JPH02292810A - Manufacturing method of semiconductor substrate - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To obtain a system with which the manufacture and control of a semiconductor wafer treatment process are rationarized by a method wherein an information memory storage necessary for manufacture of the semiconductor wafer is provided, and a reader with which the above-mentioned memory information will be read out is added to the manufacturing device of the semiconductor wafer. CONSTITUTION:A memory storage of information necessary for manufacture of semiconductor wafers is provided, and a means with which the above-mentioned memory information is added to a semiconductor wafer manufacturing device. For example, the above-mentioned information memory storage to be provided on the semiconductor wafer manufacturing device is composed of the bar code which is formed in an orientation flat part using the transfer technique to be used for the manufacture of a semiconductor element. A solid-state image pickup device is provided corresponding to a wafer conveying device 1 as a bar code read out means, the image information of the bar code or a binary signal is converted into the name of product, the name of lot, the name of manufacturing process and the like by an image recognition device, they are fed to the semiconductor manufacturing device, and the prescribed semiconductor manufacturing process is conducted under the prescribed condition of processing.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Industrial Application Field] The present invention relates to a semiconductor manufacturing system, and, for example, to a technique that is effective when used in an automated semiconductor manufacturing system.

[Conventional technology]

In conventional semiconductor manufacturing equipment, processing conditions are manually set each time a product or process changes.

The computer-based automation system for manufacturing equipment is known from ``Very LSI Manufacturing and Testing Equipment'' published by Kogyo Kenkyukai in 1984, pages 23 to 28 (New Layout and Automation of Semiconductor Factories).

[Problem to be solved by the invention]

In the semiconductor manufacturing equipment described above, as the number of product types and processes increases, it takes time to set and switch processing conditions accordingly, reducing throughput. Further, defects may occur due to incorrectly setting processing conditions.

In the future, the manufacturing of semiconductor devices will tend to move toward high-mix, low-volume production. Therefore, the traditional setting of processing conditions manually is a major bottleneck in operating semiconductor manufacturing systems efficiently.

An object of the present invention is to provide a semiconductor manufacturing system that streamlines manufacturing and management in a semiconductor wafer processing process.

The above and other objects and novel features of the present invention will become apparent from the description of this specification and the accompanying drawings.

[Means to solve the problem]

A brief overview of typical inventions disclosed in this application is as follows.

That is, information necessary for manufacturing the semiconductor wafer is written using a bar code formed on the orientation flat portion of the semiconductor wafer, and means for reading the stored information is added to the semiconductor manufacturing system.

[For production]

According to the above-described means, it is possible to easily automatically set processing conditions and manage the progress of manufacturing of semiconductor wafers, which consists of multiple steps, using the read information.

[Embodiment] FIG. 1 shows a schematic plan view of an embodiment of a semiconductor wafer formed in a semiconductor manufacturing system according to the present invention.

As is well known, a semiconductor wafer has a tenon circular shape, and a plurality of rectangular semiconductor chips are formed in a grid pattern.

The semiconductor wafer is provided with an orientation flat portion that determines its direction.

In this embodiment, this portion is used to form a barcode as exemplarily shown in the figure. This barcode records, for example, a product name (256: 256 Kbit dynamic RAM), a lot name (24 lots), and a manufacturing process name (ALL: aluminum wiring first process). The above barcodes are not particularly limited, but
Bright and dark barcodes are recorded by interference colors caused by the presence or absence of the photoresist film used to form the semiconductor chip. FIG. 2 shows a schematic block diagram of an embodiment of a semiconductor manufacturing system according to the present invention.

The wafer transport devices 1 to 3 include, but are not particularly limited to, round belt conveyors, and transport semiconductor wafers.

The wafer transport device 1 receives a semiconductor wafer from a semiconductor wafer supply section (not shown), and transports the semiconductor wafer so as to face in a fixed direction using a direction detecting means using the orientation flat section or the like. In this embodiment, barcode reading means is provided in correspondence with the wafer transport device 1. Although not particularly limited, a solid-state imaging device is used as the barcode reading means. As this solid-state imaging device, for example, MOS type or C
In addition to the CD type, which has an electronic sitter function and uses an area sensor or line sensor to take pictures of barcodes all at once, it also uses a semiconductor wafer transport to capture binary data using a single photoelectric conversion element. It may also be read as a pulse signal. The image information or binary signal of the barcode is processed by the image recognition device using the product name (256:256K).
bit dynamic type RAM) 1 Loft name (24 lots) 1 Manufacturing process name (ALI: Aluminum wiring 1st
process), etc., and supplied to semiconductor manufacturing equipment.

In this embodiment, a wafer store is provided.

This wafer store stores semiconductor wafers in the wafer store section when it takes time to set the processing conditions of the semiconductor manufacturing apparatus.

Alternatively, when the barcode cannot be read accurately, this is treated as a reading error and the semiconductor wafer is temporarily stored. Alternatively, if there are semiconductor wafers that cannot be processed in the semiconductor manufacturing equipment, they are stored. therefore,
The wafer store is controlled by a control signal from the image recognition device or semiconductor manufacturing equipment, and has a wafer transport device 2 so as to take in the semiconductor wafers transported to its entrance.
and 3 operation controls are performed.

Specifically, a sensor is provided at the semiconductor wafer transfer section between wafer transport devices 1 and 2 and 2 and 3, and when the semiconductor wafer is sent to the wafer transport device 3, the operation of the wafer transport device 2 is stopped. When the wafer transport device 3 starts operating, the semiconductor wafer is taken into the wafer store. If the wafer transport device 2 continues to operate as it is,
A semiconductor wafer is set in a semiconductor manufacturing apparatus, and a certain semiconductor manufacturing process is performed under processing conditions set according to the read information. After that process is completed, the wafer is sent to the next process by a wafer transport device similar to the above.

By adopting the above configuration, the processing conditions of the semiconductor manufacturing equipment are automatically set, which makes it possible to set the processing conditions accurately in a shorter time than manually, which increases the throughput of the manufacturing system. This enables a significant improvement in

In addition, defects caused by human error can be prevented,
It becomes possible to improve product yield. Particularly in a semiconductor manufacturing line that produces a wide variety of products in small quantities, the above-mentioned processing conditions have to be set frequently, so automatic setting of processing conditions is of great significance.

The wafer reading information of the image recognition device, the operation information of the wafer store, and the processing completion information of the semiconductor manufacturing apparatus are input to a manufacturing management computer (not shown), so that the manufacturing status can be displayed in real time. For example, by specifying a product name, it is possible to immediately know how many semiconductor wafers corresponding to that product exist in which process.

This enables rationalization of manufacturing management. That is,
In semiconductor manufacturing systems where semiconductor manufacturing equipment does not have a function to automatically set processing conditions, it is possible to display the entire manufacturing status by simply reading the processing status of semiconductor wafers for each of the above steps and inputting that information into a computer etc. This makes it possible to streamline manufacturing management. The effects obtained from the above examples are as follows. That is, (11) the semiconductor wafer is provided with an information storage section necessary for its manufacture, and means for reading the stored information is added to the semiconductor wafer manufacturing apparatus. In this configuration, the stored information allows
Since the processing conditions of the semiconductor manufacturing apparatus can be automatically set, even if the specifications differ for each semiconductor wafer, it is possible to carry out the manufacturing process corresponding to the specifications.

(2) According to (1) above, it is possible to improve the throughput of the system since the time and effort required to set conditions is saved. (3) The automatic setting of processing conditions according to (1) above has the effect of preventing human errors. (4) The automatic setting of processing conditions according to (1) above has the effect of preventing human contamination.

(5) By configuring the information storage section with a barcode formed on the orientation flat section using a transfer technology used in the manufacture of semiconductor devices, it is possible to prevent an increase in the number of special barcode setting steps, and to The effect is that the barcode can be rewritten for each process.

(6) By adding the automatic processing condition setting function and barcode reading means to each semiconductor manufacturing device, it is possible to achieve completely unmanned semiconductor wafer processing. Although the invention made by the present inventor has been specifically explained based on Examples above, the present invention is not limited to the above-mentioned Examples, and it is understood that various changes can be made without departing from the gist thereof. Needless to say. For example, the product name, loft number, or processing conditions may use a bar code or specific symbols or characters. The recording section may utilize the back surface of the semiconductor wafer or the surface on which no semiconductor chip is formed, in addition to the orientation flat section. The information recorded in the recording section may include various data such as information necessary for manufacturing control such as the shipping date and the like. In addition to the above-mentioned round belt conveyor, the means for transporting the semiconductor wafers may be any means such as an air conveyor or a combination thereof.

This invention can be widely used as a semiconductor manufacturing system.

〔Effect of the invention〕

A brief explanation of the effects obtained by typical inventions disclosed in this application is as follows. That is, by writing information necessary for manufacturing the semiconductor wafer using a bar code formed on the orientation flat part, and by adding a means for reading the stored information to the semiconductor manufacturing system,
The read information allows automatic setting of processing conditions and easy understanding of the progress of semiconductor wafer manufacturing, which consists of multiple steps.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic plan view showing an embodiment of a semiconductor wafer processed by a semiconductor manufacturing system according to the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a schematic block diagram showing an embodiment of the semiconductor manufacturing system according to the present invention. be.

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1. A semiconductor manufacturing system, characterized in that a semiconductor wafer is provided with an information storage section necessary for its manufacture, and a means for reading the stored information is added to a semiconductor wafer manufacturing apparatus. 2. Claim 1, characterized in that the information storage section provided on the semiconductor wafer is constituted by a bar code formed on the orientation flat section by a transfer technique used in the manufacture of semiconductor devices. The semiconductor manufacturing system described in Section 1.