JPH03116731A - Semiconductor wafer transfer equipment - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] This bulletin contains application data before electronic filing, so abstract data is not recorded.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention relates to a semiconductor wafer transfer device for transferring a semiconductor wafer in an upright state into a processing tank in a semiconductor device manufacturing process.

[Conventional technology]

Conventionally, when semiconductor wafers (hereinafter simply referred to as wafers) are subjected to wet processing such as wet etching, a plurality of wafers are stacked and transferred into a processing tank. This will be explained with reference to FIGS. 5 to 7(a) and (b).

5 to 7(a) and 7(b) are views showing a conventional wafer transfer processing apparatus disclosed in, for example, Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 63-184350, in which FIG. 5 is a perspective view and FIG. 6 is a perspective view. 7(a) is a sectional view showing the wafer being transferred to the wafer processing tank, and FIG. 7(b) is a sectional view showing the wafer being placed in the wafer processing tank. It is a diagram. In these figures, 1 is a wafer, and 2 is a wafer processing tank for subjecting the wafer l to wet processing such as etching processing. The wafer processing tank 2 is formed with an upward opening, and a guide groove 2a is formed on the inner side surface of the tank to insert the outer peripheral edge of the wafer 1 and prevent the wafer 1 from being tilted. There is. The guide grooves 2a have a V-shaped cross section and are vertically elongated vertically, and are arranged in plural on the inner side of the wafer processing tank 2. A plurality of the wafer processing tanks 2 are usually arranged side by side in the horizontal direction, and wafers are transported to each wafer processing tank by a wafer transport holder, which will be described later. Reference numeral 3 denotes a pair of wafer transport holders for holding a plurality of wafers 1 in an upright state and transporting them between wafer processing tanks. A guide groove 3a is formed into which the guide groove 3a is inserted.

This guide groove 3a is the guide groove 2a of the wafer processing tank 2.
A plurality of wafer transfer holders 3 are arranged in parallel in each wafer transfer holder 3 with the same shape and pitch. Each of these wafer transfer holders 3 has a rod 5 attached to a rotary chuck arm 4.
The rotary chuck arm 4 is configured to rotate about the axis of the rod 5 as the center of rotation.

In order to hold the wafer l by this wafer transfer holder 3, as shown in FIG. It is performed by moving the body in an inverted V-shape when viewed from the front. That is, in this state, the distance between the lower sides of both wafer transport holders 3 is narrower than that between the upper sides, and the wafer 1 is supported in an upright state within the guide groove a. Reference numeral 6 denotes a moving arm for raising and lowering the wafer transfer holder 3 and moving it to another wafer processing tank (not shown) adjacent to the wafer processing tank 2. This moving arm 6 is connected to the rotary chuck arm. 4, and a main body 6b for raising and lowering the elevating member 6a. It is provided. That is, the wafer transfer holder 3 is rotated by the rotary chuck arm 4, and is provided so that it can be raised and lowered by the movable arm 6 and can be horizontally moved in the direction in which the wafer processing baths 2 are arranged side by side. Reference numeral 8 denotes a wafer lift for taking the wafer 1 into and out of the wafer processing tank 2, and this wafer lift 8 is composed of a wafer support part 8a inserted into the wafer processing tank 2, and a main body 8b for raising and lowering the wafer support part 8a. A guide groove 8c into which the lower outer peripheral edge of the wafer 1 is inserted is formed in the horizontal portion of the wafer support portion 8a. A plurality of guide grooves 8c are arranged in parallel at equal intervals to the guide grooves 2a formed in the wafer processing tank 2. Note that this wafer lift 8 is provided in each of a plurality of wafer processing tanks 2 arranged in parallel. Reference numeral 9 denotes a control device for controlling the rotational operation of the rotary chuck arm 4, the vertical movement and horizontal movement of the movable arm 6, and the vertical movement of the wafer lift 8, respectively.

Next, the operation of the conventional wafer transfer processing apparatus configured as described above will be explained. First, a procedure for loading a wafer I into the wafer processing tank 2 and performing wet processing will be described. In order to transport the wafer 1 to the wafer processing tank 2, the wafer transport holder 3 is moved to a wafer supply device (not shown) in advance, and the wafer transport holder 3 is placed in an inverted V-shape (hereinafter referred to as This state is referred to as a state in which the wafer transport holder 3 is closed.) The wafer 1 is held in the wafer transport holder 3 which has been rotated. Then, the wafer transfer holder 3 is horizontally moved above the wafer processing tank 2 by the moving arm 6, so that the bottom of the wafer transfer holder 3 is placed on the wafer processing tank 2.
The wafer transport holder 3 is lowered until it approaches the upper part of the wafer. At this time, the guide groove 3 of the wafer transport holder 3
The wafer transport holder 3 is positioned such that the guide groove 2a of the wafer processing tank 2 corresponds to the guide groove 2a of the wafer processing tank 2, respectively.

Next, the wafer support part 8a of the wafer lift 8 is raised to expose the lower outer peripheral edge of the wafer 1 into the guide groove 8c, and the wafer 1 is brought into contact with the wafer support part 8a. Then, the wafer transport holder 3 is slowly rotated so that the longitudinal direction of the guide groove 3a is oriented vertically (until the rotation angle reaches 0''). This is called an open state. When the wafer transfer holder 3 is opened, the entire weight of the wafer 1 is applied to the wafer lift 8, and the wafer support part 8 of the wafer lift 8
The wafer 1 will be supported by a. On this occasion,
Since the outer peripheral edge of the wafer 1 is inserted into the guide groove a of the wafer transport holder 3, the wafer 1 is maintained in an upright state without falling down. After that, as shown in FIG. 7(b), the wafer support part 8 of the wafer lift 8 is
a is lowered to guide the wafer 1 into the processing tank 2. On this occasion,
Since the guide groove 2a of the wafer processing tank 2 and the guide groove 3a of the wafer transport holder 3 are located on the same line,
The wafer 1 is introduced into the wafer processing tank 2 without falling over.

In this way, wet processing can be performed within the wafer processing tank 2. After the wet processing, the wafer lift 8 is raised. At this time, the wafer transport holder 3 is placed in advance at a fixed position on the wafer processing tank 2, opened, and stopped. As the wafer support part 8a of the wafer lift 8 is raised, the wafer 1 is transferred from the wafer processing tank 2 to the wafer transport holder 3. The wafer support part 88 is moved to a predetermined position (the wafer 1 is completely attached to the wafer transport holder 3).
After the wafer 1 is lifted up (until it is inserted between the wafers and the
be held by In order to transfer the wafer 1 to another wafer processing tank, the wafer transfer holder 3 is once raised by the moving arm 6, and then horizontally moved along the road 7 to above the other wafer processing tank. . By repeating the same operation as described above in other wafer processing tanks, the wafers 1 are transferred to a plurality of wafer processing tanks and subjected to wet processing one after another.

[Problem to be solved by the invention]

However, in the conventional wafer transfer processing apparatus configured as described above, the wafers 1 are placed on the inner side surface of the wafer processing tank 2.
Since the guide groove 2a for supporting the wafer processing tank 2 in an upright state is formed, the inside of the wafer processing tank 2 cannot be set wide. For this reason, for example, an ultrasonic vibrator or the like used when performing wet cleaning inside the wafer processing tank 2 could not be attached. When wet cleaning is performed without using an ultrasonic vibrator, there is a limit to how much cleaning efficiency can be improved.

[Means to solve the problem]

The semiconductor wafer transfer device according to the present invention includes a pair of transfer holders, each of which has a plurality of longitudinal grooves arranged in parallel on opposing surfaces, into which the outer peripheral edge of the semiconductor wafer is inserted, and which holds a plurality of semiconductor wafers in an upright state. , a transport device that horizontally moves the transport holder above the wafer processing tank, and a wafer lift that is provided to be movable up and down with respect to the wafer processing tank and that takes semiconductor wafers into and out of the wafer processing tank, the wafer lift comprising: At least three supporting members for supporting the semiconductor wafer are provided horizontally, and each of these supporting members has a V-shaped groove in cross section for inserting the lower outer peripheral edge of the semiconductor wafer and supporting the semiconductor wafer in an upright state. are arranged in parallel at intervals equal to the intervals of the longitudinal grooves of the conveyance holder.

[For production]

Semiconductor wafers are moved into and out of the wafer processing tank while being held upright only by the support members of the wafer lift.
The interior of the wafer processing tank can be set wide.

〔Example〕

An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS.
(d) will be explained in detail.

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing a semiconductor wafer transfer device according to the present invention, FIG. 2 is a side sectional view, FIG. 3 is an enlarged sectional view of main parts, and FIGS. Figure d) is a diagram for explaining the operation; Figure (a) is a cross-sectional view showing a state in which a wafer is being wet-processed, and Figure (b) is a diagram showing a state in which a wafer is moved above the wafer processing tank. Cross-sectional view shown in the same figure (c)
2 is a cross-sectional view showing a state in which a wafer transport holder is placed below a wafer, and FIG. In these figures, the same or equivalent members as those explained in FIGS. 5 to 7 are designated by the same reference numerals, and detailed explanation thereof will be omitted. In FIGS. 1 to 4, reference numeral 11 denotes a wafer processing tank for performing wet processing on the wafer 1, and this wafer processing tank 11 is opened upward and has an ultrasonic vibrator for wet cleaning inside. A plurality of other wafer processing tanks (not shown) equivalent to this wafer processing tank 11 are arranged in parallel in the horizontal direction. Reference numeral 12 denotes a moving arm with a rotary chuck for moving the wafer transport holder 3 from the wafer processing tank 11 to another wafer processing tank, etc. The moving arm 12 with a rotary chuck is integrally attached to the wafer transport holder 3. It is composed of an attached rod 13 and a main body 14 that rotates the rod 13 with its longitudinal direction as an axis. 7 so as to be horizontally movable.

That is, by this moving arm I2 with a rotary chuck, the wafer transfer holder 3 is rotated (opening/closing operation) and is horizontally moved above the wafer processing tank 11 along the direction in which the wafer processing tanks are arranged side by side. Become. 15 is wafer 1
This wafer lift 15 includes three wafer support rods 15a, 15b, and 15c that are moved in and out of the wafer processing tank 11 while maintaining a horizontal state, and the wafer support rods 15a, 15b, and 15c. 1
5a, 15b, 15c, and a main body 15d for raising and lowering the wafer support rods 15a, 15c.
b.

15c is a deep groove 1 into which the lower outer peripheral edge of the wafer 1 is inserted.
5e is formed. As shown in FIG. 3, the deep grooves 15e are formed in a V-shaped cross section, and a plurality of deep grooves 15e are arranged in parallel at equal intervals to the guide grooves 3a formed in the wafer transfer holder 3. Further, the wafer support rod 15a
, 15b, 15c are mounted in different positions vertically between the central one and the ones on both sides.The supporting rods 15b, 15c on both sides are arranged above the central supporting rod 15a, and the wafer transport holder 3 and The wafer transfer holder 3 is disposed within a range that does not come into contact with the wafer transport holder 3 even if it is rotated when transferring the wafer 1, in other words, within a range of ±45' in the vertical direction from the center point of the wafer 1. That is, when the wafer 1 is inserted into the deep groove 15e of each of these support rods 15a, 15b, 15c, the outer peripheral edge of the wafer 1 is inserted into the innermost part of each of the deep grooves 15e, and the support rods 15a, 15b, 15c It is supported by three points. By supporting the wafer 1 at three points, it is possible to prevent the wafer 1 from swinging in the left-right direction or tilting in the vertical direction with respect to its main surface. These support rods 15a, 15b
, 15c are set according to the outer diameter of the wafer 1, and when a wafer 1 with a diameter of 5 inches (approximately 125 m) is used, the support rods 15b and 15c on both sides that support the wafer 1 are set. It is desirable to arrange the point at least 15 m above that of the central support rod 15a. When the upper support point is placed 15111 above the lower support point, the spacing between the support points on both support rods 15b and 15c is about 108 m.

In addition, the deep grooves 15 of the support rods 15a, 15b, 15c
When the distance c was set to about 4.8 va, it was possible to prevent the wafers 1 from coming into contact with each other even when a plurality of wafers 1 were supported on the support rods 15a, 15b, and 15c. .

Note that this wafer lift 15 is provided in each of a plurality of wafer processing tanks 11 arranged in parallel. Note that 16 is a control device for controlling the operations of the movable arm 12 with rotating chuck and the wafer lift 15, respectively.

Next, the operation of the semiconductor wafer transfer device according to the present invention will be explained. First, a procedure for inserting the wafer 1 into the wafer processing tank 11 and performing wet processing will be described. In order to transport the wafer 1 to the wafer processing tank 11, the wafer transport holder 3 is moved to a wafer supply device (not shown) in advance, and the wafer transport holder 3 is closed.
The wafer 1 is held in this wafer transport holder 3.

Then, as shown in FIG. 4(d), the moving arm 12 with a rotary chuck is operated to horizontally move the wafer transfer holder 3 onto the wafer processing tank 11 along the load 7. At this time, the wafer transfer holder 3 is positioned on the wafer processing tank 11 at a position where it can be easily rotated. Next, the wafer lift 15 is operated to raise the wafer support rods 15a, 15b+15c, and the lower outer peripheral edge of the wafer 1 is inserted into the deep groove 15e. At this time, the deep grooves 1 of the wafer support rods 15a, t5b, 15C
5e and the guide groove 3a of the wafer transfer holder 3 are formed with the same pitch, so that the lower outer peripheral edge of the wafer 1 is reliably inserted into the deep groove 15e. Then, in this state, the wafer transport holder 3
Open the wafer 1 and place the wafer 1 on the wafer support rods 15a, 15b,
15c.

After that, as shown in FIG. 4(a), the wafer support rod 1 is
5a, 15b, and 15c are lowered, and the wafer 1 is introduced into the wafer processing tank 11 and subjected to wet processing. In order to transport the wafer 1 wet-processed in the wafer processing tank 11 to another wafer processing tank, etc., first, as shown in FIG. 4(b), the wafer lift 15 is operated to support the wafer. The rods 15a, 15b, 15c are raised above the planned installation position of the wafer transport holder 3, and the wafer support rods 15a, 15 are moved upward as shown in FIG. 4(c).
b. Move the wafer transport holder 3 below 15c. At this time, the wafer transport holder 3 is kept open in advance. And wafer support rods 15a, 15b
, 15c is lowered, and the outer peripheral edge of the wafer 1 is inserted into the guide groove a of the wafer transport holder 3. At this time, in the wafer 1, the wafer support rods 15a, 15b
, 15c, the wafer support rods 15a, 15b, 15 are inserted into the guide groove 3a of the wafer transport holder 3 from the side supported by the wafer support rods 15a, 15b, 15 in a slightly inclined state.
Even if the guide groove 3a is supported by the guide groove 3a, there is no possibility that the guide groove 3a will be erroneously inserted into a guide groove other than the predetermined guide groove 3a, thereby causing a transfer error. After each wafer 1 is inserted into each guide groove 3a of the wafer transfer holder 3 in this way, the wafer lift 15 is stopped at the optimal position for transferring the wafer 1, and as shown in FIG. 4(d), , the wafer transport holder 3 is closed, thereby holding the wafer 1. Thereafter, the wafer support rods 15a, 15b, and 15c are lowered to a position where they do not interfere with the horizontal movement of the wafer transport holder 3, and then stopped. Further, in order to transfer the wafer 1 to another wafer processing tank, a moving arm 12 with a rotary chuck is used.
This is done by horizontally moving the wafer transport holder 3 along the road 7 to above another wafer processing tank. By repeating the same operation as above in other wafer processing tanks,
The wafers I are transported to a plurality of wafer processing tanks and subjected to wet processing one after another.

Note that in this embodiment, wafer support rods 15a+ 15b+
Although an example is shown in which three wafer support rods are used, any number of wafer support rods may be used as long as there are three or more, and the same effect as in this embodiment can be obtained. Furthermore, although this embodiment shows an example in which the semiconductor wafer transfer device of the present invention is employed in a wet processing device such as a wet cleaning device, the present invention is not limited to such a limitation. (I.P.A.
) can also be applied to a wafer drying apparatus that dries wafers in saturated steam. In conventional wafer drying equipment of this type, wafers housed in Teflon cassettes are
It has a structure in which it is introduced into PA vapor and dried, and most of the IPA vapor is consumed in the Teflon cassette, so the amount of IPA consumed is extremely large. When the wafer transfer device of the present invention is applied to this wafer drying device,
Since most of the IPA vapor is consumed by the wafer, a secondary effect is obtained in that the amount of IPA consumed can be kept low.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As explained above, the semiconductor wafer transfer device of the present invention has a plurality of vertical grooves arranged in parallel on the opposing surfaces into which the outer peripheral edge of the semiconductor wafer is inserted, and a pair of vertical grooves for holding a plurality of semiconductor wafers in an upright state. comprising a transport holder, a transport device that horizontally moves the transport holder above a wafer processing tank, and a wafer lift that is movable up and down with respect to the wafer processing tank and that takes semiconductor wafers into and out of the wafer processing tank;
The wafer lift is provided with at least three supporting members that support the semiconductor wafer horizontally, and the lower outer peripheral edge of the semiconductor wafer is inserted into these supporting members so that the semiconductor wafer has a cross section V that supports the semiconductor wafer in an upright state. Since a plurality of letter-shaped grooves are arranged in parallel at intervals equal to the intervals of the vertical grooves of the transport holder, the semiconductor wafers can be taken in and out of the wafer processing tank while being erected only by the support members of the wafer lift. The interior of the wafer processing tank can be set wide. Therefore, components required for the wet processing process, such as ultrasonic vibrators for cleaning, can be installed freely in the wafer processing tank without being subject to structural restrictions. Performance can be improved and a high quality semiconductor device can be obtained.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing a semiconductor wafer transfer device according to the present invention, FIG. 2 is a side sectional view, FIG. 3 is an enlarged sectional view of main parts, and FIGS. Figure d) is a diagram for explaining the operation; Figure (a) is a cross-sectional view showing a state in which a wafer is being wet-processed, and Figure (b) is a diagram showing a state in which a wafer is moved above the wafer processing tank. Cross-sectional view shown in the same figure (c)
2 is a cross-sectional view showing a state in which a wafer transport holder is placed below a wafer, and FIG. FIG. 5 is a perspective view showing a conventional wafer transfer processing device, FIG. 6 is a side sectional view showing the conventional wafer transfer processing device, and FIG. FIG. 7(b) is a sectional view showing the wafer being lowered into the wafer processing tank. 1...Wafer, 3...Wafer transport holder 3
a... Guide groove, 11... Wafer processing tank, 12
...Moving arm with rotating chuck, 15...Wafer lift, 15a, 15b, 15c...Wafer support rod, 15e...Deep groove. Agent Masuo Oishi 1st Figure 1; Que 11 nium 8 Sakai Figure 5 Figure 6

Claims (1)

[Claims] A pair of transport holders, each having a plurality of vertical grooves arranged in parallel on the opposite surface side into which the outer peripheral edges of semiconductor wafers are inserted, hold a plurality of semiconductor wafers in an upright state, and the transport holder is placed above the wafer processing tank. and a wafer lift that is provided to be able to move up and down with respect to a wafer processing tank and that takes the semiconductor wafer in and out of the wafer processing tank, and the wafer lift has a support member that supports the semiconductor wafer that is horizontally moved at least horizontally. Three supporting members are provided, and these supporting members have V-shaped grooves in cross section for inserting the lower outer peripheral edge of the semiconductor wafer and supporting the semiconductor wafer in an upright state. A transfer device for semiconductor wafers, characterized in that a plurality of semiconductor wafer transfer devices are arranged in parallel at equal intervals.