KR20100028346A - Semiconductor process equipment including sub wafer holder - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: Semiconductor process equipment is provided to simultaneously transfer a plurality of wafer for a compound semiconductor using a sub-wafer holder. CONSTITUTION: Semiconductor process equipment includes a load-lock chamber(120), a process chamber(130), a slot valve(140) and a robot arm(160). A wafer load stand(180) enters into and comes out from the load-lock chamber. A sub-wafer holder is installed in the wafer load stand. The load-lock chamber and the process chamber are connected through the slot valve. The robot arm controls the sub-wafer holder.

Description

Semiconductor Manufacturing Equipment Including Sub Wafer Holder

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to semiconductor manufacturing equipment, and more particularly, to a semiconductor manufacturing equipment including a sub-wafer holder capable of simultaneously transferring a plurality of wafers.

In general, in semiconductor manufacturing, a silicon single crystal thin film having the same crystal structure as a substrate is deposited on a silicon single crystal substrate, and when the silicon single crystal thin film is grown, an inorganic insulating material such as silicon oxide is deposited and patterned to expose silicon on the surface of the substrate. The formation of the single crystal region only in the portion where the portions are formed is called selective epitaxial growth (SEG).

In the semiconductor manufacturing using such selective epitaxial growth, there is an advantage in that it is easy to manufacture a semiconductor device having a three-dimensional structure that is difficult to manufacture by conventional flat plate technology.

In addition, in fabricating a thin-film solar cell on a large-area substrate, a P layer that receives sunlight, an I layer forming an electron-electron pair, and an N layer serving as an opposite electrode of the P layer are used. It is done. Similarly, the liquid crystal display device is based on an array element and a color filter element respectively formed on the array and the color filter substrate.

In order to fabricate the above-described thin film devices for semiconductors, solar cells, and liquid crystal display devices, several photolithograpy processes are required. Such photolithography processes include a thin film deposition process, a photosensitive layer coating process, an exposure process, and the like. It includes a developing process and an etching process and additionally involves various processes such as washing, bonding and cutting.

The above-described thin film manufacturing process is manufactured through a semiconductor manufacturing equipment, which is manufactured in an in-line mode in which a process is performed in one direction by a conveyor belt and a rotation method by a robot arm. It may be divided into a cluster mode.

The cluster method has an advantage that the moving distance can be shortened compared to the inline method because the wafer can be transferred in a rotation type by the robot arm.

In this case, in a conventional semiconductor manufacturing facility, a silicon wafer (Si wafer) manufactured in a circular shape having a diameter of 200 mm or 300 mm is transferred to a transfer chamber and a process chamber (PM) using a robot to deposit a thin film.

However, unlike such silicon wafers, wafers for deposition of compound semiconductors such as gallium nitride or arsenic gallium are manufactured to have a size of about 2 to about 1/4 to 1/5 the diameter of the silicon wafer. In this case, in a semiconductor manufacturing facility that applies a wafer for depositing a compound semiconductor, the process is performed by directly loading several dozens of compound semiconductor deposition wafers and manually removing them after deposition without using a transfer chamber.

However, when manually loading and unloading individual 2-inch wafers in this manner, there is a problem that the process chamber is exposed to atmospheric pressure for a long time. In addition, in order to open the process chamber has to be lowered to a transfer temperature of about 30 to 60 degrees, causing a process delay problem due to frequent opening.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned problems, and improves the production yield by applying a sub-wafer holder capable of simultaneously transporting several wafers for compound semiconductor deposition including gallium nitride or arsenic gallium using a robot. It aims to do it.

A semiconductor manufacturing apparatus according to the present invention for achieving the above object is a process on a load lock chamber to which the wafer loading table equipped with a sub-wafer holder on which a plurality of wafers are mounted enters and exits the plurality of wafers transferred from the load lock chamber. It characterized in that it comprises a robot chamber for transporting the sub-wafer holder and a slot valve for connecting the process chamber and the load lock chamber and the process chamber in common.

At this time, the sub-wafer holder is selected from a material in which silicon carbide is coated on ceramic, silicon carbide, quartz or graphite. Characterized in that formed. The plane of the sub-wafer holder is formed of any one of a fan, a circle, and a rectangle.

The sub-wafer holder may include a flat portion having a flat surface and having a triangular shape, a plurality of first holes having a thickness of a portion of the flat portion having a first diameter larger than a plurality of wafers in the center of the flat portion, and the plurality of first portions. It includes a plurality of second holes having a step so that the plurality of wafers can be stably seated inside the one hole, and designed with a second diameter smaller than the plurality of wafers.

In this case, the plurality of second holes may be designed to penetrate or not penetrate the planar part. When the plurality of second holes are designed to not penetrate, the thicknesses of the planar parts removed by the plurality of second holes may be formed in the plurality of first holes. It is characterized in that it is designed to be larger than the thickness of the flat portion removed by.

A mounting surface on which the plurality of wafers are stably seated is configured by the step between the plurality of first and second holes. The sub-wafer holder may be any one selected from a vacuum method, an electromagnet method, or a pin type transfer method.

In the present invention, the production yield is improved by transferring a plurality of wafers for compound semiconductor deposition, which are made smaller than silicon wafers, to a main disk located in the process chamber at the same time by applying a sub-wafer holder in which a plurality of wafers are seated. It can work.

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The present invention is characterized by providing a semiconductor manufacturing equipment capable of transferring several to several dozens of compound semiconductor deposition wafers to a main disk located in the process chamber at the same time by applying the sub-wafer holder.

1 is a view schematically showing a semiconductor manufacturing apparatus of a cluster method according to the present invention.

As shown, the semiconductor manufacturing equipment 105 according to the present invention is a load lock chamber for entering and exiting the wafer loading table 180 mounted with a plurality of sub-wafer holder 170 on which a plurality of wafers (not shown) are respectively seated. And a process chamber 130 for performing a process on the sub-wafer holder 170 transferred from the load lock chamber 120, and the load lock chamber 120 and the process chamber 130 in a cluster manner. Transfer chamber 150, which is commonly connected to each other, and selectively opens and closes through a slot valve 140, and a robot arm 160 which transfers the sub-wafer holder 170 in a rotation manner between the chambers to the center of the transfer chamber 150. ).

For example, the quantity of a plurality of wafers seated in each of the sub-wafer holders 170 may be loaded on a 17-inch basis, but in consideration of a trend in which the size of the chamber is enlarged, each of the sub-wafer holders 170 The size of the bar will also be increased, the number of such wafers is not limited thereto, and may be variously modified and changed.

The transfer chamber 150 is a space for transferring the sub-wafer holder 170 to the load lock chamber 120, the process chamber 130, etc. using the robot arm 160 positioned therein, and maintains a normal vacuum state. Done. The load lock chamber 120 is a space that connects the transfer chamber 150 in a vacuum state to the outside of the atmospheric pressure state, and the vacuum state and the atmospheric pressure state are repeatedly reversed during the entry and exit of the sub wafer holder 170.

The process chamber 130 is a chamber for performing processes such as thin film deposition and etching on the upper surfaces of the plurality of wafers seated on the sub wafer holder 170, and is maintained at several to several hundred mTorr in a high vacuum or low vacuum state. In this case, the process chamber 130 may include a preheating chamber (not shown) for preheating the wafer. This preheating chamber refers to a chamber that heats the wafer to a predetermined temperature prior to the process.

At this time, the deposition wafers of compound semiconductors such as gallium nitride and arsenic gallium are fabricated from 2 inches to 4 inches, which is about 1/4 to 1/5 the size of the silicon wafer. In the present invention, a plurality of wafers made of 2 inches to 4 inches on the sub wafer holder 170 is stably seated, and each sub wafer holder 170 is sequentially transferred to the process chamber 130 by the robot arm 160. After the transfer, the process proceeds in such a way as to rest on a main disk (not shown) located in the process chamber 130.

Therefore, since a plurality of wafers seated in each of the sub-wafer holders 170 form a group, there is an advantage of reducing the processing time by that amount.

The sub-wafer holder 170 may be one selected from materials coated with silicon carbide on ceramic, silicon carbide, quartz, or graphite. In particular, the robot arm 160 includes a plurality of vacuum chucks (not shown). In the method using the plurality of vacuum chucks, each of the sub-wafers is attracted by the suction force of the vacuum chuck on the upper portion of the sub-wafer holder 170. The transfer to each chamber is performed by lifting the holder 170 directly.

Particularly, in the semiconductor manufacturing apparatus 105 of the cluster method according to the present invention, the sub-wafer holder 170 is transferred using the robot arm 160. A method of transferring the sub-wafer holder 170 will be described below. same.

First, all of the plurality of wafers are placed in the plurality of sub-wafer holders 170 through an iterative operation of manually seating the plurality of wafers in a one-to-one correspondence to the upper portion of the sub-wafer holders 170 having a plurality of holes (not shown). After seating, the sub wafer holder 170 is mounted on the wafer mounting table 180.

Next, when the process of mounting the plurality of sub-wafer holder 180 on the wafer mounting table 180 is completed, the slot valve 140 may be opened between the transfer chamber 150 and the load lock chamber 120. do. At this time, the robot arm 160 is used to lift the sub-wafer holder 170 positioned on the wafer mounting table 180, and then sequentially transfer the process chamber 130 through the transfer chamber 150 and the process chamber 130. 1mm ~ 10mm spaced apart from the top of the main disk and the sub-wafer holder 170 attached to the robot arm 160 is dropped and placed on the main disk.

Subsequently, the sub-wafer holder 170 which has been deposited through the robot arm 160 while maintaining the high temperature process during the process and lowering the transfer temperature when the process is completed and maintaining the transfer chamber 150 at atmospheric pressure again, It is possible to simultaneously transfer a plurality of wafers located on each sub-wafer holder 170 through an iterative process of exiting and transferring the sub-wafer holder 170 disposed on the wafer mounting table 180 to the main disk.

Therefore, as in the present invention, the application of the sub-wafer holder 170 makes it possible to transfer several wafers to the process chamber 130 at the same time, thereby reducing the process time by that amount, as well as the transfer chamber 150. Since the process chamber 130 is exposed to the atmospheric pressure is reduced, it is possible to extend the life of the internal components of the process chamber 130.

In addition, the present invention has been described as a cluster method as an example, but is not limited thereto, and may be equally applicable to an inline semiconductor manufacturing facility, which will be described below in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

2 is a view schematically showing an inline semiconductor manufacturing apparatus according to the present invention, and the same reference numerals are assigned to the same names as in FIG. 1.

As illustrated, the in-line semiconductor manufacturing equipment 105 includes a load lock chamber 120 for receiving a plurality of sub-wafer holders 170 on which a plurality of wafers (not shown) are respectively seated, and the load lock chamber ( A slot valve 140 that is selectively opened and closed by a process chamber 130 performing a process on the sub wafer holder 170 transferred from 120, and a space between the load lock chamber 120 and the process chamber 130. ).

At this time, when the slot valve 140 is opened, a method of transferring the sub-wafer holder 170 to the process chamber 130 by a robot or conveyor belt (not shown) to proceed with the process is used.

Therefore, the application of the sub-wafer holder 170 makes it possible to transfer several wafers to the process chamber 130 at the same time as in the cluster method described above, thereby reducing the process time and increasing the load lock chamber ( Since the time for exposing the process chamber 130 and the process chamber 130 to the atmospheric pressure is reduced, the lifespan of the internal components of the process chamber 130 may be extended.

3A and 3B are respective plan views illustrating the robot arm and the sub wafer holder, which will be described with reference to the drawings.

As shown in FIGS. 3A and 3B, the first, second and third vacuum chucks 160a, 160b and 160c are positioned at the periphery of three vertices of the robot arm 160 having a triangular plane of the pedestal. do. In addition, the fan-shaped sub-wafer holder 170 has first, second and third alignment marks 170a and 170b at positions corresponding to the first, second and third vacuum chucks 160a, 160b and 160c, respectively. 170c) is designed.

In this case, although the shape of the plan view of the robot arm 160 is a triangle, it can be applied in various ways, such as a circle, a square. In addition, there are three vacuum chucks and alignment marks, but this is only an example and may be applied in various ways such as two, four, and five.

The robot arm 160 including the first, second, and third vacuum chucks 160a, 160b, 160c is positioned above the sub-wafer holder 170, and thus, the first of the sub-wafer holder 170. And alignment with the second and third alignment marks 170a, 170b and 170c to confirm the correct position, and then the first, second and third vacuum chucks 160a, 160b and 160c of the robot arm 160 are operated. Then, the transfer process is performed by directly lifting the upper portion of the sub-wafer holder 170 by the attraction force.

Although not shown in detail in the drawings, a method of transferring the sub-wafer holder 170 using an electromagnet may be applied in addition to the method using the vacuum chuck. The method using the electromagnet refers to the transfer of the portion corresponding to the alignment mark on the upper portion of the sub wafer holder 170 using the electromagnet mounted on the robot arm 160 in the same way as the method using the vacuum chuck.

In addition, a method of transferring the sub wafer holder 170 in a pin type may be applied.

4 is a view for explaining the pin type, it will be described with reference to this.

As shown, the method of transferring the sub wafer holder 170 in the pin type is to move each sub wafer holder 170 from the wafer mounting table (180 in FIG. 1) using a robot arm (160 in FIG. 3A). 110 will be seated on top. In this case, the main disk 110 is configured with a plurality of pins 165 capable of vertical movement, and a plurality of through holes in each sub-wafer holder 170 at positions corresponding to the plurality of pins 165, respectively. TH) is designed.

That is, when each of the sub-wafer holders 170 is lifted by the plurality of pins 165, the robot arm is inserted into the lower part of the sub-wafer holder 170, and the sub-wafer holders 170 seated on the upper part of the robot arm. In the lifted state is proceeded to exit the vacuum chamber (130 of FIG. 2).

In this case, when applying the pin type, the robot arm is preferably designed to have a smaller area than the area of each sub-wafer holder 170 so that the robot arm can be easily inserted into the lower part of each sub-wafer holder 170.

FIG. 5 is a plan view illustrating a state in which a sub wafer holder is seated on a main disk, and will be described with reference to FIG. 1.

As shown in FIG. 1 and FIG. 5, each sub-wafer holder 170 mounted on the wafer mounting table 180 of the load lock chamber 120 is processed by the robot arm 160 of the transfer chamber 150. The top of the main disk 110 located in the 130 is seated in turn. At this time, a plurality of wafers 190 are seated on the upper portion of each sub-wafer holder 170. Unlike the conventional method, a plurality of wafers 190 are simultaneously placed on the main disk 110 by applying the sub-wafer holder 170. It can be seated.

Although not shown in detail in the drawings, a drive motor is further mounted on the central axis of the main disk 110, and is designed to enable the rotation of the main disk 110 by such a drive motor. The main disk 110 is divided into six equally, symmetrically up, down, left and right with respect to the center thereof, and is operated in six repetitive operations in a stepping manner in which each sub wafer holder 170 is sequentially rotated by one track. Two sub-wafer holders 170 may be sequentially arranged on the main disk 110.

In addition, since a plurality of lamps (not shown) are mounted below the main disk 110, the temperature of the main disk 110 may be maintained uniformly by heating with a plurality of lamps during the process. Although not shown in the drawings, an induction heating method using a coil may be used instead of the plurality of lamps. When the induction heating method is applied, the main disk 110 is preferably made of a conductive metal material.

The plurality of sub-wafer holders 170 may be designed in various shapes such as a fan, a circle, a rectangle, and the like. Although the plurality of sub-wafer holders 170 are designed to be 1/6 of the area of the main disk 110, the present invention is not limited thereto, and the sub-wafer holders 170 may be applied in various ways such as 1/4, 1/8, and 1/16. .

6A is a perspective view illustrating the sub wafer holder, and FIG. 6B is a cross-sectional view taken along the line VI-VI ′ of FIG. 6A.

As shown in FIGS. 6A and 6B, the sub-wafer holder 170 according to the present invention includes a flat portion F having a flat surface and a triangular shape, and a plurality of wafers in the center of the flat portion F. FIG. The plurality of first holes H1 in which a part thickness of the planar portion F is patterned to a first diameter larger than 190, and the plurality of wafers 190 are stable inside the plurality of first holes H1. It includes a plurality of second holes (H2) having a step so that it can be seated in a second diameter smaller than the plurality of wafers 190.

In this case, the plurality of second holes H2 may be designed not to penetrate or pass through the planar portion F. FIG. Although not shown in detail in the drawings, when the plurality of second holes 190 are designed not to penetrate the planar portion F, the thickness of the planar portion F removed by the plurality of second holes H is It is preferable to design to be larger than the thickness of the planar portion F removed by the plurality of first holes H1. It is also used to adjust the temperature uniformity by adjusting the height of the plurality of second holes 170.

The sub-wafer holder 170 may be one selected from a material coated with silicon carbide (SiC) on ceramic, silicon carbide (SiC), quartz, or graphite, and the planar portion (F). The shape of the can be applied in a variety of forms, such as round, square. In this case, the first and second diameters of the plurality of first and second holes H1 and H2 are determined by the sizes of the plurality of wafers 190.

In particular, a first diameter of the plurality of first holes H1 penetrates a center portion of the sub wafer holder 170 to correspond to a second diameter of the plurality of second holes H2, and other portions of the plurality of first holes H1 are sub-wafer holders. It is patterned to a predetermined thickness from the surface of 170. That is, the thicknesses of the first and second holes H1 and H2 may be variously changed according to the thicknesses of the sub wafer holder 170 and the main disk.

Therefore, the seating surface T on which the plurality of wafers 190 are stably seated is designed through the step design between the plurality of first holes H1 and the second holes H2.

A plurality of wafers 190 may be sequentially seated on the seating surface T of the sub wafer holder 170 without slipping. The application of the sub-wafer holder 170 makes it possible to easily transfer several to several tens of wafers 190 to the main disk of the process chamber at the same time.

Therefore, in the present invention, it is possible to apply a wafer for compound semiconductor based on a semiconductor wafer manufacturing facility for a silicon wafer by applying a sub wafer holder capable of loading a plurality of wafers.

However, the present invention is not limited to the above embodiments, and it will be well known to those skilled in the art that various changes and modifications can be made without departing from the spirit and spirit of the present invention.

1 is a view schematically showing a semiconductor manufacturing apparatus of a cluster method according to the present invention.

Figure 2 is a schematic view showing an inline semiconductor manufacturing equipment according to the present invention.

3A and 3B are respective plan views showing the robot arm and the sub wafer holder.

4 is a diagram for explaining a pin type.

Fig. 5 is a plan view showing a state in which a sub wafer holder is seated on a main disk.

6A is a perspective view of a sub wafer holder;

FIG. 6B is a cross-sectional view taken along the line VI-VI 'of FIG. 6A;

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

170: sub-wafer holder F: flat portion

T: seating surface 190: wafer

H1, H2: first and second holes

Claims (8)

A load lock chamber into and out of the wafer stacker on which a plurality of wafers are mounted; A process chamber performing a process on the plurality of wafers transferred from the load lock chamber; A slot valve for common connection between the load lock chamber and the process chamber; Robot arm for transporting the sub wafer holder Semiconductor manufacturing equipment comprising a. The method of claim 1, The sub wafer holder is a semiconductor manufacturing equipment, characterized in that formed of one selected from a material coated with silicon carbide on ceramic, silicon carbide, quartz or graphite. The method of claim 1, The plane of the sub wafer holder is a semiconductor manufacturing equipment, characterized in that any one of a fan, a circle, a square. The method of claim 1, The sub-wafer holder may include a flat portion having a flat surface and having a triangular shape, a plurality of first holes having a thickness of a portion of the flat portion having a first diameter larger than a plurality of wafers in the center of the flat portion, and the plurality of first portions. And a plurality of second holes having a step so that a plurality of wafers can be stably seated inside one hole, and having a second diameter smaller than the plurality of wafers. The method of claim 4, wherein The plurality of second holes may be designed to penetrate or not penetrate the planar part. When the plurality of second holes are designed to not penetrate, the thicknesses of the planar parts removed by the plurality of second holes may be removed by the plurality of first holes. A semiconductor manufacturing equipment, characterized in that it is designed to be larger than the thickness of the flat portion. The method of claim 4, wherein And a seating surface on which the plurality of wafers are stably seated by the step between the plurality of first and second holes. The method of claim 1, The sub wafer holder is a semiconductor manufacturing equipment, characterized in that the transfer using a vacuum method or an electromagnet. The method of claim 1, The sub wafer holder is a semiconductor manufacturing equipment, characterized in that the transfer to the pin type.

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