KR101685095B1 - Substrate Buffering Apparatus, System and Method For Treating Substrate - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention provides a semiconductor device comprising: a buffer chamber for forming an atmospheric space in which a plurality of substrates are placed and a heating space for heating the plurality of substrates; a heating unit for heating a heating space of the buffer chamber; And a substrate holder having a multi-stage slot in which a plurality of substrates are stacked, the substrate holder being movable between the atmospheric space and the heating space, thereby shortening the processing time and the transfer time for the substrate and improving the efficiency of the substrate processing step .

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a substrate buffering apparatus, a substrate processing apparatus,

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a substrate buffering apparatus, a substrate processing apparatus, and a substrate processing method, and more particularly, to a substrate buffering apparatus capable of shortening a processing time and a transfer time for a substrate, Facility, and substrate processing method.

Generally, a semiconductor device is manufactured by depositing various materials on a substrate in a thin film form and patterning the same. Various processes such as a deposition process, an etching process, a cleaning process, and a drying process are performed in various stages.

The substrate processing apparatus includes a cleaning apparatus in which a cleaning process for the substrate is performed, a buffering apparatus for temporarily storing the cleaned substrate, an epitaxial apparatus in which an epitaxial process is performed on the substrate, And a transfer device in which an operation of transferring the substrate to each of the chambers is performed, and the like.

The conventional substrate processing apparatus has a heating apparatus for removing a natural oxide film on a substrate through an etching process and a heating device for removing reaction by-products formed on the substrate by heating the substrate.

The cleaning process performed in the cleaning apparatus and the heating apparatus is as follows. First, a substrate handler for transferring a substrate feeds a radical and a reactive gas into the cleaning chamber when one substrate is transferred into the cleaning chamber of the cleaning apparatus. The substrate handler then transfers one etched substrate into the heating chamber of the heating apparatus. In the heating chamber, the substrate is heated to pyrolyze and remove by-products on the substrate surface generated by the etching process. Subsequently, the substrate was transferred into the buffering device using the substrate handler, and when a certain amount of substrate was loaded into the buffer chamber of the buffering device, it was transferred to the epitaxial device.

However, when one substrate is subjected to the etching process for one substrate in the cleaning chamber and then transferred to the heating chamber for heating, the process time and the transfer time for the substrate may be increased. That is, since one substrate is subjected to an etching process, one substrate is subjected to a heating process, and one substrate is transferred into the buffer chamber one by one, and the substrate is awaited until a certain amount of substrates are loaded in the buffer chamber. Can not be performed quickly. Thus, there arises a problem that the efficiency of the substrate processing step is lowered.

KR 2013-0015223 A

The present invention provides a substrate buffering apparatus, a substrate processing apparatus, and a substrate processing method capable of shortening a processing time and a transfer time for a substrate.

The present invention provides a substrate buffering apparatus, a substrate processing apparatus, and a substrate processing method capable of improving the efficiency of a substrate processing process.

The present invention provides a semiconductor device comprising: a buffer chamber for forming an atmospheric space in which a plurality of substrates are placed and a heating space for heating the plurality of substrates; a heating unit for heating a heating space of the buffer chamber; And a substrate holder having a multi-stage slot in which a plurality of substrates are stacked, respectively, and movable between the standby space and the heating space.

The heating space and the atmosphere space are arranged in a direction in which the substrate is loaded.

And a support unit for moving the substrate holder in a direction in which the substrate is loaded, wherein the support unit comprises: a shaft extending in a direction in which the substrate is loaded and having one end connected to a lower portion of the substrate holder; A vertical actuator connected to the other end for moving the shaft up and down, and a blocking plate installed at the shaft and capable of blocking the heating space from the atmospheric space.

Further comprising a jetting member for supplying a purge gas to each of the slots in the heating space and extending in a loading direction of the substrate, the jetting member being disposed in the heating space, And a plurality of ejection holes arranged in the loading direction of the substrate corresponding to the slots.

And an exhaust member disposed in the heating space and extending in the loading direction of the substrate and disposed so as to face the injection member, wherein the exhaust member is disposed in the heating space, And a plurality of exhaust holes arranged in the loading direction of the substrate corresponding to the slots.

The buffer chamber further includes an access port connected to one side of the atmospheric space in the direction of the heating space so that the substrate is loaded or unloaded into the atmospheric space.

A substrate buffering apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein a plurality of the substrates on which the etching process is performed are heated and the plurality of substrates are queued, and And an epitaxial device in which an epitaxial process is performed on the plurality of substrates on which the heating process is performed.

 The present invention provides a substrate processing method for processing a substrate using a buffer chamber having an internal space and a substrate holder on which a plurality of substrates are mounted, wherein the substrate holder is configured so that the plurality of substrates on the upper side in the buffer chamber are heated A step of moving the plurality of substrates from a lower slot of the substrate holder while moving a plurality of lower substrates in a heating space to an atmospheric space where the lower substrates are waiting; And heating the plurality of substrates in the heating space.

And blocking the heating space from the atmospheric space before heating the plurality of substrates.

In the process of heating the plurality of substrates, a process of supplying purge gas to each of the slots in which the plurality of substrates of the substrate holder are loaded, respectively.

Heating the plurality of substrates in the heating space, moving the substrate holder to the atmospheric space, and unloading the plurality of substrates in the atmospheric space.

The step of unloading the plurality of substrates includes a step of unloading the substrate placed on the upper slot of the substrate holder while moving the substrate holder from the lower atmosphere space to the upper heating space.

And performing an etching process on the natural oxide film of the substrate surface before loading the plurality of substrates into the atmospheric space.

The step of heating the plurality of substrates in the heating space includes a step of removing by-products on the surface of the substrate generated in the etching process.

And unloading the plurality of substrates in the standby space, and then transferring the substrate into the epitaxial chamber.

According to the embodiments of the present invention, the buffering apparatus temporarily stores a plurality of substrates, and can perform a heating process for a plurality of substrates. That is, the heating process for the substrate can be performed while a plurality of substrates are waiting by using the time for the plurality of substrates to wait in the buffering device. Accordingly, the process of waiting until one substrate is loaded through the cleaning device and the heating device and the predetermined amount is loaded in the buffering device is a process in which one substrate is heated while waiting until a certain amount is loaded in the buffering device, . Thus, the processing process of the substrate is simplified, the transfer time to the substrate is shortened, and the efficiency of the substrate processing process can be improved.

Also, in the buffering apparatus, the heating process for a plurality of substrates can be performed at the same time. That is, if a certain amount of substrates are loaded into the buffering apparatus, the same can be heated at once. Therefore, since a larger number of substrates can be processed than in a conventional heating apparatus for heating one substrate at a time, the heating process for a plurality of substrates can be performed quickly. Thus, the processing time of the substrate can be shortened and the efficiency of the substrate processing step can be improved.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS Fig. 1 is a schematic view of a structure of a substrate processing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention; Fig.
2 illustrates a structure of a substrate buffering apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.
3 illustrates operation of a substrate buffering apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that the present invention may be embodied in many different forms and should not be construed as limited to the embodiments set forth herein. Rather, these embodiments are provided so that this disclosure will be thorough and complete, It is provided to let you know. To illustrate the invention in detail, the drawings may be exaggerated and the same reference numbers refer to the same elements in the figures.

2 is a view illustrating a structure of a substrate buffering apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 3 is a schematic view of a substrate processing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention Fig. 5 is a view showing the operation of the substrate buffering apparatus according to the first embodiment.

Referring to FIG. 1, a substrate processing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention includes a cleaning apparatus 500a and 500b for performing an etching process for removing a native oxide film formed on a substrate, a plurality of substrates (400a, 400b) in which an epitaxial process is performed on the plurality of substrates (S) on which a heating process has been performed, and a substrate buffering apparatus (100) , And 400c. The substrate processing facility also includes a load port 60 in which a container (not shown) containing a plurality of substrates S is placed, a substrate transfer module 50 installed adjacent to the load port 60, A load lock apparatus 300 that receives the substrate S from the module 50 and maintains an initial vacuum state and a cleaning apparatus 500a or 500b, a substrate buffering apparatus 100, an epitaxial apparatus 400a, 400b, 400c , And a transfer device 200 disposed between the load lock devices 300. The transfer device 200 includes a plurality of load-

In the substrate transfer module 50, a frame robot 51 for transferring the substrate S between the container placed in the load port 60 and the load lock device 300 is provided. A door opener (not shown) for automatically opening and closing the door of the container and a fan filter unit (not shown) for supplying clean air may be provided in the substrate transfer module 50.

The transfer device 200 includes a transfer chamber for forming a space into which the substrate S is introduced and a substrate handler 210 for transferring the substrate S. The transfer chamber is formed in a polygonal planar shape and each surface is connected to the load lock chamber of the load lock device 300, the cleaning chamber of the cleaning devices 500a and 500b, the buffer chamber 110 of the substrate buffering device 100, And is connected to the side of the epitaxial chamber of the epitaxial device 400a, 400b, 400c. The substrate handler 210 in the transfer device 200 transfers the substrate W to the load lock device 300, the cleaning devices 500a and 500b, the substrate buffering device 100, and the epitaxial devices 400a, 400b, S can be carried or carried out. In addition, the transfer chamber is sealed to maintain a vacuum when the substrate moves. Thus, the substrate S can be prevented from being exposed to contaminants.

The load lock device 300 is disposed between the transfer device 200 substrate transfer module 50 and the transfer device 200. The substrate S is temporarily held in the load lock chamber of the load lock apparatus 300 and then is transferred to the cleaning apparatuses 500a and 500b, the substrate buffering apparatus 100, and the epitaxial apparatuses 400a and 400b by the transfer apparatus 200, 400b, and 400c. The substrate S that has been processed through the cleaning apparatuses 500a and 500b, the substrate buffering apparatus 100 and the epitaxial apparatuses 400a, 400b and 400c is unloaded by the transfer apparatus 200 to be transferred to the load lock apparatus 300). ≪ / RTI >

The epitaxial devices 400a, 400b and 400c serve to form an epitaxial layer on the substrate S. At this time, the epitaxial devices 400a, 400b, and 400c may be selective epitaxial devices. In this embodiment, three epitaxial devices 400a, 400b and 400c are provided. Since the epitaxial process takes more time than the cleaning process, the manufacturing yield can be improved through the plurality of epitaxial devices 400a, 400b and 400c. However, the number of the epitaxial devices 400a, 400b, 400c provided is not limited to this, and may vary.

The cleaning devices 500a and 500b serve to clean the substrate S before epitaxial processing is performed on the substrate S in the epitaxial devices 400a, 400b, and 400c. When the substrate S is exposed to the air, a natural oxide film is formed on the surface of the substrate S. The higher the oxygen content on the surface of the substrate S, the deleterious effect on the epitaxial process, since the oxygen atoms hinder the crystallographic placement of the deposition material on the substrate. Therefore, a process of removing the native oxide film formed on the substrate S is performed in the cleaning chamber of the cleaning apparatuses 500a and 500b.

For example, the cleaning apparatuses 500a and 500b may be subjected to an etching process using a radical with respect to the substrate S. That is, after one substrate S is loaded into the cleaning chamber, a radical generating gas (e.g., H ₂ or NH ₃ ) and a carrier gas (N ₂ ) are supplied into the cleaning chamber. At this time, a radical (for example, a hydrogen radical) is generated by converting the radical generating gas into a plasma. Further, when a reactive gas (for example, an inert gas such as NF ₃ ) is supplied into the cleaning chamber, the radical and the reactive gas are mixed and reacted. In this case, the reaction formula is as follows.

_{^{H * + NF 3 => NH}} x F y (NH 4 FH, NH 4 FHF etc.)

_{NH x F y + SiO 2 =} > (NH 4 F) SiF 6 + H 2 O

That is, the intermediate product (NH _x F _y ) is formed by reacting the preliminarily adsorbed reactive gas on the surface of the substrate (S) with lead oxide, and the intermediate product (NH _x F _y ) SiO ₂ ) reacts to form a reaction product ((NH ₄ F) SiF ₆ ). At this time, a susceptor (not shown) for supporting one substrate S in the cleaning chamber can rotate uniformly the substrate S on which the etching process is performed.

The conventional cleaning apparatus has a separate heating chamber (not shown) to perform a heating process on the substrate S having been etched in the cleaning chamber. That is, the reaction product ((NH ₄ F) SiF ₆ ) produced on the substrate S in the heating chamber was pyrolyzed and removed. However, the heating chamber could only perform the heating process on one substrate S at a time.

Thereafter, a substrate S is subjected to an etching process, a heating process is performed on one substrate S, and the substrates S are transferred one by one into the substrate buffering apparatus 100, The time for transferring the substrate S and processing the substrate S may be prolonged. Thus, there arises a problem that the efficiency of the substrate processing step is lowered. Therefore, the substrate buffering apparatus 100 according to the embodiment of the present invention can be used for heating (heating) a plurality of substrates S by using a time period in which a plurality of substrates S are waiting, Process can be performed.

Hereinafter, a substrate buffering apparatus 100 according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail.

2, the substrate buffering apparatus 100 includes a buffer chamber 110 for forming a standby space in which a plurality of substrates S are waiting and a heating space in which the plurality of substrates S are heated, A heating unit 130 for heating a heating space of the buffer chamber 110 and a multi-stage slot in which the plurality of substrates S are stacked in the buffer chamber 110, And a substrate holder 140 movable between the heating spaces. The substrate buffering apparatus 100 may further include a housing 180, a support unit 170, a purge gas supply unit 150, and an exhaust unit 160.

In the buffer chamber 110, the substrates S transferred from the cleaning apparatuses 500a and 500b are awaited and heated. The heating space and the atmospheric space in the buffer chamber 110 are arranged in a direction in which a plurality of substrates S are stacked. For example, when a plurality of substrates S are stacked in the vertical direction, the buffer chamber 110 may include a second body portion 112 and a first body portion 111, and the second body portion 112 and the first body part 111 communicate with each other to form a buffer chamber 110. However, the position of the second body part 112 and the first body part 111 may be variously changed according to the direction in which the substrate S is loaded.

The first body part 111 forms an atmospheric space in which a plurality of substrates S are waiting. The first body part 111 is opened at the upper part and communicates with the lower part of the second body part 112. Thus, the heating space in the buffer chamber 110 can be disposed above the atmospheric space. The first body part 111 may have an entrance 111a connected to one side of the waiting space in the direction of the heating space so that the substrate S is loaded or unloaded into the atmospheric space. The entrance 111a communicates with the atmospheric space at a portion adjacent to the portion where the heating space and the atmospheric space are in contact with each other. That is, when the lower part of the second body part 112 and the upper part of the first body part 111 communicate with each other, the first body part 111 is provided with a door 111a at the upper part of the side corresponding to the transfer device 200, And the substrate S can be loaded onto the upper portion of the first body portion 111 in the transfer chamber of the transfer device 200 through the entrance 111a. The substrate S can be loaded or unloaded into the atmospheric space in the first body part 111 through the entrance 111a of the side surface of the first body part 111 in the direction crossing the up and down direction.

A gate valve (not shown) may be installed between the entrance 111a of the first body part 111 and the transfer chamber of the transfer device 200. The gate valve may isolate the transfer chamber from the atmospheric space in the first body part 111, and the gate 111a may be opened or closed by the gate valve. However, the structure and shape of the first body part 111 are not limited to the above, and may vary.

The second body portion 112 forms a heating space in which a plurality of substrates S are heated. The second body part 112 is opened at the lower part and communicates with the upper part of the first body part 111. For example, the second body part 112 may be formed in a dome shape and installed on the first body part 111. In addition, the material of the second body part 112 may include quartz. Since quartz is a material that facilitates heat transfer, when the second body part 112 is made of quartz, heat can be easily transferred to the heating space in the second body part 112 through the heating unit 130. [ However, the structure, shape, and material of the second body portion 112 are not limited thereto and may be various.

The heating unit 130 is installed around the second body part 112 and serves to supply heat energy to the heating space in the second body part 112. For example, a coil unit heater or a lamp heater can be used as the heating unit, and it can be disposed on the side surface or the upper side of the second body portion 112.

In addition, the heating unit 130 has a cleaning apparatus (500a, 500b) to over the course of the reaction product generated on the substrate (S) (NH ₄ F) SiF _6), a to thermal cracking, 100 also the temperature inside the heating space Celsius RTI ID = 0.0 > 300 C. < / RTI > That is, if the temperature inside the heating space is less than 100 degrees centigrade, the temperature is too low to cause pyrolysis of the reaction product. On the contrary, if the temperature inside the heating space exceeds 300 deg. C, the temperature is too high, and thermal deformation may occur in other thin films on the substrate S other than the reaction product. In addition, the thin film on the substrate S may fall off from the surface of the substrate S, or warpage of the substrate S may occur. Thus, there is a problem that the quality of the thin film on the substrate S is lowered or defective. Accordingly, the heating unit 130 heats the substrate S in the heating space at a temperature at which no deformation occurs in the other thin film on the substrate S while removing the reaction product on the substrate S. [ However, the substrate S can be heated in various ways without being limited thereto.

The housing 180 serves to cover the second body portion 112. The housing 180 may be formed corresponding to the shape of the second body portion 112 and may receive the second body portion 112 therein. Thus, the housing 180 prevents the second body portion 112 from being exposed to the outside. A heating unit 130 may be installed in a space between the housing 180 and the second body 112 and the heating unit 130 may be supported on the inner wall of the housing 180. Accordingly, the housing 180 suppresses or prevents the heat generated in the heating unit 130 from being emitted to the outside, thereby facilitating the temperature rise in the heating space in the second body portion 112. That is, the housing 180 can create an environment in which the substrate S can be easily heated in the heating space.

The substrate holder 140 may be formed so that a plurality of substrates S are stacked in the vertical direction. That is, a plurality of substrates S may be stacked on the substrate holder 140 in a plurality of stacking spaces (or slots) formed in the vertical direction. Further, the diameter of the substrate holder 140 is formed smaller than the inner diameter of the buffer chamber 110. Thus, the substrate holder 140 can freely move between the atmospheric space and the heating space in the buffer chamber 110. [ Meanwhile, a plurality of isolation plates (not shown) may be inserted between the slots of the substrate holder 140, respectively. Accordingly, the stacking spaces in which the substrates S are stacked can be separated from each other, and the substrates S can be processed independently for each stacking space. However, the structure of the substrate holder 140 is not limited to this and may vary.

The support unit 170 can be connected to the lower portion of the substrate holder 140 and moves the substrate holder 140 in a direction in which the substrate S is loaded. The support unit 170 includes a shaft 172 extending in a direction in which the substrate S is mounted and one end of which is connected to the substrate holder 140, a shaft 172 connected to the other end of the shaft 172, And a blocking plate 171 installed on the shaft 172 and capable of blocking the heating space from the atmospheric space. Further, the support unit 170 may further include a rotation driver (not shown).

The upper and lower driver 173 is connected to the lower end of the shaft 172 to move the shaft 172 up and down. Accordingly, the substrate holder 140 connected to the upper end of the shaft 172 can move up and down together with the shaft 172. For example, when the substrate holder 140 moves downward by the operation of the vertical actuator 173, the substrate holder 140 may be positioned in the waiting space in the first body part 111. The substrates S loaded through the entrance of the first body part 111 may be loaded on the substrate holder 140 located inside the first body part 111. [

For example, the substrate S placed in the second body part 112 may be loaded in the order from the lowest slot to the highest slot of the substrate holder 140 while moving the substrate holder 140 downward. That is, the substrate holder 140 can be moved so that the lowermost slot of the substrate holder 140 is aligned with the entrance 111a of the first body 111. When the substrate S loaded through the entrance 111a is loaded in the lowermost slot, the substrate holder 140 can be moved so that the upper slot of the lowermost slot is aligned with the entrance 111a.

In this manner, the substrate S can be loaded in the entire slot of the substrate holder 140 while moving the substrate holder 140 downward. Therefore, all of the substrates S can be placed in the standby space of the first body part 111 while the substrate S is loaded on the substrate holder 140. [ Thus, the substrate S is loaded from the lowermost slot of the substrate holder 140, all the substrates S are placed in the atmospheric space, and then the substrate S is moved to the heating space to perform the heating process on the substrate S. have.

However, when the substrate S is loaded from the uppermost slot of the substrate holder 140 to raise the substrate holder 140 from the first body part 111 to the second body part 112, And moves to the heating space of the second body part 112 from the atmosphere space of the first body part 111 while moving upward. Therefore, since the substrate S located in the upper slot moves into the heating space before the substrate S located in the lower slot, the substrate S located in the upper slot is exposed to heat before the substrate S located in the lower slot . That is, since the substrate S placed in the upper slot is exposed to heat for a longer time than the substrate S placed in the lower slot, the heating process for the entire substrate S can not be performed under the same conditions. Accordingly, a difference in the heating process time may occur depending on the substrate S, and the quality of the thin films on the substrate S may be different from each other.

When the heating space is located above the atmospheric space in the buffer chamber 110, the substrate holder 140 is moved from the bottom slit of the substrate holder 140 to the bottom of the buffer chamber 110, (S) can be loaded. Since all of the substrates S can be heated under the same conditions and the quality of the thin films on the substrate S is the same, . However, the method of mounting the substrate S on the substrate holder 140 is not limited to this, and may be various.

When the plurality of substrates S are all loaded on the substrate holder 140, the upper and lower drivers 173 are operated to move the substrate holder 140 upward. Thus, the substrate holder 140 moves from the first body part 111 to the heating space of the second body part 112. Then, when the blocking plate 171 blocks the heating space from the atmosphere space, the heating process for the substrate S loaded on the substrate holder 140 in the heating space is performed. Thus, since the heating process for the plurality of substrates S can be performed at the same time, the process speed is faster than when the heating process is performed for each substrate S one by one. In addition, since the heating process for the substrates S in the buffer chamber 110 can be performed using the time that the plurality of substrates S wait in the buffer chamber 110, the efficiency of the operation can be improved do. However, the direction in which the substrate S is mounted on the substrate holder 140 is not limited to this and may vary.

The rotary actuator may be connected to the lower portion of the shaft 172 to rotate the substrate holder 140. The rotation driver rotates the shaft 172 about the vertical center axis of the shaft 172. Thus, when the purge gas is supplied to the substrate S, the purge gas can be uniformly supplied to the entire area of the substrate S placed on the substrate holder 140 while the substrate holder 140 rotates.

The blocking plate 171 serves to seal the heating space in the second body portion 112. The cutoff plate 171 is installed on the shaft 172 and is disposed below the substrate holder 140 and moves up and down together with the substrate holder 140. The blocking plate 171 is formed along the plane shape of the first body part 111 and the outer surface of the upper surface contacts the lower part of the second body part 112 to seal the inside of the second body part 112. Thus, reaction byproducts or the like on the substrate S processed in the heating space formed by the second body part 112 can be prevented from flowing into the atmosphere space formed by the first body part 111. [ Therefore, it is possible to prevent the atmospheric space from being contaminated by reaction byproducts or purge gas. Further, the blocking plate 171 can divide the internal space of the buffer chamber 110 into a heating space and an atmospheric space.

Meanwhile, an O-ring-shaped sealing member 171a is provided at a portion of the blocking plate 171 which is in contact with the second body portion 112 to seal the heating space more effectively. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and the structure and shape of the blocking plate 171 and the method of sealing the heating space may vary.

The purge gas supply unit 150 serves to supply the purge gas to each of the slots in which the loading space is formed in the heating space. The purge gas supply unit 150 includes a jet member 151 disposed in the heating space and extending in the loading direction of the substrate S and is configured to supply purge gas to the jet member 151 A supply line 152 and a purge gas source (not shown) for storing the purge gas.

The injection member 151 is formed in a pipe shape extending in the vertical direction, and has a path through which the purge gas moves. The jetting member 151 is provided with a plurality of nozzles 151 arranged in the stacking direction of the substrate S corresponding to the stacking spaces (or slots) of the substrate holder 140 so as to supply purge gas to each of the plurality of substrates S, And has a hole 151a. When the purge gas is supplied into the injection member 151, the purge gas is supplied to each of the plurality of substrates S through the plurality of injection holes 151a.

As the purge gas, an inert gas such as N ₂ or a reducing gas such as H ₂ may be used. That is, the natural oxide film and the reaction by-products on the surface of the substrate S are removed while the etching process in the cleaning devices 500a and 500b and the heating process in the heating space. However, when the substrate S is again exposed to the air, the natural oxide film may be formed again on the substrate S. Therefore, an inert gas or a reducing gas is supplied onto the substrate S to prevent the surface of the substrate S from coming into contact with air. Thus, it is possible to prevent the natural oxide film from being formed again on the surface of the substrate S from which the natural oxide film has been removed. However, the present invention is not limited thereto, and various kinds of gases can be used as the purge gas.

The purge gas supply line 152 has one end connected to the injection member 151 and the other end connected to the purge gas supply source. Thus, the purge gas supply line 152 can supply the purge gas in the purge gas supply source to the injection member 151. [ A flow control valve (not shown) is provided in the purge gas supply line 152 to control the amount of purge gas supplied from the purge gas supply source to the injection member 151. However, the structure of the purge gas supply unit 150 is not limited to this, and may vary.

The exhaust unit 160 serves to exhaust the purge gas in the heating space. The exhaust unit 160 includes an exhaust member 161 disposed in the heating space and extending in the loading direction of the substrate S and disposed to face the injection member 151, , And an exhaust pump (not shown).

The exhaust member 161 is formed in the shape of a pipe extending in the vertical direction, and has a path through which the purge gas moves. The exhaust member 161 includes a plurality of exhaust holes 161a arranged in the stacking direction of the substrate S corresponding to the stacking spaces (or slots) of the substrate holder 140 and facing the spray holes 151a, Respectively. Thus, the purge gas supplied to the substrate S through the injection hole 151a is sucked into the exhaust hole 161a through the substrate S.

Since the ejection holes 151a of the ejection member 151 and the ejection holes 161a of the ejection member 161 are located on the same line in the direction intersecting the stacking direction of the substrate S, The purge gas injected from the exhaust pipe 151a may be introduced into the exhaust hole to be laminar flow. That is, the purge gas can move in a direction parallel to the surface of the substrate S. Accordingly, the purge gas injected from the injection hole 151a can easily push out pyrolysis reaction by-products on the substrate S and move it to the exhaust hole 161a side. Further, the purge gas is continuously supplied to the surface of the substrate S to prevent the surface of the substrate S from coming into contact with air, and the natural oxide film on the substrate S can be prevented from being reproduced.

The exhaust line 162 has one end connected to the exhaust member 161 and the other end connected to the exhaust pump. Thus, the purge gas introduced into the exhaust member 161 can be sucked to the exhaust pump side through the exhaust line 162. [ Further, the exhaust line 162 is provided with an exhaust control valve (not shown) to control the amount of purge gas exhausted. However, the structure of the exhaust unit 160 is not limited to this and may vary.

As described above, the substrate buffering apparatus 100 temporarily stores a plurality of substrates S, and can perform a heating process for the plurality of substrates S. That is, the heating process for the substrate S can be performed while the plurality of substrates S are waiting by using the time for the plurality of substrates S to wait in the substrate buffering apparatus 100. [ Accordingly, the process of waiting until one substrate S passes through the cleaning device and is loaded into the buffering device through the heating device as in the prior art is performed by moving the substrate through the cleaning devices 500a and 500b, The process is reduced to the process of heating while waiting for a certain amount to be loaded in the container 100. Thus, the processing process of the substrate S is simplified, the transfer time to the substrate S is shortened, and the efficiency of the substrate processing process can be improved.

Also, in the substrate buffering apparatus 100, the heating process for the plurality of substrates S can be performed at the same time. That is, if a certain amount of substrates S are loaded into the substrate buffering apparatus 100, they can be heated at once. Therefore, since the substrate S can be processed in a larger amount than in the conventional heating apparatuses heating one substrate at a time, the heating process for the plurality of substrates S can be performed quickly. Thus, the processing time of the substrate S can be shortened, and the efficiency of the substrate processing step can be improved.

Hereinafter, a substrate processing method according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail.

A substrate processing method according to an embodiment of the present invention is a substrate processing method for processing a substrate using a buffer chamber having an internal space and a substrate holder on which a plurality of substrates are stacked, Loading a plurality of substrates from a lower slot of the substrate holder while moving the plurality of substrates into an atmospheric space in which a plurality of lower substrates are waiting in a heating space where the plurality of substrates are heated; Moving the substrate to the heating space, and heating the plurality of substrates in the heating space.

First, before the plurality of substrates S are loaded into the atmosphere space, a radical etching process for the substrate S may be performed. That is, a radical generating gas (for example, H ₂ or NH ₃ ) and a carrier gas (N ₂ ) are supplied to the substrate S. At this time, when the radical generating gas is converted into plasma, the reactive gas is supplied. Therefore, the substrate (S) a reactive gas previously adsorbed on the surface and Florida by Karl the reaction intermediate product of (NH _x F _y) is formed, the intermediate product (NH _x F _y) and the substrate (S) a natural oxide film on the surface ( SiO ₂ ) reacts to form a reaction product ((NH ₄ F) SiF ₆ ).

Next, the substrate S on which the radical etching process has been performed is loaded into the buffer chamber 110 in the cleaning apparatuses 500a and 500b. 3 (a), the substrate holder 140 positioned in the heating space is moved to the lower atmosphere space, and the substrate S is moved from the lowest slot to the highest slot order of the substrate holder 140, Can be loaded. In other words, the substrate holder 140 can be moved so that the lowermost slot of the substrate holder 140 is aligned with the entrance 111a communicating with the atmospheric space. When the substrate S loaded through the entrance 111a is loaded in the lowermost slot, the substrate holder 140 can be moved so that the upper slot of the lowermost slot is aligned with the entrance 111a. At this time, the entrance 111a may be located above the side surface of the atmospheric space.

In this manner, the substrate S can be loaded in the entire slot of the substrate holder 140 while moving the substrate holder 140 downward. Thus, during the loading of the substrate S into the substrate holder 140, all of the substrates S may be located in the atmospheric space. All the substrates S are placed in the atmospheric space by loading the substrate S from the lowest slot of the substrate holder 140 and then moved to the heating space to perform the heating process on the substrate S. [ Thus, since no difference occurs in the time at which the substrates S are heated, all the substrates S can be heated under the same conditions, and the quality of the thin films on the substrate S can be made equal.

Then, when a plurality of substrates S are all loaded on the substrate holder 140 as shown in FIG. 3 (b), the substrate holder 140 located in the standby space is heated to the upper side Move to space. At this time, before the substrate S is heated, the heating space is blocked from the atmosphere space. For example, the barrier plate 171 can be used to seal the heating space.

Then, a heating process for the plurality of substrates S mounted on the substrate holder 140 is simultaneously performed. Therefore, since the heating process for the plurality of substrates S can be performed at the same time, the process speed of the process becomes faster than that of the heating process for each substrate S one by one. The temperature inside the heating space is adjusted to 100 to 300 degrees Celsius. That is, while the reaction product on the substrate S is being removed, the substrate S in the heating space can be heated to a temperature at which no deformation occurs in the other thin film on the substrate S. Since the substrate S is heated in the heating space, the reaction dispersion generated in the etching process of the surface of the substrate S is removed.

At this time, while heating the plurality of substrates S, it is possible to supply purge gas to each of the slots in which the plurality of substrates S of the substrate holder 140 are respectively loaded. If the substrate S on which the natural oxide film or reaction byproduct on the surface is removed is again exposed to the air, the natural oxide film may be formed again on the substrate S. Therefore, an inert gas or a reducing gas is supplied onto the substrate S to prevent the surface of the substrate S from coming into contact with air. Thus, it is possible to prevent the natural oxide film from being formed again on the surface of the substrate S from which the natural oxide film has been removed.

Then, when the heating process for the substrate S is completed, the supply of the purge gas is stopped, and all of the gases such as the purge gas in the heating space can be exhausted. In addition, heating of the heating space through the heating unit 130 can be stopped.

Subsequently, the substrate holder 140 is moved downward in the heating space to the standby space, and unloading operations are performed on the plurality of substrates S in the standby space. For example, when the substrate holder 140 is moved to the lower atmosphere space, the substrate S is moved from the substrate S placed in the uppermost slot of the substrate holder 140 to the substrate (S) in this order. That is, after all the substrates S loaded on the substrate holder 140 are moved to the atmospheric space, unloading operations for the plurality of substrates S in the atmospheric space can be performed.

First, the substrate holder 140 in the standby space is moved upward so that the uppermost slot can be positioned in line with the entrance 111a. When the substrate S loaded in the uppermost slot is unloaded through the entrance 111a, the lower slot of the uppermost slot can be moved to position the substrate holder 140 in line with the entrance 111a. In this manner, the plurality of substrates S loaded in the entire slot of the substrate holder 140 can be unloaded while moving the substrate holder 140 upward. Thus, during unloading of the substrate S in the substrate holder 140, all of the substrates S may be located in the atmospheric space.

If the substrate holder 140 is unloaded from the lowermost slot of the substrate holder 140 and the substrate holder 140 is moved from the heating space to the atmospheric space, the substrate holder 140 moves downward, Move to space. Therefore, the substrate S located in the upper slot is located in the heating space for a longer time than the substrate S located in the lower slot, and is exposed to more heat. That is, even if the operation of the heating unit 130 is stopped, the heating process for the entire substrate S can not be performed under the same condition because the temperature in the heating space is higher than the temperature in the atmospheric space. Accordingly, a difference in the heating process time may occur depending on the substrate S, and the quality of the thin films on the substrate S may be different from each other. Thus, all the substrates S can be placed in the atmospheric space and then unloaded from the substrate S in the uppermost slot of the substrate holder 140, so that there is no difference in the time at which the substrates S are heated.

The substrate S may then be transferred into the epitaxial chamber to perform an epitaxial process or selective epitaxial process on the substrate S. At this time, since the natural oxide film or reaction by-products are removed on the substrate S, the quality of the thin film formed on the substrate S can be improved.

As described above, the substrate buffering apparatus 100 temporarily stores a plurality of substrates S, and can perform a heating process for the plurality of substrates S. That is, the heating process for the substrate S can be performed while the plurality of substrates S are waiting by using the time for the plurality of substrates S to wait in the substrate buffering apparatus 100. [ Accordingly, the process of waiting until one substrate S passes through the cleaning device and is loaded into the buffering device through the heating device as in the prior art is performed by moving the substrate through the cleaning devices 500a and 500b, The process is reduced to the process of heating while waiting for a certain amount to be loaded in the container 100. Thus, the processing process of the substrate S is simplified, the transfer time to the substrate S is shortened, and the efficiency of the substrate processing process can be improved.

Also, in the substrate buffering apparatus 100, the heating process for the plurality of substrates S can be performed at the same time. That is, if a certain amount of substrates S are loaded into the substrate buffering apparatus 100, they can be heated at once. Therefore, since the substrate S can be processed in a larger amount than in the conventional heating apparatuses heating one substrate at a time, the heating process for the plurality of substrates S can be performed quickly. Thus, the processing time of the substrate S can be shortened, and the efficiency of the substrate processing step can be improved.

Although the present invention has been described in detail with reference to the specific embodiments thereof, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various modifications and variations can be made without departing from the scope of the present invention. Therefore, the scope of the present invention should not be limited by the described embodiments, but should be defined by the appended claims, as well as the appended claims.

100: substrate buffering device 110: buffer chamber
111: first body part 112: second body part
130: Heating unit 140: Substrate holder
150: purge gas supply unit 160: exhaust unit
170: support unit 180: housing

Claims (15)

A cleaning device for performing an etching process for removing a native oxide film formed on a substrate;
A substrate buffering device in which a plurality of substrates on which an etching process is performed are queued; And
An epitaxial device in which an epitaxial process is performed on the substrate,
The substrate buffering apparatus includes: a buffer chamber for forming an atmospheric space in which a plurality of substrates are placed and a heating space in which the plurality of substrates are heated; A heating unit for heating the substrate inside the heating space of the buffer chamber to a temperature between 100 and 300 degrees centigrade; A substrate holder having a multi-stage slot in which the plurality of substrates are stacked in the buffer chamber, the substrate holder being movable between the standby space and the heating space; And a support unit capable of moving the substrate holder in the vertical direction,
Wherein the support unit includes a shut-off plate that is vertically ascendable and descendable and which separates the heating space from the atmospheric space of the buffer chamber during heating of the substrate. The method according to claim 1,
Wherein the heating space and the atmospheric space are disposed in a direction in which the substrate is stacked. The method of claim 2,
Wherein the support unit includes: a shaft extending in a direction in which the substrate is loaded and having one end connected to a lower portion of the substrate holder; And a vertical actuator connected to the other end of the shaft and vertically moving the shaft,
Wherein the blocking plate is mounted to the shaft and is capable of blocking the heating space from the atmospheric space. The method of claim 2,
Further comprising a jetting member which supplies purge gas to each of the slots in the heating space and which is disposed in the heating space and extends in the loading direction of the substrate,
Wherein the jetting member comprises a plurality of jet holes arranged in the loading direction of the substrate respectively corresponding to the slots so as to supply purge gas to each of the plurality of substrates. The method of claim 4,
And an exhaust member disposed in the heating space and extending in a loading direction of the substrate, the exhaust member being disposed to face the injection member,
Wherein the exhaust member has a plurality of exhaust holes which are opposed to the injection holes and are arranged in the loading direction of the substrate respectively corresponding to the slots. The method of claim 2,
Wherein the buffer chamber further comprises an access port connected to one side of the atmosphere space in the direction of the heating space so that the substrate is loaded or unloaded into the atmosphere space. delete 1. A substrate processing method for processing a substrate using a buffer chamber having an internal space and a substrate holder on which a plurality of substrates are loaded,
Transferring a plurality of substrates subjected to the etching process to the buffer chamber;
Loading the plurality of substrates from a lower slot of the substrate holder while moving the substrate holder into a heating space in which the plurality of substrates on the upper side in the buffer chamber are heated to an atmospheric space in which a plurality of lower substrates are waiting;
Moving the substrate holder having been loaded with the substrate into the heating space and blocking the heating space from the atmospheric space;
Heating the plurality of substrates in the heating space to a temperature between 100 and 300 degrees centigrade;
Moving the substrate holder to the atmospheric space;
Unloading the plurality of substrates in the waiting space; And
And transferring the unloaded substrate to an epitaxial chamber in which an epitaxial process is performed. delete The method of claim 8,
Wherein the step of heating the plurality of substrates includes supplying purge gas to each of the slots in which the plurality of substrates of the substrate holder are respectively loaded. delete The method of claim 8,
Wherein the unloading the plurality of substrates comprises:
And moving the substrate holder from the lower atmosphere space to the upper heating space to unload the substrate from the substrate placed in the upper slot of the substrate holder. delete The method of claim 8,
And heating the plurality of substrates in the heating space,
And removing by-products on the surface of the substrate generated in the etching process. delete

Images