JP4728383B2 - Substrate processing apparatus and semiconductor device manufacturing method - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to a substrate processing apparatus and a semiconductor device manufacturing method, and more particularly to a technique for opening and closing a carrier having a door.
For example, a batch type vertical diffusion type in which a CVD film such as an insulating film or a metal film is formed on a semiconductor wafer (hereinafter referred to as a wafer) as a substrate on which a semiconductor integrated circuit including a semiconductor element is built, or impurities are diffused. The present invention relates to what is effective when used in a CVD apparatus.

In a batch type vertical diffusion / CVD apparatus (hereinafter referred to as a batch type CVD apparatus) which is an example of a substrate processing apparatus, a plurality of wafers are handled in a state of being stored in a carrier (wafer storage container).
As a conventional carrier of this type, an open cassette formed in a substantially cubic box shape in which a pair of surfaces facing each other are opened, and a substantially cubic box shape in which one surface is opened, is formed on the opening surface. There is a FOUP (front opening unified pod, hereinafter referred to as a pod) in which a door is detachably attached.

  When a pod is used as a wafer carrier, the wafer is transported in a sealed state, so that the cleanliness of the wafer can be maintained even if particles are present in the surrounding atmosphere. it can. Therefore, since it is not necessary to set the cleanliness in the clean room where the batch type CVD apparatus is installed, the cost required for the clean room can be reduced. Therefore, pods have been used as wafer carriers in recent batch type CVD apparatuses.

  In a batch-type CVD apparatus that uses a pod as a wafer carrier, a pod opening / closing device (hereinafter referred to as a pod opener) that opens and closes a pod wafer loading / unloading port by attaching / detaching a door It is installed at the wafer transfer port. A conventional pod opener of this type includes a mounting table that holds the pod and a closure that holds the door of the pod held by the mounting table. It is configured to be attached to and detached from the wafer loading / unloading port.

However, in the conventional batch type CVD apparatus, when the pod is opened by the pod opener, the wafer storage chamber of the pod is exposed to the air atmosphere, so that a natural oxide film is formed on the wafer stored in the wafer storage chamber. There is a case where particles are deposited or particles are attached. In some cases, the wafer storage chamber of the pod is filled with an inert gas, but the wafer storage chamber of the pod is usually in an air atmosphere.
When the pod is opened, the atmosphere in the wafer storage chamber of the pod will enter the inner space of the wafer transfer port in the batch type CVD apparatus when the pod is opened. The problem of increasing the oxygen concentration occurs.

  An object of the present invention is to provide a substrate processing apparatus and a semiconductor device that can prevent the occurrence of harmful effects when the pod is opened, such as deposition of a natural oxide film on a substrate, adhesion of particles, contamination of an inner space, and an increase in oxygen concentration. It is to provide a manufacturing method.

Typical means for solving the above-described problems are as follows.
(1) A plurality of substrates are stored from a first substrate loading / unloading port, and a carrier having a door detachably attached to the first substrate loading / unloading port;
A substrate transfer port for taking the substrate in and out of the carrier;
A carrier opening and closing device having a closure for opening and closing the carrier by attaching and detaching the door of the carrier at the board transfer port;
A chamber having a second substrate loading / unloading port opened on the substrate transfer port side and a third substrate loading / unloading port opened on the opposite side of the substrate transfer port side, covering the carrier opening / closing device;
An air supply pipe provided in the chamber for introducing an inert gas into the chamber;
Have
The closure of the carrier opening / closing device is configured such that a back surface portion of the carrier on the substrate transfer port opposite to a surface on which the door is attached / detached is configured to open / close the second substrate loading / unloading port. Substrate processing apparatus.
(2) a step in which the closure of the carrier opening / closing device opens the first substrate loading / unloading port from the first substrate loading / unloading port of the carrier at the substrate transfer port;
The third of the chamber covering the carrier opening / closing device and having a second substrate loading / unloading port opened on the substrate transfer port side and a third substrate loading / unloading port opened on the opposite side of the substrate transfer port side In the state where the door with the substrate entrance / exit port removed from the carrier is held, the back side of the carrier opposite to the surface of the carrier at the substrate transfer port opposite to the surface from which the door is removed is closed and supplied to the chamber. Introducing an inert gas from the trachea;
Carrying the substrate into a processing chamber and processing the substrate in the processing chamber;
A method for manufacturing a semiconductor device comprising:

  According to the above means, when the door is removed and the substrate loading / unloading port of the carrier is opened, an inert gas is supplied to the chamber so that the inert gas is circulated into the carrier from the substrate loading / unloading port. Since it can be purged with an inert gas, it is possible to prevent the occurrence of harmful effects at the time of opening the pod, such as deposition of a natural oxide film on the substrate, adhesion of particles, contamination of the inner space, and increase in oxygen concentration.

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

In the present embodiment, the substrate processing apparatus according to the present invention is configured as a batch type CVD apparatus, that is, a batch type vertical diffusion / CVD apparatus, as shown in FIG.
The batch type CVD apparatus 1 shown in FIG. 1 includes a housing 2 constructed in an airtight chamber structure. A heater unit 3 is installed in the vertical direction above one end (hereinafter referred to as a rear end) in the housing 2, and a process tube 4 is disposed concentrically inside the heater unit 3. . Connected to the process tube 4 are a gas introduction pipe 5 for introducing a raw material gas, a purge gas and the like into the process tube 4 and an exhaust pipe 6 for evacuating the inside of the process tube 4.
A boat elevator 7 is installed at a lower portion of the rear end portion of the housing 2, and the boat elevator 7 is configured to raise and lower a boat 8 arranged directly below the process tube 4 in the vertical direction. The boat 8 is configured to support a large number of wafers 9 in a state where they are horizontally aligned with their centers aligned, and to carry in and out of the processing chamber of the process tube 4.

  A pod loading / unloading port (not shown) is opened on the front wall of the housing 2, and the pod loading / unloading port is opened and closed by a front shutter. A pod stage 11 for performing positioning of the pod 10 is installed at the pod loading / unloading port, and the pod 10 is inserted into and removed from the pod stage 11 through the pod loading / unloading port.

A rotary pod shelf 12 is installed in the upper part of the central portion in the front-rear direction in the housing 2, and the rotary pod shelf 12 is configured to store a total of 16 pods 10. That is, the rotary pod shelf 12 has four steps of shelves formed in a substantially bowl shape and is arranged in the vertical direction so as to be rotatably supported in a horizontal plane, and an intermittent rotation drive device such as a motor (not shown). ) Is rotated in one direction in a pitch feed manner.
Below the pod shelf 12 in the housing 2, a pair of wafer transfer ports 13 for transferring a wafer 9 as a substrate to the pod 10 are installed in two vertical stages. Both wafer transfer ports 13 and 13 are respectively provided with pod openers 20 described later.

A pod transfer device 14 is installed between the pod stage 11 in the housing 2, the pod shelf 12, and the wafer transfer port 13, and the pod transfer device 14 includes the pod stage 11, the pod shelf 12, the wafer transfer port 13, and the like. And the pod 10 are transported between the pod shelf 12 and the wafer transfer port 13.
A wafer transfer device 15 is installed between the wafer transfer port 13 and the boat 8, and the wafer transfer device 15 is configured to transfer the wafer 9 between the wafer transfer port 13 and the boat 8. Has been. Further, a boat changer 16 is installed beside the boat elevator 7, and the boat changer 16 is configured to replace two boats 8 and 8 with respect to the boat elevator 7.

  Since the pod openers 20 and 20 installed in the upper and lower wafer transfer ports 13 and 13 have the same configuration, the configuration of the pod opener 20 will be described for the upper wafer transfer port 13.

As shown in FIG. 1, a pod opener 20 as a carrier opening / closing device has a base 21 that forms a side wall vertically standing so as to partition the wafer transfer port 13 and the wafer transfer device 15 in the housing 2. As shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, the base 21 is provided with a wafer loading / unloading port 22 formed in a rectangular shape that is slightly larger than the door 10a of the pod 10.
Incidentally, since the base 21 is shared by the upper and lower pod openers 20, 20, a pair of wafer loading / unloading ports 22, 22 are opened vertically in the base 21 so as to be vertically arranged in the vertical direction.

  As shown in FIG. 2, an angle-shaped support base 23 is fixed horizontally below the wafer loading / unloading port 22 on the main surface (hereinafter referred to as the front surface) of the base 21 on the wafer transfer port 13 side. The shape of the support base 23 in plan view is a substantially square frame shape with a part cut away. A pair of guide rails 24, 24 are arranged on the upper surface of the support base 23 in a direction parallel to the front surface of the base 21 (hereinafter referred to as the left-right direction), and are perpendicular to the front surface of the base 21 (hereinafter referred to as the front-rear direction). The mounting table 27 is supported on the left and right guide rails 24 and 24 through a plurality of guide blocks 25 so as to be slidable in the front-rear direction. The mounting table 27 is reciprocated in the front-rear direction by an air cylinder device 26 installed on the upper surface of the support table 23.

  As shown in FIG. 2, the mounting table 27 is formed in a substantially square frame shape with a part cut away, and three positioning pins 28 are provided on the upper surface of the mounting table 27, and are apexes of an equilateral triangle. It is arranged in the vertical projection. The three positioning pins 28 have three positioning recesses (not shown) submerged in the lower surface of the pod 10 in a state where the pod 10 is mounted on the mounting table 27 as shown in FIG. ).

  As shown in FIG. 4, a guide rail 30 is horizontally arranged in the left-right direction below the wafer loading / unloading port 22 on the main surface (hereinafter referred to as the back surface) of the base 21 on the wafer transfer device 15 side. The guide rail 30 is slidably supported on the guide rail 30 so as to be capable of reciprocating in the left-right direction. An air cylinder device 32 is installed horizontally on the vertical member of the left / right moving base 31 in the left / right direction, and the tip of the piston rod 32 a of the air cylinder device 32 is fixed to the base 21. That is, the left-right moving table 31 is reciprocated in the left-right direction by the reciprocating operation of the air cylinder device 32.

As shown in FIG. 5, a pair of guide rails 33, 33 are arranged on the upper surface of the horizontal member of the left-right direction moving base 31 so as to extend in the front-rear direction. A rail 34 is slidably supported on the rails 33 and 33 so as to reciprocate in the front-rear direction. A guide hole 35 is formed at one end of the front-rear direction moving table 34 so as to extend in the left-right direction.
A bracket 36 is fixed to one side surface of the left-right direction moving base 31, and a rotary actuator 37 is installed on the bracket 36 in the vertical direction upward. A guide pin 38 standing perpendicularly to the tip of the arm 37a of the rotary actuator 37 is slidably fitted into the guide hole 35 of the forward / backward moving table 34. In other words, the front-rear moving table 34 is configured to be reciprocated in the front-rear direction by the reciprocating rotation of the rotary actuator 37.

  A bracket 39 is vertically erected on the upper surface of the front / rear moving table 34, and a closure 40 formed in the shape of a rectangular flat plate similar to the wafer loading / unloading port 22 is fixed vertically on the front surface of the bracket 39. Has been. That is, the closure 40 is reciprocated in the front-rear direction by the front-rear direction moving table 34, and is reciprocated in the left-right direction by the left-right direction moving table 31. The closure 40 can move forward so that a main surface (hereinafter referred to as a front surface) facing the base side comes into contact with the back surface of the base 21 so that the wafer loading / unloading port 22 can be closed.

As shown in FIG. 5, around the wafer loading / unloading port 22 on the front surface of the base 21, a packing 54 that seals the wafer loading / unloading port of the pod 10 and the wafer loading / unloading port 22 of the base 21 when the pod 10 is pressed. Is laid. A packing 55 for sealing the wafer loading / unloading port 22 of the base 21 when the closure 40 is pressed is laid near the outer peripheral edge of the front surface of the closure 40. Inside the packing 55 on the outer peripheral edge of the front surface of the closure 40, a packing 56 for preventing foreign matter adhering to the door 10a from entering the installation chamber side of the wafer transfer device 15 is laid.
For convenience, the chambers to be described later are not shown in FIGS. 4 and 5.

As shown in FIG. 4, a pair of unlocking shafts 41, 41 are arranged on the left and right on the center line in the vertical direction of the closure 40 and are rotatably supported by being inserted in the front-rear direction. A pair of pulleys 42 and 42 are fixed to the ends of the unlocking shafts 41 and 41 on the main surface (hereinafter referred to as the back surface) side opposite to the base of the closure 40, and between the pulleys 42 and 42. A belt 43 having a connecting piece 44 is wound around. An air cylinder device 45 is installed horizontally above one pulley 42 on the back surface of the closure 40, and the tip of the piston rod of the air cylinder device 45 is connected to a connecting piece 44 of the belt 43. That is, the unlocking shafts 41 and 41 are reciprocally rotated by the expansion and contraction operation of the air cylinder device 45.
As shown in FIG. 2, an engaging portion 41a that engages with a lock (not shown) of the door 10a projects perpendicularly to the front end of the closure 40 of both unlocking shafts 41, 41. It is installed.

  As shown in FIG. 2, two suction tools (suction cups) 46 that are attracted to the surface of the door 10 a are fixed by suction port members 47 in the vicinity of one diagonal in the front of the closure 40. . The suction port member 47 that fixes the suction tool 46 is constituted by a hollow shaft, and the rear side end of the suction port member 47 is connected to a supply / exhaust passage (not shown). The outer diameter of the front side end of the suction port member 47 is set so as to be fitted into a positioning hole (not shown) submerged in the door 10a. That is, the suction port member 47 is configured to be fitted into a positioning hole of the door 10a and also serve as a support pin for mechanically supporting the door 10a.

  As shown in FIGS. 2, 4, and 6, a rotary actuator 50 is installed on one side of the wafer loading / unloading port 22 in front of the base 21 so that the rotation shaft 50 a is in the vertical direction. One end of an arm 51 formed in a substantially C shape is fixed to the shaft 50a so as to rotate integrally within a horizontal plane. The arm 51 is inserted through an insertion hole 52 provided in the base 21, and a mapping device 53 is fixed to the tip of the arm 51 on the back side of the base 21.

As shown in FIGS. 6 and 7, a chamber 60 is laid on the back surface of the base 21 so as to accommodate the closures 40, 40 of the upper and lower pod openers 20, 20. The horizontal length 61 is set so as to allow the closure 40 to move sideways to completely open the wafer loading / unloading port 22.
An air supply pipe 63 for supplying nitrogen gas 62 as an inert gas to the closure housing chamber 61 is connected to a part of the rear side wall of the chamber 60 so as to communicate with the closure housing chamber 61. An exhaust pipe 64 for exhausting nitrogen gas 62 supplied to the closure housing chamber 61 is connected to a part of the base 21 forming the front wall so as to communicate with the closure housing chamber 61.
Wafer loading / unloading ports 65 and 65 of the chamber 60 are respectively opened at positions facing the upper and lower wafer loading / unloading ports 22 and 22 on the back wall of the chamber 60, and each wafer loading / unloading port 65 is inserted into the back surface of the closure 40. It is formed in a square opening of a size that can be. The wafer loading / unloading port 65 is set so that the mapping device 53 can be inserted from the back side.

Next, the operation of the batch type CVD apparatus according to the above configuration will be described.
In order to facilitate understanding of the description, in the following description, one wafer transfer port 13 is an upper port A and the other wafer transfer port 13 is a lower port B.

As shown in FIG. 1, the pod 10 carried into the pod stage 11 in the housing 2 from the pod loading / unloading port is appropriately transported to the pod shelf 12 designated by the pod transport device 14 and temporarily. Stored.
The pod 10 stored in the pod shelf 12 is appropriately picked up by the pod transfer device 14, transferred to the upper port A, and transferred to the mounting table 27 of the pod opener 20 as shown in FIG. At this time, the positioning recesses embedded in the lower surface of the pod 10 are respectively fitted with the three positioning pins 28 of the mounting table 27, whereby the positioning of the pod 10 and the mounting table 27 is executed.

When the pod 10 is mounted on the mounting table 27 and aligned, the mounting table 27 is pushed toward the base 21 by the air cylinder device 26, and as shown in FIG. The opening-side end surface is pressed against the opening edge of the wafer loading / unloading port 22 on the front surface of the base 21. When the pod 10 is pushed in the direction of the base 21, the unlocking shaft 41 of the closure 40 is inserted into the key hole of the door 10a.
Subsequently, the negative pressure is supplied to the suction port member 47 of the closure 40 from the air supply / exhaust passage, whereby the door 10 a of the pod 10 is vacuum-sucked and held by the suction tool 46. In this state, when the unlocking shaft 41 is rotated by the air cylinder device 45, the unlocking shaft 41 releases the locking of the door 10a by the engaging portion 41a engaged with the locking on the door 10a side.

  Next, when the longitudinal moving table 34 is moved in a direction away from the base 21 by the operation of the rotary actuator 37, the closure 40 holds the door 10a of the pod 10 by vacuum suction as shown in FIG. 8B. In this state, the door 10a is pulled out from the wafer loading / unloading port 10b of the pod 10 by retreating to the closure accommodating chamber 61 of the chamber 60. As a result, the wafer loading / unloading port 10b of the pod 10 is opened.

  When the closure 40 is further retracted by the front / rear direction moving table 34, the closure 40 is inserted into the wafer loading / unloading port 65 formed in the back wall of the chamber 60 in the closure accommodating chamber 61 as shown in FIG. By inserting from the inside, the closure accommodating chamber 61 is sealed.

  When the closure 40 seals the closure accommodating chamber 61, as shown in FIG. 9A, nitrogen gas 62 is circulated in the closure accommodating chamber 61 through the supply pipe 63 and the exhaust pipe 64. The nitrogen gas 62 flowing through the closure housing chamber 61 flows out from the wafer loading / unloading port 10b into the wafer housing chamber 10c of the pod 10 and then flows out, thereby exhausting the atmosphere of the wafer housing chamber 10c and filling the wafer housing chamber 10c. That is, air and moisture in the atmosphere in the closure housing chamber 61 of the chamber 60 and the wafer housing chamber 10 c of the pod 10 are purged by the nitrogen gas 62.

When the closure storage chamber 61 of the chamber 60 and the wafer storage chamber 10 c of the pod 10 are purged by the nitrogen gas 62, the left / right moving table 31 is moved away from the wafer loading / unloading port 22 by the operation of the air cylinder device 32. As a result, as shown in FIG. 9B, the closure 40 in which the door 10 a is vacuum-sucked and held by the suction tool 46 is moved to the retracted position in which the closure housing chamber 61 is separated from the wafer loading / unloading port 22 of the base 21. The With the retracting movement of the closure 40, the wafer loading / unloading port 65 of the chamber 60, the wafer loading / unloading port 22 of the base 21, and the wafer loading / unloading port 10b of the pod 10 are opened.
At this time, since the closure storage chamber 61 of the chamber 60 and the wafer storage chamber 10c of the pod 10 have been purged with the nitrogen gas 62 in advance, the wafer transfer apparatus in which air or moisture in the atmosphere is the back side space of the base 21. 15 is not released into the installation space, and the occurrence of adverse effects such as contamination of the transfer space of the wafer transfer device 15 and an increase in the oxygen concentration due to them is prevented.

When the closure 40 is retracted, as shown in FIG. 9C, the mapping device 53 is moved by the operation of the rotary actuator 50, and the mapping device 53 is moved to the wafer storage chamber 10 c of the pod 10. The wafer is inserted through the wafer loading / unloading port 65, the wafer loading / unloading port 22 of the base 21, and the wafer loading / unloading port 10b of the pod 10. The mapping device 53 inserted into the wafer storage chamber 10c of the pod 10 performs mapping by detecting a plurality of wafers 9 stored in the wafer storage chamber 10c. Here, the mapping is to confirm the location of the wafer 9 in the pod 10 (which holding groove the wafer 9 is in).
When the designated mapping operation is completed, the mapping device 53 is returned to the original standby position by the operation of the rotary actuator 50. At this time, since the closure storage chamber 61 of the chamber 60 and the wafer storage chamber 10c of the pod 10 are purged with the nitrogen gas 62 in advance, the wafer 9 in the wafer storage chamber 10c does not come into contact with air or moisture in the atmosphere. Therefore, the occurrence of harmful effects such as deposition of a natural oxide film on the wafer 9 and adhesion of particles due to them is prevented.

  When the mapping device 53 returns to the standby position, the plurality of wafers 9 of the pod 10 opened at the upper port A are sequentially loaded (charged) into the boat 8 by the wafer transfer device 15. At this time, since adverse effects such as contamination of the transfer space of the wafer transfer device 15 and an increase in oxygen concentration are prevented, adverse effects such as deposition of a natural oxide film and adhesion of particles on the wafer 9 being transferred are prevented. The occurrence of is prevented.

During the loading operation of the wafer 9 to the boat 8 by the wafer transfer device 15 in the upper port A, another pod 10 is transferred from the pod shelf 12 to the lower port B by the pod transfer device 14 and transferred. The mapping operation is simultaneously performed from the positioning operation described above by the opener 20.
Thus, if the mapping operation is simultaneously performed in the lower port B, the wafer transfer of the pod 10 waiting in the lower port B is completed simultaneously with the completion of the loading operation of the wafer 9 to the boat 8 in the upper port A. The loading operation of the wafer 9 into the boat 8 by the apparatus 15 can be started. That is, since the wafer transfer device 15 can continuously perform the wafer transfer operation without wasting a waiting time for the replacement operation of the pod 10, the throughput of the batch type CVD apparatus 1 can be increased.

In turn, when the loading operation of the wafers 9 into the boat 8 by the wafer transfer device 15 is completed at the upper port A, the empty pod closing operation is executed in a substantially reverse order to the above-described pod opening operation. That is, the door 10a held and retracted by the closure 40 is returned to the position of the wafer loading / unloading port 22 by the left / right moving table 31 and inserted into the wafer loading / unloading port 22 by the front / rear moving table 34 to load / unload the wafers of the pod 10. It is inserted into the mouth 10b.
When the door 10a is inserted into the wafer loading / unloading port 10b, the unlocking shaft 41 is rotated by the air cylinder device 45 to lock the door 10a. When the door 10a is locked, the negative pressure supplied to the suction port member 47 from the air supply / exhaust passage is cut and released to the atmosphere, whereby the vacuum suction holding of the suction tool 46 is released.
Subsequently, the mounting table 27 is moved away from the base 21 by the air cylinder device 26, and the opening side end surface of the pod 10 is separated from the front surface of the base 21.

  The empty pod 10 in the upper port A with the wafer loading / unloading port 10b blocked by the door 10a is transferred to the pod shelf 12 by the pod transfer device 14 and temporarily returned. When the empty pod 10 is carried out from the upper port A, the next real pod 10 is carried into the upper port A. Thereafter, the above-described operation is repeated at the upper port A and the lower port B as many times as necessary.

  As described above, the loading operation of the wafer 9 to the boat 8 by the wafer transfer device 15 for the upper port A and the lower port B is alternately repeated, whereby a plurality of wafers 9 are loaded from the pod 10 to the boat 8. Going to be. At this time, the number of wafers 9 to be batch processed (for example, one hundred to one hundred fifty) is many times larger than the number of wafers 9 (for example, twenty-five) stored in one pod 10. A plurality of pods 10 are alternately and repeatedly supplied to the upper port A and the lower port B by the pod transfer device 14.

When a plurality of wafers 9 designated in advance are transferred from the pod 10 to the boat 8, a film forming process which is substantially waiting for the wafer transfer port 13 is executed in the process tube 4. That is, the boat 8 is lifted by the boat elevator 7 and carried into the processing chamber of the process tube 4. When the boat 8 reaches the upper limit, the periphery of the upper surface of the seal cap that holds the boat 8 closes the process tube 4 in a sealed state, so that the processing chamber is hermetically closed.
In a state where the processing chamber of the process tube 4 is hermetically closed, the exhaust pipe 6 is evacuated to a predetermined vacuum degree, heated to a predetermined temperature by the heater unit 3, and a predetermined source gas is predetermined by the gas introduction pipe 5. Only the flow rate is supplied. As a result, a predetermined film is formed on the wafer 9.
When a preset processing time elapses, the boat 8 is lowered by the boat elevator 7 so that the boat 8 holding the processed wafers 9 is restored to the original loading and unloading station (hereinafter referred to as a loading station). It is carried out to.

  During the above film forming process, in the upper port A and the lower port B, the removal (discharging) work of the processed wafers 9 held in the other boat 8 is simultaneously performed. That is, the processed wafer 9 of the boat 8 carried out to the loading station is picked up by the wafer transfer device 15, loaded in advance into the upper port A, stored in the empty pod 10 which is opened by removing the door 10 a. . When the predetermined number of wafers 9 are accommodated in the empty pod 10 at the upper port A, the door 10a held and retracted by the closure 40 is returned to the position of the wafer loading / unloading port 22 by the left / right moving table 31. Then, it is inserted into the wafer loading / unloading port 22 by the back-and-forth moving table 34 and is inserted into the wafer loading / unloading port 10 b of the pod 10. Also in this case, the nitrogen gas 62 is circulated to the closure housing chamber 61 through the air supply pipe 63 and the exhaust pipe 64, whereby the closure chamber 61 and the wafer storage chamber 10c of the pod 10 are purged by the nitrogen gas 62 and the pod storage. The chamber 10c is filled with nitrogen gas 62. When the door 10a is inserted into the wafer loading / unloading port 10b, the unlocking shaft 41 is rotated by the air cylinder device 45 to lock the door 10a. As a result, the nitrogen gas 62 is sealed in the wafer storage chamber 10c. When the door 10a is locked, the negative pressure supplied to the suction port member 47 from the air supply / exhaust passage is cut and released to the atmosphere, whereby the vacuum suction holding of the door 10a of the suction tool 46 is released. Subsequently, the mounting table 27 is moved away from the base 21 by the air cylinder device 26, and the opening side end surface of the pod 10 is separated from the front surface of the base 21. Next, the processed real pod 10 containing the processed wafer 9 is transferred to the pod shelf 12 by the pod transfer device 14 and returned.

  The pod 10 containing the processed wafer 9 and returned to the pod shelf 12 is transferred from the pod shelf 12 to the pod stage 11 by the pod transfer device 14. The pod 10 transferred to the pod stage 11 is carried out of the housing 2 from the pod loading / unloading port, and is carried to the next process such as a cleaning process or a film formation inspection process. Then, the pod 10 storing the new wafer 9 is carried into the pod stage 11 in the housing 2 from the pod loading / unloading port.

  The loading and unloading (pod loading and pod unloading) work of the old and new pods 10 and the replacement work between the pod stage 11 and the pod shelf 12 are carried in and out of the boat 8 in the process tube 4 (boat loading). And boat unloading), and during the film formation process, that is, during the film formation standby step St (Sp), the work time of the batch type CVD apparatus 1 is prevented from being extended. be able to.

  Thereafter, the wafer loading / unloading method and the film forming method described above are repeated so that a CVD film is formed on the wafer 9 by the batch-type CVD apparatus 1 and an integrated circuit including semiconductor elements is formed on the wafer 9. The film forming process in the manufacturing method is performed.

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

1) A chamber 60 for covering the wafer inlet / outlet port 10b of the pod 10 is laid on the base 21 of the pod opener 20, and an air supply pipe 63 and an exhaust pipe 64 for allowing nitrogen gas 62 to flow through the closure housing chamber 61 are laid in the chamber 60. , The nitrogen gas 62 can be filled into the closure storage chamber 61 of the chamber 60 when the pod 10 is opened by the pod opener 20, so that the atmosphere confined in the wafer storage chamber 10c of the pod 10 is nitrogen gas. The air 62 and the wafer housing chamber 10 c of the pod 10 can be purged with nitrogen gas 62 in the atmosphere and moisture in the atmosphere.

2) By purging the closure storage chamber 61 of the chamber 60 and the wafer storage chamber 10c of the pod 10 with the nitrogen gas 62, air and moisture in the atmosphere confined in the wafer storage chamber 10c of the pod 10 are removed from the back surface of the base 21. Since it can be prevented from being released into the installation space of the wafer transfer device 15 which is the side space, the occurrence of adverse effects such as contamination of the transfer space of the wafer transfer device 15 and an increase in oxygen concentration due to them can be prevented. can do.

3) Since the wafer 9 in the wafer storage chamber 10c can be prevented from coming into contact with air or moisture in the atmosphere when the wafer loading / unloading port 10b of the pod 10 is opened, the natural oxide film deposited on the wafer 9 by them can be prevented. And adverse effects such as adhesion of particles can be prevented. Furthermore, when the wafer loading / unloading port 10b of the pod 10 is closed, the wafer storage chamber 10c of the pod 10 is filled with nitrogen gas 62 and sealed, thereby suppressing natural oxidation of the wafer being stored.

4) By configuring the wafer inlet / outlet port 65 on the back wall of the chamber 60 so as to be sealed by the closure 40, the wafer inlet / outlet port 65 is sealed by the closure 40 when the nitrogen gas 62 is filled into the closure accommodating chamber 61. Therefore, the closure storage chamber 61 and the wafer storage chamber 10c of the pod 10 can be efficiently purged with the nitrogen gas 62.

  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 wafer transfer port is not limited to two upper and lower stages, but may be one stage, or three or more stages such as upper, middle, and lower three stages.

  The structure for moving the mapping device forward and backward with respect to the pod is not limited to a structure using a rotary actuator, but may be a structure using an XY axis robot or the like. Further, the mapping device may be omitted.

  The substrate is not limited to a wafer, but may be a photomask, a printed wiring board, a liquid crystal panel, a compact disk, a magnetic disk, or the like.

  The batch type CVD apparatus is not limited to the CVD apparatus used for the film forming process, but can be used for a heat treatment such as an oxide film forming process or a diffusion process.

  In the above embodiment, the case of a batch type vertical diffusion / CVD apparatus has been described. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and can be applied to a batch type CVD apparatus in general.

  As described above, according to the present invention, it is possible to prevent the occurrence of adverse effects when the pod is opened, such as the deposition of a natural oxide film on the substrate, the adhesion of particles, the contamination of the inner space, and the increase in oxygen concentration.

1 is a partially omitted perspective view showing a batch type CVD apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. It is the perspective view seen from the front side which shows a pod opener. It is a perspective view which shows the pod mounting state. It is a partially omitted perspective view with the chamber viewed from the back side showing the pod opener. It is a perspective view which shows the V section which abbreviate | omitted FIG. It is the perspective view which laid the chamber seen from the back side which shows a pod opener. FIG. FIG. 4 is a partially omitted plan cross-sectional view for explaining the operation of the pod opener, in which (a) shows before the door is removed, (b) shows after the door is removed, and (c) is when the chamber is sealed. Is shown. Similarly, each is a partially omitted plan cross-sectional view, (a) showing a nitrogen gas purge time, (b) showing a door retracting time, and (c) showing a mapping time.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Batch type CVD apparatus (substrate processing apparatus), 2 ... Housing, 3 ... Heater unit, 4 ... Process tube, 5 ... Gas introduction pipe, 6 ... Exhaust pipe, 7 ... Boat elevator, 8 ... Boat, 9 ... Wafer (substrate),
10 ... Pod, 10a ... Door, 10b ... Wafer loading / unloading port, 10c ... Wafer storage chamber,
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 11 ... Pod stage, 12 ... Pod shelf, 13 ... Wafer transfer port, 14 ... Pod transfer device, 15 ... Wafer transfer device, 16 ... Boat changer,
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 20 ... Pod opener (opening / closing device), 21 ... Base, 22 ... Wafer loading / unloading port, 23 ... Support stand, 24 ... Guide rail, 25 ... Guide block, 26 ... Air cylinder device, 27 ... Mounting stand, 28 ... Positioning pin, DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 30 ... Guide rail, 31 ... Left-right direction moving stand, 32 ... Air cylinder apparatus, 32a ... Piston rod, 33 ... Guide rail, 34 ... Front-back direction moving stand, 35 ... Guide hole, 36 ... Bracket, 37 ... Rotary actuator, 37a DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS ... Arm, 38 ... Guide pin, 39 ... Bracket, 40 ... Closure, 41 ... Unlocking shaft, 41a ... Engagement part, 42 ... Pulley, 43 ... Belt, 44 ... Connecting piece, 45 ... Air cylinder device, 46 ... Adsorption Ingredient 47, suction port member,
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 50 ... Rotary actuator, 50a ... Rotary shaft, 51 ... Arm, 52 ... Insertion hole, 53 ... Mapping apparatus, 54, 55, 56 ... Packing, 60 ... Chamber, 61 ... Closure accommodating chamber, 62 ... Nitrogen gas (inert gas) ), 63... Air supply pipe, 64... Exhaust pipe, 65.

Claims (2)

Is formed into a box shape having a first substrate loading and unloading opening on one side, a plurality of substrates is accommodated at right angles to the inside first substrate loading and unloading opening, the door is detachably mounted to the first substrate loading and unloading opening With a career
A substrate transfer port that the substrate Ru are out at right angles to the first substrate loading and unloading opening by the substrate transfer apparatus to said carrier, wherein said first substrate loading and unloading opening is arranged perpendicular direction,
A carrier switchgear having a closure for opening and closing the carrier by detachable the door of the carrier in the substrate transfer port,
A chamber that covers the carrier-off device is fixed to the substrate transfer port, by pre-Symbol substrate exchange opened in a position adjacent to the first substrate loading and unloading opening of the carrier in the port the substrate transfer device The second substrate loading / unloading port through which the held substrate is loaded / unloaded, and the second substrate loading / unloading port on the opposite side of the first substrate loading / unloading port and held by the substrate transfer device. A chamber having a third substrate inlet / outlet through which a substrate is taken in and out ;
Provided in the chamber, a supply pipe for parallel introduced and the substrate inside the inert gas in the first substrate loading and unloading opening and the second substrate loading and unloading opening at right angles with the carrier,
Have
The closure of the carrier opening / closing device is configured such that a back surface portion of the carrier at the substrate transfer port opposite to a surface on which the door is attached / detached is configured to open / close the third substrate loading / unloading port. Substrate processing apparatus. Formed in a box shape having a first substrate loading / unloading port on one side surface, a plurality of substrates are stored inside at right angles to the first substrate loading / unloading port, and a door is detachably attached to the first substrate loading / unloading port. Transferring the transferred carrier to the board transfer port;
A step of opening the first substrate loading / unloading opening by removing the door from the first substrate loading / unloading opening of the carrier opening / closing device;
A second substrate loading and unloading opening which the substrate held by the previous SL substrate exchange was opened in a position adjacent to the first substrate loading and unloading opening of the carrier in the port the substrate transfer device is out, the first substrate A chamber having a third substrate loading / unloading port which is opened at a position opposite to the loading / unloading port and opposite to the second substrate loading / unloading port and into which the substrate held by the substrate transfer device is loaded / unloaded. said third substrate loading and unloading opening in the chamber which is fixed to the transfer port to cover the carrier switchgear, the door of the carrier in the substrate transfer port of the closure while holding the door emerged from the carrier A step of closing the back side opposite to the surface to be removed ;
Introducing an inert gas into the carrier from an air supply pipe provided in the chamber at a right angle to the first substrate loading / unloading port and the second substrate loading / unloading port in parallel with the substrate ;
Carrying the substrate into a processing chamber and processing the substrate in the processing chamber;
A method for manufacturing a semiconductor device comprising:

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