JPH04257244A - Water carrier - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To be able to open or close a door at a light torque within a vacuum atmosphere such as a load lock chamber or the like and further hold airtightness completely. CONSTITUTION:A door of a wafer carrier 2 is of a double structure comprising an external door 3 and an internal door 4 and the external door 3 is so supported as to open and close. In the internal door 4, an O-ring 6 in a periphery of an internal wall and a supporting member 7 in a central portion thereof are provided, and an external wall can be moved forwardly or backwardly on the internal wall of the external door 3 through pressing means 5 comprising bellows. The internal door 4 is constituted as follows: if the external door 3 is closed, the internal door 4 is moved forwardly by the pressing means 5, the O-ring 6 elastically comes into contact with an abutment surface 2a of a wafer carrier 2 in an airtight manner, and further the supporting member 7 supports an edge part of a wafer 1.

Description

[Detailed description of the invention]

0001

[Industrial Application Field] The present invention relates to a wafer carrier that can store and place wafers in a vacuum atmosphere, and is capable of opening and closing the door with a small torque in a vacuum chamber such as a load lock chamber, while maintaining complete airtightness. Regarding a wafer carrier that can hold wafers.

In recent years, the development of electronics has been remarkable, and this development is largely due to innovations in semiconductor device manufacturing technology. By the way, in a series of steps from a silicon wafer to finishing a semiconductor element, a process called a wafer process, generally,
Several steps such as oxidation, resist treatment, exposure, development, etching, and impurity introduction are repeated several times, and the wafer is held, moved, and transferred at various points during these steps.

As the degree of integration of semiconductor devices has increased, it has become important to keep wafers clean and transport them during processes such as fine patterning and vacuum processing such as sputtering. An important manufacturing technology is how to bring the product into the factory or take it out.

0004

2. Description of the Related Art As the degree of integration of elements used in semiconductor devices increases and semiconductor devices with ultra-high degree of integration, such as 16 Mbits or 64 Mbits, are developed,
The trend toward miniaturization in the manufacturing process of semiconductor devices is increasing. As a result, clean rooms in which wafer processes are performed, for example, are required to have a high degree of cleanliness, such as class 1 or lower.

[0005] Therefore, in order to reduce the huge cost of constructing such a clean room with high cleanliness, local clean area systems such as clean benches have been adopted, and various types of vacuum processing equipment are being used. are also being considered as a type of local clean area.

Based on the idea that this vacuum is a clean area, wafer carriers have also been designed so that they can be carried with the interior vacuumed when wafers are moved between local clean areas.

FIG. 4 is a partially cutaway perspective view of an example of a wafer carrier, and FIG. 5 is a perspective view of the handling example shown in FIG. In the figure, 1 is a wafer, 2 is a wafer carrier, 2a
is the abutment surface, 2b is the door, 2c is the shaft, 6 is the O-ring, 7 is the support member, 8 is the load-lock chamber, 8a is the load-lock door,
8b is an opening/closing mechanism, 8c is a robot arm, and 8d is an exhaust means.

In FIG. 4, a wafer carrier 2 is a container that stores a plurality of wafers 1, and is also called a vacuum carrier because it can be stored in a vacuum to maintain cleanliness.

An O-ring 6 is provided on the inner peripheral wall of the door 2b of the wafer carrier 2. When the door 2b is closed, the O-ring 6 comes into elastic contact with the abutting surface 2a of the wafer carrier 2, thereby maintaining airtightness inside the wafer carrier 2.

Further, in order to support the stored wafers 1 so that they do not move within the carrier, a support member 7 made of an elastic material such as rubber is provided inside the door 2b. On the other hand, the wafer 1 is stored in this wafer carrier 2, carried into the load lock chamber 8, and the wafer 1
Carrying in and out is carried out.

In FIG. 5, the load lock chamber 8 is connected to, for example, a vacuum processing apparatus (not shown), and the wafer carrier 2 can be taken in and taken out by opening the load lock door 8a provided at the top. It has become. When the wafer carrier 2 is placed in a predetermined position, the opening/closing mechanism 8b is engaged, and the door 2b of the wafer carrier 2 can be opened and closed by remote control from outside the load lock chamber 8.

Further, a robot arm 8c is provided inside the load lock chamber 8.
The wafer 1 is carried out from the wafer carrier 2 to a vacuum processing apparatus connected to the load lock chamber 8, or the wafer 1 is carried into the wafer carrier 2 by c.

Furthermore, the bottom of the load lock chamber 8 is connected to an exhaust means 8d, and when the pressure inside the load lock chamber 8 is reduced to almost the same pressure as the inside of the wafer carrier 2, the door 2b is opened by the opening/closing mechanism 8b. can be opened and closed.

By the way, the door 2b of the conventional wafer carrier 2 has one end pivotally supported on one side of the wafer carrier 2 via a shaft 2c, and an opening/closing mechanism 8b engages with this shaft 2c to rotate the door 2b. The door 2b is configured to open and close.

[0015]

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] Therefore, when closing the door 2b, the O-ring 6 comes into elastic contact with the abutment surface 2a in sequence starting from the O-ring 6 closest to the shaft 2c. Therefore, unless the shaft 2c is rotated with a very strong torque, the door 2b will not be able to fully close with sufficient airtightness. In addition, the O-ring 6 becomes wrinkled due to handling, and the elastic contact between the O-ring 6 and the abutting surface 2a becomes uneven, which often impairs airtightness.

Furthermore, a support member 7 lined on the door 2b
Since it contacts the peripheral edge of the wafer 1 in a circular arc, it rubs the peripheral edge of the wafer 1, causing dust to be generated and reducing the yield in the manufacturing process.

Therefore, the present invention provides a wafer carrier in which the door of the wafer carrier has a double structure, and the inner door comes into elastic contact parallel to the abutting surface of the wafer carrier after the outer door is closed. It is an object.

[0018]

[Means for Solving the Problems] The problem described above is to provide a wafer carrier that is airtight and can store wafers in a vacuum atmosphere, and has an outer door and an inner door, and the outer door is a wafer carrier. The inner door is slidably supported on one side of the wall, and the outer wall is supported by the inner wall of the outer door so as to be able to move forward and backward, and The inner door is moved forward by a pressing means when the outer door is closed, and the O-ring is brought into airtight elastic contact with the abutting surface, and the support member is provided in the center. The solution is a wafer carrier constructed in such a way that the members support the periphery of the wafer.

[0019]

[Operation] When a conventional wafer carrier is removably installed in a load lock chamber, when the door is closed, the O-ring installed on the inner wall is pressed against it, so a strong force is required to close it. Not only that, but the airtightness was occasionally compromised, but in the present invention, the door has a double structure of an outer door and an inner door, so that the O-ring is not handled.

That is, the inner door, which is provided on the inner wall of the outer door via the pressing means, is moved forward and backward by the pressing means. After the outer door is closed, the inner door is moved forward in parallel by a pressing means so that the O-ring is uniformly brought into elastic contact with the abutting surface of the wafer carrier.

[0021] In this way, the outer door can be opened and closed with a small torque, and since no force is applied to the O-ring, stable airtightness can be obtained.

[0022]

[Embodiment] Fig. 1 is a partially cutaway perspective view of one embodiment of the present invention, Fig. 2 is a top sectional view illustrating the opening/closing operation of Fig. 1, and Fig. 3 is a main part of another embodiment of the present invention. It is a top sectional view. In the figure, 1 is a wafer, 2 is a wafer carrier, 2a is a mating surface, 3 is an outer door, 3a is a guide hole, 4 is an inner door, 4a is a guide shaft,
5 is a pressing means, 5a is a gas introduction hole, 5b is a pressurized gas, 6
is an O-ring, and 7 is a support member.

Embodiment 1 In FIGS. 1 and 2, a wafer carrier 2 in which a plurality of wafers 1 are stored is provided with a double door structure including an outer door 3 and an inner door 4. The inner door 4 is supported on the inner wall of the outer door 3 via a plurality of pressing means 5.

An O-ring 6 is provided around the inner wall of the inner door 4, facing the abutting surface 2a of the wafer carrier 2. This O-ring 6 is made of, for example, elastic silicone rubber or urethane rubber. Further, a support member 7 is provided at the center of the inner wall of the inner door 4 to support the peripheral portion so that the wafers 1 stored in the wafer carrier 2 do not move. This support member 7 is also made of elastic silicone rubber, urethane rubber, or the like.

The pressing means 5 is composed of a plurality of bellows sufficient to support the inner door 4, and is configured to allow pressurized gas 5b to be blown into the interior through the gas introduction hole 5a. Since the bellows is always contracted as shown in FIG. 2(A), even if the outer door 3 is closed, the O-ring 6
There is a slight gap between the contact surface 2a and the abutting surface 2a.

On the other hand, when a pressurized gas 5b such as high-pressure nitrogen gas is blown into the gas introduction hole 5a, the bellows extends and the inner door 4 moves forward, as shown in FIG. It comes into elastic contact with the abutment surface 2a of the carrier 2. When the inside of the carrier 2 is in a vacuum state, the inner door 4 is constantly pressed by atmospheric pressure, so that the inside of the wafer carrier 2 is kept airtight.

When carrying out the wafer 1 from the wafer carrier 2 whose interior is evacuated, the wafer carrier 2 is first placed at a predetermined position in a load lock chamber (not shown). Next, the inside of the load lock chamber is evacuated to make the atmospheric pressure the same as that inside the wafer carrier 2. Then, the inner door 4 spontaneously retreats due to contraction of the bellows, which is the pressing means 5, and the O-ring 6 slightly separates from the abutment surface 2a, so that the outer door 3 can be opened. Next, the wafer 1 is carried out by a robot arm (not shown) or the like.

On the other hand, when loading the wafer 1 into the wafer carrier 2, after loading the wafer 1 into the wafer carrier 2 in a depressurized load lock chamber (not shown), first open the outer door 3. Close. Next, the inner door 4 is moved forward by the pressing means 5. That is, pressurized gas 5b is blown through the gas introduction hole 5a to expand the bellows and bring the O-ring 6 into elastic contact with the abutment surface 2a. Next, when the load lock chamber is leaked and returned to atmospheric pressure, the inner door 4 is pressed by atmospheric pressure and the O-ring 6 is closed in close contact with the abutment surface 2a. Then, the wafer carrier 2 is taken out of the load lock chamber and carried as appropriate.

Embodiment 2 In FIG. 3, it is desirable that the inner door 4 move forward and backward parallel to the outer door 3. Therefore, the inner door 4 is provided with a plurality of guide shafts 4a as appropriate, and the outer door 3 is provided with a guide hole 3a into which the guide shafts 4a are slidably fitted. The inner door 4 moves forward and backward while being supported by this guide shaft 4a.

[0030] In this way, the pressing means 5 moves the inner door 4 forward.
Since the function is simply to retreat, it is sufficient to provide only one bellows, for example. Here, a bellows and pressurized gas are used as the pressing means 5, but it is also possible to combine a tension spring such as a coil spring or a leaf spring with a means for mechanically pressing the inner door 4, and various modifications are possible. be.

[0031]

[Effects of the Invention] Conventional wafer carriers that house wafers with a vacuum inside had drawbacks such as requiring strong force to open and close the door and imperfect airtightness, but the wafer carrier of the present invention By having a double door structure, the carrier can be easily opened and closed while maintaining complete airtightness.

As a result, in wafer processes where the degree of integration is increasing and dust contamination must be avoided, the operability of wafer carriers that are placed in vacuum chambers such as load lock chambers and are remotely operated has improved. The present invention greatly contributes to improvements in process efficiency and process efficiency.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a partially cutaway perspective view of an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a top sectional view illustrating the opening/closing operation of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a top sectional view of essential parts of another embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a partially cutaway perspective view of an example of a wafer carrier.

FIG. 5 is a perspective view of the handling example shown in FIG. 4.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 Wafer 2 Wafer carrier 2a Abutment surface 3
Outer door 4 Inner door 5 Pressing means 5a Gas introduction hole 5b Pressurized gas 6 O-ring 7 Support member

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A wafer carrier (2) having an airtight property capable of storing a wafer (1) in a vacuum atmosphere, comprising an outer door (3) and an inner door (4), the outer door (3) having an outer door (3) and an inner door (4).
) is slidably pivoted to one side of the wall of the wafer carrier (2), and is connected to the inner door (4).
The outer wall is pressed against the inner wall of the outer door (3) by means (5).
It is supported so that it can advance and retreat through
), the inner door (4) is moved forward by the pressing means (5) when the outer door (3) is closed, and the O-ring (6) is pressed against the abutment surface (2a).
A wafer carrier characterized in that the support member (7) is in airtight elastic contact with the wafer (1) and supports the peripheral edge of the wafer (1). 2. The pressing means (5) is configured to press the outer door (
The bellows is installed in an airtight manner between the inner wall of the inner door (3) and the outer wall of the inner door (4), and is connected to the gas introduction hole (5a) formed in the outer door (3). When pressurized gas (5b) is blown from the introduction hole (5a),
The wafer carrier according to claim 1, wherein the inner door (4) is extended to advance. [Claim 3] The inner door (4) has a guide shaft (4a).
The wafer carrier according to claim 1, wherein the guide shaft (4a) is slidably fitted into a guide hole (3a) provided in the outer door (3) and moves forward and backward.