JPS61136234A - Rotary continuous vapor-phase vacuum processing device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To improve the productivity of the titled device by a method wherein a rotatable inner vacuum vessel is provided in an external vacuum vessel, and a constitution with which a different vapor-phase process can be continuously performed by rotating the inner vacuum vessel is provided. CONSTITUTION:The substrates to be processed are carried into chambers A-D successively using a carry-in and carry-out device at the position of the chamber A. Subsequently, the external vessel 2 is evacuated, and the inner vessel 5 is evacuated to the degree of vacuum suitable for processing. After the above- mentioned preparation is finished, a plasma polymelizing process, the second electron beam irradiating process, and a reactive ion etching process are performed successively in the above-mentioned order by rotating the inner vessel 5 at 90 deg. angle to each position of processing. After the processes for all substrates are finished, the processed substrates located in each chamber are carried out at the position of the chamber A by the carry-out device. As a series of disposition processes can be performed on the substrates without picking them out to outside, the substrates to be processed can be prevented from contamination of dust and the effect of change is temperature, humidity and the like affecting to the sunstrates can also be avoided substantially.

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] The inventive feature is a vacuum that allows different gas phase treatments to be performed continuously without taking the vacuum chamber out! This type of vacuum process includes plasma polymerization equipment (ion etching and ion fv-ting), plasma polymerization,
, widely used in VLSI semiconductor manufacturing, etc. ◎ Traditionally, separate equipment has been used for each of these different processes, so the objects to be processed (e.g., substrates) have to be taken in and out of the vacuum processing tank for each processing step. Therefore, after putting the material to be processed into the vacuum treatment tank, it is evacuated to the required level with a vacuum pump, and after the scheduled treatment, the tank is opened to the entire atmosphere again and the material to be processed is removed. It is necessary to take it out and move it to the next process, which not only takes time, but also has the drawback of increasing the load on the exhaust system in relatively large equipment. Taking these points into consideration, a vacuum gummy processing device that can carry out various different processes in one vacuum processing tank has also been proposed.One example is a plate-making device used in the production of integrated circuits, which was introduced in 1986. It is disclosed in Japanese Patent No.-53206. This plate-making apparatus has an evaporation device, a radiation irradiation device, and a development/fixing device arranged in a straight line in one vacuum chamber that can be controlled for exhaust, and transfers the substrates to each processing device in the order of processing. By the way, in the so-called in-line type equipment as mentioned above, all of the various processes are performed within one vacuum vessel, so it is difficult to remove the vacuum vessel once. If it is evacuated, it can be operated without being exposed to the atmosphere until the required processing steps are completed, but since the various processing equipment Ct are arranged in a straight line in a single vacuum container, the equipment itself becomes bulky, and each processing equipment main body is built into the vacuum container, which complicates the transport mechanism, increases the volume of the vacuum container, and increases the load on the exhaust system. Therefore, the purpose of the present invention is to solve the problems of the conventional method. Our objective is to provide a rotary continuous gas phase vacuum gummy processing device that solves the problem and can perform different gas phase treatments continuously without taking out the processed material out of the vacuum chamber. In order to achieve the above objects, the rotary continuous gas phase vacuum processing apparatus according to the present invention includes an outer tank that is combined with a planar top plate to form an outer vacuum tank, and an outer tank that is substantially perpendicular to the top plate. can move in a direction parallel to the axis and rotate about one axis, and is in close contact with the top plate at a plurality of different positions around the axis to form a plurality of inner vacuum chambers in different gas phase states. Inside and; different treatments provided on the top plate corresponding to each of the different positions above! It has a 5 WC (,
It is characterized by this.

In the apparatus according to the present invention, the above-mentioned processing apparatus includes, for example, a plasma etching apparatus, a plasma CVD apparatus, a plasma polymerization apparatus, a craft polymerization apparatus, a heating apparatus/radiation irradiation apparatus, a particle beam irradiation apparatus, and a processing object loading/unloading apparatus, etc. Cf1f- may be used, but depending on the processing purpose, Cf1f-
Other processing devices may also be provided.

Function: In the apparatus according to the present invention configured as described above, each processing device is combined with the top plate, so the volume of the vacuum chamber can be made small.Moreover, due to the double structure of the outer vacuum chamber and the inner vacuum chamber,
A 6-gauge valve, etc. that can easily adjust the inside of the inner vacuum chamber to nine vacuum levels suitable for processing by rotating the inner chamber until the outer vacuum chamber is maintained at a predetermined degree of vacuum and at the desired processing position. The workpiece can be easily transported to the next work area without using the vacuum. In other words, when rotating from one processing position to the next, the inside of the inner tank is lowered to the vacuum level of the outer tank. It is only necessary to evacuate the inside of the inner vacuum chamber to the required level prior to processing.

Furthermore, the apparatus according to the present invention can be used in various vacuum process apparatuses. For example, when used in an electron beam vacuum plate making apparatus, a top plate or at least a plasma polymerization apparatus for resist coating, an electron beam drawing apparatus, and a heating apparatus for resist development are required. Also, when implemented as an X-ray vacuum plate making device, at least a resist coating glazma heavy @-4
&OkitoX11! A graphic printing device and a vapor phase resist development device may be provided.

Hereinafter, one embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the attached drawings. The illustrated embodiment shows a rotary electron beam vacuum plate making continuous gas phase processing apparatus att. A shaped outer tank 2 is installed, and the outer tank 2 is hermetically closed by a top plate 3. The inside of the outer tank 2 is connected to an exhaust system (not shown) via a conduit 4 (for example, a mechanical Gooster bong). In a cylindrical outer tank 2 which is connected to and evacuated to a required level and forms an outer vacuum tank, a cylindrical inner cylinder 5 is supported on a rotary drive shaft 6 concentrically with the outer tank 2. As shown in the figure, the O-rotation drive shaft 6 is rotated by an m*momo-7 attached to the underframe 1 through the outside +m2t-, and the inside 45f: is rotated. The cylindrical inner tank 5 is moved axially by a lift cylinder 8, and the upper peripheral edge 5a of the inner tank 5 is sealed and pressed against the top plate 3.
The inside of the O inner tank 5, which can form an empty tank, is connected to an exhaust system (not shown) (for example, a diffusion bomb f) via a conduit 9.In the illustrated embodiment, the inside of the inner tank 5 is as shown in FIG. concave chamber,
It is divided into rooms B, C, and D, and each room is equipped with an indexing table 10 for receiving and positioning the substrates to be processed (shown by imaginary circles in FIG. 2).
The indexing table 10 is equipped with a holding member 11 for holding the substrate to be processed, whereby the substrate is held rotatably.

In addition, each chamber is provided with a pulp hole 12 as shown in FIG. In Figure 2, the position of the family member is the insertion and removal position of the substrate to be processed, the position of chamber B (t is the glazma superimposition position, and the position of chamber C is the position of electron beam irradiation). The position of chamber 0 is the reactive ion etching position.The equipment required for each of these processes is located on the itd top plate 3, and Figure 1 shows the one for glazma generation. Only the discharge tube 14 and the electron beam irradiation device 15 are schematically shown.

In the operation of the illustrated apparatus configured in this manner.

First, at the position of the chamber shown in FIG. 2, the substrates to be processed are sequentially carried into each chamber A to D using loading/unloading #L (not shown). After that, the inside of the outer tank 2 is evacuated.

Then, the inside of the inner 45 is evacuated to a degree of vacuum suitable for the processing.@After preparing in this way, the inside is sequentially rotated by an angle of 90 degrees (m5t) to each processing position, first for the glazma polymerization treatment, and second for the electron beam irradiation treatment. , and finally, perform a series of reactive ion etching processes.In this way, the substrates in each chamber are
- After sequentially processing all the substrates in the inner tank 5, the operator returns to the position of the householder in Figure wL2, and the processed substrates in each chamber are carried out by the carrying out device.◎In this series of operations The vacuum inside the outer tank 2 is maintained, and the inside of the inner tank 5 is simply communicated with the inner tank 2 through the pulp hole 12. Because it rotates to the position, 4 of the
Also, since a series of processing steps can be carried out without taking each substrate out to the outside, the substrates to be processed are free from the risk of contamination by dust and changes in temperature, humidity, etc. can be avoided.

Note that depending on the type of processing, a device for supplying necessary busses into the interior 1115 and a device for heating and cooling the substrate to be processed may be incorporated.

In addition, depending on the number of processing steps, the inner tank 5 can be partitioned into any number of four or more or less, or into a double or triple circumferential shape, and the angle indexing of the substrate can be done using a combined indexing table. 10 can be carried out with great precision.

Effects As explained above, in the device according to the present invention,
An inner 1111I vacuum chamber that can be rotated is provided within the outer 11II vacuum chamber, and by rotating the inner 11111 vacuum chamber seven times, different gas phase treatments 4 can be performed in succession, so a special transport mechanism is used. , gate pulp gold plating, the floor surface of the equipment itself, and collapse can be reduced, and the internal vacuum chamber is not exposed to the atmosphere, making it easier to exhaust air in a series of VC processing steps, and productivity can be increased. .

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic sectional view taken along the arrow II in FIG. 2 showing a device f according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG.・In the figure = 2: Outer tank,
6: Top plate, 4: Conduit. 5: Inner tank, 6: Rotation drive shaft, 8: Lift cylinder,
9: Conduit, 1o:, 11 output table, 12:
Vulp hole, 15: Pulp, I4.15: Processing device port Figure 1

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. An outer tank that is combined with a flat top plate to form an outer vacuum tank, and an outer tank that is movable in a direction parallel to an axis substantially perpendicular to the top plate and that moves around the axis. an inner tank that is rotatable and is in close contact with the top plate at a plurality of different positions around the axis to form a plurality of inner vacuum chambers in different gas phase states, and the top plate corresponding to each of the different positions. It is characterized by having different processing devices installed in the inner tank, so that the workpieces placed in the inner tank are continuously subjected to different processing at each of the different positions without taking them out from the vacuum tank. Rotary continuous gas phase vacuum process equipment. 2. The different processing equipment installed on the top plate is one of a plasma etching equipment, a plasma CVD equipment, a plasma polymerization equipment, a graft polymerization equipment, a heating equipment, a radiation irradiation equipment, a particle beam irradiation equipment, and a processing object insertion and removal equipment. A device according to claim 1, comprising one or more. 3. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the different processing devices provided on the top plate for use in electron beam vacuum platemaking include a plasma polymerization device for resist coating, an electron beam lithography device, and a heating device for resist development. 4. The apparatus according to claim 1, in which the different processing apparatuses provided on the top plate for use in X-ray vacuum platemaking include a plasma polymerization apparatus for resist coating, an X-ray pattern printing apparatus, and a vapor phase resist development apparatus. .