KR200372088Y1 - Aligner system of semiconductor substrate - Google Patents

Abstract

A semiconductor substrate aligner system is disclosed. The semiconductor substrate aligner system according to the present invention is capable of seating a pair of aligners and a plurality of semiconductor substrates in a stacked structure in which a plurality of aligner units capable of aligning the semiconductor substrates are vertically spaced apart from each other. And a transfer unit capable of mounting and transferring a plurality of semiconductor substrates at one time between the cassette and the aligners. Here, the transfer unit includes a first finger set for transferring the semiconductor substrates between the odd slots of the cassette and one aligner and a second finger set for transferring the semiconductor substrates between the even slots of the cassette and the other aligner. do.

Description

Semiconductor substrate aligner system

The present invention relates to a semiconductor manufacturing apparatus, and more particularly, to a semiconductor substrate aligner system for aligning semiconductor substrates in a specific direction, for example in a flat zone direction.

Many steps are required to manufacture a semiconductor device using a semiconductor substrate, such as a silicon wafer. More specifically, to form a semiconductor device, a deposition process for forming a thin film, an ion implantation process for doping, a thermal oxidation or heat treatment process for forming an insulating film, and the like, and photolithography for pattern formation lithography and etching processes are repeated. Therefore, various manufacturing apparatuses are provided in the semiconductor production line in order to proceed with these processes.

Here, in processing semiconductor substrates, semiconductor manufacturing apparatuses process single or single batches of semiconductor substrates or batches of 25 or more batches of semiconductor substrates simultaneously processed in batches. There is.

In the latter batch processing of semiconductor substrates, the semiconductor substrates are loaded into a manufacturing apparatus in cassette units and processed simultaneously. At this time, each of the manufacturing apparatuses tends to have a uniform uniformity characteristic according to the loading region, so that the semiconductor substrates in the cassette need to be aligned in a predetermined direction before loading into the manufacturing apparatus. In general, semiconductor substrates have markings such as flat zones in which the circumference is cut straight for alignment, or notches in which portions of the circumference are recessed.

On the other hand, in the manufacturing apparatus for the single sheet processing of the former is equipped with its own aligner (loader) in many cases before the semiconductor substrate is sheet-aligned and loaded before loading into the chamber. However, even in this case, aligning the semiconductor substrates in the cassette in advance reduces errors in recognizing the semiconductor substrates.

Hereinafter, an apparatus and method for aligning semiconductor substrates in a conventional cassette will be described with reference to the drawings.

1 is a perspective view illustrating a semiconductor substrate alignment using a conventional semiconductor substrate aligner.

Referring to FIG. 1, a conventional semiconductor substrate aligner 100 is provided with a roller handle 100a capable of rotating a roller (not shown) below. Accordingly, when the cassette 160 containing the semiconductor substrates 150 is loaded onto the aligner 100, the operator rotates the roller handle 100a by hand to rotate the semiconductor substrates 150. The flat zones of the fields 150 are matched.

However, when the semiconductor substrates 150 are physically hit by the rollers to rotate the semiconductor substrates 150 as described above, fine particles may be generated by friction. When these particles fall on the surfaces of the semiconductor substrates 150, the formation of patterns (not shown) on the semiconductor substrates 150 may be hindered, thereby decreasing yield.

In addition, noise may be generated when the roller and the semiconductor substrates 150 physically collide with each other, or when the semiconductor substrates 150 physically collide with the cassette 160, and in extreme cases, the outer circumference of the semiconductor substrates 150. Scratch can occur in some cases. These scratches cause cracking of the semiconductor substrate in subsequent processing steps, resulting in poor yields, and contaminating the manufacturing equipment, resulting in poor device operating efficiency.

In addition, the problem of yield reduction due to particle contamination and scratches becomes more important as the degree of integration of semiconductor devices increases and the possibility of causing a pattern defect due to narrowing of circuit line width increases.

The present invention provides a semiconductor substrate aligner system capable of aligning a semiconductor substrate in a cassette with a high throughput while reducing particle contamination and scratch generation.

1 is a perspective view illustrating a semiconductor substrate alignment method using a conventional semiconductor substrate aligner.

2 is a perspective view showing a semiconductor substrate aligner system according to the present invention.

3 are side views illustrating the aligner of FIG. 2.

4 is a perspective view illustrating the aligner unit of FIG. 2.

5 is a perspective view showing the transfer unit of FIG. 2.

6 to 10 are perspective views illustrating a semiconductor substrate alignment method using a semiconductor substrate aligner system according to the present invention.

The semiconductor substrate aligner system according to the present invention for achieving the above technical problem, a pair of aligners and a plurality of aligners of a structure in which a plurality of aligner units capable of aligning the semiconductor substrate in a specific direction are stacked vertically And a transfer unit capable of transferring the semiconductor substrate between each of the aligners and a cassette capable of seating the semiconductor substrates in the slots.

The transfer unit may include a first finger set capable of mounting and transferring semiconductor substrates between odd slots of the cassette and a first aligner which is one of the aligners, even slots of the cassette and the aligner. A second finger set capable of mounting and transferring semiconductor substrates between a second aligner, the other of the liners, a robot arm connected with the first and second finger sets, and a robot body connected with the robot arm; .

Further, the fingers of the first finger set and the fingers of the second finger set are alternately vertically spaced one by one so as to be able to simultaneously transport semiconductor substrates in the odd and even slots of the cassette. Do.

Furthermore, it is further preferred that the robot arm of the transfer unit includes a foldable portion that can horizontally deploy or fold the first finger set and the second finger set.

Here, also, the separation distance between the aligner units, the separation distance between the fingers of the first finger set, and the separation distance between the fingers of the second finger set are determined by the separation distance between the slots of the cassette. It is desirable to be twice the same. The alternate separation distance between the fingers of the first finger set and the fingers of the second finger set is preferably equal to the separation distance between the slots of the cassette. Accordingly, a plurality of semiconductor substrates can be transferred between the aligners and the cassette by the transfer means at once without physical friction with the cassette or the aligners.

In addition, it is preferable that the system further includes a plurality of cassette stations in which the cassette can be mounted, which can simplify copper wire.

Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in detail by explaining a preferred embodiment according to the present invention with reference to the accompanying drawings. However, the present invention is not limited to the embodiments disclosed below, but will be implemented in a variety of different forms, only this embodiment to make the disclosure of the present invention complete, complete the scope of the invention to those skilled in the art It is provided to inform you. In the drawings, the components may be exaggerated in size for convenience of description.

2 is a perspective view showing a semiconductor substrate aligner system according to the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 2, the semiconductor substrate aligner system 200 according to the present invention seats a pair of aligners 210 and 220 and a semiconductor substrate 250 that may align a plurality of semiconductor substrates 250. And a transfer unit 230 capable of transferring the plurality of semiconductor substrates 250 at one time between the cassette 240 and the aligners 210 and 220.

The semiconductor substrate aligner system 200 also includes a cassette station (not shown) capable of loading two cassettes 240. Accordingly, it is possible to align the semiconductor substrates in the cassette 240 into one system 200 without a separate cassette supply device. Here, the two aligners 210 and 220 divide and align the semiconductor substrates contained in one cassette 240 at the same time, thereby significantly shortening the alignment time as compared with the case of aligning one by one. Thus, using the system 200, it is possible to have a processing speed similar to that of a conventional semiconductor substrate alignment system (100 in FIG. 1) using roller rotation. Hereinafter, the aligner 210 will be described in more detail.

3 is a side view illustrating the left aligner 210 of FIG. 2 by way of example. 3A is a side view seen from the rear side of the left aligner 210, and FIG. 3B is a side view seen from the front side of the left aligner 210, in which the semiconductor substrates 250 are loaded.

3A and 3B, the left aligner 210 includes alignment units 210a for aligning the semiconductor substrates 250 in a specific direction, for example, in a flat zone (250a in FIG. 4). The layers are vertically spaced apart from each other by a predetermined distance h1. At this time, the separation distance h1 of these aligner units 210a is larger than the separation distance (not shown) between the slots of the cassette (240 of FIG. 2). This is because the aligner unit 210a needs a space to which additional devices for aligning the semiconductor substrate are attached, as described later with reference to FIG. 4.

4 is a perspective view illustrating the aligner unit 210a of FIG. 3.

Referring to FIG. 4, the aligner unit 210a includes a flat zone recognition sensor 212 to align the semiconductor substrate 250 mounted thereon. In this case, when the semiconductor substrate 250 is mounted on the aligner unit 210a, the aligner unit 210a rotates the semiconductor substrate 250 by using a driving force such as a step motor (not shown) to recognize the flat zone. The sensor 212 recognizes the flat zone 250a of the semiconductor substrate 250. Here, the light emitting part for emitting light and the light receiving part for receiving light are opposed to each other in the flat zone recognition sensor 212, and the semiconductor substrate 250 is positioned therebetween. Accordingly, the flat zone 250a of the semiconductor substrate 250 may be recognized based on whether light is received.

Subsequently, when the flat zone 250a of the semiconductor substrate 250 reaches a specific position, the semiconductor substrate 250 may be aligned in a specific direction about the flat zone 250a by stopping the rotation of the semiconductor substrate 250. .

In addition, the aligner unit 210a may be provided with a vacuum chuck (not shown) capable of fixing the back side of the semiconductor substrate 250. Accordingly, no physical friction is applied to the semiconductor substrate 250 in the alignment process of the semiconductor substrate 250, so that no particles or scratches are generated and noise is not generated.

The above-described aligner unit 210a is exemplarily described for representing aligner units of aligners 210 and 220. All other aligner units have the same structure as the aligner unit 210a described above, and each of them can independently align the semiconductor substrate mounted thereon.

On the other hand, the right aligner (220 in Fig. 2) also has a structure basically the same as the left aligner (210 in Fig. 2) described above. However, the two aligners 210 and 220 may have different numbers of aligner units 210a, respectively. For example, if one cassette (240 in FIG. 2) contains 25 semiconductor substrates, one aligner 210 may include 13 aligner units 210a to align the 13 semiconductor substrates 250. The other aligner 220 may have twelve aligner units 210a to align twelve semiconductor substrates. As another example, when there are 26 semiconductor substrates in one cassette 240, the two aligners 210 and 220 may include thirteen aligner units 210a, respectively. However, the number of such aligner units 210a may be variously selected according to the number of semiconductor substrates and does not suggest the scope of the present invention.

5 is a perspective view illustrating the transfer unit 230 of FIG. 2.

Referring to FIG. 5, the transfer unit 230 may include finger sets capable of mounting the semiconductor substrates 250 to transfer the semiconductor substrates 250 of FIG. 2 into one cassette 240. 232 and 234 are provided. Here, the finger sets 232 and 234 are divided into two sets so as to divide the semiconductor substrates 250 contained in one cassette 240. Accordingly, the number of fingers 232a and 234a of the finger sets 232 and 234 may vary according to the number of semiconductor substrates 250 in one cassette 240. For example, if 25 semiconductor substrates are contained in one cassette 240, one finger set 232 may have 13 fingers and the other finger set 234 may have 12 fingers. Can be. As another example, in the case of 26 semiconductor substrates, the two finger sets 232 and 234 may include 13 fingers.

However, the number of fingers of these finger sets 232 and 234 matches the number of aligner units 210a and 220 of the aligners 210 and 220 to which the mounted semiconductor substrates 250 are transferred. It is desirable to. Accordingly, for example, one finger set 232 and one aligner 210 may correspond to each other, and the other finger set 234 and another aligner 220 may correspond to each other.

In addition, as illustrated in FIG. 5, the transfer unit 230 includes a robot arm 238 connected with the finger sets 232 and 234 and a robot body 239 connected with the robot arm 238. Here, the robot arm 238 can advance or reverse the finger sets 232, 234. This allows the finger sets 232 and 234 to access the cassette (240 in FIG. 2) or the aligners (210 and 220 in FIG. 2).

In addition, the robot arm 238 may be connected to the robot body 239 capable of rotating and vertical movement. Accordingly, the finger sets 232 and 234 connected to the robot arm 238 may rotate in the direction of the cassette 240 or the aligners 210 and 220, and also load or unload the semiconductor substrate 250. You can move it up and down to make it work. In other embodiments according to the present invention, the finger sets 232 and 234 may be in direct rotational motion or the robot arm 238 may rotate to rotate the finger sets 232 and 234.

Here, the fingers 232a and 234a of the finger sets 232 and 234 are preferably stacked one by one at a distance from each other. Further, the separation distance h2 between the fingers 232a of the left finger set 232 and the separation distance h3 between the fingers 234a of the right finger set 234 are the aligner units 210a of FIG. 3B. It is preferable that it is equal to the separation distance h1. Accordingly, the fingers 232a of the left finger set 232 correspond to the left aligner units 210a, and the fingers 234a of the right finger set 234 correspond to the right aligner units.

Further, the alternating separation distance h4 of the fingers 232a and 234a is more preferably equal to the separation distance between the slots of the cassette (240 in FIG. 2). Accordingly, the fingers 232a and 234a of the finger sets 232 and 234 correspond one-to-one with the semiconductor substrates 250 on the slots of the cassette 240, and thus the semiconductor substrate 250 in the cassette 240 at one time. For example, 25 semiconductor substrates 250 may be transported.

In more detail, the semiconductor substrates 250 of the cassette 240 may be, for example, only the odd slot semiconductor substrates 250 in the left aligner 210 and the even slot semiconductor substrate 250 in the right aligner 220. It is divided into fields and mounted and transported at once.

Accordingly, the separation distance h1 between the aligner units 210a of FIG. 3 is twice as large as the separation distance of the cassette 240 to attach things such as a stepper motor or a flat zone recognition sensor 212 of FIG. 4. It will be able to make space for it. More specifically, for example, when the distance between the slots of the cassette 240 is about 6.4 mm, the distance between the aligner units 210a may be maintained at 12.8 mm.

In addition, as shown in FIG. 5, the robot arm 238 preferably includes a folding portion 236 that can deploy or fold the finger sets 232 and 234. Accordingly, the left finger set 232 and the right finger set 234 may be horizontally developed to access the aligners 210 and 220, respectively, and the cassettes 240 may be folded when the finger sets 232 and 234 are folded. ) Can be accessed at once.

Thus, using the transfer unit 230 shown in FIG. 5, the semiconductor substrate 250 may be transferred between the cassette 240 and the aligners 210 and 220 in one loading or unloading operation. It is economical because the transfer time can be greatly reduced as compared with when the substrate 250 is repeatedly conveyed in sheets.

6 to 10 are perspective views illustrating a semiconductor substrate 250 alignment method using the semiconductor substrate aligner system 200 according to the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 6, after advancing the robot arm 238 of the transfer unit 230 into the cassette 240, the finger sets 232 and 234 are simultaneously raised to lift the semiconductor substrates 250 to the finger sets 232. 234). At this time, the finger sets 232 and 234 are folded to alternately cross. Thus, one finger set 232 is loaded with semiconductor substrates 250 in odd slots of cassette 240 and the other finger set 234 is loaded with semiconductor substrate 250 in even slots of cassette 240. Are mounted.

Subsequently, referring to FIG. 7, the finger sets 232 and 234 on which the semiconductor substrates 250 are mounted are backed out of the cassette 240. At this time, the retraction of the finger sets 232 and 234 may be performed by reversing the robot arm 238.

Subsequently, referring to FIG. 8, the finger sets 232 and 234 on which the semiconductor substrates 250 are mounted are rotated in the direction of the aligners 210 and 220. In this case, the rotation of the finger sets 232 and 234 may be performed by rotating the robot body 239. In another embodiment of the present invention, the robot arm 238 may be rotated relative to the robot body 239.

Subsequently, referring to FIG. 9, the finger sets 232 and 234 are developed left and right. Accordingly, the left finger set 232 carrying the semiconductor substrates 250 of the odd slots of the cassette 240 is positioned in front of the left aligner 210 and the semiconductor substrates 250 of the even slots of the cassette 240 are placed. The mounted right finger set 234 is located in front of the right aligner 220.

Next, referring to FIG. 10, the finger sets 232 and 234 are advanced in the direction of the aligners 210 and 220 and are lowered. Accordingly, the semiconductor substrates 250 of the odd slots of the cassette 240 are mounted in the left aligner 210, and the semiconductor substrates 250 of the even slots of the cassette 240 are simultaneously mounted in the right aligner 220. do.

Subsequently, the semiconductor substrates 250 are simultaneously aligned using the aligner units of the aligners 210 and 220. When the alignment of the semiconductor substrates 250 is completed, the semiconductor substrates 250 aligned in the cassette 240 are transferred in the reverse order of transferring the semiconductor substrates 250 to the aligners 210 and 220 described above.

As such, when the semiconductor substrate aligner system 200 according to the present invention is used, the semiconductor substrates 250 may be aligned without applying physical friction to the semiconductor substrates 250. Therefore, the occurrence of particles or scratches generated in the aligner using the friction of the conventional roller is suppressed and the yield is increased. In addition, by transferring the semiconductor substrate 250 in the cassette 240 at once and aligning the two aligner (210, 220) at the same time, it is economical because it can have a similar work processing speed.

The foregoing description of specific embodiments of the present invention has been presented for purposes of illustration and description. The present invention is not limited to the above embodiments, and it is apparent that many modifications and variations are possible in the technical idea of the present invention, such as by combining the above embodiments by those skilled in the art. .

The semiconductor substrate aligner system 200 according to the present invention may align the semiconductor substrates 250 without applying physical friction to the semiconductor substrates 250. Therefore, generation of particles, scratches, or noise on the semiconductor substrate 250, which has been generated in the aligner using friction of the roller, is suppressed and the yield is increased.

In addition, the semiconductor substrate 250 in the cassette 240 is divided into odd and even slots of the semiconductor substrates 250 and transferred at once, and aligned at the same time in the two aligners 210 and 220, thereby processing similar to the conventional process. It is economical because it can have speed.

Claims (5)

A pair of aligners having a structure in which a plurality of aligner units capable of aligning the semiconductor substrate in a specific direction are stacked vertically spaced apart; And A first finger set capable of mounting and transferring semiconductor substrates between odd slots of a cassette capable of seating a plurality of semiconductor substrates in slots and a first aligner which is one of the aligners, and an even slot of the cassette And a second finger set capable of mounting and transferring semiconductor substrates between the second aligner, which is another one of the aligners, a robot arm connected to the first finger set and the second finger set, and a robot connected to the robot arm. A semiconductor substrate aligner system comprising a transfer unit comprising a body. The method of claim 1, The fingers of the first finger set and the fingers of the second finger set are alternately vertically spaced one by one so as to be able to simultaneously transport semiconductor substrates in the odd and even slots of the cassette. Semiconductor substrate aligner system. The method of claim 2, And the robot arm of the transfer unit includes a fold portion capable of horizontally extending or folding the first and second finger sets. The method of claim 3, wherein The separation distance between the aligner units, the separation distance between the fingers of the first finger set, and the separation distance between the fingers of the second finger set are equal to twice the separation distance between the slots of the cassette and And an alternate separation distance between the fingers of the first finger set and the fingers of the second finger set is equal to the separation distance between the slots of the cassette. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 4, The system further comprises a plurality of cassette stations into which the cassette can be mounted.