JPH06163505A - Semiconductor substrate cleaning apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Abstract] [Purpose] To make it possible to reduce the installation area of the entire device without degrading the performance of the device. [Structure] A plurality of chambers 1 are installed vertically in a plurality of stages, and a cleaning tank 2 and a carrier handle 7 are arranged in each chamber 1. An elevator handle 8 for vertical transportation is provided on one side of each chamber 1. The wafer carrier 5 in which the wafer 4 is housed is held by the carrier handle 7 in the lowermost chamber 1 and immersed in the cleaning tank 2.
The wafer 4 is washed. The wafer carrier 5 after cleaning is conveyed to the upper stage by the elevator handle 8 and the wafer 4 is cleaned in the second cleaning tank 2. [Effect] The number of devices per site area of the clean room can be increased, and the throughput of the entire clean room can be significantly increased.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a cleaning apparatus for cleaning a semiconductor substrate such as a wafer in a semiconductor device manufacturing process.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art As is well known, in the process of manufacturing a semiconductor device, it is necessary to sequentially and sufficiently clean a semiconductor substrate such as a wafer with various chemicals or cleaning solutions such as pure water. Note that not only particles and the like are removed from the wafer surface by a cleaning liquid, but wet etching for forming a semiconductor element on the wafer surface can also be considered as a kind of wafer cleaning using various etching liquids.

As described above, a conventional general cleaning apparatus for sequentially cleaning a wafer with a plurality of different cleaning liquids has a structure in which a plurality of cleaning tanks are arranged side by side on a plane. Then, by manually or automatically immersing the wafer carrier containing the wafers in the cleaning liquid of each cleaning tank,
Wafers are being cleaned in sequence.

[0004]

However, in the conventional cleaning apparatus as described above, the installation area per cleaning tank is large, and the cleaning tanks are arranged side by side on a plane. The installation area of the entire device is extremely large, and it is one of the devices that occupies the largest installation area in a clean room.

As a result, the number of clean rooms installed per site area is reduced, and as a result,
There is a problem that the number of wafers processed in the clean room as a whole is reduced. It should be noted that when the apparatus itself is miniaturized, another problem arises in that the performance such as cleaning power and processing capacity is likely to be gradually reduced.

Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a semiconductor substrate cleaning apparatus which can reduce the installation area of the entire apparatus without deteriorating the performance of the apparatus.

[0007]

In order to achieve the above object, a semiconductor substrate cleaning apparatus according to the present invention comprises a plurality of cleaning units for cleaning a semiconductor substrate arranged vertically in a plurality of stages. . A plurality of cleaning units may be arranged in each of the plurality of stages. Further, it is preferable to include an elevator for transferring the semiconductor substrate between the plurality of cleaning units.

[0008]

According to the present invention configured as described above, since a plurality of cleaning units are installed in a plurality of stages in the vertical direction, the installation area of the entire apparatus can be reduced.
More equipment can be installed in a clean room with the same site area. As a result, it is possible to increase the number of processed semiconductor substrates in the clean room as a whole.

[0009]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment in which the present invention is applied to a wet cleaning apparatus for wafers will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a front view of the entire apparatus.

This cleaning apparatus has a vertical structure as a whole, and a plurality of chambers 1 are vertically stacked and installed in a plurality of stages. In each chamber 1, one cleaning tank 2 made of quartz or the like is arranged. A vapor-type dryer 9 is disposed in the uppermost chamber 1. A carrier handle 7 for holding the wafer carrier 5 is provided in each chamber 1. Further, each chamber 1 is provided with a fan / HEPA filter 3, and the inside of each chamber 1 is set to a clean atmosphere.

An elevator chamber 10 is provided along one side of each chamber 1 in the vertical direction, and an elevator handle 8 for vertical transportation is provided in the elevator chamber 10 so as to be vertically movable. . Elevator room 10
The lower end of the is a loader / unloader section 6 on which the wafer carrier 5 is placed. The elevator room 10 is also provided with the fan / HEPA filter 3, and the inside of the elevator room 10 is set to a clean atmosphere.

Further, each chamber 1 and elevator room 10
A door 1a that can be opened and closed is provided between the door 1a and the door 1, and the door 1a that can be opened and closed is provided at the lower part of the elevator room 10 at the entrance and exit outside the apparatus
0a is provided.

In the cleaning apparatus constructed as described above, first, the door 10a of the elevator room 10 is opened, and the wafer carrier 5 containing the wafer 4 to be cleaned is
It is placed on the loader / unloader section 6 of the elevator room 10 by a transport means (not shown). After this, the door 10a is closed.

Next, the door 1a of the lowermost chamber 1 is once opened, and the wafer carrier 5 is gripped by the movement of the carrier handle 7. And the carrier handle 7
Thus, the wafer carrier 5 is immersed in the cleaning liquid in the first cleaning tank 2 to clean the wafer 4.

After the cleaning in the first cleaning tank 2 is completed,
Wafer carrier 5 is again gripped by carrier handle 7, door 1a is once opened, and wafer carrier 5 is transferred to elevator handle 8. Then, the elevator handle 8 is raised by a predetermined distance, the door 1 a of the chamber 1 in the middle stage is once opened, and the wafer carrier 5 is transferred to the carrier handle 7. Then, the wafer 4 is cleaned in the cleaning liquid in the second cleaning tank 2 in the same manner as described above.

Thereafter, this operation is repeated up to the dryer 9 of the uppermost chamber 1. After the cleaning is completed, the wafer carrier 5 is returned to the loader / unloader unit 6 by lowering the elevator handle 8, and the door 10a is opened again to be taken out of the apparatus.

As described above, according to the present embodiment, since the plurality of cleaning units including the chamber 1, the cleaning tank 2, the carrier handle 7 and the like are installed in a plurality of stages in the vertical direction, the installation area of the entire apparatus is It becomes very small and more equipment can be installed in a clean room on the same site area. As a result, the number of processed wafers 4 in the clean room as a whole can be extremely increased.

In the present embodiment, when the wafer carrier 5 after cleaning is taken out from the loader / unloader unit 6 to the outside of the apparatus, the elevator handles 8 carry the wafer carriers 5 of the respective stages to the upper stage, and The wafer carrier 5 for cleaning is placed on the loader / unloader unit 6. That is, the elevator handle 8 for vertical transfer
By providing the wafer carrier 5, the wafer carrier 5 is automatically and continuously carried, so that the wafers 4 can be cleaned very efficiently in sequence.

Although the present invention has been specifically described based on the embodiments, the present invention is not limited to the above-mentioned embodiments, and the above-mentioned embodiments are variously effective based on the technical idea of the present invention. Can be changed. For example, it is considered realistic to install a plurality of cleaning tanks in each stage chamber so as to have a vertical two-stage structure. Further, the number of chambers having a cleaning tank may be increased or decreased as necessary. In addition,
Although the wet cleaning apparatus has been described in the present embodiment, the cleaning unit referred to in the present invention may be a dry cleaning unit that uses various cleaning gases, or may be an etching processing unit that uses various etching liquids or etching gases. Of course.

[0020]

As described above, according to the present invention,
By installing multiple cleaning units in multiple stages in the vertical direction, the installation area of the entire device can be reduced without reducing the performance due to downsizing of the device itself. It is possible to increase the number of units very much, and as a result,
It is possible to significantly increase the throughput of the clean room as a whole.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a front view of the entire apparatus in one embodiment in which the present invention is applied to a wet cleaning apparatus for wafers.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Chamber 1a Door 2 Cleaning Tank 3 Fan / HEPA Filter 4 Wafer 5 Wafer Carrier 6 Loader / Unloader Part 7 Carrier Handle 8 Elevator Handle 9 Dryer 10 Elevator Chamber 10a Door

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. An apparatus for cleaning a semiconductor substrate, wherein a plurality of cleaning units for cleaning a semiconductor substrate are installed in a plurality of stages in a vertical direction. 2. The apparatus for cleaning a semiconductor substrate according to claim 1, wherein a plurality of cleaning units are arranged in each of the plurality of steps. 3. The semiconductor substrate cleaning apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising an elevator for transporting the semiconductor substrate between the plurality of stages of cleaning units.