JP2005347667A - Semiconductor fabrication device - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To prevent contamination due to particles and organic substances from a boat elevator. <P>SOLUTION: In a heat treatment device 10 having a side clean unit 40 for blowing off clean air 44 to a standby chamber 28, a sirocco fan 45 which is disposed in the opposite side of the side clean unit 40 of the standby chamber 28 and discharges the clean air 44 and a boat elevator 50 for moving a boat 30 up and down, the sirocco fan 45 and the boat elevator 50 are enclosed with a partition board 46, an opening part 61 is shaped in front and rear ribs 60, 60 wherein the boat elevator 50 is installed and the front and rear opening parts 61, 61 are connected by a duct 62. The clean air is prevented from stagnating by making the clean air of the standby chamber flow in one direction and a wafer is prevented from being contaminated by particle carried on the clean air. Since organic substances generated from a boat in an inner space of the partition board can be immediately discharged outside by the sirocco fan, contamination of the wafer due to organic substances can be prevented. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2006,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to a semiconductor manufacturing apparatus, and more particularly to a technology for preventing contamination by particles. , And wafer), which is effective when used in a heat treatment apparatus (furnace) for applying a thermal treatment.

In an IC manufacturing method, a heat treatment apparatus is widely used in a heat treatment step of forming a CVD film such as an insulating film or a metal film on a wafer or diffusing impurities.
In this type of conventional heat treatment equipment, a clean unit that blows clean air is installed in the waiting room where the boat stands by in order to suppress particles (dust) that contaminate the wafer surface and adversely affect the yield of the IC manufacturing method. The clean air blown from the clean unit to the standby chamber is configured to be exhausted from the standby chamber by an exhaust device (see, for example, Patent Document 1).
JP 2002-110556 A

  However, in the above-described heat treatment apparatus, since the flow of clean air is not unidirectional, there is a problem that clean air is stagnation and particles and contaminants are likely to accumulate. Further, there is a problem that organic matter is generated from the boat elevator installed in the waiting room and the wafer is contaminated.

  An object of the present invention is to provide a semiconductor manufacturing apparatus capable of preventing contamination by particles of clean air and organic matter from a boat elevator.

A semiconductor manufacturing apparatus according to the present invention includes a processing chamber for processing a substrate, a substrate holder for stacking and holding the substrate, a substrate holder transport device for carrying the substrate holder into and out of the processing chamber, A standby chamber in which the substrate holder stands by adjacent to the processing chamber; a clean gas supply device that supplies clean gas to the standby chamber; and an exhaust device that exhausts the standby chamber;
The substrate holder transfer device is attached to the standby chamber by a fixture on a side surface of the transfer area of the substrate holder, and an opening is formed between the substrate holder transfer device and the standby chamber on the fixture. It is opened so that the said clean gas may flow.

According to the above-described means, the flow of the clean gas blown from the clean gas supply device becomes one direction by the opening, so that the particles can be reliably exhausted from the standby chamber.
In addition, since the opening is provided in the fixture of the substrate holder transport device, the organic matter generated from the substrate holder transport device is prevented from flowing into the standby chamber and is immediately exhausted from the standby chamber by the exhaust device. be able to.

  Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

In the present embodiment, as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the semiconductor manufacturing apparatus according to the present invention is configured as a heat treatment apparatus.
In the heat treatment apparatus 10 according to the present embodiment, a FOUP (front opening unified pod, hereinafter referred to as a pod) is used as a carrier (conveying jig) for accommodating and transporting the wafer 1. The pod includes a main body formed in a substantially cubic box shape with one surface opened, and a cap is detachably attached to the opening surface. When a pod is used as a wafer carrier, the wafer is transported in a sealed state. Therefore, even if particles are present in the surrounding atmosphere, the cleanness of the wafer (cleanness) is Can be maintained. Therefore, as miniaturization of integrated circuits fabricated on wafers progresses, the use of pods is increasing recently.
In addition, as another carrier for accommodating and transporting the wafer 1, there is an open cassette formed in a substantially cubic box shape in which a pair of opposed surfaces are opened.

  The heat treatment apparatus 10 includes a housing 11 constructed in an airtight structure. A pod loading / unloading port (hereinafter referred to as a pod port) 13 for loading / unloading the pod 2 into / from the casing 11 is set at the lower front portion of the casing 11. 11 is provided with a pod loading / unloading port 14 that is opened and closed by a front shutter (not shown). The pod 2 is carried into and out of the pod port 13 by an in-process carrying device (not shown). Above the pod port 13 on the front wall inside the housing 11, a buffer shelf 15 for storing a plurality of pods 2 is laid horizontally and horizontally.

A pod transfer device installation chamber 16 is set in the foremost part of the housing 11, and a pod transfer device 17 configured by a SCARA robot is provided in the installation chamber 16. is set up. The pod transfer device 17 is configured to transfer the pod 2 between the pod port 13, the buffer shelf 15, a rotating shelf 19 and a wafer loading port 25 described later.
A rotary shelf installation chamber 18 is set in the upper part of the inner space of the housing 11 behind the pod transfer device installation chamber 16, and a rotation shelf 19 is installed in the installation chamber 18. The rotating shelf 19 is configured to store a plurality of pods 2. That is, the rotating shelf 19 is horizontally fixed with a plurality of shelves 20 arranged in a vertical direction on a rotating shaft 21 that is rotated by a pitch feed in one direction by an intermittent rotation driving device (not shown) such as a motor. The pod 2 stored on the shelf board 20 is sequentially sent to the front position by pitch feed rotation of the rotary shaft 21.

  In the lower space behind the pod transfer device installation chamber 16 in the inner space of the housing 11, a partition wall composed of a horizontal wall portion 23 and a vertical wall portion 24 that partitions the rear space of the pod transfer device installation chamber 16 in the vertical and front and rear directions. 22 is constructed, and a rotating shelf 19 is installed on the horizontal wall portion 23 of the partition wall 22.

  A pair of ports (hereinafter referred to as wafer ports) 25 for loading and unloading the wafer 1 are opposed to each other vertically below in the vertical wall 24 of the partition wall 22 below the rotating shelf 19 of the casing 11. Each is set to do. Wafer loading / unloading ports 26 and 26 for loading and unloading the wafer 1 are respectively opened at positions corresponding to the upper and lower wafer ports 25 and 25 of the vertical wall portion 24. A pair of pod openers 27 and 27 for opening and closing the pod 2 by attaching and detaching the caps of the pod 2 are installed at both wafer loading / unloading outlets 26 and 26, respectively.

  As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, a standby chamber 28 is set in the space behind the partition wall 22 to stand by for loading and unloading the boat 30 as a substrate holder into the processing chamber 34. A wafer transfer device 29 is installed in the space on the front side of the standby chamber 28. The wafer transfer device 29 is configured to transfer the wafer 1 between the wafer port 25 and the boat 30 and the sub-boat 31 and deliver them to the pod 2 and the boat 30.

  A boat elevator 50 as a substrate holder transfer device is vertically installed in a space behind the standby chamber 28, and the boat elevator 50 is configured to raise and lower a seal cap 32 that supports the boat 30 in the vertical direction. ing. The seal cap 32 is formed in a disk shape capable of sealing the process tube 35 via the manifold 36, and the boat 30 is vertically supported on the seal cap 32. The boat 30 is configured to hold a large number of wafers 1 as substrates to be processed in a state where the wafers are aligned horizontally with the centers aligned, and the processing chamber 34 of the process tube 35 is moved up and down by the boat elevator 50 of the seal cap 32. It comes to be carried in and out.

  As shown in FIG. 1, a process tube installation chamber 33 is set at the upper portion of the rear end of the casing 11, and a process tube 35 forming a process chamber 34 is a manifold in the process tube installation chamber 33. It stands vertically through 36 and is installed on the waiting room 28. Connected to the manifold 36 are a gas introduction pipe 37 for introducing a raw material gas, a purge gas and the like into the processing chamber 34, and an exhaust pipe 38 for evacuating the processing chamber 34. An area in which the boat elevator 50 moves up and down and the boat (substrate holder) 30 is carried into and out of the process tube 35 is referred to as a substrate holder conveyance area.

  A heater unit 39 is arranged concentrically on the outside of the process tube 35 and supported by the casing 11, and the heater unit 39 heats the processing chamber 34 so as to maintain a uniform or predetermined temperature distribution throughout. It is configured.

  As shown in FIG. 2, a side clean unit 40 is vertically arranged on the left side surface of the standby chamber 28 and is installed so as to cover the substantially entire surface. The side clean unit 40 includes a filter 41 that collects particles, a plurality of fans 42, and a duct portion 43. The filter 41 is exposed to the standby chamber 28 and is downstream of the fan 42 group and the duct portion 43. It is configured as follows. The duct portion 43 is connected to an intake duct (not shown), and the intake duct is opened to the clean room on the upper surface of the housing 11.

  As shown in FIG. 2, a plurality of sirocco fans 45 as exhaust devices for exhausting the standby chamber 28 are installed in the right corner of the standby chamber 28. As shown in FIG. The plurality of sirocco fans 45 are arranged vertically at intervals in the vertical direction. Each sirocco fan 45 is configured to suck in clean air 44 ejected from the side clean unit 40 to the standby chamber 28 and exhaust it to the outside of the standby chamber 28.

  A partition plate 46 is erected vertically between the sirocco fan 45 and the boat 30 in the standby chamber 28, and the sirocco fan 45 is installed in an inner space 49 defined by the partition plate 46. The partition plate 46 is configured to reflect radiant heat from the boat 30. A suction port 47 for sucking clean air 44 is opened on the front side of the partition plate 46, and a relief hole 48 is opened in the vertical direction on the side wall of the partition plate 46 on the boat 30 side.

  As shown in FIG. 2, the boat elevator 50 as a substrate holder transfer device is installed in an inner space 49 defined by a partition plate 46 by a pair of ribs 60 and 60 as fixtures. The pod loading / unloading port 14 side (A side in FIG. 2) is the front surface of the apparatus, and the side where the boat or the like is disposed (B side in FIG. 2) is the rear surface. The AB direction is the longitudinal direction of the apparatus, and the pair of ribs 60, 60 are installed in the longitudinal direction of the apparatus. The boat elevator 50 includes a frame 51, and the frame 51 is disposed and installed on the boat 30 side of the pair of ribs 60 and 60. A pair of guide rails 52, 52 are installed vertically on the frame 51, and a feed screw shaft 53 is installed vertically. A lift base 54 is supported on both guide rails 52 and 52 so as to be movable up and down, and a female screw member 55 fixed to the lift base 54 is screwed onto the feed screw shaft 53 so as to be lifted and lowered. An arm 56 protrudes from the lifting platform 54 in the direction of the boat 30, and the arm 56 passes through the escape hole 48 of the partition plate 46 and protrudes outside the partition plate 46. The seal cap 32 is installed at the distal end portion of the arm 56, and the boat 30 is erected vertically on the seal cap 32 as described above.

  As shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, a plurality of openings 61 are arranged in the pair of ribs 60, 60 at intervals in the vertical direction so as to penetrate each of them in the front-rear direction of the apparatus. Has been. Ducts 62 are respectively installed between the openings 61 and 61 of the front and rear ribs 60 and 60, and each duct 62 exhausts the clean air 44 sucked through the opening 61 on the front side from the opening 61 on the rear side. Is configured to do.

  Next, the operation of the heat treatment apparatus according to the above configuration will be described.

  As shown in FIG. 1, the pod 2 supplied to the pod port 13 is carried by the pod transfer device 17 from the pod carry-in / out port 14 into the pod transfer device installation chamber 16. The loaded pod 2 is appropriately conveyed by the pod transfer device 17 to a designated position on the rotating shelf 19 and temporarily stored.

  The pod 2 stored in the rotating shelf 19 is appropriately picked up by the pod transfer device 17 and transferred to the designated wafer port 25 of the upper and lower sides, and as shown in FIG. 1 and FIG. Transferred to the table.

  The pod 2 transferred to the mounting table of the wafer port 25 is removed by the pod opener 27 and opened. During the opening operation by the pod opener 27 in the one wafer port 25, another pod 2 is picked up and transferred from the rotating shelf 19 to the other wafer port 25 by the pod transfer device 17. Therefore, the pod transfer device 17 operates by moving very efficiently between the upper and lower wafer ports 25 and the rotary shelf 19 and between the rotary shelf 19 and the pod port 13.

  When the pod 2 is opened at the wafer port 25, the plurality of wafers 1 stored in the pod 2 are transferred to the boat 30 by the wafer transfer device 29 and charged (charged). At this time, the number of wafers 1 (for example, one hundred to one hundred fifty) that the boat 30 performs batch processing is several times the number of wafers 1 (for example, twenty-five) stored in one pod 2. Therefore, a plurality of pods 2 are alternately and repeatedly supplied to the upper and lower wafer ports 25 and 25 by the pod transfer device 17.

  When a predetermined number of wafers 1 are transferred from the upper and lower wafer ports 25, 25 to the boat 30, the boat 30 is lifted by the boat elevator 50 and carried into the processing chamber 34 of the process tube 35. When the boat 30 reaches the upper limit, the peripheral portion on the upper surface of the seal cap 32 holding the boat 30 closes the process tube 35 in a sealed state, so that the processing chamber 34 is airtightly closed.

  In a state where the processing chamber 34 of the process tube 35 is hermetically closed, the exhaust pipe 38 is evacuated to a predetermined degree of vacuum, heated to a predetermined temperature by the heater unit 39, and a predetermined source gas is supplied by the gas introduction pipe 37. Only a predetermined flow rate is supplied. Thereby, a predetermined CVD film is formed on the wafer 1. Incidentally, for example, the processing time is about 1 to 2 hours although it varies depending on the type of film to be handled.

  When a preset processing time elapses, the boat 30 is lowered by the boat elevator 50, so that the boat 30 holding the processed wafer 1 is carried out to the original standby position in the standby chamber 28 (boat unloading). Is done. During the loading / unloading operation and the processing operation of the process tube 35 of the boat 30 into the processing chamber 34, the loading / unloading operation and the transfer operation of the pod 2 are simultaneously performed in the pod port 13 and the rotating shelf 19.

  The processed wafer 1 of the boat 30 carried out to the waiting chamber 28 is picked up from the boat 30 by the wafer transfer device 29 and transferred to the wafer port 25, and is transferred to the wafer port 25 in advance and the cap is removed and opened. Stored in an empty pod 2.

  Subsequently, after the pod 2 is closed by the pod opener 27, the pod 2 containing the processed wafer 1 is transported by the pod transfer device 17 to a designated position on the rotating shelf 19 and temporarily stored. The

  The pod 2 storing the processed wafer 1 is transferred from the rotary shelf 19 to the pod port 13 by the pod transfer device 17. The pod 2 transferred to the pod port 13 is transported to the next process.

  Thereafter, the operation described above is repeated and the wafer 1 is batch processed by the heat treatment apparatus 10.

On the other hand, as shown in FIG. 2, clean air 44 is blown from the side clean unit 40 and supplied to the standby chamber 28 of the housing 11. Clean air 44 blown out from the entire surface of the side clean unit 40 is sucked into an inner space 49 defined by the partition plate 46 from a suction port 47 of the partition plate 46.
As described above, the flow of the clean air 44 in the standby chamber 28 is unidirectional, so that the clean air 44 does not stagnate or stay in the standby chamber 28. Further, particles that are caused to flow by the clean air 44 and flow along with the clean air 44 do not stagnate or stay in the standby chamber 28. Therefore, contamination of the wafer 1 by particles flowing along with the clean air 44 can be reliably prevented.

The clean air 44 sucked into the inner space 49 of the partition plate 46 is sucked into the duct 62 from the openings 61 of the front ribs 60 and discharged from the openings 61 of the rear ribs 60. The air is exhausted from the inner space 49 of the partition plate 46 to the outside of the standby chamber 28.
As described above, a flow in one direction of the clean air 44 is also generated in the inner space 49 of the partition plate 46. Therefore, even if organic matter that causes contamination is generated from the boat 30, the generated organic matter is partitioned. The air is immediately exhausted to the outside by the sirocco fan 45 without flowing out from the inner space 49 of the plate 46 to the standby chamber 28. Therefore, the contamination of the wafer 1 by the organic matter generated from the boat 30 can be surely prevented.

  According to the embodiment, the following effects can be obtained.

1) By configuring the flow of clean air in the waiting room to be unidirectional, it is possible to prevent the clean air from stagnating or staying in the waiting room. It is possible to reliably prevent the contamination of the wafer.

2) Opening openings in the pair of ribs in the front-rear direction of the device, and by generating a flow of clean air in one direction in the inner space of the partition plate, the organic matter generated from the boat is removed from the inner space of the partition plate. Since the air can be immediately exhausted to the outside by the sirocco fan without flowing into the waiting room, contamination of the wafer by the organic matter generated from the boat can be surely prevented.

3) By preventing contamination of the wafer by particles and organic substances, it is possible to prevent a decrease in the yield of the IC manufacturing method, and thus the throughput of the IC manufacturing method can be increased.

  Needless to say, the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, and various modifications can be made without departing from the scope of the invention.

  For example, the standby chamber is not limited to being constructed with a hermetically sealed casing capable of withstanding atmospheric pressure, but may be constructed with a so-called pressure-resistant container capable of withstanding pressures below atmospheric pressure.

  The exhaust device is not limited to a sirocco fan, and may be configured by connecting an exhaust pipe of an exhaust device installed outside to the side wall of the standby chamber.

  In the above embodiment, the case of a batch type vertical heat treatment apparatus has been described. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and can be applied to general semiconductor manufacturing apparatuses such as a batch type vertical diffusion apparatus.

It is side surface sectional drawing which shows the heat processing apparatus which is one embodiment of this invention. It is a plane sectional view which passes along a wafer port. It is sectional drawing which follows the III-III line of FIG.

Explanation of symbols

  DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Wafer (substrate), 2 ... Pod (wafer carrier), 10 ... Heat processing apparatus (semiconductor manufacturing apparatus), 11 ... Housing | casing, 13 ... Pod port (pod carrying in / out port), 14 ... Pod carrying in / out port, 15 ... Buffer shelf, 16 ... pod transfer device installation chamber, 17 ... pod transfer device, 18 ... rotary shelf installation chamber, 19 ... rotary shelf, 20 ... shelf, 21 ... rotary shaft, 22 ... partition wall, 23 ... horizontal wall , 24 ... Vertical wall part, 25 ... Wafer port, 26 ... Wafer loading / unloading exit, 27 ... Pod opener, 28 ... Standby chamber, 29 ... Wafer transfer device, 30 ... Boat (substrate holder), 31 ... Sub-boat, 32 ... Seal cap, 33 ... Process tube installation chamber, 34 ... Processing chamber, 35 ... Process tube, 36 ... Manifold, 37 ... Gas introduction pipe, 38 ... Exhaust pipe, 39 ... Heater unit, 40 ... Side cleaner Unit (clean gas supply device), 41 ... filter, 42 ... fan, 43 ... duct part, 44 ... clean air, 45 ... sirocco fan (exhaust device), 46 ... partition plate, 47 ... suction port, 48 ... escape hole , 49 ... inner space, 50 ... boat elevator (substrate holder transfer device), 51 ... frame, 52 ... guide rail, 53 ... feed screw shaft, 54 ... elevating platform, 55 ... female screw member, 56 ... arm, 60 ... rib (Attachment), 61 ... opening, 62 ... duct.

Claims (1)

A processing chamber for processing a substrate, a substrate holder for stacking and holding the substrate, a substrate holder transporting device for carrying the substrate holder in and out of the processing chamber, and the substrate adjacent to the processing chamber A standby chamber in which a holder waits; a clean gas supply device that supplies clean gas to the standby chamber; and an exhaust device that exhausts the standby chamber;
The substrate holder transfer device is attached to the standby chamber by a fixture on a side surface of the transfer area of the substrate holder, and an opening is formed between the substrate holder transfer device and the standby chamber on the fixture. The semiconductor manufacturing apparatus is configured to allow the clean gas to flow through.

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