KR100749755B1 - Wafer processing equipment - Google Patents

Abstract

According to an aspect of the present invention, there is provided a processing apparatus for cooling a wafer in a processing chamber during a semiconductor thin film process, comprising: first water jacket blocks on both sides arranged to face each other in the load lock chamber, and the first water jacket block; A first cooling plate mounted on the substrate to mount the first wafer, and fixed to a first holder for penetrating the bottom wall of the first cooling plate to hold the wafer substantially horizontally in the load lock chamber; 1 The wafer floating pin is configured to be movable up and down, and thus the wafer W can be stored in a multi-stage arrangement type, and the plurality of wafer floating pins are affected by direct and indirect cooling in a plurality of pairs. By doing so, the production yield can be significantly increased.

Description

Wafer processing apparatus {Apparatus for processing semiconductor wafer}

1 is a structural diagram schematically showing the configuration of a typical wafer processing apparatus;

2 is a planar structural diagram schematically showing the configuration of a wafer processing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention;

3 is a cross-sectional view for explaining a method of forming a mold oxide film required to form a lower electrode of a cylindrical capacitor, as an example of a method of manufacturing a semiconductor device according to the present invention;

4 is an enlarged plan view for explaining a cooling apparatus disposed in the load lock chamber in FIG.

5 is a longitudinal sectional view taken along the line A-A of FIG. 4 for explaining the main operation of the wafer processing apparatus according to the embodiment of the present invention;

6 is a longitudinal cross-sectional view taken along line B-B of FIG. 4 for explaining a wafer up and down operation of the wafer processing apparatus according to the embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 7 is a detailed view taken in part from FIG. 5 to describe only a wafer up / down operation of the wafer processing apparatus according to the embodiment of the present invention. FIG.

<Explanation of symbols for main parts of the drawings>

 100: wafer processing apparatus

 110: load lock chamber W: wafer

 120: robot 122: robot arm

 124: robot hand 130: transfer chamber

 140: processing chamber 150: auxiliary chamber.

 200: sheet conveyance part

 301: first water jacket block 303: second water jacket block

 331: first cooling panel 333: second cooling panel

334: First Holder 335: Second Holder
337: Third Retention Stand

The present invention relates to a wafer processing apparatus of an integrated in-situ cluster tool type wafer processing mechanism used to form metal wiring of a multilayer wiring structure.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a wafer cooling method in a semiconductor process, and more particularly, to a method of rapidly cooling a wafer in a semiconductor thin film process.

FIG. 1 is a view showing a semiconductor wafer processing mechanism 100 having a multi-chamber in a general semiconductor manufacturing facility, in which a load lock in which a cassette K having a plurality of wafers W mounted thereon is inserted from a production line. The chamber 110 is provided, and the load lock chamber 110 forms a sealed atmosphere selectively in response to the insertion and withdrawal of the cassette K through the provided gate 14.

In addition, a table T for positioning the cassette K is installed in the load lock chamber 110, and the inside thereof is provided with a vacuum pressure providing means (not shown) connected in correspondence to the opening and closing of the gate 14. The drive achieves a predetermined vacuum pressure atmosphere. In addition, a transfer chamber 130, which is selectively communicated with the gate 14 again, is provided at one side of the load lock chamber 110, and a wafer positioned in the load lock chamber 110 is provided inside the transfer chamber 130. Robot 120 is installed to transfer (W) to the required position.

The robot 120 is rotatably installed in each direction with respect to the center portion of the transfer chamber 130, and is connected to one side by a bellows-shaped robot arm 122 and the robot arm 122 to be connected to the wafer (W). ) Is provided with a robot hand 124 to selectively support one by one.

On the other predetermined side of the transfer chamber 130, a process chamber 140 for performing a process on the wafer W transferred by the driving of the robot 120 and a process before and after performing the process in the process chamber 140. The auxiliary chamber 150 for performing a post-processing process such as cooling or heating the wafer W is selectively installed in communication.

In the semiconductor device processing mechanism 100 configured as described above, the cassette K introduced into the load lock chamber 110 is shifted by a predetermined angle from the driving direction of the robot hand 124, that is, the center position of the transfer chamber 130. In response to this, a cassette loader device for rotating the cassette K into the load lock chamber 110 so as to be in the traveling direction of the robot hand 124 is required.

In the process of forming a semiconductor thin film using the semiconductor device processing mechanism 100 as shown in FIG. 1, a cooling chamber in which a wafer subjected to a thermal process of 400 ° C. or higher is separately installed in a plastic cassette for storing and transporting the wafer. After cooling, insert it.

In more detail, such cooling of a wafer is performed by circulating cooling water at room temperature inside and outside the cooling chamber to cool a cool plate formed in the cooling chamber. By supplying N2 gas into the cool plate, the N2 gas cools the wafer by transferring cool air from the cool plate to the wafer in the cooling chamber in accordance with the principle of convection.

However, according to the cooling structure of the conventional wafer processing mechanism 100 as described above, by supplying N2 gas into the cool plate, the N2 gas transfers cool air from the cool plate to the wafer in the cooling chamber according to the principle of convection. In this case, the cooling efficiency of the wafer is low, and in this case, the cooling time of the wafer is increased, and the use of gas alone does not provide a quick countermeasure in the situation where the cooling time needs to be adjusted.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to solve the above disadvantages, and its main object is to provide a wafer cooling structure in a semiconductor process that can rapidly cool a wafer using a water jacket during a semiconductor thin film process.

The present invention is made to achieve the object as described above;

In the processing mechanism for cooling the wafer in the processing chamber during the semiconductor thin film process,

In the load lock chamber, first water jacket blocks on both sides arranged to face each other, and a first cooling panel mounted on the first water jacket block to mount the first wafer,

In the load lock chamber, a first wafer floating pin provided to penetrate the bottom wall of the first cooling panel to hold the wafer horizontally is movable up and down.

Next, preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 2 is a view schematically showing a main configuration of a wafer processing mechanism according to an embodiment of the present invention, which shows an example of a cooling chamber for explaining a wafer cooling method in a semiconductor process according to the present invention. As a main embodiment, the processing in the load lock chamber 110 shown in FIG. 2 will be described.
3 is a cross-sectional view for describing a method of forming a mold oxide film required to form a lower electrode of a cylindrical capacitor as an example of a method of manufacturing a semiconductor device according to the present invention, and FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view of the load lock chamber of FIG. 2. 5 is an enlarged plan view for explaining the arranged cooling processing apparatus. FIG. 5 is a longitudinal sectional view taken along the line AA of FIG. 4 for explaining the main operation of the wafer processing apparatus according to the embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 4 is a longitudinal cross-sectional view taken along the line BB of FIG. 4 for explaining a wafer up and down operation of the wafer processing apparatus according to the embodiment, and FIG. 7 is a view for explaining only the wafer up and down operation of the wafer processing apparatus according to the embodiment of the present invention. Here is a partial excerpt from 5.

First, referring to FIG. 1, the wafer processing mechanism 100 takes out wafers W and substrates one by one using a robot from a case called an EFEM or the like, puts them into a processing chamber such as a transfer chamber, and then processes the wafers. A load lock chamber 110 connected to the sheet conveying portion 200 which draws out W one by one and accommodated in a case, and is loaded with a wafer W, that is, a semiconductor substrate, and the load lock chamber ( A transfer chamber 130 connected to 110 and a plurality of vacuum processing chambers 140... Which are in communication with the transfer chamber 130 via gate valves, respectively, are provided.

The robot arm 122 is a component configured to be dependent on the articulated robot or bellows type robot 120.

In addition, the transfer chamber 130 is formed in a polygonal shape, in particular a pentagon when viewed in plan view, and the plurality of vacuum processing chambers 140 face each other with the gate 14 between each side of the transfer chamber 130. It is arranged.

In addition, the transfer chamber 130 may be evacuated and includes a robot arm 122 capable of loading and unloading the wafer (W).

In addition, the plurality of vacuum processing chambers 140 may include a first processing chamber 141 for depositing a first oxide film, a second processing chamber 142 for heat treating the first oxide film, and the first oxide film; May be selectively employed as a third processing chamber 143 for forming another second oxide film over the first oxide film.

In the first processing chamber 141, a first oxide film having a relatively high etching rate, for example, a borophosphosilicate glass (BPSG) film or a phosphosilicate glass (PSG) film, may be formed. In the second processing chamber, a heat treatment process for densifying the first oxide film by reflow may be performed.

For example, the second processing chamber 142 may constitute a rapid thermal anneal (RTA) chamber. The third processing chamber 143 is used as a chamber for forming a second oxide film, for example, a PE-TEOS (plasma-enhanced tetraethylorthosilicate glass) film having a relatively low etching rate with respect to the etchant compared to the first oxide film. You may be.

In addition, the load lock chamber 110 is mounted on the first water jacket block 301 and the first water jacket block 301 on both sides arranged to face each other to mount the first wafer W1. The 1st cooling board 331 is arrange | positioned.

In addition, in the load lock chamber 110, a lifting mechanism including a power cylinder 320 in the center portion to penetrate and hold the wafer W horizontally through the bottom wall of the first cooling panel 331. The 1st wafer floating pin 323 driven by this is arrange | positioned so that up-and-down movement is possible.

In addition, second water jacket blocks 303 are separately mounted on upper surfaces of the first water jacket blocks 301 on both sides, and the second wafer W2 is mounted on the upper surfaces of the second water jacket blocks 303. The 2nd cooling board 333 is arrange | positioned.

In addition, the second outer side of the water jacket block 303 extends to the inside of the lifting shaft 321 of the power cylinder 320 of the center portion to move up and down to the inside of the wafer (W), the second cooling A first wafer holding hand-held first holder 334 for lifting and lowering the second wafer W with respect to the van 333 is mounted.

In addition, the upper surface of both sides of the second cooling plate 333 is formed of a stepped bin 333a having a height lower than that of the center surface, and the stepped bin 333a has a hand-held first holding for holding the first wafer. A stand 334 is configured to rest on the same plane as the center plane.

In addition, an upper surface of the first and second spacers 311 and 313 may be disposed on the upper surface of the second water jacket block 303 so that the third wafer W3 and the fourth wafer W4 to be processed are spaced apart from each other. The second and third holders 335 and 337 horizontally arranged inwardly are configured to be spaced apart by a predetermined distance in the vertical direction.

3 is a cross-sectional view for explaining a method for forming a mold oxide film 30 for forming a lower electrode of a cylindrical capacitor according to the method of manufacturing a semiconductor device according to the present invention, and is shown as an example of an embodiment of the present invention. . Referring to FIG. 3, a conductive plug in the form of a buried contact electrically connected to an interlayer insulating film 20 and an active region (not shown) of the semiconductor substrate 10 is first formed on the semiconductor substrate 10. To form 25. After that, an oxide film having a multilayer structure necessary for forming the mold oxide film 30 is formed on the interlayer insulating film 20 and the plug 25. In order to form the oxide film of the multilayer structure, first, the first oxide film 32 is formed in the first processing chamber 141 of the wafer W processing mechanism 100. The first oxide layer 32 is made of a material having a relatively high etching rate by an etchant used in a subsequent cleaning process before lower electrode deposition, and is made of, for example, a BPSG film or a PSG film. Thereafter, the first oxide film 32 is heat-treated in the second processing chamber 142 by the RTA method to reflow and densify the first oxide film 32.

Thereafter, a second oxide film 34 is formed on the first oxide film 32 in the third processing chamber 143. The second oxide layer 34 is made of a material having a relatively low etching rate for the etchant compared to the first oxide layer 32. For example, the second oxide layer 34 is formed of a PE-TEOS layer. Thereafter, the second oxide film 34 and the first oxide film 32 are patterned to form a mold oxide film 30 defining a hole 40 exposing the plug 25.

In the above embodiment, the wafer W processing mechanism according to the present invention is used to form the mold oxide film 30. However, in the cooling process, FIGS. 4 and 5, and FIGS. 4 and 5 are used. As shown in FIGS. 6 and 7, which are incorporated by reference to describe the configuration of the structure, before and after the process performed in the process chamber 140 and the process chamber 140. It is optionally installed in the auxiliary chamber 150 which performs the pre- and post-processing process such as cooling or heating the wafers W1, ... in a later process, for example, a wafer that is moved up and down during cooling of the wafer W1. The first and second wafers W1 and W2 are selectively cooled rapidly by the first cooling plate 331 and the second cooling plate 333 on which (W1) is placed.

In addition, for proper application for this purpose, it is cooled by the second and third holders 335 and 337 in which cold heat is conducted by the first to third spacers arranged in contact with the second water jacket block 303. The third and fourth wafers W3 and W4 are again transferred by the robot 120 to the first and second cooling panels 333 when the first and second wafers W are transferred to the processing chamber 140. As a result, when the wafer W is cooled, an effective effect such as faster cooling can be achieved.

As a result, the first wafer floating pin 323 penetrates the bottom wall of the first cooling panel 331 and moves the wafer W1 up and down to move the robot 120 to the processing chamber 140 by default. The first cooling plate 331 and the hand-held first holder 334 for holding the first wafer on both sides of the first cooling plate 331 and the second cooling plate 333 through the robot 120. As shown in FIG. 5 with respect to the horizontal plane in the coalesced state, the third and fourth wafers W3 and W4 mounted on the second and third holders 335 and 337 on both the left and right sides are selectively transported. Of course you can.

In addition, the second and third holders 335 and 337 may receive the new wafers W to be newly processed through the sheet conveying apparatus 200 so as to be repeatedly cooled.

By using the wafer processing mechanism of the present invention, the wafers W can be sequentially stored in a multi-stage array type, and are subjected to direct and indirect cooling in a plurality of pairs, thereby enabling a faster cooling treatment. There is an excellent effect such as to increase the yield.

Although the present invention has been described with reference to one embodiment shown in the drawings, this is merely exemplary, and those skilled in the art will understand that various modifications and equivalent other embodiments are possible therefrom.

Claims (5)

In the processing mechanism for cooling the wafer in the processing chamber during the semiconductor thin film process, In the load lock chamber, first water jacket blocks on both sides arranged to face each other, and a first cooling panel mounted on the first water jacket block to mount the first wafer, In the load lock chamber, a first wafer floating pin driven by a lifting mechanism including a power cylinder in the center is vertically movable to penetrate the bottom wall of the first cooling panel to keep the wafer horizontal. Excreted, Second water jacket blocks are separately mounted on the upper surfaces of the first water jacket blocks on both sides, and a second cooling panel for mounting the second wafer is disposed on the upper surfaces of the second water jacket blocks. The first water jacket block on both sides, when viewed from the side, mutual inlet and outlet sides are arranged in opposite directions for more even cooling of the first cooling panel, And the first and second water jacket blocks are configured to communicate with each other. delete The method of claim 1, The upper outer side of the second water jacket block is arranged to extend to the inside of the wafer edge inward to the lifting shaft 321 of the power cylinder 320, which moves up and down, and lift and move the second wafer with respect to the second cooling plate. A wafer processing mechanism comprising a hand-shaped first holder for holding a first wafer. The method of claim 3, wherein The upper surfaces of both sides of the second cooling plate may be formed of a stepped bin having a height lower than that of the central plane, and the handheld first holder for holding the first wafer is seated on the stepped bin and placed on the same plane as the center plane. Wafer processing apparatus characterized in that the. The method of claim 4, wherein The upper surface of the second water jacket block is perpendicular to the second and third holders horizontally arranged inwardly on the upper surfaces of the first and second spacers so as to space the third wafer and the fourth wafer to be processed. Wafer processing apparatus, characterized in that configured to be spaced apart a predetermined distance in the direction.

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