JPH07201951A - Processing apparatus and application thereof - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To provide a processing apparatus which has eliminated complicatedness for an operator during dummyrunning by providing dummy cassettes at the inside and outside of a cassette chamber. CONSTITUTION:In a processing apparatus comprising processing chambers 4A to 4C for processing objects W to be processed and a cassette chamber for usualy accommodating cassette C1, a dummy cassette C2 is provided for usually accommodating cassettes and dummy object DW to be processed on a lifting means 22 in the cassette chamber. Complicatedness of an operator is eliminated by utilizing the dummy object to be processed in the dummy cassette during dummy-running after the power supply is turned ON or after the cleaning process.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a processing apparatus for processing semiconductor wafers and the like and a method of using the processing apparatus.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Generally, a semiconductor manufacturing apparatus is known as an apparatus for performing a film forming process, an etching process, etc. on a semiconductor wafer. For example, in the case of a cluster tool, this apparatus is provided with a plurality of CVs for actually processing semiconductor wafers.
D (Chemical Vapor Deposition)
on) a processing chamber, a common transfer chamber that is connected to these chambers in common to load and unload wafers into and from each chamber, and a cassette chamber that is connected to this common transfer chamber. The wafer is transferred into the processing chamber through the common transfer chamber,
Further, the processed wafer is unloaded through the reverse path.

By the way, in this type of device, after the power is turned on to start up the device, or after the inside of the device has been washed with a cleaning gas or the like, it suddenly becomes a normal product. Instead of performing processing on the wafer, a dummy wafer is first flowed and the actual processing is performed on it to perform a dummy run, that is, a so-called run-in operation, and then processing is performed on a normal wafer for products. There is. The reason for performing this dummy run is that the process characteristics of the device are not stable immediately after the power is turned on, and this is stabilized, and for example, after cleaning with plasma, particles and cleaning gas remaining on the inner wall of the processing chamber are surely secured. It is carried out for the purpose of exclusion. In fact, when the etching process is performed in the etching process chamber immediately after the power is turned on, the etching rate tends to be slightly higher, and the etching rate can be stabilized by flowing the dummy wafer as described above.

[0004]

By the way, in the prior art, when performing the above-mentioned dummy wafer test run, the operator manually puts the dummy wafer in a normal cassette and stores it in the cassette chamber. After that, the dummy wafer is taken out from the cassette by the internal transfer mechanism and transferred into the processing chamber to perform the dummy run. Then, the dummy wafer on which the dummy run has been performed is returned to the normal cassette via the route opposite to the above, and then the operator takes this cassette out of the apparatus and the processing of the normal product wafer is started.

However, when carrying out the above-mentioned conventional dummy run, the operator prepares a dummy wafer each time and sets it in the apparatus, or after the dummy run ends, the normal cassette containing the wafer is taken out of the apparatus. It had to be done and it was very complicated.

As a technique related to the present invention, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 5-175
As shown in Japanese Patent Publication No. 29, a container is formed in a cassette for accommodating an inspection wafer, and it is checked whether or not the measuring contact needle is accurately in contact with a predetermined position during inspection of the probing machine. Although a technique of inspecting with an inspection wafer is disclosed, this inspection wafer is similar to the monitor wafer in that the needle contact state or the processing state is inspected later, but the dummy wafer described above is after the dummy run. It is different from the inspection wafer and the like described above in that the processing state is not inspected and only the actual result of operating the apparatus is required.

The present invention focuses on the above problems,
It was created to solve this effectively. An object of the present invention is to provide a processing apparatus and a method of using the processing apparatus, which can eliminate the operator's complexity during a dummy run by providing a dummy cassette inside and outside the cassette.

[0008]

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, a first aspect of the present invention includes a processing chamber for processing an object to be processed, and a normal cassette capable of accommodating a plurality of objects to be processed, on an elevating means. In a processing device having a cassette chamber for accommodating it to be placed, the normal cassette and a dummy cassette for accommodating a dummy object to be processed are configured on the elevating means in the cassette chamber.

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, a second invention accommodates a processing chamber for processing an object to be processed, and a normal cassette capable of accommodating a plurality of objects to be processed, on a lifting means. In a processing device having a cassette chamber, a dummy cassette for accommodating a dummy object is installed near the outside of the cassette chamber.

[0010]

According to the first aspect of the invention, when performing a dummy run after turning on the power of the apparatus and starting it up, or when performing a dummy run after cleaning with plasma or plasmaless, first, the cassette chamber is moved up and down. The dummy object to be processed is taken out from the dummy cassette mounted on the means, transferred to the processing chamber, and then subjected to normal processing and the like. Then, the dummy object to be processed, which has been processed, is conveyed through the route opposite to the above and is housed and held in the dummy cassette.

When the dummy process is completed in this manner, the product-to-be-processed object is then taken out from the normal cassette, transferred into the processing chamber, and subjected to the normal processing. As a result, it is possible to shift from the dummy process to the normal process for the object to be processed without any intervention by the operator.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, when performing a dummy run after turning on the power of the apparatus and starting it up, or when performing a dummy run after cleaning with plasma or plasmaless, first, outside the cassette chamber. The dummy object is taken out from the dummy cassette provided in the vicinity, is transferred into the processing chamber, and is then subjected to normal processing and the like. Then, the dummy object to be processed, which has been processed, is conveyed through the route opposite to the above and is housed and held in the dummy cassette.

When the dummy process is completed in this way, the product-to-be-processed object is then taken out of the normal cassette, transferred into the processing chamber, and subjected to the normal processing. As a result, it is possible to shift from the dummy process to the normal process for the object to be processed without any intervention by the operator.

[0014]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The processing apparatus according to the present invention and the method of using the processing apparatus will be described in detail below. 1 is a diagram showing an arrangement of cassettes in a cassette chamber of the processing apparatus according to the present invention, FIG. 2 is a schematic configuration diagram showing the processing apparatus according to the present invention, and FIG. 3 is a sectional view showing the cassette chamber shown in FIG. 4 is a plan view showing a transfer arm used in the common transfer chamber.

As shown, the processing apparatus 2 is a CVD system.
A plurality of, in the illustrated example, three processing chambers 4A, 4B, 4C are provided for performing the same or different kinds of processing such as film formation, etching, and ashing on the semiconductor wafer W as the object to be processed. The processing chamber is connected to the common transfer chamber 6 as a center, and is formed as a so-called cluster tool. Between the common transfer chamber 6 and each of the processing chambers 4A, 4B, 4C are opened and closed gate vanes G1, G, respectively.
2, G3 are interposed, and the transfer mechanism 8 provided in the inside is capable of communicating the wafers to transfer the wafer.

Further, on one side of the common transfer chamber 6, a plurality of, in the illustrated example, two cassette chambers 10A, 10B for accommodating the cassettes C therein, are provided with a gate vent G4, which can be opened and closed, respectively. The wafers W are continuously provided via G5, and the wafer W is transferred to and from the common transfer chamber 6 via the open gates G4 and G5. On the opposite side of the gate chamber of each cassette chamber 10A, 10B,
Gate doors G6 and G7 for opening / closing with respect to the outside are provided respectively, and a cassette carrying arm 12 provided on the outside of the doors transfers the cassette C through the opened gate door. The cassette transfer arm 12 has a multi-joint arm structure, and has gate doors G6 and G7 of the cassette chambers 10A and 10B.
The cassette C is transferred between the cassette storage space 14 and the cassette chambers 10A and 10B, which are provided at positions substantially opposite to each other. Therefore, the cassette carrying arm can move along the direction in which the cassette chambers are arranged. Each of these cassettes C can accommodate, for example, 25 semiconductor wafers W to be processed or processed.

On the other hand, as shown in FIG. 4, the transfer mechanism 8 set in the common transfer chamber 6 has a first arm 8A rotatably supported at the bottom of the transfer chamber and a first arm at the tip thereof. 2nd supported to rotate in conjunction with the movement of 8A
It is composed of an arm 8B and a third arm 8C whose center portion is supported at its tip end so as to rotate in association with the movement of the second arm 8B. One piece is provided at each end of the third arm 8C. Two wafers are placed and transported. Further, on the cassette chamber side in the common transfer chamber 6, a position adjusting mechanism 16 which is vertically movable and rotatable is provided so that the position of the wafer W to be loaded can be adjusted.

On the other hand, the insides of the cassette chambers 10A and 10B have the same structure, and as shown in FIGS. 1 and 3, the cassette chamber bottom portion 18 has a cassette mounting table 20 on the upper portion thereof, which serves as an elevating means. An elevator 22 is provided so as to be able to move up and down, and a cassette can be placed on top of this. A positioning convex portion 24 is formed on the upper surface of the cassette mounting table 20, and mechanical positioning is performed on the cassette mounted thereon, as will be described later.

On the other hand, as the cassette C to be placed on the cassette elevator 22, a normal cassette C1 for containing, for example, 25 product wafers, and a dummy wafer DW as a dummy object to be used at the time of dummy run are accommodated. There is a dummy cassette C2 which is a feature of the present invention.

Usually, the cassette C1 has a cassette body 2
6 is, for example, engineering plastic, Teflon,
It is formed in a square shape from a synthetic resin such as polypropylene, and on its inner wall, for example, 25 shelves are formed in multiple stages so that 25 wafers can be horizontally held and placed.

A handle portion 30 for facilitating the carrying is provided on the upper portion of the cassette body 26, and a bottom portion 32 is provided.
A lower surface of the cassette mounting table 20 is provided with a positioning concave portion 34 which can be fitted with the positioning convex portion 24 provided on the upper surface of the cassette mounting table 20.

The cassette body 36 of the dummy cassette C2 is formed in a square shape by a synthetic resin such as engineering plastic, Teflon, polypropylene or the like, a metal such as aluminum, or a ceramic such as alumina or SiC, or quartz. The inner wall is provided with a three-stage shelf 38 so that a plurality of, for example, three dummy wafers DW in the illustrated example can be horizontally held and placed. The number of the dummy wafers DW that can be accommodated is not limited to three, but is set to about 1 to 4 and preferably set to the number of processing chambers or more installed in this cluster tool so that the dummy processing can be performed at the same time. That is desirable. In addition, on the surface of the cassette body 36, preferably, a coating for preventing static electricity may be formed.

On the lower surface of the bottom portion 40 of the dummy cassette C2, there is formed a positioning concave portion 42 which can be fitted with the positioning convex portion 24 provided on the upper surface of the cassette mounting table 20. It is designed to be mechanically aligned when placed. Further, on the upper surface of the ceiling portion 44 of the dummy cassette C2, there is formed a positioning convex portion 46 having the same structure as the positioning convex portion 24 provided on the upper surface of the cassette mounting table 20. And thus, as shown in FIG.
The dummy cassette C2 and the normal cassette C1 can be sequentially stacked in a state of being aligned with each other.

In FIG. 3, the vertical stroke of the cassette elevator 22 is set so that each wafer W and each dummy wafer DW can be positioned at the height level H1 of the transfer mechanism for transferring wafers extending from the horizontal direction. It is set so that it can move up and down at least by a total height of the normal cassette C1 and the dummy cassette C2. Furthermore,
Between the upper part of the dummy cassette C2 placed on the cassette elevator 22 and the height level H2 of the cassette carrying arm 12 extending from the horizontal direction, a distance of about several tens of mm is allowed in order to allow the arm 12 to be pulled out. Secure a margin. Further, in the cassette chambers 10A and 10B, for example, a transmission type photodetector (not shown) for confirming the position of the wafer in the cassette is provided. Each cassette room 1
A gas supply system 48 for supplying an inert gas such as N ₂ gas and a vacuum exhaust system 50 for exhausting the internal atmosphere are connected to the chambers 0A, 10B and the common transfer chamber 6, respectively.

Next, a method of using the present invention will be described based on the apparatus configured as described above. First, since the process characteristics are not stable for a while immediately after the power of the apparatus is turned on and started, it is necessary to perform a dummy run in order to stabilize the process characteristics. Similarly, when the inside of the processing chamber is cleaned with a cleaning liquid by hand, or when plasma-less cleaning is performed using ClF ₃ gas as a cleaning gas while the power is on, for example, a plasma is generated using NF ₃ gas as a cleaning gas. Even when cleaning is performed while standing upright, it is necessary to perform a dummy run after that to remove easily flyable particles and the like remaining inside. In order to perform the dummy run, first, after the power is turned on or after the cleaning is finished, the dummy cassette C2 installed in the cassette storage space 14 is carried into one of the cassette chambers, for example, the cassette chamber 10A, using the cassette transfer arm 12. ,
The gate door G6 is closed. When the dummy cassette C2 is carried in, the cassette elevator 22 in the cassette chamber 10A is raised to the cassette mounting height level H2 so that it can be delivered.

Also, the positioning recess 4 of the bottom portion 40 of the dummy cassette C2 placed on the cassette placing table 20.
2 is a convex portion 24 for positioning on the upper part of the cassette mounting table 20.
And mechanically aligned. If the dummy cassette C2 is installed on the cassette elevator 22 in advance, the above operation is unnecessary.

Next, the inside of the cassette chamber 10A is evacuated,
When the atmospheric pressure in the common transfer chamber 6 that has been evacuated in advance becomes approximately the same, the gate ben G4 is opened to connect these chambers. Then, the wafer transfer mechanism 8 is driven to take out the dummy wafer W housed in the dummy cassette C2, and the dummy wafer W is taken into each of the processing chambers 4A, 4B.
Transferred to 4C. In this case, since more than the number of processing chambers of dummy wafers DW are accommodated in the dummy cassette C2, the dummy wafers DW can be accommodated in all of the processing chambers 4A, 4B, 4C, and all of the processing can be performed. Since a dummy run can be performed at the same time as the room, the dummy run time can be shortened. In this way, when the transfer is completed, each process is actually performed on the dummy wafer in each process chamber, and the dummy run is executed.

When the dummy run is completed as described above, the reverse operation to the above is carried out and the dummy wafer DW in each processing chamber is accommodated and placed in the original dummy cassette C2. If necessary, this dummy run is repeated a plurality of times. By performing the dummy run once or a plurality of times in this manner, the process characteristics of the apparatus are stabilized, and moreover, after the cleaning, particles that easily fly and adhere to the inner wall of the processing chamber can be eliminated.

When the dummy run is completed, first, in order to process a normal product wafer, first, the cassette chamber 10A is processed.
This internal atmosphere is returned to normal pressure by filling the inside with, for example, an inert gas, then the gate door G6 is opened, and the normal cassette C1 containing 25 wafers installed in the cassette storage area 14 is set in the same manner as described above. Transport arm 1
2 is used to take it into the cassette chamber 10, and this is placed on the upper part of the dummy cassette C2 and stacked as shown in FIG. At this time, the positioning projection 46 of the ceiling 44 of the dummy cassette C2 is fitted into the positioning recess 34 provided in the bottom 32 of the normal cassette C1, and the normal cassette C1 is mechanically positioned. become.

When the loading of the normal cassette C1 is completed in this way, if the inside of the cassette chamber 10A is evacuated to the same pressure as the inside of the common transfer chamber 6 in the same manner as described above, the gate bean G4 is opened to be common. It communicates with the transfer chamber 6. And
After the wafer transfer mechanism 8 is driven to align the wafer, the wafer transfer mechanism 8 is carried into a predetermined processing chamber for normal processing.
When the wafer is transferred to the transfer mechanism 8 side, the height position of the wafer or the presence / absence of the wafer is determined by, for example, a transmissive photodetector (not shown). Therefore, the height of the cassette elevator 22 is determined based on the information. The wafer W is adjusted and positioned at the height level H1 of the transfer mechanism. Of course, this operation is also performed in the case of the dummy run described above. The processing on the wafer is continuously performed in each processing chamber, and when all the processing is completed, the reverse operation to the above is performed, for example, the normal cassette in the other cassette chamber 10B for storing the processed wafer. It is placed and held in C1. During the processing of this normal wafer, the dummy wafer remains contained in the dummy cassette C2. In this way, a series of normal processing is completed.

Then, when the power source of the processing apparatus is turned off and turned on again, or when the cleaning processing is performed, a dummy run is performed again by the same operation as described above. Will be done. in this case,
The same dummy wafer DW can be used repeatedly when the process in the process chamber is a process in which the generation of particles is small, such as an etching process. However, the process in the process chamber is, for example, a CVD process. When the film forming process is performed as described above, a stacked film tends to be peeled off, so that a new unused dummy wafer DW is preferably used to prevent generation of particles.
Therefore, it is preferable that the dummy cassette C2 accommodates more dummy wafers DW than the number of processing chambers.

Since the dummy cassette C2 accommodating the dummy wafers DW is installed in the cassette chamber in this manner, when performing a dummy run, the operator accommodates the dummy wafers in the cassette each time as in the conventional apparatus and prepares. This dummy run can be performed automatically without the need to perform.

Further, in the cassette chamber, since the dummy wafer DW having a high probability of generating particles is positioned in the lower stage of the normal cassette C1, the particles generated from the dummy wafer DW are carried away from the downflow in the cassette chamber, It is possible to prevent particles from adhering to a normal product wafer.
In order to enable this downflow, it is preferable to provide a vacuum exhaust system connected to the cassette chamber at the bottom thereof.

In the above embodiment, the dummy cassette C2 can be separated from the cassette mounting table 20, but it may be fixed to the cassette mounting table 20. In this case, this fixed dummy cassette C
In order to transfer the dummy wafer DW to the second wafer 2, first, the dummy wafer is housed in the normal cassette C1 and placed on the dummy cassette C2, and then the wafer transfer mechanism 8 in the common transfer chamber 6 is placed. The dummy wafer DW is transferred from the normal cassette C1 to the dummy cassette C2 by alternately operating the and the cassette elevator 22. The subsequent dummy run will be performed in the same manner as described above.

Further, in the above-mentioned invention, the dummy cassette C2 is provided in the cassette chamber 10A or 10B, but the present invention is not limited to this, and the dummy cassette C2 is provided near the outside of the cassette chamber, for example. You may make it install in the cassette storage area 14 in FIG. In this case, the dummy wafers DW are individually fed into the processing apparatus one by one, and the dummy run is performed as described above.

In the above embodiment, the case where the present invention is applied to a so-called cluster tool in which three processing chambers are combined has been described, but the number of processing chambers is not limited to this. Of course, the present invention is not limited to the cluster tool, and can be applied to the case of a normal single processing chamber. Further, as the processing chamber, all can be applied to an apparatus in which cassette chambers such as a CVD processing chamber, an etching processing chamber, and an ashing processing chamber are arranged in parallel.

[0037]

As described above, according to the present invention, the following excellent operational effects can be exhibited. According to the first and second aspects of the present invention, since the dummy cassette for accommodating the dummy object is provided, the operator has to manually operate the dummy run after the power is turned on or after cleaning. There is no, and this can be done automatically. According to the invention described in claims 3 and 4, since the dummy object to be processed from the dummy cassette is used during the dummy run, the operator does not have to manually operate the dummy object, and the operation can be automatically performed. .

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an arrangement of cassettes in a cassette chamber of a processing apparatus according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a schematic configuration diagram showing a processing device according to the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view showing the cassette chamber shown in FIG.

FIG. 4 is a plan view showing a transfer arm used in a common transfer chamber.

[Explanation of symbols]

 2 processing devices 4A to 4C processing chamber 6 common transfer chamber 8 transfer mechanism 10A, 10B cassette chamber 12 cassette transfer arm 20 cassette mounting table 22 cassette elevator (elevating means) 36 cassette body 38 shelf 42 positioning recess 46 alignment Projection C1 Normal cassette C2 Dummy cassette W Semiconductor wafer (processed object) DW Dummy wafer (dummy processed object)

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A processing apparatus comprising a processing chamber for processing an object to be processed, and a cassette chamber for accommodating a normal cassette capable of accommodating a plurality of objects to be mounted on an elevating means.
A processing apparatus characterized in that the normal cassette and a dummy cassette for accommodating a dummy object to be processed are provided on the elevating means in the cassette chamber. 2. A processing apparatus having a processing chamber for processing an object to be processed and a cassette chamber for accommodating a normal cassette capable of accommodating a plurality of objects to be processed, which can be mounted on an elevating means.
A processing apparatus characterized in that a dummy cassette accommodating a dummy object is installed near the outside of the cassette chamber. 3. The method of using the processing apparatus according to claim 1 or 2, wherein after the power is turned on to start up the processing apparatus, the dummy object is placed in the processing chamber from inside the dummy cassette. A method of using a processing apparatus, wherein the processing object is transferred and subjected to a dummy processing, and then the processing target object is processed. 4. The method of using the processing apparatus according to claim 1 or 2, wherein after the cleaning processing is performed in the processing chamber, the dummy object is transferred from the dummy cassette into the processing chamber. A method of using the processing apparatus, wherein a dummy process is performed on the target object, and then the target object is processed.