JP4415006B2 - Cassette operation management method and substrate processing method - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a cassette operation management method and a substrate processing method, and more particularly to a cassette operation management method for operating and managing a cassette that accommodates a substrate in a substrate processing apparatus that processes a substrate for manufacturing an electronic component such as a semiconductor wafer. And a substrate processing method of processing a substrate using the same.

  FIG. 2 shows a schematic sectional view of such a conventional substrate processing apparatus.

  In recent years, ceiling cassette transport AGV (Automated Guided Vehicle), in which rails and the like are arranged above the clean room and a cassette containing a plurality of semiconductor wafers is transported between the devices at the ceiling, is becoming mainstream in 12-inch wafers. In order to cope with this, the front surface of the substrate processing apparatus 110 for processing a semiconductor wafer is the cassette transfer area 40. Further, since the entire front surface is the cassette transport area 40 as described above, the portion cannot be used as a cassette storage space, and the number of cassettes stored can be limited. For example, in the prior art, as shown in FIG. 2, an I / O stage 41 for loading / unloading a cassette is formed in the lower part of the front surface of the substrate processing apparatus 110, and the ceiling transport AGV 8 and the I / O stage 41 are Since the cassettes (process cassette 6 and dummy or monitor cassette 7) are transported between the two, the front surface of the substrate processing apparatus 110 is the cassette transport region 40, and this portion should be used as a cassette housing space. I can't. Further, it is difficult to recognize what each cassette is used for carrying all cassettes for process, dummy, and monitor by AGV.

  The object of the present invention is to solve the problem of the substrate processing apparatus compatible with the ceiling transport AGV, that the operation of the cassette is difficult and that the number of cassettes to be stored is reduced, which facilitates the operation of the cassettes and reduces the number of cassettes to be stored. It is an object to provide a cassette operation management method capable of preventing the occurrence of a problem and a substrate processing method for processing a substrate using the same.

According to the present invention,
A cassette operation management method for operating and managing a cassette containing a substrate in a substrate processing apparatus for processing a substrate,
The substrate processing apparatus is
A reaction furnace provided on one side of the substrate processing apparatus for processing a substrate mounted on a boat;
A cassette chamber provided on the other side opposite to the one side of the substrate processing apparatus;
An upper I / O stage which is provided on the side of the cassette chamber and on the other side of the substrate processing apparatus, and carries the cassette in or out of the ceiling cassette transfer AGV;
A lower I / O stage that is provided at a lower portion of the side of the cassette chamber and carries in or out a cassette manually or by an AGV that moves on the floor;
The upper I / O stage is used for a process cassette,
A cassette operation management method is provided, wherein the lower I / O stage is used for a dummy cassette or a monitor cassette.

  In the present invention, there are two I / O stages at the top and bottom for loading / unloading cassettes, and the upper I / O stage is compatible with ceiling cassette transport AGV and is used for process cassettes. Since the I / O stage is used for a dummy cassette and / or a monitor cassette, it is easy to identify what the cassette is for, and as a result, the cassette operation is facilitated.

  Further, a cassette housing portion can be secured between the upper and lower I / O stages, and the number of cassette housings can be prevented from decreasing.

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

  FIG. 1 is a schematic sectional view showing a semiconductor wafer processing apparatus according to the present embodiment.

  The semiconductor wafer processing apparatus 10 according to the present embodiment is suitably applied to a 12-inch Si wafer. A rail or the like is arranged above the clean room, and a cassette for storing a plurality of semiconductor wafers is provided on each ceiling. It is preferably used in a clean room equipped with a ceiling cassette transport AGV (Automated Guided Vehicle) for transporting between them.

  In this semiconductor wafer processing apparatus 10, a reaction furnace 11 is provided on the upper rear side, a load lock chamber 12 is provided below the reaction furnace 11, a cassette chamber 14 is provided on the front, and a cassette chamber 14 and Between the load lock chamber 12, a nitrogen atmosphere chamber 13 is provided. The reaction furnace 11 is provided with a heater 33 and a reaction tube 32 provided therein, and a boat 31 on which a plurality of semiconductor wafers 20 are stacked in a vertical direction is inserted into the reaction tube 32, and the semiconductor wafers are inserted. 20 processes are performed.

  The reaction furnace 11 and the load lock chamber 12 are partitioned by a gate valve 17, and a boat 31 loaded with a plurality of semiconductor wafers 20 is opened by opening the gate valve 17 before and after processing in the reaction furnace 11. Move between them.

  A gate valve 15 is provided between the load lock chamber 12 and the nitrogen atmosphere chamber 13. A wafer transfer device 16 is provided in the nitrogen atmosphere chamber 13, whereby the wafer 20 is transferred between the boat 31 in the load lock chamber 12 and the process cassette 6 or the dummy or monitor cassette 7. Two I / O stages 1 and 4 are provided in front of the cassette chamber 14 where loading is performed. The I / O stage 1 is provided in the upper part, and the I / O stage 4 is provided in the lower part.

  A dummy or monitor cassette shelf 5 is provided between the two I / O stages 1 and 4 in front of the cassette chamber 14. A rotating cassette shelf 2 is provided behind the cassette chamber 14.

  The process cassette 6 that accommodates a plurality of process wafers 20 is placed on the I / O stage 1 by the ceiling cassette transfer AGV8. Thereafter, the process cassette 6 is conveyed to the rotating cassette shelf 2 by the cassette hand 3. The process cassette 6 is transported from the rotating cassette shelf 2 to the I / O stage 1 by the cassette hand 3 and then transported to another substrate processing apparatus in the clean room by the ceiling cassette transport AGV8.

  A dummy or monitor cassette 7 is placed on the I / O stage 4 manually or by an AGV (not shown) that moves on an existing floor. Thereafter, the dummy or monitor cassette 7 is a cassette hand. 3 is transported to a dummy or monitor cassette shelf 5. Further, the dummy or monitor cassette 7 is transported from the dummy or monitor cassette shelf 5 to the I / O stage 4 by the cassette hand 3 and then transported manually or by an AGV that moves on the existing floor.

  In this way, by separately operating the process cassette, the dummy, and the monitor cassette, the throughput is improved and the cassette operation management becomes easy to understand.

  Further, by providing the lower I / O stage 4, it is possible to manually insert the process cassette when the ceiling cassette transport AGV is abnormal.

  Furthermore, since a dummy or monitor cassette shelf 5 can be provided between the upper and lower I / O stages 1 and 4, it is possible to prevent the number of cassettes from being lowered.

  As described above, in this embodiment, the cassette operation is facilitated by separately loading the process cassette, the dummy, and the monitor cassette. Moreover, the semiconductor wafer processing apparatus 10 of this Embodiment can respond suitably to ceiling cassette conveyance AGV in a mass production factory.

  In the embodiment of the present invention, a semiconductor wafer is described as an example of a substrate to be processed by the substrate processing apparatus. However, the present invention is also suitable when processing a glass substrate for manufacturing a liquid crystal display element. Applicable to.

It is a schematic sectional drawing which shows the semiconductor wafer processing apparatus of this invention. It is a schematic sectional drawing which shows the conventional semiconductor wafer processing apparatus.

Explanation of symbols

1, 4 I / O stage 2 Rotating cassette shelf 3 Cassette hand (cassette transfer machine)
5 Dummy cassette shelf 6 Process cassette 7 Dummy or monitor cassette 8 Ceiling transfer AGV
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 Semiconductor wafer processing apparatus 11 Reactor 12 Load lock chamber 13 Nitrogen atmosphere chamber 14 Cassette chamber 16 Wafer transfer machine 20 Semiconductor wafer 31 Boat

Claims (2)

A cassette operation management method for operating and managing a cassette containing a substrate in a substrate processing apparatus for processing a substrate,
The substrate processing apparatus is
A reaction furnace provided on one side of the substrate processing apparatus for processing a substrate mounted on a boat;
A cassette chamber provided on the other side opposite to the one side of the substrate processing apparatus;
An upper I / O stage which is provided on the side of the cassette chamber and on the other side of the substrate processing apparatus, and carries the cassette in or out of the ceiling cassette transfer AGV;
A lower I / O stage that is provided at a lower portion of the side of the cassette chamber and carries in or out a cassette manually or by an AGV that moves on the floor;
The upper I / O stage is used for a process cassette,
A cassette operation management method, wherein the lower I / O stage is used for a dummy cassette or a monitor cassette. A substrate processing method for processing a substrate using the cassette operation management method according to claim 1,
Transferring a substrate between the process cassette and the boat;
A step of transferring a substrate between the dummy cassette or the monitor cassette and the boat;
Inserting the boat loaded with a substrate into the reactor;
And a step of processing the substrate in the reaction furnace.

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