KR20030006825A - Loadlock chamber capable of judging bar code attached to a wafer cassette - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: A loadlock chamber capable of reading a bar code attached to a wafer cassette is provided to prevent a process accident caused by an operator's mistake by reading the bar code of the wafer cassette inside the loadlock chamber. CONSTITUTION: A wafer is processed according to a predetermined fabricating process in a process chamber. Wafers to be processed in the process chamber and wafers processed in the process chamber are temporarily stored in the loadlock chamber(10). The loadlock chamber includes a detecting unit for discriminating the wafer cassette containing the wafers.

Description

LOADLOCK CHAMBER CAPABLE OF JUDGING BAR CODE ATTACHED TO A WAFER CASSETTE}

The present invention relates to a semiconductor manufacturing facility. More specifically, the present invention relates to a load lock chamber.

In semiconductor wafer fabrication, several wafers are temporarily stored in a wafer cassette and transferred between manufacturing and processing device locations. At the processing device location, the wafer cassette is manually or automatically loaded into a loadlock chamber of the processing device where the wafer can be unloaded during processing, or a factory robot unloads the wafers from the wafer cassette one by one The wafer can be loaded into a fixed temporary storage cassette located in a load lock chamber.

In the former case where the wafer cassette is manually loaded, the cassette is generally rotated so that it is accessible only from one side and the system robot can access the wafer directly along an extension path extending perpendicular to the accessible side of the cassette. In the latter case, where the factory robot individually loads and unloads the wafer between the wafer cassette and a fixed cassette located in the load lock chamber, the cassette can be accessed from several sides, which is "pass-through". It is called a cassette. In this case, if the cassette is arranged along a common axis extending perpendicular to the side accessible to the respective through cassette of the factory robot and the system robot, the through cassette can be integratedly accessed by the factory robot and the system robot. .

Penetrating cassettes are advantageous over cassettes that are accessible only on one side, because the penetrating cassettes can efficiently process wafers inside and outside the processing apparatus.

In order to increase the processing efficiency, a processing apparatus having several load lock chambers in which loading and unloading operations can be simultaneously performed by the factory robot and the system robot is preferable. In this case, a number of load lock chambers are located around an approximately cylindrical (multiple) wafer transfer chamber, within which a simple R-theta type robot (i.e., an extended shrinkage). And a robot that freely performs two functions of rotation. Simple al-theta robots are preferred because they can rotate and unload wafers from any processing chamber arranged around the transfer chamber.

The previously described wafer processing apparatus is described in Korean Patent Publication No. 94-0018900, filed December 16, 1993 entitled "Semiconductor Wafer Cassette Device and Wafer Support and Transfer System for Loading and Unloading Semiconductor Wafers Directly". It is disclosed in detail as. Another example of a load lock chamber is disclosed in Korean Patent Publication No. 98-073613 filed March 17, 1997 entitled "Door opening and closing device of the load lock chamber".

As described above, the load lock chamber is generally installed in a vacuum processing apparatus, for example, an etching apparatus, a dry etching apparatus, a deposition apparatus, and the like, and is a facility for temporarily storing a wafer cassette to be processed. One side of such a load lock chamber is provided with a vacuum-sealed door to maintain the vacuum state of the processor equipment to proceed with the process, and to insert the wafer cassette of the previous process is completed into the load lock chamber. Such doors normally move up and down by air cylinders to close or open the load lock chamber.

1 is a cross-sectional view schematically showing configurations of a typical wafer fabrication facility, and FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing an external structure of a load lock chamber according to the prior art. Referring to FIG. 1, a wafer fabrication facility includes a plurality of process chambers; Load lock chambers are disposed corresponding to each process chamber. The operator loads the wafer cassette into the load lock chamber using a defined worker passageway. As shown in Figure 2, the outer surface of the load lock chamber 10 is provided with a door 11, the detailed internal structure of the load lock chamber is disclosed in detail in the aforementioned Republic of Korea Patent Publication No. 98-073613 It is.

Wafers are currently used in the manufacturing process where the wafers are transferred to a pre-process load lock chamber by an operator or transfer robot. In this case, when the wafer cassette is transferred by an operator, a case of transferring a wafer cassette including another wafer instead of the wafer cassette including the wafer to be processed may occur. As a result, other wafer cassettes may be transported due to the operator's mistake and cause an accident in the process.

An object of the present invention relates to a semiconductor manufacturing facility having a load lock chamber capable of determining whether a loaded wafer cassette is a cassette suitable for process progression.

1 is a block diagram illustrating a semiconductor manufacturing facility having a load lock chamber according to the prior art;

2 is a perspective view schematically showing the outer structure of the load lock chamber according to the prior art; And

3 is a perspective view schematically showing the outer structure of the load lock chamber according to the present invention.

Explanation of symbols on the main parts of the drawings

10: load lock chamber 11: door

20: sensor

According to one aspect of the present invention for achieving the above-mentioned various objects, a semiconductor manufacturing facility includes a process chamber for processing a wafer according to a predetermined manufacturing process; And a load lock chamber for temporarily storing the wafers to be processed in the process chamber and the wafers to be processed in the process chamber, wherein the load lock chamber includes sensing means for identifying a wafer cassette in which the wafers are contained. Include.

In this embodiment, the sensing means is installed in the load lock chamber.

According to such a facility, it is possible to prevent a process accident due to an operator error by reading a barcode of a wafer cassette in a load lock chamber.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Preferred embodiments of the present invention will now be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

In the semiconductor manufacturing equipment according to the present invention, a load lock chamber is provided with a sensor as a sensing means. The sensor reads the bar code of the wafer cassette transferred into the load lock chamber. When the bar code to be read refers to a wafer cassette corresponding to the process to be processed at present, the process will proceed normally. However, when the bar code to be read does not mean a wafer cassette corresponding to a process to be progressed at present, that is, when the bar code to be read means a wafer cassette corresponding to a process different from the process to be processed at present, Do not let this proceed.

In the above, the configuration and operation of the circuit according to the present invention has been shown in accordance with the above description and drawings, but this is only an example, and various changes and modifications can be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention. Of course.

As described above, by reading the barcode of the wafer cassette in the load lock chamber, it is possible to prevent a process accident due to an operator error.

Claims (2)

A process chamber for processing the wafer according to a predetermined manufacturing process; And A load lock chamber for temporarily storing wafers to be processed in the process chamber and wafers to be processed in the process chamber, And the load lock chamber comprises sensing means for identifying a wafer cassette in which the wafers are contained. The method of claim 1, And the sensing means is installed in the load lock chamber.