JPH0110927Y2 - - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] (a) Technical Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a low-pressure CVD apparatus for forming an insulating film on integrated circuit wafers, and particularly relates to an automatic wafer material feeding mechanism.

(b) Background of the technology Wafers used for integrated circuits undergo advanced electrical and chemical processing under strict control conditions.
Moreover, since it is microfabricated, particularly high reliability is required. Therefore, in order to maintain high quality, automation of each processing device is an important requirement for semiconductor processing technology, and in the inline method that connects each device, especially the carrier structure, material feeding mechanism, etc. are important issues, and various Countermeasures have been taken in the past.

(c) Conventional technology and problems In in-line wafer processing equipment, low-pressure CVD equipment is used for insulating coatings, and resist film coating, exposure transfer, development, and etching equipment are installed under optimal conditions for pattern formation. , and are automatically transported between each device using an air belt or a rubber belt, and predetermined processing is sequentially performed. Ideally, the wafers would be fed to each device while still attached to the carrier and processed, but some devices require batch processing, which requires manual labor each time, making it difficult to improve the efficiency of the device. Unfortunately, the wafer characteristics lack stability.

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a conventional reduced pressure CVD apparatus.

1 is a reaction tube, 2 is an exhaust port, 3 is a gas inlet port, 4
5 is an end cap, 5 is a heater, 6 is a wafer, and 7 is a wafer holder.

Wafers 6 are arranged vertically at intervals of several millimeters and mounted on a wafer holder 7, placed inside a reaction tube 1, and sealed with an end cap 4.

An exhaust port 2 is provided in the reaction tube 1 to reduce the pressure, while a reaction gas is injected through the gas inlet 3, and a gas reaction is induced by heating the reaction tube 1 and the wafer 6 with the heater 5. An insulating film, usually a silicon film, is formed thereon.

This method allows processing of a large number of wafers per batch, but the wafers 6 are placed on the wafer holder 7.
Attachment to the reaction tube 1 and loading/unloading into and out of the reaction tube 1 are generally performed semi-automatically or manually, and complete automation has been considered difficult due to the structure.

(d) Purpose of the invention In view of the above points, the purpose of the invention is to provide an automatic wafer material feeding device that is effective for low-pressure CVD equipment.

(e) Structure of the invention The above object is a wafer material feeding mechanism for a vertical reduced pressure CVD apparatus that has a vertical wafer holder that holds horizontal wafers vertically in multiple stages and forms an insulating film on the wafers, A vertical cassette carrier that holds horizontal wafers vertically in multiple stages is used on the wafer loading side to the wafer holder and the wafer unloading side from the wafer holder, and the wafer holder is connected to the rotation mechanism and the loading and unloading side. The opening of the wafer holder is installed on the end cap at the bottom of the vertical reduced pressure CVD apparatus, and is equipped with a lift mechanism that moves up and down together with a cassette carrier arranged on the side and the unloading side. The wafer holding stage of the wafer holder and the wafer holding stages of the cassette carriers disposed on the loading and unloading sides are synchronously moved up and down by the lift mechanism. This can be achieved by an automatic wafer supply mechanism characterized in that it does the following.

(f) Embodiment of the invention FIG. 2 is a diagram for explaining an automatic wafer material feeding mechanism of a reduced pressure CVD apparatus showing an embodiment of the invention.

The reduced pressure CVD apparatus shown in FIG. 2 is of a vertical type in which the reaction tubes 11 are arranged vertically as shown in the figure, and the wafers 16 are placed horizontally and housed in a plurality of vertical stages in a wafer holder 17. Therefore, both the cassette carrier A19 on the loading side of the wafers 16 and the cassette carrier B20 on the unloading side after processing are designed to hold the wafers 16 horizontally and vertically in a plurality of stages.

Wafer 1 accommodated in cassette carrier A19
In order to carry the reaction tubes 6 into the wafer holder 17, the wafers 16 housed in the cassette carrier A19 are sequentially placed on the conveyor 21 and conveyed, and the wafers 16 are placed approximately in the center on the end cap 14 which can be driven and rotated for the reaction tube 11. , the wafers are sequentially transferred into the wafer holder 17 whose opening is directed toward the cassette carrier A19.

The wafer holders 17 that have reached a predetermined number are directly connected to a lift 18 that moves up and down together with the end cap 14, and are led into the reaction tube 11 by the lift 18 and sealed by the end cap 14.

The pressure inside the reaction tube 11 is reduced through the exhaust port 12,
A reaction gas is injected through the gas inlet 13, a gas reaction is induced by the heater 15, and an insulating film is formed. After the insulating film formation process on the wafer 16 is completed, the end cap 1 is lowered as the lift 18 is lowered.
4 and the wafer holder 17 are lowered, the wafer holder 17 is also rotated 180 degrees together with the end cap 14, and the opening of the wafer holder 17 is directed toward the other cassette carrier B20 on the unloading side, and the wafer holder 17 on which the insulating film has been formed is turned. 16 is accommodated in another cassette carrier B20 via the conveyor 21 and transported to another process. By synchronizing the vertical movement of cassette carrier A19 and cassette carrier B20 with the vertical movement of wafer holder 17, wafers 16 can be loaded from cassette carrier A19 to wafer holder 17 and unloaded from wafer holder 17 to cassette carrier B20. can be performed automatically in sequence.

This automation stabilizes the coating properties of the wafer 16 and improves the operating efficiency of the apparatus.

The wafer holder 17 is made of a heat-resistant material such as quartz to withstand high-temperature atmosphere.

(g) Effects of the invention As explained in detail above, the automatic material feeding mechanism of the invention completely automates the feeding of wafers to the low-pressure CVD equipment, which improves the operating rate of the equipment and provides stable coating properties. There are excellent effects that can be obtained.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a conventional reduced pressure CVD apparatus.
FIG. 2 is a diagram for explaining an automatic wafer supply mechanism of a reduced pressure CVD apparatus which is an embodiment of the present invention. In the figure, 11 is a reaction tube, 12 is an exhaust port, 13 is a gas inlet, 14 is an end cap, 15 is a heater,
16 is a wafer, 17 is a wafer holder, 18 is a lift, 19 and 20 are cassette carriers, and 21 is a conveyor.

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claim for Utility Model Registration] A wafer feed mechanism for a vertical low pressure CVD apparatus that has a vertical wafer holder that vertically holds horizontal wafers in multiple stages and forms an insulating film on the wafers, A vertical cassette carrier that holds wafers vertically in multiple stages is used on the loading side of the wafer to the wafer holder and the loading side of the wafer from the wafer holder, and the wafer holder is connected to a rotating mechanism, the loading side, The vertical depressurizer is equipped with a lift mechanism that moves up and down together with a cassette carrier disposed on the unloading side.
The opening of the wafer holder is provided on the end cap at the bottom of the CVD apparatus, and the rotation mechanism directs the opening of the wafer holder toward the loading side during loading and toward the loading side when unloading, and the lift mechanism rotates the wafer holding stage of the wafer holder. An automatic wafer feeding mechanism characterized in that a wafer holding stage including a cassette carrier and a cassette carrier disposed on the carry-in side and the carry-out side move up and down in synchronization.