JPH01281731A - Etching device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To prevent any heavy metal from sticking to a substrate to be processed and hence improve the yield of the substrate by forming a contact portion of a hand arm to a substrate to be treated, which is to convey in and out the substrate, with ceramic or quartz. CONSTITUTION:In a conveying part 3, a hand arm for conveying a wafer 1, i.e., a multi-joiint robot 9 is provided among a housing part 2, an alignment part 4, and a processing part 5. The multi-joint robot 9 includes a multi-joint arm composed of first, second, third, and fourth arms 11, 12, 13, and 14 provided in succession stepwise on a base 10 which includes therein an arm drive system. A wafer 1 contact part of the multi-arm, e.g., tip end 14b of a fourth arm 14 is formed with ceramic or quartz to prevent heavy metal from sticking thereto owing to the contact thereof with the wafer 1. Hereby, a substrate to be processed can be conveyed without damaging a pattern formed on the substrate.

Description

[Detailed description of the invention] [Purpose of the invention] (Industrial application field) The present invention relates to an etching apparatus.

(Prior art) In an etching device for a substrate to be processed, such as a semiconductor wafer,
An articulated arm type transport mechanism is used that allows the wafer to be transported in multiple directions in a small space. This multi-jointed arm is made of stainless steel or aluminum, for example, and is used to support the wafer and carry it into and out of the wafer cassette or etching processing section.

An etching apparatus using such a multi-joint arm type conveyance mechanism is disclosed in, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 174632/1983.

(Issues to be Solved by the Invention) However, in the above conventional technology, the multi-jointed arm is made of stainless steel or aluminum, so when the arm supports the wafer, heavy metals generated from the arm are transferred to the wafer. When the wafer is diffused, the adhered heavy metal is diffused into the wafer, causing damage such as short-circuiting of the pattern formed on the wafer, resulting in a lower yield.

The present invention has been made to address the above-mentioned problems, and it is an object of the present invention to provide an etching apparatus that can improve yield by preventing heavy metals from adhering to a substrate to be processed.

[Structure of the invention]

(Means for Solving the Problems) According to the present invention, the substrates to be processed are transported from a storage unit capable of storing a plurality of substrates to be processed to an airtight processing chamber.

The apparatus for performing etching processing in this processing section is provided with a hand arm for carrying in and out of the storage section or the processing section the substrate to be processed, and at least a contact portion of the substrate to be processed of this hand arm is formed of ceramic or quartz. A characteristic etching device is obtained.

(Function) A hand arm is provided for loading and unloading the substrate to be processed into and out of a storage unit for storing a plurality of substrates to be processed or a processing unit for etching the substrate to be processed, and at least a portion of the hand arm that contacts the substrate to be processed is provided. By forming the substrate with ceramic or quartz, it is possible to prevent heavy metals from adhering to the substrate to be processed, and to allow the substrate to be processed to be transported without damaging the pattern formed on the substrate.

(Example) Hereinafter, an example in which the present invention apparatus is applied to an etching apparatus in a semiconductor manufacturing process will be described with reference to the drawings.

A device for etching a substrate to be processed, such as a semiconductor wafer, is a plasma etching device, for example.

As shown in Figs. 1 and 2, there is a storage section (■) for storing the wafer (■), a transport section (■) for carrying in and out the wafer (■) from this storage section (■), and a transport section (■) for carrying the wafer (■) from this transport section (■). A loader and an unloader section consisting of an alignment section) for positioning, a processing section ■ for etching the wafer ■ aligned by the alignment section), and an operation section ■ for setting and monitoring the operation of each of these sections. It is composed of.

First, to explain the loader and unloader sections, the storage section (■) can store a plurality of, for example, two, wafer cassettes (2) that can load and store a plurality of semiconductor wafers (25, for example) at predetermined intervals in the board thickness direction. It is said that This wafer cassette ■ has a corresponding cassette mounting stand (c).
The cassette mounting table (2) can be moved up and down by an independent elevating mechanism (not shown). Here, it is desirable that the elevating mechanism is always located below the cassette mounting table (c) to prevent dust.

The transfer section (2) is provided with a hand arm, ie, an articulated robot (2), which transfers the wafer (2) between the storage section (2) and the alignment section (2) and the processing section (0). As shown in Figure 3, this articulated robot (2) has a base (10) with a built-in arm drive system and a first arm (11).
, second arm (12), third arm (13),
The fourth arms (14) are connected in a stepwise manner to form a multi-jointed arm. The configuration of this multi-jointed arm is such that a pulley (1G) is pivotally attached to the rotating shaft (15a) of a motor (15) provided in the base (10), and this pulley (16) is connected to the base (lO). 1st located above
A rotating shaft (
A timing belt (18) is provided to synchronize and interlock with a sprocket (17) connected to the lower end of the motor. The rotation axis (lla) is located on one end side of the first arm (11) so that the first arm (11) rotates θ horizontally with the base (10) in conjunction with the timing belt (18). It is fixed vertically to the The rotational movement of the first arm (11) causes the second arm (12) to be provided in stages.

The entire third arm (13) and fourth arm (14) can be set in a desired direction.

In addition, a bearing (19) is provided around the rotation axis (lla).
A cylindrical body (20) is rotatably provided.

A sprocket (21a) is provided at the lower end of this cylindrical body (20).
The sprocket (21a) is connected to the timing belt (21a) so as to operate in synchronization with the pulley (23) which is attached to the rotating shaft (22a) of the motor (22).
4) is provided. Further, a sprocket (21b) is connected to the upper end of the cylindrical body (20), and is configured to rotate integrally with the rotation of the cylindrical body (20). The sprocket (21b) is located inside the first arm (11), and the sprocket (21b) is located inside the first arm (11).
) is a rotating shaft (12a) extending from one end of the second arm (12) located above the first arm (11) to the inside of the other end of the first hand arm (11) below. A chain (26) made of, for example, rubber is provided to synchronize and interlock with a sprocket (25) connected to the lower end. A tension (27a) is provided in the middle of the chain (26) to prevent the chain (26) from swinging and sagging during driving. The rotation shaft (12a) is connected to the second arm (12) so that the second arm (12) rotates by θ horizontally with the first arm (11) in conjunction with the chain (26). ) is fixed vertically to one end of the Also,
The rotating shaft (12a) extending to the other end of the first arm (11)
A cylindrical body (28) fixed to the first arm (11) is provided around the cylindrical body (28), and a cylindrical body (28) is provided between the inside of the cylindrical body (28) and the outside of the rotation shaft (12a). The rotating shaft (12a) is made rotatable by a bearing (29). The upper end of the cylindrical body (28) has a sprocket (3
0) is connected, and as the rotating shaft (12a) rotates together with the second arm (12), the sprocket (30) rotates relative to the second arm (12), and this The relative rotation is caused by the second arm (12)
A sprocket (31) connected to the lower end of a rotating shaft (13a) extending from one end of the third arm (13) located above to the inside of the other end of the second arm (12) located below.
For example, a rubber chain (32
) is provided. In order to prevent this chain (32) from swinging and sagging during driving, tension (27
b) is provided. And the above chain (32)
The rotation axis (1) is rotated so that the third arm (13) rotates θ horizontally with the second arm (12)
3a) is fixed vertically to one end side of the third arm (13). Further, the second arm (12) is arranged around the rotating shaft (13a) extending toward the other end of the second arm (12).
) is provided with a cylindrical body (33) fixed to the rotary shaft (13a), and a bearing (34) is provided between the inside of the cylindrical body (33) and the outside of the rotary shaft (13a).
) can be rotated. A sprocket (35) is connected to the upper end of the cylindrical body (33), and a sprocket (35) is connected to the upper end of the cylindrical body (33).
13a) rotates together with the third arm (13), the sprocket (35) rotates with the third arm (13a).
13), and this relative rotation is applied to the fourth arm (13) located above the third arm (13).
For example, a rubber chain (4) is connected to the sprocket (36) connected to the lower end of the rotating shaft (14a) extending from one end of the lower third arm (13) to the inside of the other end of the third arm (13). 37) is provided. In order to prevent the chain (37) from swinging and slacking during driving, a tension (27c) is provided in the middle. The fourth arm (14) is linked to the chain (37).
) is vertically fixed to one end of the fourth arm (14) so that the rotation shaft (14a) rotates by θ horizontally with the third arm (13). The rotating shaft (14a) is provided with a bearing (
38) is provided. In addition, the fourth arm (1
4) A vacuum suction hole (not shown) connected to, for example, a vacuum suction mechanism is formed so as to support the wafer (2) on the upper surface of the other end. At least the wafer-contacting portion of the multi-joint arm configured in this manner, for example, the fourth arm (1
4) The tip (14b) is made of ceramic or quartz to prevent attachment of heavy metals due to contact with the wafer (1). Each of the arm parts (11), (12), and (13) of such a multi-joint arm is formed into a cylindrical shape to prevent danger and prevent dust. Further, this multi-jointed arm is movable in the horizontal and axial directions.

A vacuum chuck (39) is provided in the alignment section (2) for aligning the wafer (2) transferred from the transfer section (2). This vacuum chuck (39) is composed of a disc-shaped inner chuck and an annular outer chuck that is spaced from the outer circumference of the inner chuck by a predetermined distance. The inner chuck can rotate around the center of the inner chuck and move up and down, and the outer chuck can move in the horizontal and axial directions. Further, a sensor, for example, a transmission type sensor, which detects the outer peripheral edge of the wafer and is movable toward the center of the inner chuck is provided.

As described above, the storage section (2), the transport section (2), and the alignment section (A) constitute the loader and unloader section.

The processing section (2) is configured to process the wafer (2) that has been aligned in the alignment section (A). For example, two systems are provided, including an inner load-lock chamber (42) and an outer load-lock chamber (42), and an outer load-lock chamber (42) for transporting wafers after processing. A auxiliary chamber (43) is connected to the auxiliary chamber (43), which can be used for multiple purposes to perform treatments such as light etching and ashing. An opening/closing mechanism (44a) is provided to form a loading entrance for the opening/closing mechanism (44a).
) is provided with an opening/closing mechanism (44b) that enables isolation from the processing chamber (40).

And in this inside load lock chamber (41).

A handling arm (45a) is provided for receiving and transferring wafers from the processing chamber (40) to the processing chamber (40). In addition, the above-mentioned outside road rotary room (42)
The processing chamber (40) is placed on one side of the processing chamber (40).
An opening/closing mechanism (46a) is provided that enables isolation from the preliminary chamber (40).
An opening/closing mechanism (46b) is provided on the side surface on the 3) side to enable isolation from the preliminary chamber (43). The outside load lock chamber (42) is provided with a handling arm (45b) for receiving and transferring wafers from the first reaction processing chamber (40) to the preliminary chamber (43). The handling arms (45a) and (45b) are multi-jointed arms composed of parallel links, and the wafer support surface is similarly made of ceramic or quartz to prevent heavy metal contamination. In addition, this wafer support section does not use a vacuum suction mechanism, but uses a dish-shaped support, thereby making it possible to handle the wafer in a vacuum. Incidentally, a vacuum evacuation mechanism (not shown), such as a rotary pump, is connected to each of the load lock chambers (41) and (42).
Furthermore, a purge mechanism (not shown) capable of introducing an inert gas such as N2 gas is provided. And the above processing chamber (
40) is made of AQ and has a cylindrical interior whose surface is alumite-treated. Below this processing chamber (40), a lower electrode body (48) connected to a lifting mechanism (47) is provided so as to be able to move up and down. is maintained. This lower electrode body (48) is, for example, made of aluminum and has a flat plate shape with an alumite treatment on the surface. slopes from the center to the periphery.

Further, between the lower electrode body (48) and the semiconductor wafer mounting surface, there is provided an electrode that holds the semiconductor wafer ω to the semiconductor urchin, that is, an electrode that holds the semiconductor wafer ω, that is, an impedance between the lower electrode body (48) is made uniform. , a synthetic polymer film (not shown) with a thickness of, for example, 20-100 mm. The heat-resistant polyimide resin is
It is provided by adhering to the semiconductor wafer ω mounting surface of the lower electrode body (48) with a heat-resistant acrylic resin adhesive. For example, four through holes (not shown) are formed in the lower electrode body (48) in the vertical direction.
A lid pin (49) that can be raised and lowered is provided in this through hole. This lift turbine (49) is, for example, S
A plate (50) formed of O8 and connected to four lift turbines (49) can be raised and lowered synchronously by driving an elevator mechanism (51). In this case, the plate (50) is urged downward by the coil spring (52) when the lifting mechanism (51) is not driven, and the tip of the lift turbine (49) is connected to the lower electrode body (48). descending from the surface. Further, a cooling gas flow pipe is connected to the through hole, and the cooling gas flow pipe is connected to a plurality of, for example, 16, holes provided on the surface of the lower electrode body (48) located at the peripheral edge of the semiconductor wafer. It communicates with an opening (not shown).

A processing chamber (4
0) A cooling gas inlet pipe is provided at the bottom and is connected to a cooling gas supply source (not shown).

Furthermore, when applying power to the lower electrode body (48),
In order to improve the uniformity of the etching process, a cooling mechanism, for example, a flow path (53) is provided in the lower electrode body (4B), and a pipe (not shown) connected to this flow path (53) is connected. A liquid cooling device (not shown) provides cooling means by circulating a cooling liquid, such as a mixture of antifreeze and water. In the gap from the side of the lower electrode body (48) to the inner surface of the processing chamber (40), an exhaust ring is provided with 36 exhaust holes having a diameter of, for example, 5 m and equally spaced at a predetermined angle, for example, at intervals of 10 degrees. (not shown) is the processing chamber (40)
It is fixed to the side wall, and the processing chamber below this exhaust ring (
40) The exhaust gas inside the processing chamber (40) can be freely exhausted through an exhaust pipe (not shown) connected to the side wall using an exhaust device such as one in which a turbo molecular pump and a rotary pump are connected in series. Such a lower electrode body (48)
In order to place and fix the semiconductor wafer ω on the lower electrode body (4
8) Press down on the wafer ■ when it rises.

A crumbling ring (54) is provided. and.

When the wafer ■ comes into contact with this crumbling ring (54) and further raises the lower electrode body (48), the crumbling ring (54) rises by a predetermined height, for example, 51 m1, while maintaining a predetermined pressing force. It is configured.

That is, this crumbling (54) is connected to the processing chamber (40).
A plurality of shafts pass through the upper part of the shaft while maintaining a seal, such as Affi, 0. are held loosely via, for example, four air cylinders (55). The crumpling (54) is adapted to the diameter of the semiconductor wafer (2) so that the peripheral edge of the semiconductor wafer (4) comes into contact with the R-formed surface of the lower electrode body (48). The crumbling ring (54) is made of aluminum, for example, and the surface thereof is subjected to an alumite treatment, and the alumite treatment provides an insulating alumina coating on the surface. An upper electrode body (56) is provided at the upper part of the processing chamber (40) facing the lower electrode body (48). This upper electrode body (56) is made of a conductive material such as aluminum, and the surface is anodized.
56) is equipped with cooling means. This cooling means includes, for example, a flow path (57) circulating inside the upper electrode body (56).
), and is connected to a cooling device I (not shown) provided outside the processing chamber (40) through a pipe (not shown) connected to this flow path (57), and is connected to a cooling device I (not shown) provided outside the processing chamber (40), and is connected to a cooling device I (not shown) provided outside the processing chamber (40), and a liquid such as antifreeze The structure is such that the mixed water is controlled to a predetermined temperature and circulated. An upper electrode (58) made of, for example, amorphous carbon is provided on the lower surface of the upper electrode body (56) in electrical connection with the upper electrode body (56). A certain amount of space (59) is formed between the upper electrode (58) and the upper electrode body (56), and a gas supply pipe (60) is connected to this space (59). Pipe (60
) is a gas supply source (not shown) external to the processing chamber (40).
A reaction gas such as CHF, CF4, etc. and a carrier gas such as Ar or He can be freely supplied to the space (59) through a flow rate regulator (not shown) such as a mass flow controller. In addition, this space (59) is equipped with a baffle (
61) are provided.

The upper electrode (58) has a plurality of holes (6
2) is formed. An insulating ring is provided around the upper electrode (58) and the upper electrode body (56), and a shield ring (63) extending from the lower surface of the insulating ring to the periphery of the lower surface of the upper electrode (58) is disposed. It is set up. This shield ring (63) is capable of generating plasma in a diameter approximately the same as that of the substrate to be etched, such as a semiconductor wafer (2).

It is made of an insulator such as tetrafluoroethylene resin.

Further, a high frequency power source (64) is provided to apply high frequency power to the upper electrode body (56) and the lower electrode body (48). The preliminary chamber (43) is provided with an opening/closing mechanism (43a) on the side of the articulated robot (■), and an exhaust mechanism (not shown) is provided to prevent the wafer (■) from flying up due to the pressure difference with the atmosphere when this opening/closing is performed. A purge mechanism for introducing an inert gas and the like is provided, and a mounting table (not shown) for receiving and transferring the wafer ω is provided so as to be movable up and down. An operating section (0) is provided to monitor the operation settings and wafer processing status of each of the mechanisms configured above. It is composed of software such as C language.

Next, the operation of the above-mentioned etching apparatus will be explained.

First, a wafer cassette ■ containing about 25 wafers is placed on the reloading cassette mounting table (8) by an operator or a robot hand, and an empty wafer cassette ■ is placed on the unloading cassette mounting table (c). Place it. Then, the wafer (2) is moved up and down by the lifting mechanism and placed in a predetermined position. At the same time, the articulated robot (■) is moved to the loading wafer cassette (■). Then, the arm (lO) of the articulated robot (2) is inserted into the lower surface of the desired wafer (2). The operation of this multi-joint robot (2), that is, the multi-joint arm, first controls the rotation of the motor (22) to rotate the sprocket (21a) via the timing belt (24). By rotating this sprocket (21a), the cylindrical body (20) and the sprocket (21b) are rotated.
) rotates in conjunction, and this sprocket (21b)
The sprocket (25) is rotated via the chain (26) by rotating the chain (26). This sprocket (2
5), the second arm (12) is rotated in the direction of rotation of the sprocket (25).
Rotate around a). And this second arm (
12) rotates, this second arm (12) rotates.
) and the sprocket (30) are rotating relative to each other, and this relative rotation causes the chain (32) to rotate around the sprocket (30), thereby rotating the sprocket (32) and rotating the third sprocket (30). The arm (13) is rotated in a direction opposite to the rotation direction of the second arm (12). Further, as the third arm (13) rotates, the third arm (13) and the sprocket (35) are rotating relative to each other, and this relative rotation causes the chain (37) to rotate between the sprocket and the sprocket. (35), thereby rotating the sprocket (36) and rotating the fourth arm (14) in the direction opposite to the direction of rotation of the third arm (13). In this case, the arm of node 2 (
12) rotation ratio: Third arm (13) rotation ratio: 4th
By setting the rotation ratio of the arm (14) to 1:2:1, the fourth arm (14) can always be moved back and forth in a straight line. With this operation, the fourth arm (14) is inserted into the lower surface of the desired wafer (1), and the wafer (ω) is suctioned and held by the vacuum suction hole formed in the fourth arm (14). Then, the conveying section (2) is slid and the multi-jointed arm is set to rotate in a direction that enables back-and-forth movement in the direction of the alignment section (A). The rotation of this multi-jointed arm is controlled by rotating the motor (15),
Sprocket (17) via timing belt (18)
). In conjunction with the rotation of this sprocket (17), the first arm (11)
This is done by rotating it at the desired angle.

When the first arm (11) is rotated, the first arm (11) and the sprocket (21b) rotate relative to each other, causing the second arm (12) and the third arm (13
).

The fourth arm (14) will perform the above-described back and forth movement. If the arm moves back and forth, that is, expands and contracts during the rotation of such a multi-joint arm, the space for one rotation will become larger and there will be a risk of collision with other objects, so the first arm (11) and driving the motor (22).

Let O be the relative rotation between the first arm (11) and the cylindrical body (20). As a result, even when the first arm (11) is rotated, the arm does not appear to extend or contract, thereby avoiding the risk of the collision or the like. and,
By the operation of the multi-joint arm described above, the wafer (1) is transported and placed on the vacuum chuck (39) of the alignment section. Here, the center of the wafer (2) and the orientation flat are aligned. At this time, an inert gas such as N2 gas is already introduced into the load lock chamber (41) on the inside side to keep it in a pressurized state. Then, the opening/closing mechanism (44) of the inside load lock chamber (41) is introduced while introducing N2 gas.
a) is opened, and the wafer ■ aligned by the handling arm (45a) is placed in the inside load lock chamber (
41), and then close the opening/closing mechanism (44a). Then, the inside of this inner load lock chamber (41) is reduced to a predetermined pressure, for example, 0.1 to 2 Torr. At this time, the processing chamber (40) is also at a predetermined pressure, for example, 1×10″-
'The pressure is reduced to Torr. In this state, open the opening/closing mechanism (44b) of the inner load lock chamber (41) and transfer the wafer ■ to the processing chamber (40) using the handling arm (45a).
Transport to.

By this carrying-in operation, the lift turbine (49) is raised from the through hole of the lower electrode body (48) at a speed of, for example, 12 ma+ by driving the lifting mechanism (51). As a result of this upward movement, the wafer (1) is placed on the upper end of each lift turbine (49) and the lift turbines (49) are brought to a stopped state. After this, the above handling arm (
45a) is stored in the inside load lock chamber (41), and the opening/closing mechanism (44b) is closed. And the processing room (40)
A predetermined amount of the lower electrode body (48), for example, the lower electrode body (48)
The lifting mechanism (47) is driven to raise the wafer (4) as shown in step 8). Furthermore, the lower electrode body (48
) is raised at a low speed, brought into contact with the clamp ring (54), and raised by a predetermined amount, for example, 5 m, while maintaining a predetermined pressing force. As a result, the lower electrode body (48) and the upper electrode (
58) is set at a predetermined interval, for example, 6 to 20 spaces. During the above operation, perform exhaust control and check whether the desired gas flow and exhaust pressure are set. Thereafter, while controlling the exhaust to maintain the inside of the processing chamber (40) at 2 to 3 Torr, reactant gas such as CHF, gas 11005CC, or C gas is used.
F4 gas 11005ec and carrier gas such as He gas 110005CC or Ar gas 110005CC are supplied to the upper electrode body (
56) is uniformly rectified by a baffle (61) provided in the space (59), and flows out to the semiconductor wafer (2) through a plurality of holes (62) provided in the upper electrode (58). at the same time,
A high frequency power with a frequency of, for example, 13.56 MHz is applied between the upper electrode (58) and the lower electrode body (48) by a high frequency power source (64) to convert the above reaction gas into plasma, and the above semiconductor with this plasma converted reaction gas. At this time, for example, anisotropic etching is performed on the wafer.

Upper part 1 by applying high frequency power! The pole (58) and the lower electrode body (48) become hot. Naturally, when the upper electrode (58) reaches a high temperature, thermal expansion occurs. In this case, since the upper electrode (58) is made of amorphous carbon and the upper electrode body (56) in contact with it is made of aluminum, the coefficients of thermal expansion are different and cracks occur. In order to prevent the occurrence of cracks, a mixture of antifreeze and water is supplied from a cooling means (not shown) connected via piping to a flow path (57) formed inside the upper electrode body (56). is flowing to indirectly cool the upper electrode (58). Also,
As the temperature of the lower electrode body (48) increases, the temperature of the semiconductor wafer 0 also increases, which may destroy the resist pattern formed on the surface of the semiconductor wafer 0 and cause defects. . Therefore, the lower electrode body (48
), similarly to the upper electrode (58), is supplied with mixed water of antifreeze and water, etc. from a separate cooling device (not shown) connected to the flow path (53) formed at the lower part via piping. It is cooled by flowing water. This cooling water is used for the semiconductor wafer
In order to process the temperature at a constant temperature, the temperature is controlled to be, for example, about 0 to 60°C. In addition, since the semiconductor wafer (2) is also heated by the thermal energy of the plasma, cooling gas flow conduits and cooling A cooling gas such as helium gas is supplied to the back surface of the semiconductor wafer from a cooling gas supply source (not shown) through a gas introduction pipe to cool it. At this time, the opening and the through hole are sealed by setting the semiconductor wafer (2). However, in reality, there is a small gap between the semiconductor wafer (■) and the surface of the lower electrode body (20) due to surface roughness, etc., and the helium gas is supplied to this gap to cool the semiconductor wafer (ω). are doing. While maintaining this state, the etching process is performed for a predetermined period of time, for example, 2 minutes, and upon completion of this process, the lower electrode body (48) is lowered while exhausting the reaction gas, etc. in the process chamber (40). , place the wafer (2) on the lift turbine (49). Then, the pressure in the outside load-lock chamber (42) and the processing chamber (40) are made equal, and the handling arm provided in the outside load-lock chamber (42) opens the opening/closing mechanism (46a). (45b)
is inserted into the processing chamber (40), and the lift turbine (49
) and lower the wafer ■ into the handling arm (45b).
Place it by suction. And the handling arm (45b
) is stored in the outside load lock chamber (42).

The opening/closing mechanism (46a) is closed. At this time, the preliminary room (
43) is depressurized to the same extent as the outside load lock chamber (42). Then, open the opening/closing mechanism (46b),
The handling arm (45b) stores the wafer (2) on a mounting table (not shown) in the preliminary chamber (43). Then, the opening/closing mechanism (46b) is closed, the mounting table is lowered, and the preliminary chamber (46b) is lowered.
The opening/closing mechanism (43a) of 43) is opened.

Next, move the articulated robot 0) to a predetermined position in advance, insert the arm of the articulated robot (2) into the preliminary chamber (15) by the above-mentioned telescopic movement, and place the wafer (2) on the fourth arm (14). Place it by suction. Then, the arm is taken out and the opening/closing mechanism (43a) of the preliminary chamber (43) is closed, and at the same time, the articulated robot (2) is moved to a predetermined position and rotated by 180° in the above rotational motion.

The wafer ω is transported and stored in a predetermined position of the empty cassette (2) by the arm. A cassette of the above series of actions.
This is done for all wafers ω stored in .

In the above embodiment, the hand arm used for loading and unloading wafers in the wafer cassette and the hand arm in the load lock chamber are explained using different configurations, but it is also possible to use hand arms with the same configuration. A similar effect can be obtained. Further, the same effect can be obtained whether the wafer contacting portion of the hand arm is a dish-shaped portion or a portion that grips the wafer periphery.

Further, in the above embodiment, the etching process of the substrate to be processed is explained using a semiconductor wafer as an example, but the etching process is not limited to this, and the etching process can be similarly performed on an LCD substrate used in a screen display device such as a liquid crystal TV. I can do it.

As described above, in this embodiment, a hand arm is provided for carrying in and out of the storage section for storing a plurality of substrates to be processed or the processing section for etching the substrates to be processed. By forming at least the contact portion of the substrate to be processed with ceramic or quartz, it is possible to prevent heavy metals from adhering to the substrate and to transport the substrate without damaging the pattern formed on the substrate. shall be.

Further, by using a multi-joint arm as the hand arm, the storage space and operating area of the hand arm can be reduced, and the distance for transporting the substrate to be processed can be increased.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As explained above, according to the present invention, a storage section for storing a plurality of substrates to be processed or a hand arm for loading and unloading substrates to be processed is provided, and at least the contact portion of the substrate to be processed of this hand arm is made of ceramic or quartz. By forming the substrate, heavy metals can be prevented from adhering to the substrate to be processed, and the yield of the substrate to be processed can be improved.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an etching device for explaining one embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram of the processing section of FIG. 1, and FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram of the articulated robot of FIG. FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram of the configuration of the processing chamber shown in FIG. 1. DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1... Wafer 3... Transport part 9... Multi-joint robot 11... First arm 12... Second arm 13... Third arm 14... Fourth arm 45... Handling arm patent applicant Tokyo Electron Ltd. Figure 1 (A) Figure 1 (B) Figure 2

Claims (1)

[Claims] In an apparatus in which the substrates to be processed are transported from a storage section capable of storing a plurality of substrates to an airtight processing section and subjected to etching processing in this processing section, loading and unloading of the substrates to be processed from the storage section or the processing section is carried out. What is claimed is: 1. An etching apparatus comprising: a hand arm for etching, and at least a portion of the hand arm that contacts a substrate to be processed is made of ceramic or quartz.