WO2010003910A1 - Drain device and method - Google Patents

Drain device and method Download PDF

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Publication number
WO2010003910A1
WO2010003910A1 PCT/EP2009/058479 EP2009058479W WO2010003910A1 WO 2010003910 A1 WO2010003910 A1 WO 2010003910A1 EP 2009058479 W EP2009058479 W EP 2009058479W WO 2010003910 A1 WO2010003910 A1 WO 2010003910A1
Authority
WO
WIPO (PCT)
Prior art keywords
drain device
transporting box
wafers
openings
drain
Prior art date
Application number
PCT/EP2009/058479
Other languages
French (fr)
Inventor
Arnaud Favre
Cindy Rude
Bertrand Bellet
Original Assignee
Alcatel Lucent
Priority date (The priority date is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the date listed.)
Filing date
Publication date
Application filed by Alcatel Lucent filed Critical Alcatel Lucent
Priority to JP2011517115A priority Critical patent/JP2011527514A/en
Publication of WO2010003910A1 publication Critical patent/WO2010003910A1/en

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Classifications

    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H01—ELECTRIC ELEMENTS
    • H01L—SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICES NOT COVERED BY CLASS H10
    • H01L21/00—Processes or apparatus adapted for the manufacture or treatment of semiconductor or solid state devices or of parts thereof
    • H01L21/67—Apparatus specially adapted for handling semiconductor or electric solid state devices during manufacture or treatment thereof; Apparatus specially adapted for handling wafers during manufacture or treatment of semiconductor or electric solid state devices or components ; Apparatus not specifically provided for elsewhere
    • H01L21/673—Apparatus specially adapted for handling semiconductor or electric solid state devices during manufacture or treatment thereof; Apparatus specially adapted for handling wafers during manufacture or treatment of semiconductor or electric solid state devices or components ; Apparatus not specifically provided for elsewhere using specially adapted carriers or holders; Fixing the workpieces on such carriers or holders
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H01—ELECTRIC ELEMENTS
    • H01L—SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICES NOT COVERED BY CLASS H10
    • H01L21/00—Processes or apparatus adapted for the manufacture or treatment of semiconductor or solid state devices or of parts thereof
    • H01L21/67—Apparatus specially adapted for handling semiconductor or electric solid state devices during manufacture or treatment thereof; Apparatus specially adapted for handling wafers during manufacture or treatment of semiconductor or electric solid state devices or components ; Apparatus not specifically provided for elsewhere
    • H01L21/673—Apparatus specially adapted for handling semiconductor or electric solid state devices during manufacture or treatment thereof; Apparatus specially adapted for handling wafers during manufacture or treatment of semiconductor or electric solid state devices or components ; Apparatus not specifically provided for elsewhere using specially adapted carriers or holders; Fixing the workpieces on such carriers or holders
    • H01L21/6735—Closed carriers
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H01—ELECTRIC ELEMENTS
    • H01L—SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICES NOT COVERED BY CLASS H10
    • H01L21/00—Processes or apparatus adapted for the manufacture or treatment of semiconductor or solid state devices or of parts thereof
    • H01L21/02—Manufacture or treatment of semiconductor devices or of parts thereof
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H01—ELECTRIC ELEMENTS
    • H01L—SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICES NOT COVERED BY CLASS H10
    • H01L21/00—Processes or apparatus adapted for the manufacture or treatment of semiconductor or solid state devices or of parts thereof
    • H01L21/67—Apparatus specially adapted for handling semiconductor or electric solid state devices during manufacture or treatment thereof; Apparatus specially adapted for handling wafers during manufacture or treatment of semiconductor or electric solid state devices or components ; Apparatus not specifically provided for elsewhere
    • H01L21/67005—Apparatus not specifically provided for elsewhere
    • H01L21/67011—Apparatus for manufacture or treatment
    • H01L21/67017—Apparatus for fluid treatment
    • Y—GENERAL TAGGING OF NEW TECHNOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENTS; GENERAL TAGGING OF CROSS-SECTIONAL TECHNOLOGIES SPANNING OVER SEVERAL SECTIONS OF THE IPC; TECHNICAL SUBJECTS COVERED BY FORMER USPC CROSS-REFERENCE ART COLLECTIONS [XRACs] AND DIGESTS
    • Y10—TECHNICAL SUBJECTS COVERED BY FORMER USPC
    • Y10T—TECHNICAL SUBJECTS COVERED BY FORMER US CLASSIFICATION
    • Y10T137/00—Fluid handling
    • Y10T137/0318—Processes

Definitions

  • the present invention relates to a drain device for a transporting box used for the displacement of semiconductor substrates between the different stages in the production of semiconductor and microelectronic components, for example for the production of micr ⁇ -electro-mechanical system (MEMS) or micro-opto-electro- mechanical system ⁇ MOEMS) components.
  • MEMS micr ⁇ -electro-mechanical system
  • ⁇ MOEMS micro-opto-electro- mechanical system
  • the substrates such as masks or slices of silicon 200 mm or 300 rhm in diameter for example, are transported in transporting boxes which protect them against the pollution present in the atmosphere in clean rooms.
  • the transporting boxes haw the advantage of being able to maintain a controlled atmosphere around the substrates, In which the presence of contaminating products is avoided as far as possible.
  • one particular type of transporting box is used, known as an FOUP ("Front Opening Unified Pod"), comprising a sealed peripheral wall with a lateral input- output opening, which can be blocked by a door equipped with sealing means.
  • FOUP Front Opening Unified Pod
  • the wafers are stacked on top of each other in a sort of rack, which may also be referred to as a cassette or a basket
  • the basket containing up to 25 wafers is generally placed or held on the wali which constitutes the base of the transporting box.
  • the transporting box may be coupled to an input-output interface for the semiconductor component manufacturing equipment.
  • the interface is a system allowing the transporting box to be positioned and its door to be opened.
  • the interface usually comprises robotic means of activating the door to open and close the door of the transporting box.
  • This interface (sometimes also known as a mini- environment), is usually known as an Equipment Front End Moduie, or EFEM.
  • Control of the contamination during the production of electronic chips is a major challenge for the semiconductor industry.
  • the contamination may be caused by particles or gases, which cause corrosion or form crystals on the wafers for example. Contamination may have dramatic consequences for chip manufacturers since the performances of the chip will be severely reduced by these faults.
  • There are solutions to limit the contamination by installing drain systems in the substrate transporting boxes, advantageously using the vacuum or a neutral gas.
  • the first problem concerns the duration of the draining operation, in other words the time to replace the contaminated atmosphere inside the transporting box with a clean neutral gys, for example nitrogen. Therefore, draining a closed transporting box requires the clean gas to be injected through drain ports which have the disadvantage of not being standard and which have a limited effect. It therefore takes more than 10 minutes to incompletely drain a box (R. Bernard and A. Pavre: "Using numerical simulation to optimize 300 mm FOUP purging", Soi ⁇ d State Techn., October 2003, p.71). Furthermore, the vacuum process, requires the transporting box to be placed in a vacuum and a return to atmospheric pressure progressively so as avoid the risk of damaging the box. The second problem is that a transporting box containing the substrates may remain connected to the equipment for several hours. Even though it is possible to carry out a draining operation after having treated the entire batch of substrates contained in the transporting box, irreversible faults have already appeared.
  • the aim of the present invention is to propose a device to effectively drain a FOUP transporting box. containing substrate wafers, while it is still connected to the equipment.
  • the invention also aims to propose a drain device which can be adapted to all standard FOUP type transporting boxes.
  • a wafer is extracted or inserted into the transporting box approximately every 2 to 3 minutes. It is therefore a time constraint to carry out the draining operation as a background task during the treatment of a batch of substrates.
  • the invention therefore also aims to propose a draining method which can be used to obtain an efficient draining of a FOUP transporting box in under 3 minutes when it is connected to the equipment.
  • the aim of the present invention is a drain device for a transporting box with an input/output opening which can be blocked by a box door and which contains substrate wafers stacked on parallel planes, comprising: - a volume, limited by a wall, divided into at least an upper part equipped with a purging gas inlet orifice and a lower part equipped with a purging gas outlet orifice, with the two parts being separated by a sealed partition, and
  • - a main wall, intended to cooperate with the input/output opening of the transporting box, roughly perpendicular to the planes of the wafers and comprising a range of openings, the median plane of which is parallel to the planes of the wafers, with the openings connecting the volume of the drain device to the transporting box.
  • the dimensions of the openings in relation to the purging gas iniet orifice are such that the upper part of the drain device is in overpressure. It is understood that the total surface area of the connection openings between the upper part of the drain device and the transporting box must be sufficiently small.
  • the number of openings should preferably be at least equal to the number of wafers contained in the transporting box so as to direct the purging gas respectively towards each wafer.
  • Transporting boxes may usually contain between 1 and 25 wafers.
  • the openings are rectangular slots.
  • the openings have a length of the same order of magnitude as the diameter of the substrate wafers.
  • the rectangular slots have a height of less than the distance separating two successive wafers, or around 10 mm, and the siots are preferably less than 3 mm high.
  • the openings consist of aligned holes.
  • the holes are aligned over a distance of the same order of magnitude as the diameter of the substrate wafers.
  • the holes are preferably circular and have a diameter lower than the distance separating two successive wafers, and the holes preferably have a diameter of fess than 2 mm.
  • the drain device comprises among other things a range of guides inserted between the openings.
  • the number of guides is preferably at least equal to the number of wafers contained in the transporting box. These guides are used to direct the gas stream as dose as possible to the wafers.
  • the guides have a length of the same order of magnitude as the diameter of the substrate wafers.
  • the guides are arranged in the planes of the wafers. Therefore, each guide is presented in the same plane as the wafer to which it corresponds.
  • the end of each guide has a concave form which matches the form of the corresponding circular wafer.
  • the drain device also comprises sealed connection means at the input/output opening of the transporting box.
  • the invention also has the objective of providing a system for draining, using the drain device described previously, a transporting box with an input/output opening which can be blocked by a box door and containing a stack of substrate wafers.
  • the drain system comprises a chamber, with at least one connection orifice to a transporting box equipped with a chamber door, and comprises means of activating the box door to open and close the transporting box door and means of activating the drain device to connect It to the transporting box.
  • the idea is to affix a drain device forming a door in the place of the door of the transporting box, and to use this drain device to inject a clean gas into the transporting box.
  • the drain system also comprises sealing means at the coupling zone of the connection orifice to the input/output opening of the transporting box.
  • the invention also has the objective of providing a method for draining, using the drain device described previously, a transporting box with an input/output opening which can be blocked by a box door and containing substrate wafers stacked on paratiel planes.
  • the method includes the following stages:
  • the drain device is connected to the input/output opening of the transporting box
  • the gas is inserted into the transporting box through openings, the median plane of which is parallel Io the wafer planes and which connects with the upper part of the volume of the drain device,
  • the gas is collected through openings, the median plane of which is parallel to the wafer planes and which connects with the lower part of the voiume of the drain device,
  • the gas is evacuated through the purging gas outlet orifice in the lower part of the
  • the purging gas is injected into the upper part of the drain device at a pressure greater than 2 bars.
  • the drain method with the drain device according to the invention acts by forced convection between the substrate wafers. It is used to gain efficiency in relation to existing drain devices acting by diffusion. The draining operation is quicker: 1 minute instead of several minutes. After 1 minute of circulation of the purging gas al 50 slm, there remains on average less than 3.4% dioxygen in the transporting box.
  • This drain device and this drain method can be used with al! FOUP type transporting boxes currently in service.
  • the neutral gas enters the transporting box at a much lower speed than if the draining is carried out using drain orifices arranged in the back wall of the standard transporting boxes. For this reason, there are fewer particles detached and blown inside the transporting box. Furthermore, backscattering is not possible for these particles, therefore the wafers are protected against any risk of redeposition.
  • the draining operation may be used either at the end of the treatment before reclosing and disconnecting the transporting box, or as a background task during the treatment between two wafer transfer operations.
  • the time required to reach a draining efficiency of greater than 90% is less than 2 minutes with a purging gas ffow of 30 slm. This time is shorter than the duration passing between two wafer transfers.
  • FIG. 1 shows in diagram form a substrate treatment installation to which a transporting box is connected
  • FIG. 2a, 2b and 2c show in diagram form the way in which a FOUP transporting box is connected to a drain system according to one embodiment of the invention
  • FIG. 3a and 3b represent perspective views, of the two faces respectively, of a drain device according to one embodiment of the invention
  • - figure 4 shows a perspective view of one of the faces of a drain device according to another embodiment of the invention.
  • - figure 5 shows the path of the purging gas between the different planes in a transporting box coupled to the purging device of figures 3a and 3b.
  • a substrate treatment installation is shown in figure 1. It contains a process chamber 1. maintained in a vacuum in which manufacturing or treatment operations are carried out for substrates such as semiconductor wafers.
  • the process chamber 1 connects to a transfer chamber 2, also in a vacuum, in which the wafer is placed immediately before and after its treatment in the process chamber 1.
  • the transfer chamber 2 connects to a loading/unloading lock 3 in which the vacuum and return to atmospheric pressure phases alternate.
  • This lock 3 connects the transfer chamber 2 to an EFEM module 4 used to transfer substrates at atmospheric pressure.
  • One or more removable transporting boxes 5, of the FOUP type for example, may be connected via an orifice 6 to the EFEM module 4. These boxes 5 are used for the storage or the transport of substrates at atmospheric pressure, in particular between two manufacturing phases or between two treatment devices.
  • the substrate wafers stacked in a basket 7 may therefore be transferred one by one to the transfer chamber 2 via the EFEM module 4 and the lock 3.
  • Figures 2a, 2b and 2c correspond to the successive stages of tine coupling of a FOUP type transporting box to the drain device according to the invention.
  • FIG. 2a shows a drain system 20 according to one embodiment of the invention comprising a chamber 21 with sealed walls comprising at least one orifice 22 to allow the coupling of a transporting box 23.
  • a basket 24 containing substrate wafers arranged horizontally is placed in the transporting box 23.
  • the transporting box 23 comprises side waits 23a, a top wall 23b and a bottom wall 23c on which the basket rests 24.
  • In one of the side walls 23a there is an input/output opening blocked by a door 25.
  • the door 25 is placed opposite the orifice 22 of the drain system 20.
  • a drain device 26 according to one embodiment of the invention is placed in the lower part of the chamber 21.
  • the drain system 20 provides the functions of an EFEM module, it also comprises a second orifice 27 able to be connected to the loading / unloading lock for a substrate treatment, installation.
  • a second orifice 27 able to be connected to the loading / unloading lock for a substrate treatment, installation.
  • the drain device 30 comprises a volume limited by a sealed wall divided into an upper part 31 and a tower part 32 by a sealed separating partition 33.
  • the upper part 31 comprises an iniet orifice 34 for the purging gas.
  • the lower part 32 comprises an outlet orifice 35 for the evacuation of the gas.
  • the volume of the drain device is dosed on the drain system chamber side by a sealed wall (not shown) and open towards the inside of the transporting box.
  • the drain device 30 comprises horizontal guides 36 which restrict the openings 37, the number of which must be equal to the number of wafers contained in the basket.
  • the input/output opening of the box has dimensions slightly greater than the diameter of the substrate wafers in order to allow passing.
  • the drain device 30 which blocks it as a replacement for the box door shall therefore have similar dimensions, and the guides 36 and the openings 37 shail therefore have a length of the same order of magnitude as that of the wafers.
  • the openings 37 are rectangular slots with a length of around 300 mm and a height of less than 3 mm.
  • the end of each guide 36 is concave 38. matching me form of the circular wafer arranged horizontally in the basket, in order to bring the purging gas as close as possible to each wafer to sweep over the surface.
  • a joint 39 ensures the seating of the connection between the transporting box and the drain device 30.
  • Figure 4 shows a perspective of another embodiment of a drain device 40 comprising a gas inlet orifice 41.
  • the openings 42 consist of parallel rows of holes 43, each horizontal row corresponding to the horizontal plane of a wafer.
  • the drain device 40 does not contain guides.
  • a drain device 50 is connected and sealed to the inpul/ou-put opening of a transporting box 5.1. so as tp connect the volume of the drain device 50 to the inside of the transporting box 51.
  • a clean purging gas preferably a neutralgas, is injected through the ags inlet orifice 52 in the upper part 53 of the drain device volume 50, advantageously at a pressure greater than 2 bars.
  • the purging gas is then directed through the openings 54 by the guides 55 around and towards the inside of the basket 56.
  • the purging gas flow travels in parallel to the planes of the wafers 57, to the pSanes of the guides 55 and to the median planes of the openings 54. as shown by arrows 53 and 59 respectively.
  • the openings 54 are dimensioned in relation to the gas inlet orifice 52 in such s way that the upper part 53 of the drain device 50 is in slight overpressure, in order that the neutral and clean gas can enter homogeneously in the transporting box 51.
  • the openings 54 may take the form of slots with a low height or a series of aligned holes with a low diameter, for example with a diameter of less than 2 mm. A low cross section for these openings 54 allows gas input with homogeneous distribution over the entire surface of the upper part 53 of the drain device 50.

Abstract

The aim of the present invention is a drain device for a transporting box with an input/output opening which can be blocked by a box door and which contains substrate wafers stacked according to parallel planes. The drain device comprises a volume limited by a sealed wail divided into at least an upper part with a purging gas inlet orifice and a lower part with a purging gas outlet orifice, with the two parts being separated by a sealed partition, and a range of guides defining the openings arranged parallel to those of the wafers and connecting with the volume of the drain device to direct the purging gas towards the transporting box.

Description

Drain device and method
The present invention relates to a drain device for a transporting box used for the displacement of semiconductor substrates between the different stages in the production of semiconductor and microelectronic components, for example for the production of micrσ-electro-mechanical system (MEMS) or micro-opto-electro- mechanical system {MOEMS) components.
During production, the substrates, such as masks or slices of silicon 200 mm or 300 rhm in diameter for example, are transported in transporting boxes which protect them against the pollution present in the atmosphere in clean rooms.
The transporting boxes haw the advantage of being able to maintain a controlled atmosphere around the substrates, In which the presence of contaminating products is avoided as far as possible. For the transport of substrates in wafers 300 mm in. diameter, one particular type of transporting box is used, known as an FOUP ("Front Opening Unified Pod"), comprising a sealed peripheral wall with a lateral input- output opening, which can be blocked by a door equipped with sealing means. In a transporting box, the wafers are stacked on top of each other in a sort of rack, which may also be referred to as a cassette or a basket The basket containing up to 25 wafers is generally placed or held on the wali which constitutes the base of the transporting box.
The transporting box may be coupled to an input-output interface for the semiconductor component manufacturing equipment. The interface is a system allowing the transporting box to be positioned and its door to be opened. The interface usually comprises robotic means of activating the door to open and close the door of the transporting box. This interface (sometimes also known as a mini- environment), is usually known as an Equipment Front End Moduie, or EFEM.
Control of the contamination during the production of electronic chips is a major challenge for the semiconductor industry. The contamination may be caused by particles or gases, which cause corrosion or form crystals on the wafers for example. Contamination may have dramatic consequences for chip manufacturers since the performances of the chip will be severely reduced by these faults. There are solutions to limit the contamination by installing drain systems in the substrate transporting boxes, advantageously using the vacuum or a neutral gas.
However, these drain systems may only be used when the transporting box is detached from the equipment (US-2007-062,561 : JP-2007-317 909). in other words when it is closed. This Gauses two problems.
The first problem concerns the duration of the draining operation, in other words the time to replace the contaminated atmosphere inside the transporting box with a clean neutral gys, for example nitrogen. Therefore, draining a closed transporting box requires the clean gas to be injected through drain ports which have the disadvantage of not being standard and which have a limited effect. It therefore takes more than 10 minutes to incompletely drain a box (R. Bernard and A. Pavre: "Using numerical simulation to optimize 300 mm FOUP purging", Soiϊd State Techn., October 2003, p.71). Furthermore, the vacuum process, requires the transporting box to be placed in a vacuum and a return to atmospheric pressure progressively so as avoid the risk of damaging the box. The second problem is that a transporting box containing the substrates may remain connected to the equipment for several hours. Even though it is possible to carry out a draining operation after having treated the entire batch of substrates contained in the transporting box, irreversible faults have already appeared.
As a result, the aim of the present invention is to propose a device to effectively drain a FOUP transporting box. containing substrate wafers, while it is still connected to the equipment.
The invention also aims to propose a drain device which can be adapted to all standard FOUP type transporting boxes.
A wafer is extracted or inserted into the transporting box approximately every 2 to 3 minutes. It is therefore a time constraint to carry out the draining operation as a background task during the treatment of a batch of substrates. The invention therefore also aims to propose a draining method which can be used to obtain an efficient draining of a FOUP transporting box in under 3 minutes when it is connected to the equipment.
The aim of the present invention is a drain device for a transporting box with an input/output opening which can be blocked by a box door and which contains substrate wafers stacked on parallel planes, comprising: - a volume, limited by a wall, divided into at least an upper part equipped with a purging gas inlet orifice and a lower part equipped with a purging gas outlet orifice, with the two parts being separated by a sealed partition, and
- a main wall, intended to cooperate with the input/output opening of the transporting box, roughly perpendicular to the planes of the wafers and comprising a range of openings, the median plane of which is parallel to the planes of the wafers, with the openings connecting the volume of the drain device to the transporting box.
According to one preferential execution method, the dimensions of the openings in relation to the purging gas iniet orifice are such that the upper part of the drain device is in overpressure. It is understood that the total surface area of the connection openings between the upper part of the drain device and the transporting box must be sufficiently small.
The number of openings should preferably be at least equal to the number of wafers contained in the transporting box so as to direct the purging gas respectively towards each wafer. Transporting boxes may usually contain between 1 and 25 wafers.
According to a first embodiment of the invention, the openings are rectangular slots. Advantageously, the openings have a length of the same order of magnitude as the diameter of the substrate wafers. Preferably, the rectangular slots have a height of less than the distance separating two successive wafers, or around 10 mm, and the siots are preferably less than 3 mm high.
According to a second embodiment, the openings consist of aligned holes.
Advantageously, the holes are aligned over a distance of the same order of magnitude as the diameter of the substrate wafers. The holes are preferably circular and have a diameter lower than the distance separating two successive wafers, and the holes preferably have a diameter of fess than 2 mm.
According to one variant, the drain device comprises among other things a range of guides inserted between the openings. The number of guides is preferably at least equal to the number of wafers contained in the transporting box. These guides are used to direct the gas stream as dose as possible to the wafers. According to one execution method, the guides have a length of the same order of magnitude as the diameter of the substrate wafers.
According to another execution method of the invention, the guides are arranged in the planes of the wafers. Therefore, each guide is presented in the same plane as the wafer to which it corresponds. Advantageously, the end of each guide has a concave form which matches the form of the corresponding circular wafer.
Preferably, the drain device also comprises sealed connection means at the input/output opening of the transporting box.
The invention also has the objective of providing a system for draining, using the drain device described previously, a transporting box with an input/output opening which can be blocked by a box door and containing a stack of substrate wafers. According to the invention, the drain system comprises a chamber, with at least one connection orifice to a transporting box equipped with a chamber door, and comprises means of activating the box door to open and close the transporting box door and means of activating the drain device to connect It to the transporting box.
The idea is to affix a drain device forming a door in the place of the door of the transporting box, and to use this drain device to inject a clean gas into the transporting box. The drain system also comprises sealing means at the coupling zone of the connection orifice to the input/output opening of the transporting box.
The invention also has the objective of providing a method for draining, using the drain device described previously, a transporting box with an input/output opening which can be blocked by a box door and containing substrate wafers stacked on paratiel planes. According to the invention, the method includes the following stages:
- the drain device is connected to the input/output opening of the transporting box,
- a clean gas is injected into the upper part of the volume of the drain device through the purging gas inlet orifice,
- the gas is inserted into the transporting box through openings, the median plane of which is parallel Io the wafer planes and which connects with the upper part of the volume of the drain device,
- the gas is collected through openings, the median plane of which is parallel to the wafer planes and which connects with the lower part of the voiume of the drain device,
- the gas is evacuated through the purging gas outlet orifice in the lower part of the Advantageously, the purging gas is injected into the upper part of the drain device at a pressure greater than 2 bars.
The drain method with the drain device according to the invention acts by forced convection between the substrate wafers. It is used to gain efficiency in relation to existing drain devices acting by diffusion. The draining operation is quicker: 1 minute instead of several minutes. After 1 minute of circulation of the purging gas al 50 slm, there remains on average less than 3.4% dioxygen in the transporting box.
This drain device and this drain method can be used with al! FOUP type transporting boxes currently in service. For an equivalent flow, the neutral gas enters the transporting box at a much lower speed than if the draining is carried out using drain orifices arranged in the back wall of the standard transporting boxes. For this reason, there are fewer particles detached and blown inside the transporting box. Furthermore, backscattering is not possible for these particles, therefore the wafers are protected against any risk of redeposition.
The draining operation may be used either at the end of the treatment before reclosing and disconnecting the transporting box, or as a background task during the treatment between two wafer transfer operations. The time required to reach a draining efficiency of greater than 90% is less than 2 minutes with a purging gas ffow of 30 slm. This time is shorter than the duration passing between two wafer transfers.
Other characteristics and advantages of the present invention will become apparent upon reading the following description of one embodiment, which is naturally given by way of a non-limiting example, and in the attached drawing, in which:
- figure 1 shows in diagram form a substrate treatment installation to which a transporting box is connected,
- figures 2a, 2b and 2c show in diagram form the way in which a FOUP transporting box is connected to a drain system according to one embodiment of the invention,
- figures 3a and 3b represent perspective views, of the two faces respectively, of a drain device according to one embodiment of the invention,
- figure 4 shows a perspective view of one of the faces of a drain device according to another embodiment of the invention. - figure 5 shows the path of the purging gas between the different planes in a transporting box coupled to the purging device of figures 3a and 3b.
A substrate treatment installation is shown in figure 1. It contains a process chamber 1. maintained in a vacuum in which manufacturing or treatment operations are carried out for substrates such as semiconductor wafers. The process chamber 1 connects to a transfer chamber 2, also in a vacuum, in which the wafer is placed immediately before and after its treatment in the process chamber 1. The transfer chamber 2 connects to a loading/unloading lock 3 in which the vacuum and return to atmospheric pressure phases alternate. This lock 3 connects the transfer chamber 2 to an EFEM module 4 used to transfer substrates at atmospheric pressure. One or more removable transporting boxes 5, of the FOUP type for example, may be connected via an orifice 6 to the EFEM module 4. These boxes 5 are used for the storage or the transport of substrates at atmospheric pressure, in particular between two manufacturing phases or between two treatment devices. The substrate wafers stacked in a basket 7 may therefore be transferred one by one to the transfer chamber 2 via the EFEM module 4 and the lock 3.
Figures 2a, 2b and 2c correspond to the successive stages of tine coupling of a FOUP type transporting box to the drain device according to the invention.
Figure 2a shows a drain system 20 according to one embodiment of the invention comprising a chamber 21 with sealed walls comprising at least one orifice 22 to allow the coupling of a transporting box 23. A basket 24 containing substrate wafers arranged horizontally is placed in the transporting box 23. The transporting box 23 comprises side waits 23a, a top wall 23b and a bottom wall 23c on which the basket rests 24. In one of the side walls 23a, there is an input/output opening blocked by a door 25. The door 25 is placed opposite the orifice 22 of the drain system 20. A drain device 26 according to one embodiment of the invention is placed in the lower part of the chamber 21. if the drain system 20 provides the functions of an EFEM module, it also comprises a second orifice 27 able to be connected to the loading / unloading lock for a substrate treatment, installation. Once the transporting box 23 is placed opposite the orifice 22 of the drain system 20, its door 25 is unlocked using means of activating the box door, then moved to the lower part of the chamber 21 for example, in order not to hinder the displacement of the wafers to the loading/unloading lock, as shownin figure 2b. The drain device 26 is positioned by robotic means of activation in the place of the door 25 of the transporting box 23 in order to drain the transporting box 23 and the substrate wafers it contains, as shown in figure 2c. The drain device 26 is applied to the box 23 to seal it closed. This operation to put in place the drain device 26 may be carried out at the end of the treatment of the entire batch of substrates and/or between each displacement of wafers to the method chamber.
A specific embodiment of the drain device according to the invention is represented in figures 3a and 3b. The drain device 30 comprises a volume limited by a sealed wall divided into an upper part 31 and a tower part 32 by a sealed separating partition 33. The upper part 31 comprises an iniet orifice 34 for the purging gas. The lower part 32 comprises an outlet orifice 35 for the evacuation of the gas. The volume of the drain device is dosed on the drain system chamber side by a sealed wall (not shown) and open towards the inside of the transporting box. The drain device 30 comprises horizontal guides 36 which restrict the openings 37, the number of which must be equal to the number of wafers contained in the basket. The input/output opening of the box has dimensions slightly greater than the diameter of the substrate wafers in order to allow passing. The drain device 30 which blocks it as a replacement for the box door shall therefore have similar dimensions, and the guides 36 and the openings 37 shail therefore have a length of the same order of magnitude as that of the wafers. In the present case, the openings 37 are rectangular slots with a length of around 300 mm and a height of less than 3 mm. The end of each guide 36 is concave 38. matching me form of the circular wafer arranged horizontally in the basket, in order to bring the purging gas as close as possible to each wafer to sweep over the surface. A joint 39 ensures the seating of the connection between the transporting box and the drain device 30.
Figure 4 shows a perspective of another embodiment of a drain device 40 comprising a gas inlet orifice 41. Here, the openings 42 consist of parallel rows of holes 43, each horizontal row corresponding to the horizontal plane of a wafer. The drain device 40 does not contain guides.
The drain method will now be described in reference to figure 5. A drain device 50 according to one embodiment of the invention is connected and sealed to the inpul/ou-put opening of a transporting box 5.1. so as tp connect the volume of the drain device 50 to the inside of the transporting box 51. A clean purging gas, preferably a neutralgas, is injected through the ags inlet orifice 52 in the upper part 53 of the drain device volume 50, advantageously at a pressure greater than 2 bars. The purging gas is then directed through the openings 54 by the guides 55 around and towards the inside of the basket 56. The purging gas flow travels in parallel to the planes of the wafers 57, to the pSanes of the guides 55 and to the median planes of the openings 54. as shown by arrows 53 and 59 respectively.
After flushing the wafers located in the top of the basket 56, the purging gas returns to the lower part 60 of the drain device volume 50, flushing the wafers located in the bottom of the basket 56, as shown by arrows 61 and 62. The purging gas then escapes through the outlet orifice 63. The openings 54 are dimensioned in relation to the gas inlet orifice 52 in such s way that the upper part 53 of the drain device 50 is in slight overpressure, in order that the neutral and clean gas can enter homogeneously in the transporting box 51. The openings 54 may take the form of slots with a low height or a series of aligned holes with a low diameter, for example with a diameter of less than 2 mm. A low cross section for these openings 54 allows gas input with homogeneous distribution over the entire surface of the upper part 53 of the drain device 50.

Claims

1. Drain device for a transporting box with an input/output opening which can be blocked by a box door and which contains substrate wafers stacked based on parallel planes, comprising: - a volume, iimiied by a sealed wall, divided into at ieast an upper part with a purging gas inlet orifice and a lower part with a purging gas outlet orifice, with the two parts being separated by a sealed partition, and
- a main wall, intended to cooperate with the Input/output opening of the transporting box, roughly perpendicular to the planes of the wafers and comprising a range of openings, the median plane of which is parallel to the planes of the wafers, with the openings connecting the volume of the drain device to the transporting box.
2. Drain device according to claim 1, in which the openings are dimensioned in relation to the purging gas inlet orifice in such a way that the upper part of the drain device is in overpressure.
3. Drain device according to one of claims 1 and 2, in which the number of openings is at least equal to the number of wafers contained in the transporting box.
4. Drain device according to one of claims 1 and 2, in which the openings are rectangular slots with a length of the same order of magnitude as the diameter of the substrate wafers.
5. Drain device according to one of claims 1 and 2, in which the openings consist of hoies aligned over a distance of roughly the same order of magnitude as the diameter of the substrate wafers.
6. Drain device according to claim 1. also comprising a range of guides inserted between the openings.
7. Drain device according to claim 6, in which the number of guides is at least equal to the number of wafers contained in the transporting box and the guides are arranged in the planes of the wafers. ffif
8. Drain device according to claim 7, in which each guide is arranged in the same plane as the wafer to which it corresponds, with the end of each guide being concave, matching the form, of the corresponding circular wafer.
θ. Drain device according to claim 1. also comprising means for a sealed connection to the input/ output opening of the transporting box.
10. Drain system of a transporting box, with an input/output opening which can be blocked by a box door and containing a stack of substrate wafers, using the drain device according to claim 1, comprising a chamber with at least one connection orifice to a transporting box equipped with a chamber door, and comprising means of activating the box door to open and close the door of the transporting box and means of activating the drain device to connect it to the transporting box.
11. Drain method for a transporting box with an input/output opening which can be blocked by a box door and which contains substrate wafers stacked according to parallel planes, using the drain device according to claim 1 , comprising:
- connecting the drain device to the input/output opening of the transporting box,
■ injecting a purging gas in the upper part of the volume of ihe drain device through the purging gas inlet orifice, - inserting the gas into the transporting box through openings, the median plane of which is parailei to the wafer planes and which connect with the upper part of the volume of the drain device,
- collecting the gas through openings, the median piano of which is parallel to the wafer planes and which connect with the lower part of the volume of the drain device.
- evacuating the gas through the purging gas outlet orifice in the lower part of the volume of the drain device.
12 Drain method according to ciaim 11, in which the purging gas is injected into the upper part of the drain device at a pressure greater than 2 bars.
PCT/EP2009/058479 2008-07-11 2009-07-06 Drain device and method WO2010003910A1 (en)

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JP2011517115A JP2011527514A (en) 2008-07-11 2009-07-06 Drain device and method

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FR0854769A FR2933813B1 (en) 2008-07-11 2008-07-11 PURGE DEVICE AND METHOD.
FR0854769 2008-07-11

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US9662688B2 (en) 2012-07-09 2017-05-30 Kla-Tencor Corporation Apparatus and method for cross-flow purge for optical components in a chamber

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FR2933813A1 (en) 2010-01-15
CN101625962A (en) 2010-01-13
CN101625962B (en) 2011-10-26
TW201017801A (en) 2010-05-01
EP2144276A3 (en) 2012-07-18
EP2144276A2 (en) 2010-01-13
JP2011527514A (en) 2011-10-27
FR2933813B1 (en) 2010-12-24
KR20110028547A (en) 2011-03-18
US20100006472A1 (en) 2010-01-14

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