JPH05136245A - Semiconductor manufacturing device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To reduce an installation space and enhance a space factor and an operation rate of a device by laying out a processing section and a carrier passage 1500mm above from a floor level. CONSTITUTION:An etching device of a semiconductor device 1 comprises a processing mechanism A and a carrier mechanism B. There is provided a maintenance passage 20 whose width (W) is 800mm, for example, between the rows of the both mechanisms. A carrier passage of a wafer 25 by the carrier mechanism B and a load lock chamber 30 and a processing chamber of the processing mechanism A are formed at the height of about 1850mm from the level of a floor 2. An elevator 23 lifts a wafer cassette 25 so as to carry out etching processing for the wafer 25, which al lows the wafer to be carried and processed at an elevation of high purity above an ordinal working area in a clean room. This construction makes it possible to prevent the adherence of dust on the wafer and enhance the yield. Furthermore, it is possible to lay out a vacuum pump 32 or the like below and hence reduce an installation space and a space factor.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a semiconductor manufacturing apparatus.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Generally, in a semiconductor manufacturing process, dust has an adverse effect on the formation of a fine circuit pattern on a semiconductor wafer or the like, so that a flow of clean air (downflow) is formed from the ceiling to the floor. Most of the steps are carried out in a clean room. Therefore, semiconductor manufacturing equipment such as an etching equipment, a CVD equipment, a sputtering equipment, and an ion implantation equipment is arranged in a clean room.

By the way, in the semiconductor manufacturing process, an object to be processed, for example, a semiconductor wafer is housed in a so-called wafer cassette configured to accommodate a plurality of semiconductor wafers, for example, 25 semiconductor wafers, and is transported between the processes. Therefore, the semiconductor manufacturing apparatus includes a processing unit that performs a predetermined process such as an etching process, a CVD film forming process, a sputtering process, and an ion implantation process on a semiconductor wafer, and a processing unit between the processing unit and the wafer cassette. In many cases, a semiconductor wafer is carried and a carrying mechanism for carrying the semiconductor wafer in and out of the processing section is provided.

Further, when processing is performed in such a semiconductor manufacturing apparatus, an operator (or a transfer robot or the like) needs to place a wafer cassette at a predetermined position of the transfer mechanism. For this reason, the above-mentioned transfer mechanism is arranged, for example, at a height of 700 to 800 mm from the floor surface, and the transfer path and the processing section of this transfer mechanism are accordingly arranged at a height of, for example, 700 to 800 mm from the floor surface. It is arranged.

[0005]

However, in recent years, semiconductor devices have tended to be highly integrated and miniaturized rapidly, and along with this, in the semiconductor manufacturing process, the number of semiconductor manufacturing apparatuses has increased with the increase in the number of processes. However, there are problems such as an increase in occupied area in the clean room and a decrease in operating rate due to the increase of the amount of dust, and a decrease in yield due to adhesion of dust.

Therefore, even in the semiconductor manufacturing apparatus as described above, the installation space can be further reduced to improve the space factor, the maintainability can be improved to improve the operation rate of the apparatus, and the dust on the object to be processed can be improved. It is required to prevent the adherence of the particles and improve the yield.

The present invention has been made in response to such a conventional situation, and can reduce the installation space and improve the space factor as compared with the conventional one.
An object of the present invention is to provide a semiconductor manufacturing apparatus capable of improving the maintainability and improving the operation rate of the apparatus, and further preventing the adhesion of dust to an object to be processed and improving the yield.

[0008]

That is, a semiconductor manufacturing apparatus of the present invention comprises a processing unit for performing a predetermined process on an object to be processed,
In a semiconductor manufacturing apparatus having a transfer mechanism for transferring the object to be processed to the processing chamber section, a transfer path of the processing section and the transfer mechanism is arranged to be located at least 1500 mm or more above a floor surface. And

[0009]

In the semiconductor manufacturing apparatus of the present invention having the above-mentioned structure, the processing section and the transfer path of the transfer mechanism for transferring the object to be processed such as a semiconductor wafer to the processing section are at least 1500 mm from the floor surface.
It is arranged so as to be located above.

That is, various equipments are usually set so that their working area is within the range of 0 to 1500mm from the floor, assuming the height of the operator (about 1500 to 1800mm). In the apparatus, the transport path of the processing section and the transport mechanism is arranged above the normal work area of the operator.

Therefore, the semiconductor wafer or the like is conveyed and processed in the upper part of the clean room having a relatively high cleanliness, which is not affected by the dust generated by the operator or the like, and the adhesion of the dust to the semiconductor wafer or the like is prevented. Therefore, the yield can be improved.

Further, by arranging the transport path of the transport mechanism at a high position, various mechanisms such as a gas box and a controller can be disposed below the transport path, so that the installation space can be reduced and the space factor can be reduced as compared with the conventional one. Can be improved.

Further, it becomes possible to easily access the mechanism such as the gas box and the controller provided in the lower part of the transport path, and it is possible to improve the maintainability and improve the operation rate of the apparatus.

[0014]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment in which the present invention is applied to an etching apparatus for etching a semiconductor wafer will be described below with reference to the drawings.

As shown in FIG. 1, the semiconductor manufacturing apparatus 1 is
For example, it is provided on the floor 2 of a clean room made of punching metal or the like. Clean room ceiling 3
A downflow of purified air is formed from the floor 2 to the floor 2 by a purified air circulation mechanism (not shown).
A dry pump 4, a utility unit 5 and the like are provided below. The height T0 from the floor 2 to the ceiling 3 of the clean room is set to 3000 mm, for example.

The semiconductor manufacturing apparatus 1 includes a plurality of, for example, 10 etching apparatuses 1 arranged as shown in FIG.
0 to 19 and each etching device 10 to
19 is composed of a processing mechanism A and a transport mechanism B. Further, a maintenance passage 20 having a width W, for example, 800 mm, is provided between the rows of the etching apparatuses 10 to 19. The height T1 of the maintenance passage 20 from the floor 2 is set to, for example, about 1000 mm.
An operator can ride on the maintenance passage 20 to perform maintenance of the etching apparatuses 10 to 19 and mainly to perform maintenance of a processing chamber 31 and the like (which is provided at a position higher than the floor 2) described later. It is configured to be able to. In addition, in the lower part of the maintenance passage 20, for example, vacuum exhaust, processing gas supply, processing gas exhaust,
A pipe 21 for cooling water circulation or the like is provided.

As shown in FIG. 1, the transfer mechanism B has a height T2 of the upper surface from the floor 2 of 1500 mm or more, for example, about 1850 mm, which is a normal value when the wafer cassette 22 is placed by an operator or the like. Mounting height T3 (eg 700-800m
It is provided with a cassette elevator 23 for raising and lowering from m) to the upper surface of the transport mechanism B. And
This cassette elevator 23 allows the wafer cassette 22
The wafer tweezers 24 as shown in FIG.
Thus, the semiconductor wafer 25 is taken out of the raised wafer cassette 22 and conveyed.

The height T2 of the upper surface of the transfer mechanism B from the floor 2 is set to 1500 mm or more so as to be above the working area of a normal operator, but if it is too high, the height of the ceiling 3 of the clean room will be high. Therefore, the height T2 is preferably about 1500 to 2000 mm, and more preferably 1800 to 1900 mm, which is higher than the average height of the operator.

Further, the processing mechanism A includes a load lock chamber 3
0, processing chamber 31, vacuum pump 32, gas box 33,
The load lock chamber 30 and the processing chamber 31 are provided at a transfer height T2 (about 1850 mm) of the semiconductor wafer 25 by the wafer tweezers 24 in correspondence with the transfer mechanism B. Vacuum pump 32,
The gas box 33, the controller 34, and the like are provided below the load lock chamber 30 and the processing chamber 31. The load lock chamber 30 is used for loading the semiconductor wafer 25 into the processing chamber 31, and the semiconductor wafer 2 is loaded.
Two unloading units 5 may be provided to unload the processing unit 5 from the processing chamber 31.

That is, in this embodiment, the transport mechanism B
A transfer path of the semiconductor wafer 25 by the (wafer tweezers 24), a load lock chamber 30 of the processing mechanism A, a processing chamber 3
The processing unit such as 1 is formed at a height (T2) of about 1850 mm from the floor 2. The cassette elevator 23 raises the wafer cassette 22 to this height, and the semiconductor wafer 25 is transferred at this height for etching. It is configured to perform the process.

In the semiconductor manufacturing apparatus 1 of the present embodiment having the above-mentioned structure, the predetermined etching apparatus 1 for performing the etching process is used.
The cassette elevators 23 of 0 to 19 are lowered in advance to the usual mounting height T3 (for example, 700 to 800 mm). Then, the wafer cassette 22 accommodating the semiconductor wafer 25 is placed on the cassette elevator 23 of the etching apparatuses 10 to 19 by an operator or a transfer robot.

Then, the etching devices 10 to 19
Raises the cassette elevator 23 to transfer the wafer cassette 22 from the floor 2 to a height (T2) of about 1850 mm. Then, the semiconductor wafer 25 is transported by the wafer tweezers 24 at this height position, and the semiconductor wafer 25 is positioned in front of the load lock chamber 30.

Thereafter, the semiconductor wafer 25 is loaded into the processing chamber 31 via the load lock chamber 30 by the transfer arm provided in the load lock chamber 30.

After that, a predetermined etching gas is introduced into the processing chamber 31 to perform a predetermined etching process on the semiconductor wafer 25, and when the etching process is completed, the processed semiconductor wafer 25 is reversely processed. The processing chamber 31
It is unloaded from the inside and accommodated in the wafer cassette 22.

When the etching processing of all the semiconductor wafers 25 in the wafer cassette 22 is completed, the cassette elevator 23 is lowered to the above-mentioned mounting height (T3) of the wafer cassette 22 (for example, 700 to 800 mm). The wafer cassette 22 is unloaded by an operator, a transfer robot, or the like.

That is, in the semiconductor manufacturing apparatus 1 described above, the load lock chamber 30 and the processing chamber 31 of the processing mechanism A are provided.
Then, the transfer path by the wafer tweezers 24 of the transfer mechanism B for transferring the semiconductor wafer 25 to them is arranged at a height of at least 1500 mm or more above the floor surface of the floor 2, for example, at a height of about 1850 mm.

Therefore, the semiconductor wafer 25 is transported and etched at a position above the normal working area of an operator or the like in a clean room and at a relatively high cleanliness position where it is not affected by dust generated by the operator or the like. As a result, dust can be prevented from adhering to the semiconductor wafer 25 and the yield can be improved.

Further, by arranging these devices at a high position, various mechanisms such as the vacuum pump 32, can be provided below the devices.
It is possible to arrange the gas box 33, the controller 34, etc., so that the installation space can be reduced and the space factor can be improved as compared with the conventional case.

Further, it becomes possible for the operator to easily access various mechanisms, such as the vacuum pump 32, the gas box 33, and the controller 34, which are provided in the lower part of the transport path, and the maintainability can be improved. .. Further, for example, like a conventional semiconductor manufacturing apparatus,
If the semiconductor wafer transfer path or the like is provided at a low position, for example, even when performing maintenance on an adjacent device, dust generated by an operator or the like may be attached. Adjacent devices also need to be shut down. That is, for example, when performing maintenance on the etching apparatus 11, it is necessary to stop the adjacent etching apparatuses 10 and 12,
Even in such a case, in the semiconductor manufacturing apparatus 1 of the present embodiment, the adjacent etching apparatuses 10, 12 and the like carry and process the semiconductor wafer 25 at a position higher than the work area of the operator. 1
Dust does not adhere to the semiconductor wafer 25 processed by 0, 12, etc.
It is not necessary to stop 0, 12, etc. Therefore, the device operating rate can be improved.

In the above embodiment, each processing mechanism A
An example in which different transport mechanisms B are provided in each of the above has been described. However, as shown in FIG. 3, a plurality of (five in this embodiment) processing mechanisms A arranged linearly (two in this embodiment). )
It may be configured such that a linear transport mechanism C is provided in front of each and the transport mechanism C is commonly used. In this case, for example, the height of the transfer path of the semiconductor wafer 25 by the wafer holding mechanism 40 of the transfer mechanism C, the load lock chambers 30a and 30b of the processing mechanism A, and the processing chamber 31 are set to a height of 1850 mm from the floor 2, for example. It

In this embodiment, for example, the processing mechanism A
A cassette stocker D for accommodating a plurality of wafer cassettes 22 and a delivery mechanism E are provided at the ends of the rows. Then, the wafer holding mechanism 41 of the transfer mechanism E takes out the semiconductor wafers 25 in the wafer cassette 22 provided in the cassette stocker D, and the wafer stocker 4 configured so that a plurality of semiconductor wafers 25 can be placed.
Place on 2. Then, the semiconductor wafer 25 placed on the wafer stocker 42 is received by the wafer holding mechanism 40 of each transfer mechanism C and transferred to the front of each processing mechanism A. In addition, the wafer cassette 22
The cassette stocker D is provided with a cassette elevator (not shown) for vertically moving the.

In the example shown in FIG. 3, each processing mechanism A has a load lock chamber 3 for loading the semiconductor wafer 25.
0a and a load lock chamber 30b for unloading are provided, but one load lock chamber 30 may be used for loading and unloading as in the above-described embodiment.

Also in the embodiment configured as described above,
It is possible to obtain the same effect as that of the above-described embodiment, and further,
By using the common transport mechanism C, the installation space can be reduced and the space factor can be improved.

In each of the above-mentioned embodiments, an example in which the present invention is applied to an etching apparatus has been described, but the present invention is not limited to such an embodiment, and for example, CV
It can be applied to any semiconductor manufacturing apparatus such as a D apparatus, a sputtering apparatus, and an ion implantation apparatus.

[0035]

As described above, according to the semiconductor manufacturing apparatus of the present invention, the installation space can be reduced and the space factor can be improved as compared with the conventional one, and the maintainability can be improved to operate the apparatus. The yield can be improved by preventing the adhesion of dust to the object to be processed and further improving the yield.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a vertical section of a semiconductor manufacturing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a top surface of a semiconductor manufacturing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a configuration of a semiconductor manufacturing apparatus according to another embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Semiconductor Manufacturing Equipment 2 Floor of Clean Room 3 Ceiling of Clean Room 4 Dry Pump 5 Power Unit 10-19 Etching Device 20 Maintenance Passage 21 Piping 22 Wafer Cassette 23 Cassette Elevator 24 Wafer Tweezers 25 Semiconductor Wafer 30 Load Lock Chamber 31 Processing Room 32 Vacuum Pump 33 Gas box 34 Controller A Processing mechanism B Transfer mechanism

Front Page Continuation (72) Inventor Hideyuki Tokumaru 3500 Matsuoka, Oita City, Oita Prefecture Toshiba Corporation Oita Plant

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A processing unit for performing a predetermined process on an object to be processed,
In a semiconductor manufacturing apparatus having a transfer mechanism for transferring the object to be processed to the processing chamber section, a transfer path of the processing section and the transfer mechanism is arranged to be located at least 1500 mm or more above a floor surface. And semiconductor manufacturing equipment.