JP2001093957A - Apparatus and method for manufacturing electronic component - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Problem] It is a main object to provide an electronic device manufacturing apparatus improved so that the effective floor area ratio and the like are improved. The apparatus includes a transfer device that moves on a rail track provided on a ceiling, inserts a cassette 5 into a cassette container 8, and transfers the cassette 5 to a loading / unloading chamber 6. Means 9 for raising and lowering the cassette 5 conveyed together with the cassette housing container 8 is provided in the carry-in / out chamber 6. The apparatus includes an unloading unit that unloads only one substrate 1 from the cassette 5 at a substantially constant horizontal position in the horizontal direction and unloads the substrate 1 into the load lock chamber 3.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention generally relates to an electronic component manufacturing apparatus, and more particularly, to an electronic component suitable for using a large substrate having a diameter of several hundred mm or a square of several hundred mm or more. Related to a manufacturing apparatus. The invention also provides
The present invention relates to a method for manufacturing an electronic component suitable for using such a large substrate.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Generally, in a process of manufacturing various electronic parts such as a semiconductor, a liquid crystal display device, and an image sensor, a large number of products are manufactured at the same time so that the parts can be efficiently manufactured together. In addition, in order to manufacture a large-sized display device or the like, manufacturing is performed using a large-sized substrate. Various production techniques and processing apparatuses are developed and put into practical use every year or every day so that even larger substrate sizes can be manufactured with the aim of further increasing the number of parts and increasing the size of parts.

The manufacturing process of these electronic components usually includes many processing steps, such as forming a thin film on a substrate to be processed by a CVD method or a sputtering method, and forming an impurity concentration region by a thermal diffusion method. Many types of processing apparatuses are used in pattern formation of various thin films.

In these electronic parts, more than tens of thousands of fine patterns of the order of μm or less are formed, and further higher definition is pursued in the same way as the above-mentioned large size, so that they are invisible floating. Such foreign matter and gas also cause defects in pattern formation and chemical reaction. Therefore, processing equipment,
The entire process, such as the inspection device and the transport device, is housed in a clean room having a degree of cleanliness of class 1 or 10, for example, and various air conditioning controls are performed.

[0005] However, the construction cost of the clean room equipment is extremely increasing as the degree of cleanliness is increased. Especially in factories handling large substrates, especially in new factories, when starting up, the arrangement of equipment and the movement of work in the process change the flow of air complicatedly, and measures to prevent foreign matter and impurities from scattering at important places In addition, it is becoming difficult to manage and maintain cleanliness. Also, factory start-up time, construction and running costs are increasing. In addition, the number of checkpoints for dustproof measures for workers in the process, such as dustproof clothing, has increased, and as the number of operations in a wide range of processes has increased, the working environment of the workers themselves has been deteriorating.

As a method for solving these problems, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Nos. Hei 6-196545 and Hei 7-16
A processing apparatus described in, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 1797 and Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 7-297257 has been proposed. In each case, a pot (or a pod or a cassette accommodating container) having a set of a cassette accommodating a large number of substrates and a detachable cover is used for clean substrate transport between processing apparatuses. In this way, improvements such as reducing the high clean area of the entire line can be made.

An apparatus disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. Hei 7-161797 will be described with reference to FIGS. 6 and 7. FIG.

This apparatus includes a process tube 101 which is a processing chamber for performing a predetermined process on a wafer W to be processed. The process tube 101 is connected to a load lock chamber 104 having a transfer mechanism 103 for inserting and removing a wafer port 102 serving as a holder holding a large number of, for example, 100 wafers W. Load lock room 10
4, a loading / unloading chamber 105 for loading / unloading the wafer W is connected. In the loading / unloading chamber 105, a cassette housing container port 106 is formed. The holder housing chamber 20 houses the wafer port 102 disposed between the load lock chamber 104 and the loading / unloading chamber 105.

On the other hand, the loading / unloading room 105 has a HEPA (High
Efficiency Particle Air (Efficiency Particle Air) is brought into the atmosphere by the clean gas introduced through the filter 107.
Inside the loading / unloading chamber 105, the cassette container port 10 is provided.
6 are provided. Port 106 for cassette container
Has a cassette housing container 1 in which a wear carrier C for housing a plurality of, for example, 25 wafers W is housed.
08 is installed.

Referring to FIG. 8, the cassette accommodating container 108 is sized to accommodate one cassette C. The cassette accommodating container 108 includes a container main body 109 having an open lower portion, and a container bottom portion 110 for sealingly closing the opening. Cassette container 108
Is filled with clean air or an inert gas having a high cleanness and a positive pressure with respect to the atmospheric pressure in a state in which the cassette C is housed, or is evacuated. The cassette container 108 is, for example, a commercially available SM
IF-POD (trademark) is used.

The cassette container port 106 is formed so that the side wall of the loading / unloading chamber 105 is recessed toward the inside. The port mounting table 111 on which the container main body 109 is actually mounted has a cassette insertion hole 112 that is larger than the inner diameter of the flange portion 109A of the container main body 109 and smaller than the outer diameter thereof.
The peripheral edge of the insertion hole 112 is formed in a tapered shape that is inclined outward and downward. Thereby, the port mounting table 111
Further, the container bottom mounting table 113 is detachably provided downward.

As shown in FIG. 6, the container bottom mounting table 113 has a ball screw 1
It is mounted so as to protrude greatly from 14. The vertical movement arm 115 can be moved in the vertical direction (up and down direction) by a ball screw portion 114 arranged substantially on the side of the container bottom mounting table 113. Container bottom mounting table 11
3 is a container bottom 110 with the container body 109 left upward.
Then, only the cassette C placed on the upper surface is lowered and taken into the carry-in / out chamber 105.

Referring to FIG. 9, ball screw 114 has
A horizontal movement arm 116 is provided. The horizontal movement arm 116 is located below the container bottom mounting table 113, and is composed of a multi-joint arm that can be placed horizontally and bent to be bent. At the end of the horizontal moving arm 116, an arm assisting member 116A is provided which is swingable in a loosely fitted state so as to be always in a horizontal state. At both ends of the arm auxiliary member 116A, claw portions 117 that can be opened and closed are provided. By opening and closing the pawl portion 117 with the horizontal moving arm 116 bent, the side wall of the sunk cassette C can be gripped.

At the entrance of the cassette container port 106, there is provided a shutter mechanism 118 for opening and closing this portion to open and close the communication with the work area.

In the loading / unloading room 105, a carrier transfer 119 is installed at a position immediately behind the cassette housing port 106 via an elevator 120 so as to be able to move up and down. A transfer stage 121 is provided behind the carrier transfer 119. A carrier stock stage 122 is provided above the transfer stage 121. A plurality of shelves are formed on the carrier stock stage 122 so that the wafer carriers C transported from the cassette housing container port 106 by the carrier transfer 119 can be stored horizontally, for example, in two rows and four stages. .

A wafer transfer 123 is installed on the side of the loading / unloading chamber 105 on the side of the holding body accommodating chamber so as to be vertically movable by a transfer elevator 124. The wafer transfer 123 takes out the wafers W in the wafer carrier C on the transfer stage 122 one by one while moving up and down, and stores the wafers W in the wafer port 100 stored in the holder storage chamber 20. Wafer transfer 1
23 also functions to return the wafer W from the wafer port 102 into the wafer carrier C on the transfer stage 121.

An internal HEPA filter 125 is provided alongside the carrier stock stage 122. H
After the clean air with a high degree of cleanness introduced from above the EPA filter 125 is sequentially bent horizontally and downward, and passed through the port HEPA filter 125,
The gas flows downward through the cassette housing container port 106, is circulated indoors, and is exhausted one-through.

The apparatus described in JP-A-6-196545 has a processing apparatus 127 and a loading / unloading chamber 128 as shown in FIGS. 10 (A) and 10 (B). Container 133
Has a box (or identified as a box stop or pot) 132 and a box door (or pot door) 131. Multiple wafers 12
9 is housed in the box door 13
On top of one. This device is disclosed in
Unlike the device described in US Pat.
Inside, a wafer cassette 130 containing wafers 129 is provided.
And only the box door 131 is brought in. However, similarly to the apparatus disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 7-161797, a lifting mechanism 134 is provided on the side of the lifting section of the wafer cassette 130. The elevating mechanism 134 is provided in the carry-in / out room 128. Further, this apparatus has a manipulator arm 136 that transports the entire wafer cassette 135 to the pre-processing stage 135.

In the apparatus disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 7-297257, a cassette C is integrated with a cassette container 108 as shown in FIG. Cassette storage container 10
8 are stored on the container storage stage 137.
In this respect, this device is different from the device described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. Hei 7-161797, and as a result, space is saved.

Incidentally, in the case of a liquid crystal display device, if the substrate in the cassette is supported on the entire surface, there is a problem that scratches and dust are generated. Therefore, in many cases, an interval of about several tens of mm is provided between the two opposite substrate bottom surfaces.

[0021]

In the manufacturing process of various electronic components such as semiconductors and liquid crystal display devices, the size of substrates has been increasing. In addition, the number of processes and the number of processing devices are large, and large-scale factory facilities are required. However, in order to reduce construction, maintenance, and maintenance costs, facilitate transportation by truck from equipment manufacturers to factories, and improve workability in manufacturing and process management, the equipment or auxiliary equipment to be moved or moved It is necessary to reduce the size of the equipment.

Further, it is necessary to reduce the evacuation time and the like so as not to reduce the production cycle. JP-A-7-161
In order to stabilize the cleanness by eliminating the need for complicated air-conditioning adjustment such as adjusting three HEPAs as in JP-A-797, the volume of a spare chamber for transferring substrates to a load lock chamber or the like is made as small as possible. There is a need to.

However, in the apparatus described in JP-A-7-161797 or JP-A-7-297257, the space of the loading / unloading chamber is at least 20 times larger than the outer peripheral volume of the cassette on the X.times.Y plane in FIG. Space is required. Further, referring to FIG. 7, considering the depth direction B,
Further, a large space is required which is twice or three times or more.

Therefore, the following items are to be studied. A plurality of cassettes and cassette storage containers are stored in the loading / unloading room.

The transfer of the cassette and the cassette container and the elevating mechanism are housed in the carry-in / out room.

The elevating mechanism of the cassette or the cassette accommodating container is housed in the carry-in / out room. And lifting mechanism,
Formed on the side of the cassette or cassette container. Providing such an operation or sliding portion in the carry-in / out chamber has a problem that the quality of the product and the yield are likely to be reduced due to dust generation or the like. In addition, in particular, in a liquid crystal display device, a large substrate having a size of several hundred mm square or more is used, and the weight including a cassette and the like is large. Vertical movement arm 115, horizontal movement arm 116, ball screw 11
4 and its bearings become larger and their life is shortened. Further, since the bearings are located in the carry-in / out room, maintenance work time may be increased, and the operation rate of the device may be reduced.

Further, in the apparatus disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 7-161797, a complicated air conditioner for adjusting the flow rate and position of three HEPAs is required in order to stabilize the cleanness, and the HEPA space is required. I'm sorry.

Particularly, a liquid crystal display device uses a large substrate of several hundred mm square or more and has a thin thickness of 0.5 to 1.1 mm. Warp by about several tens mm. Therefore, it is necessary to increase the distance between the substrates in order to prevent interference and cracks during the transfer of the substrates. However, the size of the cassette or the cassette housing container is large and the weight is increased, so that the above-mentioned problems are synergistically increased.

In the apparatus described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 6-196545, the problems described in the above items are reduced, but the problems described above also exist. That is, as shown in FIG. 10, a space about ten times as large as the cassette is required in the plane of the cross-sectional view shown in FIG.

Further, in the manufacturing process of these electronic components, an unmanned carrier moving on a rail laid on the floor is generally used to transport a cassette on which substrates are mounted. However, in this case, rails for automatic guided vehicle tracks, various processing devices, and HE for improving cleanliness.
A PA unit and the like will be installed on the floor. As a result, the floor area increases. As a result, the effective floor area ratio decreases, maintenance and daily workability deteriorate,
There were problems such as difficulty in managing cleanliness in the process and increase in factory construction costs.

Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide an electronic component manufacturing apparatus with an improved effective floor area.

It is another object of the present invention to provide an electronic component manufacturing apparatus which does not deteriorate maintenance and daily workability.

Still another object of the present invention is to provide an electronic component manufacturing apparatus which makes it easy to manage cleanliness in a process.

Still another object of the present invention is to provide a component manufacturing apparatus improved so that the construction cost of a factory can be suppressed.

Still another object of the present invention is to provide a method for manufacturing an electronic component using such a manufacturing apparatus.

[0036]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided an electronic component manufacturing apparatus including a processing chamber for performing a predetermined process on a substrate. An adjacent chamber such as a load lock chamber for performing an operation of transferring the substrate to the processing chamber is connected to the processing chamber. A carry-in / out chamber is connected to take out the substrate from a cassette in which a plurality of the substrates are stacked in the adjacent chamber at an interval in the vertical direction and carry the substrate to the load lock chamber. The apparatus includes a transfer device that moves along a rail track provided on a ceiling, places the cassette in a cassette storage container, and transfers the cassette to the loading / unloading chamber. Elevating means for elevating the cassette conveyed together with the cassette housing container is provided in the carry-in / out chamber. The apparatus includes an unloading unit that unloads only one substrate in the horizontal direction from the cassette at a substantially constant horizontal position and unloads the substrate to the adjacent chamber.

According to the present invention, a single cassette (or a minimum of about two or three cassettes in a horizontal position or the like for improving the processing duct) and a cassette accommodating container are accommodated in the carry-in / out chamber (or A plurality of loading / unloading chambers may be provided in the processing apparatus to improve processing tact time).

Further, there is no need to store or transfer a plurality of cassettes and cassette housing containers in the loading / unloading chamber, and a transfer mechanism is not required. Further, since a part of the elevating mechanism is placed outside the loading / unloading chamber and the substrate is taken out at a fixed horizontal position, the entrance to an adjacent chamber such as an adjacent load lock chamber can be reduced.

Therefore, in the substrate transfer type manufacturing process of various electronic components such as semiconductors and liquid crystal display devices in a clean gas-tight container, even if the substrate is large, even if the number of processes and the number of processing devices are large, various processing devices are required. The size can be significantly reduced (can be reduced to a fraction of the conventional size). Therefore, the number of factory facilities can be minimized, construction, maintenance, maintenance costs, and the like can be suppressed, equipment can be easily transported from a maker to a factory, and workability such as manufacturing and process management can be improved.

Further, the manufacturing time can be suppressed by reducing the evacuation time and the like. Also, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 7-16 / 1994
No complicated air conditioning adjustment such as adjusting three HEPAs as in the case of 1797 is required. Further, the degree of cleanliness can be stabilized, and the quality and yield of products can be improved.

Further, the floor area can be reduced without installing the rail for the carrier track on the floor. As a result, the effective floor area ratio increases, maintenance and daily workability are improved, cleanliness management in the process is facilitated, and plant construction costs can be reduced.

In the electronic component manufacturing apparatus according to a second aspect, the elevating means is provided outside the loading / unloading chamber, the elevating unit supporting the vicinity of the center of gravity of the cassette from below and elevating the cassette, and A receiving part for receiving the elevating part,
including. The elevating unit is surrounded by bellows.

According to the present invention, the elevating mechanism of the cassette or the cassette accommodating container is housed outside the loading / unloading room. Further, the elevating mechanism is formed near the center of the cassette housing container. Therefore, the quality of the product and the yield are not reduced due to the generation of dust from the sliding parts, etc.
The strength of the screw and the shaft can be reduced, and the size can be reduced.

Further, since there is no elevating mechanism on the side of the cassette housing container, the carry-in path of the cassette housing container can be reduced, and the carrying-in robot and the transfer device are simple and easily designed. For example, an internal pressure gauge and a viewing window for the substrate are attached to the side of the cassette container so that the glass substrate can be easily observed and checked for cracks and other abnormalities in the substrate loading process.

Further, the floor area can be reduced without installing the rail for the carrier track on the floor. As a result, the effective floor area ratio increases, maintenance and daily workability are improved, cleanliness management in the process is facilitated, and plant construction costs can be reduced.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the electronic component manufacturing apparatus, the cassette includes substrate support means having at least four horizontally extending protrusions for supporting the substrate at at least four points from below. . At the tip of the protruding portion, a pin is provided which contacts the substrate from below and supports the substrate.

Also in the present invention, the plurality of cassette storage containers can be reduced in weight and size, and the loading / unloading room can be reduced in size.

To add an explanation, in a two-dimensional ideal solution, in two-point support of the substrate, the maximum deflection of the substrate is proportional to the cube of the distance between supports and inversely proportional to the cube of the thickness of the substrate.
As the substrate becomes larger or thinner, the amount of warpage of the substrate increases extremely. By reducing the distance between the support points, warpage is reduced, and defects such as chipping or cracking of the substrate caused by interference due to abnormal vibration or slight displacement at the time of transfer of the substrate are reduced, and the substrate in the cassette is reduced. By reducing the interval, the size of the cassette housing container can be reduced.

It is not preferable to support the line near the two sides of the edge or to support a wide area (for example, almost the entire surface) because the number of contact portions with the substrate increases, and the probability of adhesion of foreign matter and damage increases. Also,
Providing the support portion on a wide surface increases the weight of the entire cassette and makes it difficult to receive a substrate, which is not preferable. Therefore, it is preferable to provide about 4 to 6 convex protrusions.

The supporting portion is preferably made of aluminum, which secures rigidity, is relatively lightweight, and is easy to clean periodically. In the abutting portion of the substrate, a resin such as Teflon, which does not damage the substrate, causes less abrasion and chipping of the abutting member, and has high chemical resistance to an acidic cleaning agent or the like, is preferable.

Further, the floor area can be reduced without installing a rail for a carrier track on the floor. As a result, the effective floor area ratio increases, maintenance and daily workability are improved, cleanliness management in the process is facilitated, and plant construction costs can be reduced.

In the electronic component manufacturing apparatus according to the fourth aspect, at least six protrusions are provided.

In order to achieve a good balance between the reduction in warpage of a large rectangular substrate such as a liquid crystal substrate and the weight reduction of a cassette, it is preferable that the number of protrusions is about six. In the two-dimensional ideal solution, the warpage can be reduced to about 1/8.

In the electronic component manufacturing apparatus according to the fifth aspect, the projecting portion has a planar shape and a chevron shape with a smooth curve.

In order to reduce the weight and secure the rigidity of the substrate supporting portion, it is preferable that the cross-sectional shape of the substrate supporting portion is such that the stress becomes uniform with respect to cantilever support. In addition, it is preferable to make the thickness uniform so as to minimize the distance between the substrates and facilitate processing and assembly of a plate material or the like. In addition, eliminating corners,
In order to prevent scratching and dust generation at the time of contact with the substrate, a shape such as a smooth mountain shape (wave shape) is preferable.

In the electronic component manufacturing apparatus according to the sixth aspect, the rail track and the carry-in / out chamber overlap in a plan view.

According to the present invention, the floor area is reduced, the effective floor area ratio is increased, the cleanliness in the process is easily managed, and the construction cost of the factory can be reduced.

In the method of manufacturing an electronic component according to the present invention, first, a cassette in which a plurality of substrates are stacked and mounted at an interval in the vertical direction by a carrier moving on a rail track provided on the ceiling is provided. , And transported into the loading / unloading chamber. By engaging the shielding means provided at the lower part of the cassette accommodating container with the shielding means provided on the side wall of the carry-in / out chamber, the carry-in / out chamber is blocked by the upper area and the lower area. The atmosphere in the lower area of the loading / unloading chamber is replaced with a clean gas. The cassette is removed from the cassette housing container and lowered to the lower region. Only one substrate is taken out of the cassette at a substantially constant horizontal position in the horizontal direction, and is carried into an adjacent room.

According to the present invention, the same effects as those described in the first aspect can be obtained. In the electronic component manufacturing method according to the eighth aspect, the transport of the cassette housing container is performed by setting the pressure in the cassette housing container to a positive pressure.

The inside of the carrier may be at a vacuum pressure as long as it is a clean gas. However, the outside unclean air is prevented from entering due to breakage or life of the O-ring or the like.
For a series of workability and time reduction, such as opening the atmospheric pressure and opening the bottom plate at the time of taking out the substrate, it is preferable to make the pressure slightly higher than the atmospheric pressure.

In the electronic component manufacturing method according to the ninth aspect, the substrate is carried into the adjacent room by a transfer means provided in the adjacent room.

According to the present invention, it is not necessary to newly provide a substrate loading device.

[0063]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a partial sectional view of an electronic component manufacturing apparatus according to the present invention. Although the main body of the processing apparatus is omitted, any single or continuous processing such as thin film formation such as sputtering and CVD, pattern formation such as inspection, resist coating, exposure, patterning, heating, drying and cleaning ion implantation is performed. It can also be used for the device described above.

Referring to FIG. 1, a manufacturing apparatus according to the present invention includes a processing chamber 2 for performing a predetermined process on a substrate 1 which is an object to be processed.
Is provided. The load lock chamber 3 is connected to the processing chamber 2. The load lock chamber 3 has a transfer mechanism (not shown) for inserting and removing the substrate 1 as a processing body. Load lock room 3
Is connected to a loading / unloading chamber 6 for loading and unloading a plurality of substrates 1 accommodated in the cassette 5. The processing chamber 2, the load lock chamber 3, and the loading / unloading chamber 6 are provided with
Is configured.

The cassette 5 and the cassette container 8 are loaded into the loading / unloading chamber 6 through the loading / unloading door 4. Loading / unloading room 6
, Only the substrate 1 is carried into the load lock chamber 3.
Inside the loading / unloading chamber 6, the cassette 5 is moved up and down. Each substrate 1 is carried into the load lock chamber 3 from a substantially constant horizontal position. As a result, the volume of the carry-in / out chamber 6 can be reduced to about twice (about three times or less at most) the outer peripheral volume of the cassette 5.

However, the volume of the carry-in / out chamber 6 is set to 2n by placing the n cassette accommodation containers 8 in the carry-in / out chamber 6 horizontally.
+ Α (minimum of 2n or more, depending on the number of gate valves and how to take up a transfer space) may be used to reduce the time required for assembling a substrate, such as evacuation.

In the loading / unloading chamber 6, a mechanism 9 for raising and lowering the substrate 1 or the cassette 5 is provided. The elevating mechanism 9 is provided substantially near the center of gravity of the substrate 1 or the cassette 5. The receiving portion of the guide (sliding) 10 of the lifting mechanism is provided outside the loading / unloading chamber 6. The elevating unit (shaft) 11 existing in the carry-in / out room 6 is surrounded by a bellows 12 and is shut off from the outside of the carry-in / out room 6.

The space enclosed by the cassette housing container (main body) 8 in which the plurality of substrates 1 are mounted on the cassette 5 and the bottom plate 13 of the cassette housing container 8 is filled with an inert gas having a high degree of cleanliness to make it slightly larger. Make the pressure more positive than the atmospheric pressure. Thus, the substrate 1 is sealed with the O-ring 14 or the like. The transport body 15 in such a state is transported between processing apparatuses in a manufacturing process or the like, and is transported into the transport chamber.

FIG. 2 shows the structure of the carrier 15. FIG.
2A is a side sectional view, and FIG. 2B is an upper sectional view.

The carrier 15 has a substrate support 16.
The substrate support 16 is made of aluminum and has a thickness of about 3 mm. In order to receive the substrate 1, the substrate supporting portions 16 project in a smooth mountain shape at six locations in the in-plane direction of the substrate. A pin 17 made of Teflon resin and provided in contact with the substrate 1 and supporting the substrate 1 is provided near the tip of the protruding portion. To describe the size of the substrate 1, the thickness is 1.1 mm, the width is 550 mm, and the length is 650.
mm. A pin 17 is provided in the width direction about 150 mm inward from the end of the substrate. The edge of the substrate 1 is pressed by a roller (not shown), and the warp is approximately 10 mm.
It is kept below. The gap between the substrates 1 is about 30 mm. In the cassette 5, twenty substrates 1 are accommodated.

With reference to FIG. 3, a method of transferring the substrate 1 to the processing apparatus 7 will be described. Referring to FIG. 3A, a cassette 5 on which a plurality of substrates 1 are mounted is placed in a cassette accommodation container 8.
Open the door 4 of the processing apparatus,
It is stored in the loading / unloading room 6.

Referring to FIG. 3B, the door 4 is closed, and a lower portion of the carrier 15 is filled with an inert gas such as N ₂ which is slightly positive pressure than the atmospheric pressure and is clean. Replace. Thereafter, the bottom plate 13 is slightly lowered. At this time,
The bottom portion 18 of the cassette housing container (main body) 8 is provided so that the upper and side atmospheres outside the cassette housing container (main body) 8 do not enter the inside of the cassette housing container (main body) 8.
Side wall protrusion 19 and O-ring 1 provided in loading / unloading chamber 6
4 and so on.

Thereafter, referring to FIG. 3C, the upper and lower regions of the carry-in / out chamber 6 are simultaneously evacuated and evacuated. After opening the gate valve 20, the cassette 5 is sequentially lowered to the home position. Next, a robot provided in an adjacent load lock chamber (not shown) loads the substrates 1 one by one into the processing chamber 2.
Carry in. The processed substrate is returned to the cassette 5 on the contrary.

FIG. 4 is a schematic view of a transporter for transporting a transport body. A rail 23 is provided on the ceiling 22. A car 24 is attached to the rail 23 so that the transporter 21 can move. The transporters 21 are, for example, self-propelled, and each transporter 21 has a built-in rotation motor (not shown).
A feeder tube 25 for supplying a high-frequency power source and a signal is provided below the rail 23. High-frequency current,
The rotating motor may be driven by generating an induced current.
This reduces dust generation without contact. In addition, power can be supplied without providing a large-capacity charger in the transporter 21 and without causing a loss in charging time.

Further, the transporter 21 is provided with an insertion / removal pin 26 for hooking the semiconductor 15 and an elevating unit 27 which operates when the transporter 15 is delivered.

Further, as shown in FIG. 5, the track rail 23 is disposed on at least a part of the many processing devices 7 so that the passage route of the transporter 21 or the delivery position of the transport body 15 is arranged. Arrange. Since no rails or the like are provided on the floor, the floor area of the entire factory can be significantly reduced. Further, the workability of the floor worker can be improved, and safety can be ensured.

In this embodiment, the case where the load-lock chamber 3 is adjacent to the loading / unloading chamber 6 is exemplified. However, the substrate reception of various conventional apparatuses such as a robot room, a pre-processing room, and a processing room is also possible. Or it may be a relay room.

The embodiments disclosed this time are to be considered in all respects as illustrative and not restrictive. The scope of the present invention is defined by the terms of the claims, rather than the description above, and is intended to include any modifications within the scope and meaning equivalent to the terms of the claims.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a partial cross-sectional view of a processing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating a structure of a transport body according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a diagram for explaining a method of transferring a substrate to a processing apparatus.

FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view of the transporter according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view for explaining a state in which the transporter according to the present invention is disposed on a track rail.

FIG. 6 is a schematic sectional view of a conventional processing apparatus.

FIG. 7 is a schematic plan view of a conventional processing apparatus.

FIG. 8 is a cross-sectional view of a conventional cassette housing container port.

FIG. 9 is a perspective view of a conventional cassette horizontal movement mechanism.

FIG. 10 is a diagram showing another conventional processing apparatus.

FIG. 11 is a schematic sectional view of still another conventional processing apparatus.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 substrate, 2 processing chamber, 3 load lock chamber, 6 loading / unloading chamber, 8 cassette storage container, 11 shaft, 13
Bottom plate.

 ──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continuing on the front page (72) Inventor Masaki Hirayama 05 Aoba Aramaki, Aoba-ku, Aoba-ku, Sendai, Miyagi Prefecture Within the Graduate School of Engineering, Tohoku University (72) Inventor Tadahiro Omi 2 Yonegabukuro, Aoba-ku, Sendai-shi, Miyagi −1-17− 301 F term (reference) 3F022 AA08 BB09 CC02 EE05 FF26 KK20 LL12 MM01 5F031 CA02 CA05 DA01 DA09 FA01 FA02 FA03 FA07 FA11 FA12 GA58 MA23 MA26 MA27 MA28 MA29 MA33 NA02 NA04 NA05 NA09 NA10 PA09 PA18

Claims (9)

[Claims] A processing chamber for performing a predetermined process on a substrate; an adjacent chamber connected to the processing chamber for performing an operation of transferring the substrate to the processing chamber; and an adjacent chamber connected to the adjacent chamber. A loading / unloading chamber for taking out the substrate from a cassette in which a plurality of the substrates are stacked and mounted at an interval in the vertical direction and carrying the substrate to the adjacent room; and a rail track provided on a ceiling. A transfer device that moves, inserts the cassette into a cassette storage container, and transfers the cassette to the loading / unloading chamber; a lifting / lowering unit that is provided in the loading / unloading chamber and lifts the cassette that has been transported together with the cassette storage container; An unloading means for unloading only one substrate in a horizontal direction at a substantially constant horizontal position and unloading the substrate to the adjacent room. 2. The elevating unit includes: an elevating unit that supports the vicinity of the center of gravity of the cassette from below to elevate the cassette; and a receiving unit that is provided outside the loading / unloading chamber and receives the elevating unit. The electronic component manufacturing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the lifting unit is surrounded by a bellows. 3. The cassette comprises at least four horizontally extending substrates supporting the substrate from below at at least four points.
2. The electronic component according to claim 1, further comprising: a substrate supporting unit having a plurality of protrusions, wherein a pin that abuts on the substrate from below and supports the substrate is provided at a tip end of the protrusion. 3. manufacturing device. 4. The electronic component manufacturing apparatus according to claim 3, wherein at least six protrusions are provided. 5. The electronic component manufacturing apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the projecting portion has a planar shape and a smooth curved mountain shape. 6. The electronic component manufacturing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the rail track and the loading / unloading chamber overlap in a plan view. 7. A cassette, in which a plurality of substrates are stacked and mounted at intervals in the vertical direction, is loaded into a cassette accommodating container and transported into a loading / unloading chamber by a transporter moving on a rail track provided on a ceiling. And closing the loading / unloading chamber into an upper area and a lower area by engaging a shielding means provided at a lower portion of the cassette accommodating container with a shielding means provided on a side wall of the loading / unloading chamber. A step of replacing the atmosphere in the lower area of the loading / unloading chamber with a clean gas; a step of taking out the cassette from the cassette accommodating container and lowering the cassette to the lower area; Horizontally in horizontal position,
A step of taking out only one substrate and carrying it into an adjacent room;
A method for manufacturing an electronic component, comprising: 8. The method for manufacturing an electronic component according to claim 7, wherein the transport of the cassette housing container is performed by setting the pressure in the cassette housing container to a positive pressure. 9. The transfer of the substrate into the adjacent room by a transfer means provided in the adjacent room.
3. The method for manufacturing an electronic component according to claim 1.