JP2640698B2 - Automatic wafer cleaning equipment - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an automatic cleaning apparatus of a leaf type for automatically cleaning wafers one by one.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In the manufacture of semiconductor devices, impurities adhering to the surface of a semiconductor wafer adversely affect the performance of the semiconductor device.

[0003] Therefore, the manufacturing process of a semiconductor wafer includes a cleaning process. In this cleaning process, the wafer is cleaned by various methods. The method of cleaning a wafer is roughly classified into a physical cleaning method. There is a chemical cleaning method.

[0004] As the former physical cleaning method, a method of directly removing impurities adhered to the wafer surface using a cleaning brush or the like, a method in which a pressurized fluid is jetted from a jet nozzle toward a part or the whole of the wafer, Thus, there are a method of removing impurities, a method of immersing a wafer in a liquid and applying ultrasonic waves to the wafer to remove impurities attached to the wafer (ultrasonic cleaning method), and the like.

[0005] The latter chemical cleaning methods include:
There is a method of chemically decomposing and removing impurities attached to the wafer surface by various chemicals, enzymes and the like. Incidentally, a physical cleaning method and a chemical cleaning method may be used in combination.

[0006]

In the field of semiconductor manufacturing, semiconductor wafers have become larger in diameter with the recent trend toward higher integration of semiconductor devices, and a plurality of wafers are accommodated in a carrier for cleaning. According to the conventional method, a great deal of labor is required.

[0007] In addition, if a method is adopted in which a wafer is accommodated in a carrier and transported, there is also a problem that particles or the like adhere to the wafer due to contact between the wafer and the carrier and the wafer is contaminated.

Further, if the polished wafer is temporarily stored until the next cleaning step, there is a problem that the surface of the wafer is dried and impurities attached to the surface cannot be removed.

The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned problems, and an object thereof is to eliminate a carrier which has been conventionally used by automatically cleaning wafers one by one continuously after a polishing step. An object of the present invention is to provide an automatic wafer cleaning apparatus capable of achieving (carrier-less), labor saving, quality improvement, and the like.

[0010]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides a loader for receiving wafers to be washed one by one in a liquid and a pair of rotating brushes for rotating the received wafers. A brush cleaning tank for simultaneously cleaning both sides of the wafer, a plurality of cleaning tanks for storing the cleaning liquid, a drying tank for drying the wafer after the cleaning, an unloader section for storing the dried wafer, and a wafer. And an automatic wafer cleaning apparatus including a transport means for transporting the wafer.

[0011]

The automatic cleaning device according to the present invention is of a leaf-to-leaf type,
Since the wafers are supported and transported one by one by the transport means and are continuously washed (that is, they are not temporarily stocked), the conventionally used carrier is not required, and a so-called carrier-less is realized. Thus, the problem of wafer contamination due to transport by the carrier can be solved, and the quality of the wafer can be improved.

In addition, even if the wafer is heavy due to its large diameter, the wafers are automatically transferred one by one by the transfer means, so that no burden is imposed on the operator and labor can be saved. .

[0013]

An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

1, 2 and 3 are a front view, a plan view and a side view of an automatic cleaning apparatus according to the present invention, and FIG. 4 is a flow sheet. The automatic cleaning apparatus includes a loader section A, a wafer receiving tank B,
Pre-cleaning tank C, brush cleaning tank D, cleaning tanks E, F, G,
H, I, two preliminary tanks J, K, a drying tank L, and an unloader section M are provided.

As shown in FIG. 4, pure water (HW) is supplied to the loader section A and the wafer receiving tank B from lines 1 and 2, and these are filled with pure water. The loader unit A
The pure water leaked from the overflow tanks 3 and 4 of the wafer receiving tank B flows to the drain line via the lines 5 and 6, and the level of the pure water in the loader unit A and the wafer receiving tank B is kept constant.

The wafers W whose surfaces have been mirror-polished in the polishing step, which is the preceding step, are continuously loaded one by one into the loader section A as shown in FIG.
The wafer is sent into the wafer receiving tank B along the flow of pure water.

The wafer receiving tank B is provided with a wafer raising device 7 shown in FIGS. still,
FIG. 5 is a plan view of the wafer erecting device 7, and FIGS. 6 and 7 are sectional views taken along line aa and line bb of FIG. 5, respectively.

As shown in the figure, a rotating shaft 8 is rotatably supported on the wafer receiving tank B via bearings 9 and 9, and a suction arm 10 is attached to the center of the rotating shaft 8. . A suction nozzle 11 is provided at the tip of the suction arm 10, and the suction nozzle 11 has a vacuum path 1.
2 is open. The vacuum path 12 is connected to a vacuum source (not shown).

A wafer receiving plate 13 is attached to the suction arm 10, and four stopper pins 14 are arranged on the wafer receiving plate 13 in an arc shape.

On the other hand, as shown in FIG. 7, a gear 15 is connected to one end of the rotary shaft 8, and a gear 17 connected to an output shaft end of a servo motor 16 meshes with the gear 15. doing.

As shown by the solid line in FIG. 6, the wafer W carried into the wafer receiving tank B is placed on the suction nozzle 11 of the suction arm 10 which is kept horizontal in pure water and stands by. At the same time, a part of the outer periphery of the wafer abuts against the stopper pins 14 of the wafer receiving plate 13 and is positioned.
Thereafter, when a vacuum source (not shown) is driven, the wafer W is sucked and held by the negative pressure acting on the vacuum nozzle 11.

Next, when the servo motor 16 is driven,
The rotation is transmitted to the rotating shaft 8 via gears 17 and 15, and the rotating shaft 8, the suction arm 10 and the wafer W are
Then, the wafer W stands upright as shown by a chain line in FIG.

The wafer W erected by the wafer erecting device 7 as described above is vertically handled by the transfer robot 20 shown in FIGS. 8 and 9, and is automatically transferred from the wafer receiving tank B to the pre-cleaning tank C. You.

Here, the configuration and operation of the handling unit of the transfer robot 20 will be described with reference to FIGS.
FIG. 8 is a side sectional view of the handling unit, and FIG. 9 is a plan view of the handling unit.

In the figure, reference numeral 21 denotes a base which is connected to the upper end of a shaft 22 which can move up and down. Shafts 23 and 24 which form a double shaft structure are supported on the base 21 so as to be movable horizontally. That is, the outer hollow shaft 23 is supported by a bearing 25 erected on the base 21 so as to be horizontally movable.
A small-diameter shaft 24 is slidably supported by bearings 26 and 26 and is inserted into the inside 3. And these shafts 23, 24
At one end, handling arms 27 and 28 for handling the wafer W are vertically supported, and at the other end, arms 29 and 30 are respectively connected.

The arms 29 and 30 have shafts 31 and 32, respectively.
Are slidably inserted, and flanges 33 and 34 are connected to opposite ends of the shafts 31 and 32, respectively. Further, springs 35 and 36 are contracted between the flanges 33 and 34 and the arms 29 and 30.

As shown in FIG. 9, an actuator 37 is provided on the base 21. Flanges 39 and 40 are attached to ends of rods 38 extending to the left and right of the actuator 37. Have been. These flanges 39, 40 are connected to the flanges 33, 34. A portion of the shaft 24 extending from the shaft 23 is covered with a bellows 41.

When the actuators 37 are driven to contract the rods 38 by the same amount, the shafts 23 and 24 move in the opposite directions by the same amount, and the handling arms 27 and 28 attached thereto are moved. When the rods 38 are opened by the same amount as shown by the chain line in FIG. 8, the shafts 23 and 24 are moved in the opposite directions by the same amount, and the handling arms 27 and 28 attached thereto are closed. Arm 2
7 and 28 handle the wafer W and support it vertically as indicated by the solid line in FIG. After the handling arms 27 and 28 abut on the outer periphery of the wafer W, even if the shafts 23 and 24 move in the direction to close the handling arms 27 and 28, this movement is absorbed by the compression deformation of the springs 35 and 36. Therefore, the wafer W is not damaged by an excessive force. Further, the closing amount of the handling arms 27 and 28 is regulated by the stopper 43 shown in FIG.

The wafer W handled by the transfer robot 20 and transferred to the pre-cleaning tank C as described above is immersed in the cleaning liquid contained in the pre-cleaning tank C to remove wax adhering to the back surface. Is done. As shown in FIG. 4, a cleaning liquid is supplied into the preliminary cleaning tank C from a purification device (not shown) via a line 44.

The wafer W from which the wax has been removed in the pre-cleaning tank C is again handled by the transfer robot 20 and sent to the brush cleaning tank D. In the brush cleaning tank D, both surfaces are simultaneously brushed. Washed.

Here, the structure of the brush cleaning device 50 provided in the brush cleaning tank D will be described with reference to FIGS. 10 is a cutaway side view of the brush cleaning device 50, FIG. 11 is a view taken in the direction of arrow d in FIG. 10, FIG. 12 is a cutaway plan view of the brush cleaning device 50, and FIG.
14 is a view in the direction of arrow f in FIG. 12.

In FIGS. 10 and 11, reference numeral 51 denotes a screw shaft which is vertically rotatably supported.
A slider 53 that moves up and down along guides 52
The slider 53 has a base member 54
Is supported. A gear 55 is connected to the upper end of the screw shaft 51, and the gear 55 is
And the gear 57 connected to the end of the output shaft.

As shown in FIG. 12, two rotating shafts 58, 59 are horizontally and rotatably supported on the base member 54. Are connected to drive rollers 60 and 61. And
Two guide rollers 63 and 64 are rotatably supported on a plate 62 attached to the front ends of the rotating shafts 58 and 59. These guide rollers 63 and 64 and the driving rollers 60 and 61 As shown in FIG. 13, the wafer W is arranged in an arc shape to support the outer peripheral portion of the wafer W.

A drive motor 65 is mounted on the base member 54. As shown in FIG. 11, a drive motor 65 is connected to a pulley 66 connected to an output shaft end of the drive motor 65 and the rotary shaft 58. A belt 68 is wound between the attached pulleys 67. Another pulley 69 is connected to an intermediate portion of the rotary shaft 58, and a belt 71 is wound between the pulley 69 and the pulley 70 connected to the rotary shaft 59. As shown in FIG. 11, a predetermined tension is applied to the belt 71 by a tension pulley 73 that rotates around a shaft 72.

On the other hand, as shown in FIG.
Two rotating brushes 74, 75 are rotatably arranged in a direction orthogonal to the axial direction of the rotating shafts 8, 59, and these rotating brushes 74, 75 are arranged in the axial direction of the rotating shafts 58, 59 (the left and right in FIG. 12). Direction). That is, the rotating shafts 76, 77 supporting the rotating brushes 74, 75 are rotatably supported by bearing members 79, 79, 80, 80 which are movable along guide rails 78, 78 laid in parallel. ing. The rotation shafts 76 and 77 are urged in one direction by springs 81 and 82 compressed around their outer circumferences, and pulleys 83 and 84 are respectively connected to one ends thereof.

On the base members 85, 86 supporting the one bearing members 79, 80, drive motors 87, 86 are provided.
88 are provided respectively, and these drive motors 87,
Pulleys 89 and 90 are connected to the ends of the output shafts 88. Belts 91 and 92 are wound between the pulley 89 and the pulley 83 and between the pulley 90 and the pulley 84, respectively.

Further, as shown in FIG.
An actuator 94 is installed on the base 3, and the base members 85 and 86 are connected to rollers 95... Extending to the left and right of the actuator 94 via joints 96, 96, 97 and 97. In addition, each base member 85,
The springs 86 are urged away from each other by springs 99, 99 interposed between the joints 96, 96 and retainers 98, 98 erected on the fixed base 93. The stopper support member 10 is provided on the fixed base 93.
0, 100 are erected, and these support members 10
Stoppers 101, 101 for restricting the amount of movement of the base members 85, 86 are threadably engaged with the reference numerals 0, 100, respectively.

Then, as shown in FIG. 4, a predetermined temperature (for example, 40
° C) and a chemical solution and pure water (HW) are supplied to the brush cleaning tank D.
Are brush-cleaned on both sides thereof at the same time to remove particles. A chemical solution and pure water are supplied to the heater tank 102 from lines 103, 104, and 105, respectively, and a chemical solution and pure water are supplied to the brush cleaning tank D from lines 106 and 107, respectively.
Then, the chemical solution and pure water used in the brush cleaning tank D are discharged through the line 108.

The operation of the brush cleaning device 50 will now be described with reference to FIG.
0 to FIG.

In the brush cleaning device 50, before the wafer W is loaded, the actuator 94 shown in FIG.
Are extended by the resilience of the springs 99, 99, so that the rotating brushes 74, 75
Are separated from each other as shown by a chain line, and a predetermined gap is formed between the two.

Thus, the wafer W handled by the transfer robot 20 (see FIG. 8) is vertically fitted into the gap between the rotating brushes 74 and 75, and the outer periphery of the lower half thereof is covered with the drive rollers 60 and 61 and the drive rollers 60 and 61. Guide roller 6
3,64.

Thereafter, when the actuators 94 are driven and the rods 95 are contracted, the rotating brushes 74 and 75 approach each other and sandwich the wafer W between them.

When the drive motor 65 is driven in the above state (see FIG. 11), the rotation is transmitted to the rotary shaft 58 via the pulley 66, the belt 68 and the pulley 67, and further, the pulley 69, the belt 71 and the pulley 70 to the rotating shaft 59, whereby the two rotating shafts 58,
59 is driven to rotate, and the wafer W supported by them is driven to rotate at a predetermined speed.

In FIG. 12, the driving motors 87, 88
, These rotations are transmitted through pulleys 89 and 90, belts 91 and 92, and pulleys 83 and 84 to rotate shafts 76 and 90.
The rotating shafts 76 and 77 and the rotating brushes 74 and 75 respectively supported by the rotating shafts 77 and 77 rotate the wafer W in opposite directions (the wafer W is driven by the driving rollers 60 and 61 and the guide rollers 63 and 75).
The wafer W is rotated in the direction of pressing against the wafer 64, and both surfaces of the wafer W are cleaned by the rotating brushes 74 and 75 to remove particles. And at the time of this brush cleaning,
A drive motor 56 (see FIG. 11) is periodically driven forward and reverse, and the rotation of the drive motor 56 is transmitted to the screw shaft 51 via gears 57 and 55, and the forward and reverse rotation of the screw shaft 51 causes the slider to be screwed thereto. Since the 53 moves up and down together with the base member 54, the driving rollers 60 and 61 and the guide rollers 63 and 6
4 and the wafer W supported thereon also move up and down as a unit, and the center of the wafer W is also cleaned by the rotating brushes 74 and 75 without unevenness.

The wafer W brush-washed as described above
Is handled by the transfer robot 20 and transferred to the next cleaning tank E where it is rinsed.

Here, the structure of the cleaning tank E is shown in FIGS.
9 will be described. FIG. 15 is a cutaway front view of the cleaning tank E, FIG. 16 is a plan view thereof, FIG. 17 is a cutaway side view thereof, and FIG.
8 is an enlarged detailed view of a part g in FIG. 17, and FIG. 19 is an arrow h in FIG.
FIG.

The washing tank E constitutes a flat tank 110, and an overflow tank 111 is formed on the long wall of the tank 110.
An overflow pipe 112 is connected to the bottom of the pipe 11. The overflow pipe 112 is connected to a drain line 132 shown in FIG.

A drain pipe 113 is connected to the bottom of the tank 110. As shown in FIGS. 15 and 19, the bottom of the tank 110 is inclined downward toward the drain pipe 113 in the long side direction. , Are also inclined downward toward one side in the short side direction.

Further, a chamber S defined by a cover member 114 which is long in the longitudinal direction is formed on the upper part of the tank 110, and a water supply pipe 116 of a water supply line 115 shown in FIG. ing.
Then, as shown in detail in FIG.
Denotes a plurality of nozzles 1 obliquely formed in the wall of the tank 110
17 communicates with the inside of the tank 110.

The water supply pipe 116 of the tank 110
Below, a water supply pipe 118 also connected to a water supply line 115 (see FIG. 4) is connected. FIG.
In 5, reference numeral 119 denotes a chemical supply pipe.

On the other hand, a rectangular frame-shaped holder 120 for supporting the wafer W in a slightly inclined state with respect to the vertical is accommodated in the tank 110. Rollers 1 to support the outer periphery of the wafer W are provided on the left and right of the lower end of the holder 120.
As shown in FIG. 17, the holder 120 has a key portion 120a formed on the upper end thereof hooked on the upper end edge of the tank 110, so that the holder 120 is rotatable. It is supported vertically.

As shown in FIG. 4, the entire cleaning tank E is immersed in a tank 122 filled with pure water, and an ultrasonic oscillator 123 is mounted below the tank 122.

As shown in FIG. 15, the wafer W supported by the transfer robot 20 (see FIGS. 8 and 9) is held in a state where the outer periphery thereof is supported by the rollers 121 of the holder 120. It is immersed in pure water in a tank 110, which receives a stream of water jetted into the tank 110 from the plurality of nozzles 117 ... (see FIG. 18) on its upper surface, and as shown in FIG. It is received by the holder 120 in a slightly inclined state, and its posture is kept stable. The pure water is mainly supplied from the water supply pipe 118 to the tank 1.
Pure water supplied into the tank 10 and overflowing from the tank 110 to the overflow tank 111 is discharged from the overflow pipe 112 to a discharge line 132 (see FIG. 4).

In the above state, the entire cleaning tank E is subjected to ultrasonic vibration by the ultrasonic oscillator 123, and
Inside, the wafer W supported by the holder 120 is rinsed with pure water.

Next, the cleaning tank F will be described. The configuration of the cleaning tank F is the same as that of the cleaning tank E.
As shown in the figure, a tank 124 is provided below the cleaning tank F.

A chemical solution is supplied into the tank 124 through the lines 125 and 126, and after the chemical solution is pressurized by the pump 127 and heated to a predetermined temperature (about 80 ° C.) by the line heater 128, After passing through the filter 129, it is supplied into the cleaning tank F.

On the other hand, the wafer W rinsed in the cleaning tank E is handled by the transfer robot 20 and taken out of the cleaning tank E, then transferred to the cleaning tank F, and cleaned in the same state as shown in FIG. The particles immersed in the chemical solution in the tank F and attached to the surface thereof are removed.

Incidentally, the wafer W from which particles have been removed in the cleaning tank F is at a high temperature (about 80 ° C.).
The high temperature chemical in the cleaning tank F is returned to the tank 124 from the line 130 shown in FIG.
From 5, pure water is supplied into the cleaning tank F, and the wafer W is rapidly cooled by the pure water and simultaneously rinsed. The pure water used for cooling the wafer W is supplied to the line 13
1 to a drain line 132.

The cleaning tanks G, H and I have the same construction as that of the cleaning tanks E and F. The wafer W cleaned in the cleaning tank H is transferred by the transfer robot 20 to the cleaning tanks G and H. , I are sequentially conveyed, and the wafer W is rinsed with pure water in the cleaning tanks G and I, and washed with a chemical solution in the cleaning tank H to remove ionic impurities attached to the surface.

The wafer W cleaned by the pre-cleaning tanks C to I is transported by the transport robot 20 to the drying tank L, where it is rapidly dried.

Here, the configuration of the drying tank L will be described in detail with reference to FIG.

The drying tank L has a casing 141 made of SUS having high heat insulating properties, and a beaker 142 made of quartz stands upright in the center of the casing 141. Beaker 142
The upper part is open, the upper end thereof is provided with a shower 143 for ejecting pure water, and the lower end thereof is connected with an inert gas supply pipe 144 and a pure water drain pipe 145.

The beaker 142 is covered at its periphery by a cylindrical shielding plate 146, and short-wave radiators 147, 147 each composed of a short-wave infrared lamp are provided on one inner surface of the shielding plate 146. Medium-wave radiators 148, 148, each of which is constituted by a medium-wavelength infrared lamp, are provided on the inner surface of the shield plate 146 and at positions facing the short-wave radiators 147, 147.

The upper opening of the beaker 142 is closed by a cover member 149, and the casing 1
Two cooling fans 150, 150 are provided in the upper part of 41.

The inside of the beaker 142 is the shower 1
The pure water ejected from the nozzle 43 is washed, and the pure water that has been washed is discharged from the pure water drain pipe 145 to the outside of the casing 141. Then, the medium wave radiator 14
8, 148 and cooling fans 150, 150 are turned on, and the beaker 142 is first warmed by the medium-wave radiators 148, 148. The medium wave radiators 148, 148 (8
FIG. 21 shows the relationship between the irradiation time of the middle-wavelength infrared ray (00W × 2) and the temperature in the bath.

Next, when the wafer W is set in the beaker 142, the short-wave radiators 147, 147 are turned on, and the inert gas (N2, Ar gas, etc.) is supplied from the inert gas supply pipe 144 into the beaker 142. ) Is sealed, and the mirror surface (polished surface) of the wafer W is irradiated with short-wavelength infrared rays by short-wave radiators 147 and 147 in an inert gas atmosphere to be forcibly dried quickly. Here, the short-wave radiators 147, 147 (1.5 KW ×
FIG. 22 shows the relationship between the irradiation time of the short-wavelength infrared ray according to 2) and the temperature in the chamber.
5 ° C. (see FIG. 21), while short-wavelength radiators 147 and 147 radiate short-wavelength infrared rays for the same time (30 seconds).
It can be seen that the temperature rises sharply to about 70 ° C. when the irradiation is performed for only (seconds). When the short-wave radiators 147 and 147 and the medium-wave radiators 148 and 148 are turned on, the cooling fans 150 and 1 are turned on.
50 are driven, and these short-wave radiators 147, 147
And the medium-wave radiators 148, 148 are cooled.

As described above, the wafers W dried by infrared rays are taken out of the drying tank L by the transfer robot 20 and stored one by one in the wafer cassette 151 (see FIG. 4) set in the unloader section M. Here, the cleaning of the wafer W is continuously and automatically performed one by one. As described above, the automatic cleaning apparatus according to the present invention is of a leaf-to-leaf type, and
Since the sheets are supported and conveyed one by one and are continuously processed (that is, they are not temporarily stocked), the so-called carrier-less can be realized by eliminating the conventionally used carrier, and the carrier can be used. Wafer W for transport
Is solved, and the quality of the wafer W can be improved. In addition, even if the wafer W is heavy due to its large diameter, the wafer W is automatically transferred one by one by the transfer robot 20, so that no burden is imposed on the worker and labor is saved. .

[0068]

As is apparent from the above description, according to the present invention, a loader unit for receiving wafers to be washed one by one in a liquid and a pair of rotating brushes for rotating the received wafers are held. A brush cleaning tank for simultaneously cleaning both sides of the wafer, a plurality of cleaning tanks for storing the cleaning liquid, a drying tank for drying the wafer after the cleaning, an unloader section for storing the dried wafer, and a wafer. Since an automatic wafer cleaning apparatus is configured to include a transport means for transporting the carrier, an effect that a conventionally used carrier is eliminated (realization of a carrier-less), labor saving and quality improvement can be achieved. .

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a front view of an automatic cleaning device according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a plan view of the automatic cleaning device according to the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a side view of the automatic cleaning device according to the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a flow sheet of the automatic cleaning device according to the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a plan view of the wafer standing device.

FIG. 6 is a sectional view taken along line aa of FIG. 5;

FIG. 7 is a sectional view taken along line bb of FIG. 5;

FIG. 8 is a side sectional view of a handling unit of the transfer robot.

FIG. 9 is a plan view of a handling unit of the transfer robot.

FIG. 10 is a cutaway side view of the brush cleaning device.

11 is a view in the direction of arrow d in FIG. 10;

FIG. 12 is a cutaway plan view of the brush cleaning device.

FIG. 13 is a sectional view taken along line ee of FIG. 12;

14 is a view in the direction of arrow f in FIG.

FIG. 15 is a cutaway front view of the cleaning tank.

FIG. 16 is a plan view of a cleaning tank.

FIG. 17 is a cutaway side view of the cleaning tank.

18 is an enlarged detailed view of a part g in FIG. 17;

19 is a view in the direction of arrow h in FIG.

FIG. 20 is a sectional view of a drying tank.

FIG. 21 is a diagram showing the relationship between the irradiation time of medium-wavelength infrared rays by the medium-wave radiator and the temperature in the bath.

FIG. 22 is a diagram showing the relationship between the irradiation time of short-wave infrared rays by a short-wave radiator and the temperature in a bath.

[Explanation of symbols]

 A Loader section B Wafer receiving tank C Pre-cleaning tank D Brush cleaning tank EI Cleaning tank L Drying tank M Unloader section 20 Transfer robot (transporting means) 50 Brush cleaning device 74, 75 Rotary brush

 ──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continuing on the front page (72) Inventor Yoshiharu Kimura Fukushima Prefecture Nishishirakawa-gun Nishigo-mura Odakura-shi Ohira 150 Semiconductor-Shirakawa Research Laboratories Shin-Etsu Semiconductor Co., Ltd. Odakura Ohira 150 Address Shin-Etsu Semiconductor Co., Ltd. Semiconductor Shirakawa Laboratory (56) References JP-A-2-250324 (JP, A)

Claims (6)

(57) [Claims] 1. A loader for receiving wafers to be cleaned one by one in a liquid, a brush cleaning tank for sandwiching the received wafer between a pair of rotating brushes for rotating and simultaneously cleaning both surfaces of the wafer, and a cleaning liquid. , A drying tank for drying the washed wafer, an unloader unit for storing the dried wafer, and a transport unit for supporting and transporting the wafer. Automatic wafer cleaning device characterized by the following. 2. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the loader unit includes a wafer erecting device. The wafer erecting device is a device for supporting a wafer conveyed horizontally along a flow in a fluid and erecting the wafer vertically. 2. A suction arm comprising means and a positioning means, and a driving means for rotating the suction arm about a horizontal axis.
The automatic wafer cleaning apparatus described in the above. 3. The brush cleaning tank has a brush cleaning device that sandwiches a vertically standing wafer between a pair of rotating brushes and simultaneously brush-cleans both surfaces of the wafer, and the brush cleaning device is horizontal and The apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a pair of rotatable brushes rotatably arranged, brush driving means for rotating and driving said rotating brushes, and wafer driving means for supporting and rotating said wafers. 2. The automatic cleaning apparatus for a wafer according to 1. 4. The wafer cleaning tank is for immersing wafers in a cleaning liquid one by one substantially vertically and cleaning the wafers. The flat tank containing the cleaning liquid and the wafer are disposed substantially vertically in the tank. 2. The automatic wafer cleaning apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising: a holder for supporting the wafer, and a spray nozzle for spraying a cleaning liquid toward an upper surface of the wafer supported by the holder. 5. The automatic wafer cleaning apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the drying tank includes a medium-wave radiator composed of a medium-wave infrared lamp and a short-wave radiator composed of a short-wave infrared lamp. 6. The wafer handling device includes a wafer handling device, the wafer handling device having an inner shaft and an outer shaft having an inner / outer double shaft structure, and supporting the outer shaft so as to be horizontally movable. The inner shaft is slidably inserted into the shaft, and a handling arm is attached to each end of the inner and outer shafts.
2. The automatic wafer cleaning apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising an actuator for moving the outer shaft in opposite directions by the same amount.