KR20080078426A - Apparatus for treating substrate and method for aligning substrates in the apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

An apparatus for treating substrates and a method for aligning substrates in the apparatus are provided to reduce a manufacturing cost and enhance throughput thereof by aligning the substrates using a carrying robot. An apparatus for treating substrates includes a buffer chamber(142), transfer chambers(132a,132b), a sensing unit(160), and a controller(170). The buffer chamber includes a stage on which substrates are mounted temporally. The transfer chambers include a carry robot which withdraws the substrates from the stage and supplies the substrates to a process chamber. The sensing unit implemented at the buffer chamber detects position of the substrates mounted on the stage and generates a detection signal. The controller receives the detection signal from the sensing unit and controls the carry robot to compensate for the position of the substrates while the substrates are lifted up from the stage when the position of the substrates is not corrected.

Description

Substrate processing apparatus and substrate alignment method in the apparatus {APPARATUS FOR TREATING SUBSTRATE AND METHOD FOR ALIGNING SUBSTRATES IN THE APPARATUS}

1 is a schematic plan view of a substrate processing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

2 is a plan view of the buffer chamber.

3 is a side view of the buffer chamber.

4 is a flowchart for explaining a process of aligning a substrate placed on a stage of a buffer chamber.

5A through 5E are diagrams illustrating the alignment process of a substrate in stages.

* Explanation of symbols for the main parts of the drawings *

110: index

120: load lock chamber

130: the return unit

132a: first conveying chamber

150: process chamber

160: sensing unit

162: sensor

The present invention relates to a substrate processing apparatus and a substrate alignment method in the apparatus.

The semiconductor substrate goes through various processes to produce a semiconductor chip. When the semiconductor substrate is subjected to a process such as an etching process and a deposition process, a cassette containing a plurality of semiconductor substrates, a reactor for transferring a semiconductor substrate and carrying out a predetermined process, and a semiconductor substrate withdrawn from the cassette are placed at predetermined positions in the reactor. It has a transfer driving part like a robot that transfers to the It is common for the transfer driver to center the semiconductor substrate during transfer so that the semiconductor substrate which is not accurately accommodated at the same position can be taken out and the semiconductor substrate can be accurately seated at a predetermined position of the reactor.

Most semiconductor processing facilities have an index called an equipment front end module (EFEM) in the front, which is an aligner that aligns the flat zone or notch of the semiconductor substrate in a predetermined direction. It is provided. That is, the semiconductor substrate is withdrawn from the front open unified pod (FOUP, also known as a carrier) and then conveyed to the transfer chamber connected with the process chamber after the alignment of the semiconductor substrate is completed in the aligner.

As described above, the transfer time of the semiconductor substrate is relatively high due to the time taken by the aligner in and out, and the footprint of the facility increases according to the position of the aligner.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to provide a substrate processing apparatus and a substrate alignment method in the apparatus, wherein the substrate alignment time can be relatively small.

According to a feature of the present invention for achieving the above object, a substrate processing apparatus includes a buffer chamber having a stage on which a substrate is temporarily placed; A conveying chamber having a conveying robot for extracting the substrate from the stage and providing the substrate to the process chamber; A sensing unit installed in the buffer chamber to detect a position of the substrate placed on the stage and generate a detection signal; And a controller configured to control the transport robot to correct the position of the substrate in a state in which the substrate is lifted from the stage when the detection signal received from the sensing unit does not match the preset substrate position.

According to this embodiment, the sensing unit includes a plurality of sensors for sensing the edge of the substrate when the substrate is normally placed on the stage.

According to this embodiment, at least three sensors are installed along the edge of the substrate.

According to the present embodiment, the control unit controls the transport robot so that the sensors of the sensing unit detect all edges of the substrate whose position is corrected by the transport robot.

According to a feature of the present invention for achieving the above object, a substrate processing method in a substrate processing apparatus comprises the steps of placing a substrate on a stage of a buffer chamber; Detecting a position of the substrate placed on the stage and generating a detection signal; And checking whether the position of the substrate is shifted from a preset position through the detection signal. If the position of the substrate is misaligned from the preset position, after correcting the position of the substrate by using the transfer robot located in the transfer chamber, the substrate is taken out of the buffer chamber and loaded into the process chamber.

According to this embodiment, the detection signal is generated from a plurality of sensors for sensing the edge of the substrate when the substrate is normally placed on the stage.

According to this embodiment, the transport robot corrects the position of the substrate so that the sensors detect both edges of the substrate.

For example, embodiments of the present invention may be modified in various forms, and the scope of the present invention should not be construed as being limited by the embodiments described below. This embodiment is provided to more completely explain the present invention to those skilled in the art. Accordingly, the shape of the elements in the drawings and the like are exaggerated to emphasize a clearer description.

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in more detail with reference to FIGS. 1 to 5D. In the drawings, the same reference numerals are given to components that perform the same function.

1 is a block diagram of a substrate processing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 1, the substrate processing apparatus 100 includes an index 110, a load lock chamber 120, a carrier 130, and six process chambers 150 connected to the carrier 130.

The index 110 is disposed in front of the substrate processing apparatus 100. Index 110 includes three pull openers (hereinafter also referred to as load ports) on which the front open unified pod (FOUP; also known as carrier) 112 rests and which opens and closes the lid of the pull 112 ( 114 and an atmospheric pressure transport robot 116 operated at atmospheric pressure. The pull 112 is a carrier for a general lot for production and is seated in the load port by means of logistics automation devices (eg OHT, AGV, RGV). The index is an interface called an equipment front end module (EFEM), or load lock chamber, which is now widely used in 300 mm wafer transfer devices.

The atmospheric transfer robot 116 is operable to transport the substrate between the load port 114 and the load lock chamber 120. Atmospheric pressure conveying robot 116 has a single arm structure capable of carrying out a single substrate from the pull 112 placed in the load port 114 in one operation and bringing it into the cassette 122 of the load lock chamber 120. It can be composed of a robot. In addition to the single arm structure shown in the present embodiment, the atmospheric transfer carrier robot 116 installed at the index 110 may use various robots used in a conventional semiconductor manufacturing process. For example, a robot having an arm having a double blade structure capable of handling two substrates as one arm, a robot having two or more arms, or a robot employing a mixture thereof may be used.

One side of the load lock chamber 120 is connected to the index 110 by one gate valve 180, and the other side of the load lock chamber 120 is connected to the index 110 by the other gate valve 180. ) Is connected. The load lock chamber 120 forms the same (near) vacuum atmosphere as that of the first transport chamber 132a at the time when the transport robot 140 of the first transport chamber 132a loads or unloads the substrate. When the raw substrate is supplied from the substrate 110 or the substrate which has already been processed is transferred to the index 110, the substrate is switched to the atmospheric pressure state. That is, the load lock chamber 120 has a feature that maintains pressure while intersecting a vacuum state and an atmospheric pressure state in order to prevent the air pressure state of the first transport chamber 132a from being changed. The load lock chamber 120 has a cassette in which substrates are temporarily waiting.

The conveying unit 130 has a structure in which a plurality of conveying chambers are arranged in series in a space in which the substrate is conveyed, and in this embodiment, the first conveying chamber 132a, the second conveying chamber 132b, and the third conveying chamber A structure in which 132c is arranged in series will be described by way of example.

The conveyer 130 integrally integrates the first conveying chamber 132a, the second conveying chamber 132b, and the third conveying chamber 132c without installing a gate valve between the conveying chambers 132a, 132b, and 132c. Connect with That is, the carrier 130 may be regarded as one large chamber surrounding the entire first, second, and third transfer chambers 132a, 132b, and 132c. This structure does not require the installation of an exhaust system including a vacuum pump in each of the first, second and third conveying chambers 132a, 132b and 132c, and any of the first, second and third conveying chambers 132a, 132b and 132c. Since only one exhaust system needs to be installed, the cost can be reduced.

Each of the first conveying chamber 132a, the second conveying chamber 132b, and the third conveying chamber 132c is provided with a conveying robot 140 for conveying the substrate, and two processes are provided on both sides through the gate valve 180. The chamber 150 is connected. Subsequently, a substrate transfer (transfer) between the transfer path bot 140 is performed between the first transfer chamber 132a and the second transfer chamber 132b and between the second transfer chamber 132b and the third transfer chamber 132c. The buffer chamber 142 is provided in which the substrate temporarily stays for the substrate pass because it cannot be made directly.

Although the process chambers 150 are described as etch chambers configured to etch apertures or openings in the insulating film to form interconnect structures, the process chambers 150 may be configured to perform various substrate processing operations. For example, the process chamber can be a CVD chamber configured to deposit an insulating film; The process chamber may be a PVD chamber configured to deposit a barrier film.

2 is a plan view of the buffer chamber. 3 is a side view of the buffer chamber.

2 and 3, the buffer chamber 142 is provided with a stage 144 on which a substrate is placed, and the ceiling of the buffer chamber 142 is provided for detecting the position of the substrate placed on the stage 144. The sensing unit 160 including four sensors 162 is installed.

The sensors 162 are distributed in four locations so that the edge of the substrate can be detected when the substrate w is normally placed on the stage 144. The detection signal detected from the sensors 162 is provided to the controller 170. The controller 170 may analyze the detection signals provided from the sensors 162 to determine whether the position of the substrate is at a preset position or in which direction the position of the substrate is displaced from the preset position. When the position of the substrate is displaced from the preset position, the controller 170 controls the transfer robot 140 of the transfer chamber adjacent to the buffer chamber 142 to correct the position of the substrate.

As such, the substrate processing apparatus 100 of the present invention omits an existing aligner, and instead confirms the position of the substrate by using a plurality of substrate sensing sensors 162 installed in the buffer chamber 142. Afterwards, the substrate may be aligned through a process of correcting the position using the carrier robot 140 as much as the misaligned position. Therefore, the substrate processing apparatus of the present invention does not require a separate aligner, and thus, it is possible to expect effects such as reduced equipment area, reduced cost, and improved throughput.

On the other hand, configurations for substrate alignment may be applied to the load lock chamber 120 as well as the buffer chamber 142.

4 is a flowchart for explaining a process of aligning a substrate placed on a stage of a buffer chamber. 5A through 5E are diagrams illustrating the alignment process of the substrate in stages.

4 to 5E, the substrate w is placed on the stage 144 of the buffer chamber 142 (S10). When the substrate w is placed on the stage 144, the sensors 162 of the sensing unit 160 detect the position of the substrate w (S20), and the detection signal is provided to the controller 170. The controller 170 recognizes that all four sensors 162 are normal only when the edge of the substrate is sensed, and when it is determined that the controller is normal (s30), the carrier robot 140 removes the substrate from the buffer chamber 142. Unloading (s60). If at least one of the four sensors 162 does not detect the edge of the substrate (s30), it means that the substrate w is not placed at a preset position of the stage 144, and the controller 170 ) Checks the twisted direction of the substrate based on the detection signals of the sensors 162 (S40), and corrects the position of the substrate using the carrier robot 140 (S50). Position correction of the substrate is completed only when the substrate edge is detected in all four sensors 162.

5A to 5E, when the substrate w is erroneously placed on the stage 144 of the buffer chamber 142, the carrier robot 140 raises the substrate w from the stage 144. The position of (w) is corrected. The controller 170 may check the twisted direction of the substrate based on the detection signals of the sensors 162. Based on this, the controller 170 may detect all the edges of the substrate w by the four sensors 162. The transport robot 140 is controlled to move the substrate w to a position. When the four sensors 162 detect the substrate, the transfer robot 140 places the substrate w on the stage 144 and then withdraws the substrate from the stage, or immediately withdraws the substrate to the process chamber. do.

In the above, the configuration and operation of the substrate processing apparatus according to the present invention have been shown in accordance with the above description and drawings, but this is merely an example, and various changes and modifications can be made without departing from the technical spirit of the present invention. Of course.

In the present invention as described above, the position of the substrate in the process of taking over the substrate between the transfer chamber, it is possible to align the substrate using the transfer robot.

In addition, the present invention can take a relatively short alignment time of the substrate.

Claims (7)

In the substrate processing apparatus: A buffer chamber having a stage on which the substrate is temporarily placed; A conveying chamber having a conveying robot for extracting the substrate from the stage and providing the substrate to the process chamber; A sensing unit installed in the buffer chamber to detect a position of the substrate placed on the stage and generate a detection signal; And a controller configured to control the carrier robot to correct the position of the substrate in a state in which the substrate is lifted from the stage when the detection signal from the sensing unit does not match the preset substrate position. Processing unit. The method of claim 1, The sensing unit includes a plurality of sensors for sensing the edge of the substrate when the substrate is normally placed on the stage. The method of claim 1, The sensing unit is a substrate processing apparatus, characterized in that at least three sensors are installed along the edge of the substrate. The method of claim 1, The control unit is a substrate processing apparatus, characterized in that for controlling the conveying robot so that the sensors of the sensing unit to detect all the edge of the substrate that is corrected by the conveying robot. In the substrate processing method in the substrate processing apparatus: Placing the substrate on the stage of the buffer chamber; Generating a detection signal by detecting a position of the substrate placed on the stage; And Confirming whether the position of the substrate is shifted from a preset position through the detection signal; If the position of the substrate is displaced from the preset position, correcting the position of the substrate using a transfer robot located in the transfer chamber, and then removing the substrate from the buffer chamber and loading the substrate into the process chamber. Treatment method. The method of claim 5, And the detection signal is generated from a plurality of sensors for sensing the edge of the substrate when the substrate is normally placed on the stage. The method of claim 5, The transfer robot is a substrate processing method, characterized in that for correcting the position of the substrate so that the sensors detect all of the edge of the substrate.

Images