JP2001007181A - Substrate processing equipment - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Problem] To provide a substrate processing apparatus capable of reliably detecting the presence or absence of a substrate in a vacuum transfer chamber. SOLUTION: A substrate processing chamber 2 in which a substrate surface is processed,
A vacuum transfer chamber 1 which is provided adjacent to and connected to the substrate processing chamber 2 and carries in and out the substrate 4 into and out of the substrate processing chamber 2; and radiation which radiates radiation into the vacuum transfer chamber 1 and reflects the substrate. A substrate detecting sensor device 6 for detecting the presence or absence of the internal substrate 4 by a line, wherein the substrate detecting sensor device 6 is connected to the back surface of the substrate 4 that is not processed in the substrate processing chamber 2. It was provided so that radiation could be radiated.

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 more particularly, to a substrate processing apparatus capable of reliably detecting the presence or absence of a substrate in a vacuum transfer chamber.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art FIG. 3 is a view for explaining a conventional substrate processing apparatus. In FIG. 3, 1 is a vacuum transfer chamber, 2 is a substrate processing chamber, 3 is a substrate receiver, 4 is a substrate, 5 is an arm, 6
Is a sensor device for detecting a substrate, 7 is a glass window, 11 is a gate valve, 12 is a vacuum vessel, 13 is a susceptor, 14 is a gas shower plate, 15 is a condenser, 16 is a high frequency power supply,
7 is a gas supply pipe, and 18 is an exhaust pipe.

In FIG. 3, a vacuum transfer chamber 1 is adjacent to and connected to a substrate processing chamber 2 via a gate valve 11.
In the vacuum transfer chamber 1, a substrate receiver 3 holds a substrate 4, and the substrate receiver 3 is movable by an arm 5. The substrate detecting sensor device 6 is attached to the upper part of the vacuum transfer chamber 1, radiates radiation, for example, infrared rays, to the substrate 4 through a glass window, and senses infrared rays reflected by the processing surface of the substrate 4. Is detected.

In the substrate processing chamber 2, a susceptor 13 on which the substrate 4 is placed is provided in a vacuum vessel 12, and a gas shower plate 14 is provided opposite to the susceptor. A high-frequency power supply 16 is connected to the gas shower plate 14 via a capacitor 15 to serve as a cathode electrode, and the susceptor 13 is connected to a ground potential side and serves as an anode electrode.

[0005] As is well known, the substrate processing includes a gas supply pipe 1.
The processing gas is exhausted from the exhaust pipe 18 while being supplied from the processing gas 7, and the processing gas is flown in a state where the reduced pressure is maintained.
Then, when a high frequency is applied from the high frequency power supply 16 to the cathode electrode, plasma is generated, and a predetermined processing is performed on the processed surface of the substrate 4. Note that the back surface of the substrate 4 is substantially
3 so that it is not subjected to plasma processing.

The vacuum transfer chamber 1 will be described in more detail. FIG. 4 is a diagram for explaining the vacuum transfer chamber 1.
(A) is a front view of the inside of the vacuum transfer chamber, and (b) is a plan view of the inside of the vacuum transfer chamber. According to FIG. 4, in the vacuum transfer chamber 1, the substrate receiver 3 holds the substrate 4. Here, two substrate holding members 31 and 32 hold the ends of the substrate 4. Further, the substrate receiver 3 is movable by arms 51 and 52, and enables loading / unloading of a substrate into / from an adjacent substrate processing chamber and loading / unloading of a substrate from outside. The substrate detecting sensor device 6 is attached to the upper part of the vacuum transfer chamber 1 and applies radiation, for example, infrared rays to the processing surface through the glass window 7 to the surface-treated substrate 4 carried in by the arms 51 and 52. Radiate,
The infrared light reflected by the substrate 4 is sensed to detect the presence or absence of the substrate 4.

[0007]

In the conventional substrate processing apparatus as described above, when the substrate surface loses smoothness due to the plasma processing, the radiation radiated from the substrate detecting sensor device is irregularly reflected, and the presence of the substrate is reduced. However, there is a problem that the presence or absence of the presence cannot be reliably detected. An object of the present invention is to provide a substrate processing apparatus capable of reliably detecting the presence or absence of a substrate in a vacuum transfer chamber.

[0008]

In order to solve the above problems, the present invention provides a substrate processing chamber in which a substrate surface is processed,
A vacuum transfer chamber that is provided adjacent to and connected to the substrate processing chamber and that carries a substrate into and out of the substrate processing chamber; and a radiation chamber that radiates radiation into the vacuum chamber and reflects the substrate. A substrate detection sensor device for detecting the presence or absence of the substrate, wherein the substrate detection sensor device emits radiation to the back surface of the substrate that is not processed in the substrate processing chamber. A substrate processing apparatus provided so as to be radiated is provided.

[0009]

FIG. 1 is a view for explaining a substrate processing apparatus according to the present invention. FIG. 2 is a view for explaining the vacuum transfer chamber in the present invention, and is a front view of the inside of the vacuum transfer chamber. The substrate processing chamber is the same as the prior art described above with reference to FIG. 3, and a description thereof will be omitted. In the description of FIGS. 1 and 2,
The same members of the apparatus corresponding to FIGS. 3 and 4 are denoted by the same reference numerals and described.

In FIG. 1, a vacuum transfer chamber 1 is adjacent to a substrate processing chamber 2 via a gate valve 11. In the vacuum transfer chamber 1, a substrate receiver 3 holds a substrate 4, and the substrate receiver 3 is movable by an arm 5. The present invention is characterized in that the substrate detecting sensor device 6 is provided so that radiation is emitted to the back surface of the substrate 4 that is not processed in the substrate processing chamber 2.

Referring to FIG. 2, the vacuum transfer chamber 1 according to the present invention will be further described. According to FIG. 2, in the vacuum transfer chamber 1, the substrate receiver 3 holds the substrate 4. Here, two substrate holding members 31 and 32 hold the ends of the substrate 4. Further, the substrate receiver 3 is movable by arms 51 and 52, so that the substrate can be moved to an adjacent substrate processing chamber or a substrate can be carried in from outside. Unlike the prior art described above, the substrate detecting sensor device 6 is attached to the lower part of the vacuum transfer chamber 1 and opens the glass window 7 with respect to the substrate 4 loaded from the substrate processing chamber 2 by the arms 51 and 52. Radiation rays, for example, infrared rays, are radiated through the board, and the infrared rays reflected by the board 4 are sensed to detect the presence or absence of the board 4. in this way,
In the present invention, the substrate detection sensor device 6 is provided such that the radiation is emitted to the back surface of the substrate 4 that has not been processed. Since the back surface of the substrate 4 is covered by the susceptor 13 in the substrate processing chamber 2, the back surface does not lose its smoothness.

As described above, since the radiation is radiated to the substrate 4 having smoothness, unlike the prior art, for example, irregular reflection of infrared rays does not occur, and the existence of the substrate 4 in the vacuum transfer chamber 1 does not occur. Can be reliably detected.

In the above embodiment, if a radiation reflecting means is attached inside the upper surface of the vacuum transfer chamber 1 (for example, if infrared rays are used as the radiation, a black pigment is coated on an aluminum plate). A reflection plate can be attached), which is preferable because the reflection of radiation can be more easily detected by the sensor.

[0014]

According to the present invention, a substrate processing chamber in which a substrate surface is processed, and a vacuum transfer provided adjacent to and connected to the substrate processing chamber and for loading and unloading a substrate into and out of the substrate processing chamber. Chamber, and a substrate detection sensor device for detecting the presence or absence of an internal substrate by radiating radiation into the vacuum transfer chamber and reflecting the radiation from the substrate, the substrate processing apparatus comprising: The sensor device is
Since it is provided that the radiation is radiated to the back surface of the substrate that is not processed in the substrate processing chamber, it is possible to reliably detect the presence or absence of the substrate in the vacuum transfer chamber. it can.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram for explaining a substrate processing apparatus of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a view for explaining a vacuum transfer chamber in the present invention, and is a front view of the inside of the vacuum transfer chamber.

FIG. 3 is a view for explaining a conventional substrate processing apparatus.

FIG. 4 is a view for explaining a conventional vacuum transfer chamber;
(A) is a front view inside the vacuum transfer chamber, and (b) is a plan view inside the vacuum transfer chamber.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Vacuum transfer room 2 Substrate processing room 3 Substrate receiver 4 Substrate 5 Arm 6 Substrate detection sensor device 7 Glass window 11 Gate valve 12 Vacuum container 13 Susceptor 14 Gas shower plate 15 Capacitor 16 High frequency power supply 17 Gas supply pipe 18 Exhaust pipe 31 32 substrate holding member 51,52 arm

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A substrate processing chamber in which a substrate surface is processed, a vacuum transfer chamber provided adjacent to and connected to the substrate processing chamber and for loading and unloading a substrate into and out of the substrate processing chamber; A substrate detection sensor device for detecting the presence or absence of an internal substrate by radiating radiation to the room and reflecting the radiation from the substrate, wherein the substrate detection sensor device comprises: A substrate processing apparatus provided so that radiation is emitted to a back surface of a substrate that is not processed in a processing chamber.