JP2013033779A - Substrate processing system - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a substrate processing system.SOLUTION: The substrate processing system comprises: a substrate processing device 100 which processes a wafer 200; and a group management system which is connected to at least one of the substrate processing devices. The substrate processing device transmits data including at least the state of the substrate processing device to a group management device. The group management device comprises: first storage means which stores the data transmitted from the substrate processing device; second storage means which stands by when the first storage means stores the data; and switching means which switches storage of the data from the first storage means to the second storage means in accordance with the received state of the substrate processing device.

Description

  The present invention relates to a substrate processing system comprising at least one substrate processing apparatus and a group management apparatus that collects information from the substrate processing apparatus and manages the substrate processing apparatus, and particularly stores the collected data. The present invention relates to a data processing system that automatically enables maintenance and operation check of a database and a file to be performed.

Conventionally, in a group management apparatus (data management system) of the present invention, data from a semiconductor manufacturing apparatus, which is a kind of substrate processing apparatus, is stored in a database or file as storage means. For example, in Patent Document 1, data transmitted from a semiconductor manufacturing apparatus is stored in an apparatus information storage device as a database.

And in the data management system that remotely manages the data of the semiconductor manufacturing apparatus in parallel with the process of acquiring the data from the semiconductor manufacturing apparatus and processing the data, In order to prevent performance deterioration and stoppage (down) due to factors such as fragmentation, it is necessary to perform maintenance periodically (3 months to 1 year). However, in general, during maintenance, database reconstruction, DISK defragmentation, and the like are performed. Therefore, even if access is possible, storage performance and search performance are affected. Therefore, it is not appropriate to perform maintenance during operation of an actual semiconductor manufacturing apparatus.

Due to the operating status of semiconductor manufacturing equipment, there is almost no rest time, and the data management system (group management equipment of the present invention) is connected to multiple semiconductor manufacturing equipment, so database and file maintenance It is difficult to perform regular maintenance, and maintenance is performed by stopping the accumulation of data from the semiconductor manufacturing equipment. Also, during the maintenance of all connected semiconductor manufacturing equipment, data from the semiconductor manufacturing equipment is not accumulated. The database and files were maintained in anticipation of unnecessary timing. Alternatively, in preparation for the risk of not performing maintenance as described above, the database and files were continuously operated without any maintenance until some trouble occurred.

JP 2008-27772 A

An object of the present invention is a substrate processing system provided with a data management system for centrally managing data transmitted from a plurality of semiconductor manufacturing apparatuses, and data for performing maintenance of the storage means for storing the data while the substrate processing apparatus is in operation. It is to provide a processing method.

  A feature of the present invention is a substrate processing system including a substrate processing apparatus for processing a substrate and a group management apparatus connected to at least one of the substrate processing apparatuses, wherein the substrate processing apparatus is connected to the group management apparatus. At least data including the state of the substrate processing apparatus is transmitted, and the county management apparatus stores a first storage unit that stores the data transmitted from the substrate processing apparatus, and the first storage unit stores the data when the data is stored. There is a second storage means for standby, and a switching control means for switching the storage of the data from the first storage means to the second storage means in accordance with the received state of the substrate processing apparatus.

According to the present invention, it is possible to perform maintenance of a database or a file as storage means regardless of the state of the substrate processing apparatus.

It is a block diagram which shows an example of the substrate processing system which concerns on one embodiment of this invention. It is a plane perspective view of the substrate processing apparatus concerning the present invention. It is side surface perspective drawing of the substrate processing apparatus concerning this invention. It is a figure which shows the state of the substrate processing apparatus which concerns on one Embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows the relationship between the state of the database / file of the group management system which concerns on one Embodiment of this invention, and the state of a substrate processing apparatus. It is a figure which shows the state of the database / file of the group management system when the substrate processing apparatus which concerns on one Embodiment of this invention is not performing (IDLE).

First, the configuration and operation of a substrate processing system according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG.

As shown in FIG. 1, the substrate processing system 1 is connected to at least one substrate processing apparatus and the substrate processing apparatus, acquires data from the substrate processing apparatus, and monitors (monitors) the data. A data management system as a group management device for checking the soundness of the data and a database / file as storage means for storing the data. Here, the storage means has at least two. According to FIG. 1, the data management system and the storage means are shown separately to represent the flow of data. However, for convenience, the data management system and the storage means are integrated. It does not matter if it is configured. Further, according to FIG. 1, the data management system directly accumulates in the database / file (A) received from the substrate processing apparatus, but only shows an example, and accumulates in the database / file (B). You may comprise so that it may do. Similarly, the database / file (B) accumulates data from the database / file (A), but the database / file (B) data is accumulated in the database / file (A). It may be configured. At least one of these two databases / files is used to store data received from the substrate processing apparatus in order to solve the problems of the present invention. As described above, the group management apparatus includes a plurality of databases, so that periodic storage means (database / file) can be maintained. Needless to say, two or more databases may be provided.

  Although not shown, the data management system of FIG. 1 includes a computer including a CD-ROM (Compact Disk Read Only Memory) drive, an FD (Flexible Disk) drive, a keyboard, a mouse, and a monitor. Further, although not shown in the figure, a CPU (Central Processing Unit), a ROM (Read Only Memory) for storing a program, and a CPU are connected to the CPU to temporarily store instructions of the application program and a temporary storage space. RAM (Random Access Memory), a hard disk for storing application programs, system programs, and data, and a bus for interconnecting CPU, ROM, and the like.

  Next, the substrate processing apparatus 100 according to the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS.

In the present embodiment, the substrate processing apparatus 100 is configured as a semiconductor manufacturing apparatus 100 that performs processing steps in a method of manufacturing a semiconductor device (IC).
In the following description, a case where a vertical apparatus (hereinafter simply referred to as a substrate processing apparatus) that performs oxidation, diffusion processing, CVD processing, or the like is applied to the substrate as the substrate processing apparatus 100 will be described.

FIG. 2 is a plan perspective view of the substrate processing apparatus 100 applied to the present invention. FIG. 3 is a side perspective view of the substrate processing apparatus shown in FIG.
As shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, the substrate processing of the present invention uses a hoop (substrate container; hereinafter referred to as a pod) 110 as a wafer carrier containing a wafer (substrate) 200 made of silicon or the like. The apparatus 100 includes a housing 111.
A front maintenance port 103 as an opening provided for maintenance is opened at the front front portion of the front wall 111a of the casing 111, and front maintenance doors 104 and 104 for opening and closing the front maintenance port 103 are respectively built. It is attached.
A pod loading / unloading port (substrate container loading / unloading port) 112 is opened on the front wall 111a of the casing 111 so as to communicate between the inside and the outside of the casing 111. The pod loading / unloading port 112 has a front shutter (substrate container loading / unloading port). The loading / unloading opening / closing mechanism 113 is opened and closed.
A load port (substrate container delivery table) 114 is installed in front of the front side of the pod loading / unloading port 112, and the load port 114 is configured so that the pod 110 is placed and aligned. The pod 110 is carried onto the load port 114 by an in-process carrying device (not shown), and is also carried out from the load port 114.

A rotary pod shelf (substrate container mounting shelf) 105 is installed at an upper portion of the casing 111 in a substantially central portion in the front-rear direction. The rotary pod shelf 105 stores a plurality of pods 110. It is configured. That is, the rotary pod shelf 105 is vertically arranged and intermittently rotated in a horizontal plane, and a plurality of shelf plates (substrate container mounts) radially supported by the column 116 at each of the four upper and lower positions. And a plurality of shelf plates 117 are configured to hold the pods 110 in a state where a plurality of pods 110 are respectively placed.
A pod transfer device (substrate container transfer device) 118 is installed between the load port 114 and the rotary pod shelf 105 in the housing 111, and the pod transfer device 118 moves up and down while holding the pod 110. A pod elevator (substrate container lifting mechanism) 118a and a pod transfer mechanism (substrate container transfer mechanism) 118b as a transfer mechanism are configured. The pod transfer device 118 includes a pod elevator 118a and a pod transfer mechanism 118b. The pod 110 is transported between the load port 114, the rotary pod shelf 105, and the pod opener (substrate container lid opening / closing mechanism) 121 by continuous operation.

A sub-housing 119 is constructed across the rear end of the lower portion of the housing 111 at a substantially central portion in the front-rear direction.
A pair of wafer loading / unloading ports (substrate loading / unloading ports) 120 for loading / unloading the wafer 200 into / from the sub-casing 119 are arranged on the front wall 119a of the sub-casing 119 in two vertical stages. A pair of pod openers 121 and 121 are installed at the wafer loading / unloading ports 120 and 120 at the upper and lower stages, respectively.
The pod opener 121 includes mounting bases 122 and 122 on which the pod 110 is placed, and cap attaching / detaching mechanisms (lid attaching / detaching mechanisms) 123 and 123 for attaching and detaching caps (lids) of the pod 110. The pod opener 121 is configured to open and close the wafer loading / unloading port of the pod 110 by attaching / detaching the cap of the pod 110 placed on the placing table 122 by the cap attaching / detaching mechanism 123.

The sub-housing 119 constitutes a transfer chamber 124 that is fluidly isolated from the installation space of the pod transfer device 118 and the rotary pod shelf 105. A wafer transfer mechanism (substrate transfer mechanism) 125 is installed in the front region of the transfer chamber 124, and the wafer transfer mechanism 125 is a wafer transfer device (rotation or linear movement of the wafer 200 in the horizontal direction). A substrate transfer device) 125a and a wafer transfer device elevator (substrate transfer device lifting mechanism) 125b for moving the wafer transfer device 125a up and down.
By the continuous operation of the wafer transfer device elevator 125b and the wafer transfer device 125a, the tweezer (substrate holder) 125c of the wafer transfer device 125a is used as a placement portion for the wafer 200 with respect to the boat (substrate holder) 217. The wafer 200 is loaded (charged) and unloaded (discharged).

As shown in FIG. 2, the supply chamber 124 is supplied with a clean atmosphere 133 or an inert gas supplied to the right end of the transfer chamber 124 opposite to the wafer transfer apparatus elevator 125 b side. A clean unit 134 composed of a fan and a dustproof filter is installed. Between the wafer transfer device 125a and the clean unit 134, a notch alignment as a substrate alignment device for aligning the circumferential position of the wafer 200 is provided. A device 135 is installed.
The clean air 133 blown out from the clean unit 134 is circulated to the notch aligning device 135 and the wafer transfer device 125a, and then sucked in by a duct (not shown) to be exhausted to the outside of the housing 111, or clean. The unit 134 is circulated to the primary side (supply side) which is the suction side, and is again blown into the transfer chamber 124 by the clean unit 134.

In the rear region of the transfer chamber 124, a casing (hereinafter referred to as a pressure-resistant casing) 140 having a confidential performance capable of maintaining a pressure lower than atmospheric pressure (hereinafter referred to as negative pressure) is installed. A load lock chamber 141 which is a load lock type standby chamber having a capacity capable of accommodating the boat 217 is formed by the pressure-resistant housing 140.
A wafer loading / unloading opening (substrate loading / unloading opening) 142 is formed in the front wall 140a of the pressure-resistant housing 140, and the wafer loading / unloading opening 142 is opened and closed by a gate valve (substrate loading / unloading opening / closing mechanism) 143. It has become. A gas supply pipe 144 for supplying nitrogen gas to the load lock chamber 141 and an exhaust pipe 145 for exhausting the load lock chamber 141 to a negative pressure are connected to the pair of side walls of the pressure-resistant housing 140, respectively. Yes. A processing furnace 202 is provided above the load lock chamber 141. The lower end portion of the processing furnace 202 is configured to be opened and closed by a furnace port gate valve (furnace port opening / closing mechanism) 147. A furnace port gate valve cover 149 that accommodates the furnace port gate valve 147 when the lower end portion of the processing furnace 202 is opened is attached to the upper end portion of the front wall 140 a of the pressure-resistant housing 140.

As shown in FIG. 2, a boat elevator (substrate holder lifting mechanism) 115 for raising and lowering the boat 217 is installed in the pressure-resistant housing 140. A seal cap 219 serving as a lid is horizontally installed on an arm 128 serving as a connector connected to the boat elevator 115, and the seal cap 219 supports the boat 217 vertically and closes the lower end of the processing furnace 202. Configured as possible.
The boat 217 includes a plurality of holding members so that a plurality of (for example, about 50 to 125) wafers 200 are horizontally held in a state where their centers are aligned in the vertical direction. Composed.

Next, the operation of the substrate processing apparatus of the present invention will be described.
As shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, when the pod 110 is supplied to the load port 114, the pod loading / unloading port 112 is opened by the front shutter 113, and the pod 110 on the load port 114 is moved by the pod transfer device 118. A pod loading / unloading port 112 is loaded into the housing 111.
The loaded pod 110 is automatically transported and delivered by the pod transport device 118 to the designated shelf 117 of the rotary pod shelf 105, temporarily stored, and then one pod opener from the shelf 117. It is conveyed to 121 and transferred to the mounting table 122, or directly transferred to the pod opener 121 and transferred to the mounting table 122. At this time, the wafer loading / unloading port 120 of the pod opener 121 is closed by the cap attaching / detaching mechanism 123, and the transfer chamber 124 is filled with clean air 133. For example, the transfer chamber 124 is filled with nitrogen gas as clean air 133, so that the oxygen concentration is set to 20 ppm or less, which is much lower than the oxygen concentration inside the casing 111 (atmosphere).

The pod 110 mounted on the mounting table 122 has its opening-side end face pressed against the opening edge of the wafer loading / unloading port 120 on the front wall 119a of the sub-housing 119, and the cap is removed by the cap attaching / detaching mechanism 123. The wafer loading / unloading port of the pod 110 is opened.
Further, when the wafer loading / unloading opening 142 of the load lock chamber 141 whose interior is previously set at atmospheric pressure is opened by the operation of the gate valve 143, the wafer 200 is removed from the pod 110 by the tweezer 125c of the wafer transfer device 125a. After being picked up through the loading / unloading port and aligned with the notch aligner 135, the wafer is loaded into the load lock chamber 141 through the wafer loading / unloading opening 142, transferred to the boat 217, and loaded (wafer charging).
The wafer transfer device 125 a that has transferred the wafer 200 to the boat 217 returns to the pod 110 and loads the next wafer 200 into the boat 217.

  During the loading operation of the wafer 200 to the boat 217 by the wafer transfer device 125a in the one (upper or lower) pod opener 121, the other (lower or upper) pod opener 121 has the rotary pod shelf 105 to the load port. Another pod 110 is transferred from 114 by the pod transfer device 118, and the opening operation of the pod 110 by the pod opener 121 is simultaneously performed.

When a predetermined number of wafers 200 are loaded into the boat 217, the wafer loading / unloading opening 142 is closed by the gate valve 143, and the load lock chamber 141 is evacuated from the exhaust pipe 145 to be decompressed. When the load lock chamber 141 is reduced to the same pressure as that in the processing furnace 202, the lower end portion of the processing furnace 202 is opened by the furnace port gate valve 147. At this time, the furnace port gate valve 147 is carried into and stored in the furnace port gate valve cover 149.
Subsequently, the seal cap 219 is lifted by the lift table 161 of the boat elevator 115, and the boat 217 supported by the seal cap 219 is loaded into the processing furnace 202.

  After loading, the inside of the processing furnace 202 is adjusted to a predetermined pressure (processing pressure) and a predetermined temperature (target temperature), and arbitrary processing is performed on the wafer 200 in the processing furnace 202. After the processing, the boat 217 is pulled out by the boat elevator 115, and the gate valve 143 is opened after the pressure inside the load lock chamber 141 is restored to atmospheric pressure. After that, the wafer 200 and the pod 110 are discharged to the outside of the casing 111 by the reverse procedure described above except for the wafer alignment process in the notch aligner 135.

Next, the operation of the data management system according to the embodiment of the present invention will be described. First, as shown in FIG. 1, the data management system accumulates data received from the semiconductor manufacturing apparatus in a database / file (A). As shown in Table 1, the state of the database / file (A) is in operation and the state of the database / file (B) is standby as shown in Table 1. .

Data for one day in the database / file (A) is copied to the database / file (B) periodically (for example, once / day) so as to equalize the copy amount per time. At that time, considering the capacity of the database / file, if it exceeds it, it will be deleted from the old date data. Here, as shown in FIG. 4, the state of the semiconductor manufacturing apparatus includes non-execution (IDLE) in which production is not being performed and execution (RUN) in which production is being performed. Running (RUN) data needs to be stored in a database / file. On the other hand, for non-execution (IDLE) data, since the device is not in operation (the product board is not inserted in the device), there is little change in the data. Few. Therefore, at this timing, the data stored in the database / file (B) is transferred from the database / file (A). As shown in Table 2, the state of the database / file (A) is in the process of copying (copying source), and the state of the database / file (B) is copied as shown in Table 2. Medium (copy destination). FIG. 5 shows the relationship with the state of the semiconductor manufacturing apparatus at this time. As described above, since data is copied during non-execution (IDLE), data loss can be prevented.

Check the status of the semiconductor manufacturing equipment (A) every maintenance registration date and time (for example, 3 months to 1 year). If it is not running (IDLE), the database / file (A) data for the current day is stored in the database / Copy to file (B) in chronological order (oldest), and periodically check the device status (semiconductor manufacturing device (A) status) during copying. When the copying is completed, if the semiconductor manufacturing apparatus (A) is in the non-execution (IDLE) state, as shown in FIG. 6, accumulation or reference to the database / file from the data management system is performed. The destination is transferred to the database / file (B). At the time of migration, as shown in Table 3, the reference database / file information in the data management system is also changed from the database / file (A) to the database / file (B). This makes it possible to obtain continuous data from the database / file (B) in the data search.

On the other hand, the apparatus status is regularly checked even during copying, and if the semiconductor manufacturing apparatus (A) is in execution (RUN), it waits until it is in non-execution (IDLE). If copying is in progress, the copying is interrupted, and monitoring of the device status (semiconductor manufacturing device status) is continued periodically. Then, at the point of non-execution (IDLE), the database / file storage and reference destination from the data management system is transferred to the database / file (B), and the reference destination database / file information in the data management system Also, the database / file (A) is changed to the database / file (B). Further, when copy interruption occurs, as shown in Table 4, information on how far the copy has been made is held internally. Thus, it is possible to copy from the next time so that there is no duplication at the next copy.

As shown in Table 5, the database / file status database in the data management system when the data accumulated from all the connected semiconductor manufacturing apparatuses is transferred to the database / file (B) (when copying is completed). Change the status of / file (A) from migrating (copying) to maintenance, change the status of database / file (B) from migrating (copying) to operating, and change the status of database / file (A) Start maintenance. Maintenance includes database reconstruction, DISK data organization, and defragmentation.

When maintaining the database / file (B), the above database / file (A) is replaced with the database / file (B), and the database / file (B) is replaced with the database / file (A). realizable. By performing the above alternately, maintenance can be provided continuously.

A program that causes the data management system of FIG. 1 to execute the functions according to the above-described embodiment may be stored in a CD-ROM or FD, inserted into a CD-ROM drive or FD drive, and transferred to a hard disk. . Alternatively, the program may be transmitted from a computer (not shown) via a network and stored in a hard disk. The program is loaded into the RAM when executed. The program may be loaded directly from a CD-ROM, FD, or network.

In the embodiment of the present invention, the vertical substrate processing apparatus has been described as the semiconductor manufacturing apparatus. However, the present invention can also be applied to a single wafer processing apparatus and a horizontal substrate processing apparatus. Further, the present invention can be applied not only to a semiconductor manufacturing apparatus that processes a substrate (wafer) but also to a processing apparatus that processes a glass substrate such as an LCD device. As described above, the present invention can be modified in various ways, and the present invention naturally extends to the invention thus modified.

1 substrate processing system 20 group management system (data management system)
100 Substrate processing equipment (semiconductor manufacturing equipment)
200 wafer (substrate)

Claims (1)

A substrate processing system including a substrate processing apparatus for processing a substrate and a group management apparatus connected to at least one of the substrate processing apparatuses, wherein the substrate processing apparatus includes at least the substrate processing apparatus in the group management apparatus. The group management apparatus transmits data including a state, and the group management apparatus stores a first storage unit that stores the data transmitted from the substrate processing apparatus, and a second storage in which the first storage unit waits during data storage. And a switching control means for switching the storage of the data from the first storage means to the second storage means in accordance with the received state of the substrate processing apparatus.