KR101381633B1 - system to plate substrate and method to transport substrate thereof - Google Patents

Abstract

Substrate plating system according to an embodiment of the present invention, the system housing having a plurality of partition space; An index robot movably disposed in a first compartment of the compartments, the index robot extracting a substrate, which is an object to be processed, from an external substrate storage unit to be introduced into the first compartment, or introducing the processed substrate into the substrate storage unit; And a substrate arranged to be movable in the second partition space partitioned from the first partition space among the plurality of partition spaces, wherein the substrate introduced into the second partition space by the index robot is divided into the second partition space partitioned from the second partition space. A substrate transfer robot for introducing the substrate into the process chamber or withdrawing the finished substrate; an opening / closing door is provided on the partition wall partitioning the third compartment space and the first compartment space, and is opened and closed after completion of the process by the process chamber. The substrate can be pulled out by the index robot. According to the embodiment of the present invention, it is possible to simplify the transfer path of the substrate compared to the prior art can improve the efficiency of the substrate plating process.

Description

Substrate plating system and method for transporting substrate thereof

A substrate plating system and a substrate transfer method thereof are disclosed. More specifically, a substrate plating system and a substrate transfer method thereof, which can simplify a transfer path of a substrate and improve the efficiency of the substrate plating process, are disclosed.

In general, a metal film is patterned on the entire surface of a substrate in order to form a metal wiring on a silicon wafer constituting a semiconductor device. At this time, the metal film formed on the entire surface of the substrate is formed of aluminum, copper, or the like.

Among them, the metal film formed of copper has a higher resistance to electric mobility because it has a higher melting point than a metal film formed of aluminum, which not only improves the reliability of the semiconductor device but also lowers the resistivity There is an advantage that the transfer speed can be increased. Therefore, a metal film formed of copper is mainly used.

The thin film deposition method is largely classified into physical vapor deposition (PVD) using physical collisions and chemical vapor deposition (CVD) using chemical reactions. Physical vapor deposition methods include sputtering methods, and chemical vapor deposition methods include thermal CVD using heat and plasma enhanced CVD using plasma. .

However, in order to pattern a metal film on a substrate, an electroplating method, which is more resistant to electric mobility and relatively low in manufacturing cost, is preferred to the deposition method. The structure of the conventional substrate plating apparatus to which the electroplating method is applied is Korean Patent Application No. 2009-0123980 (Name of Invention: Substrate Plating Device) and Korean Patent Application No. 2007-0127891 (Invention: Copper Electroplating Apparatus) And copper plating method).

Meanwhile, a plurality of substrate plating apparatuses to which such an electroplating method is applied may be provided as a plurality of substrate plating apparatuses. That is, a system having a plurality of substrate plating apparatuses and capable of carrying out the plating process for each substrate in the apparatus can be constructed.

The most important part in constructing such a system is to efficiently arrange a space for accommodating the substrate plating apparatus, and to improve the process efficiency of the system.

The substrate transfer process of the existing substrate plating system is briefly described. After the substrate is taken out from the cassette by the transfer robot, the extracted substrate is loaded into the temporary storage unit. The other substrate transfer robot then grips the substrate and introduces the substrate into the process chamber. Subsequently, after the process is completed, the substrate is taken out and loaded again into the temporary storage unit. Then, the aforementioned transfer robot unloads the processed substrate and then inserts the substrate into the cassette.

As such, by transferring the substrate, a process for the substrate, for example, a plating process, can be reliably performed, and if the simplification of the process can be realized, the overall productivity can be improved. Therefore, the development of a system that can simplify the transfer path of the substrate during substrate processing is required.

An object of the present invention is to provide a substrate plating system and a substrate transfer method thereof, which can simplify the transfer path of a substrate as compared to the prior art, thereby improving the efficiency of the substrate plating process.

In addition, another object according to an embodiment of the present invention is to provide a substrate plating system and a substrate transfer method thereof, which can perform pre-wetting on the substrate immediately before the substrate plating revolution, thereby realizing the simplification of the process. .

Substrate plating system according to an embodiment of the present invention, the system housing having a plurality of partition space; An index which is movably disposed in a first compartment of the compartments and draws out a substrate, which is an object to be processed, from an external substrate storage unit and enters the substrate into the first compartment, or inserts the processed substrate into the substrate storage unit. robot; And a second partition space partitioned from the plurality of partition spaces so as to be movable in a second partition space partitioned from the first partition space, the substrate drawn into the second partition space by the index robot. And a substrate transfer robot configured to draw into the process chamber of the third partition space, or to take out the processed substrate, wherein the partition wall partitioning the third compartment space and the first compartment space is provided with an opening / closing door. After the process is completed by the process chamber, the substrate may be pulled out by the index robot through the opening / closing door, thereby simplifying the transfer path of the substrate compared to the conventional method, thereby improving the efficiency of the substrate plating process.

Here, the bottom of the second partition space is provided with a moving rail for linear movement of the substrate transfer robot, the third compartment is formed on both sides of the second compartment, respectively, the third compartment is the process It may be partitioned into a plurality of spaces so that the chambers can be partitioned.

The plurality of spaces are formed along the longitudinal direction of the moving rail, the plurality of spaces, the cleaning space adjacent to the first partition space and the cleaning chamber for cleaning the substrate of the process chambers are disposed; And at least one plating space partitioned from the cleaning space and in which a plating chamber for plating the substrate is disposed.

The partition wall provided with the opening / closing door partitions the first partition space and the cleaning space, and the substrate cleaned by the cleaning chamber may be transferred to the index robot through the opening / closing door.

A pre-wetting module may be disposed in the plating space for pre-wetting the substrate that is introduced into the plating chamber and chucked to the chuck provided in the plating chamber before performing the plating process on the substrate.

The electronic device may further include a buffer station disposed in the second partition space and temporarily receiving the substrate to be processed by the index robot.

On the other hand, the substrate transfer method of the substrate plating system according to an embodiment of the present invention, the step of withdrawing the substrate from the substrate storage by the index robot disposed in the first partition space; Transferring the substrate to the substrate transfer robot disposed in the second compartment; Introducing the substrate into the process chamber of the third compartment by the substrate transfer robot; And transferring the substrate processed by the process chamber to the index robot through the opening / closing door formed in the partition wall, and then introducing the substrate into the substrate storage unit. The substrate transfer path can be simplified to improve the efficiency of the substrate plating process.

According to the embodiment of the present invention, it is possible to simplify the transfer path of the substrate compared to the prior art can improve the efficiency of the substrate plating process.

In addition, according to an embodiment of the present invention, pre-wetting of the substrate may be performed immediately before the substrate plating idle, thereby simplifying the process.

1 is a view showing a schematic configuration of a substrate plating system according to an embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of a plating chamber disposed in the plating space of the third partition space shown in FIG. 1.
3 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of a pre-wetting module disposed in the plating space of the third partition space shown in FIG. 1.
4 is a view for explaining the interaction of the plating chamber shown in Figure 2 and the pre-wetting module shown in FIG.
FIG. 5 is a flow chart illustrating a path that a substrate transfers through the system shown in FIG. 1.

Hereinafter, configurations and applications according to embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The following description is one of many aspects of the claimed invention and the following description forms part of a detailed description of the present invention.

In the following description, well-known functions or constructions are not described in detail for the sake of clarity and conciseness.

Hereinafter, the substrate will be described as a wafer made of silicon, but the type of the substrate is not limited thereto, and it is obvious that the substrate can be a flat panel display such as an LCD or a PDP. Further, the shape and size of the substrate are not limited to the drawings or description, and it is natural that the substrate can be manufactured in various shapes and sizes such as circular and square.

1 is a view showing a schematic configuration of a substrate plating system according to an embodiment of the present invention, Figure 2 is a flow chart showing a path that the substrate transfers through the system shown in FIG.

Referring to FIG. 1, a substrate plating system 1 according to an embodiment of the present invention includes a system housing 3 having a plurality of partition spaces 5, 6, and 7, and a plurality of partition spaces 5,. 6 and 7 are disposed in the first compartment 5 to lead the substrate W into the first compartment 5 from the external substrate storage 10 (for example, a cassette) or vice versa. The index robot 20 which draws out the board | substrate W to the board | substrate storage part 10, and the 2nd compartment space 6 partitioned with the 1st compartment space 5 among the some compartment space 5, 6, 7 The process chamber (100, 300) of the third partition space (7) and the substrate (W) disposed in the second partition space 6 and the substrate (W) is disposed in the second partition space 6 by the index robot 20 It may include a substrate transfer robot 40 for drawing the substrate (W) is drawn into the reverse or vice versa. Here, the third partition space 7 is divided into a plurality of spaces 7a, 7b, and 7c, and each of the spaces may include process chambers 100 and 300 for executing a process on the substrate W. This will be described later.

Each configuration will be described. First, a plurality of substrate storage portions 10 are disposed outside the system housing 3 of the present embodiment. The substrate storage unit 10 is a cassette for stacking and storing the substrate W in the height direction, and the substrate W having the plating process completed by the substrate plating system 1 may be stored.

On the other hand, the index robot 20 of this embodiment is arrange | positioned so that the movement is possible along the moving rail 21 arrange | positioned in the 1st compartment space 5 of the system housing 3, Therefore, it moves along the moving rail 21 In addition, the substrate W may be drawn out from the substrate storage 10, and the processed substrate W may be brought back into the substrate storage 10.

The index robot 20 transfers the substrate W to the buffer station 30 disposed at the leading end region of the second partition space 6 while allowing the substrate W to enter and exit the substrate storage portion 10. It also plays a role.

The partition wall 25 partitioning the first compartment space 5 and the second compartment space 6 may be provided with a door (not shown) for entering and exiting the substrate W, and thus, from the index robot 20. The substrate W may be transferred to the buffer station 30.

On the other hand, the substrate transfer robot 40 is placed in the second compartment (6) to lead the substrate (W) to the process chamber (100, 300) disposed in each space of the third compartment (7) or the corresponding process This serves to take out the completed substrate W.

The substrate transfer robot 40 is mounted to be movable linearly along the moving rail 41 formed on the bottom surface of the second partition space 6 so that the substrate W held by the substrate transfer robot 40 is selected in the selected process chambers 100 and 300. Can be pulled in. In addition, after the process W is completed, the substrate W may be withdrawn from one process chamber 100 or 300 and then introduced into another process chamber 100 or 300.

On the other hand, the 3rd partition space 7 of this embodiment is formed in the both sides of the 2nd partition space 6 along the longitudinal direction of the 2nd partition space 6, ie, the longitudinal direction of the moving rail 41. As shown in FIG. The third partition space 7 is divided into a plurality of spaces 7a, 7b, and 7c, and process chambers 100 and 300 which execute a process for the substrate W in each of the spaces 7a, 7b, and 7c. ) May be placed.

According to one embodiment of the present invention, the plurality of spaces 7a, 7b, 7c provided in the third partition space 7 are adjacent to the first partition space 5 and clean for cleaning the substrate W. FIG. The cleaning space 7a in which the chamber 300 is disposed and the plating spaces 7b and 7c in which the plating chamber 100 is plated and partitioned from the cleaning space 7a and which plate the substrate W may be disposed.

Therefore, the plating process for the substrate (W) can be performed in the plurality of plating chambers (100) to improve the plating efficiency for the substrate (W), and after the plating process is completed by the substrate transfer robot (40). The process efficiency of the substrate W may be further improved by transferring the substrate W to the cleaning chamber 300 and then cleaning the substrate W. FIG.

However, in the present embodiment, the substrate W is not drawn out by the substrate transfer robot 40 after the process of the cleaning chamber 300 is completed, and the cleaning space 7a and the first partition space 5 are divided. An opening / closing door 50 (see FIG. 1) is provided in the partition wall 25 to move the substrate W directly from the cleaning chamber 300 to the index robot 20.

That is, conventionally, the substrate W is removed from the cleaning chamber 300 by the substrate transfer robot 40 and then loaded into the buffer station 30, and then the index robot 20 transfers the substrate W to the buffer station 30. The substrate W was transferred by an unloading process from the process. In this embodiment, the substrate W may be directly transferred from the cleaning chamber 300 to the index robot 20.

Accordingly, the transfer path of the substrate W can be simplified as compared with the related art, thereby improving the efficiency of the substrate process.

On the other hand, in the present embodiment, the pre-wetting module 200 for pre-wetting not only the plating chamber 100 but also the substrate W before the plating process is provided in the plating spaces 7b and 7c. The efficiency can be further improved.

Hereinafter, the configurations of the plating chamber 100 and the pre-wetting module 200 in the plating space will be described with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of a plating chamber disposed in the plating space of the third compartment space shown in FIG. 1, and FIG. 3 is a view of the prewetting module disposed in the plating space of the third compartment space shown in FIG. 1. It is a figure which shows a structure, and FIG. 4 is a figure for demonstrating the mutual operation of the plating chamber shown in FIG. 2 and the prewetting module shown in FIG.

As shown in FIG. 2, the plating chamber 100 according to the present exemplary embodiment is disposed in the process chamber 110 in which the electrolyte solution 103 is accommodated, and is disposed below the inner side of the process chamber 110 so that copper ions may be applied when the anode voltage is applied. a target portion 120, disposed so as to be elevated and rotated in the inner upper portion of the process chamber 110 and the chuck 150 for holding a plating object substrate (W), the target portion (120 to generate Cu ^{2 +)} ) the feature in the process chamber (110 so as to surround) may include a filtering unit 130 for filtering the copper ion (Cu ^{+ 2)} on the electrolyte (103).

Referring to each configuration, first, the process chamber 110 is filled with the electrolyte solution 103 to the upper end, the lower end is equipped with a target portion 120 and the filtration unit 130 surrounding it. The process chamber 110 may be provided in a cylindrical shape, and a pre-wetting module 200 (see FIG. 3) to be described later may be mounted on the outside of the process chamber 110.

The target part 120 of this embodiment is fully immersed in the electrolyte solution 103 as a part which forms an anode. When a positive voltage is applied to the target portion 120, positive metal ions, that is, copper ions (Cu ^{2 +} ) can be generated by the oxidation reaction.

The upper surface of the target portion 120 may be irregularly provided. This is to enlarge a substantial area of the upper surface of the target portion 120 so that a large amount of copper ions (Cu ^{2 +} ) can be generated when a positive voltage is applied to the target portion 120.

In this way, to be moved to from the target portion 120 is copper ion (Cu ^{2 +),} a copper ion (Cu ^{2 +)} generated when generating the coated object is a substrate (W), which can be achieved by the electrolyte (103) have.

On the other hand, the filtration unit 130 is provided inside the process chamber 110 to surround the target unit 120 to filter the copper ions (Cu ^{2 +} ) to move through the electrolyte (103). The filtration unit 130 may be provided as a membrane filter in which filtration holes (not shown) are regularly formed.

In addition, the chucks 150 according to the present embodiment can be lifted and lowered relative to the process chamber 110 and can be rotated while holding the substrate W. FIG. Therefore, the substrate W may be positioned so that the substrate W is immersed in the electrolyte 103, and the substrate W may be rotated during the plating process for the substrate W.

In addition, the chuck 150 of the present embodiment may rotate the substrate W not only during the substrate plating process but also during the pre-wetting of the substrate W by the pre-wetting module 200 which will be described later. Allow pre-wetting to the front of the panel.

On the other hand, the pre-wetting module 200 for pre-wetting the substrate W before the plating process of the substrate W is disposed in the plating spaces 7b and 7c of the present embodiment.

The pre-wetting module 200 according to the present exemplary embodiment may directly pre-wet the substrate W inserted into the lower portion of the chuck 150 of the plating chamber 100 and chucked to the chuck 150. This can be done to simplify the process and achieve efficiency.

As shown in FIG. 3, the pre-wetting module 200 includes a pre-wetting unit 210 that directly performs pre-wetting on the substrate W, and the pre-wetting unit 210 in a swing operation. And a liquid providing unit (not shown) for supplying the liquid for pre-wetting the substrate W to the pre-wetting unit 210.

Referring to each configuration, first, the drive unit 250 of the present embodiment, the drive body 251, a unit arm (1 side is coupled to the drive body 251 and the other side is coupled to the pre-wetting unit 210 ( 260 and a swing driver 270 coupled to the driving body 251 and generating a driving force for swinging the unit arm 260.

With this configuration, the pre-wetting unit 210 coupled to the unit arm 260 can be moved by the driving force provided from the swing driver 270. Therefore, after the pre-wetting unit 210 is drawn into the substrate plating apparatus 100 by the driving of the driving unit 250, the pre-wetting unit 210 is operated to chuck the chuck 150 of the plating chamber 100. Pre-wetting of the substrate W may be performed.

Meanwhile, the pre-wetting unit 210 of the present embodiment is coupled with the unit arm 260 of the driving unit 250 as shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, and the direction toward the substrate W, that is, the upper side, is open. And a spraying unit 230 having a cylindrical pre-wetting body 211 and a plurality of injection holes 231 disposed on a bottom surface of the pre-wetting body 211 and spraying liquid for pre-wetting.

According to this configuration, when the chuck 150 on which the substrate W is chucked rotates, liquid is ejected from the spraying unit 230 of the pre-wetting unit 210 to reliably pre-wet the entire area of the substrate W. Can be done.

As described above, in the present embodiment, the plating chamber 100 and the pre-wetting module 200 are disposed together in the plating spaces 7b and 7c, and the substrate plating process is performed immediately after the pre-wetting of the substrate W. As a result, the process can be simplified.

Meanwhile, the substrate transfer method of the substrate plating system 1 according to the exemplary embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. 5.

In the substrate transfer method of the substrate plating system 1 of the present embodiment, the step of taking out the substrate W from the substrate storage portion 10 by the index robot 20, and the substrate W is carried out in the second partition space 6. Transferring the substrate (W) into the process chambers (100, 300) of the third compartment (7) by the substrate transfer robot (40); After the substrate W processed by the process chambers 100 and 300 is transferred to the index robot 20 through the opening / closing door 50 formed in the partition wall 25, the substrate W is transferred to the substrate storage unit 10. It may include introducing into.

By this stepwise configuration, as shown in FIG. 5, the substrate W is provided with a substrate storage 10, an index robot 20 in the first compartment 5, and a buffer station in the second compartment 6. 30, a substrate which may be drawn into the plating chamber 100 via the substrate transfer robot 40, and then drawn out by the substrate transfer robot 40 from the plating chamber 100 and transferred to the cleaning chamber 300 ( W) may be transferred from the cleaning chamber 300 to the index robot 20 directly through the opening / closing door 50 and then transferred to the substrate storage 10.

As described above, according to the exemplary embodiment of the present invention, the transfer path of the substrate W can be simplified compared to the conventional method, thereby improving the efficiency of the substrate plating process, and prewetting can be performed before the substrate plating process. There is an advantage to implement the simplification of.

It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various modifications and variations can be made in the present invention without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. Accordingly, such modifications or variations are intended to fall within the scope of the appended claims.

1: Substrate Plating System 5, 6, 7: Compartment Space
10: substrate storage 20: index robot
30: buffer station 40: substrate transfer robot
50: opening and closing door 100: plating chamber
200: pre-wetting module 300: cleaning chamber

Claims (7)

A system housing having a first compartment, a second compartment spaced from the first compartment, and a third compartment spaced from the second compartment;
An index robot movably disposed in the first partition space, for extracting a substrate which is a process object from an external substrate storage unit and introducing the substrate into the first partition space, or for introducing the completed substrate into the substrate storage unit; And
The substrate which is arranged to be movable in the second partition space and which is inserted into the process chamber of the third partition space by the index robot into the process chamber of the third compartment; A substrate transfer robot for extracting the light;
/ RTI >
A partition wall partitioning the third partition space and the first partition space is provided with an opening / closing door, and after completion of the process by the process chamber, the substrate can be pulled out by the index robot through the opening / closing door.
A moving rail for linear movement of the substrate transfer robot is provided on the bottom of the second compartment, and the third compartment is formed on both sides of the second compartment, and the third compartment is the process chambers. A substrate plating system partitioned into a plurality of spaces so as to be partitioned.
delete The method of claim 1,
The plurality of spaces are formed along the longitudinal direction of the moving rail,
The plurality of spaces,
A cleaning space adjacent the first compartment and disposed with a cleaning chamber for cleaning the substrate among the process chambers; And
And at least one plating space partitioned from the cleaning space and in which a plating chamber for plating the substrate is disposed.
The method of claim 3,
The partition wall provided with the opening and closing door partitions the first partition space and the cleaning space, and the substrate cleaned by the cleaning chamber is transferred to the index robot through the opening and closing door.
The method of claim 3,
A substrate plating system in which the pre-wetting module is disposed in the plating space to pre-wetting the substrate chucked to the chuck provided in the plating chamber before the plating process is performed on the substrate. .
The method of claim 1,
And a buffer station disposed in the second compartment and temporarily buffering the substrate to be processed by the index robot.
In the substrate transfer method of the substrate plating system according to claim 1,
Withdrawing the substrate from the substrate storage portion by the index robot disposed in the first compartment;
Transferring the substrate to the substrate transfer robot disposed in the second compartment;
Introducing the substrate into the process chamber of the third compartment by the substrate transfer robot; And
Transferring the substrate processed by the process chamber to the index robot through the opening / closing door formed in the partition wall, and then introducing the substrate to the substrate storage unit;
Substrate transfer method of the substrate plating system comprising a.

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