KR20210128306A - Wafer-transfer apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to a transport system having a vacuum chamber and a transport device therein, and more particularly, to a transport system that minimizes contamination of an object to be transported by dust generated during transport in the chamber.
Advantageous Effects of Invention According to the present invention, there is provided a substrate transport and processing system that includes a transport device capable of transporting and transporting substrates to more process chambers, and thus the process chambers can also be easily additionally disposed as needed. In addition, there is provided a transfer system that minimizes contamination of a transfer object due to dust generated in a vacuum chamber during transfer without using a separate decontamination equipment.

Description

Substrate transfer apparatus

The present invention relates to a substrate transfer apparatus, and more particularly, to a substrate transfer apparatus that transfers a substrate from a vacuum chamber to a process chamber to be processed.

In a conventional substrate processing system, when transferring a substrate to a process chamber for performing a process, the position of the process chamber that can be supplied is limited within the rotation radius of the link, so the number of process chambers to which the substrate can be supplied and the process can be performed simultaneously There was also a problem that had to be limited.

US 10-2002553 B1

The present invention has been devised to solve such a problem, and includes a transfer device capable of transferring and transferring substrates to more process chambers, and thus, transfer and processing of substrates in which the process chambers can also be easily additionally placed if necessary. The purpose is to provide a system.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a transfer system that minimizes contamination of an object to be transferred due to dust, etc. generated in a vacuum chamber during transfer, without using a separate decontamination equipment.

In order to achieve the above object, a substrate transfer apparatus according to the present invention includes a substrate transfer unit that receives a substrate from a load lock chamber and transfers the received substrate to a process chamber; a transfer rail on which the substrate transfer unit travels when the substrate transfer unit needs to move to a specific process chamber; and a cable for transferring power to a driving unit for driving the substrate transfer unit.

The substrate transfer unit may include: a substrate mounting unit on which a semiconductor substrate, which is an object to be transferred, is mounted; a substrate mounting link provided at one end of the substrate mounting unit and configured to move the position of the substrate mounting unit so that the substrate mounting unit receives the substrate and transfers the substrate to a specific point; a driving unit for driving the movement of the substrate mounting link; and a substrate mounting unit plate supporting the substrate mounting unit, the substrate mounting link, and the driving unit from a lower portion.

Two pairs of the substrate mounting unit and the substrate mounting link may be provided, and the two substrate mounting links may be separately controlled.

When transferring a substrate between the substrate transfer apparatus and the load lock chamber, or when transferring a substrate between the substrate transfer apparatus and the process chamber, if necessary, the two substrate mounting units perform the transfer at the same time, or one of the two substrate mounting units One substrate mount can be controlled to perform the transfer.

The driving unit may include: a rotation driving unit rotating the entire substrate mounting unit plate; and a hand driving unit for driving the substrate mounting link.

a transfer link operable to travel the substrate transfer unit along the transfer rail; And, it may further include a driving driving unit for driving the transfer link.

The transfer link includes at least two transfer link arms; The lowermost transfer link arm is connected, the lower transfer link connection portion fixed to a point on the floor; a transfer link upper connection part connected to an uppermost transfer link arm and fixed to a lower surface of the board mounting part; and a connecting portion between transfer link arms to which the respective transfer link arms are connected to each other, wherein the transfer link arm may include a connecting portion between the transfer link arms, the lower connecting portion, or It is rotatable about the upper connection part, and through this rotational operation, the transport link may drive the substrate transfer part along the transport rail.

The lower connecting portion of the transfer link, the connecting portion between the transfer link arms, and the upper connecting portion of the transfer link may include a magnetic fluid sealed therein.

The cable may be connected to the upper driving unit through the hollow portion of the lower connecting portion of the transfer link, the connecting portion between the transfer link arms, and the upper connecting portion of the transfer link, without the need for installing a separate structure for installation. .

The substrate transfer unit, the transfer rail, the cable, and the transfer link may be provided in a vacuum chamber.

A rail cover is provided at a portion where the transfer rail and the substrate transfer unit abut, and the rail cover has a shape that surrounds the transfer rail to a side portion, and dust generated by friction between the rail cover and the transfer rail is the rail cover. and the substrate to be transferred in the upper part of the vacuum chamber by falling in a downward direction along a gap between the transfer rail and may have a structure such that the influence of dust hardly occurs.

The substrate transfer apparatus may further include a lifting guide capable of moving the substrate transfer unit up and down.

Advantageous Effects of Invention According to the present invention, there is provided a transfer device capable of transferring and transferring substrates to more process chambers, and accordingly, there is an effect of providing a substrate transfer and processing system in which the process chambers can also be easily additionally disposed if necessary.

In addition, there is an effect of providing a transport system that minimizes contamination of an object to be transported due to dust, etc. generated in a vacuum chamber during transport without using a separate contamination removal equipment.

1 shows a substrate transport and processing system of the present invention;
Figure 2 is a view showing a substrate transfer apparatus of the present invention.
3 is a view illustrating a state in which the chamber cover is removed from the substrate transfer apparatus of FIG. 2 .
FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view of the substrate transport apparatus of FIG. 2 viewed from the front, illustrating a power transmission structure;
FIG. 5 is a view illustrating a cover structure of a transfer rail in the substrate transfer apparatus of FIG. 4 .
6 is a cross-sectional view of the substrate transfer apparatus of FIG. 2 viewed from the front, showing a power transmission structure.

Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. Prior to this, the terms or words used in the present specification and claims should not be construed as being limited to conventional or dictionary meanings, and the inventor should properly understand the concept of the term in order to best describe his invention. Based on the principle that it can be defined, it should be interpreted as meaning and concept consistent with the technical idea of the present invention. Therefore, the configuration shown in the embodiments and drawings described in the present specification is only the most preferred embodiment of the present invention and does not represent all of the technical spirit of the present invention, so at the time of the present application, various It should be understood that there may be equivalents and variations.

1 is a view showing a substrate transport and processing system 1000 of the present invention. FIG. 1 (a) is a substrate transport and processing system 1000 of the present invention, and FIG. 1 (b) is a conventional substrate transport in contrast thereto. and processing systems.

Referring to FIG. 1A , the substrate transport and processing system 1000 of the present invention includes a process chamber 300 for performing a deposition process on a substrate, and each process chamber 300 . A substrate transfer apparatus 100 for transferring and transferring a substrate to the furnace, a load lock chamber 200 for providing a substrate to be transferred to the process chamber 300 to the substrate transfer apparatus 100 , and a substrate to be processed and a substrate supply device 400 for storing the substrate and supplying the substrate to the load lock chamber 200 for processing.

The substrate supply apparatus 400 stores the substrate in a houp 410 that is the substrate storage unit 410 , and also takes out the stored substrate from the hoop 410 to perform the process, and the load lock chamber 300 . supplied with At this time, the transfer robot 420 inside the substrate supply device 400 serves to transfer such a substrate. The substrate supply apparatus 400 also includes a position aligner for aligning the position of the substrate in the process of supplying the substrate, and a door opener for delivery to the load lock chamber 200 , and a link arm of the transfer robot. Silver is injected into the load lock chamber 200 to transfer the substrate into the load lock chamber 200 .

Atmospheric pressure exists inside the substrate supply apparatus 400 , and a link arm of the transfer robot of the substrate supply apparatus 400 is injected into the load lock chamber 200 to enter the load lock chamber 200 . When transferring the substrate, the inside of the load lock chamber 200 is also at atmospheric pressure. After the load lock chamber 200 closes the inlet through which the substrate is received, the inside of the load lock chamber 200 is converted to a vacuum state in the same manner as the inside of the substrate transfer apparatus 100 , and the substrate transfer apparatus 100 direction After opening the substrate transfer entrance, the substrate is transferred to the substrate transfer apparatus 100 . In this case, the substrate mounting link 112 of the substrate transfer apparatus 100 moves, the substrate mounting unit 111 moves into the load lock chamber 200 , and the substrate of the load lock chamber 200 is moved to the substrate mounting unit 111 . After mounting, the substrate mounting link 112 and the substrate mounting unit 111 move back into the chamber of the substrate transfer apparatus 100 to bring the substrate into the chamber of the substrate transfer apparatus 100 . In addition, the load lock chamber 200 may have one or two or more stages up and down, and two load locks on the left and right for each stage, that is, a portion for holding a substrate, and the substrate transfer apparatus 100 A method of receiving the substrate from the load lock chamber 200 including two or more stages of load lock will be described later.

In the conventional system of FIG. 1( b ), the position of the process chamber 630 capable of supplying the introduced substrate is limited within the rotation radius of the transfer device 610 as shown, so that the substrate is supplied and the process is performed simultaneously There was a problem in that the number of process chambers that can be used was also limited.

However, in the substrate transfer and processing system 1000 of the present invention of FIG. 1 ( a ), the transfer link 130 of the substrate transfer apparatus 100 moves through the transfer rail 120 to transfer the substrate. , because of this, there is a difference in that more process chambers 300 can be installed as needed, as shown in FIG. 1( a ). In FIG. 1(a) , 12 process chambers 300 are disposed on both sides of the substrate transfer apparatus 100 in parallel with each other, 6 each, but a more diverse number of process chambers 300 due to the transfer function of the substrate transfer apparatus 100 ) can be placed.

The process chamber 300 can be expanded by an even number such as two, four, ..., but also by an odd number such as one, three, ..., etc. In addition, an even number of process chambers 300 may be provided on both sides of the substrate transfer apparatus 100 , and an odd number of process chambers 300 may be provided on both sides of the substrate transfer apparatus 100 , respectively. The process chambers 300 to be used are not necessarily installed in the same number as shown in FIG. 1 .

The reason for such a flexible installation is that the substrate transfer apparatus 100 has a substrate mounting link 112 having a substrate mounting unit 111 at an end thereof, that is, a substrate mounting link 112 - a substrate mounting unit 111 pair. This is because the two substrate mounting links 112 are controlled separately from each other (see FIG. 3 ). That is, since the two substrate mounting links 112 are controlled separately, between the substrate transfer apparatus 100 and the load lock chamber 200 or between the substrate transfer apparatus 100 and the process chamber 300 , the two All of the substrate mounting links 112 may transfer the substrate at the same time, or only one of the substrate mounting links 112 may perform the transfer of the substrate. It doesn't need to be installed.

The substrate transfer unit 110 shown at three points in FIG. 1( a ) shows movements at three points moved along the transfer rail 120 in one figure.

The substrate transfer apparatus 100 includes a vacuum chamber, such as the load lock chamber 200 and the process chamber 300 , to transfer the substrate in a vacuum state and transfer the substrate to the process chamber 300 in a vacuum state. will lose The configuration of the substrate transfer apparatus 100 will be described below in detail with reference to FIGS. 2 to 6 .

FIG. 2 is a view illustrating the substrate transfer apparatus 100 , FIG. 3 is a view illustrating a state in which the chamber cover is removed from the substrate transfer apparatus 100 of FIG. 2 , and FIG. 4 is the substrate transfer apparatus 100 of FIG. 2 . ) is a cross-sectional view viewed from the front with the chamber cover covered, showing the power transmission structure.

A semiconductor substrate, which is an object to be transferred, is mounted on the substrate mounting unit 111 , and the substrate can be received and transferred by the movement of the substrate mounting link 112 . In fact, in FIG. 2 , reference numeral 111 denotes a substrate, but for convenience, the substrate mounting part, which is an invisible part supporting the substrate, is denoted by 111 .

The substrate mounting link 112 may be formed by connecting a plurality of arms, and the connected arms may freely rotate with each other around each part to which the arms are connected. For example, the substrate mounting link 112 is driven to move the substrate mounting unit 111 to receive the substrate from the load lock chamber 200 in the direction of the arrow 1 in FIG. 3 , and also to the substrate mounting link. The substrate mounting unit 111 may be moved to the position shown in FIG. 3 by the operation of 112 to transfer the substrate to the process chamber 300 in the direction of the arrow 2 . The load lock 200 may have two or more upper and lower stages. In this case, the load lock 200 moves up and down along the elevating guide 170 of FIG. 4 . ), or the substrate received from the process chamber 300 and the finished substrate is moved to a position where the substrate can be transferred back to the corresponding stage of the load lock 200 .

As shown, there are two pairs of the substrate mounting link 112 - the substrate mounting unit 111, these two substrate mounting links 112, as described above with reference to FIG. 1, are each controlled separately, Accordingly, between the substrate transfer apparatus 100 and the load lock chamber 200 , or between the substrate transfer apparatus 100 and the process chamber 300 , the two substrate mounting links 112 may transfer the substrate at the same time. Alternatively, only one of the substrate mounting links 112 may perform the transfer of the substrate.

In addition, each substrate mounting unit 111 may be configured in two upper and lower stages. Accordingly, when the substrate transfer apparatus 100 transfers the process chamber 300 and the substrate, for example, a substrate to be processed is placed on the first stage of the substrate mounting unit 111 , and the second stage is empty in the process chamber 300 . By moving inward, the first stage of the substrate is transferred to the process chamber 300 and the second stage receives the processed substrate from the process chamber 300 , so that the substrate is transferred and transferred by one movement of the substrate mounting unit 111 There is an effect of shortening the working time by performing the receipt of the substrate.

Similarly, between the load lock chamber 200 and the load lock chamber 200 , for example, a processed substrate is placed on the second stage of the substrate mounting unit 111 , and the first stage moves into the load lock chamber 200 in an empty state, so that the second stage substrate is By transferring to the load lock chamber 200 and receiving the substrate to be processed from the load lock chamber 200 in the first stage, the transfer of the substrate and the receipt of the substrate are also performed by one movement of the substrate mounting unit 111 . This has the effect of shortening the working time.

The driving unit 113 includes a rotation driving unit 113.1 for rotating the entire substrate mounting unit plate 115 and a hand driving unit 113.2 for driving the substrate mounting link 112 .

The substrate transfer unit 110 may transfer the substrate in the same manner as described above at various points on the transfer rail 120 while moving on the transfer rail 120 . In this case, as shown in FIG. 3 , the substrate transfer unit 110 may move on the transfer rail 120 by the movement of the transfer link 130 , but in another embodiment, without such transfer link 130 , the substrate A separate driving device may be provided under the transfer unit 110 to allow the substrate transfer unit 110 to travel along the transfer rail 120 by itself.

In the case of FIG. 3 , the transfer link 130 may also be formed by connecting a plurality of arms 131 , 132 , and 133 in a similar manner to the substrate mounting link 112 , and each connected arm is centered on each connected part. (arms) can rotate freely with each other.

The transfer link 130 has a lowermost transfer link arm 131 connected thereto, a lower transfer link connection part 134 fixed to a point on the chamber floor, and an uppermost transfer link arm 133 . It is connected and includes a transfer link upper connection part 137 fixed to the lower surface of the substrate mounting part plate 115, and a connection part 135, 136 between the transfer link arms in which each transfer link arm (131, 132, 133) is connected to each other, Each of the transfer link arms (131, 132, 133) is configured to be rotatable about the transfer link lower connection part 134, the transfer link upper connection part 137, or the transfer link arms between the connecting parts 135 and 136.

The connecting portions 134, 135, 136, 137 (see FIGS. 3 and 4) to which each arm 131, 132, 133 of the transfer link 130 are connected may be made of a ferroseal having a magnetic fluid therein. The ferroseal constituting the connection parts 134, 135, 136, and 137 like this completely separates the atmosphere and the vacuum space, and transfers the rotational motion to the vacuum environment using a magnetic field. The magnetic force inside the ferrosil ensures that the ferromagnetic fluid is completely sealed, preventing gas from entering, and has the advantages of effectively handling high-speed torque transmission and providing high-speed capability, low drag torque, low-speed and smooth movement during start-up.

The travel driving unit 150 may include a motor driving the substrate transfer unit 110 to travel along the transfer rail 120 . That is, in FIGS. 3 and 4, each arm (131, 132, 133) of the transfer link 130 is connected and rotated around the connecting portions 134, 135, 136, 137, which are parts that are connected and rotated, while the substrate transfer unit 110 is the transfer rail. It is driven to travel along 120 . While driving, the substrate is transferred to the process chamber 300 by stopping at a specific position.

FIG. 5 is a view illustrating a cover structure of the transport rail 120 in the transport system 100 of FIG. 4 .

Since the substrate transfer apparatus 100 of the present invention operates in the vacuum chamber 160 , it is very important to prevent contamination of the vacuum chamber 160 . Most of the particles that may be generated in the substrate transfer apparatus 100 are parts where the substrate transfer unit 110 and the transfer rail 120 rub against each other while the substrate transfer unit 110 travels on the transfer rail 120 . (10) occurs.

5 is an enlarged view of the friction part 10 in FIG. 4 . Referring to FIG. 5 , the present invention is provided with a rail cover 114 at the portion where the transfer rail 120 and the substrate transfer unit 110 contact each other. do. The rail cover 114 surrounds the transfer rail 120 to the side portion, and due to this structure, dust generated by friction between the rail cover 114 and the transfer rail 120 is the rail cover 114 and the transfer rail. It flows downward along the gap 121 between 120 and mostly falls downward. Therefore, there is an advantage in that the transfer is performed while the effect of dust is hardly applied to the substrate, which is the transfer target, on the vacuum chamber 160 .

6 is a cross-sectional view of the substrate transport apparatus 100 of FIG. 2 viewed from the front in a state in which the cover is covered, and is a view showing a power transmission structure.

The cable 140 includes a cable that transmits power to the motor of the driving unit for driving the substrate transfer unit 110, and a cable that transmits a signal to the driving unit motor encoder, from the lower end as shown in FIG. It is connected to the upper driving unit 113 .

The central axis of each ferroseal that is the connection portion 134, 135, 136, 137 of each arm 131, 132, 133 of the transfer link 130 is provided with a hollow part penetrating up and down, as shown in FIG. 6, the cable 140 is connected to the upper driving unit 113 through the hollow portions of the ferrosils 134, 135, 136, and 137, which are each of these connecting portions. That is, without the hassle of installing a separate structure for the processing of the cable 140 connected to the substrate transfer unit 110, the ferro chambers 134, 135, 136, 137 of the transfer link 130 during the transfer of the substrate are passed through the configuration. It can bring simplicity of installation and reduction of cost.

In addition, since there is a concern that dust may be generated in the vacuum chamber of the substrate transfer apparatus 100 when such a separate structure is installed, there is an advantage in that a structure causing such dust is not installed.

100: a vacuum chamber and a transport system having a transport device therein
110: substrate transfer unit
111: substrate mounting unit
112: board mounting link
113: driving unit
113.1: rotary drive
113.2: hand drive
114: rail cover
115: substrate mounting plate
120: transport rail
130: transport link
131,132,133: transport link arm (arm)
134: transfer link lower connection
135,136: connection between transfer link arms
137: transfer link upper connection
140: cable
150: driving driving unit
160: vacuum chamber (chamber)
161: vacuum part
170: elevating guide
180: reducer
200: load lock chamber (load lock chamber)
300: process chamber
400: substrate supply device
410: substrate storage unit
420: transport robot
600: conventional substrate transport and processing system
610: transfer device
630: process chamber
1000: substrate transport and processing system of the present invention

Claims (12)

A substrate transfer device comprising:
a substrate transfer unit receiving a substrate from a load lock chamber and transferring the received substrate to a process chamber;
a transfer rail on which the substrate transfer unit travels when the substrate transfer unit needs to move to a specific process chamber; and,
A cable that transmits power to a driving unit that drives the substrate transfer unit
A substrate transfer device comprising a. The method according to claim 1,
The substrate transfer unit,
a substrate mounting unit on which a semiconductor substrate, which is an object to be transferred, is mounted;
a substrate mounting link provided at one end of the substrate mounting unit and configured to move the position of the substrate mounting unit so that the substrate mounting unit receives the substrate and transfers the substrate to a specific point;
a driving unit for driving the movement of the substrate mounting link; and,
The substrate mounting unit, the substrate mounting link, and the substrate mounting unit plate supporting the driving unit from a lower portion
A substrate transport apparatus comprising a. 3. The method according to claim 2,
Two pairs of the substrate mounting unit and the substrate mounting link are provided,
the two board mount links are each controlled separately
A substrate transfer device, characterized in that. 4. The method according to claim 3,
When transferring a substrate between the substrate transfer apparatus and the load lock chamber, or when transferring a substrate between the substrate transfer apparatus and the process chamber,
If necessary, the two substrate mounting units perform transfer at the same time, or one of the two substrate mounting units is controlled to perform transfer
A substrate transfer device, characterized in that. 3. The method according to claim 2,
The drive unit,
a rotation driving unit for rotating the entire substrate mounting unit plate; and,
A hand drive that drives the board mounting link
A substrate transport apparatus comprising a. The method according to claim 1,
a transfer link operable to travel the substrate transfer unit along the transfer rail; and,
Travel driving unit for driving the transport link
Substrate transport apparatus, characterized in that it further comprises. 7. The method of claim 6,
The transfer link is
two or more transfer link arms;
The lowermost transfer link arm is connected, the lower transfer link connection portion fixed to a point on the floor;
a transfer link upper connection part connected to an uppermost transfer link arm and fixed to a lower surface of the board mounting part; and,
A connection part between the transfer link arms to which the respective transfer link arms are connected to each other
including,
The transfer link arm (arm),
The transfer link arm is rotatable around the connecting portion, the lower connecting portion, or the upper connecting portion, and the transfer link causes the substrate transfer unit to travel along the transfer rail through this rotational operation.
A substrate transfer device, characterized in that. 8. The method of claim 7,
The lower connecting portion of the transfer link, the connecting portion between the transfer link arms, and the upper connecting portion of the transfer link,
Having a magnetic fluid sealed therein
A substrate transfer device, characterized in that. 8. The method of claim 7,
The cable is
Without the need for the installation of a separate structure for installation, the transfer link lower connection part, the connection part between the transfer link arms, and the transfer link upper connection part through the hollow part to be connected to the upper driving part
A substrate transfer device, characterized in that. 8. The method of claim 7,
The substrate transfer unit, the transfer rail, the cable, and the transfer link,
provided in a vacuum chamber
A substrate transfer device, characterized in that. 8. The method of claim 7,
A rail cover is provided at a portion in which the transfer rail and the substrate transfer unit abut;
The rail cover,
As a shape that surrounds the transfer rail to the side portion, the dust generated by friction between the rail cover and the transfer rail falls downward along the gap between the rail cover and the transfer rail, so that the object to be transferred on the upper part of the vacuum chamber It has a structure so that the influence of dust hardly occurs on the phosphor substrate.
A substrate transfer device, characterized in that. The method according to claim 1,
Elevating guide that the substrate transfer unit can move up and down
Substrate transport apparatus, characterized in that it further comprises.

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