KR20100060088A - Apparatus and method for treating substrate thereof - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: A substrate processing apparatus and a processing method thereof are provided to minimize an alarm due to the misalignment of a wafer by sensing the alignment of the wafer from a cassette. CONSTITUTION: A mapping sensor(124) senses the alignment of a wafer mounted on a cassette and outputs the mapping information according to the alignment of the wafer. A transfer robot has at least one transfer arm to draw out the wafer from the cassette. A driving unit(122) drives the transfer robot to draw out the wafer from the cassette. A controller(126) receives the mapping information and controls the driving part for drawing out the defective wafer if the defective wafer can be drawn out by correcting the position of a transfer arm even through the wafer is misaligned.

Description

Substrate processing apparatus and its processing method {APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR TREATING SUBSTRATE THEREOF}

The present invention relates to a substrate processing apparatus, and more particularly, to a substrate processing apparatus and method for sensing an alignment state of a wafer from a cassette and minimizing an alarm caused by a wafer misalignment.

In general, a semiconductor manufacturing process repeats a wafer, etching, coating, developing, ashing, and cleaning processes several times to form desired circuit patterns on the wafer.

The semiconductor manufacturing apparatus for processing any one of these processes includes a loading / unloading unit on which a cassette on which a plurality of wafers are mounted is mounted, an index on which an index robot for processing wafer withdrawal and insertion of the loading / unloading unit is installed; A buffer unit for temporarily storing a wafer, a plurality of process units for processing a process, and main transfer robots for transferring a wafer between the process units and the buffer unit and between the process units. Index robots or main transfer robots have a plurality of transfer arms (or hands) for loading wafers one by one, and the wafers are transferred while seated on the transfer arms.

Such a semiconductor manufacturing apparatus detects an alignment state of wafers mounted in a cassette in order to withdraw a wafer from a loading / unloading unit. That is, the semiconductor manufacturing apparatus includes a mapping sensor that detects mapping information according to a wafer alignment state between the loading / unloading unit and the index.

Cassettes are carried in a manufacturing line using an Over Head Transport (OHT) or a cart. However, in the case of a cassette, wafers mounted inside the cassette are frequently shaken due to an impact with the outside during transportation. This results in poor alignment of the wafer.

Therefore, when the wafer alignment state is bad, that is, when the wafer is separated from the cassette slots or is abnormally seated, the semiconductor manufacturing apparatus generates an alarm, which is frequently so that the reliability and productivity of the semiconductor manufacturing apparatus are deteriorated. do.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a substrate processing apparatus and a processing method thereof for detecting an alignment state of a wafer.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a substrate processing apparatus and method for sensing an alignment state of a wafer from a cassette and minimizing an alarm due to a wafer misalignment.

It is still another object of the present invention to provide a substrate processing apparatus and a wafer withdrawing method thereof for improving the reliability and productivity of a facility.

In order to achieve the above objects, the substrate processing apparatus of the present invention is characterized in minimizing the occurrence of an alarm even when the wafer alignment is poor. Thus, the substrate processing apparatus can improve facility reliability and productivity.

A substrate processing apparatus of the present invention according to this aspect includes a cassette on which a plurality of wafers are mounted; A mapping sensor which senses an alignment state of the wafer mounted in the cassette and outputs mapping information according to the wafer alignment state; A transfer robot having at least one transfer arm for withdrawing a wafer from the cassette; A drive unit for driving the transfer robot to withdraw a wafer from the cassette; Receiving the mapping information from the mapping sensor, even if the alignment state of the wafer to be taken out by the transfer robot is defective, correct the position of the transfer arm so as to withdraw the defective wafer if the defective wafer can be taken out. A control unit for controlling the drive unit.

In one embodiment, the transfer robot is an index robot.

In another embodiment, the transfer arm has a certain thickness. The control unit may be configured such that the transfer arm and the defective wafer and the defective wafer are inserted into the lower portion of the defective wafer even when the transfer arm is inserted into the lower portion of the defective wafer to be withdrawn from the cassette. If the distance from the other wafer is maintained, the position of the transfer arm is corrected.

In another embodiment, the control unit; When the alignment state of the defective wafer is defective and the position of the transfer arm is corrected at the same time and the defective wafer cannot be taken out, an alarm of the substrate processing apparatus is generated.

According to another feature of the present invention, there is provided a processing method of a substrate processing apparatus for taking out a wafer from a cassette. According to this method, the alignment of wafers mounted in the cassette is sensed. It is determined whether the alignment state of the wafer currently to be taken out is bad. As a result of the determination, if the alignment state of the current wafer to be taken out is poor, the position of the robot arm is corrected to determine whether the wafer can be taken out. Next, if the position of the robot arm is corrected and the wafer can be pulled out, the robot arm is driven to correct the position.

In one embodiment, determining whether the wafer can be pulled out by correcting the position of the robot arm; Even when the wafer to be pulled out is inclined in the slot of the cassette, the wafer to be pulled out and the wafer to be pulled out even if the robot arm is inserted into a gap between the wafer to be pulled out and another wafer disposed above or below the wafer to be pulled out. It is determined whether each of the other wafers is separated by a predetermined interval or more.

In another embodiment, driving the robot arm to position correct; When spaced apart by more than the predetermined interval, the robot arm is position compensated to maintain the same distance to each of the wafer to be taken out and the other wafer.

In another embodiment, the method; Generating an alarm if the wafer to be pulled out is inclined in a slot of the cassette and at the same time corrects the position of the transfer arm to contact at least one of the wafer to be taken out and the other wafer.

As described above, in the substrate processing apparatus of the present invention, even when the wafer alignment state to be taken out from the cassette is inferior, the distance between the wafer to be taken out and the wafer mounted on the upper or lower part thereof is maintained at a constant distance above and below the robot arm. If correctable, the wafer can be taken out without generating an alarm.

Therefore, the substrate processing apparatus of the present invention can improve the reliability and productivity of the equipment by minimizing the occurrence of an alarm.

The embodiments of the present invention may be modified in various forms, and the scope of the present invention should not be interpreted 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. Therefore, the shape of the components in the drawings and the like are exaggerated to emphasize a more clear description.

Hereinafter, exemplary embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to FIGS. 1 to 4.

1 is a view showing the configuration of a substrate processing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention, Figure 2 is a block diagram showing a part of the configuration of the substrate processing apparatus shown in FIG.

1 and 2, the substrate processing apparatus 100 includes a loading / unloading unit 102, an index unit 104, a buffer unit 106, a substrate transfer unit 108, and a substrate processing unit 110. , 112). The substrate processing apparatus includes a controller (126 in FIG. 2) for controlling overall operations. The substrate processing units 110 and 112 include a plurality of processing units 110a to 110c and 112a to 112c. The substrate processing apparatus 100 is, for example, a spinner apparatus for processing a photolithography process, wherein the processing units 110a to 110c and 112a to 112c include a plurality of bake units, an application unit, and a developing unit. Of course, the substrate processing apparatus 100 may be a substrate processing apparatus having a loading / unloading unit 102 and an index 104 to process other processes such as cleaning and etching.

In detail, the loading / unloading unit 102 includes a plurality of load ports. In this embodiment, the loading / unloading unit 102 has four load ports, but the number of load ports increases or decreases according to the process efficiency and the foot print condition of the substrate processing apparatus 100. You may.

In the load ports 114, a cassette 114, for example, FOUPs, in which a plurality of wafers are accommodated, is seated. Each cassette 114 has a plurality of slots for accommodating the wafers in a state in which the wafers are arranged horizontally with respect to the ground. The cassette 114 accommodates wafers processed in the processing units 110a to 110c and 112a to 112c or wafers to be put into the processing units 110a to 110c and 112a to 112c.

The index 104 is disposed between the loading / unloading unit 104 and the buffer unit 106, and the index robot 120 is installed. In addition, a driving unit (122 in FIG. 2) is coupled to the bottom of the index robot 120, and a transfer rail is provided below the driving unit 122. The driving unit 122 moves the index robot 120 vertically, horizontally, and rotationally. The index robot 120 transfers wafers between the loading / unloading unit 102 and the buffer unit 106 while moving along the transfer rail. That is, the index robot 120 pulls out at least one wafer from the cassette 114 seated in the loading / unloading unit 102 and loads it into the buffer unit 106. In addition, the index robot 120 pulls out at least one wafer from the buffer unit 106 and loads it into the cassette 114 seated on the loading / unloading unit 102.

To this end, a door 116 is installed between the loading / unloading unit 102 and the index 104. The door 116 is opened and closed to draw in and take out the wafer. One side of the door 116 is provided with a mapping sensor (124 of FIG. 2). The mapping sensor 124 detects alignment of wafers mounted on the cassette 114. The mapping sensor 124 provides the mapping information corresponding to the wafer alignment state to the controller 126. The mapping sensor 124 and the controller 126 are connected through an internal network such as RS-232.

In detail, the index robot 120 includes a plurality of index arms (120a of FIG. 4), a driving unit 122, and a transfer rail. The driver 122 moves the index arms 120a horizontally, and each index arm 120a is individually driven by the driver 122. Index arms 120a are installed above the driving unit 122. The index arms 120a may be disposed to face each other in the vertical direction and may load one wafer.

The driving unit 122 drives the index arms 120a to be capable of vertically moving up, down, horizontally, and horizontally.

Meanwhile, the buffer unit 106 is installed at one side of the area where the index robot 120 is installed. The buffer unit 106 accommodates wafers transferred by the index robot 120 and accommodates wafers processed in the processing units 110a to 110c and 112a to 112c.

The substrate transfer unit 108 is provided with a main transfer robot (MTR) 118. The main transfer robot 118 is installed between the process units 110a to 110c and 112a to 112c, and a transfer rail is installed below the main transfer robot 118. The main transfer robot 118 moves along the transfer rail, between the buffer unit 106 and the process units 110a-110c, 112a-112c, between the process units 110a-110c, 112a-112c, and The wafer is transferred between the buffer unit 106 and the processing units 110a to 110c and 112a to 112c. That is, the main transfer robot 118 extracts at least one wafer from the buffer unit 106 and provides it to any one of the processing units 110a to 110c and 112a to 112c, and any one of the processing units 110a to. Wafers processed at 110c, 112a through 112c are provided to other processing units 110a through 110c and 112a through 112c. In addition, the main transfer robot 118 loads the wafer processed in the processing units 110a to 110c and 112a to 112c into the buffer unit 106.

The substrate processing units 110 and 120 include a plurality of processing units 110a through 110c and 112a through 112c as at least one layer. A plurality of process units 110a to 110c and 112a to 112c are provided and receive wafers from the main transfer robot 118 into each of them to process the process. For example, the processing units 110a to 110c and 112a to 112c include a baking unit for processing a baking process, an application unit for processing an application process and a developing unit for processing a developing unit. The substrate processing sections 110 and 120 of this embodiment have a multilayer structure. That is, the substrate transfer part 108 and the substrate processing parts 110 and 120 are disposed in each layer. The substrate processing units 110 and 120 have application and development units disposed on one side, and baking units disposed on the other side. The substrate transfer unit 108 is disposed between the baking unit and the application and development units in the center of the substrate processing units 110 and 120.

The controller 126 includes, for example, a controller (TMC) for controlling an index robot. The controller 126 and the mapping sensor 124 are connected through an external network such as a local area network (LAN) using a TCP / IP protocol or the like. The controller 126 detects an alignment state of a plurality of wafers mounted on the cassette 114 from the mapping sensor 124, and if the detected state of the wafers is normal, the controller 126 controls the driving unit 122 to control the index robot ( 120 controls to withdraw the wafer from the cassette 114. At this time, when the abnormal state is detected as a result of the detection by the mapping sensor 124, the controller 126 determines whether the wafer can be pulled out or not. If not, the controller 126 generates an alarm to the outside.

However, when the alignment state of the wafer is abnormal and at the same time possible to draw out, in order to minimize the occurrence of the alarm, the position of the index robot 120 is corrected to control to pull out the wafer.

Specifically, the driving of the index robot according to the wafer alignment state of the mapping information will be described in detail with reference to FIGS. 4A to 4C.

That is, referring to FIG. 4A, when the mapping information transferred from the mapping sensor 124 is in a normal wafer alignment state, the controller 126 drives the index robot 120 by a general method. That is, when the first and second wafers W1 and W2 are normally mounted in slots (not shown) that are continuously arranged up and down, the lower end of the first wafer W1 to withdraw one index arm 120a Down, and horizontally moves again to the inside of the cassette (114). At this time, the first and second wafers W1 and W2 are mounted on the centerlines WC1 and WC2 of each slot. The index arm 120a having a predetermined thickness a maintains an equal distance b between the first and second wafers W1 and W2 in the interval d between the slots. The index arm 120a is raised to seat the first wafer W1, and then horizontally moved in the opposite direction of the cassette 114 to take out the first wafer W1.

Referring to FIG. 4B, when the mapping information transferred from the mapping sensor 124 is in an abnormal wafer alignment state, the controller 126 determines whether the wafer in the abnormal alignment state is in a state capable of being pulled out. That is, when the first wafer W1 ′ to be withdrawn is inclined by a predetermined distance c on the center line WC1 of the corresponding slot, in the state where the index arm 120a is horizontally moved toward the cassette 114, In the interval d between the slots, if the first and second wafers W1 'and W2 and the index arm 120a can maintain a predetermined distance b', respectively, the index arm 120a is moved to the first wafer. W1 'is lowered by the inclined interval c to correct the position of the index arm 120a'. Then, as in the case of FIG. 4A, the index arm 120a ′ is raised to seat the first wafer W1 ′ on the index arm 120a ', and then the index arm 120a' in the opposite direction to the cassette 114. To move it horizontally. For example, when the thickness of the index arm 120a is about 5 mm, the distance b 'between each of the first and second wafers W1' and W2 and the index arm 120a is maintained at about 2 mm or more. do.

However, as shown in FIG. 4C, when the second wafer W2 'is inclined more than a predetermined distance c' on the center line WC2 of the corresponding slot, the index arm 120a and the first and second parts are disposed. When the index arm 120a is horizontally moved in the cassette 114 direction because the sum of the distances b 'and b "from the wafers W1 and W2' is at least smaller than the thickness a of the index arm 102a, In this case, the wafer cannot be taken out, so that the controller 126 generates an alarm to the outside, for example, the thickness of the index arm If it is about 5 mm, each of the spacings b 'and b "between the index arm 120a and the first and second wafers W1 and W2' must maintain at least about 2mm.

3 is a flowchart illustrating a load mapping process procedure of the substrate processing apparatus according to the embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 3, in step S130, the controller 126 opens the door 116 to withdraw the wafer. In step S132, the mapping information about the alignment state of the wafer mounted on the cassette 114 is detected from the mapping sensor 124.

In step S134, the mapping information is used to determine whether the current alignment state of the wafer to be taken out is bad, that is, whether the wafer to be taken out is loaded abnormally in the corresponding slot. If the wafer to be taken out is loaded in the normal state in the slot, the process proceeds to step S144 where the index arm 120a is driven to take out the wafer as shown in FIG. 4A.

However, if the determination result is that it is mounted in an abnormal state, the procedure goes to step S136 to determine the position where the wafer can be taken out by correcting the position of the index arm 120a. If the wafer is ready to be pulled out after the position correction, the procedure proceeds to step S138 to drive the position correction of the index arm 120a, as shown in FIG. 4B, and to extract the wafer in step S140 and to the buffer unit in step S142. The wafer is transferred to 106.

As a result of the determination, if the wafer alignment failure state in which the wafer cannot be taken out even after the position correction, the procedure goes to step S146 to generate an alarm to the outside.

In the above, the configuration and operation of the substrate processing apparatus according to the present invention are shown in accordance with the detailed description and drawings, which are merely described by way of example, and various changes and modifications may be made without departing from the spirit of the present invention. It is possible.

1 is a diagram showing the configuration of a substrate processing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing some components of the substrate processing apparatus shown in FIG. 1; FIG.

3 is a flowchart showing a load mapping process procedure of the substrate processing apparatus according to the embodiment of the present invention; And

4A to 4C are views illustrating a state in which the transfer robot is driven according to the wafer alignment state of the present invention.

Explanation of symbols on the main parts of the drawings

100: substrate processing apparatus 102: loading / unloading unit

104: index 106: buffer portion

108: substrate transfer unit 110, 112: substrate processing unit

114: cassette 116: door

120: index robot 122: drive unit

124: mapping sensor 126: control unit

Claims (8)

In the substrate processing apparatus: A cassette on which a plurality of wafers are mounted; A mapping sensor which senses an alignment state of the wafer mounted in the cassette and outputs mapping information according to the wafer alignment state; A transfer robot having at least one transfer arm for withdrawing a wafer from the cassette; A drive unit for driving the transfer robot to withdraw a wafer from the cassette; Receiving the mapping information from the mapping sensor, even if the alignment state of the wafer to be taken out by the transfer robot is defective, correct the position of the transfer arm so as to withdraw the defective wafer if the defective wafer can be taken out. And a control unit for controlling the drive unit. The method of claim 1, And the transfer robot is an index robot. The method according to claim 1 or 2, The transfer arm has a certain thickness; The controller controls the transfer arm and the defective wafer and the other even when the transfer arm is inserted into the lower portion of the defective wafer in a gap between another wafer mounted on the upper or lower portion of the defective wafer to be withdrawn from the cassette. The substrate processing apparatus characterized by correct | amending the position of the said transfer arm if the space | interval with a wafer is maintained. 4. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 3, The control unit; And an alarm of the substrate processing apparatus is generated if the defective wafer cannot be pulled out by correcting the position of the transfer arm and correcting the position of the transfer arm. In the processing method of the substrate processing apparatus which takes out a wafer from a cassette: Detect the alignment state of the wafers mounted on the cassette, determine whether the alignment state of the wafer to be taken out is poor, and if the alignment state of the wafer to be taken out currently is bad, correct the position of the robot arm to correct the wafer. Determining whether the robot arm is in a drawable state, and then correcting the position of the robot arm to drive the robot arm in position correction if the wafer is in a drawable state. The method of claim 5, Determining whether the wafer is withdrawn by correcting the position of the robot arm; Even when the wafer to be pulled out is inclined in the slot of the cassette, the wafer to be pulled out and the wafer to be pulled out even if the robot arm is inserted into a gap between the wafer to be pulled out and another wafer disposed above or below the wafer to be pulled out. A substrate processing method characterized by determining whether it is spaced apart from each other by a predetermined interval or more. The method of claim 6, Driving the robot arm to position correct; And if spaced apart by more than the predetermined interval, position compensation the robot arm so as to maintain the same interval on each of the wafer to be taken out and the other wafer. 8. The method according to claim 6 or 7, The method; And generating an alarm if the wafer to be drawn out is inclined in a slot of the cassette and at the same time corrects the position of the transfer arm to contact at least one of the wafer to be taken out and the other wafer.

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