WO2015062213A1

WO2015062213A1 - Quick wafer transmission method for coating device

Info

Publication number: WO2015062213A1
Application number: PCT/CN2014/075450
Authority: WO
Inventors: 胡延兵; 郑春海; 卢继奎
Original assignee: 沈阳芯源微电子设备有限公司
Priority date: 2013-10-29
Filing date: 2014-04-16
Publication date: 2015-05-07
Also published as: CN104576439A

Abstract

Provided is a quick wafer transmission method for a spreading and developing machine conducting an online operation with a photoetching machine during the production of an integrated circuit. The method comprises: conducting planarization distribution on transmission paths of wafers which are processed by means of spreading and developing processes, thereby reducing circular transmission paths and improving the wafer transmission efficiency; and omitting a link of a wafer transmission channel in a spreading and developing machine, so that the wafer transmission speed is increased, thereby improving the operation productivity of the spreading and developing machine.

Description

Method for transferring wafer by coating device

The present invention relates to the field of semiconductor technology and relates to a method of fast transfer wafers for a glue applicator for use in conjunction with a lithography machine during integrated circuit production.

Background technique

The standard process flow of the glue applicator that is connected to the lithography machine is unidirectional, and is described as: Unloading the wafer from the wafer cassette - thickening treatment - pre-coating cooling treatment - coating treatment - coating Post-glue soft bake treatment - soft bake after cooling process - wafer edge exposure process - wafer transfer buffer storage process - sent to the lithography machine carrier, wafer removal from the lithography machine - wafer buffer storage process - Post-exposure bake treatment - pre-development cooling treatment - development treatment - post-development hard bake treatment - hard bake and post-cooling treatment - loading wafers into the product.

At present, in order to meet the various requirements of the large-scale integrated circuit production line for the coating and developing machine, and to adapt to the above process, the glue-coated developing machine connected with the lithography machine needs to be configured with a corresponding processing module and configured to transfer the wafer. The robot is composed of a slide area, a glue application area, a development area, and an interface area, and each area is composed of a regional function module and a regional robot. Wafer transfer in a glue applicator is divided between transfer and functional areas between process modules.

The transfer wafer is mainly completed by a slide robot, a glue application robot, a development robot, and an interface robot. The wafer in the carrier area enters the glued area through a dedicated channel. After coating, exposure, and development, the wafer is returned to the carrier area through a dedicated channel. The wafer supply in the glued area is completed by the slide area through a dedicated channel. After the glue coating process, the wafer enters the development area through a dedicated channel, and then is transferred to the interface area through a dedicated channel. After the development into the glued area, the wafer is also transferred to the carrier area through a dedicated channel; the wafer supply in the development area It is completed by the interface area through a dedicated channel. After the development process is completed, the wafer enters the glue application area through a dedicated channel, and then is transferred to the carrier area through a dedicated channel. After the glue is applied to the development area, the wafer is also passed through a dedicated channel. Transfer to the interface area; the robot in the interface area takes the wafer after the glue application process out of the dedicated channel of the development area, feeds it to the entrance table of the exposure machine, and obtains the exposed wafer from the exposure stage of the exposure machine, and sends it to the developing area. Dedicated channel.

As can be seen from the above description of the transfer wafer, the wafer must be glued and developed in this area, and the wafer transfer between the areas must pass through a dedicated channel. Therefore, the coated wafer should be processed without any process in the developing area, and the developed wafer should be processed without any process in the coating area. There must be several conveying channel modules in the coating developing machine, which will affect the coating. The wafer transfer efficiency of the developing machine.

Summary of the invention

In order to improve the transfer efficiency of the wafer and improve the operating capacity of the glue applicator, the present invention provides A fast wafer transfer method, which flattens the wafer transfer path processed by the glue coating and development process, reduces the loop transfer path, improves the transfer efficiency of the wafer, and removes the wafer transfer channel in the glue coater. Increase the wafer transfer speed to increase the operating capacity of the glue applicator.

The technical solution adopted by the present invention to achieve the above object is: a quick transfer wafer method of a glue applicator, flattening a wafer transfer path of a glue coating and a development process, and removing crystals in the glue applicator The circular transmission channel link.

The wafer transfer path processed by the gluing process is flatly distributed, specifically:

The soft-baked wafer in the gluing process is sent to the development zone for cooling treatment after soft baking. The wafer transfer path processed by the development process is flattened, specifically:

The developed wafer in the development process is sent to the glue application area, and the hard baking treatment after development is performed. The step of removing the wafer transfer channel in the glue applicator is specifically:

The dedicated wafer transfer channel module in the glue applicator that is connected to the lithography machine is removed, instead of this is the bake heat treatment module.

The invention has the following advantages and beneficial effects:

1. The whole process of the gluing process is dispersed into the glue coating area and the development area, and the annular wafer transfer path in the glue application area is combined with the platformization path in the development area to raise the wafer in the four process processing areas. Transmission efficiency

2. The present invention disperses the entire process of the development process into the development area and the glue application area, and the annular wafer transfer path in the development area is combined with the plated path in the glue application area to enhance the wafer in the four process areas. Transmission efficiency

3. The invention removes the dedicated wafer transfer channel module in the glue coating and developing machine which is connected with the lithography machine, reduces the type of the process module and the space occupied in the glue coating and developing machine, and reduces the outer shape of the machine. , improve wafer transfer speed.

DRAWINGS

Figure 1 is a schematic view of a wafer flow sheet in the glue applicator of the present invention;

2 is a schematic view showing the path of the transfer wafer of the robot in the glue applicator of the present invention.

Among them, LP/OUT is wafer unloading treatment, ADB is tackifying treatment, CPC/BC is for pre-coating cooling treatment, SCR is for gluing treatment, LTB/AC is for soft baking after coating, and CPC/AC is soft drying. After the cooling treatment, EE is the wafer edge exposure processing, BUF is the wafer buffer storage processing, TU/IN is the lithography machine inlet stage, TU/OUT is the lithography machine exit stage, and AEB is the post-exposure baking process. CPC/BD is the pre-development cooling process, SDC is the development process, LTB/AD is the post-development hard bake process, CPC/AD is the hard bake after the cooling process, LP/IN is the wafer loading process, CSR is the cassette robot, CR For the glue application robot, DR is the development robot, and IFR is the interface robot.

detailed description

The present invention will be further described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings and embodiments.

After the wafer is unloaded in the wafer cassette of the glue applicator, after several processes of gluing, After entering the lithography machine for exposure processing; after the wafers that have completed the exposure process are returned to the glue applicator, after several processes of development, the wafer is finally loaded back to the wafer cassette. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS Figure 1 depicts the process flow of a wafer of the present invention in a glue applicator which is unidirectional.

In order to complete the above process, the glue development equipment connected to the lithography machine needs to be equipped with LP/OUT wafer unloading treatment, ADB thickening treatment, CPC/BC pre-coating cooling treatment, SCR coating treatment, LTB/ Soft baking after AC coating, cooling treatment after CPC/AC soft baking, EE wafer edge exposure processing, BUF wafer buffer storage processing, TU/IN lithography machine inlet stage, TU/OUT lithography machine exit stage , AEB post-exposure baking treatment, CPC/BD pre-development cooling treatment, SDC development processing, LTB/AD development post-hardening treatment, CPC/AD development post-cooling treatment, LP/IN wafer loading processing and other process processing modules, It is necessary to configure a wafer transfer process module such as a CSR cassette robot, a CR glue robot, a DR development robot, an IFR interface robot, etc., to complete the transfer of wafers between the various process modules. Figure 2 depicts the robot transfer wafer path within the glue applicator of the present invention, which path is irreversible.

Gluing path: The CSR cassette robot takes out the wafer from the LP/OUT wafer unloading processing module and feeds it into the ADB thickening process. The CR coating robot takes the wafer from the ADB tackifying module and sends it to the CPC/BC coating. Before the glue is cooled, the wafer is taken out from the cooling module before the CPC/BC coating, sent to the SCR glue processing, and then the wafer is taken out from the SCR glue processing module, and then sent to the LTB/AC for soft drying. The DR developing robot takes out the wafer from the LTB/AC glued soft bake processing module, and sends it to the CPC/AC soft bake and then cools it; the IFR interface robot takes out the wafer from the CPC/AC soft bake and post-cooling process module. The EE wafer edge exposure processing is sent, and the wafer is taken out from the EE wafer edge exposure processing module, sent to the BUF wafer buffer storage processing, and then the wafer is taken out from the BUF wafer buffer storage processing module, and sent to the TU/ The IN lithography machine inlet stage completes the gluing process.

Development path: The IFR interface robot takes the wafer from the TU/OUT lithography exit stage and feeds it into the AEB exposure post-baking process. The DR developing robot takes the wafer from the AEB exposure post-baking module and feeds it to the CPC/BD. Cooling treatment before development, taking out the wafer from the CPC/BD pre-development cooling processing module, feeding it to SDC development processing, then taking out the wafer from the SDC development processing module, feeding it to LTB/AD for development and hard baking; CR coating The glue robot takes out the wafer from the hard-baking module after LTB/AD development, and sends it to the CPC/AD for development and cooling. The CSR cassette robot takes the wafer from the CPC/AD development and cooling module and sends it to the LP/IN. The wafer loading processing module completes the development process.

The above coating process and development process are respectively carried out in the glue coating and developing machine, and an exposure process is added in the middle, that is, the glue coating process-exposure process-development process is connected in series, so that the glue coating machine has the same The ability of the lithography machine to produce lines.

The fast transfer wafer method of the invention can effectively improve the transfer efficiency of the wafer in the process area of the glue applicator, reduce the outer dimensions of the machine, and increase the transfer speed of the wafer.

Claims

A quick transfer wafer method for a glue applicator, characterized in that a wafer transfer path of a glue coating and a development process is flattened to remove a wafer transfer path in a glue applicator.

2 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the wafer transfer path processed by the gluing process is flattened, specifically:

The soft-baked wafer in the gluing process is sent to the development zone for cooling treatment after soft baking.

3 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the wafer transfer path processed by the development process is flattened, specifically:

The developed wafer in the development process is sent to the glue application area, and the hard baking treatment after development is performed.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of removing a wafer transfer channel in the glue applicator is: