JPH06342840A - Semiconductor manufacturing device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To improve the availability of a semiconductor manufacturing device by performing processes, which are to be performed at relatively low pressure represented by lithogrdphy, etc., and processes such as CVD, etc., which are to be performed at relatively high pressure, collectively in one chamber each, and coupling these chambers with each other. CONSTITUTION:When the lithography of a wafer 50 placed on a susceptor 14 for lithography is finished, the gate valves 14 on the side of a carrying-in load lock chamber 3 and the side of a film-growth chamber 2 are opened, and a wafer 50 is carried in onto a film-growth susceptor 22 inside the film-growth chamber 2, using a wafer-carrying unit 14 inside the carrying-in load lock chamber 3. The gate valve 16 on the side of a carrying-out load lock chamber 4 is opened after execution of sputtering, etching, plasma process, etc., required for manufacture of a semiconductor, and the wafer 50 is carried out from on the film-growth susceptor 22 inside the film-growth chamber 2 into the carrying- out load lock chamber 4, using the wafer-carrying unit 15 inside the carrying-out load lock chamber 4.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a semiconductor manufacturing apparatus.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art As an example of a semiconductor manufacturing apparatus, as a conventional technology, a semiconductor manufacturing apparatus having a transfer chamber at the center, that is,
The semiconductor manufacturing apparatus disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 4-63414 will be described as an example. FIG. 3 is a block diagram of the device. In the cycle, first, the gate valve 16 is opened and the wafer 50 is loaded into the load lock unit 206,
The gate valve 16 is closed and the load lock unit 20 is closed.
The gas in 6 is evacuated by the vacuum pump unit 6 through the vacuum exhaust pipe 9. When the pressure of the load lock unit 206 reaches a predetermined pressure, the vacuum exhaust is stopped, and the inert gas is supplied from the gas supply unit 5 to the load lock unit 206 through the gas supply pipe 11. When the pressure reaches a predetermined value, the gas supply is stopped, and the gas in the load lock unit 206 is again evacuated by the vacuum pump unit 6 through the vacuum exhaust pipe 9. After repeating the process of stopping the vacuum evacuation several times when the pressure of the load lock unit 206 reaches a predetermined pressure, the gate valve 16 between the transfer chamber 40 and the transfer chamber 40 is opened, and the wafer 5
0 using the wafer transfer unit 15 to transfer chamber 40
Bring to.

At this time, the transfer chamber 40 is evacuated by the vacuum pump unit 6 through the vacuum exhaust pipe 9 in advance,
An inert gas is supplied from the gas supply unit 5 to the transfer chamber 40 through the gas supply pipe 11. When the pressure reaches a predetermined value, the gas supply is stopped, and the gas in the transfer chamber 40 is again evacuated by the vacuum pump unit 6 through the vacuum exhaust pipe 9 several times to repeat the gas replacement. When the transfer chamber 40 reaches a predetermined pressure, the cleaning chamber 201 and the transfer chamber 40
The gate valve 16 between the two is opened, and the wafer 50 is loaded into the cleaning chamber 201 using the transport unit 15.

Before this, the cleaning chamber 2
Similarly to the case of the transfer chamber 40, 01 is evacuated by the vacuum pump unit 6 through the vacuum exhaust pipe 9 in advance, and then an inert gas is supplied from the gas supply unit 5 to the transfer chamber 40 through the gas supply pipe 11. When the pressure reaches a predetermined value, the gas supply is stopped, and the gas in the transfer chamber 40 is again evacuated by the vacuum pump unit 6 through the vacuum exhaust pipe 9 several times to repeat the gas replacement. When cleaning is performed using RF plasma in the cleaning chamber 201, the gas supply pipe 1
1, a gas for cleaning is supplied from the gas supply unit 5 and plasma is supplied from the RF power supply unit 8 to the RF.
The wafer 50 is cleaned by being generated by RF or the like supplied through the transmission cable unit 23. After the cleaning is completed, the vacuum pump unit 6 evacuates the gas through the vacuum exhaust pipe 9, and then the inert gas is supplied from the gas supply unit 5 to the transfer chamber 40 through the gas supply pipe 11. When the pressure reaches a predetermined value, the gas supply is stopped and the gas in the transfer chamber 40 is again evacuated by the vacuum pump unit 6 through the vacuum exhaust pipe 9 to repeat the operation several times to replace the gas. After that, the cleaning chamber 201 is evacuated by the vacuum pump unit 6 through the vacuum exhaust pipe 9, and when the pressure reaches a predetermined value, the vacuum exhaust is stopped, the gate valve 16 with the transfer chamber 40 is opened, and the wafer 50 is opened. The transfer unit 15 is used to load the transfer chamber 40.

Next, the gate valve 16 between the sputter deposition chamber 202 and the wafer 50 is transferred to the transfer unit 15 by opening the gate valve 16.
To carry in. In this case as well, the chamber 202 is evacuated in advance by the vacuum pump unit 6 through the vacuum exhaust pipe 9 as in the other cases, and then an inert gas is transferred from the gas supply unit 5 through the gas supply pipe 11 to the transfer chamber 40.
Supply to. When the pressure reaches a predetermined value, the gas supply is stopped and the gas in the transfer chamber 40 is evacuated again.
The operation of evacuating with the vacuum pump unit 6 is repeated several times to replace the gas. Gas replacement is performed again before forming a film by sputtering in the sputtering film forming chamber 202, and thereafter, the gas in the chamber 202 is evacuated by the vacuum pump unit 6 through the vacuum exhaust pipe 9, and then the film is formed by sputtering. The gas to be performed is supplied from the gas supply unit 5 to the chamber 202 through the gas supply pipe 11. After that, a certain potential is applied to the target (not shown) and the wafer 50 to perform sputter film formation.

After the sputtering film formation is completed, the vacuum pump unit 6 evacuates the gas through the vacuum exhaust pipe 9, and then the inert gas is supplied from the gas supply unit 5 to the transfer chamber 40 through the gas supply pipe 11. When the pressure reaches a predetermined value, the gas supply is stopped and the transfer chamber 40
The gas inside is passed through the vacuum exhaust pipe 9 to the vacuum pump unit 6
The operation of evacuating at is repeated several times to replace the gas. After that, the sputtering chamber 202 is set to the vacuum exhaust pipe 9
Through the vacuum pump unit 6 and when the pressure reaches a predetermined value, the vacuum exhaust is stopped, the gate valve 16 between the wafer and the transfer chamber 40 is opened, and the wafer 50 is transferred to the transfer chamber 40 using the transfer unit 15. Bring in.

Thereafter, the same operation is repeated, and after passing through various steps required for semiconductor manufacturing such as plasma film formation, etching and latent image step, the wafer 50 is loaded into the load lock unit 206.
After the gas replacement of the unit 3 is performed, an inert gas is supplied from the gas supply unit 5 through the gas supply pipe 11 and when the pressure of the unit reaches the atmospheric pressure, the gas supply is stopped and the outside of the apparatus is stopped. The gate valve 16 is opened and the wafer 50 is carried out of the apparatus.

This is the cycle of the device. Here, the flow of one wafer 50 in the apparatus has been described for simplification of the description, but in reality, there are a plurality of wafers 50 in the apparatus.

[0009]

In the above technique, there is a problem that the operation rate of the device is lowered due to the following two factors.

(1) Since lithography cannot be performed in the process required to manufacture a semiconductor, lithography must be performed in another apparatus, which reduces the operating rate of the apparatus.

(2) Further, in the apparatus of the above technique, the transfer chamber 4 provided at the center of the apparatus for delivering each process.
Since the wafer 50 must be passed through 0, it is necessary to transfer the wafer 50 to and from this portion, which requires extra time and reduces the operating rate of the apparatus.

[0012]

In order to improve the operating rate of the semiconductor manufacturing apparatus, which is the above object, the operating rate of the semiconductor manufacturing apparatus is improved by solving the following two points. That is, (1) Lithography can be performed in one device.

(2) The time required to transfer a wafer between the processes required for semiconductor manufacturing is shortened. For that purpose, if one of the chambers of the apparatus as shown in the example of the prior art is used for lithography, the wafer is transferred through the transfer chamber in each step of semiconductor manufacturing, so that the conventional method is used. And the operating time of the device hardly changes, and the purpose cannot be achieved. Therefore, this extra transfer chamber is removed and the chambers for each process of semiconductor manufacturing are directly connected. At that time, if the chambers of the respective processes are made common, the wafer transfer in each semiconductor manufacturing process is eliminated, so that the operation rate of the apparatus is significantly improved.

However, performing all the processes in the same chamber, on the contrary, lowers the operating rate of the apparatus. For example, in processes such as lithography that need to be performed at a relatively low pressure, the number of parts for generating and controlling the electron beam necessary for the process is large, the volume of the container is large, and the entire pressure is low. It is necessary to hold. On the other hand, in other steps where the process is performed at a relatively high pressure, for example, a process represented by CVD or the like, it is necessary to quickly replace the gas, and therefore the volume of the container needs to be made as small as possible. Therefore, in terms of vacuum exhaust time, it is considered that the process performed at a relatively low pressure represented by lithography and the process such as CVD performed at a relatively high pressure are performed in the same chamber from the viewpoint of operating efficiency of the apparatus. Not preferable.

Therefore, the process performed at a comparatively low pressure represented by the lithography and the process such as CVD performed at a comparatively high pressure are combined into one chamber and connected. Thus, for example, the vacuum evacuation time for transferring a wafer from a chamber for lithography or the like to another chamber for CVD or the like is at the same level as that of a single apparatus such as lithography at the longest. Further CV
Since the process performed at a relatively high pressure, represented by D and the like, is performed in the same chamber, no wafer transfer time is required. Furthermore, since each process required for manufacturing a semiconductor is performed in the adjacent chambers, the wafer transfer time is significantly shortened, and the operating efficiency of the apparatus is significantly improved.

[0016]

The process performed at a relatively low pressure represented by lithography and the like and the process performed at a relatively high pressure such as CVD are collectively connected to one chamber. Thus, for example, the vacuum evacuation time for transferring a wafer from a chamber for lithography or the like to another chamber for CVD or the like is at the same level as that of a single apparatus such as lithography at the longest. Further, since processes performed at a relatively high pressure, such as CVD, are performed in the same chamber, no wafer transfer time is required.
Furthermore, since each process required for manufacturing a semiconductor is performed in the adjacent chambers, the wafer transfer time is significantly shortened, and the operating efficiency of the apparatus is significantly improved.

[0017]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIG.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an embodiment of the present invention.

In FIG. 1, 1 is a lithography chamber, 2 is a film forming chamber, 3 is a load lock chamber for loading, 4 is a load lock chamber for unloading, 5 is a gas supply unit, 6 is a vacuum pump unit, and 7 is High vacuum pump unit, 8 RF power supply unit, 9 vacuum exhaust pipe,
Reference numeral 10 is a high vacuum exhaust pipe, 11 is a gas supply pipe, 13 is a vacuum gauge, 14 is a lithography susceptor, 15 is a wafer transfer unit, 16 is a gate valve, 17 is a shower head, 18 is an electron gun, and 19 is a first. Condenser lens, 2
0 is the second condenser lens, 21 is the objective lens, 22 is the film forming susceptor, 23 is the RF transmission cable unit, 2
4 is a deflection system, 25 is a gas processing unit, 26 is a gas processing pipe, 27 is a film formation susceptor heater, 28 is a lithography susceptor heater, 29 is a vacuum exhaust pipe valve, 30
Is a high vacuum exhaust pipe valve, 40 is a transfer chamber, 50 is a wafer, 201 is a cleaning chamber, 202 is a sputtering film forming chamber, 203 is a plasma film forming chamber, 2
04 is an etching chamber, 205 is a latent image chamber, 2
06 is a load lock unit.

The operation of the present invention will be described below.

The wafer 50 is connected to the gate valve 16 outside the apparatus.
Open and carry into the load lock chamber 3.
After that, the gate valve 16 is closed and the vacuum pump unit 6 evacuates through the vacuum exhaust pipe 9. When the pressure of the load lock chamber 3 for loading reaches a predetermined pressure, the vacuum exhaust is stopped, and an inert gas is supplied from the gas supply unit 5 to the load lock chamber 3 for loading through the gas supply pipe 11. When the pressure reaches a predetermined value, the gas supply is stopped and the gas in the carry-in load lock chamber 3 is again evacuated by the vacuum pump unit 6 through the vacuum exhaust pipe 9 to repeat the operation several times. After that, the gas in the loading load lock chamber 3 is evacuated by the vacuum pump unit 6 through the vacuum exhaust pipe 9. When the pressure of the load lock chamber 3 for loading reaches a predetermined pressure, the vacuum evacuation is stopped, and the gate valve 16 with the lithography chamber 1 is opened. Before that, the inside of the lithography chamber 1 is evacuated by the vacuum pump unit 6 through the vacuum exhaust pipe 9, and when the pressure of the load lock chamber 3 for loading reaches a predetermined pressure, the vacuum exhaust is stopped,
Inert gas is supplied from the gas supply unit 5 to the load lock chamber 3 for loading through the gas supply pipe 11, and when the pressure reaches a predetermined value, the gas supply is stopped and the gas is again supplied.
The gas in the load lock chamber 3 for loading is evacuated to a vacuum exhaust pipe 9
The gas replacement is performed by performing the operation of evacuating the vacuum pump unit 6 several times through.

The wafer 50 is transferred onto the lithography susceptor 14 in the lithography chamber 2 by using the transfer unit 15 in the loading load lock chamber 3.
Next, the gate valve 16 is closed and the vacuum pump unit 6 evacuates the gas through the vacuum exhaust pipe 9. When the pressure in the lithography chamber 1 reaches a predetermined pressure, the vacuum exhaust is stopped, and an inert gas is supplied to the lithography chamber 1 from the gas supply unit 5 through the gas supply pipe 11. When the pressure reaches a predetermined value, the gas supply is stopped, and the gas in the lithography chamber 1 is again evacuated by the vacuum pump unit 6 through the vacuum exhaust pipe 9 to perform gas replacement several times. Then, lithography chamber 1
The gas inside is passed through the vacuum exhaust pipe 9 to the vacuum pump unit 6
Evacuate with. When the pressure in the lithography chamber 1 reaches a predetermined pressure, the vacuum exhaust is stopped, the gas used for lithography is supplied from the gas supply unit 5 to the lithography chamber 1 through the gas supply pipe 11, and electrons generated by the electron gun 18 are generated. A line (not shown) is guided to the wafer 50 placed on the susceptor 14 for lithography by the first condenser lens 19, the second condenser lens 20, the objective lens 21, and the deflection system 24 to perform lithography.

When the lithography is completed, the gas used in the lithography in the lithography chamber 1 is evacuated by the vacuum pump unit 6 through the vacuum exhaust pipe 9.
When the pressure in the lithography chamber 1 reaches a predetermined pressure, the vacuum exhaust is stopped, and an inert gas is supplied to the lithography chamber 1 from the gas supply unit 5 through the gas supply pipe 11. When the pressure reaches a predetermined value, the gas supply is stopped and the gas in the lithography chamber 1 is evacuated by the vacuum pump unit 6 through the vacuum exhaust pipe 9. Next, the gate valves 16 on the loading load lock chamber 3 side and the deposition chamber 2 side are opened, and the wafer 50 is deposited in the deposition chamber 2 using the wafer transfer unit 15 in the loading load lock chamber 3. It is carried onto the susceptor 22 for use.

Next, the gate valve 16 is closed, and the vacuum pump unit 6 evacuates through the vacuum exhaust pipe 9. When the pressure in the film forming chamber 2 reaches a predetermined pressure, the vacuum exhaust is stopped, and an inert gas is supplied to the film forming chamber 2 from the gas supply unit 5 through the gas supply pipe 11. When the pressure reaches a certain value, stop the gas supply,
Again, the gas in the film forming chamber 2 is evacuated by the vacuum pump unit 6 through the vacuum exhaust pipe 9 to perform gas replacement several times. Then, the gas in the film forming chamber 2 is evacuated by the vacuum pump unit 6 through the vacuum exhaust pipe 9. When the pressure in the film forming chamber 2 reaches a predetermined pressure, the vacuum exhaust is stopped, and the gas used for film forming is supplied from the gas supply unit 5 to the film forming chamber 2 through the gas supply pipe 11 to perform film formation.

After performing the sputtering, etching, plasma process, etc. necessary for manufacturing the semiconductor, the gas in the film forming chamber 2 is evacuated by the vacuum pump unit 6 through the vacuum exhaust pipe 9. When the pressure in the film forming chamber 2 reaches a predetermined pressure, the vacuum exhaust is stopped, and an inert gas is supplied to the film forming chamber 2 from the gas supply unit 5 through the gas supply pipe 11. When the pressure reaches a predetermined value, the gas supply is stopped, and the gas in the film forming chamber 2 is again evacuated by the vacuum pump unit 6 through the vacuum exhaust pipe 9 to perform gas replacement several times. Then, the film forming chamber 2 is evacuated by the vacuum pump unit 6 through the vacuum exhaust pipe 9. Next, the gate valve 16 on the unloading load lock chamber 4 side is opened, and the wafer 50 is loaded from the film forming susceptor 22 in the film forming chamber 2 using the wafer transfer unit 15 in the unloading load lock chamber 4. It is carried out to the lock chamber 4.

As described above, the vacuum evacuation time for transferring a wafer from a chamber such as lithography to another chamber such as CVD is extremely shortened because the chambers are adjacent to each other. Further, since the process performed at a relatively high pressure, which is represented by CVD or the like, is performed in the same chamber, no wafer transfer time is required. For this reason, the wafer transfer time is significantly shortened, and the operating efficiency of the apparatus is significantly improved. Further, in the present embodiment, the number of chambers is smaller than that of the semiconductor manufacturing apparatus shown in the known example, so that the number of parts or the occupied volume can be reduced. Alternatively, since the movement of the carrying unit is simpler in this embodiment as compared with the semiconductor manufacturing apparatus shown in the known example, there are few failures and dust generation.

In the present embodiment, an apparatus will be described in which lithography is taken as a representative of processes carried out at a relatively low pressure, and CVD is taken as an example of processes carried out at a relatively high pressure, but the process is not limited to lithography in the lithography part. Since any process that is performed at a relatively low pressure can be applied, these processes can be collectively performed in the same chamber, that is, the lithography chamber 1. Further, in the CVD process part, other processes performed at a relatively high pressure can be performed in the same chamber, so that the semiconductor manufacturing processes performed at a relatively high pressure in the film forming chamber 2 can be performed collectively.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a semiconductor manufacturing apparatus according to another embodiment of the present invention.

In this embodiment, the film forming chamber 2 is additionally provided to form two chambers. In this case, since the two semiconductor manufacturing processes that are performed at a relatively high pressure can be performed simultaneously, the throughput of the device is improved.

Since the operation of this device is almost the same as that of the embodiment shown in FIG. 1, it is omitted. Further, although the chamber for the process performed at the relatively high pressure is added in the present embodiment, the chamber for the process performed at the relatively low pressure may be added, or both chambers may be added and connected. It is also possible.

[0031]

According to the present invention, the vacuum evacuation time for transferring a wafer from a chamber such as lithography to another chamber such as CVD is extremely shortened because the chambers are adjacent to each other. Further, since the process performed at a relatively high pressure, which is represented by CVD or the like, is performed in the same chamber, no wafer transfer time is required. For this reason, the time for handing over the wafer is remarkably shortened, and the operating efficiency of the apparatus is remarkably improved.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of another embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of a conventional device.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 ... Lithography chamber, 2 ... Film forming chamber, 3
... load-lock chamber for loading, 4 ... load-lock chamber for loading, 5 ... gas supply unit, 6 ... vacuum pump unit, 7 ... high vacuum pump unit, 8 ... RF power supply unit, 9 ... vacuum exhaust pipe, 10 ... high vacuum Exhaust pipe, 11
... Gas supply piping, 13 ... Vacuum gauge, 14 ... Lithography susceptor, 15 ... Wafer transfer unit, 16 ... Gate valve, 17 ... Shower head, 18 ... Electron gun, 19 ...
First condenser lens, 20 ... Second condenser lens,
21 ... Objective lens, 22 ... Deposition susceptor, 23 ... RF
Transmission cable unit, 24 ... Deflection system, 25 ... Gas processing unit, 26 ... Gas processing pipe, 27 ... Deposition susceptor heater, 28 ... Lithography susceptor heater, 29 ...
Vacuum exhaust piping valve, 30 ... High vacuum exhaust piping valve, 4
0 ... Transfer chamber, 50 ... Wafer.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A vacuum container, a susceptor arranged in the vacuum container, a heating mechanism for heating the susceptor, a wafer arranged on the susceptor, and a reaction for causing a chemical reaction on the wafer. A shower head for supplying gas, a gas supply system for supplying a reaction gas to the shower head, a gas supply pipe for connecting the gas supply system and the shower head, and the vacuum container A vacuum exhaust system for exhausting the gas in the interior, a vacuum exhaust pipe connecting the vacuum container and the vacuum exhaust system, a pressure adjusting valve for adjusting the pressure of the vacuum container,
A gas processing system for processing a reaction gas not consumed in the vacuum container, a gas processing pipe connecting the gas processing system and the vacuum exhaust system, and a second chamber adjacent to the vacuum container via an opening / closing mechanism. Vacuum container, a susceptor arranged in the second vacuum container, an electron beam control system for irradiating and scanning an electron beam on a wafer placed on the susceptor, and the second vacuum container A gas supply system for supplying gas, a gas supply pipe connecting the gas supply system and the second vacuum container, a vacuum exhaust system for exhausting gas in the second vacuum container, and the second Vacuum exhaust pipe connecting the vacuum container and the vacuum exhaust system, a pressure adjusting valve for adjusting the pressure of the second vacuum container, and a container adjacent to the second vacuum container via an opening / closing mechanism. And a wafer placed in the second vacuum container. A transport mechanism, a gas supply system that supplies gas to the second vacuum container, a gas supply pipe that connects the gas supply system and the second vacuum container, and a gas in the second vacuum container is exhausted. A vacuum exhaust system for, a vacuum exhaust pipe connecting the second vacuum container and the vacuum exhaust system,
Through a pressure adjusting valve for adjusting the pressure of the second vacuum container, an opening / closing mechanism for loading a wafer into the second vacuum container from the outside of the apparatus, and an opening / closing mechanism for the vacuum container for performing the reaction. An adjacent container, a wafer transfer mechanism arranged in the second vacuum container, a gas supply system for supplying gas to the second vacuum container, and a gas supply system and the second vacuum container are connected to each other. A gas supply pipe, a vacuum exhaust system for exhausting the gas in the second vacuum container, a vacuum exhaust pipe connecting the second vacuum container and the vacuum exhaust system, and the second vacuum container In a vapor phase chemical reaction device comprising a pressure adjusting valve for adjusting pressure and an opening / closing mechanism for loading a wafer into the second vacuum container from outside the device, each container is always connected through the opening / closing mechanism. Half characterized by Body manufacturing equipment.