JPH03270253A - Wafer treatment device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To enable a wafer to be aligned and its position to be detected in a short time by a providing a roller which contacts a lower peripheral edge of each stored wafer and can be rotated and by providing a pair of detection elements consisting of a light-projecting element and a light-receiving element which are provided at a position which is engaged to a peripheral part of each stored wafer, corresponding to a specified number of stored wafers. CONSTITUTION:A retaining member 2 where each wafer 1 is placed, a roller 10 which allows the wafer in contact with a lower peripheral edge thereof to be lifted, and to be rotated, a light-projecting part 34 which emits light to each wafer 1 which is provided within the retaining member 2, a detection part 30 which enables presence or absence of the wafer 1 to be detected by emitted light, and a signal processing part 40 which outputs a state of a wafer arrangement according to this detection part output are provided. Thus, the presence or absence of the wafer and its position can be collectively detected instantly by shutting off or reflecting light which is projected from the light-projecting element 34 by each aligned wafer 1 and by detecting in a signal processer 40 a change in quantity of light of the light-receiving element 30 which receives this light, thus enabling the wafer 1 to be aligned and its position to be detected in a short time.

Description

[Detailed description of the invention] [Purpose of the invention] (Industrial application field) The present invention relates to a wafer processing apparatus.

(Prior art) Japanese Patent Publication No. 1-59 describes a technique in which the orientation flats of a plurality of wafers housed in a carrier are aligned at once by a rotating roller.
This is Publication No. 739.

Also, check whether there are multiple wafers stored in the carrier.
JP-A-63-1334 and JP-A-63-1 have the same number of photodetectors as the number of wafers to be stored and detect the wafers at one time.
There is a publication No. 20958.

(Problem to be Solved by the Invention) When carrying out a process such as film formation or etching on a wafer housed in a carrier, conventional techniques are used to align the orientation flat of the wafer and detect the presence or absence of a wafer housed in the carrier. In the conventional method, an independent orientation flat alignment station section and a wafer counting station section were provided, and carriers were conveyed by a carrier conveying device between these stations to perform predetermined orientation flat alignment and wafer detection.

Since the carrier is transported by the carrier transport device as described above, there is an improvement in that dust is generated during carrier transport and adheres to the wafer, resulting in defective semiconductor devices.

In addition, since two spaces are required for the orientation flat alignment station and the wafer counting station, the wafer processing equipment becomes large, and an expensive lean room in which the wafer processing equipment is installed is unnecessarily occupied. have

Furthermore, after the orientation flat alignment is performed in the orientation flat alignment station section, the carrier is transferred to the wafer counting station section using the carrier conveying device and wafer detection is performed, so there is an improvement point in that a large amount of processing time is required.

Another problem is that the rewafer processing apparatus, which requires a carrier transport device for transporting carriers between the orientation flat alignment station section and the wafer counting station section, is large, complex, and expensive.

This invention has been made in view of the above points, and is a wafer processing method that can align the orientation flats of a plurality of wafers in a predetermined posture, and detect the presence or absence and position of a plurality of wafers in a wafer storage/holding unit in a short time. It provides equipment.

[Structure of the invention]

(Means for Solving Problem No. 111) The present invention includes a holding member on which each wafer is arranged at predetermined intervals, and a holding member provided on the holding member that contacts and raises the lower periphery of the wafer to rotate the wafer. a light projecting section provided in the holding member that irradiates light onto each of the wafers; a detection section that detects the presence or absence of a wafer using the light irradiated by the light projecting section; A signal processing section is provided which outputs the state of the wafer array based on the output of the detection section.

(Function) The present invention stores a plurality of wafers vertically and rotatably within a vertical plane at predetermined intervals, and provides a rotatable roller that abuts the lower peripheral edge of each of the stored wafers.
Furthermore, pairs of detection elements each consisting of a light emitting element and a light receiving element are arranged at positions that fit around the peripheral edges of each of the stored wafers, and are arranged in correspondence with a predetermined number of stored wafers.

Therefore, the rotation of the roller allows the orientation flat of the wafer to be aligned with the holding member in a predetermined posture.

In addition, each wafer blocks or reflects the light emitted from the light emitting element, and changes in the light intensity of the light receiving element that receives this light are detected by an electrically connected signal processing unit to instantly determine the presence or absence of the wafer and its position. Batch detection is possible (Embodiment) An embodiment of the wafer processing apparatus of the present invention will be specifically described below with reference to the drawings.

In FIG. 1, the plurality of wafers 1 have a wafer size of 6 inches, an outer diameter of 150 + m + an orientation flat length of 60 an,
The periphery of the wafer 1 is inserted into a groove 3 formed in a U-shape in cross section when the guide 2 is viewed from above in a vertical direction above the middle part of the guide 2 made of a soft resin such as a fluororesin. is housed vertically and rotatably, and the guide 2 is placed on a mounting table 4 having an opening 5.
It is listed on.

The opening portion 5 has a groove portion 7 provided so as to fit a plurality of the wafers 1 thereinto, and a raised portion 6 provided so that the wafers 1 can be accommodated and raised and lowered by an unillustrated lifting mechanism; Two rollers 10 and a wafer detector 30 are provided, and the details will be explained using FIG. 2.

The two rollers 10 have a diameter of 20 mm and are made of a soft resin, such as a fluororesin, and are configured to be rotatable about a central shaft 11. 21 is installed, a belt 22 is stretched between the two rollers 10 and the pulley 21, and the two rollers 10 can be rotated in the same direction by the rotation of the motor 20.

Further, the roller mechanism 12 consisting of the two rollers 10 and the motor 20 is configured to be able to be raised and lowered by a lifting mechanism (not shown).

Further, the spacing between the two rollers 10 can be adjusted depending on the size of the wafer 1 and the length of the orientation flat.

Next, a wafer detector 30 is provided parallel to the roller 10 between the two rollers IO.

The wafer detector 30 is made by molding ceramics or resin such as Delrin (trade name), and has a plurality of grooves 32, and on the inner facing surface of each groove 32 there is a light emitting element as shown in FIG. A detection element pair 38 consisting of a light receiving element 34 and a light receiving element 36 is provided, and this detection element pair 38 is electrically connected to a signal processing section 40 for detecting the presence or absence of a wafer.

The pitch of the grooves 32 of the wafer detector 30 is 3/16 inch, which is the groove pitch of the wafer carrier in which the wafer is stored, which is approximately 4.7 m, and the width A of the grooves 32 is approximately 2.7 m.
The thickness B of the convex portion 31 is assumed to be 2 m at m+.

Since it is not possible to arrange a plurality of light emitting elements 34 and light receiving elements 36 coaxially within 2IffllI of the thickness B of this convex portion 31, the detection elements 38 are arranged alternately as shown in FIG.・.

Further, since the wafer detector 30 is provided between the two rollers 10, the width W of the wafer detector 30 is 15 m+, and the thickness B of the convex portion 31 is as thin as 2 m+, so the depth C of the groove portion 32 is
Considering the mechanical strength of the protrusion 31 made of Delrin, the deformation of Delrin after molding, and other deformations over time, it is difficult to make it 5 m or more, and in this example, the depth C of the groove 32 is The above limit was set to 5I1111.

For this reason, it is desirable for the wafer detector 30 to fit into the orientation flat position where the plurality of wafers 1 are aligned in order to accurately detect the wafers.

Next, a wafer counting method for aligning the orientation flat of a plurality of wafers 1 and detecting the presence/absence and position of a plurality of wafers 1 using the apparatus of the above embodiment will be described.

Two rollers 10 are brought into contact with the lower peripheral edges of the plurality of wafers l housed in the guide 2.

The roller mechanism 12 is raised by a lifting mechanism (not shown).

motor 20 to rotate the pulley 21. belt 22
The two rollers 10 are rotated in the same direction.

The plurality of wafers 1 are rotated by contact with the rotating roller 10, and the rotation continues until the orientation flat portion is on the lower side.

When the orientation flat portion of the wafer 1 is on the lower side, the orientation flat portion and the roller 10 are separated and the rotation of the wafer 1 is automatically stopped.

After the orientation flats of all the wafers 1 are aligned, the motor 20 stops rotating, and the roller 20 stops rotating.

Next, the wafer detector 30 is raised by a lifting mechanism (not shown), and the groove part 32 of the wafer detector 30 is fitted into the orientation flat part of the plurality of aligned wafers.

When the light emitting element 34 provided in the wafer detector 30 emits infrared light, the infrared light does not enter the light receiving element 36 of the groove 32 in which the wafer 1 is fitted, which faces the light emitting element 34. First, an electric signal proportional to the amount of light received by the light receiving element 36 is transmitted to the signal processing section 40, and the presence or absence and position of the wafer 1 are detected.

In the same way as described above, the presence or absence and position of the plurality of wafers 1 in all the grooves 32 are instantaneously detected, a signal is transmitted to the next process equipment (not shown), and further displayed on a monitor device (not shown).

Next, the push-up portion 6 is raised by a lifting mechanism (not shown) so that the peripheral edge of the wafer 1 fits into the groove portion 7 of the push-up portion 6 disposed on both sides of the two rollers 10, and the plurality of wafers 1 are raised. Guide 2 at a time with the orientation flat aligned
The wafer 1 is pushed upward, and the wafer is transported to the next process using a wafer chuck (not shown).

If the light projecting element 34 uses infrared light, the light receiving element 36 should be infrared light with high light receiving sensitivity.

Alternatively, by providing an optical filter that passes only infrared light, the influence of a light source such as indoor lighting can be eliminated, and the wafer 1 can be detected accurately.

Note that the present invention is not limited to the above-mentioned embodiments, and various modifications can be made within the scope of the gist of the present invention.

In the embodiment described above, a guide 2 for storing a plurality of wafers 1 is used, but instead of this guide 2, a wafer carrier made of resin, such as fluororesin, for storing 25 wafers may be used. In this case, after orientation flat alignment and wafer counting are completed, the roller machine 1112 and wafer detector 30 are lowered by a lifting mechanism (not shown), and the carrier 1 containing a plurality of wafers 1 is transferred to the next process using, for example, a carrier conveying device. May be transported.

If the aligned orientation flat position is to be, for example, upward, one of the two rollers 10 is brought into contact with the peripheral edge of the wafer 1, and the roller 10 is placed at a predetermined height from the position where the orientation flat alignment is performed. By raising the roller 10 and rotating the roller 10 a predetermined amount, the orientation flat position can be moved upward.

Further, in this embodiment, the wafer detection element pair 38 has been described using a transmission type, but it is a matter of course that a reflection type detection element pair may be used.

A light emitting diode can be used as the light emitting element, and a photodiode, a phototransistor, a solar cell type thin photodetector, etc. can be used as the light receiving element.

Further, the number of rotating rollers 10 for aligning the orientation flat is not limited to two, but may be one or three or more.

The wafer detection section 30 may be provided on at least one side of the push-up section 6.

Further, the above-mentioned application examples of the wafer processing apparatus can be effectively used in each process of semiconductor devices, and can be used in heat treatment equipment, etching equipment, ion implantation equipment, inspection equipment, resist coating equipment, carrier stocker equipment, etc.

For example, by utilizing the present invention in the process of transferring multiple wafers from multiple carriers to a heat treatment boat in horizontal heat treatment equipment or vertical heat treatment equipment, the heat treatment equipment can be configured to be compact, and the wafer transfer It can be done in a short time.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As explained above, according to the present invention, it is possible to align the orientation flats of a plurality of wafers in a predetermined posture, and to detect the presence or absence and position of a large number of wafers within a wafer storage and holding member in a short time. It has a remarkable effect of becoming.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram of a wafer storage section of an embodiment of the wafer processing apparatus according to the present invention, FIG. 2 is a partial explanatory diagram of FIG. 1, and FIGS. 3 and 4 are explanatory diagrams of the wafer detector of FIG. 2. It is a diagram. 1...Wafer 2...Guide 6...
Push-up section lO...Roller 20...Motor 30...Wafer detector 40...Signal processing section Figure 1 Figure 2 Procedural amendment letter Dear Commissioner of the Japan Patent Office, November 2009. -7 Year, Month, Day 1, Display of the case 1990 Patent Application No. 71560 2, Name of the invention Wafer processing equipment 3゜Relationship with the case Patent applicant 3210 Hongo, Shiroyama-cho, Tsukui-gun, Kanagawa Prefecture No. 14, Detailed explanation of the invention column 5 of the specification subject to the amendment, page 2, lines 4 to 5 of the specification of the contents of the amendment "JP-A-63-13"
No. 34, JP-A No. 63-20958 J to 1 JP-A No. 6),
, , , , , , No. 13344, JP-A-64-743”. Figure 3 8

Claims (1)

[Claims] a holding member on which each wafer is arranged at predetermined intervals; a roller provided on the holding member and configured to abut and rise against the lower peripheral edge of the wafer to rotate the wafer; a light projecting section that irradiates each of the wafers with light, a detection section that detects the presence or absence of a wafer using the light irradiated by the light projecting section, and a signal that outputs the state of the wafer row based on the output of this detection section. A wafer processing apparatus comprising a processing section.