JP2003060009A - Substrate processing apparatus and substrate processing method - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Problem] To provide a substrate processing apparatus having a small occupied area and high operating efficiency. A connecting module (3) is provided in a cassette loader room (10).
00 is removably attached. Connection module 30
0 are stacked vertically apart from each other. In each connection module 300, the outer gate valve 62, the load lock chamber 52, the gate valve 64, the transfer chamber 54, the gate valve 66, and the reaction processing chamber 56 are connected and arranged in this order from the cassette loader chamber 10. Since the plurality of connection modules 300 are provided in a stack in the vertical direction, the occupied area is not increased. Since the plurality of connection modules 300 are separated from each other and are removably mounted, a certain module can be easily removed for maintenance, and the other connection modules 300 can be operated during that time. The operation efficiency of the device 1 is greatly improved.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a substrate processing apparatus and a substrate processing method, and more particularly to a semiconductor wafer processing apparatus, among which a plasma etching apparatus, a plasma CVD (Chemical Vapor Deposition) apparatus, a plasma ashing apparatus, etc. TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to a semiconductor wafer processing apparatus and a semiconductor wafer processing method for processing a semiconductor wafer using the semiconductor wafer.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art FIG. 20 shows a plasma CVD apparatus 50 of a conventional semiconductor wafer processing apparatus utilizing plasma.
0 is an example.

Gate valves 562, 564, 566 are provided around a load lock chamber 510 containing a transfer robot 570.
Respective reaction chambers 552 and 554, a cooling chamber 556, and a cassette chamber 520 are provided via the respective units 542. Each unit has an airtight structure. An external gate valve 544 for loading / unloading the cassette 530 is separately provided in the load lock chamber 510. In this plasma CVD apparatus 500, the number of reaction chambers 552 and 554 is 2
The number of wafers to be processed, that is, the throughput is increased.

The hatched portion in the figure is the reaction chamber 5.
A maintenance space 580 such as 52 and 554.

Next, the operation will be described.

Load lock chamber 510, reaction chambers 552, 5
54 and the cooling chamber 556 are exhausted by an exhaust pump (not shown),
It is always kept under reduced pressure.

When the cassette chamber 520 is in the atmospheric pressure state, the outer gate valve 544 is opened, the cassette 530 in which a plurality of wafers 5 are set is set, the outer gate valve 544 is closed, and then exhaust is performed by an exhaust pump (not shown).

Cassette chamber 520 and load lock chamber 510
Load lock chamber 5
10 and the reaction chamber 552 (554) between the gate valve 562 (5
64) is opened, and the wafer 5 in the cassette 530 is moved to the reaction chamber 552 by the transfer robot 570 in the load lock chamber 510.
Alternatively, the wafer 5 is transferred to 554 and processed.

After the processing in the reaction chamber 552 or 554 is completed, the wafer 5 is returned to the cassette 530 in the cassette chamber 520 by using the transfer robot 570. In the case of plasma CVD, in the normal reaction chamber 552 (554). Three
Since the wafer 5 is processed by raising the temperature to around 00 ° C., the wafer 5 cannot be stored in the cassette 530 as it is in many cases depending on the material of the cassette 530. Therefore, it is necessary to lower the temperature of the processed wafer 5 by inserting it into the cooling chamber 556.

When the temperature of the wafer 5 in the cooling chamber 556 becomes lower than the temperature that does not hinder the storage of the wafer 5 in the cassette 530, the wafer 5 is returned to the cassette 530 in the cassette chamber 520 by using the transfer robot 570.

By repeating these series of operations, the cassette 5
30 wafers 5 are sequentially processed.

In the apparatus configuration shown in FIG. 20, one cooling chamber,
Two reaction chambers can be provided in addition to one cassette chamber. In order to further increase the throughput, it is necessary to increase the number of load lock chambers 510 to increase the number of reaction chambers 552 and 554.

In this case, the load lock chamber 510 becomes large, the reaction chambers 552 and 554 increase, and the area occupied by the apparatus increases, including the maintenance space for them.

[0014]

The equipment of a semiconductor manufacturing plant which requires a clean room is very expensive.
The floor area of the factory is determined according to the size of the equipment to be introduced as production equipment. However, if the floor area occupied by each equipment is small, the equipment cost of the factory can be reduced, and thus equipment with a small occupied area is required. Further, even when the occupied area is reduced in this way, it is required to increase the operating efficiency of the device.

Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a substrate processing apparatus which occupies a small area and has high operating efficiency.

[0016]

According to the present invention, a substrate transfer section, a plurality of modules each detachably attached to the substrate transfer section, and a first substrate provided in the substrate transfer section. 1. A substrate processing apparatus comprising: a transfer unit, which is capable of transferring a substrate to the plurality of modules, wherein the plurality of modules are separated from each other and stacked in a substantially vertical direction. The
Each of the plurality of modules has an airtight substrate processing chamber for processing the substrate, an airtight intermediate chamber provided between the substrate processing chamber and the substrate transfer unit, the substrate processing chamber and the A first valve provided between the substrate and the intermediate chamber can be made airtight between the substrate processing chamber and the intermediate chamber when closed, and the substrate can be opened inside when opened. A first valve movable between the intermediate chamber and the substrate transfer section, and a second valve provided between the intermediate chamber and the substrate transfer section between the intermediate chamber and the substrate transfer section when closed. And a second valve through which the substrate can move when opened,
A first substrate processing apparatus is provided, wherein the intermediate chamber is provided with a second substrate transfer means capable of transferring the substrate to the substrate processing chamber.

In this first substrate processing apparatus of the present invention, since a plurality of modules are provided in a substantially vertical stack, even if a plurality of modules are used to increase the processing efficiency of the substrate, the substrate is processed. The area occupied by the processing apparatus in the clean room is not increased, and the maintenance area of the apparatus is not increased.

Further, in the first substrate processing apparatus of the present invention, the plurality of modules vertically stacked in this manner are separated from each other and are detachably attached to the substrate transfer section. If any module needs maintenance, you can easily remove only the module that needs maintenance, and you can operate other modules while performing maintenance on that module. as a result,
The operating efficiency of the substrate processing apparatus is significantly improved. Further, in the first substrate processing apparatus of the present invention, the plurality of vertically stacked modules are separated from each other and are detachably attached to the substrate transfer section. When maintenance is required for a module of the above, only the module requiring maintenance is removed, the maintenance of the module is performed, and when the maintenance is completed, between the substrate processing chamber and the second substrate transfer means in the module. So that the substrate can be transferred by adjusting the parallelism and the height direction between the second substrate transfer means and the substrate processing chamber in advance, and after the adjustment, the module is reattached to the substrate transfer section. be able to. In this way, the adjustment regarding the substrate transfer between the substrate processing chamber and the second substrate transfer means can be performed in advance in the module, so that the adjustment work can be performed easily and accurately. Then, after that, when the module that has undergone maintenance is attached to the substrate transfer unit, it is no longer necessary to make adjustments regarding the transfer of the substrate between the substrate processing chamber and the second substrate transfer unit in the module. The operating efficiency of the substrate processing apparatus can be greatly improved.

Further, since the plurality of modules are separated from each other and are detachably attached to the substrate transfer section, the number of modules to be attached to the substrate transfer section depends on the number of required processings per hour and the kind of processing. Can be appropriately selected according to.

Further, each of the plurality of modules
A substrate processing chamber having an airtight structure for processing a substrate, an intermediate chamber having an airtight structure provided between the substrate processing chamber and the substrate transfer section, and a first valve provided between the substrate processing chamber and the intermediate chamber. In the closed state, the space between the substrate processing chamber and the intermediate chamber can be made airtight, and in the opened state, the substrate can move through the first valve, and the intermediate chamber and It is a second valve provided between the substrate transfer section and when closed, it is possible to make the space between the intermediate chamber and the substrate transfer section airtight, and when opened, the substrate passes through it. Since the second chamber is provided with a movable second valve, the intermediate chamber and the substrate processing chamber of each module can be independently kept airtight, and the intermediate chamber and the substrate can be kept in each module and between the modules. It is possible to create a specified gas atmosphere or vacuum atmosphere independently of the processing chamber. , Moreover, it is a substrate respectively moves and between the intermediate chamber and the substrate transfer section of the substrate processing chamber and the intermediate chamber. Since the intermediate chamber and the substrate processing chamber can be independently kept airtight in this way, the intermediate chamber can function as a load lock chamber. A gate valve is preferably used as such a first valve.

Further, since the second substrate transfer means capable of transferring the substrate to the substrate processing chamber is provided in the intermediate chamber of each module, the substrate processing is performed regardless of the processing state in the substrate processing chamber of another module. Substrates can be loaded into the chamber and loaded from the substrate processing chamber. As a substrate, for example, when using a semiconductor wafer, the heating time of the substrate in the substrate processing chamber affects the distribution state of impurities in the semiconductor wafer, which in turn affects the characteristics of the semiconductor device, Although it is necessary to keep constant, in the present invention, since each module is provided with the substrate processing chamber and the substrate transfer means, respectively, the substrate can be carried out regardless of the processing state in the other substrate processing chamber, As a result, the time for heating the substrate in each module can be kept constant.

Preferably, each of the plurality of modules is the substrate processing chamber for processing the substrate and has a vacuum-tight structure, the substrate processing chamber, and the substrate transfer section. The intermediate chamber, which is provided between the substrate processing chamber and the intermediate chamber and has a vacuum-tight structure, and the first valve which is closed when the intermediate valve is closed. Between the substrate processing chamber and the intermediate chamber, a vacuum can be made airtight, and when opened, the substrate is movable through the first valve; the intermediate chamber and the substrate. The second valve provided between the transfer section and the transfer section can be vacuum-tightly sealed between the intermediate chamber and the substrate transfer section when closed, and the second valve can be opened when opened. A second valve through which the substrate can move

With this configuration, the intermediate chamber and the substrate processing chamber of each module can be kept vacuum-tight independently of each other, and the intermediate chamber and the substrate processing chamber can be provided in each module and between the modules. The substrate can be independently made into a predetermined vacuum atmosphere, and the substrate can be moved between the substrate processing chamber and the intermediate chamber and between the intermediate chamber and the substrate transfer section. Since the intermediate chamber and the substrate processing chamber can be kept vacuum-tight in this way independently, the intermediate chamber can function as a vacuum load lock chamber.

Further, since the second substrate transfer means capable of transferring the substrate to the substrate processing chamber is provided in the intermediate chamber having such a vacuum-tight structure, it is possible to connect the modules vertically stacked. Of the substrate is carried out under the atmospheric pressure by the first substrate carrying means provided in the substrate carrying section, and the substrate is carried in vacuum by the second substrate carrying means provided in the intermediate chamber of each module. You can Therefore, it is not necessary to form a vacuum-tight structure in all areas where the mechanism for transferring the substrate is provided, and the substrate transfer section that transfers the substrate to each module can be an area where the transfer is performed under atmospheric pressure. The area of structurally airtight structure can be divided into the intermediate chambers of each module. As a result, the structure of the substrate transfer section and the structure of the first substrate transfer means can be simplified, and the cost can be reduced. In addition, the volume of the intermediate chamber of each module is also reduced, and the strength can be maintained even if the wall thickness is reduced, and as a result, it can be manufactured at low cost. Further, also in the second substrate transfer means provided in the intermediate chamber, the vertical ascending / descending operation can be suppressed to the necessary minimum.
The production cost is also low, and particles that may be generated from the drive unit of the second substrate transfer unit in the intermediate chamber having a vacuum-tight structure can be minimized.

Since both the substrate processing chamber and the intermediate chamber are vacuum-tight in this way, it is preferable that the substrate processing chamber and the intermediate chamber can be depressurized. In that case,
More preferably, the substrate processing chamber and the intermediate chamber can be depressurized independently of each other.

Further, preferably, a substrate holding means capable of holding the substrate is further provided in the intermediate chamber of each of the plurality of modules, and the substrate holding means is more than the second substrate transfer means. It is located on the substrate transfer section side.

As described above, by further providing the substrate holding means in addition to the second substrate carrying means, it becomes possible to separate the substrate holding function and the carrying function, for example, holding a certain substrate. While the substrate is held and cooled by the means, another substrate can be transferred to the substrate processing chamber by the substrate transfer means, and the substrate can be processed more efficiently.

Since the substrate holding means is located closer to the substrate carrying portion than the second substrate carrying means, the first substrate carrying means of the substrate carrying part and the second substrate carrying means of the intermediate chamber are arranged. This substrate holding means is located in between, and the substrate can be efficiently transferred between the first substrate carrying means and the second substrate carrying means via this substrate holding means. As described above, even when the substrate holding means is further provided in the intermediate chamber in the module, a plurality of such modules are separated from each other and each is detachably stacked in the vertical direction, and the substrate transfer unit is detached. If any of the modules requires maintenance, remove only the module requiring maintenance, perform maintenance on that module, and when maintenance is complete, move the module to the substrate processing chamber inside the module. Between the second substrate carrying means and the substrate processing chamber, or between the second substrate carrying means and the substrate holding means, so that the substrate can be carried between the second substrate carrying means and the substrate holding means. The parallelism and height can be adjusted in advance, and after the adjustment, the module can be reattached to the board transfer section. . In this way, the adjustment regarding the substrate transfer between the substrate processing chamber, the second substrate transfer unit, and the substrate holding unit can be performed in advance in the module, so that the adjustment work can be performed easily and accurately. Then, after that, when the module that has undergone maintenance is attached to the substrate transfer unit, adjustment regarding substrate transfer between the substrate processing chamber, the second substrate transfer unit, and the substrate holding unit in the module is no longer performed. Since there is no need, the operating efficiency of the substrate processing apparatus can be greatly improved.

Further, according to the present invention, there are provided a substrate transfer section, a plurality of modules each detachably attached to the substrate transfer section, and a first substrate transfer means provided in the substrate transfer section. And a first substrate transfer means capable of transferring a substrate to the plurality of modules, wherein the plurality of modules are separated from each other and stacked in a substantially vertical direction. Each of the modules is an airtight substrate processing chamber for processing the substrate, and an airtight first and second intermediate chamber provided between the substrate processing chamber and the substrate transfer section, A first valve provided between the first intermediate chamber on the substrate processing chamber side, the second intermediate chamber on the substrate transfer unit side, and the substrate processing chamber and the first intermediate chamber. And if closed then forward Between said substrate processing chamber first intermediate chamber can be hermetically a first valve movable through the interior of the substrate when opened, the first
Second valve provided between the intermediate chamber and the second intermediate chamber, and when the valve is closed, the first intermediate chamber and the second intermediate chamber are made airtight. And a third valve provided between the second intermediate chamber and the substrate transfer section, the second valve allowing the substrate to move therethrough when opened. When closed, the second
Between the substrate and the substrate transfer section can be made airtight, and when the substrate is opened, the substrate is provided with a third valve through which the substrate can move. Is provided with a substrate holding means capable of holding the substrate,
A second substrate processing apparatus is provided in which a second substrate transfer unit capable of transferring the substrate between the substrate holding unit and the substrate processing chamber is provided in the intermediate chamber of It

In this second substrate processing apparatus of the present invention, since a plurality of modules are provided in a substantially vertical stack, even if a plurality of modules are used to improve the processing efficiency of the substrate, the substrate is processed. The area occupied by the processing apparatus in the clean room is not increased, and the maintenance area of the apparatus is not increased.

Further, in the second substrate processing apparatus of the present invention, the plurality of modules vertically stacked in this manner are separated from each other and are detachably attached to the substrate transfer section. If any module needs maintenance, you can easily remove only the module that needs maintenance, and you can operate other modules while performing maintenance on that module. as a result,
The operating efficiency of the substrate processing apparatus is significantly improved. Further, in the second substrate processing apparatus of the present invention, the plurality of vertically stacked modules are separated from each other and are detachably attached to the substrate transfer section. When maintenance is required for the module in question, only the module requiring maintenance is removed, the maintenance of the module is performed, and when the maintenance is completed, the substrate processing chamber, the second substrate transfer means, and the substrate holding are held in the module. Adjustment of parallelism and height direction between the second substrate transfer means and the substrate processing chamber or between the second substrate transfer means and the substrate holding means so that the substrate can be transferred between the means and the like. In advance, after adjustment, the module can be reattached to the substrate transfer unit. In this way, the adjustment regarding the substrate transfer between the substrate processing chamber, the second substrate transfer unit, and the substrate holding unit can be performed in advance in the module, so that the adjustment work can be performed easily and accurately. And
After that, when the module that has undergone maintenance is attached to the substrate transfer unit, it is no longer necessary to make adjustments regarding the transfer of the substrate between the substrate processing chamber, the second substrate transfer unit, and the substrate holding unit in the module. Since it is eliminated, the operating efficiency of the substrate processing apparatus can be greatly improved.

Further, since the plurality of modules are separated from each other and are detachably attached to the substrate transfer section, the number of modules to be attached to the substrate transfer section can be determined by the required number of processings per hour and the type of processing. Can be appropriately selected according to.

Further, each of the plurality of modules
An airtight substrate processing chamber for processing a substrate, and first and second intermediate chambers having an airtight structure provided between the substrate processing chamber and the substrate transfer section, the first intermediate on the substrate processing chamber side. Room and
A second intermediate chamber on the substrate transfer section side, and a first valve provided between the substrate processing chamber and the first intermediate chamber, and when closed, the substrate processing chamber and the first intermediate chamber Between the first intermediate chamber and the second intermediate chamber, and the first valve is movable between the first valve and the second valve when the substrate is opened. A second valve, which when closed allows an airtight seal between the first intermediate chamber and the second intermediate chamber, and when open, a second valve through which the substrate can move. And a third valve provided between the second intermediate chamber and the substrate transfer part, which when closed can make the space between the second intermediate chamber and the substrate transfer part airtight. The first intermediate chamber and the second intermediate chamber of each module, since the substrate is provided with a third valve that can be moved through the inside of the module when opened. The substrate processing chamber and the substrate processing chamber can be kept airtight independently of each other, and the first intermediate chamber, the second intermediate chamber, and the substrate processing chamber can be independently operated in a predetermined gas atmosphere or in each module. A vacuum atmosphere can be created, and moreover, between the substrate processing chamber and the first intermediate chamber,
The substrate can be moved between the first intermediate chamber and the second intermediate chamber and between the second intermediate chamber and the substrate transfer section, respectively. Since the first and second intermediate chambers and the substrate processing chamber can be independently kept airtight in this way, the second intermediate chamber can function as a load lock chamber. Gate valves are preferably used as the first and second valves.

Further, since the second substrate transfer means capable of transferring the substrate between the substrate holding means and the substrate processing chamber is provided in the first intermediate chamber of each module, the substrate processing of other modules is performed. The substrate can be loaded into and unloaded from the substrate processing chamber regardless of the processing state in the chamber.
In this way, since each module is provided with the substrate processing chamber and the substrate transfer means, respectively, the substrate can be carried out regardless of the processing state in the other substrate processing chamber, and as a result, the substrate is heated in each module. Each time can be kept constant.

Further, since the substrate holding means capable of holding the substrate is provided in the second intermediate chamber, it becomes possible to separate the substrate holding function and the substrate carrying function. While the substrate is held by the substrate holding means to perform cooling or the like, another substrate can be transferred to the substrate processing chamber by the second substrate transfer means, and the substrate can be processed more efficiently. Will be able to.

In the second substrate processing apparatus, the second intermediate chamber is provided with the substrate holding means, but the second substrate transfer means is not provided. Therefore, the volume of the second intermediate chamber is reduced. As a result, the replacement time of the atmosphere in the second intermediate chamber, for example, the state transition time between the atmospheric pressure state and the reduced pressure state can be shortened.

In this second substrate processing apparatus, preferably, each of the plurality of modules is the substrate processing chamber for processing the substrate and has a vacuum-tight structure, and the substrate. The first and second intermediate chambers, which are provided between the processing chamber and the substrate transfer section and have a vacuum-tight structure, the first intermediate chamber on the substrate processing chamber side, and the substrate. The first intermediate valve provided between the second intermediate chamber on the transfer unit side and the substrate processing chamber and the first intermediate chamber, and when closed, the substrate processing chamber and the first intermediate valve are closed. A first intermediate chamber, and the first intermediate chamber and the first intermediate chamber can be vacuum-tight with respect to the first intermediate chamber, and when opened, the substrate can move therethrough. When the second valve provided between the second intermediate chamber and the second intermediate chamber is closed, The second valve, which can form a vacuum-tight seal between the first intermediate chamber and the second intermediate chamber, and is movable through the substrate when the substrate is opened, The third valve provided between the second intermediate chamber and the substrate transfer section is closed in a vacuum manner between the second intermediate chamber and the substrate transfer section when closed. And a third valve through which the substrate is movable when opened.

With this configuration, the first intermediate chamber, the second intermediate chamber, and the substrate processing chamber of each module can be independently kept vacuum-tight, and each module and each module can be kept airtight. The first intermediate chamber, the second intermediate chamber, and the substrate processing chamber can be independently made into a predetermined vacuum atmosphere in the space, and moreover, between the substrate processing chamber and the first intermediate chamber,
The substrate can be moved between the first intermediate chamber and the second intermediate chamber and between the second intermediate chamber and the substrate transfer section, respectively. Since the first and second intermediate chambers and the substrate processing chamber can be independently kept airtight in a vacuum in this manner, the second intermediate chamber can function as a vacuum load lock chamber. it can.

The first intermediate chamber having such a vacuum-tight structure is provided with the second substrate transfer means capable of transferring the substrate between the substrate holding means and the substrate processing chamber. The substrates are transferred to the vertically stacked modules by the first substrate transfer means provided in the substrate transfer section under atmospheric pressure, and the substrates are transferred in a vacuum at the first intermediate position of each module. It can be performed by the second substrate transfer means provided in the chamber. Therefore, it is not necessary to form a vacuum-tight structure in all areas where the mechanism for transferring the substrate is provided, and the substrate transfer section that transfers the substrate to each module can be an area where the transfer is performed under atmospheric pressure. The area of structurally airtight structure can be divided into a first intermediate chamber of each module. As a result, the structure of the substrate transfer section and the structure of the first substrate transfer means can be simplified, and the cost can be reduced. Further, the volume of the first intermediate chamber of each module is also reduced, and the strength can be maintained even if the thickness of the wall is reduced, and as a result, it can be manufactured at low cost. Further, also in the second substrate transfer means provided in the first intermediate chamber, the vertical ascending / descending operation can be suppressed to the necessary minimum, so that the production cost is also low and the vacuum operation is also possible. Particles that may be generated from the drive unit of the second substrate transfer unit in the first intermediate chamber having a very airtight structure can also be minimized.

Since the second intermediate chamber, which is also vacuum-tight, is also provided in each module, the volume of each module is reduced, and the strength can be maintained even if the wall thickness is reduced. As a result, it becomes possible to manufacture at low cost.

Further, in the second substrate processing apparatus of the present invention, when the substrate processing chamber, the first intermediate chamber and the second intermediate chamber are both vacuum-tight, the substrate processing chamber First
It is preferable that the intermediate chamber and the second intermediate chamber can be decompressed, but in that case, more preferably, the substrate processing chamber, the first intermediate chamber, and the second intermediate chamber are independent of each other. Decompression is possible.

The first and second substrate processing apparatuses of the present invention are preferably used when the substrate transfer section is a substrate transfer section that transfers the substrate under atmospheric pressure.

When the substrate transfer section is a substrate transfer section for transferring a substrate under atmospheric pressure, the structure of the first substrate transfer means provided in the substrate transfer section becomes simple and can be manufactured at low cost. In addition, the substrate transfer unit does not need to be provided in the airtight chamber, and can be covered with a housing, so that the structure is simple and the manufacturing cost can be reduced.

In the first and second substrate processing apparatuses of the present invention, the substrate transfer section is a substrate transfer section for transferring the substrate under atmospheric pressure, and the substrate processing chamber is under reduced pressure. The function is particularly effective in the case of a substrate processing chamber for performing the above processing.

In the first and second substrate processing apparatuses of the present invention, the substrate holding means is preferably a heat resistant substrate holding means.

In this way, the high temperature substrate, which has been processed in the substrate processing chamber, is cooled in each of the intermediate chamber in the first substrate processing apparatus and the first intermediate chamber in the second substrate processing apparatus of the present invention. It can be used as a substrate cooling chamber.

The heat-resistant substrate holding means is preferably made of quartz, glass, ceramics or metal. If it is made of such a material, the substrate can be vacuumed in the intermediate chamber or the first intermediate chamber. Since the holding means does not generate impurities such as outgas, the atmosphere in the intermediate chamber and the first intermediate chamber can be kept clean. As the ceramics, it is preferable to use sintered SiC, one obtained by coating the surface of sintered SiC with a SiO ₂ film or the like, alumina, or the like.

Further, in the first and second substrate processing apparatuses of the present invention, preferably, the substrate carrying section is further provided with a cassette holding means for holding a cassette capable of accommodating a plurality of the substrates, and One substrate transfer means can transfer the substrate between the cassette held by the cassette holding means and the plurality of modules.

In this case, preferably, the first substrate carrying means has a structure capable of carrying the cassette.

In this way, since the first substrate carrying means can serve as the substrate carrying means and the cassette carrying means, the elevating means of the substrate carrying means and the elevating means of the cassette carrying means can be shared. Therefore, the production cost of the lifting device can be reduced, the floor area occupied by the substrate transfer section can be reduced, and the area occupied by the substrate processing apparatus can be reduced.

Further, in the first and second substrate processing apparatuses of the present invention, preferably, each module is provided with an elevator for raising and lowering the first substrate transfer means, so that each module is provided with a first elevator. One substrate transfer means can be used.

In the first and second substrate processing apparatuses of the present invention, preferably, the substrate transfer section is a cassette loading section provided at a predetermined height different from that of the cassette holding means, It further comprises the cassette loading unit for loading the cassette into the substrate transport unit and / or unloading the cassette to the outside of the substrate transport unit.

In a semiconductor manufacturing factory, in order to support an automatic transfer robot, a cassette loading height is often determined in each device. In the substrate processing apparatus of the present invention, the cassette loading section is provided at a predetermined height as described above so as to accommodate this. In this case, it is necessary to transfer the substrate into each module from the cassette loaded in the cassette loading unit. In the present invention, however, the first substrate transporting means is provided with a structure capable of transporting the cassette. By providing the substrate transfer unit with an elevator capable of moving the substrate transfer unit up and down, and by providing the substrate transfer unit with the cassette holding unit, a cassette for storing a plurality of substrates is first moved to a predetermined cassette holding unit. The substrate can be transported from the cassette to each module by the first substrate transporting means, and then the substrate can be transported from the cassette to each module. Therefore, the efficiency of transporting the substrate between the cassette loading section and each module is increased.

In the first and second substrate processing apparatuses of the present invention, preferably, the substrate processing apparatus is capable of processing a plurality of the substrates at the same time, and the second substrate transfer means is the substrate. The same number of substrates as the plurality of substrates simultaneously processed by the processing apparatus can be simultaneously transported. By doing so, the processing efficiency of the substrate is improved.

In the substrate processing chamber of the first and second substrate processing apparatus of the present invention, it is preferable that the plasma C be used.
Film formation of insulating films, metal films for wiring, polysilicon, amorphous silicon, etc. by various CVD methods such as VD method, hot wall CVD method, photo CVD method, heat treatment such as etching, annealing, epitaxial growth, diffusion, etc. However, it is particularly preferable to perform plasma processing such as plasma etching, plasma CVD, plasma ashing, etc., in which the substrate is processed using plasma. In this case,
Preferably, the substrate processing apparatus includes second substrate holding means capable of holding a plurality of the substrates side by side, and the substrate transfer means can transfer the plurality of substrates side by side at the same time.

By doing so, the distance from the electrodes of the plasma processing apparatus can be made substantially equal among the plurality of substrates, and as a result, the density of the plasma to which the plurality of substrates are exposed becomes uniform between the substrates, and the plasma between the substrates can be increased. Processing can be performed uniformly.

In the substrate processing chamber of the first and second substrate processing apparatuses of the present invention, preferably, the substrate processing apparatus can process a plurality of substrates at the same time, and the second substrate transfer is possible. The means can convey the substrates one by one to the respective processing positions of the plurality of substrates that are simultaneously processed by the substrate processing apparatus.

By doing so, it is not necessary to change the structure of the second substrate carrying means in accordance with the number of substrates that can be simultaneously processed in the substrate processing apparatus, and the versatility of the second substrate carrying means is increased.

A semiconductor wafer is preferably used as the substrate to be processed in the present invention. In that case, the substrate processing apparatus functions as a semiconductor wafer processing apparatus.

Further, as the substrate, a glass substrate for a liquid crystal display element or the like can be used.

[0061]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Next, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

(First Embodiment) FIGS. 1A and 1B are views for explaining a semiconductor wafer processing apparatus according to a first embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 1A is a plan view and FIG. 1B is a sectional view. 2 and 3 are sectional views for explaining the semiconductor wafer processing apparatus according to the first embodiment of the present invention, and FIGS. 4 and 5 show the first embodiment of the present invention. It is a top view for explaining the semiconductor wafer processing device of one embodiment. 6 and 8 are plan views for explaining the load lock chamber in the semiconductor wafer processing apparatus according to the first embodiment of the present invention, and FIGS. 7 and 9 show the present invention of the present invention. FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view for explaining the load lock chamber in the semiconductor wafer processing apparatus of the first embodiment of FIG.

A plasma CVD apparatus will be described as an example of the semiconductor wafer processing apparatus 1.

The semiconductor wafer processing apparatus 1 comprises a cassette loader unit 100 and two connecting modules 300.

The cassette loader unit 100 includes a cassette loader chamber 10, and the cassette loader chamber 10 has a chamber wall 1
Two connection modules 300 are detachably attached to each of the two. Further, the two connection modules 300 are vertically separated from each other and stacked.

As described above, the plurality of connection modules 300
Since they are stacked vertically, the occupied area of the clean room by the semiconductor wafer processing apparatus 1 does not increase even if the processing efficiency of the wafer 5 is increased by using a plurality of connection modules 300.

Further, since the maintenance area of the semiconductor wafer processing apparatus 1 is only the maintenance area 112 on the cassette loader unit 100 side and the maintenance area 114 on the reaction processing chamber 56 side, a plurality of connection modules 300 are used to transfer the wafer 5 to the wafer 5. Even if the processing efficiency is increased, the maintenance area of the semiconductor wafer processing apparatus 1 is not increased.

Further, the plurality of connection modules 300 vertically stacked in this manner are separated from each other,
Since each of them is detachably attached to the chamber wall 12 of the cassette loader chamber 10, if any one of the connection modules 300 needs maintenance, it is possible to easily remove only the connection module 300 requiring maintenance. Therefore, the other connection modules 300 can be operated even when the connection module 300 is being maintained, and as a result, the operation efficiency of the semiconductor wafer processing apparatus 1 is significantly improved. In addition, a plurality of connection modules 300 vertically stacked in this manner.
However, since they are separated from each other and are detachably attached to the chamber wall 12 of the cassette loader chamber 10,
When maintenance is required for any of the connection modules 300, only the connection module 300 requiring maintenance is removed, the connection module 300 is maintained, and when the maintenance is completed, the reaction processing chamber in the connection module 300 is completed. The wafer transfer robot 80 and the susceptor 90 in the reaction processing chamber 56 are arranged so that the wafer 5 can be transferred between the susceptor 90 inside the wafer 56, the wafer transfer robot 80, and the wafer boat 70.
Between the wafer transfer robot 80 and the wafer boat 7
It is possible to previously adjust the parallelism with respect to 0 and the height direction, and after that, the connection module 300 can be reattached to the chamber wall 12 of the cassette loader chamber 10.
In this way, the reaction processing chamber 56 in the connection module 300 is
Since the adjustment regarding the transfer of the wafer 5 among the susceptor 90, the wafer transfer robot 80, and the wafer boat 70 in the inside can be performed in advance, the adjustment work can be performed easily and accurately. Then, after that, when the maintenance connection module 300 is attached to the chamber wall 12 of the cassette loader chamber 10, the susceptor 9 in the reaction processing chamber 56 in the connection module 300 is no longer present.
0, the wafer transfer robot 80, and the wafer boat 70 need not be adjusted for the transfer of the wafer 5, so that the operation efficiency of the semiconductor wafer processing apparatus 1 can be significantly improved. The connection module 30
As the maintenance of 0, for example, the reaction processing chamber 56 is removed, the reaction processing chamber 56 is washed, and then the reaction processing chamber 56 is attached again, or the wafer transfer robot 80 is used.
When the wafer transfer robot 80 is repaired or replaced when the wafer is broken, the wafer transfer robot 80 and the susceptor 90 in the reaction processing chamber 56 and the wafer are transferred after performing such maintenance. It is necessary to adjust the parallelism and the height direction between the transfer robot 80 and the wafer boat 70. In the present embodiment, as described above, the adjustment between them can be performed in advance in units of the connection module 300, so that the adjustment work can be performed easily and accurately, and the semiconductor wafer processing apparatus 1 The operating efficiency can be greatly improved.

Since the plurality of connecting modules 300 are separated from each other and are detachably attached to the chamber wall 12 of the cassette loader chamber 10, the number of modules to be attached to the chamber wall 12 of the cassette loader chamber 10 is large. Can be appropriately selected according to the required number of sheets to be processed per hour and the type of processing. For example, a one-stage configuration as shown in FIG. 2 or a three-stage configuration as shown in FIG. 3 can be employed.

In each connection module 300, the outer gate valve 62, the load lock chamber 52, the gate valve 64, the transfer chamber 54, the gate valve 66, and the reaction processing chamber 56 are connected and arranged in this order as they move away from the cassette loader chamber 10. ing.

The load lock chamber 52, the transfer chamber 54, and the reaction processing chamber 56 each have a vacuum-tight structure.
A predetermined vacuum atmosphere can be created independently of each other.

A susceptor 90 is provided in the reaction processing chamber 56. Plasma CVD is performed in the reaction processing chamber 56. As shown in FIG. 4, the susceptor 90 has a structure that holds two semiconductor wafers 5 side by side.

By thus holding the two semiconductor wafers 5 side by side, the distance from the electrodes of the plasma processing apparatus can be made substantially equal between the two wafers 5, and as a result, the two wafers 5 can be held. The density of the plasma to which the wafers 5 are exposed becomes uniform between the substrates, and the plasma processing can be performed uniformly between the wafers 5.

Further, since two wafers are simultaneously processed in the reaction processing chamber 56, the processing efficiency of the wafers 5 is improved, but the number of wafers 5 to be processed simultaneously in the reaction processing chamber 56 is appropriately selected depending on the size of the wafers 5 and the processing mode. This is possible, and for example, as shown in FIG. 5, three wafers 5 can be arranged side by side so that three wafers can be simultaneously processed.

In the transfer chamber 54, the wafer transfer robot 8
0, and a drive unit 55 that drives the wafer transfer robot 80.
And are provided. The wafer transfer robot 80 can transfer the wafer 5 between the wafer boat 70 and the susceptor 90.

As described above, since the wafer transfer robot 80 capable of transferring the wafer 5 between the wafer boat 70 and the susceptor 90 is provided in the transfer chamber 54 of each connection module 300, the reaction of other connection modules 300 is performed. The reaction processing chamber 56 regardless of the processing state in the processing chamber 56.
Wafer 5 can be loaded into wafer 5 from reaction processing chamber 56
Can be carried out. As described above, since the reaction processing chamber 56 and the wafer transfer robot 80 are provided in each connection module 300, the wafer 5 can be unloaded regardless of the processing state in the other reaction processing chamber 56, and as a result, The time during which the wafer is heated in each connection module 300 can be kept constant.

In the load lock chamber 52, a wafer boat 70 and an elevator 53 for raising and lowering the wafer boat 70.
Is provided. The wafer boat 70 is shown in FIGS.
As shown in FIG. 4, four slots are provided. The upper two slots are for wafers before the reaction process, and the lower two slots are for wafers after the reaction process. As described above, the wafer boat 70 is assigned with the position of the slot corresponding to the carrying direction. The wafer boat 70 can hold twice as many wafers as the number of wafers simultaneously processed in the reaction processing chamber 56. 6 and 7 show a state in which two wafers 5 before the reaction treatment are held in the upper two slots and two wafers 5 after the reaction treatment are held in the lower two slots. ing. 8 and 9 show a state in which the upper two wafers 5 are being transferred to the reaction processing chamber 56.

As described above, since the wafer boat 70 provided in the load lock chamber 52 can hold twice as many wafers 5 as the number of wafers 5 simultaneously processed in the reaction processing chamber 56, the reaction processing chamber 56 can be held. The wafer 5 to be processed next can be held in advance in the two slots above the wafer boat 70 in the load lock chamber 52 while the wafer 5 is being processed in the load lock chamber 52. After taking out the processed wafer 5 into the lower two slots, the wafer 5 for the next processing can be immediately supplied to the reaction processing chamber 56. As a result, the wafer 5 can be efficiently processed and throughput can be increased.

The wafer transfer robot 80 can simultaneously transfer two wafers 5 between the wafer boat 70 and the susceptor 90. Therefore, the same number of wafers 5 as the number of wafers 5 to be processed simultaneously in the reaction processing chamber can be simultaneously carried. In this way, the wafer transfer robot 8
0 is capable of transporting a plurality of wafers 5 at the same time, and is capable of transporting the same number of wafers 5 as the number of wafers 5 processed in the reaction processing chamber at the same time. Is improved.

Since the load lock chamber 52 is provided with the elevator 53 for raising and lowering the wafer boat 70, the wafer 5 can be transferred to a predetermined slot of the wafer boat 70 without the wafer transfer robot 80 having an elevating function. As a result, the structure of the wafer transfer robot 80 is simplified and can be manufactured at low cost.

Further, since the wafer boat 70 is provided in the load lock chamber 52 and the wafer transfer robot 80 is provided in the transfer chamber 54, the holding function and the transfer function of the wafer 5 can be separated. For example, while a wafer 5 is held by the wafer boat 70 and is being cooled, another wafer 5 is transferred to the wafer transfer robot 8
When it is 0, the wafer 5 can be transferred to the reaction processing chamber 56, and the wafer 5 can be processed more efficiently.

Further, the wafer boat 70 is heat-resistant, and the high temperature wafers 5 processed in the reaction processing chamber 56 have been processed.
Can be held in the wafer boat 70 and cooled.

The wafer boat 70 is preferably made of quartz, glass, ceramics or metal,
If such a material is used, impurities such as outgas will not be generated from the wafer boat 70 even in a vacuum, so that the atmosphere can be kept clean. As the ceramics, it is preferable to use sintered SiC, one obtained by coating the surface of sintered SiC with a SiO ₂ film or the like, alumina, or the like.

A plurality of cassette shelves for holding cassettes are provided inside the cassette loader chamber 10, and a plurality of cassettes 40 can be held. Cassette loader room 10
A cassette loader 44 is installed below the outside of the cassette loader 44, and the cassette loader 44 has a mechanism capable of exchanging the cassette 40 with the outside of the semiconductor wafer processing apparatus 1. The cassette 40 is loaded into the cassette loader chamber 1 by the cassette loader 44.
It is charged from a predetermined charging port (not shown) provided at 0. Further, the cassette loader 44 can have a built-in mechanism unit for aligning the orientation flat of the wafer 5 stored in the cassette 40, if necessary.

Inside the cassette loader chamber 10, there are further provided a cassette transfer / wafer transfer robot 20 and an elevator 30 for moving the cassette transfer / wafer transfer robot 20 up and down. Elevator 30
The screw shaft 32 and the elevating part 34 are provided, and a nut (not shown) in the elevating part 34 and the screw shaft 32 constitute a ball screw. When the screw shaft 32 is rotated, the elevating part 34
Moves up and down, and accordingly, the cassette transfer / wafer transfer robot 20 attached to the elevating part 34 moves up and down so that the cassette loading port and the two connecting modules 300 can be accessed. The cassette transfer / wafer transfer robot 20 includes a cassette transfer device 21 and a wafer transfer device 23, as described later with reference to FIG.

As described above, the cassette transfer / wafer transfer robot 20 is provided inside the cassette loader chamber 10.
Since the wafer 5 can be transferred to one connection module 300 and the wafer transfer robot 80 is provided in the transfer chamber 54 of the connection module 300 to transfer the wafer 5 to the reaction processing chamber 56, the wafer 5 can be transferred to each connection module 300. The transfer and the transfer of the wafer 5 in each module 300 can be independent, and as a result, the transfer of the wafer can be efficiently performed.

As described above, since the wafer transfer robot 80 is provided in the transfer chamber 54 having a vacuum-tight structure, and the cassette transfer / wafer transfer robot 20 is provided in the cassette loader chamber 10. The wafer 5 is transferred to each connection module 300 under atmospheric pressure by the cassette transfer and wafer transfer robot 20 in the cassette loader chamber 10, and the wafer 5 is transferred in vacuum by the wafer transfer robot in each connection module 300. You can Therefore, it is not necessary to form a vacuum-tight structure in all the regions where the mechanism for transferring the wafer 5 is provided, and the cassette loader chamber 10 in which the cassette transfer / wafer transfer robot 20 that transfers the substrate to each connection module 300 is installed is provided. Can be a region for carrying under atmospheric pressure, and a region having a vacuum-tight structure can be divided into each connection module 300. As a result, the structure of the cassette loader chamber 10 and the cassette transfer / wafer transfer robot 20 can be simplified and can be manufactured at low cost. In addition, each connection module 300
The volume of each of the load lock chamber 52 and the transfer chamber 54 becomes small, and the strength can be maintained even if the wall thickness is made thin, and as a result, it can be manufactured at low cost. Further, the wafer transfer robot 8 provided in the transfer chamber 54
Even in the case of 0, the vertical ascending / descending operation can be suppressed to the necessary minimum, so that the production cost is also low, and the drive unit of the wafer transfer robot 80 in the transfer chamber 54 having a vacuum-tight structure. It is possible to minimize the particles that may be generated from.

Next, a method of transporting and processing the wafer 5 will be described.

The cassette 40 loaded into the cassette loader chamber 10 by the cassette loader 44 is placed on the cassette carrying / wafer carrying robot 20, carried to the upper side by the elevator 30, and then placed on the cassette shelf 42. It Next, the wafer boat 70 in the load lock chamber 52 is moved by the robot 20 that also transports the cassette and the wafer.
The wafer 5 is mounted on. In this embodiment, two wafers are transferred from the cassette 40 to the upper two slots of the wafer boat 70 by the cassette transfer / wafer transfer robot 20 at a time. In addition, the wafer 5 is transferred by the cassette transfer and wafer transfer machine 20 to the load lock chamber 52.
The gate valve 64 should be closed before transporting inside.
The outer gate valve 62 is left open.

Wafer boat 7 in load lock chamber 52
After mounting the wafer 5 on 0, the outer gate valve 62 is closed and the load lock chamber 52 is evacuated.

After evacuation, the gate valve 64 is opened.
The transfer chamber 54 is evacuated in advance.

After that, the two wafers 5 are
From the wafer boat 70 in the load lock chamber 52 to the reaction processing chamber 5 by the wafer transfer robot 80 in the transfer chamber 54.
6 is conveyed to the susceptor 90. At this time,
The gate valve 66 is opened, and the reaction processing chamber 56 is also evacuated.

After the transfer, the gate valve 66 is closed, the reaction processing chamber 56 is set to a predetermined atmosphere, and plasma CVD is performed on the two wafers 5 mounted on the susceptor 90 of the reaction processing chamber 56.
Thus, the film forming process is simultaneously performed.

During the film forming process by the plasma CVD, the unprocessed wafers 5 are loaded in the upper two slots of the wafer boat 70 in the load lock chamber 52 in the same manner as described above.

After the predetermined film formation, the reaction processing chamber 5
6 is evacuated and then the gate valve 66 is opened. Two
The wafer 5 is transferred to the wafer transfer robot 8 in vacuum.
It is transferred to the two lower slots of the wafer boat 70 in the load lock chamber 52 by 0. At this time, since the unprocessed wafers 5 are mounted in the upper two slots of the wafer boat 70, two unprocessed wafers 5 are loaded.
Is a wafer transfer robot 80 in the wafer transfer chamber 54.
Thus, it is immediately conveyed to the susceptor 90 in the reaction processing chamber 56.

In this way, the unprocessed wafer 5 is previously supplied to the load lock chamber 52 and kept in the vacuum atmosphere, whereby the transfer time of the unprocessed wafer 5 can be shortened.

After that, the gate valve 64 is closed, and the inside of the load lock chamber 52 is brought to atmospheric pressure with nitrogen or the like, where the wafer 5 is cooled to a predetermined temperature.

After that, the outer gate valve 62 is opened, and the wafer 5 is transferred into the cassette 40 by the wafer transfer device 23 of the cassette transfer / wafer transfer device 20.

When a predetermined number of wafers 5 are loaded into the cassette 40, the cassette carrier 21 of the cassette carrier / wafer carrier 20 carries the cassette 10 to the lower side, and then it is carried out of the cassette loader chamber 10. .

FIG. 10 shows the first and second aspects of the present invention.
3 is a schematic perspective view for explaining a cassette transfer / wafer transfer robot 20 used in the embodiment of FIG.

The cassette carrier 21 is mounted on the bases 25 and 26.
A wafer carrier 23 is provided, and the cassette carrier 21 and the wafer carrier 23 can be independently moved in parallel in the direction of the arrow. The cassette carrying machine 21 includes a cassette carrying arm 22, and the cassette 10 is carried by mounting the cassette 10 on a cassette holder 27 attached to the tip of the cassette carrying arm 22. The wafer carrier 23 is provided with a plurality of tweezers 24, and the wafers 5 are mounted on the tweezers 24 to carry the wafers 5.

FIG. 11 shows the first and second aspects of the present invention.
11A is a side view, FIG. 11B is a side view, and FIG. 11B is a view for explaining the pitch conversion mechanism of the cassette / cumulative wafer transfer robot 20 used in the embodiment of FIG.
It is the rear view seen from the Y line.

In the present embodiment, the wafer transfer machine 23
Includes five tweezers 241 to 245. The tweezers 241 are integrated with the block 260. Nuts 23 are provided on the tweezers 242, 243, 244, and 245.
2, 233, 234 and 235 are fixed to each other. The nut 232 and the nut 234 are engaged with the screw shaft 210, and the nut 232 and the nut 234 form a ball screw with the screw shaft 210, respectively. Nut 2
The nut 33 and the nut 235 are meshed with the screw shaft 211, and the nut 233 and the nut 235 form a ball screw with the screw shaft 211. The upper end of the screw shaft 210 and the upper end of the screw shaft 211 are connected to the motor 220 via a gear mechanism (not shown), and the lower end of the screw shaft 210 and the lower end of the screw shaft 211 are rotatably attached to the block 250. It is installed. A nut 270 is attached to the blocks 250 and 260, and the nut 270 is provided so as to mesh with the screw shaft 280, and the nut 270 and the screw shaft 280 form a ball screw. When the screw shaft 280 rotates, the nut 270 moves left and right to move the tweezers 241 to 245 left and right.

The screw shaft 21 meshing with the nut 232.
A zero-pitch screw is formed in the region 212 of 0, and a double-pitch screw is formed in the region 213 of the screw shaft 211 that meshes with the nut 233, and a screw shaft that meshes with the nut 234. A region 214 of 210 is formed with a triple pitch screw, and a region 215 of the screw shaft 211 that meshes with the nut 235 is formed with a four pitch screw. Further, the vertical relative position between the block 250 and the block 260 does not change.
When the screw shaft 210 and the screw shaft 211 are rotated by the motor 220, the block 250 and the block 260 do not move up and down, but the nut 232 moves up and down by a predetermined distance, and the nut 233.
Moves up and down twice as much as the nut 232, the nut 234 moves up and down three times as much as the nut 232, and the nut 235 moves up and down four times as much as the nut 232. Therefore, the tweezers 241
Does not move up and down, the tweezers 242 move up and down a predetermined distance, the tweezers 243 move up and down twice as long as the tweezers 242, the tweezers 244 move up and down three times as long as the tweezers 242, and the tweezers 245 four times longer than the tweezers 242. Move up and down. As a result, the pitch between the tweezers 241 to 245 can be converted while keeping the pitch between the tweezers 241 to 245 uniform.

In the reaction processing chamber 56, for example, when film formation is performed without using plasma, the wafers 5 are stacked in order to reduce the occupied floor area.
However, in this case, the interval between the plurality of wafers 5 can be maintained in consideration of the gas flow in the reaction processing chamber 56 and the like to maintain the film thickness uniformity and the like. Need to On the other hand, a cassette or the like is often used to transfer the wafer 5 in the factory, but normally, the groove interval of this cassette is different from the interval at which the film thickness uniformity and the like can be maintained. There is. Therefore, it is necessary to convert the pitch between the wafers 5 at any place.

Therefore, as described above, if the cassette transfer / wafer transfer robot 20 is provided with the pitch conversion mechanism, the pitch can be changed under the atmospheric pressure, and the structure is simple as compared with the case under vacuum. And can be manufactured cheaply,
Further, it is possible to suppress the generation of particles. Then, in this way, the cassette transfer and wafer transfer robot 2
Since the pitch between the wafers 5 can be changed by 0, the wafer transfer robot does not need to have a variable pitch structure, the structure is simple, and the manufacturing cost is low. In addition,
In this case, the wafer boat 7 in the load lock chamber 52
It is preferable that the distance between the wafers 5 held at 0 is substantially equal to the distance between the wafers 5 in the reaction processing chamber 56.

(Second Embodiment) FIG. 12 is a view for explaining a semiconductor wafer processing apparatus according to a second embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 12A is a plan view and FIG. 12B is a sectional view. is there.

In the first embodiment, the gate valve 6 is provided between the load lock chamber 52 and the transfer chamber 54.
4 is provided, but in the present embodiment, such a gate valve is not provided, and the wafer boat 70 and the wafer transfer robot 80 are provided in the same load lock / transfer chamber 58 in the first embodiment. However, the other points are the same.

(Third Embodiment) In the present embodiment, as the semiconductor wafer processing apparatus 2, a plasma CVD apparatus for forming a nitride film or an oxide film on a wafer will be described as an example.

FIG. 13 is a diagram for explaining a semiconductor wafer processing apparatus according to the third embodiment of the present invention.
3A is a plan view and FIG. 13B is a sectional view. 14 and 1
FIG. 5 is a sectional view for explaining a semiconductor wafer processing apparatus according to a third embodiment of the present invention. 16 to 19 are plan views for explaining a semiconductor wafer processing apparatus according to the third embodiment of the present invention.

The semiconductor wafer processing apparatus 2 has the wafer 5
A cassette loader unit 100 that incorporates a cassette / wafer transfer robot 20 and an elevator 30 that can transfer up and down, left and right, gate valves 462 and 464 for opening and closing the gate of each connection module 400, and wafer transfer for wafer transfer Built-in robot 480,
A load lock / transfer chamber 452 for enabling wafer transfer between the cassette loader unit 100 and the reaction process chamber 454 without changing the pressure of the reaction process chamber 454, and a reaction process chamber 454 for processing the wafer 5, The connection modules 400 are airtightly connected.

Hereinafter, the connected gate valve 462, load lock / transfer chamber 452, gate valve 464, and reaction processing chamber 454 will be referred to as a connection module 400.

The connection modules 400 are arranged in multiple stages,
Even if the number of reaction processing chambers 454 is increased, the area occupied by the apparatus is reduced.

Further, the maintenance space 116 of the apparatus,
By arranging 118 only in the front and rear of the device, here in the left and right of the device, the occupied area can be further reduced.

Next, the cassette loader unit 100 will be described.

The cassette loader unit 100 is provided with a cassette loader 46, and the cassette 4 is provided outside the apparatus main body.
It is possible to give and receive 0. Cassette 4 as required
It has a built-in mechanism for aligning the orientation flats of the wafers 5 housed in 0.

A plurality of cassette shelves 42 are provided on the top of the cassette loader 46 so that a plurality of cassettes 40 can be stored.

At one corner of the cassette loader unit 100, there is provided an elevator 30 for raising and lowering the cassette carrying / wafer carrying robot 20 for carrying the wafer 5 and the cassette 40.

A wafer transfer robot 20 for both cassette transfer and wafer transfer.
Is composed of a wafer transfer mechanism section and a cassette transfer mechanism section.

Next, the load lock / transfer chamber 452 will be described.

A uniaxial wafer transfer robot 480 including a finger 470 for loading / unloading the wafer 5 into / from the reaction processing chamber 454 and a drive unit 484 thereof is placed in the load lock / transfer chamber 452. Is built in. The operating direction of the finger 470 is indicated by the arrow in the figure.

The wafer transfer robot 480 built in the load lock / transfer chamber 452 may be a robot in which the operation of the finger 470 can rotate, move forward and backward, as shown by the arrow in FIG.

Although the connection module 400 has a two-stage configuration in FIG. 13, it may have a three-stage configuration as shown in FIG. 14 in order to increase throughput. The feature of the present embodiment is that the area occupied by the device does not change even if the number of stages is increased.

FIG. 15 shows the connecting module 400 having a one-stage structure. This is a state in which the upper connecting module 400 is removed from the apparatus having the two-stage structure shown in FIG.

The number of stages of the connection module 400 is determined according to the required processing capacity, and the connection module attachment mechanism provided in the casing of the device (not shown) allows easy attachment / detachment, thereby providing an optimum system. Can be configured.

The number of wafers 5 processed at once in the reaction processing chamber 454 is one as shown in FIG. 16, two as shown in FIG. 17, and three as shown in FIG. The number of wafers depends on the size of the wafer 5,
It is decided as appropriate according to the required process conditions.

When the wafer diameter is 8 inches, one or two wafers are suitable.

The structure of the wafer transfer robot 480 in the load lock / transfer chamber 452 also changes depending on the number of wafers 5 processed at one time in the reaction processing chamber 454.

When the number of wafers 5 processed at one time in the reaction processing chamber 454 is one, the number of wafers 5 placed on the fingers 472 is one as shown in FIG. 16, but as shown in FIG. When the number of wafers 5 to be processed at one time in the reaction processing chamber 454 is two, the optimum number of wafers 5 to be placed on the fingers 474 is two in order to shorten the transfer time, as shown in FIG. Is.

Similarly, when the number of wafers 5 to be processed at one time in the reaction processing chamber 454 is three, the optimum number of wafers 5 to be placed on the fingers 476 is three, as shown in FIG. .

If the operation of the finger 478 of the wafer transfer robot 480 incorporated in the load lock / transfer chamber 452 can rotate, move forward and backward, as shown in FIG.
Whether the number of wafers 5 processed at one time in the reaction processing chamber 454 is two or three, the number of wafers 5 placed on the finger 478 can be one.

In order to standardize the wafer transfer robot 480 built in the load lock / transfer chamber 452, FIG.
The one-sheet mounting type as shown in FIG.

The operation will be described below.

From the outside of the apparatus, the cassette 40 containing the wafer 5 is loaded into the cassette loader unit 100 by the manual or automatic cassette transfer mechanism.
6 and the cassette 40 is aligned.

When aligning the orientation flat of the wafer 5, the orientation flat alignment mechanism section (not shown) is operated to align the orientation flat.

When the positioning of the cassette 40 placed on the cassette loader 46 is completed, the cassette 40 on the cassette loader 46 is moved to the upper cassette shelf 42 by utilizing the cassette transfer / wafer transfer robot 20 and the elevator 30. Reprint.

Since a plurality of cassette shelves 42 are provided, a plurality of cassettes 40 can be accommodated, but it is considered that a maximum of six is sufficient, and the number thereof is appropriately determined as needed. Depending on the capacity of the production line, the number of cassettes 40 stored when the device is operating varies, but normally, when the device is operating, processed and unprocessed cassettes 40 are stored in a mixed state.

The unprocessed wafers 5 stored in the cassette 40 on the cassette shelf 42 are processed by the cassette transfer / wafer transfer robot 20 and the elevator 30 in cooperation with each other.
It is transported onto 80 fingers 470.

At this time, the load lock / conveyance chamber 452 is in the atmospheric pressure state, and the gate valve 462 between the cassette loader unit 100 and the load lock / conveyance chamber 452 is in the open state, and the cassette loader / conveyor unit 100 in the cassette conveyance / conveyance unit 452 is opened. The wafer transfer robot 20 allows the wafer 5 to be loaded and unloaded into and from the load lock / transfer chamber 452.

After the wafer 5 is placed on the fingers 470 of the wafer transfer robot 480 in the load lock / transfer chamber 452, the gate valve 462 between the cassette loader unit 100 and the load lock / transfer chamber 452 is closed to load the wafer. The lock / transfer chamber 462 is replaced with the reaction processing chamber 454.
Exhaust with a pump (not shown) until the pressure is almost the same.

When the exhaust of the load lock / transfer chamber 452 is completed, the load lock / transfer chamber 452 and the reaction processing chamber 45 are completed.
The gate valve 464 between the four is opened, the finger 470 is moved to the reaction processing chamber 454 side, and the wafer 5 is placed on the susceptor 490 in the reaction processing chamber 454. Susceptor 490
There are various methods of mounting the wafer 5 on the wafer, but generally, the wafer transfer pins 491 and the fingers 470 provided on the susceptor 5 cooperate with each other.

When the wafer 5 is placed on the susceptor 490, the gate valve 464 between the load lock / transfer chamber 452 and the reaction processing chamber 454 is closed, and the process gas is supplied into the reaction processing chamber 454 to a predetermined pressure. After that, plasma is generated by the high frequency power to process the wafer 5.

When the processing of the wafer 5 is completed, the gate valve 464 between the load lock / transfer chamber 452 and the reaction process chamber 454 is opened, and the fingers 470 of the wafer transfer robot 480 in the load lock / transfer chamber 452 and the reaction process chamber 4 are opened.
The wafer 5 is received on the finger 470 by the cooperation of the wafer transfer pins 491 provided on the susceptor 490 in the 54, and the finger 470 is loaded into the load lock / transfer chamber 4 as well.
Return to 52.

After that, the gate valve 464 between the load lock / transfer chamber 452 and the reaction processing chamber 454 is closed, and nitrogen is normally introduced into the load lock / transfer chamber 452 to bring it to atmospheric pressure. In the meantime, in the reaction processing chamber 454, the inside of the reaction processing chamber 454 is cleaned using plasma.

When the load lock / transfer chamber 452 reaches the atmospheric pressure, the gate valve 462 between the cassette loader unit 100 and the load lock / transfer chamber 452 is opened to move the wafer 5 on the finger 470 to the cassette loader unit 10.
The cassette transfer / wafer transfer robot 20 of 0 is used to store the cassette in the predetermined slit of the predetermined cassette 40 on the cassette shelf 42.

By repeating these series of operations, the wafers 5 accommodated in the cassette 40 on the cassette shelf 42 are processed.

As described above, in the present embodiment,
Even if the number of connecting modules including the reaction processing chamber is increased to increase the throughput, the floor space occupied by the apparatus does not increase. Further, by providing the maintenance space of the device in the front-rear direction facing the device, the floor area occupied by the device can be further reduced.

Further, in the present embodiment, the number of wafers processed at one time in the reaction processing chamber is set to 2 or more,
Throughput can be increased.

Further, in the present embodiment, the number of substrates to be processed such as wafers transferred at one time by the robot built in the load lock / transfer chamber is the same as the number of substrates to be processed at one time in the reaction processing chamber. By doing so, the wafer transfer time between the load lock / transfer chamber and the reaction processing chamber can be shortened. Therefore, the throughput can be improved. Further, the plurality of connection modules 400 vertically stacked in this manner are separated from each other, and each of them is detachable so that the cassette loader chamber 1 of the cassette loader unit 100 can be detached.
Since it is attached to the chamber wall 12 of No. 0, when maintenance is required for any of the coupling modules 400, only the coupling module 400 requiring maintenance can be easily removed.
Other connection modules 400 can be operated even during the maintenance described above, and as a result, the operation efficiency of the semiconductor wafer processing apparatus 2 is significantly improved. In addition, since the plurality of connection modules 400 vertically stacked in this manner are separated from each other and are detachably attached to the chamber wall 12 of the cassette loader chamber 10, When maintenance becomes necessary, only the connection module 400 requiring maintenance is removed and the connection module 4
00, and when the maintenance is completed, the reaction processing chamber 4
54 and wafer transfer robot 480
The wafer transfer robot 480 and the susceptor 49 in the reaction processing chamber 454 can transfer the wafer 5 to and from the wafer.
It is possible to previously adjust the parallelism and the height direction with respect to 0, and after the adjustment, the connection module 400 can be attached again to the chamber wall 12 of the cassette loader chamber 10.
As described above, in the connection module 400, the reaction processing chamber 45
Since the adjustment of the transfer of the wafer 5 between the susceptor 490 in the wafer No. 4 and the wafer transfer robot 480 can be performed in advance, the adjustment work can be performed easily and accurately. After that, when the maintenance connection module 400 is attached to the chamber wall 12 of the cassette loader chamber 10, the susceptor 490 in the reaction processing chamber 454 and the wafer transfer robot 480 in the connection module 400 are no longer connected. Since it is not necessary to adjust the transfer of the wafer 5 between them, the operation efficiency of the semiconductor wafer processing apparatus 2 can be significantly improved. As the maintenance of the connection module 400, for example, the reaction processing chamber 454 is removed and the reaction processing chamber 454 is removed.
After that, the reaction processing chamber 454 is reattached, or the wafer transfer robot 480 is repaired or replaced when the wafer transfer robot 480 fails, but after performing such maintenance, Wafer transfer robot 480 and reaction processing chamber 454
The parallelism with the inner susceptor 490 and adjustment in the height direction are required. In the present embodiment, as described above, the adjustment between them can be performed in advance in units of the connection module 400, so that the adjustment work can be performed easily and accurately, and the semiconductor wafer processing apparatus 2 The operating efficiency can be greatly improved.

[0150]

According to the present invention, it is possible to obtain a substrate processing apparatus having a high substrate processing efficiency, a high operating efficiency of the apparatus, a small occupied area, and a small maintenance area.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram for explaining a semiconductor wafer processing apparatus according to a first embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 1A is a plan view, and FIG. 1B is a sectional view.

FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view for explaining the semiconductor wafer processing apparatus according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view for explaining the semiconductor wafer processing apparatus according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a plan view for explaining the semiconductor wafer processing apparatus according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a plan view for explaining the semiconductor wafer processing apparatus according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a plan view for explaining a load lock chamber in the semiconductor wafer processing apparatus according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a cross-sectional view illustrating a load lock chamber in the semiconductor wafer processing apparatus according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 8 is a plan view for explaining a load lock chamber in the semiconductor wafer processing apparatus according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 9 is a cross-sectional view for explaining the load lock chamber in the semiconductor wafer processing apparatus according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 10 is a schematic perspective view for explaining a cassette transfer / wafer transfer robot used in the first to third embodiments of the present invention.

FIG. 11 is a view for explaining the pitch conversion mechanism of the cassette transfer / wafer transfer robot used in the first to third embodiments of the present invention.
11B is a side view, and FIG. 11B is a rear view seen from the line YY of FIG. 11A.

FIG. 12 is a diagram for explaining a semiconductor wafer processing apparatus according to a second embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 12A is a plan view, and FIG. 12B is a sectional view.

13A and 13B are views for explaining a semiconductor wafer processing apparatus according to a third embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 13A is a plan view, and FIG. 13B is a sectional view.

FIG. 14 is a sectional view for explaining a semiconductor wafer processing apparatus according to a third embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 15 is a cross-sectional view for explaining a semiconductor wafer processing apparatus according to a third embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 16 is a plan view for explaining a semiconductor wafer processing apparatus according to a third embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 17 is a plan view for explaining a semiconductor wafer processing apparatus according to a third embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 18 is a plan view for explaining a semiconductor wafer processing apparatus according to a third embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 19 is a plan view for explaining a semiconductor wafer processing apparatus according to a third embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 20 is a plan view for explaining a conventional semiconductor wafer processing apparatus.

[Explanation of symbols]

1, 2 ... Semiconductor wafer processing apparatus 5 ... Wafer 10 ... Cassette loader chamber 12 ... Chamber wall 20 ... Cassette transport / wafer transport robot 21 ... Cassette transport machine 22 ... Cassette transport arm 23 ... Wafer transport machine 24 ... Tweeter 27 ... Cassette holder 30 ... Elevator 40 ... Cassette 42 ... Cassette shelf 44, 46 ... Cassette loader 52 ... Load lock chamber 54 ... Transfer chamber 56, 454 ... Reaction processing chamber 58 ... Load lock / transfer chamber 62, 64, 66, 462, 464 ... Gate Valve 70 ... Wafer boat 80 ... Wafer transfer robot 90, 92, 94, 490, 492, 494, 496 ...
Susceptor 100 ... Cassette loader unit 112, 114, 116, 118 ... Maintenance area 300, 400 ... Connection module 452 ... Load lock / transfer chamber 470, 472, 474, 476, 478 ... Finger 480 ... Wafer transfer robot 482 ... Drive unit 491 … Wafer transfer pins

   ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continued front page    (72) Inventor Issei Makiguchi             3-14-20 Higashi-Nakano, Nakano-ku, Tokyo Stocks             Hitachi Kokusai Electric Co., Ltd. (72) Inventor Tsutomu Tanaka             3-14-20 Higashi-Nakano, Nakano-ku, Tokyo Stocks             Hitachi Kokusai Electric Co., Ltd. (72) Inventor Sadayuki Suzuki             3-14-20 Higashi-Nakano, Nakano-ku, Tokyo Stocks             Hitachi Kokusai Electric Co., Ltd. (72) Inventor Shinichi Nomura             3-14-20 Higashi-Nakano, Nakano-ku, Tokyo Stocks             Hitachi Kokusai Electric Co., Ltd. (72) Inventor Mitsunori Takeshita             3-14-20 Higashi-Nakano, Nakano-ku, Tokyo Stocks             Hitachi Kokusai Electric Co., Ltd. F-term (reference) 5F031 CA02 DA17 FA01 FA03 FA07                       FA09 FA11 FA12 FA14 FA15                       FA25 GA04 GA32 GA40 GA49                       GA60 HA42 KA13 LA12 MA02                       MA07 MA09 MA13 MA15 MA28                       NA05 NA07 PA03 PA06 PA23                       PA25                 5F045 BB08 DP02 DQ17 EB05 EB08                       EB09

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. A substrate transfer unit, a plurality of modules attached to the substrate transfer unit, and a first substrate transfer unit provided in the substrate transfer unit, the substrate being transferable to the plurality of modules. A first substrate transfer means, wherein each of the plurality of modules has an airtight substrate processing chamber for processing the substrate, and the substrate processing chamber and the substrate transfer section. An airtight intermediate chamber provided between the substrate processing chamber and the intermediate chamber when the first valve provided between the substrate processing chamber and the intermediate chamber is closed. And a second valve provided between the intermediate chamber and the substrate transfer section, wherein the first valve allows the substrate to move through the inside when opened. When closed, the intermediate chamber and the base A second valve is provided which can be made airtight with respect to the plate transfer section and is movable through the inside thereof when the substrate is opened, and the intermediate chamber is provided with the substrate. A substrate processing apparatus, wherein a second substrate transfer means capable of transferring the substrate is provided, and the substrate transfer section is a substrate transfer section that transfers the substrate under atmospheric pressure. 2. A substrate transfer unit, a plurality of modules each removably attached to the substrate transfer unit, and a first substrate transfer means provided in the substrate transfer unit, wherein the plurality of substrates are provided. And a first substrate transfer means capable of being transferred to the module, wherein each of the plurality of modules has an airtight substrate processing chamber for processing the substrate, the substrate processing chamber, and the substrate processing chamber. First and second intermediate chambers of an airtight structure provided between the substrate transfer section and the first intermediate chamber on the substrate processing chamber side and the second intermediate chamber on the substrate transfer section side. A chamber and a first valve provided between the substrate processing chamber and the first intermediate chamber, and when closed, provides an airtight seal between the substrate processing chamber and the first intermediate chamber. Can be opened and the substrate will The movable through section 1
And a second valve provided between the first intermediate chamber and the second intermediate chamber, the first intermediate chamber and the second intermediate chamber being closed when closed. Can be airtight between
A second valve through which the substrate can move when opened, and a third valve provided between the second intermediate chamber and the substrate transfer unit that is closed The third intermediate chamber and the substrate transfer section can be made airtight, and when opened, the substrate can move through the third chamber.
A substrate holding means capable of holding the substrate is provided in the second intermediate chamber, and the first intermediate chamber is provided with the substrate holding means and the substrate processing chamber. A substrate processing apparatus, wherein a second substrate transfer unit that can transfer between the two is provided, and the substrate transfer unit is a substrate transfer unit that transfers the substrate under atmospheric pressure. 3. A cassette holding means for holding a cassette capable of accommodating a plurality of the substrates is further provided in the substrate transfer section, and the first substrate transfer means is held by the cassette holding means and the cassette. The substrate processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the substrate can be transferred to and from a plurality of modules. 4. A substrate transfer part, a plurality of modules attached to the substrate transfer part, and a first substrate transfer means provided in the substrate transfer part, wherein the substrate can be transferred to the plurality of modules. A first substrate transfer means, wherein each of the plurality of modules has an airtight substrate processing chamber for processing the substrate, and the substrate processing chamber and the substrate transfer section. An intermediate chamber having an airtight structure provided between the second chamber and the second chamber, the second substrate transporting unit capable of transporting the substrate to the substrate processing chamber is provided in the intermediate chamber; Using the substrate processing apparatus which is a substrate transfer unit for transferring a substrate, the substrate is transferred from the substrate transfer unit to the intermediate chamber of a predetermined module by the first substrate transfer unit, and then the substrate is transferred to the intermediate chamber. Second substrate The substrate processing method characterized in that the feed means is conveyed to the substrate processing chamber from the intermediate chamber, then processing the substrate by the substrate processing chamber. 5. A substrate transfer part, a plurality of modules each detachably attached to the substrate transfer part, and a first substrate transfer means provided in the substrate transfer part, wherein the plurality of substrates are provided. And a first substrate transfer means capable of being transferred to the module, wherein each of the plurality of modules has an airtight substrate processing chamber for processing the substrate, the substrate processing chamber, and the substrate processing chamber. First and second intermediate chambers of an airtight structure provided between the substrate transfer section and the first intermediate chamber on the substrate processing chamber side and the second intermediate chamber on the substrate transfer section side. A chamber, the second intermediate chamber is provided with substrate holding means capable of holding the substrate, and the first intermediate chamber is provided with the substrate holding means and the substrate processing chamber. The second substrate transfer means that can transfer between A substrate processing apparatus is provided, wherein the substrate transfer unit is a substrate transfer unit that transfers the substrate under atmospheric pressure, and the substrate is transferred from the substrate transfer unit to a predetermined module of the module by the first substrate transfer unit. The substrate is conveyed to the substrate holding means provided in the second intermediate chamber, and then the substrate is moved from the substrate holding means of the second intermediate chamber to the first intermediate chamber by the second substrate conveying means. A substrate processing method, wherein the substrate is transferred to the substrate processing chamber via the substrate processing chamber, and then the substrate is processed in the substrate processing chamber.