top shape and includes gates 315 and 316 through which the substrate 10 can enter and exit. In this embodiment, a pair of gates 315 and 316 in the rectangular chamber body 312 are formed on one side of the chamber body 312 in the vertical direction. The gates 315 and 316 are opened and closed by gate valves 245 and 246, respectively.

The upper lead 311 is configured to form a closed processing space S with a sealing member (not shown) interposed therebetween and coupled to the upper side of the chamber main body 312. The upper lead 311 has a plate shape or a lower vessel shape .

The vacuum chamber 310 can be variously configured according to the substrate processing and includes a shower head for gas injection, an exhaust pipe for adjusting the pressure of the vacuum chamber 310 and exhausting the exhaust gas, a temperature of the substrate 10 on the tray 20, A temperature controller for adjusting the temperature of the substrate, and the like.

A guide member (not shown) for guiding the gas sprayed from the shower head unit 330 and a guide member (not shown) for guiding the gas sprayed from the shower head unit 330, A plasma, and a baffle for preventing inflow of a process gas and the like.

For example, as shown in the drawing, the vacuum chamber 310 may be installed above the vacuum chamber 310 with a shower head 330 for injecting a gas for substrate processing.

The shower head unit 330 is installed on the upper side of the processing space S so as to perform substrate processing and supplies the gas to the processing space S from a gas supply unit Various configurations are possible depending on the gas supply system.

The tray supporting portion 340 is configured to support the tray 20 so that the deposition process can be performed smoothly, and various configurations can be performed according to design conditions and process conditions.

The tray supporting portion 340 may be any structure as long as it can support the tray 20. The tray supporting portion 340 may include a temperature adjusting portion such as a heater for controlling the temperature by heating or cooling the substrate 10 according to the processing, And an electrode for applying a power to the plasma display panel.

Further, the tray supporting portion 340 can support the tray 20 by being in surface contact with the tray 20, but it is not limited thereto. The tray supporting portion 340 can support the tray 20 at a distance from the bottom surface of the tray 20.

Further, the tray supporting portions 340 may be formed of one or a plurality of tray supporting portions 340.

The process module 300 may be configured to apply power to the process module 300 to perform the substrate processing. In this case, the process module 300 may have various configurations according to the power application method. For example, One or more RF power sources, one or more LF power sources, etc. may be applied to constitute the upper power source, and the tray supporting unit 340 may be grounded to constitute the lower power source.

Meanwhile, the process module 300 may perform a cleaning process to remove deposits deposited on the inner wall of the vacuum chamber 310 by repeating the substrate process, and the cleaning process may include a remote plasma generator (RPG) (Not shown) to the processing space S through the showerhead 330. The showerhead 330 may be provided with a plurality of processing chambers.

The process module 300 includes a tray lifting unit 320 for lifting up and down the tray tray 20 to move up and down the tray 20 in order to exchange the tray 20 with the vacuum preparation module 200 .

For example, the tray lifting unit 320 includes an elevation driving unit 321 for moving the tray supporting unit 340 supporting the tray 20 up and down; When the tray 20 is pulled into the vacuum chamber 310 and supports the edge of the tray 20 and is moved in the lateral direction when the tray 20 is lifted and lowered by the lifting and lowering driving portion 321, A tray inlet 322 for releasing the tray; And a tray discharging part 323 for supporting the edge of the tray 20 transmitted by the lifting drive part 321 and discharging the edge of the tray 20 to the unloading part 220 of the vacuum preliminary module 200.

The tray receiving portion 322 and the tray discharging portion 323 can be configured in various manners depending on the manner of supporting and moving the tray 20, and as shown in FIGS. 2, 4A and 4B, And a drive module 322b or 323b for driving the support modules 322a and 323a and support modules 322a and 323a such as a module or a conveyor belt module.

The driving modules 322b and 323b may be configured in various ways according to the driving method and may be connected to the supporting modules 322a and 323a provided inside the vacuum chamber 310 without affecting the vacuum pressure of the vacuum chamber 310. [ Or may be installed inside the vacuum chamber 310.

The tray inlet portion 322 includes support modules 322a and 323a for supporting the tray 20 when the tray 20 is drawn into the vacuum chamber 310. Supporting modules 322a and 323a are installed on the tray The tray 20 is in a position capable of supporting the tray 20 as shown in FIG. 4A when the tray 20 is pulled into the vacuum chamber 310. Then, as shown in FIG. 4B, That is to say in a transverse direction so that its movement is not interfered when it is lowered.

The lifting and lowering driving unit 321 can be configured in various manners such as a screw jack and a hydraulic cylinder, which are linear moving devices, for moving the tray 20 up and down while supporting the tray 20.

The lifting and lowering driving unit 321 is spaced apart from the tray supporting unit 340 when the tray 20 is pulled in or out and installed so as to be movable relative to the heat transfer unit 340 so as to be in surface contact when cooling or heating . The tray supporting part 340 may have various configurations according to the configuration of the lifting and driving part 321.

The tray inserting portion 322 and the tray discharging portion 323 may be configured to be lowered together with the tray supporting portion 340.

The tray receiving portion 322 and the tray discharging portion 323 may be mounted on one or both sides of the tray supporting portion 340 as one supporting module and may be moved up and down by the elevating driving portion 321.

On the other hand, in the substrate processing system, the tray 20 on which the substrate 10 is mounted needs to be repaired or replaced, for example, by-products are deposited and removed during repeated substrate processing.

Therefore, the substrate processing system needs to be configured to allow the tray 20 to be taken out to the outside for maintenance or replacement of the tray 20. For example, the bottom of the unloading locker 220 may include an unloading locker 220, The vacuum preliminary module 200 may be configured to be detachable from the body of the tray 20 in order to repair or replace the tray 20 in the lower space thereof as shown in FIGS. 2, 3A and 3B. And a bottom surface elevating portion 228 for elevating and lowering the bottom portion 227 of the unloading lock portion 220 so as to carry out the unloading lock portion 220 to the outside.

The bottom portion 227 of the unloading lock portion 220 is detachably coupled to the lower portion of the load lock chamber 232 with a sealing member interposed therebetween.

3 (b), the lower side of the substrate exchange module 100 or the processing module 300 for transferring the tray 20 placed on the bottom portion 227 lowered by the bottom surface elevating portion 228, The bottom surface 227 of the unloading lock part 220 may be lowered by the bottom surface elevating part 228 and then the moving path 229 may be provided to receive the tray 20.

The movement path 229 may be configured to be capable of transporting the tray 20 such as a roller or a belt, and may be installed to be transported to the carriage 500, as shown in FIG.

Further, a cleaning module (not shown) for cleaning at least one of the upper surface and the lower surface of the tray 20 may be additionally provided on the movement path 229.

The cleaning module can be any structure as long as it can clean the back tray 20 configured to remove sediments by friction with the upper or lower surface of the tray 20 such as a brush, (Not designated by reference numerals) or the like.

It should be understood that the present invention is not limited to the above embodiments and various changes and modifications may be apparent to those skilled in the art.

It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various modifications and variations can be made in the present invention without departing from the spirit or scope of the invention as defined in the appended claims. It is to be understood that both the technical idea and the technical spirit of the invention are included in the scope of the present invention.

1 is a top view of a substrate processing system in accordance with the present invention.

Figure 2 is a side view of the substrate processing system of Figure 1;

3A is a cross-sectional view showing a vacuum preliminary module of the substrate processing system of FIG.

Figures 4A and 4B are cross-sectional views showing process modules of the substrate processing system of Figure 1;

Figure 5 is a top view of the process module of Figure 4a.

Description of Reference Numerals to Main Parts of the Drawings *****

100: Substrate exchange module 200: Vacuum reserve module

300: Process module

Claims (15)

A vacuum preliminary module for receiving a tray on which at least one substrate to be subjected to the substrate processing is loaded and for discharging a tray on which the substrate having been processed is mounted; And a process module for transferring the tray loaded with the substrate from the vacuum preliminary module to the substrate loaded on the tray and for transferring the tray to the vacuum preliminary module after the substrate process is completed, The vacuum preliminary module A load lock unit that receives the tray and transfers the tray to the process module; And an unloading lock portion provided below the load lock portion to receive and discharge the tray from the process module, And the bottom of the unloading lock portion is detachable from the body of the unloading lock portion. delete The method according to claim 1, And the load lock portion and the unload lock portion are isolated from each other. The method according to claim 1, Wherein the load lock portion is further provided with a heating portion for heating the substrates mounted on the tray, and the unloading portion is further provided with a cooling portion for cooling substrates mounted on the tray. delete The method according to claim 1, Wherein the vacuum preliminary module further includes a bottom surface elevation portion for elevating the bottom portion to take out the tray to the outside for replacement or maintenance of the tray in the lower space. The method of claim 6, On the lower side of the process module And a movement path for receiving the tray after the bottom surface of the unloading lock portion is lowered by the bottom surface elevating portion. The method of claim 7, Wherein a cleaning module for cleaning at least one of an upper surface and a lower surface of the tray is additionally provided in the movement path. The method according to any one of claims 1, 3, 4 and 6 to 8, The process module A vacuum chamber forming a closed processing space and having a first gate receiving a tray from the load lock portion of the vacuum preliminary module and a second gate releasing the tray to the unload lock portion of the vacuum preliminary module; A shower head installed above the vacuum chamber for spraying gas for substrate processing; A tray support installed in the vacuum chamber to support the tray; And a tray elevating part installed in the vacuum chamber to raise and lower the tray supporting part. The method of claim 9, The tray elevating portion An elevation driving unit for moving the tray supporting unit vertically; A tray receiving part for supporting the edge of the tray when the tray is drawn into the vacuum chamber and being laterally moved when the tray is lifted and lowered by the lifting and lowering driving part to release support of the tray; And a tray discharge unit for supporting the edge of the tray transferred by the lifting and lowering driving unit and discharging the edge of the tray to the unloading and locking unit of the vacuum preliminary module. The method of claim 10, Wherein the tray inlet includes a support module for supporting the tray when the tray is drawn into the vacuum chamber, Wherein the support module is in a position capable of supporting the tray when it is pulled into the vacuum chamber and is supported by the lifting and lowering part so that it is moved in the lateral direction so that its movement is not interfered when the tray is lowered. system. The method according to any one of claims 1, 3, 4 and 6 to 8, The vacuum preliminary module is connected to the vacuum preliminary module and receives the tray from the unloading lock portion of the vacuum preliminary module, unloads at least one substrate having undergone substrate processing from the tray, loads one or more substrates to be subjected to substrate processing, Further comprising a substrate exchange module for transferring the substrate to the lock portion. delete delete delete

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