KR100598917B1 - Apparatus and method for cleaning of single substrate type - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to a sheet type substrate cleaning apparatus which performs a series of processes for cleaning a substrate. The sheet type substrate cleaning apparatus according to the present invention includes a cassette table, a cassette table, and a cassette waiting for the substrate to be cleaned. A transfer passage having a space necessary for the transfer of the substrate to be interviewed, a cleaning chamber installed in two layers on both sides of the transfer passage, and a substrate transfer apparatus for transferring the substrate between the cassettes and the cleaning chambers disposed on the cassette table on the transfer passage; do. The single wafer cleaning apparatus having such a configuration can significantly reduce the area and the equipment width, and minimize the equipment cost and installation cost by reducing the unnecessary space.

Description

Apparatus and method for cleaning of single substrate type}

1 is a plan view of a single wafer cleaning apparatus according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention;

2 is a side configuration diagram of a sheet type substrate cleaning apparatus according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention;

3 is a side cross-sectional view showing cleaning chambers having a multilayer structure in a sheet type substrate cleaning apparatus according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention;

4 is a plan view showing the structure of the sheet type substrate cleaning apparatus in which the position of the cassette table in FIG. 1 is changed;

FIG. 5 is a plan view showing a substrate cleaning device in which the area and the equipment width of the substrate cleaning device shown in FIG. 1 are significantly reduced. FIG.

6 to 7 are plan views and side views of a substrate cleaning apparatus for cleaning a 200 mm substrate.

<Description of Symbols for Major Parts of Drawings>

110: loading / unloading unit

120: cassette transfer robot

130: cassette table

140: transfer passage

150: substrate transfer robot

160: cleaning chamber

The present invention relates to a sheet type substrate cleaning apparatus which performs a series of processes for cleaning a substrate.

In general, in the substrate manufacturing process, the deposition, etching, coating of photoresist, development, and removal of asher are repeated several times in order to perform fine patterning. Patterning) is made, and as the process progresses, foreign substances are left in the substrate that are not completely removed by etching or ashing. A process for removing such foreign matters is a cleaning process using deionized water or chemical.

Substrate cleaning apparatus is largely divided into a batch processor (Batch Processor) and single sheet cleaning (Single Processor), the batch cleaning device is a chemical liquid tank 102 of the size that can process 25 sheets or 50 sheets at a time ( Chemical Bath), Rinse Bath 103 (Rinse Bath), Drying Bath 104 (Dry Bath), etc. are provided to remove foreign substances while staying in each Bath for a certain time. There is an advantage that the lower part can be cleaned at the same time and at the same time handle a large capacity. However, in the case of the batch type cleaning apparatus, as the size of the substrate increases, the size of the tank increases, so that the size of the apparatus and the amount of the chemical liquid are increased. There is a problem.

Recently, the single sheet cleaning apparatus has attracted attention due to the increase in the diameter of the substrate. The single sheet cleaning apparatus is fixed in a small chamber capable of processing a single substrate with a substrate chuck. While rotating the substrate by the motor, the chemical liquid or pure water flows through the nozzle from the top of the substrate, and the chemical liquid or pure water is spread through the substrate by the rotational force of the substrate to remove foreign substances. Compared to the device, the device is small in size and has a homogeneous cleaning effect.

Existing single sheet cleaning apparatus has a single layer structure including a loading / unloading unit, an index robot, a buffer unit, a process chamber, and a substrate transfer robot from one side. Existing single wafer cleaning apparatus is arranged with an index robot for transferring the substrate between the loading / unloading unit and the buffer unit. This index robot requires a high speed, which is a major cause of failure, especially a buffer for taking over the substrate. Due to wealth, the installation area has a disadvantage. In addition, there is a lot of constraints to increase the number of chambers in a single layer structure.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to solve such a conventional problem, and an object thereof is to provide a new type of sheet type substrate cleaning apparatus capable of drastically reducing the area and equipment width. Another object of the present invention is to provide a new type of sheet type substrate cleaning apparatus capable of minimizing device cost and installation cost by reducing unnecessary space. Another object of the present invention is to provide a new type of sheet type substrate cleaning apparatus which can reduce the overall processing time of the substrate.

The sheet type substrate cleaning apparatus according to the present invention for achieving the above object comprises a cassette table in which a cassette is waiting for cleaning processing of the substrate; A transfer passage having a space required for transferring a substrate in interview with the cassette table; Cleaning chambers installed on both sides of the transfer passage in multiple layers; And a substrate transfer device installed on the transfer passage for transferring the substrate between the cassette placed on the cassette table and the cleaning chambers.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, the sheet type substrate cleaning apparatus includes: a loading / unloading portion in which a cassette is loaded or unloaded into or from the cleaning apparatus around the cassette table; And a cassette transfer device for transferring the cassette between the loading / unloading unit and the cassette table.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, the cassette is a closed cassette having a door, and the cassette table may further include an opener for opening the door of the cassette.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, the cassette is an open cassette, and the cassette table may further include a vertical horizontal converting device that rotates the cassette 90 degrees to convert the substrates stored in the cassette from a vertical state to a horizontal state. Can be.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, the sheet type substrate cleaning apparatus may be conveyed to a cassette or a next process carried for a cleaning process before or after the loading / unloading unit and the cassette table or before and after the loading / unloading unit. The cassette may further comprise a stocker in which the cassettes are stored in a standby state.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, the cleaning chambers may have a mutual separation structure between the first layer and the second layer.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, the substrate transfer apparatus may enable substrate transfer between cleaning chambers of one layer and two layers without distinguishing between layers.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, the substrate transfer apparatus may have a double hand structure.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, the cleaning chamber may be separated and cleaned by dividing the treatment area of each chamber according to the cleaning chemicals.

According to an aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method for cleaning a sheet type substrate, comprising: loading a cassette containing a substrate in a loading unit; Transferring the cassette to a cassette table through a cassette transfer device; Removing the substrate from the cassette in the cassette table and transferring the substrate to the cleaning chambers; Cleaning the substrate in the cleaning chamber; Transferring the cleaned substrate to the cassette of the cassette table in the cleaning chamber; And unloading a cassette in the cassette table through a cassette transfer device.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, the cassette may be transferred to the cassette table via the temporary storage table in the step of transferring to the cassette table.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, the cleaning chambers are installed in multiple layers; In the cleaning chamber of each layer, the cleaning treatment may be performed independently of each other.

Hereinafter, with reference to the accompanying drawings, a sheet type substrate cleaning apparatus in which cleaning chambers for a substrate cleaning process according to the present invention are installed in a multilayer structure will be described in detail.

Advantages of the present invention over prior art will become apparent from the detailed description and claims with reference to the accompanying drawings. In particular, the present invention is well pointed out and claimed in the claims. However, the present invention may be best understood by reference to the following detailed description in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. Like reference numerals in the drawings denote like elements throughout the various drawings.

1 is a plan configuration diagram of a sheet type substrate cleaning apparatus according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention, Figure 2 is a side configuration diagram of a sheet type substrate cleaning apparatus according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention, Figure 3 is a preferred configuration of the present invention Side cross-sectional view showing cleaning chambers having a multilayer structure in a single wafer cleaning apparatus according to an embodiment.

Here, the substrate refers to a substrate such as a semiconductor substrate, a glass substrate, or a liquid crystal panel.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The gist of the present invention is characterized by the fact that the cassette transport robot and cassette space for the cassette transport between the loading / unloading unit and the cassette table are arranged.

1 to 3, the sheet type substrate cleaning apparatus 100 according to the present invention includes a loading / unloading unit 110, a cassette conveying apparatus 120, a cassette table 130, a conveying passage 140, The substrate transfer device 150 and the cleaning chamber 160.

The cassette C containing the substrates is placed in the in / out port 112 of the loading / unloading unit 110 by an automated conveying device (AGV (Automated Guided Vehicle) or RGV (Rail Guided Vehicle). ) 25 substrates W are stored horizontally one by one in the cassette C. The cassette C has 25 parallel grooves for preservation in a state in which the substrate W is laid horizontally. For example, the cassette C may be a front open unified pod (FOUP), which is a next-generation substrate storage jig for storing, transporting, and storing the substrate in a horizontal state. have.

1 to 3, the loading / unloading unit 110 has two in / out ports 112 on which the cassette C is loaded / unloaded, and the loading / unloading unit 110 is connected to the loading / unloading unit 110. In the vicinity, a cassette C transported for the cleaning process or a stocker 111 for storing the cassettes for transport to the next process may be provided. This stocker comprises shelves on which cassettes C are placed. Meanwhile, two cassette tables 130 having openers 132 for opening the door of the cassette C are disposed between the loading / unloading unit 110 and the transport passage 140, and the cassette tables 130 are disposed. ) And the cassette transfer device 120 for transferring the cassette is disposed between the loading and unloading unit 110.

As described above, in the sheet type substrate cleaning apparatus 100 of the present invention, the cassette table is not directly loaded by the automated conveying apparatus (AGV (Automated Guided Vehicle), RGV (Rail Guided Vehicle), etc., but is first loaded / unloaded. After being placed in the in / out port 112 of the unit 110, it is transferred to the stocker 111 or the opener 132 by the cassette feeder 120. Here, the in / out port 112 is a cassette. It may include the ability to rotate to change the direction of C. Thus, the cassette loading / unloading in the cassette table 132 is external in the case where the cassette c is placed directly on the cassette table (opener) 132. The waiting time is long due to operation in conjunction with an operation such as an automatic transfer device, but in the case of the present invention, the cassette replacement (loading / unloading) of the cassette table 130 in the cleaning apparatus 100 is performed in the case of the present invention. Done right away by) As such, it is possible to improve productivity because a quick replaceable cassette.

In this embodiment, the two cassette tables 130 are arranged to face each other with respect to the transfer passage 140. However, this is only one embodiment, and as shown in FIG. 4, one cassette table 130 may be installed to be connected to the end of the transport passage 140.

Meanwhile, a dual substrate transfer device 150 for loading and unloading a substrate into the cleaning chamber 160 is installed in the transfer passage 140, and a total of eight cleaning chambers 160 are connected to the transfer passage 140. The cleaning chamber 160 performs an etching cleaning / drying process. The dual substrate transfer device 150 includes a dual hand 152 capable of carrying out a carrying-in operation for carrying in to the cleaning chamber 160 and a carrying-out operation for carrying out a substrate from the cleaning chamber in a continuous operation. Here, the substrate transfer device 150 may be rotated about the z-axis about the drive shaft by a built-in rotation driver (not shown). Then, the hand can be stretched in the X direction to take out / take over the substrate from the cassette (C). In addition, as will be described later, the substrate transfer device 150 may be guided by the horizontal guide 154 to move in the Y direction, and may be guided by a vertical guide (not shown) to move in the Z direction.

 Here, the cleaning chambers 160 are divided into two layers such that two of the cleaning chambers 160 form two layers on both sides of the transfer passage 140. The dual substrate transfer device 150 is responsible for transferring the substrate between the eight cleaning chambers 160 disposed on the first and second layers and the cassette C placed on the cassette table 130. If necessary, the transfer passage 140 may be divided into one and two layers, and the dual substrate transfer device 150 may be disposed in each layer. Here, the cleaning chamber 160 is to clean / dry the substrate while the substrate and the Paul move relative to each other during the cleaning / drying.

FIG. 5 is a plan view illustrating a substrate cleaning apparatus in which an area and a width of equipment are significantly reduced than those of the substrate cleaning apparatus illustrated in FIG. 1.

As shown in FIG. 5, the substrate cleaning apparatus 100 ′ omits the loading / unloading unit 110 and the cassette transfer device 120 shown in FIG. 1. Instead, the cassette C containing the substrates is placed on the cassette table 130 by an automated guided vehicle (AGV) or a rail guided vehicle (RGV), etc. The cassette C placed on the cassette table 130 The door is opened by the opener 132 of the cassette table, and the substrates contained in the cassette C are transferred to each cleaning chamber 160 by the substrate transfer device 150.

As such, the substrate cleaning apparatus 100 ′ shown in FIG. 5 may minimize device cost and installation cost by reducing unnecessary space, and the entire process time of the substrate may be omitted by eliminating the cassette transfer process in the substrate cleaning apparatus 100 ′. It has an advantage that can shorten.

6 to 7 are plan views and side views of a substrate cleaning apparatus for cleaning a 200 mm substrate.

The substrate cleaning apparatus 100 ″ shown in FIGS. 6 and 7 includes a loading / unloading unit 100 and a cassette conveying apparatus 120 having the same configuration and function as the substrate cleaning apparatus according to the embodiment shown in FIG. 1. , A cassette table 130, a transfer path 140, a substrate transfer device 150, and a cleaning chamber 160, and the description thereof has been described in detail in the embodiment shown in FIG. 1. However, in this embodiment, since the open cassette C1 containing 200 mm substrates is applied, the cassette table 130 has a vertical horizontal position converter for converting the cassette C1 from a vertical state to a horizontal state. 136 is provided.

As described above, the substrate cleaning apparatus 100, 100 ′, 100 ″ of the present invention does not have an index robot and a buffer, and can implement productivity twice as high as that of a single-layer facility by applying a cassette transfer method in a multilayer structure.

The foregoing detailed description illustrates the present invention. In addition, the foregoing description merely shows and describes preferred embodiments of the present invention, and the present invention can be used in various other combinations, modifications, and environments. And, it is possible to change or modify within the scope of the concept of the invention disclosed in this specification, the scope equivalent to the written description, and / or the skill or knowledge in the art. The above-described embodiments are for explaining the best state in carrying out the present invention, the use of other inventions such as the present invention in other state known in the art, and the specific fields of application and uses of the present invention. Various changes are also possible. Accordingly, the detailed description of the invention is not intended to limit the invention to the disclosed embodiments. Also, the appended claims should be construed to include other embodiments.

As described in detail above, the sheet type substrate cleaning apparatus of the present invention may implement higher productivity by applying a cassette conveying method between the loading / unloading unit and the opener. The sheet type substrate cleaning apparatus of the present invention can significantly reduce the area and the equipment width. The sheet type substrate cleaning apparatus of the present invention can minimize the apparatus cost and installation cost by reducing unnecessary space. The single wafer cleaning apparatus of the present invention can reduce the overall processing time of the substrate. The sheet type substrate cleaning apparatus of the present invention can double the substrate throughput.

Claims (12)

In single wafer cleaning apparatus: A loading / unloading portion into which a cassette is loaded or unloaded into or from the cleaning apparatus; A cassette table on which a cassette stands for cleaning of the substrate; A cassette transport apparatus for transferring a cassette between the loading / unloading unit and the cassette table; A transfer passage having a space required for transferring a substrate in interview with the cassette table; Cleaning chambers installed around the transport passage; And And a substrate transfer apparatus installed on the transfer passage for transferring the substrate between the cassette placed on the cassette table and the cleaning chambers. The method of claim 1, The cleaning substrate is a sheet type substrate cleaning apparatus, characterized in that installed in a plurality of layers around the transfer passage. The method of claim 1, The cassette is a hermetic cassette with a door, The cassette table is Single sheet cleaning apparatus further comprises an opener for opening the door of the cassette. The method of claim 1, The cassette is an open cassette, The cassette table is And a vertical horizontal converting apparatus for rotating the cassette 90 degrees to convert the substrates stored in the cassette from a vertical state to a horizontal state. The method of claim 2, The sheet type substrate cleaning device A stocker in which the path between the loading / unloading unit and the cassette table or the cassette transported for the cleaning process before and after the loading / unloading unit or the cassettes to be transported to the next process is stored in a standby state. Single wafer cleaning apparatus comprising a. The method of claim 1, And the cleaning chambers have a mutual separation structure between the first layer and the second layer. The method of claim 6, The substrate transfer apparatus is a sheet type substrate cleaning apparatus, characterized in that the substrate transfer between the cleaning chambers of the first and second layers without distinction between layers. The method of claim 1, The substrate transfer apparatus is a sheet type substrate cleaning apparatus, characterized in that it has a double hand structure. The method of claim 1, The cleaning chamber is a single-sheet substrate cleaning apparatus, characterized in that the separate cleaning process by dividing the processing area of each chamber according to the cleaning chemicals. In a single wafer cleaning method: Loading the cassette containing the substrate into the loading unit; Transferring the cassette to a cassette table through a cassette transfer device; Removing the substrate from the cassette in the cassette table and transferring the substrate to the cleaning chambers; Cleaning the substrate in the cleaning chamber; Transferring the cleaned substrate in the cleaning chamber to a cassette of the cassette table; And unloading a cassette in the cassette table through a cassette transfer device. The method of claim 10, And the cassette is transferred to the cassette table via the temporary storage table in the step of transferring to the cassette table. The method of claim 10, The cleaning chambers are installed in multiple layers; The single wafer cleaning method, wherein the cleaning chambers of the respective layers are cleaned independently of each other.

Images