KR19990074102A - Layout of photo equipment - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to the layout of a photo equipment, and does not install the spinner and stepper in one-to-one correspondence inline, and separately arranges the exposure apparatuses, the coating apparatuses, and the developing apparatuses at predetermined intervals on the left and right sides based on the traveling passage. The material transfer device installed in the driving passage connects the exposure apparatus, the coating apparatus, and the developing apparatus to load and unload the cassette, so that even if one of the stepper and the spinner is down, the process does not affect the photo process. The efficiency is not reduced, and the throughput is the same as compared with the decrease in the number of installation of the photo equipment, and thus, the layout area of the photo equipment is reduced and the cost of installation of the photo equipment can be reduced, thereby reducing the cost of the product.

Description

Layout of photo equipment

The present invention relates to the layout of a photo equipment, and more particularly, to a layout of a photo equipment to reduce the production cost by reducing the capital investment cost by localizing each stepper and spinner.

In general, with the development of science and technology in modern society, various electronic products are also developing. In particular, the development of semiconductors has been developed differently every day, and the development of semiconductor devices with ultra-high density has further developed the electronic communication industry and the multimedia era.

Such ultra-high density semiconductor devices are said to be a collection of modern scientific technologies supported by circuit design technology, equipment technology and process technology.

Process technology of semiconductor device is largely composed of cleaning, photolithography, etching, ion implantation, thin film formation, etc. Among these, the pattern formation technology of photolithography process is very important and plays an important role in achieving ultra-high integration of semiconductor devices. To perform.

A photo equipment for performing a photolithography process includes a spinner comprising a coater for largely applying photoresist, a developer for developing a predetermined pattern with respect to a potential image, and a light on the photoresist. It is made of an exposure apparatus, that is, a stepper, which irradiates and forms a tentative image for a predetermined pattern.

Spinners and steppers are made of inline systems, and typically, the price of steppers is higher than that of spinners, so when constructing an inline system, the steppers are composed of neck units to serve as a reference for the spinners.

On the other hand, the stepper: spinner difference of 1: 0.8 occurred due to the increase in the throughput of the stepper, and corresponding to the stepper, the spinner, that is, about 1.2 coating apparatuses and about 2.6 developing apparatuses was required.

As shown in FIG. 1, photo facilities are arranged at predetermined intervals on the left and right sides with respect to the traveling passage, and a material conveying apparatus 15 carrying a process material, that is, a carrier containing a wafer, is located in the traveling passage. .

In the photo equipment, a stepper, which is an exposure apparatus 14, and a spinner 13 composed of an application apparatus 11 and a developing apparatus 12 are formed in-line in a one-to-one concept, and the material conveying apparatus 15 follows a traveling line. On the move, the carrier is loaded into or unloaded from the photo facility.

The applicator 11 is composed of two units of the first applicator and the second applicator in response to an increase in the throughput of the stepper, and the developing apparatus 12 includes the first developing part, the second developing part and the third developing part. It consists of three units of the developing part.

This is according to the result data according to <Table 1> below.

Coating device Stepper Developing equipment 1 unit 40 minutes (-5 minutes) per run 35 minutes per run 2 units One run is 46 minutes (-11 minutes) 2 units 1 run 23 minutes (+12 minutes) 3 units 1 run 28 mins (+ 7 mins) Remarks

As shown in Table 1, when the coating device 11 and the developing device 12 are configured on the basis of an expensive stepper, two units of the first coating part and the second coating part than the run time of the stepper are formed. It is preferable that the one run time of the coating device 11 made of this is short, and that the one run time of the developing device 12 composed of the first developing part, the second developing part, and the third developing part is short.

In addition, the stepper, i.e., wafer transfer between the exposure apparatus 14, the coating apparatus 11, and the developing apparatus 12 is mutually connected by robot arms (not shown).

As described above, the photo process in the state where the stepper and the spinner are configured inline in a one-to-one concept is as follows.

First, a cassette containing a wafer is placed on a cassette loading unit (not shown) of the photo equipment.

Subsequently, the robot arm takes out the wafer in the cassette and loads it into a predetermined coating unit constituting the coating device 11.

After the photoresist coating process is completed in the loading unit, the wafer is loaded into the exposure apparatus 14 by the robot arm. The exposure apparatus 14 exposes light onto the photoresist to form a tentative image for a predetermined pattern.

After the exposure process is completed, the wafer is loaded into a predetermined developing unit constituting the developing apparatus 12 by the robot arm. A predetermined pattern is developed in the developing unit.

The wafer which has completed the development process is again unloaded into the cassette.

However, if any one of the stepper and the spinner is down in the state in which the stepper and the spinner constituting the photo equipment are inlined one-to-one, there is a problem in that the productivity of the product is reduced by not using the entire photo equipment.

In addition, by configuring the stepper and the spinner in one-to-one in-line, the layout area of the photo equipment is increased, the cost of installing the photo equipment increases, and the cost of the product increases.

Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to configure the stepper and the spinner as a local system without configuring the stepper and the spinner in one-to-one, respectively, so that even if one of the stepper and the spinner is down, the photo equipment is not affected. It is to reduce the layout area and to reduce the cost of the product by reducing the cost of installing the photo equipment.

1 is a schematic view showing the layout of a photo equipment according to the prior art.

2 is a schematic view showing a layout of a photo equipment according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a layout for photo equipment.

A coating apparatus for applying a photoresist on a predetermined substrate, an exposure apparatus for irradiating light onto the photoresist to form a tentative image for a predetermined pattern, a developing apparatus for developing a pattern in relation to the latent image; And a material conveying device for conveying the process material while linking between the coating apparatus and the exposure apparatus and the developing apparatus.

Hereinafter, exemplary embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. For convenience of description, the layout of the photo equipment arranged in one bay will be described.

As shown in FIG. 2, the exposure apparatuses 14, which are one of the apparatuses constituting the photo equipment, are spaced apart at predetermined intervals on one side of the driving passage, and the developing apparatuses 22 and the coating apparatus 21 are disposed. ) Are spaced apart from each other by a predetermined ratio on the other side of the travel passage, and the material transport apparatus 25 carrying a process material, that is, a carrier containing the wafer, is located in the travel passage.

In this case, according to the present invention, the robot arms have previously interfaced between the stepper and the spinner, and the material transporting device 25 links the exposure apparatuses 24, the developing apparatuses 22, and the coating apparatuses 21. The carriers containing the wafers are then transported and loaded and unloaded into the devices.

In addition, the material conveying apparatus 25 may drive the traveling passage of another bay.

Conventionally, 12 photo equipments are arranged on the left and right sides based on a driving passage in one bay, and compared with the process efficiency when the stepper, the coating apparatus, and the exposure apparatus constituting the photo equipment are connected inline in a one-to-one correspondence. In the present invention, the process is performed by arranging the stepper, that is, the exposure apparatus 14, the coating apparatus 21, and the developing apparatus 22 at a ratio of 9: 4: 6 on the left and right sides of the driving passage in one bay. By doing so, the same process efficiency as in the related art is possible. It can be seen that the same process efficiency can be achieved by proceeding the process with a smaller number than the conventional installation of the stepper, coating apparatus, and exposure apparatus.

The installation ratio of 9: 4: 6 of the stepper, the coating device, and the developing device is determined according to the spinner 23 and the stepper configuration of the stepper configuration including the developing device 22 and the coating device 21 according to <Table 2> below. through put) according to the result data.

division Configuration Stepper Stepper run time Remarks 8 spaces 9 spaces 10 3 coating devices 3 units ○ × × 35 minutes -1.0 min 4 coating devices ○ ○ ○ +6.0 minutes 5 developing devices 3 units ○ × × -7.0 minutes 6 developing devices ○ ○ × +7.0 minutes

As shown in Table 2, when the applicator 21 and the developing apparatus 22 are configured based on expensive steppers, the first applicator, the second applicator, and the first applicator are made more than the run time of the stepper. 1 run time of the coating device 21 which consists of 3 units of 3 application | coating parts is small, and 1 run time of the developing device 22 which consists of 3 units of a 1st developing part, a 2nd developing part, and a 3rd developing part is carried out. It is desirable to take less.

Under these conditions, as shown in Table 2, for the nine steppers, if four coating apparatuses 21 and six developing apparatuses 22 are arranged in one bay and the process is performed, the maximum process efficiency is achieved. You can expect.

In addition, even if one of the stepper, the coating device 21, and the developing device 22 is down, the photo equipment is not affected, and the overall layout area of the photo equipment is reduced, so that the semiconductor manufacturing line can be efficiently managed. Installation costs can be reduced, reducing the cost of the product.

Here, the steppers, the coating apparatuses, and the exposure apparatuses are separately disposed on the left and right sides based on the driving passage, and the material conveying apparatus is connected between the steppers, the coating apparatuses, and the exposure apparatuses along the traveling line to connect the cassette. Looking at the photo process is carried out in the layout structure of the photo equipment to be carried as follows.

First, the material conveying apparatus 25 unloads the cassette which accommodated the process completed wafer from the said apparatus, for example, the coating apparatus 21. As shown in FIG.

Subsequently, the material conveying apparatus 25 moved along the traveling line loads the cassette to the stepper, i.e., the cassette loading section of the exposure apparatus 24, for the next process.

The exposure apparatus 24 irradiates light onto the photoresist film to form a provisional image for a predetermined pattern.

Upon completion of the exposure process, the material transport apparatus 25 unloads the cassette from the exposure apparatus 24.

Subsequently, the material conveying apparatus 25 moved along the traveling line loads the cassette into the cassette loading section of the developing apparatus 22 for the next process.

The developing apparatus 22 develops a predetermined pattern using a developing solution.

Upon completion of the developing step, the material transporting device 25 unloads the cassette from the developing device 22.

In this way, the exposure apparatuses, the coating apparatuses, and the developing apparatuses are arranged on the left and right sides with respect to the traveling passage, and the cassette containing the wafer is connected to the cassettes while the magnetic conveying apparatus links between the exposure apparatuses, the coating apparatuses, and the developing apparatuses. By loading and unloading, it is possible to prevent a decrease in the process efficiency according to the failure rate because the process does not proceed only in case of failure of any one of the various devices.

As described above, the present invention does not install the spinner and the stepper in one-to-one correspondence, and arranges the exposure apparatuses, the coating apparatuses, and the developing apparatuses separately at predetermined intervals on the left and right sides based on the traveling passage, and runs The material conveying device installed in the passage loads and unloads the cassette in conjunction with the exposure apparatuses, the coating apparatuses, and the developing apparatuses, so that even if one of the steppers and the spinners is down, the photo process does not affect the process efficiency. Compared with the prior art, the throughput is the same as compared with the decrease in the number of installation of the photo equipment. Thus, the layout area of the photo equipment is reduced, and the cost of the product is reduced by reducing the installation cost of the photo equipment.

Claims (4)

In the layout of the photo equipment, An application device for applying a photoresist on a predetermined substrate; An exposure apparatus for irradiating light onto the photoresist to form a tentative image for a predetermined pattern; A developing device for developing the pattern in relation to the latent image; And a material conveying apparatus for conveying process materials while linking the coating apparatus, the exposure apparatus, and the developing apparatus. The layout of claim 1, wherein the exposure apparatus, the coating apparatus, and the developing apparatus are arranged at a ratio of 9: 4: 6 in accordance with the maximum throughput. The layout of a photo equipment according to claim 2, wherein the coating device comprises three units of a first coating part, a second coating part, and a third coating part. 3. The layout of photo equipment according to claim 2, wherein the developing device comprises three units of a first field part, a second developing part, and a third developing part.