KR102070618B1 - Equipment Front End Module of Easy Maintenance - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to an easy-to-maintain EFEM that can easily replace a filter while extending the filter life.
According to the present invention, a load port module is installed at a front surface thereof, a main body portion having a substrate transfer chamber therein, a duct portion installed at an outer surface of the body portion to circulate gas located inside the substrate transfer chamber, and one surface thereof is opened. A chemical filter can be accommodated inside, one side is connected to the duct part, the filter part is formed on the other side of the perforated hole and the gas filtering pipe to communicate with the perforation hole on the outer surface, the circulating gas piping to communicate with the substrate transfer chamber, from the outside It includes a purge gas pipe receiving the supplied purge gas and a gas flow pipe communicating with the gas discharge pipe for discharging the purge gas to the outside.
The present invention can easily replace the chemical filter of the filter portion, and has the feature that can extend the service life of the filter.

Description

Equipment Front End Module of Easy Maintenance

The present invention relates to an easy maintenance EFEM that can easily replace the filter while extending the filter life.

The semiconductor wafer is processed through a deposition process for forming electrical characteristics on the wafer, an exposure process for forming a fine circuit pattern on the wafer, an etching process for removing portions other than the formed circuit pattern, and a cleaning process for washing off the removed portions. do.

This wafer processing process is a series of steps by connecting a number of semiconductor equipment. Each step of the wafer processing line is operated by connecting a plurality of equipment into one and automatically moving the processed wafer to the next step.

In general, each step of the process line is a transfer robot for transferring a front opening unified pod (FOUP) containing a plurality of wafers, LPM (Load Port Module) to open the cover of the FOUP after fixing the FOUP, a plurality of wafers sequentially EFEM (Equipment Front End Module) for removing and transferring to the load lock chamber and TM (Transfer Module) for transferring the substrate from the load lock chamber to the process chamber are connected. Here, the plurality of wafers loaded in the FOUP are sequentially moved to the process chamber through various equipment, processed, and then loaded again.

At this time, the first processed wafer among the wafers loaded in the FOUP waits for the FOUP until the last processed wafer returns to the FOUP.

The wafers processed before the last wafer processed are exposed to the atmosphere of the EFEM while being exposed to airborne molecular contamination (AMC) for a long time, such as moisture and ozone in the air of the EFEM.

In particular, moisture among the molecular contaminants causes a problem of oxidizing the wafer surface, condensing the etching gas remaining on the surface, and attaching a patterned circuit.

At present, various methods and apparatuses for removing moisture in the chamber of the EFEM have been developed to solve such problems. In addition, as shown in FIG. 9 of the present specification, it is being developed for an EFEM having a structure for supplying nitrogen to the EFEM and installing a filter for removing molecular contaminants.

However, the EFEM having a filter installed on the majority of devices and sides developed has a problem that the replacement cycle of the filter to remove molecular contaminants is short. In other words, most of the devices developed show a constant removal efficiency, and the faster the fluid flow through the filter, the faster the replacement cycle.

Most of the devices developed as shown in the graph shown in FIG. 10 exhibit a shorter filter life (the leftmost line) compared to the reference filter lifeline (the rightmost line).

In addition, the structure in which the filter is installed on the majority of the developed side has a problem of insufficient buffer attachment space on the EFEM side, there is a problem that the replacement of the filter is not easy.

Republic of Korea Patent Publication No. 10-2003-0001542

The technical problem to be solved by the present invention is to provide an easy-to-maintain EFEM that can improve the performance of the filter and increase the use time while maintaining the filter installed in the EFEM.

The technical problem of the present invention is not limited to the above-mentioned problems, and other technical problems not mentioned will be clearly understood by those skilled in the art from the following description.

Easy maintenance EFEM of the present invention for achieving the above technical problem is a load port module is installed on the front, the main body portion having a substrate transfer chamber therein;

A duct part installed on an outer surface of the main body part to circulate a gas located inside the substrate transfer chamber;

A filter unit having one side open to accommodate the chemical filter therein, wherein the one side is connected to the duct unit, and a perforation hole is formed at the other side; And

A gas filtering pipe communicating with the perforation hole on the outer side, a circulating gas pipe communicating with the substrate transfer chamber, a purge gas pipe receiving the purge gas supplied from the outside, and a gas discharge pipe discharging the purge gas to the outside It includes a gas flow piping.

The main body unit includes a fan filter unit formed by integrally forming a fan and a filter at the upper end, and the duct unit is formed to have a length equal to or greater than a height at which the fan filter unit is installed, and includes at least one opening and closing unit and installed at the rear of the main body unit. Can be.

The filter part may include a housing in which at least one handle part is formed at one surface and an opening at one surface thereof to form an accommodation space for accommodating the chemical filter, and at least one perforation hole formed at the other surface.

The chemical filter may be inserted into an accommodation space of the housing and be fixed by at least one screw to the housing and the duct portion.

The housing may include a first valve housing formed with an opening hole overlapping the perforated hole, a first valve installed between the perforated hole and the first valve housing, and a first pipe formed on one surface of the first valve housing. Can be connected with the connection.

A second valve may be installed in the purge gas pipe to control the amount of gas flowing into the gas flow pipe, and a third valve may be installed to control the amount of gas discharged to the outside of the gas discharge pipe.

The third valve is fixed between a third valve housing having a space formed therein and a third valve housing cover connected to an upper end of the third valve housing.

The third valve housing cover may include a third pipe connection part connected to the gas discharge pipe at an upper end thereof.

Easy-to-maintain EFEM according to the invention facilitates maintenance of the filter. In addition, the simple change of the filter shape can easily improve the performance of the filter. In addition, the side buffer can be installed on the side of the EFEM without any problem.

1 is a perspective view of an easy maintenance EFEM according to an embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view taken along line AA ′ of the easy-to-maintain EFEM of FIG. 1.
3 is a view illustrating a state in which the filter unit and the third valve of FIG. 1 are coupled to each other.
4 is a view illustrating a state in which the filter unit and the third valve of FIG. 3 are coupled to each other.
FIG. 5 is a view illustrating a state in which purge gas circulates in a cross section taken along line B-B 'of the easy-to-maintain EFEM of FIG. 1.
FIG. 6 is a flowchart illustrating an operation sequence of the EFEM that is easy to maintain in FIG. 1.
FIG. 7 is a view illustrating an operation process of the EFEM that is easy to maintain in FIG. 1.
FIG. 8 is a graph showing results of concentration change over time of the easy-to-maintain EFEM of FIG. 1.
9 and 10 are views showing the state and characteristics of the conventional EFEM.

Advantages and features of the present invention and methods for achieving them will be apparent with reference to the embodiments described below in detail with the accompanying drawings. As those skilled in the art would realize, the described embodiments may be modified in various different ways, all without departing from the spirit or scope of the present invention. It is provided to fully inform the person of the scope of the invention.

The invention may be defined by the claims, including the claims, and the description supporting the claims. In addition, the same reference numerals throughout the specification refer to the same components.

Hereinafter, an EFEM that is easy to maintain according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to FIGS. 1 to 8. However, in order to make the description succinct and clear, referring to the overall FIGS. 1 to 4, the components of the EFEM that are easy to maintain and the EFEM that are easy to maintain are described. The procedure is explained in full detail.

1 is a perspective view of an easy maintenance EFEM according to an embodiment of the present invention, Figure 2 is a cross-sectional view taken along line AA 'of the easy maintenance EFEM of Figure 1, Figure 3 is a filter of Figure 1 FIG. 4 is a view illustrating a state in which a part and a third valve are coupled, and FIG. 4 is a view illustrating a state in which the filter unit and the third valve of FIG. 3 are coupled to each other.

EFEM (1) easy to maintain according to an embodiment of the present invention, after the nitrogen (N ₂ ) is put into the substrate transfer chamber (B, see Fig. 5), the nitrogen is circulated to the rear surface and remaining in the substrate transfer chamber It can reduce the amount of residual molecular pollutants (AMC). In particular, the removable filter unit 30 is installed on the rear surface of the EFEM (1), which is easy to maintain, which can shorten the replacement time of the filter compared to the conventional EFEM. The filter unit 30 is installed on the rear side so that the side buffer can be easily installed on the side.

This easy maintenance EFEM includes a main body 10, a duct 20, a filter 30 and the gas flow pipe 40 as a component. The fan filter unit 11 (see FIG. 6) installed in the main body 10, the opening and closing portion 21 installed in the duct 20, the first valve 325 connected to the filter 30, and the purge gas piping ( The third valve 443 and the like connected to 43 may be included as a component.

Hereinafter, the components of the EFEM which are easy to maintain will be described in more detail.

The main body 10 is a device that removes the substrate from the pull (not shown) seated on the load port module (A) installed on the front and transfers to the load lock chamber (not shown) installed on the back.

On the inner surface of the main body 10 is formed a substrate transfer chamber B including an ATM (Atmosphere) robot for removing the wafer from the pool, and a fan filter unit 11 in which a fan and a filter are integrally formed. Here, the ATM robot is installed at the lower end of the substrate transfer chamber (B) to quickly move the wafer from the FOUP to the load lock chamber, the fan filter unit 11 is installed at the upper end to the duct unit 20 It can be cycled through to quickly lower the nitrogen located above.

Duct portion 20 is formed of a hollow tube inside the outer surface of the body portion 10 is installed and the filter portion 30 is installed inside. Here, the filter unit 30 may be installed at the lower and upper portions, respectively, to filter out molecular pollutants.

In particular, the duct portion 20 is formed on the rear surface of the main body 10 to the height from the bottom to the upper end, and the filter portion 30 is installed on the lower and upper portions respectively, the molecular shape on the substrate transfer chamber (B) Contaminants can be doubled and only nitrogen can be sent back to the substrate transfer chamber (B).

In addition, the lower opening and closing portion 21a and the upper portion at the position where the filter portion 30 is installed in the duct portion 20 so that an operator can easily replace the filter portion 30 installed in the lower portion and the filter portion 30 provided in the upper portion. The opening and closing part 21b is formed.

The filter unit 30 filters out molecular contaminants among nitrogen and molecular contaminants. The filter unit 30 may be, for example, formed in a shape of 150 mm long, 200 mm long, and 300 mm high and connected to the duct unit 20.

However, the shape of the filter unit 30 is not limited thereto. The filter unit 30 can be changed in various ways as needed. For example, the filter part 30 may be formed in a shape in which a horizontal length is extended to a lower end space of the main body part 10. The filter unit 30 may increase the performance and life of filtering out molecular contaminants.

The filter unit 30 includes a chemical filter 31 for filtering molecular contaminants and a housing 32 for receiving the chemical filter 31 and fixing the chemical filter 31 to the duct unit 20.

Here, the chemical filter 31 includes at least one handle portion 311 protruding in a direction parallel to the bottom surface on one surface. The handle part 311 is formed so that a predetermined space is formed from one surface of the chemical filter 31 so that an operator can easily grip by hand. In addition, the handle part 311 may have a plurality of protrusions formed on the surface thereof to increase frictional force.

In addition, the housing 32 includes a receiving space 321 formed by opening one surface. The housing 32 accommodates the chemical filter 31 in the accommodation space 321. Here, the housing 32 is formed with a plurality of screw holes. The housing 32 may be connected to the chemical filter 31 and connected to the duct part 20 through a plurality of screws 50. In addition, the housing 32 has at least one perforation hole 322 formed on the other surface thereof and is connected to the gas flow pipe 40.

The gas flow pipe 40 may discharge various gases flowing on the main body 10 to the outside of the main body 10 or filter some gas to circulate only nitrogen.

The gas flow pipe part 40 is formed in a hollow shape and is connected to the plurality of pipes on the outer surface. At this time, the pipe connected to the outer surface is a gas filtering pipe 41 in communication with the perforation hole 322 of the housing, the circulating gas pipe 42 in communication with the substrate transfer chamber (B), purge gas supplied from the outside, It becomes a purge gas pipe 43 which receives nitrogen, and the gas discharge pipe 44 which discharges purge gas to the outside. Here, one end of the gas filtering pipe 41 is connected to the perforation hole 322 of the housing, and the other end thereof is connected to the outer circumferential surface of the gas flow pipe part 40.

The gas filtering pipe 41 may be formed in a hollow curved shape.

A first valve housing 323, a perforation hole 322, and a first valve housing 323 formed with an opening hole 324 overlapping the perforation hole 322 between the gas filtering pipe 41 and the perforation hole 322. A first pipe connection part 326 formed on one surface of the first valve 325 and the first valve housing 323 installed therebetween and having a connection hole 327 overlapping the opening hole 324 may be installed. have. Here, the first valve 325 may be a circulation valve, that is, a circulation valve shown in FIG. 7.

The gas filtering pipe 41 may be more firmly connected to the housing 32 through the first pipe connection part 326 and the first valve housing 323, and may be moved from the gas filtering pipe 41 to the housing 32. The amount of gas to be made can be easily adjusted by the first valve 325.

In addition, the circulating gas pipe 42 may be connected to the exhaust box 421 (see FIG. 7) formed at the lower end of the substrate transfer chamber B. The circulating gas pipe 42 may transfer the gas collected in the exhaust gas to the filter unit 30 via the gas flow pipe unit 40.

The purge gas pipe 43 is a pipe for moving purge gas, ie, nitrogen, supplied from the outside to the gas flow pipe part 40. The purge gas pipe 43 may include a second valve 32 to adjust the amount of purge gas flowing from the outside to the gas flow pipe 40.

The gas discharge pipe 44 is a pipe for discharging the gas in the gas flow pipe 40 to the outside. The gas discharge pipe 44 may be connected to the outer circumferential surface of the gas flow pipe part 40 once, and the other end thereof may be connected to the discharge pipe located at the lower end of the main body part 10.

Here, between the gas discharge pipe 44 and the external pipe is fixed between the third valve housing 453 and the third valve housing cover 454 connected to the upper end of the third valve housing, the space is formed inside, the third A third pipe connection part 455 connected to the upper end of the valve housing cover 454 may be installed.

The gas discharge pipe 44 is connected to the third pipe connection part 455 installed at the lower end of the main body 10, and may be more firmly connected to the third valve housing 453 and the discharge pipe, and the third valve ( 443) to control the amount of gas to the discharge pipe can be discharged. Here, the third valve 443 may be an exhaust valve, that is, an exhaust valve.

Hereinafter, the circulation state of the purge gas in the EFEM which is easy to maintain will be described with reference to FIGS. 5 to 7.

FIG. 5 is a view illustrating a state in which purge gas circulates in a cross section taken along line B-B 'of the easy-to-maintain EFEM of FIG. 1, and FIG. 7 is a flowchart illustrating an operation state of the EFEM that is easy to maintain in FIG. 1. FIG. 8 is a graph showing results of concentration change with time of the EFEM for easy maintenance of FIG. 1.

EFEM (1), which is easy to maintain, circulates nitrogen (N ₂ ) introduced into the substrate transfer chamber (B) through the gas flow piping unit (40) through the duct unit (20) installed on the rear side. In this case, the filter unit 30 installed in the duct unit 20 may trap molecular pollutants (AMC) flowing with the nitrogen.

In addition, the EFEM (1), which is easy to maintain, includes a mass flow controller (MFC) to control the amount of nitrogen and clean dried air (CDA) and to supply the inside of the substrate transfer chamber (B). Can be. The duct part 20 is installed in the back of the main body part 10 of the EFEM 1 which is easy to maintain, and the filter part 30 is easily installed in the duct part 20 so that an operator can remove the filter part. Maintenance of the 30 can be facilitated.

In particular, the filter unit 30 may be easily installed in the duct unit 20 by changing the length of the width in a direction corresponding to the lateral side of the duct unit to improve the filtering performance of molecular contaminants.

This easy maintenance EFEM (1) is a step of operating the equipment in a large stop state (S110), the step of entering nitrogen into the substrate transfer chamber (B) (S120) and nitrogen filled in the substrate transfer chamber (B) In step S130, the chemical filter 31 may be maintained in operation S140. At this time, in step S110, the operator closes the first valve 325, which is a circulation valve, opens the third valve 433, which is an exhaust valve, and causes the fan filter unit 11 to be in an inoperative state. In addition, the operator opens the second valve 432 to allow nitrogen to flow into the substrate transfer chamber B from the outside through the exhaust gas pipe 432, and drives a suction, which is an exhaust device connected to the exhaust valve. The amount of oxygen inside the substrate transfer chamber B is 0.1% or less and the humidity amount is 5% or less.

In operation S120, the operator opens the first valve 325, which is a circulation valve, to supply nitrogen, and operates the fan filter unit 11 to circulate the supplied nitrogen. In operation S130, the operator adjusts the opening / closing amount of the first valve 325, which is a circulation valve, and the third valve 433, which is an exhaust valve, and moves the substrate while looking at an oxygen sensor and a humidity sensor installed inside the substrate transfer chamber B. The amount of internal oxygen and humidity on the chamber B are adjusted.

Thereafter, when the internal oxygen amount and the humidity amount on the substrate transfer chamber B reach the target values, the operator completely closes the circulation valve and completely opens the exhaust valve, thereby releasing nitrogen on the substrate transfer chamber B through the exhaust device. Allow it to be completely discharged to the outside of the main body.

Thereafter, the operator completely closes the exhaust valve and completely opens the circulation valve, and supplies clean dry air (CDA) from the outside into the substrate transfer chamber B. Here, the clean dry air used may be a gas used to prevent asphyxiation by nitrogen when the operator opens the opening and closing part thereafter.

The operator opens and closes the opening and closing portion 21 when the clean and dry air is sufficiently filled into the substrate transfer chamber B, and separates the chemical filter 31 of the filter portion 30 from the duct portion 20 and maintains it. . In particular, the EFEM (1), which is easy to maintain, closes the first valve (325) and adjusts the opening / closing amount of the third valve (433), which is an exhaust valve, in step S110, so that oxygen in the substrate transfer chamber (B) is maintained. It can quickly reduce the concentration of and the concentration of humidity.

As shown in FIG. 8, the easy-maintenance EFEM 1 maintains the opening amount of the third valve 433 at 20% for about 4 minutes after the first valve 325 is closed. If the state is reduced to 10% after 4 minutes, the oxygen concentration in the substrate transfer chamber B can be reduced from about 48% to 0.16% at 8 minutes, and the humidity concentration inside the substrate transfer chamber B is maintained. The amount can be reduced from 7.20% to 7.73%. Thereafter, after 8 minutes, the oxygen concentration may be reduced to 0.16% or less and the humidity concentration may be reduced to 6.31% or less.

That is, the EFEM 1 which is easy to maintain can quickly reduce the amount of humidity and the amount of oxygen inside the main body 10 at the initial stage of facility operation.

Although the embodiments of the present invention have been described above with reference to the accompanying drawings, those skilled in the art to which the present invention pertains may implement the present invention in other specific forms without changing the technical spirit or essential features thereof. I can understand that. Therefore, it should be understood that the embodiments described above are exemplary in all respects and not restrictive.

1: Easy Maintenance EFEM 10: Main Body
11: Fan Filter Unit
20: duct portion 30: filter portion
31: chemical filter 311: handle portion
32: housing
321: accommodation space 322: perforation hole
323: first valve housing 324: opening hole
325: first valve 326: first pipe connection
40: gas flow piping 41: gas filtering piping
42: circulating gas piping 43: purge gas piping
432: second valve
44: gas discharge pipe 443: third valve
453: third valve housing 454: third valve housing cover
445: third pipe connection 50: screw
A: load port module B: substrate transfer chamber

Claims (7)

A main body unit in which a load port module is installed at a front surface, and a substrate transfer chamber is present therein;
A duct part installed on an outer surface of the main body part to circulate a gas located inside the substrate transfer chamber;
A filter unit having one side open to accommodate the chemical filter therein, wherein the one side is connected to the duct unit, and a perforation hole is formed at the other side; And
A gas filtering pipe communicating with the perforation hole on the outer side, a circulating gas pipe communicating with the substrate transfer chamber, a purge gas pipe receiving the purge gas supplied from the outside, and a gas discharge pipe discharging the purge gas to the outside Including a gas flow piping that is,
The second valve is installed in the purge gas pipe to adjust the amount of gas flowing through the gas flow pipe portion, the third valve is installed in the gas discharge pipe to adjust the amount of gas discharged to the outside, easy maintenance One EFEM. The method of claim 1,
The main body unit includes a fan filter unit formed by integrally forming a fan and a filter at the upper end, and the duct unit is formed to have a length equal to or greater than a height at which the fan filter unit is installed, and includes at least one opening and closing unit and installed at the rear of the main body unit. Easy maintenance EFEM. The method of claim 1,
The filter part is easy to maintain EFEM including a chemical filter formed with at least one handle portion on one surface and an opening on one surface to accommodate the chemical filter, and a housing having at least one perforated hole formed on the other surface. . The method of claim 3,
The chemical filter is inserted into the receiving space of the housing, easy maintenance EFEM is fixed to the housing and the duct by at least one screw. The method of claim 3,
The housing may include a first valve housing formed with an opening hole overlapping the perforated hole, a first valve installed between the perforated hole and the first valve housing, and a first pipe formed on one surface of the first valve housing. Easy maintenance EFEM with connection. delete The method of claim 1,
The third valve,
It is fixed between the third valve housing having a space formed therein and the third valve housing cover connected to the upper end of the third valve housing,
The third valve housing cover is easy to maintain EFEM including a third pipe connection portion connected to the gas discharge pipe in the upper end.

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