JPH02126648A - Treatment apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To sharply reduce dust particles to be produced when an object to be treated is supported by using a pair of tweezers by a method wherein the tweezers capable of delivering the object to be treated are installed at each treatment unit, faces where at least three parts protrude from their plane so as to support the object to be treated can be vacuum-sucked in at least one part of the protruding faces. CONSTITUTION:A semiconductor wafer 22 is supported by three points of a first protruding part, a second protruding part and a third protruding part 50, 51, 52 on a pair of tweezers 23; since a contact area to the wafer 22 can be reduced considerably, it is possible to restrain a dust particle from being produced as low as possible during an alignment operation. In addition, when the semiconductor water 22 is vacuum-sucked and held on the tweezers 23, an opening part 53 for vacuum suction use is formed only at the third protruding part 52. Accordingly, a danger that the rear of the wafer is damaged by a pressure during a vacuum suction operation can be reduced sharply as compared with an apparatus where an opening part for suction use is formed over a prescribed length region; through this constitution, it is possible to solve a problem that the dust particle is produced.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Object of the Invention] (Industrial Field of Application) The present invention relates to a processing apparatus having a plurality of processing units along a conveyance path of an object to be processed.

(Prior Art) Examples of this type of processing apparatus include those used in semiconductor manufacturing. Semiconductor wafers undergo various treatments in a plurality of processing steps, and in recent years, as the degree of integration of semiconductors formed on semiconductor wafers has increased, the number of processing steps has increased and become more complex.

For example, the resist processing process for semiconductor wafers has become more fine-grained, and examples of the use of microfabrication include coating and forming a CEL film on a resist film coated on a semiconductor wafer, and forming a flattening layer on a resist. The resist coating and developing process has become more complex, including the need for multilayer resist film formation.

On the other hand, with the miniaturization mentioned above, the semiconductor manufacturing environment is also required to have a higher level of cleanliness in order to prevent defects in semiconductor elements due to dust adhesion, and dust generation from the equipment itself must be reduced more strictly. There is a need.

For this reason, belt conveyance using an O-ring, which has been commonly used in the conventional semiconductor wafer conveyance, cannot be adopted due to the above-mentioned problem of dust generation.

As an example of a processing apparatus, such as a resist processing apparatus, which takes the above points into consideration, an apparatus having the following configuration has been put into practical use.

That is, as shown in FIG. 5, tweezers 2 are movable along a wafer transport path 1 in the left-right direction in the figure, and wafer carriers 4 holding semiconductor wafers 3 are placed on both sides of this transport path 1. A roller device 5 equipped with a roller device 5 and a plurality of processing units 6 are respectively arranged. and,
The tweezers 2, which are movable along the transport path 1, are stopped at a position facing the carrier cassette 4 or the processing unit 6, and the semiconductor wafer 3 is sucked onto the surface of the tweezers 2, for example by vacuum suction. delivery is possible. In this way, when the semiconductor wafer 3 is transported, by using the tweezers 2 instead of using the conventional belt transport, the above-mentioned dust generation can be greatly reduced.
Even if the number of tweezers 2 increases, the compactness of the device can be maintained by using two tweezers 2.

(Problems to be Solved by the Invention) As shown in FIG. is formed so as to be in contact with the back surface of the A vacuum suction portion 12 is formed over a predetermined area of this mounting surface 10.

Here, microscopically considering the back surface of the semiconductor wafer 4, this surface is relatively rough, and the chevron-shaped protrusions come into contact with the mounting surface 1o of the tweezers 2.

In this way, the relatively rough back surface of the semiconductor wafer 3 comes into contact with the mounting surface 1o of the tweezers 2 over a wide range, and the suction section 1 having a relatively wide opening area
2 by suctioning the semiconductor wafer 3, the wafer 3
There was a problem in that the protruding portion on the back surface of the device was damaged, and this was scattered as dust into the semiconductor manufacturing equipment.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Therefore, it is an object of the present invention to provide a processing apparatus suitable for fine processing, which can further reduce dust generation while transporting the object to be processed using tweezers.

[Configuration of the Invention (Means for Solving the Problems)] The present invention provides a processing apparatus that includes a plurality of processing units along a conveyance path for objects to be processed. The tweezers are provided with tweezers that are movable and capable of transferring objects to be processed to and from each processing unit, and the tweezers have a surface that protrudes at least three points from the plane of the tweezers and supports the objects to be processed. The object to be processed can be vacuum-adsorbed at at least one location on the protruding surface.

(Function) In the present invention, when the object to be processed is supported on the tweezers, the object to be processed is supported by the protruding surfaces that protrude from the plane of the tweezers at least in three places. Compared to the case where the object to be processed is supported by the entire surface of the tweezers, the contact area is significantly reduced. Furthermore, since the object to be processed is vacuum-suctioned at at least one location on the protruding surface, which has a small contact surface, the opening area for vacuum suction can also be kept small.

In this way, the contact area with the object to be processed is relatively small, and the opening area for vacuum suction is also small, so when considering the contact surface of the object to the tweezers from a microscopic perspective, damage to the protruding portion is less likely. can be significantly reduced compared to conventional methods.

Therefore, the generation of dust during transport of the object to be processed can be reduced, and the yield can be improved even when the object to be processed is subjected to finer processing.

(Example) Hereinafter, an example in which the present invention is applied to a resist coating and developing device will be described with reference to the drawings.

First, the overall outline of the embodiment will be explained with reference to FIG.

Near the center of the main body 21, there is a holding mechanism for holding an object to be processed, such as a semiconductor wafer 22, for example, two pins 23 arranged above and below, which are capable of holding an object to be processed, such as a semiconductor wafer 22, by suction and can be operated independently.
23 (one not shown), and the tweezers 23.23 (one not shown) in the X (vertical) direction and the y (
A first transport machine tlv24 is arranged, which is configured to be movable in the lateral (lateral) direction, 2 (vertical) directions, and θ (rotation). still,
The first transport mechanism 24 is moved one rotation by a rotation drive mechanism (not shown) such as a stepping motor and a boat screw connected thereto.

Next, at a position on one side of the first transport mechanism 24, a plurality of processing mechanisms, such as a semiconductor wafer 22 and a resist film, are provided along a moving path 25 of the first transport mechanism 24 in the Y direction. HMDS treatment mechanism 2 to improve pressure
6, a first pre-bake mechanism 27 for heating and evaporating the solvent remaining in the first layer resist coated on the semiconductor wafer 22, and the semiconductor wafer 22 heat-treated by the first pre-bake mechanism 27. A first cooling mechanism 28 that cools the air conditioner and the first cooling mechanism 28 are arranged side by side from left to right in the figure.

On the other hand, at a position on the front side of the movement path 25 facing the above-mentioned mechanisms, there is a first coating mechanism 29 for rotating and coating the first layer of resist on the top surface of the semiconductor wafer 22; The second step is to spin-coat the second layer of resist.
The coating mechanisms 30 are arranged side by side from left to right in the figure.

Note that the first pre-bake mechanism 27 is arranged in multiple stages, for example, two to four stages, as required. The first transport mechanism 24 is arranged to be able to transport the semiconductor wafer 22 to each of the mechanisms as desired. As above, the first
A processing device unit 31 is configured.

Next, on the right side of this first processing equipment unit 31, a standby mechanism 33 having a mounting table 32 on which the semiconductor wafer 22 is temporarily placed on standby is provided.

Further, on the right side of this standby mechanism 33, a second processing device unit 34 having the same configuration as the first processing device unit 31 is provided. That is, the semiconductor wafer 22
For example, two tweezers 35.35 (
one has a pair of tweezers 35.3 (not shown), and the tweezers 35.3
5 in the X (vertical) direction, Y (horizontal) direction, Z (vertical) direction, θ
A second transport mechanism 36 which is configured to be (rotation) movable is disposed. The second transport mechanism 36 is moved one rotation by a rotational drive mechanism (not shown) such as a stepping motor and a ball screw connected thereto.

Next, on one side of the second transport mechanism 36, this second
Along the movement path 37 in the Y direction of the transport mechanism 36, a plurality of processing mechanisms, for example, the second layer coated on the upper surface of the semiconductor wafer 22 by the second coating mechanism 30 of the first processing equipment unit 31, A second pre-bake mechanism 38 for heating and evaporating the solvent remaining in the resist, and a second cooling mechanism 39 for cooling the semiconductor wafer 22 that has been heat-treated by the second pre-bake mechanism 38 are shown in the figure. They are juxtaposed from left to right. On the other hand, at a position on the front side of the moving path 37 facing each of the mechanisms, a surface coating layer such as a CEL film is placed on the upper surface of the resist applied to the semiconductor wafer 22, for example, in order to prevent diffuse reflection of light during the exposure process. A surface coating layer coating mechanism 40 is disposed for coating and forming a surface coating layer. The first processing device unit 31. Semiconductor wafers 35 can be arbitrarily transported between the second processing device units 34 via the standby mechanism 33 .

Next, on the left side of the first processing equipment unit 31, a wafer carrier 41 that stores the semiconductor wafer 22 before processing and a wafer carrier 42 that stores the semiconductor wafer 22 after processing are provided. A semiconductor wafer loading/unloading mechanism 45 having tweezers 43 for holding by suction and a mounting table 44 on which the semiconductor wafer 22 can be placed is arranged. Further, the wafer carriers 41 and 42 are configured to be movable up and down by a lifting mechanism (not shown), and the tweezers 43 are moved by an X-moving mechanism 46. Y movement mechanism 47. θ
The rotation mechanism 38 is also configured to allow movement in the X direction, Y direction, and θ. Then, the unprocessed semiconductor wafer 22 is taken out from the wafer carrier 41 using the tweezers 43 and placed on the mounting table 44, and the processed semiconductor wafer 22 placed on the mounting table 44 can be stored in the wafer carrier 42. It is composed of

Next, the structure of the tweezers 23, 35 will be explained with reference to FIG. Note that the tweezers 23 and 35 have the same configuration, so only the tweezers 23 will be described here.

The tweezers 23 are configured as a flat plate with a U-shaped free end, and are made of, for example, alumite-treated aluminum impregnated with Teflon.

The characteristic structure of this tweezers 23 is that the first pair of tweezers 23 protrudes from the surface of the flat plate by a predetermined height, for example, 0.5 m11. Second projections 50.51 are formed at the two tip positions of the U-shape, and are on the center line of the tweezers and are spaced apart from the first and second projections 50.51. At this position, a third protrusion 52 is formed at the same height as the protrusion 50.51. still,
The material for each of the protrusions 50, 51, 52 is preferably Teflon, which has low sliding resistance, and other materials such as ceramics and Delrin can also be used. When performing this, it is preferable to use a material that has heat resistance and heat insulation properties.

The tweezers 23 have each of the protrusions 50°51.52
The semiconductor wafer 22 is supported at three points on the pins 23, and a vacuum suction method is employed to support the semiconductor wafer 22 on the pins 23 so as not to move. A suction opening 53 for vacuum suctioning the semiconductor wafer 22 is formed only in the third projection 52.

Further, in this embodiment, the semiconductor wafer 22 can be aligned on the pin set 23, and for this purpose, a guide member 54 is fixed on the tweezers 23, and furthermore, a guide member 54 is fixed at a position facing the guide member 54. There it is,
A stopper member 55 is disposed on a base 56 that is movable along the movement path 25 together with the tweezers 23 .

The guide member 54 is made of Delrin, for example, and is formed in an arc shape, and its inner diameter is between the outer diameter of the semiconductor wafer 22 and the path. Then, one end side of the semiconductor wafer 22 comes into contact with the inner surface of the circular arc portion of the guide member 54, so that the semiconductor wafer 22 can be aligned on the bin set 23. Then, the semiconductor wafer 22
The stopper member 55 is provided in order to abut the inner surface of the circular arc portion of the guide member 54.

That is, this stopper member 55 is movable up and down with respect to the base 56, and when aligning the semiconductor wafer 22, it is raised to a position where it comes into contact with the end surface of the semiconductor wafer 22. After raising the stopper member 55 in this way, the tweezers 23 are moved to the first position.
By moving to the right side of the figure (A), the semiconductor wafer 2
2 can come into contact with the guide member 54.

As shown in FIG. 2, the stopper member 55 is constantly urged to move in the left direction in the figure by a tension coil spring 57, and as a result, one end of the semiconductor wafer 22 comes into contact with the guide member 54. After this, the stopper member 55 can be retracted to the right in FIG. 2 against the biasing force of the spring 57. Therefore, the impact after the semiconductor wafer 22 contacts the guide member 54 can be absorbed.

Next, the drive mechanism of the tweezers 23 will be explained.

As described above, the first conveyance mechanism 24 and the second conveyance mechanism 36 have a double tweezers structure. Therefore, if the first conveyance mechanism 24 is explained, the above-mentioned tweezers 23Lt FIG. 1(B) .

As shown in (C), they are arranged one above the other. In this embodiment, these two tweezers 23, 23 are each independently horizontally movable.

For this purpose, a motor 60°60 (Fig. 1 (B
), only one is shown). Here, since the drive mechanisms of the lower and lower tweezers 23 and 23 have the same configuration, only the drive system of the upper tweezers 23 will be explained.The first pulley 61 is fixed to the output shaft of the motor 60. On the other hand, a second pulley 62 is rotatably provided diagonally above the first pulley 61. And this first one. The first belt 63 is passed around the second pulleys 61 and 62.

On the other hand, a third pulley 64 coaxially and integrally rotatable with the second pulley 62 is provided at one end of the conveyance path of the tweezers 23, and a fourth pulley 64 is provided at the other end of the conveyance path. A pulley 65 is rotatably provided. And this third. The second belt 6 is connected to the fourth pulleys 64 and 65.
Kake has passed 6.

Next, the connection structure between the tweezers 23, 23 and the second belt 66 will be explained.

To explain the connection of the upper tweezers 23, this tweezers 23 is supported by a substantially U-shaped tweezers support arm 72 formed in a direction perpendicular to the direction of travel thereof. A guided body 71 is fixed to the inside of this tweezers support arm 72, and this guided body 71 is movable along a rail 72 formed on the base member 56. In addition, this rail 70 is shown in FIG. 1(A).
As shown in , they are formed on both sides of the travel area of the tweezers 23 and parallel to the travel direction. Further, the second belt 66 is provided inside the guided body 71.
A belt connecting body 73 is connected to the belt 66 in such a manner as to sandwich the belt. As a result, the tweezers 23 are movable along the rail 72 and the second
This belt 66 is conveyed and driven.
Since the belt connecting body 73 fixed to the tweezers 23 moves together with the tweezers 23, horizontal movement of the tweezers 23 can be realized.

Incidentally, in order to detect the limit position of the traveling position of the tweezers 23, a detection object 74 is attached to the belt connecting body 73.
, and on the other hand, detecting bodies 75 and 75 are arranged at both ends of the travel area of the tweezers 23. The detected object 74 and the detected object 75 constitute a limit switch, and this detected object 74 is connected to either one of the detected objects 7.
5, the end detection is possible. Note that the lower tweezers 23 are connected to the second belt 66 in the same manner.

Next, the driving of the base member 56 equipped with the two tweezers 23 and 23 described above will be explained. It is also movable in the Z direction to change the position in the horizontal direction. Further, in order to change the direction of the tweezers 23, the base member 56 is rotatable in the θ direction, which is the direction of rotation thereof. In this way, by making the base member 56 movable in the Y direction, the tweezers 23 can be arranged with respect to each processing unit, and by further rotating the base member 56, the tweezers 23 can be arranged to face each processing unit. Tweezers 23 in the direction
The U-shaped part can be placed. In addition, in order to selectively use the two tweezers 23, 23 for one processing unit, the height position of the base member 56 is changed, and one of the tweezers 23, 23 is placed at a supporting position for the semiconductor wafer 22 in the processing unit. tweezers 23 can be set. Regarding the structure of the Y-direction drive, Z-direction drive, and θ-direction drive of the base member 56,
Various linear drive systems or rotational drive systems can be employed, and detailed description thereof will be omitted here.

Next, the effect will be explained.

First, the X moving mechanism 46 of the loading/unloading mechanism 45. Y movement mechanism 47. The θ rotation mechanism 48 is operated to move the tweezers 43 below the wafer carrier 42 .

Then, the wafer carrier 42 is lowered by an elevating mechanism (not shown), and one of the unprocessed semiconductor wafers 22 stored therein is placed on the tweezers 43 and held by suction. Next, the tweezers 43 are moved in the X direction to take out the semiconductor wafer 22, and then moved in the Y direction to place the unprocessed semiconductor wafer 22 on the mounting table 44.

Then, the first transport mechanism 24 of the first processing apparatus unit 31 is moved in the left Y direction in the figure, and the unprocessed semiconductor wafer 22 placed on the mounting table 44 of the loading/unloading mechanism 45 is moved.
For example, the upper tweezers 23 receive it and hold it by suction.

Here, the suction holding and alignment operations of the semiconductor wafer 22 by the tweezers 23 will be explained with reference to FIG.

The semiconductor wafer 22 delivered by the loading/unloading mechanism 45 is
The first tweezers 23. Second. Third protrusion 50, 51
．． It will be supported by three points at 52. At this time, the alignment operation of the semiconductor wafer 22 on the tweezers 23 has not yet been performed, and therefore one end surface of the wafer 22 does not come into contact with the guide member 54.

Therefore, as shown in FIG. 3(A), the stopper member 55 is raised and stopped at a position where it can come into contact with the end surface of the semiconductor wafer 22. Thereafter, the tweezers 23 are horizontally moved toward the stopper member 55 without vacuum-chucking the semiconductor wafer with the tweezers 23 . Then, the semiconductor wafer 22
When the tweezers 23 are further moved horizontally even after the end surface of the tweezers 23 comes into contact with the stopper member 55, the semiconductor wafer 22 slides on each of the protrusions 50, 51, 52 of the tweezers 23, and finally touches the guide member 54. It will be stopped when it comes into contact with the At this time, as shown in FIG. 3(B), even if the semiconductor wafer 22 is supported on the tweezers 23 with its center shifted, the arc-shaped portion of the guide member 54 It is possible to position or align the object at that precise position by guiding the object. (See Figure 3(C)).

Here, when carrying out the above-mentioned clear alignment operation, the semiconductor wafer 22 slides on each projection 50°, 51.52, but compared to receiving the wafer 22 with the entire surface of the tweezers 23. , wafer 22
Since the contact area can be considerably reduced, dust generation during this alignment can be suppressed as much as possible.

Further, by employing Teflon, which has low sliding resistance, as the material for each of the projections 50, 5L 52, it is possible to further reduce the generation of dust. Note that the alignment operation of the semiconductor wafer 22 is performed by inserting it between the stopper member 55 and the guide member 54. At this time, the stopper member 55 is attached to a tension coil spring 57 as shown in FIG. Since the wafer 22 can be retracted against the force, the end surface of the wafer 22 is connected to the guide member 5.
4 can be prevented from impacting.

Incidentally, the semiconductor wafer 22 normally has a portion shown in FIG.
), since the orientation flat 22a is provided, the stopper member 55 presses the orientation flat 22a. however,
Alignment is possible even if the orientation flat does not cover part of the stopper.

After the alignment operation is completed as described above, the semiconductor wafer 22 is held by vacuum suction on the tweezers 23. At this time, in this embodiment, the suction opening 53 for vacuum suction is formed only in the third protrusion 52, so that the suction opening 53 extends over a predetermined length region as in conventional tweezers. Compared to the case where the wafer is formed using a wafer, the risk of damaging the back surface of the wafer due to pressure during vacuum suction can be significantly reduced. Therefore, this configuration also makes it possible to solve the problem of dust generation.

Next, the tweezers 23 are moved toward, for example, the HMDS processing mechanism 26 according to the processing process, the semiconductor wafer 22 is set in the HMDS processing mechanism 26, and the
MD S [(CH3) 3S i NH8i (C
H3) 31 is made into a vapor state and applied to the semiconductor wafer 22. At the same time, the loading/unloading mechanism 45 is operated, and the semiconductor wafer 22 to be processed next is transferred from the wafer carrier 42 to 1.
The sheet is taken out and placed on the mounting table 44. Hereafter, operate in the same manner.

When the processing in the HMSD processing mechanism 26 is completed, the first
For example, by moving the transport mechanism 24 of the lower tweezers 23
The semiconductor wafer 22 on which the HMDS processing has been completed is taken out from the HMDS processing mechanism 26 by independent horizontal movement.

Here, by using the processing time in the HMSD processing mechanism 26, move the first transport mechanism 24 to transfer the semiconductor wafer \22 placed on the mounting table 44 to the upper tweezers 23. , after receiving the processed semiconductor wafer 22 using the lower tweezers 23,
The unprocessed semiconductor wafer 22 can be immediately set in the HMDS processing mechanism 26 using the upper tweezers 23, thereby improving throughput. Next, the processed semiconductor wafer 22 held by the lower tweezers 23 is set in the first coating mechanism 29 for the next process.

In the first coating mechanism 29, a required amount of resist is dropped onto the upper surface of the semiconductor wafer 22 by, for example, a spin coating method, and the resist is coated by rotating the semiconductor wafer 22. The semiconductor wafer 22 that has been coated by the first coating mechanism 29 is set in the first pre-bake mechanism 27 and heated by the first transport mechanism 24 for the next process.

As described above, the semiconductor wafer 22 is transferred in order to the HMDS processing mechanism 26 = first coating mechanism 29 - first pre-bake mechanism 27 - first cooling mechanism 28 - second coating mechanism 20. and process each.

When the coating by the second coating mechanism 30, which is the last process in the first processing apparatus unit 31, is completed, the first transfer mechanism 24 is operated to transfer the semiconductor wafer 22 to the semiconductor wafer 22.
For example, take it out with the upper tweezers 23 and move it in the X direction, θ direction, Y direction, and the mounting table 32 of the standby mechanism 33.
The semiconductor wafer 22 is placed on. At this time, the semiconductor wafer 22 that has been processed in the first cooler I2 28 is taken out with the lower tweezers 23, and after the semiconductor wafer 22 that has been coated with the second coating is taken out with the upper tweezers 23, the It can operate to immediately set the semiconductor wafer 22 held by the lower tweezers 23 into the second coating mechanism 30. Further, the first transport mechanism 24 carries the semiconductor wafer 22 on the mounting 832 of the standby mechanism 33.
After placing the first processing device unit 31, the first processing device unit 31 can be freely operated.

Next, the second transport mechanism 4 of the second processing device unit 34
6 in the right Y direction of the figure, for example, the upper tweezers 3.
5, the semiconductor wafer 22 placed on the mounting table 32 of the standby mechanism 33 is received and held after the alignment operation.

This operation can be performed similarly to the tweezers 22 of the first transport mechanism 24. Then, the second transport mechanism 3
6 in the Y direction, X direction, Z direction, and θ direction, and the semiconductor wafer 22 is set in the second prebake mechanism 38, which is the next processing mechanism. Thereafter, if there is a semiconductor wafer 22 for which the coating process by the second coating mechanism 30 of the second processing apparatus unit 31 has been completed, the semiconductor wafer 22 is taken out and transferred by the first transfer mechanism 24 to the mounting table 3. Place it on top.

When the process in the second pre-bake mechanism 38 is completed, the lower tweezers 35 of the second conveyance mechanism 36
The semiconductor wafer 22 that has been processed is taken out. After this, the next semiconductor wafer 22 held by the upper tweezers 35 is transferred to the second pre-bake mechanism 38, and then
The semiconductor wafer 22 held by the lower tweezers 35 is set in the second cooling mechanism 39. This second
The cooling mechanism 39 is followed by the surface coating layer application mechanism 40, and processing is performed in this order.

When the surface coating layer coating mechanism 40 completes the final processing of the embodiment with the above configuration, the semiconductor wafer 22 is taken out from the surface coating layer coating machine (R40) by the second transport mechanism 36 and placed on the standby mechanism 33. Place it on the stand 32.

Next, the first transport mechanism 2 of the first processing device unit 31
4, the semiconductor wafer 22 placed on the mounting table 32 is transported in the left Y direction of the receiving drawing. As described above,
The semiconductor wafer 22 is transferred between the first processing equipment unit 31 and the second processing equipment unit 34 via the above-mentioned mounting table 32, that is, the standby mechanism 33.

When one batch of semiconductor wafers 22 is transported to the left end by the first transport mechanism 24, the semiconductor wafers 22 are transferred to the loading/unloading mechanism 45.
It is placed on the mounting table 44 of. At this time, if the unprocessed semiconductor wafer 22 is already on the mounting table 44, the processed semiconductor wafer 22 is received from the mounting table 44 first.

Next, the semiconductor wafer 22 is held and transported by the tweezers 43 of the loading/unloading mechanism 45, and the processed semiconductor wafer 22 is stored in the wafer carrier 42.

As described above, the semiconductor wafers 22 are sequentially processed in the processing equipment unit 31 of the second section 1, which is carried out from the wafer carrier 42 of the loading/unloading mechanism 45, and transferred to the second processing equipment unit 34 via the standby mechanism 33. send to When the processing in this second processing device unit 34 is completed, the standby mechanism 33
The wafer is transported back to the first processing unit 31 via the wafer carrier 42 and stored in the wafer carrier 42 of the loading/unloading mechanism 45 .

As understood from the above description, the configuration of each processing mechanism of the first processing equipment unit 31 and the second processing equipment unit 34 depends on the required processing process, the time required for each processing, and the transportation of semiconductor wafers. Based on the required time, etc., the number of processing mechanisms can be set so that the throughput is maximized.

Further, when increasing the number of processing mechanisms, the processing device units configured as described above may be connected by the standby mechanism 33, for example, in the right direction in the figure. therefore,
Unlike conventional equipment, since it has only one transport mechanism, semiconductor wafers cannot be transported smoothly, and each processing mechanism requires unnecessary waiting time, which increases the time required for transport. As a result, throughput does not decrease.

That is, even if the number of processing mechanisms increases, it is easy to add them, and the entire apparatus can be set to operate in the best possible condition.

In the above embodiment, an example was explained in which the processing equipment units are arranged in a straight line, but any arrangement may be used as long as they are connected by the standby mechanism 33 and the semiconductor wafer can be transported via the standby mechanism 33. For example, They may be bent at right angles or juxtaposed.

It goes without saying that this standby mechanism 33 may be modified to suit the actual situation.

Further, in the above embodiment, the loading/unloading mechanism 45 for the semiconductor wafer 22 is provided at the left end of the apparatus, but it may be provided at the right side.

In addition, by replacing, for example, the coating machine (h) with a developing mechanism, it can be used as a developing device. Applicable to the device.

The first characteristic configuration of the present invention is to support an object to be processed, such as a semiconductor wafer 22, on the tweezers 23 with a reduced contact area. For stable support,
Protrusions may be formed at three or more locations to enable support. Further, as a second characteristic configuration of the present invention, a suction opening 53 is formed at at least one force point of the protrusion on the tweezers formed as described above, and the suction opening 53 has a relatively narrow area. By suctioning and supporting the semiconductor wafer 22 at the portion 53, the problem of dust generation can be solved to a greater extent than in the past, and this suction opening 53 may be formed in each protrusion.

In addition, in the case where the alignment operation is possible on the tweezers 23, the guide member 54 and the stopper member 55 of the above embodiment can be configured with pins, for example, and various modifications can be made to the shape. is possible.

Furthermore, in order to improve processing throughput, it is preferable that the transport mechanism of the stand be equipped with two bin sets as described above, but it is also possible to install three or more tweezers depending on processing needs. .

[Effects of the Invention] As explained above, according to the present invention, it is possible to place and hold the object to be processed with a relatively small contact area, and furthermore, the object to be processed can be placed and held in the suction opening with a relatively small area. By vacuum adsorption, the effect of both of these configurations is that dust generation when supporting the object to be processed with a bin set can be significantly reduced, making it possible to provide a processing device that is especially suitable for recent miniaturization processing. becomes.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is for explaining a bin set and its drive mechanism when the present invention is applied to semiconductor manufacturing equipment, and FIG. 1 (A) is a plan view of the transport mechanism, and FIG. (C) is a front view with a part of the conveyance mechanism omitted, and FIG. 2 is a side view with a part cut away. 3 is a schematic explanatory diagram for explaining the relationship, FIG. 3 is a schematic explanatory diagram for explaining the alignment operation of the object to be processed on the tweezers, and FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram for explaining the overall configuration of the embodiment apparatus. 5 is a schematic explanatory diagram for explaining a method of transporting a processed object in a conventional processing apparatus, and FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram for explaining a conventional tweezers structure for suctioning and holding a processed object. It is a schematic explanatory diagram. 22... Object to be processed, 23... Bin set, 50-5
2... Protrusion, 53... Adsorption opening, 54...
Guide member, 55...stopper member, 57...biasing member. Agent: Patent attorney Inoue - (1 other person) Funeral map/diagram

Claims (3)

[Claims] (1) In a processing apparatus having a plurality of processing units along a conveyance path of an object to be processed, the object can be adsorbed and moved along the conveyance path, and a A pair of tweezers capable of transferring the object to be processed is provided, and the tweezers have a surface that protrudes from the flat surface of the tweezers at least three places to support the object to be processed, and the object to be processed is evacuated at at least one of the protruding surfaces. A processing device characterized by being capable of adsorption. (2) The tweezers are formed with a guide member that can position the object by coming into contact with the end of the object, and comes into contact with the other end of the object at a position facing the guide member. A feature is that a stopper that can be touched is provided, and by moving the tweezers toward the stopper in a non-adsorbed state with the object supported by the tweezers, it is possible to perform a pre-alignment operation in which the object to be processed comes into contact with the kite member. A processing device according to claim 1. (3) A plurality of tweezers are provided which are integrally moved along the transport path, and each tweezers can independently transfer objects to and from the processing unit. 2. Processing device according to item 2.