JPS6128030B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to so-called cassette-to-cassette substrates, in which substrates to be processed, such as silicon wafers, etc., housed in a cassette are sequentially taken out from the cassette, subjected to sputtering processing, and then put back into the cassette. It relates to a processing device.

Taking the cassette-to-cassette sputtering apparatus shown in the side view of FIG. 1 as an example of a conventional apparatus of this type, this includes an insertion chamber 1 for inserting a substrate to be processed from the atmosphere into a vacuum atmosphere, The processing chamber 2 includes a processing chamber 2 for performing processing such as the above, and a take-out chamber 3 for taking out the processed substrate into the atmosphere. The insertion chamber 1, the processing chamber 2, and the extraction chamber 3 can each be brought into a vacuum state by an exhaust pump (not shown).

According to this cassette-to-cassette sputtering apparatus, first, a set of cassettes 5 containing a plurality of substrates 4 to be processed are inserted into the insertion chamber 1 in an atmospheric atmosphere. At this time, the sealing valve 6 provided between the insertion chamber 1 and the processing chamber 2 is closed, and the processing chamber 2 is kept in a vacuum. Next, after evacuating the insertion chamber 1, the sealing valve 6 is opened, and the substrates 4 to be processed are sent one by one, usually from the lower substrate of the cassette 5, into the processing chamber 2 by a transport mechanism (not shown). . A sputter electrode 7 is provided in the processing chamber 2 so that a film can be applied to the substrate 4 to be processed fed from the cassette 5. On the other hand, there is a cassette 8 inside the extraction chamber 3.
The substrates 4 to be processed that have been processed in the processing chamber 2 are accommodated one by one, usually from a position above 8 of the cassette. After all of the substrates 4 to be processed, which were originally accommodated in the insertion chamber 1, have been accommodated in the cassettes 8 in the extraction chamber 3, the extraction chamber 3 is introduced into the atmosphere, and together with the cassette 8, the substrates 4 to be processed that have been processed are stored in the cassette 8 in the extraction chamber 3.
One process is completed when the is removed.

However, such a conventional cassette-to-cassette sputtering apparatus requires at least three vacuum chambers: an insertion chamber, a processing chamber, and an extraction chamber. As a result, three sets of exhaust pumps are required to evacuate each chamber, which not only increases the cost of the device, but also increases the cost of the equipment.
The space factor for installation was also poor. Further, the insertion and removal positions of the cassettes are different, which impairs work efficiency, and the separation of the insertion and removal cassettes makes it difficult to manage lots for each cassette.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a cassette-to-cassette substrate system that saves on exhaust pumps, has a good space factor for equipment, and is efficient in terms of work management by using both the board insertion chamber and the unloading chamber. To provide processing equipment.

According to the present invention, there is at least one processing chamber for performing sputtering, vapor deposition, dry etching, pre-treatment, etc. on a substrate to be processed, and a chamber which can be evacuated separately from these processing chambers and which is coupled to one of these processing chambers. Two cassettes, each capable of storing a plurality of boards, are stored in the board insertion/unloading chamber, and the board is inserted into the board from one of the two cassettes. A mechanism for transporting substrates to the processing chamber, a mechanism for transporting and storing processed substrates from the processing chamber to the other of the two cassettes, and a mechanism for transporting the stored substrates between the two cassettes. A cassette-to-cassette substrate processing apparatus equipped with a mechanism for transferring all substrates is obtained.

Next, an embodiment of the cassette-to-cassette sputtering apparatus according to the present invention will be described with reference to the side view of FIG. In the figure, the vacuum container is composed of two chambers, an insertion/extraction chamber 10 and a processing chamber 2', each of which can be brought into a vacuum state by an exhaust pump (not shown). The substrate 4 to be processed is initially housed in a cassette 11 and inserted into the loading/unloading chamber 10. Next, the insertion/extraction chamber 10 is evacuated, and all of the plurality of substrates 4 to be processed stored in the cassette 11 are immediately transferred to another cassette 12 previously stored in the same chamber. Although this method of transferring the substrate is not shown, for example, a belt using an O-ring is passed through the two cassettes 11 and 12, and the position of the substrate to be transferred is aligned with the belt surface by moving the cassettes 11 and 12 up and down. This can be easily done by

After the interior of the insertion/extraction chamber 10 is evacuated to a predetermined degree of vacuum, the sealing valve 13 is opened and the substrate to be processed 4 housed in the cassette 12 is sent into the processing chamber 2'. As is known from the prior art, the mechanism for feeding the substrate into the processing chamber 2' starts from a location adjacent to the opening/closing part of the sealing valve 13 and closes the aforementioned substrate transfer mechanism on the side of the loading/unloading chamber 10. This can be easily achieved by a belt extending to the stop valve 13 side, and can also be obtained by a belt running from a point adjacent to the opening/closing part of the seal valve 13 to the center of the chamber on the processing chamber 2' side. . The substrate sent into the processing chamber 2' is coated with a film by sputtering in the same manner as shown in FIG.

The processed substrates are again returned to the insertion/extraction chamber 10, and the cassette 1, which is empty after all the substrates 4 to be processed have already been transferred to the cassette 12, is returned to the loading/unloading chamber 10.
It is accommodated in 1. In this way, the cassette 12
The substrates 4 to be processed are sent into the processing chamber 2 one by one after being coated with a film by sputtering, and then transferred to the cassette 1 which was originally housed as a fully processed substrate.
It is accommodated in 1. Then, the sealing valve 13 is closed, and the atmosphere is introduced into the insertion/extraction chamber 10. In this way, all of the processed substrates can be taken out into the atmosphere into the cassette 11 and recovered.

In the explanation of the above embodiment, the transfer between the two cassettes was performed before processing the substrate, but it is clear that the same effect can be obtained even if the transfer is performed after processing. Dew.

Further, in the above embodiment, one chamber is provided as the substrate processing chamber, but a plurality of processing chambers may be provided so as to be able to handle complicated processes including pre-processing and the like. Further, as an example, a thin film processing method using sputtering has been mentioned, but it goes without saying that the present invention can be similarly applied to other methods such as vapor deposition and dry etching.

As is clear from the above explanation, according to the present invention, two sets of cassettes are provided in the same vacuum container,
Not only can the substrates be easily processed by mutually transferring the substrates, but also (1) work efficiency is improved because the substrate storage cassette can be inserted and removed from the same location, and (2) processing is easier. (3) Since the previous substrate and the processed substrate are taken out while being housed in the same cassette, lot management is easy; (4) It requires less floor space for equipment installation, which improves the space factor.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a side view showing an example of the configuration of a conventional cassette-to-cassette sputtering device, and FIG. 2 is a side view showing the configuration of an embodiment according to the present invention. In the figure, 1 is an insertion chamber, 2, 2' are processing chambers, 3 is an extraction chamber, 4 is a substrate to be processed, 5, 8, 1
1 and 12 are cassettes, 6, 9, and 13 are sealing valves, 7 is a sputter electrode, and 10 is an insertion/extraction chamber.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. At least one processing chamber for performing sputtering, vapor deposition, dry etching, pretreatment, etc. on substrates to be processed, and a substrate insertion/extraction chamber that can be evacuated separately from these processing chambers and is coupled to one of these processing chambers. Two cassettes each capable of storing a plurality of substrates are stored in the substrate insertion/extraction chamber, and substrates are transferred from one of the two cassettes to the substrate processing chamber. a mechanism for transporting, a mechanism for transporting and accommodating processed substrates from the processing chamber into the other of the two cassettes, and a mechanism for transferring all of the accommodated substrates between the two cassettes. A cassette-to-cassette substrate processing device comprising: