JPH0249714Y2 - - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed description of the invention] Industrial application field This invention is useful when transferring semiconductor wafers from a wafer process carrier to a wafer boat during high-temperature heat treatment chemical vapor deposition, etc. in the manufacturing process of semiconductor devices. The present invention relates to a wafer transfer chuck holder of a wafer transfer device used when transferring wafers from a boat to a wafer process carrier.

BACKGROUND TECHNOLOGY AND PROBLEMS Generally, when semiconductor wafers are subjected to high-temperature heat treatment, chemical vapor deposition, etc. in the manufacturing process of semiconductor devices, wafer process carriers are used to transport and temporarily store the wafers. It is often carried out to transfer the wafer to a wafer boat made of quartz, for example, on which high-temperature heat treatment, chemical vapor deposition, etc. are performed, and to transfer the wafer from the wafer boat to a wafer process carrier.

Conventionally, to transfer this semiconductor wafer, for example,
We are trying to transfer 25 semiconductor wafers at the same time. For this purpose, for example, as shown in FIG. 1, a pair of guide plates 1a having, for example, 25 vertical grooves at predetermined intervals, which are sufficiently wider than the thickness of the semiconductor wafer, are provided.
1b at a predetermined interval (slightly larger than the diameter of the semiconductor wafer).
A wafer boat 2 placed at a predetermined position (this wafer boat 2 includes four support rods 2a having grooves for inserting wafers at predetermined intervals;
It consists of a fixed frame that fixes both ends of the frame. ) or approach the wafer process carrier from above, and then lift only the semiconductor wafer 3 from below the wafer boat 2 or the wafer process carrier with the lever 4, and move the wafer 3 into the vertical grooves of the guide plates 1a and 1b, respectively. Then, the stopper rod 5 is protruded from below the wafer 3 between the guide plates 1a and 1b to fix the wafer 3. In this state, the guide plate 1
a and 1b are brought to a predetermined position and approached from above to the wafer process carrier or wafer boat 2 placed at a predetermined position, then the push-up rod 4 is brought into contact with the wafer 3, and then the stopper rod 5 is brought into contact with the wafer 3.
The wafer 3 is moved and removed, the push-up lever 4 is lowered, and the wafer 3 is transferred to the wafer process carrier or wafer boat 2. With such a transfer device, for example, 25 semiconductor wafers can be simultaneously transferred from a wafer process carrier or wafer boat to a wafer boat or wafer process carrier.

However, in such a semiconductor wafer transfer device, it is necessary to place the wafers 3 into predetermined vertical grooves of the guide plates 1a and 1b, and for this reason, it is particularly necessary to uniformly support the wafers 3 on the wafer boat 2. In order to
Furthermore, there is a problem in that it is necessary to always take into account the welding assembly accuracy of the wafer boat 2 and aging deterioration due to thermal deformation. In general, in the thermal diffusion process, crystal defects are likely to occur in the contact area between the wafer 3 and the wafer boat 2, and there is a high probability of failure, so the number of support points for the wafer 3 on the wafer boat 2 should be reduced. is requested.

Further, in the thermal diffusion process and the chemical vapor deposition process, it is not preferable that various mechanisms such as the push-up rod 4, the guide plates 1a and 1b, the stopper rod 5, and the like come into contact with the wafer 3 due to the nature of hating dust and metals.

Purpose of the invention In view of the above, the present invention aims to provide a chuck holder for wafer transfer of a wafer transfer device that uses as few mechanisms as possible and reduces the number of points supporting the wafers 3 on the wafer boat 2. purpose.

Summary of the invention This invention consists of a pair of chuck holder plates having vertical grooves on the inside of the lower part, and the wafer is configured to be openable and closable so that the wafer side edge is sandwiched between the opposing vertical grooves. In the transfer chuck holder, the curvatures of the valleys and peaks of the vertical grooves of the pair of chuck holder plates are approximately the same as the curvature of the wafer, and the center of curvature of the peaks of the vertical grooves is When the pair of chuck holder plates clamp the wafer, the inner tip of the chuck holder plate is placed above the center of curvature of the valley of the vertical groove, and the inner tip of the chuck holder plate grips the wafer more quickly than the other parts. According to the present invention, wafers can be transferred with a relatively small number of mechanisms, and the number of wafer support points on the wafer boat can be reduced, thereby reducing crystal defects. Yield can be improved.

Embodiment An embodiment of the wafer transfer chuck holder of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 2 shows the main parts of a wafer transfer device installed in a high-temperature heat treatment furnace for semiconductor wafers, for example, 6 is the main body of this wafer transfer device; The wafer process carrier 7 and the wafer boat 2 are disposed therein. The wafer boat 2 in this example has three support rods 2a fixed by a fixed frame 2b, and the wafer boat 2 is designed to support a substantially 90° angle range of the wafers 3.

In Fig. 2, reference numeral 8 indicates a chuck holder for transferring wafers, and this chuck holder 8 for transferring wafers automatically moves in the X-axis, Y-axis, and Z-axis directions over a predetermined range according to the operation. It is designed so that it can be moved.

This wafer transfer chuck holder 8 is the third chuck holder 8.
As shown in the figure, it consists of a pair of chuck holder plates 8a and 8b each having a vertical groove 9 at the lower part of the opposing surfaces, that is, inside the lower part. The vertical grooves 9 of the pair of chuck holder plates 8a and 8b are configured to be openable and closable in opposite directions.
The side edges of the wafer 3 are held between them. In this case, the pair of chuck holder plates 8a and 8
The inner tip of b is curved so that it comes into contact with the wafer 3 earlier than other parts. Therefore, in this example, the pair of chuck holder plates 8a
When the diameter of the wafer 3 is 100, the curvature of the valley 9a of the vertical groove 9 when the wafer 3 is held between the wafer 3 and the wafer 3
mm, the radius is 50 mm, and the curvature is the same as that of the wafer 3, and the centers of curvature of the valleys 9a and 9a of the chuck holder plates 8a and 8b are slightly on the front side of the center of the wafer 3. Let it be. Further, the radius of the curvature of the peak portion 9b of the vertical groove 9 is 53 mm, which is approximately the same as the curvature of the wafer 3, and the center of curvature of each of the peak portions 9b and 9b of the chuck holder plates 8a and 8b is The chuck holder plates 8b and 8a are slightly opposite to each other from the center of the wafer 3, and the curvature centers 10b of the peaks 9b and 9b of the chuck holder plates 8a and 8b are aligned.
is positioned above the center of curvature 10a of the valleys 9a and 9a. Further, in this case, the distance between the uncurved portions of the chuck holder plates 8a and 8b when the wafer 3 is held is set to 104 mm, which is slightly larger than the diameter of the wafer 3, for example, 100 mm, and the vertical grooves of the chuck holder plates 8a and 8b are The inner tip of the valley portion 9a of the groove 9 is made to protrude, for example, by 9 mm from this non-curved portion. Further, in this example, the width of the groove 9 of the chuck holder plates 8a, 8b is set to 0.8 mm, which is slightly larger than the thickness of the wafer 3, for example, 0.5 mm, and widens on both sides at 9 degrees from this width. Make it a V groove. Further, reference numeral 11 is a tipping prevention claw made of Teflon that prevents the wafer from tipping over during movement.

Since this example is configured as described above, when transferring a plurality of semiconductor wafers 3, for example 25 pieces, from the wafer process carrier 7 to the wafer boat 2, the chuck holder 8 for wafer transfer is transferred to the wafer process carrier 7. 7 and bring it close to this, open between the chuck holder plates 8a and 8b of this wafer transfer chuck holder 8, then push up only the plurality of wafers 3 with the push-up lever, and then push up this chuck holder 8. The chuck holder plates 8a and 8b are closed, and the wafer 3 is held between the vertical grooves 9 of the chuck holder plates 8a and 8b. In this case, only the inner tips of the chuck holder plates 8a and 8b and the side edges of the wafer 3 come into contact. Also at this time, the fall prevention claw 11
This prevents the wafer 3 from falling. In this state, the wafer transfer chuck holder 8 is brought to a predetermined position on the wafer board 2 arranged at a predetermined position, and approached to the predetermined position.
The wafer 3 is inserted into a predetermined groove of the support rod 2a of the wafer boat 2 while being held between the chuck holder plates 8a and 8b, the chuck holder plates 8a and 8b are opened, and the wafer 3 is transferred. In this case, the wafer 3 is directly transferred to the wafer boat 2 by the wafer transfer chuck holder 8.

When transferring semiconductor wafers 3 that have been subjected to high-temperature heat treatment from the wafer boat 2 to the wafer process carrier 7, the wafer transfer chuck holder 8 is brought onto the wafer boat 2 and brought close to it. Together with this chuck holder plate 8 of the chuck holder 8 for wafer transfer.
A and 8b are opened at a predetermined interval, and in this state, the inner tips of chuck holder plates 8a and 8b correspond to the lower half of the wafer 3, and then the chuck holder plates 8a and 8b are closed, In this state, by lifting the wafer transfer chuck holder 8, the wafer 3 is scooped up from the support rod 2a of the wafer boat 2.
is held between the chuck holder plates 8a and 8b. In this state, the wafer transfer chuck holder 8 is brought over the wafer process carrier 7 and brought close to it, and then the push-up lever is raised to touch the bottom of the wafer 3, and the chuck holder plates 8a and 8b are The wafer 3 is opened and the push-up lever is lowered to transfer the wafer 3 to a predetermined position on the wafer process carrier 7.

According to this example, from wafer boat 2 to wafer 3
Since the wafer 3 is lifted by the wafer transfer chuck holder 8 by scooping it up from the support rod 2a, even if the wafer 3 is slightly above the wafer and the pitch is not aligned, the wafer 3 can be lifted as specified without any problem. For this reason, the support of wafer boat 2 is 2~
Three-point support may be sufficient, and the number of contact parts between the wafer 3 and the wafer boat 2 can be reduced, crystal defects can be reduced, and the yield can be improved as a result. Further, since the wafers 3 are lifted directly from the wafer boat 2 by the chuck holder plates 8a and 8b without the need for a push-up rod, the number of mechanisms is reduced accordingly, which is advantageous in terms of variety.

It goes without saying that the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments, and that various other configurations may be adopted without departing from the gist of the present invention.

Effects of the invention According to the invention, the wafer 3 can be removed with a relatively small number of mechanisms.
This is advantageous in various respects, and the number of wafer support points on the wafer boat 2 can be reduced, thereby reducing crystal defects and, as a result, improving yield. .

[Brief explanation of drawings]

Fig. 1 is a conceptual diagram for explaining a conventional wafer transfer chuck holder, and Fig. 2 shows an example of the main parts of a wafer transfer device showing an embodiment of the wafer transfer chuck holder of the present invention. Partially cutaway perspective view,
FIG. 3 is a sectional view showing an example of the main part of the present invention. 2 is a wafer boat, 3 is a semiconductor wafer, 7
8 is a wafer process carrier, 8 is a chuck holder for transferring wafers, 8a and 8b are chuck holder plates, 9 is a vertical groove, 9a is its valley, 9b
is the mountain part.

Claims (1)

[Scope of utility model registration request] A chuck holder for wafer transfer, consisting of a pair of chuck holder plates having vertical grooves on the inside of the lower part, and configured to be openable and closable so that the wafer side end is held between the opposing vertical grooves. The curvatures of the valleys and peaks of the vertical grooves of the pair of chuck holder plates are approximately the same as the curvature of the wafer, and the center of curvature of the peaks of the vertical grooves is aligned with the valley of the vertical grooves. The inner tip of the chuck holder plate contacts the wafer earlier than other parts when the pair of chuck holder plates clamp the wafer. A chuck holder for transferring wafers.