TW200428561A - A substrate treatment apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

To provide a plasma processor wherein a stocking space for cooling the processed substrates or making them waits therein is disposed without increasing substantially the occupied area of the whole of the processor. In the front of a case (1), a pair of openings (2) for coupling the apertures of FOUPs F to the inside of the case (1) in an airtight way are provided separately from each other on both sides of the front. Also, in the positions lower than the openings (2), a pair of FOUP mounting portions (4) are overhung from the case (1) separately from each other on both sides of the front. Furthermore, an expanding portion (5) is so formed between the pair of FOUP mounting portions (4) as to use the inside of the expanding portion (5) as a stocking space (6) for cooling the processed substrates or making them wait therein.

Description

200428561 (1) 发明. Description of the invention [Technical field to which the invention belongs] The present invention relates to a plasma treatment for applying etching, photoresist, and ashing to a substrate to be processed, such as a semiconductor wafer or a glass substrate, and applying light. Substrate processing equipment such as a liquid barrier. [Prior art] In order to perform plasma processing under reduced pressure such as photoresist deashing more efficiently, it is known to use a multi-joint robot from a cassette containing a plurality of substrates to be processed. The substrates to be processed are fed into the plasma processing chamber one by one, and a plasma processing apparatus is used to send the processed substrates to the other wafer cassettes using a multi-joint robot. (Patent Document 1) Although it is known that the above-mentioned processing is performed in a clean room in which the number of particles such as floating dust has been reduced, recently, in order to further suppress particulate contamination, a wafer cassette has been It is placed in a closed container called a FOUP: Front Opening Unified Pod. On the other hand, the plasma processing chamber and the articulated robot are placed in a cabinet that prevents intrusion of particles from the outside. A plasma processing device that plasma-tightly connects the opening of the wafer cassette to the opening formed by the casing to form a plasma treatment in a state of being interrupted from the outside is manufactured. (Patent Document 2) (Patent Document 1) Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 1 0-3 0 1 8 3 Figure 1 (Patent Document 2) Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 11-102951 paragraph [0006], paragraph [〇013], paragraph [ [0015], Figure 2 (2) (2) 200428561, Figure 9 [Contents of the Invention] [Questions to be Solved by the Invention] The first figure in Patent Document 2 is an octagonal machine in plan view. A multi-joint robot is arranged in the casing, and a plasma processing chamber is connected to both sides of the octagonal casing. In addition, a vacuum preparation chamber (Load Lock Chamber) that also serves as a cooling chamber is connected to the other two On the side, a structure for transferring a substrate to be processed is disclosed between the vacuum preparation chamber and the wafer cassette. In addition, in FIG. 9 of Patent Document 2, a plasma processing chamber is connected to an octagonal casing. In addition, the wafer box is connected to the other two sides, and the cooling chamber is connected to the remaining two sides. In the structure shown in FIG. 1 of Patent Document 2, it is necessary to provide the same number of vacuum preparation chambers as the number of wafer cassettes, which leads to an increase in the size of the device, and it is not possible to use other vacuum preparation chambers as cooling chambers. The substrate to be processed is fed into the plasma processing chamber so that efficient processing cannot be performed. In addition, in the structure shown in Fig. 9 of Patent Document 2, the cooling chamber is extended to the left and right of the device, and the occupied area as a whole of the device becomes large. In addition, 'Although it is considered that a cooling room is not provided and a standby place is installed in a part of the device, this structure must be installed in a place that does not interfere with the multi-joint robot, and it is easy to cause discomfort in the design of the device configuration. . Moreover, when a cooling chamber is installed, particles such as dust are easily accumulated in the cooling chamber over time. This is a concern that the particles may be contaminated. [Means for solving problems]

The present invention that solves the above-mentioned problems is that a processing unit such as a plasma processing chamber, a coating device, and the articulated robot are arranged in a casing that prevents intrusion of particles from the outside, and is manufactured by the articulated robot. In a substrate processing apparatus for transferring a substrate to be processed between a wafer box and a processing unit disposed outside the case, a pair of openings for the wafer box and the inside of the case are provided on the front side of the case to be spaced left and right. An air-tightly connected opening that projects a pair of wafer cassette receiving portions from left to right and spaced from below the opening, and forms a bulging portion between the front of the cabinet and the pair of wafer cassette receiving portions In addition, the space inside the bulging portion is used as a storage space for cooling or waiting for the substrate to be processed.

By arranging the storage space efficiently by using the useless space efficiently by constructing the above-mentioned configuration, it is possible to provide a device having a high function without increasing the size of the device. In particular, the front-to-back dimension of the wafer cassette receiving portion and the protruding dimension of the bulged portion are made substantially the same so that the bulged portion is not hindered. In addition, the inclined surface that lowers the ceiling surface of the storage space toward the front and the bottom surface is an inclined surface that descends toward the inside to prevent particles from accumulating in the storage space. And by making the above-mentioned storage space into an air flow path, the particles in the storage space can be actively removed -6- 200428561

[Embodiment] An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. Here, FIG. 1 is an overall perspective view of an example in which the substrate processing apparatus of the present invention is applied to a plasma processing apparatus, FIG. 2 is a longitudinal sectional view of the same plasma processing apparatus, and FIG. 3 is a view of the same plasma processing apparatus. Cross section.

The plasma processing apparatus is housed in a cabinet 1 having a substantially rectangular parallelepiped shape as a whole. The cabinet 1 has a structure that prevents intrusion of particles from the outside. A pair of openings for airtightly connecting the opening of the wafer cassette F and the inside of the case 1 are provided on the front surface of the case 1 so as to be spaced from left to right. When the wafer case F is not connected, the opening 2 is closed by the lid portion 3 to prevent the intrusion of particles into the housing 1.

In a position lower than the above-mentioned opening 2, a pair of wafer cassette carrying portions 4 are protruded from the housing 1 toward left and right, and then a bulging portion is formed between the pair of wafer cassette carrying portions 4. 5. The size of the bulging portion 5 is substantially the same as the size of the wafer cassette receiving portion 4 in the front-back direction, and the inner space is used as a storage space 6 for cooling or waiting for the substrate to be processed. As shown in FIG. 2, the storage space 6 is provided with a plurality of layers of supporting platforms 7 upward and downward. The ceiling surface 6 a is formed with an inclined surface that descends toward the front, and the bottom surface 6 b is formed with an inclined surface that descends toward the inside. , Forming a structure where particles do not adhere to the inner surface. (5) (5) 200428561 The above-mentioned load-bearing platform 7 is configured such that the top plate 7a is arranged directly above the load-bearing platform 7 by taking out and placing the substrate to be processed on the upper layer so that particles and the like do not fall to the lower layer. In addition, the number of sample wafers on the carrier platform 7 may be always standby in advance. This sample wafer is transferred into the processing apparatus as a substitute for the substrate to be processed when the substrate processing apparatus starts operation and the processing state is unstable. After the processing state is stable, the sample wafer is carried out and carried on the carrying platform 7. In addition, an exhaust passage 8 is provided on an outer portion of the bulging portion 5. The exhaust passage 8 and the storage space 6 are communicated with each other through a hole portion 9 formed on a wall surface, and are manufactured from the storage space 6. Let the air out actively. The hole portion 9 is provided corresponding to each load platform 7. On the other hand, an articulated robot 10 and a plasma processing chamber 20 are arranged in the casing 1. The articulated robot 10 is provided with a main body 11 and two articulated arms 12. The main body 11 is rotatable with a vertical axis as a center, and the articulated arm 12 is adjusted in accordance with a tuning position in addition to a lifting operation. Telescopic movement is performed, and the articulated robot 10 as a whole is driven along a guide rail 13 by a cylinder unit (not shown) and the like, and is movable to a plasma processing chamber 2 facing left and right. 0 position. The structure of the articulated robot 10 is not limited to the above. The plasma processing chamber 20 is provided with a sample introduction chamber 21, and the sample introduction chamber 21 is interposed therebetween, and is manufactured so that the substrate to be processed can be carried in and out. That is, a transfer arm is also provided in the sample introduction chamber 21, and transfer of the substrate to be processed with the articulated robot 10 is performed by the arm. In addition, the plasma processing chamber 20 is provided with a reactive gas introduction section 2 3-(6) (6) 200428561 The upper part of the quartz chamber 22 for generating plasma is provided with a Faraday shield on the outer periphery of the quartz chamber 22 (Faraday shield) 24. A plasma generating coil 25 connected to a high frequency (high frequency) power source is arranged outside the Faraday shield 24. The plasma processing chamber 20 is not limited to the above, and a sheet-shaped electrode or the like may be used arbitrarily. In the above, the wafer cassette F is connected to the opening 2 of the casing 1, and the cover 3 is removed to communicate the inside of the wafer cassette F and the casing 1. At this time, for example, one of the wafer cassettes F contains unprocessed substrates to be processed in advance, and the other wafer cassette F is vacated in advance. From this state, the unprocessed substrate is taken out of one of the wafer cassettes F by the multi-joint robot 10 and sent to the plasma processing chamber 20 for predetermined photoresist ashing or etching. deal with. When the processing is completed, the substrate to be processed is taken out of the plasma processing chamber 20 in the reverse order. At this time, if the substrate to be processed is stored in the empty wafer cassette F due to the high temperature, it will also cause damage, so it is moved to the loading platform 7 in the storage space 6 to reduce the temperature. Stored in an empty wafer cassette F. Although the example shown in the figure shows an example applicable to a plasma processing apparatus, the present invention can also be applied to a coating apparatus. [Effects of the Invention] According to the substrate processing apparatus of the present invention as described above, since an unused space is used as a storage space, the occupied area of the entire apparatus is not increased. (7) (7) 200428561 In addition, the shape of the storage space itself is made to prevent particles from accumulating easily, and since the particles are actively removed from the storage space, the pollution of the particles can be effectively prevented. [Brief description of the drawings] Fig. 1 is an overall perspective view of a plasma processing apparatus to which the substrate processing apparatus of the present invention is applied. Fig. 2 is a longitudinal sectional view of the plasma processing apparatus. Fig. 3 is a cross-sectional view of the plasma processing apparatus. 〔Explanation of Symbols〕 1 ... case 2 ... opening 3 ... cover p 4 ... wafer case carrying section

6 ··· Storage space 6a ... Ceiling surface of storage space 6b ... Bottom surface of storage space 7 ... Top plate of loading platform 8 ... Exhaust passage 9 ... Hole section 10 ... Multi-joint robot • 10- (8) (8 200428561 1 1 ... Robot body 12 ... Robot arm 13 ... Guide rail 20 ... Plasma processing chamber 21 ... Sample introduction chamber 22 ... Quartz chamber 23 ... Reactive gas introduction portion 24 ... Faraday shield 25 ... Plasma generation coil F ... Wafer box

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Claims (1)

(1) (1) 200428561 Pickup and patent application scope 1. A substrate processing device is a case in which a processing unit such as a plasma processing chamber or a coating device and a multi-joint robot are arranged to prevent the invasion of particles from the outside Inside 'is a substrate processing device that is manufactured by this articulated robot to transfer the substrate to be processed between a wafer box (FOUP: Front Opening Unified Pod) and a processing unit arranged outside the housing, and is characterized by ... A pair of openings for airtightly connecting the opening of the wafer cassette and the inside of the casing are provided on the front side of the housing to be spaced leftward and rightward. A protrusion is formed on the front surface of the housing between the pair of wafer cassette supporting portions, and an inner space of the protrusion is used as a storage space for cooling or waiting for the substrate to be processed. 2. The substrate processing apparatus according to item 1 of the scope of patent application, wherein the dimensions in the front-rear direction of the wafer cassette carrying portion and the protruding dimensions of the bulging portion are made substantially the same. 3. The substrate processing apparatus according to item 1 or 2 of the scope of patent application, wherein the ceiling surface forming the storage space is an inclined surface that descends toward the front, and the bottom surface is an inclined surface that descends toward the inside. 4. The substrate processing apparatus described in item 1 or 2 of the scope of patent application, wherein the storage space is formed as a flow path of air. -12-