KR20060016027A - Leak detecting apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to a leak detection apparatus for finding a point where a leak occurs in a pipe connected to a semiconductor manufacturing facility. The leak detection apparatus according to the present invention is a detector body having a gas storage unit for storing the leak inspection gas and a pump for exhausting the gas in the connection pipe, a gas injection gun connected to the gas storage unit and spraying the leak inspection gas to a desired point. , A gas supply pipe connecting the gas injection gun and the gas storage part, one end of which is connected to any one of the connecting pipes that is expected to leak, and the other end of the exhaust pipe connected to the pump and a predetermined distance between the connecting pipe and the exhaust pipe It is installed in the part includes a gas detection sensor for detecting the leak test gas from the exhaust gas. By using the leak detection device configured in this way, it is possible to quickly and accurately find the point where the leak occurred in the piping of all the facilities where the leak should not occur. This improves plant operating efficiency and reduces operator workload.

Leak Point, Leak Detection Device, Pump, Gas Sensor, Gas Injection Gun

Description

Leak detecting apparatus

1 is a view for explaining the process of finding the leak point of the semiconductor manufacturing equipment using the leak detection apparatus according to the present invention,

FIG. 2 is an enlarged view of a portion of the vacuum pipe shown in FIG. 1.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a leak detection device, and more particularly, to a leak detection device for quickly and accurately finding leak points of a gas pipe and a vacuum pipe in a semiconductor manufacturing facility which processes a gas.

In general, a semiconductor device manufacturing process is roughly divided into a deposition process, a photo process, an etching process, an ion implantation process, and the like, and these processes are repeatedly performed to form a plurality of semiconductor devices on a wafer. Among these manufacturing processes, various kinds of reaction gases are used to perform a thin film deposition process, an etching process, and an ion implantation process. The reaction gases used to carry out the process described above are usually toxic and corrosive. In addition, these processes may be performed at atmospheric pressure, but mainly at a vacuum or lower pressure.

Therefore, various fatal accidents occur when leakage occurs in the connection portion of the gas supply pipes supplying the reaction gases to the chambers through which these processes are performed and the vacuum pipe connecting the chamber and the vacuum pump. That is, when leakage occurs at the connection portion of the gas supply pipe, some of the gas required for the process leaks to the outside of the facility, thereby degrading the quality of the ongoing process. In addition, as described above, most of the reaction gases are toxic and corrosive, so if the gas leaks, the equipment is corroded, causing a life-threatening accident or a fatal human accident in which the worker is poisoned by the leaked reaction gas.

When leakage occurs at the connection portion of the vacuum pipe, air flows through the leaked portion, which makes it difficult to lower the pressure of the chamber below the pressure required in the process. Thus, poor quality is generated.

The main reason why leakage occurs at the connection part of the gas supply pipe and the vacuum pipe is that the connection part was not properly executed during the periodic inspection of the manufacturing facilities. For this reason, if a leak occurs in the gas supply pipe and the vacuum pipe, the fatal accident described above is caused, and the increase value of the pressure sensor is periodically checked to determine whether the leak has occurred. If a leak has occurred, the exact point where the leak occurred should be followed up.

Conventionally, the point where the leak occurred by hand was found or the point where the leak occurred using helium gas was found.

In order to find the leak point by hand, the leak point was found by wrapping the connection part of the gas supply pipe which is supposed to be leak or the connection part of the vacuum pipe with a sealing member and operating the equipment. If no leak has occurred at the expected point of leak occurrence as a result of the operation of the facility, the connection part of the other gas supply pipe or the connection part of the vacuum pipe should be sealed again with a sealing member and the facility should be operated to find the leak point. Therefore, if the leak point is incorrectly predicted when searching for the leak point manually, it is troublesome to check whether the leak occurs by the above-described method for each of the plurality of gas pipes and the connection part of the vacuum pipe, and the operation of the equipment is stopped for a long time. do. This lowers the productivity of the product.

On the other hand, in the leak check method using helium gas, a gas detection sensor is installed at the back of the leak occurrence predicted point, and helium gas is injected at the connection part of the gas supply pipe and the vacuum pipe connected to the leak occurrence predicted point. If the leak occurs at the expected point, the injected helium gas is introduced into the gas supply pipe or the vacuum pipe through the leaked portion, and the helium gas is detected by the gas sensor.

The use of helium gas has the advantage of finding leak points in less time than manual labor and reducing the amount of work for the operator.

However, since the leak check method using helium gas can be used only in a facility in which a vacuum pump is installed, a facility without a vacuum pump cannot find a point where a leak occurs.

And, if the facility is dense and the helium gas storage container cannot be introduced to the leaked facility, the leak point cannot be found by the method using helium gas, and the leak point must be found by the above-described manual operation. This is because the device for injecting helium gas is composed of a helium gas storage container and an injection pipe connected thereto. In more detail, when the helium gas is supplied to the injection pipe or the supply is stopped, the opening and closing valve installed in the helium gas storage container should be opened and closed by hand by a worker. For this reason, the helium gas storage container should be installed adjacent to the operator, and the leak check method using helium gas cannot be used in a facility disposed at a point where the helium gas storage container cannot be introduced.

Accordingly, the present invention has been made in view of such a conventional problem, and an object of the present invention is to be able to use a method of confirming leak using helium gas in both the facilities arranged in a dense part of the equipment and the equipment without a vacuum pump. To find leak points quickly and accurately.

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention is connected to a gas detector and a detector body having a gas storage unit for storing the leak test gas and a pump for evacuating the gas in the gas supply connection pipe of the semiconductor manufacturing line. The gas injection gun for spraying the desired point, the gas supply pipe for connecting the gas injection gun and the gas storage unit, one end is connected to any one of the connector is expected to leak out of the connection pipe and the other end is connected to the pump The present invention provides a leak detection device including a gas detection sensor configured to detect a leak inspection gas from an exhaust gas installed in a predetermined portion between an exhaust pipe and a connection pipe and an exhaust pipe.

Preferably, the detector body further includes a leak indicator including a first lamp that is turned on when the leak detection gas is detected by the gas detection sensor, and a second lamp that is turned on when the leak detection gas is not detected by the gas detection sensor.

Hereinafter, exemplary embodiments of a leak detection apparatus according to the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

 1 is a view for explaining a process of finding a leak point of a semiconductor manufacturing facility using the leak detection apparatus according to the present invention, Figure 2 is an enlarged view of any portion of the vacuum pipe shown in FIG. .

Referring to FIG. 1, a semiconductor manufacturing facility 100, for example, a chemical vapor deposition facility, is connected to a process chamber 110 and a process chamber 110 in which a diffusion process is largely performed, and diffuses into the process chamber 110. Connecting a plurality of reaction gas supply pipe 120 for supplying various reaction gases required for the process and the vacuum pump (not shown) and the process chamber 110 and the vacuum pump to make the interior of the process chamber 110 in a low pressure state below the vacuum pressure It includes a vacuum pipe 130 to.

Each reaction gas supply pipe 120 and the vacuum pipe 130 is not formed long as a single pipe, a plurality of pipes separated using the connection portion 132 as shown in the vacuum pipe 130 shown in FIG. The reaction gas supply pipe 120 and one vacuum pipe 130 are formed by connecting them.

Although not shown, each reaction gas supply pipe 120 is connected to a pressure gauge for detecting the pressure of the gas and the flow rate of the supplied gas. In addition, as shown in FIG. 2, the vacuum pipe 130 is connected with many components such as the first pressure sensor 140, the second pressure sensor 142, the sensor valve 144, and the gas exhaust pipe 146. The first pressure sensor 140 detects a change in the vacuum pressure state from the atmospheric pressure state to 1000 Torr and checks whether the pressure in the process chamber 110 is in the atmospheric pressure state or the vacuum pressure state.

When the pressure of the vacuum chamber is lowered to the maximum range in which the vacuum pump can generate the vacuum pressure, the second pressure sensor 142 senses a change in the vacuum pressure which is gradually changed to less than 1 Torr, thereby the process gas supply pipe 120 and the vacuum. It is checked whether or not a leak has occurred in the connecting portion 132 of the pipe 130. Reference numeral 143 is an open / close valve that is closed when the inside of the process chamber 110 is rapidly changed from the atmospheric pressure to the vacuum pressure state to prevent the second pressure sensor 142 from being damaged.

On the other hand, the sensor valve 144 is connected to the first pressure sensor 140 and the gas exhaust pipe 146, the vacuum pressure state of the process chamber 110 detected by the first pressure sensor 140 is about 66,500 Pa When the gas exhaust pipe 146 is opened. In more detail, when the pressure of the process chamber 110 is increased by about 66,500 Pa after injecting nitrogen gas into the process chamber 110 to proceed with the process, the sensor valve 144 opens the gas exhaust pipe 146. Open to induce nitrogen gas introduced into the process chamber 110 to be exhausted to the outside.

In the periodic inspection process of the chemical vapor deposition apparatus 100 configured as described above, if the leak occurs because the connection part 132 of the reaction gas supply pipes 120 and the vacuum pipe 130 is not completely tightened by a worker's mistake, The pressure sensor 142 detects this. That is, when a leak occurs, the second pressure sensor 142 may not detect the leak because it may take longer than the set time to reach the maximum range of pressure that the vacuum pump can generate or reach the maximum range of pressure. Can be.

When it is confirmed that the leak occurs in the reaction gas supply pipe 120 or the vacuum pipe 130 by the second pressure sensor 142, the worker to prevent quality defects, injury to people due to leaked reaction gas and corrosion of the equipment Shuts down the chemical vapor deposition facility 100 and finds the point where the leak occurred.

In the present invention, the leak point generated in the reaction gas supply pipe 120 or the vacuum pipe 130 using the leak detection device 200 shown in FIG. Referring to FIG. 1, the leak detection apparatus 200 according to the present invention includes a detector body 210, a gas injection gun 220, a gas supply pipe 230, a gas detection sensor 240, and an exhaust pipe 250. .

The detector body 210 is formed in a quadrangular shape and includes a pump 214 and a leak to exhaust the gas in the gas storage unit 212, the reaction gas supply pipe 120, or the vacuum pipe 130 in which the leak test gas is stored. A leak indicator 215 is displayed to indicate. The wheel 218 is installed at the bottom of the detector body 210 so that the detector body 210 can be easily moved to a desired place. The leak test gas is helium gas.

The leak indicator 215 may include a first lamp 216 that is turned on when the leak detection gas is detected by the gas detection sensor 250 and a light that is turned on when the leak detection gas is not detected by the gas detection sensor 250. Two lamps 217 are installed. The first lamp 216 and the second lamp 217 are exposed to the outside of the detector body 210 so that the user can easily check whether the leak occurs. Preferably, the first lamp 216 is a red light emitting diode and the second lamp 217 is a yellow light emitting diode.

The gas injection gun 220 injects the leak detection gas supplied from the gas storage unit 212 to a leak generation point expected by the user. The gas injection gun 220 is provided with a handle 222 that the user can hold by hand, and the injection control button 224 is installed near the handle 222 to adjust the injection amount of the leak detection gas by a user's finger. . Here, the amount of the leak detection gas injected from the gas injection gun 222 varies according to the degree of the user pressing the injection control button 224, and the leak detection gas is not injected when the injection control button 224 is not pressed. Do not.

The gas supply pipe 230 connects the gas storage unit 212 and the gas injection gun 220 to supply the gas stored in the gas storage unit 212 to the gas injection gun 220.

The gas sensor 240 is installed between the reaction gas supply pipe 120 or the vacuum pipe 130 and the pump, which is expected to leak, and detects whether the leak test gas is included in the gas exhausted toward the pump 214. do. The gas sensor 240 is installed directly in the reaction gas supply pipe 120 or the vacuum pipe 130, which is expected to leak as shown in Figure 1 or is installed in the exhaust pipe 250.

When the gas detection sensor 240 is directly installed in the vacuum pipe 130, any one selected from the components installed in the vacuum pipe 130 of FIG. 2 is separated from the vacuum pipe 130, and the gas sensor is located in this part. Install 240. In FIG. 1, the sensor valve 144 is separated from the vacuum pipe 130, and a gas detection sensor 240 is installed at this portion.                     

When the gas detection sensor 240 is directly installed in the reaction gas supply pipe 120, the pressure gauge is separated from the reaction gas supply pipe 120, and the gas detection sensor 240 is installed in this portion.

As shown in FIG. 1, when the gas sensor 240 is directly installed in the reaction gas supply pipe 120 or the vacuum pipe 130, one end of the exhaust pipe 250 is connected to the gas sensor 240, and the exhaust pipe ( The other end of 250 is connected to the pump 210. On the other hand, when the gas sensor 240 is installed in the exhaust pipe 250, one end of the exhaust pipe 250 is installed in the reaction gas supply pipe 120 or the vacuum pipe 130 is expected to leak, the exhaust pipe 250 The other end is connected to the pump 210.

Here, when one side of the gas sensor 240 or the exhaust pipe 240 is installed in the reaction gas supply pipe 120 and the vacuum pipe 130, the gas sensor 240 and the exhaust pipe 250 is the process chamber 110 It is connected to the back of the anticipated leakage point. This is to accurately detect whether or not a leak has occurred at a leak occurrence point that the user expects.

In addition, the length of the gas supply pipe 230 and the exhaust pipe 250 described above is lengthened so that one side end of the gas injection gun 224 and the exhaust pipe 250 can reach a desired position in a narrow space where the facilities are concentrated. Preferably, the gas supply pipe 230 and the exhaust pipe 250 are used corrugated pipe that can change the length.

Referring to the process of finding the leak point generated in the vacuum pipe by using the leak detection device according to the present invention.                     

When the leak is detected by the second pressure sensor 142 installed in the vacuum pipe 130, the operator stops the operation of the chemical vapor deposition facility 100 and grasps the leak expected point. The sensor valve 144 is disconnected from the identified leak predicted point, for example, the vacuum pipe 130 connected to the rear of the third connection part 132 of the vacuum pipe 130. Then, the gas detection sensor 240 is connected to the exhaust pipe 250 is connected to the separated portion of the sensor valve 144.

Thereafter, the pump 214 installed in the detector body 210 is operated, and the gas injection gun 220 is positioned at the third connection portion 132 of the vacuum pipe 130. In this state, the injection control button 224 of the gas injection gun 220 is pressed to inject a leak test gas, that is, helium gas, to the third connection portion 132 of the vacuum pipe 130.

If a leak occurs in the third connection portion 132 of the vacuum pipe 130 as expected by the operator, the helium gas is vacuumed into the gap of the third connection portion 132 that generated the leak by the suction force generated by the pump 241. It is introduced into the pipe 130.

The introduced helium gas is exhausted toward the pump 214 through the gas sensor 240 and the exhaust pipe 250 together with the gases existing in the vacuum pipe 130. In this case, the gas detection sensor 240 detects helium gas contained in the exhaust gas and displays it as a numerical value. Meanwhile, the first lamp 216 of the leak indicator 215 electrically connected to the gas detection sensor 240 is turned on to emit red light to the outside of the detector body 210.

If a leak does not occur in the third connection part 132 of the vacuum pipe 130, which is expected by the operator, the injected helium gas may not flow into the vacuum pipe 130. Accordingly, the gas detection sensor 240 does not detect helium gas, and the second lamp 217 of the leak indicator 215 connected to the gas detection sensor 240 is turned on to emit yellow light.

In this way, if the leak anticipation point is missed, the helium gas is injected to the other connection portion 132 or the connection portion of the reaction gas supply pipe 120 of the vacuum pipe 130 until the leak generation point is found to find the leak generation point.

Even if the operator does not accurately predict the leak occurrence point, even if helium gas is injected at each connection part, the leak detection device 200 can immediately check whether the leak has occurred, so that the leak occurrence point can be accurately detected within a short time. .

In the present invention, the chemical vapor deposition equipment 100 in which the vacuum pump is installed has been described as an example. However, since the pump 214 is installed in the leak detection apparatus 200 itself, the equipment according to the present invention is also used in the equipment where the pump is not installed. The leak detection apparatus 200 can be used.

In addition, since the gas injection gun 220 is small enough to be lifted by a worker and the length of the gas supply pipe 230 and the exhaust pipe 240 is very long, the leak detection apparatus 200 according to the present invention is used even in a narrow space where facilities are dense. ) Makes it easy to find the leak point.

As described in detail above, by installing a pump in the leak detection device, lengthening the length of the gas supply pipe and the exhaust pipe, and injecting helium gas using a small gas injection gun, all equipment and gas storage without a pump are stored. It is possible to detect leak points using helium gas in a facility installed in a space that is too small for the container to enter. Therefore, the leak occurrence point can be found quickly and accurately in all the facilities that should not be leaked, thereby improving the operating efficiency of the facility and reducing the work load of the operator.

Claims (5)

A detector body connected to gas supply pipes of a semiconductor manufacturing facility and provided with a pump configured to exhaust gas in the connection pipes, and a gas storage part for storing a leak test gas; A gas injection gun connected to the gas storage unit and spraying the leak inspection gas to a desired point; A gas supply pipe connecting the gas injection gun and the gas storage part; An exhaust pipe having one end connected to any one of the connection pipes that is expected to leak among the connection pipes, and the other end connected to the pump; And And a gas detecting sensor installed at a predetermined portion between the connecting pipe and the exhaust pipe to detect the leak inspection gas from the exhausted gas. The leak detector according to claim 1, wherein the detector body is further provided with a leak indicator electrically connected to the gas detection sensor. 3. The leak detector of claim 2, wherein the leak indicator comprises a first lamp that is turned on when the leak detection gas is detected by the gas detection sensor and a second lamp that is turned on when the leak detection gas is not detected by the gas detection sensor. Leak detection apparatus, characterized in that. The leak detection apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the one end of the exhaust pipe and the gas sensor are installed at a rear portion of the leak occurrence point of the connection pipe. The leak detection apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the leak inspection gas is helium gas.

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