JPH03211749A - Semiconductor manufacturing device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To sharply reduce the dusting from a board to be processed, occurrence and adherence of dust to the board to be processed, during its transfer by arranging the constitution such that a first transfer mechanism catches the margin of the board to be processed at plurality of points by the aid of a plurality of claws for holding the board and that a second transfer mechanism can suck the board to be processed by vacuum. CONSTITUTION:A wafer holder 50 is provided with a ring-shaped supporting frame 52 at the top of an arm 51. Three pieces of supporting members 60 are attached at approximately regular intervals to the supporting frame 52 so that the supporting members at the tops may project inward from the supporting frame 52. It is to be desired that these supporting members 60 should be made of material which hardly produce dust and is small in thermal conductivity. The suction pinsette 204 of a cassette station 200 sucks and holds by vacuum the substance to be processed at the suction face 22, which is provided at the top of a pinsette body 21 and whose contact area with a wafer W is made extremely small, so the mutual contact area with the substance to be processed becomes small, and the dust occurrence at the time of holding the substance to be processed with this suction pinsette 204 can be reduced.

Description

[Detailed description of the invention] [Industrial application field]

The present invention relates to semiconductor manufacturing equipment.

[Conventional technology]

In semiconductor manufacturing, a substrate to be processed, such as a semiconductor wafer, undergoes various treatments in multiple processing steps.In recent years, with the increase in the degree of integration of semiconductor elements formed on semiconductor wafers, the number of processing steps has increased. It's getting complicated. For example, the resist processing process for semiconductor wafers has become more fine-grained, and for this reason, resist processing equipment includes, for example, a unit that treats the surface of semiconductor wafers with an adhesion enhancer such as hexamethyldisilane (HMDS), and a unit that applies a resist solution to this. It has a unit, a unit that monitors the unit, a unit that develops the unit, and the like. When multiple processing units are required in this way, if the processing units are arranged in a line, it will not be possible to respond to changes in the processing process, so by making the entire device flexible, Complex processing 1',
Improved resist processing apparatuses have been proposed that allow for flexibility in changing processes. In this improved type of resist processing apparatus, a passageway (track) is provided in the resist processing apparatus, and a handling device serving as a conveying device moves within the track, thereby transferring the coating material.
It is possible to select the necessary one from among various processing units such as 1 unit and Hökink unit. The handling device in the above resist processing device is
Since it is necessary to take out the wafers one by one from a cassette containing a plurality of wafers, for example, about 25 wafers, vacuum suction type wafer 71 tweezers are conventionally used. This conventional vacuum suction type wafer 71 tweezers, for example, as shown in FIG.
A vacuum suction section 2 is formed in a U-shape over a predetermined area. Then, with the back surface of the semiconductor wafer 3 in contact with the entire surface of the wafer mounting surface 1, the semiconductor wafer 3 is held by vacuum suction by the vacuum suction unit 2 using the tweezers.

[Problem to be solved by the invention]

By the way, the environment for manufacturing ゛t'-conductors has been affected by the adhesion of dust and particles due to the miniaturization of the above-mentioned processing steps.
In order to prevent defects in single-conductor elements, higher cleanliness is required, and it is also necessary to strictly control and reduce dust generation from the semiconductor manufacturing equipment itself. However, in the conventional wafer suction tweezers, as mentioned above, the entire surface of the wafer mounting surface 1, which has a relatively large area, is
Since it has a structure in which it contacts the back surface of the conductor wafer, it has the following drawbacks. In other words, microscopically considering the back surface of the semiconductor wafer 3, the back surface is relatively rough and has many chevron-shaped protrusions. The mounting surface 1 of the wafer tweezers comes into contact with the chevron-shaped protrusion on the back surface of the wafer I\3 over a relatively wide range, and the vacuum suction section 2 having a relatively wide opening area By growing the conductor sea urchin 3,
There is a problem in that the protrusions on the back surface of the wafer 3 are damaged, and the protrusions are scattered as dust into the semiconductor manufacturing equipment. In order to solve the disadvantages of such a suction type handling device, for example, USP 4,507.0711
No. 1 discloses a handling device that holds a semiconductor wafer using a ring-shaped member. According to such a handling device, the "1'-conductor wafer is held by simply fitting into the ring-shaped member, so the amount of dust attached to the "1'-conductor JC" is greatly reduced. However, with this method using a ring-shaped member, it is difficult to carry out the semiconductor wafer I\ from the wafer cassette.Also, normally, in a resist processing apparatus, during HMD S processing, resist coating, and development. Since the temperature of each semiconductor wafer differs during processing, the temperature of the wafer is adjusted in the pre-process of each processing step.However, with the above-mentioned handling equipment that uses wafer suction tweezers or ring-shaped members, mutual contact with the semiconductor wafer is prevented. Since the area is relatively wide and heat exchange takes place through this mutual contact area, a temperature difference occurs between the periphery and the center of the lq conductor wafer, which may have an adverse effect on subsequent processes.For this reason, resist processing It is not possible to strictly control the wafer temperature during the process, which causes problems such as the resist film thickness not reaching the target thickness.This invention was made in view of the above points, and The present invention aims to provide a semiconductor manufacturing device equipped with a handling device that is excellent both in terms of temperature control and temperature control.

[Means to solve the problem]

A semiconductor manufacturing apparatus according to the present invention includes a plurality of processing units provided along a transport path for a substrate to be processed, and a semiconductor manufacturing apparatus that is movable along the transport path and delivers and receives the substrate to be processed to the plurality of processing units. a first transport mechanism capable of carrying a plurality of substrates to be processed; a second transport mechanism for carrying in and/or carrying out the substrate to be processed into and/or out of a storage container capable of accommodating a plurality of substrates to be processed; a transfer table provided between the mechanism and the second transfer mechanism for transferring the substrate to be processed between the first transfer mechanism and the second transfer mechanism; The first transport mechanism uses a plurality of substrate holding claws.
The second transport mechanism is configured to hold the peripheral edge of the substrate to be processed at several points, and the second transport mechanism is capable of vacuum suction of the substrate to be processed. The present invention is also characterized in that the transfer table is provided with means for positioning and adjusting the mud wave treatment substrate.

[Effect]

When loading or unloading a plurality of substrates to be processed into a storage container capable of accommodating a plurality of substrates to be processed, a second transport mechanism having a vacuum suction section is used. The substrate to be processed is transferred between the second transfer mechanism and the first transfer mechanism via the transfer table. When the transfer table has a positioning adjustment means, the substrate to be processed is positioned at a predetermined position on the transfer table. The first transport mechanism moves the transport path to carry the substrates to be processed into and out of the plurality of processing units. In this case, in this invention, the transport mechanism is divided into two,
The second transport mechanism transports the substrate to be processed into the storage container;
It has a vacuum suction section for carrying out, but the first conveying mechanism is
Since the vacuum suction section is not heated and the peripheral edge of the substrate to be processed is held at a plurality of points by a plurality of substrate holding claws, there is almost no generation of particles due to friction between the substrate and the substrate. The second transport mechanism is used only for loading and unloading substrates to be processed into and out of the storage container as described above, and the first transport mechanism is used for loading and unloading substrates to be processed into a plurality of processing units. Overall, the generation of particles is reduced, and the cleanliness inside the semiconductor manufacturing equipment can be maintained at a very high level. Furthermore, since the first transport mechanism has a very small contact area with the substrate to be processed, the amount of heat that flows out or flows into the substrate to be processed during transport is reduced. Therefore, the substrate to be processed can be processed satisfactorily at a predetermined processing temperature. If the transfer table is provided with a means for positioning the substrate to be processed, it is not necessary to provide a positioning mechanism for the substrate to be processed in the first and second transport mechanisms themselves, so the configurations of these transport mechanisms can be simplified. can.

【Example】

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, an example in which an embodiment of the six-conductor manufacturing apparatus according to the present invention is applied to a resist processing apparatus will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a plan view showing the resist processing apparatus IO, and the resist processing apparatus IO in this example includes a process station 1.
00 and a cassette station 200. The operations of the six types of devices included in both stations are automatically controlled by a computer system (not shown). A wafer transfer table 201 is provided near the connection portion of the cassette station 200 with the process station 100, and a 1'-conductor wafer W is transferred from the cassette station 200 to the process station 100 via the wafer transfer table 201. It has become. Truck txt is a process station! 00 along the Y axis, and is provided from the rear of the wafer transfer table 201 to the front of the exposure unit (not shown). A rail 112 is laid on the track IIi, and the first
The robot 110 as an example of the transport mechanism is on the rail +12
is placed on top. The robot 110 moves the semiconductor wafer W to each processing unit 101, 102, 103, 104, 105, 10, which will be described later, of the process station 100.
B, 107, 108, and has a movement/handling mechanism for carrying in and carrying out. Next, the cassette station 200 will be explained in detail. Cassette 2 carried in by a transport robot (not shown)
02 is placed in a standby position on one side of the station 200 (lower side in the figure). Each cassette 202 stores, for example, 25 unprocessed (before resist processing) semiconductor wafers W. Further, a plurality of cassettes 203 are placed at a standby position on the other side (upper side in the figure) of the cassette station 200. Each cassette 203 can accommodate, for example, 25 processed (after resist processing) conductor wafers W. Vacuum suction type wafer suction tweezers 204 are attached to the wafer transfer table 201 and each cassette 202,
203 is provided for movement IIJ function. The tweezers 204 include an X-axis moving mechanism 205 and a Y-axis moving mechanism 206.
, and the θ rotation mechanism 207. The six cassettes 202 and 203 are supported by an yr lowering mechanism (not shown), and each cassette 202 and 203 moves up and down in conjunction with the tweezers 204 at their respective standby positions. Through this interlocking operation, the positions of the cassettes 202 and 203 and the tweezers 204 in the height direction are adjusted for one week, and the tweezers 20 and 204 align the cassettes
An unprocessed wafer W is taken out from the cassette 202, and a processed wafer W is returned to the cassette 203. The wafer transfer table 201 has a guide rail 208.1.
It has a pair of sliders 209a, 209b, and a set of three support pins 210. Sliders 209a, 209b
The mutually opposing surfaces of are curved along the outer periphery of the wafer W,
It is formed in a theba of mortar soil with an upper diameter smaller than 1 diameter. The pair of sliders 209a and 209b are provided to slide in opposite directions on the guide rail 208 by a drive motor (not shown). That is, when the sliders 209a and 209b are slid, the distance between them increases or decreases. The three support pins 2!0 are the sliders 209a, 209
bi7) It is installed vertically downward at an intermediate position and is provided so as to be moved up and down by a pin 4 lowering device (not shown). Bin 2 of these! Mouth and slider 209a, 209b
Accordingly, the wafer W is centered (positioned) with respect to the robot 110. 2 and 3 show the cassette station 200
An example of the suction tweezers 204 is shown in detail. Tweezers body 2! consists of an arm-shaped plate, and this main body 21
A suction surface 22 is formed at the tip of the semiconductor wafer W.
is vacuum-adsorbed to this suction surface 22. The suction surface 22 is formed so that its contact area with the wafer W is as small as possible, and has the effect of preventing dust from adhering to the surface of the tweezers 21. The suction surface 22 is provided with an open suction port 23 for vacuum suction. Next, the process station! 00 will be explained in detail. Various processing units are arranged on both sides of track III. In this example, on one side of track 1, in order from the one closest to the cassette station 200, there are an HMDS processing unit 1011, a first pre-bake unit 102, a first cooling unit I03, and a second pre-bake unit 1.
04, the second cooling unit 105 is arranged. Further, on the other side of the track Ill, there are first coating units 106 in order from the one closest to the cassette station 200.
, a second coating unit) 107, and a surface coating layer coating unit 108 are arranged. The HMDS processing unit 101 is for applying a hydrophilic HMDS solution to the pattern formation surface of the semiconductor wafer W to improve the fixing properties (adhering force) of the resist film. The first pre-bake unit 102 is for heating and evaporating the solvent remaining in the resist of the first layer [1] applied to the wafer W. First cooling unit +
03 is for cooling the wafer W that has been heat-treated in the first pre-bake unit 102. The second pre-bake unit 104 is for heat-treating the solvent remaining in the second layer resist. First coating unit 106 and second coating unit 10
7 is for spin-coding the resists of the first layer 11 and the second layer [-1, respectively. The surface coating layer coating unit 108 is used to further coat and form a surface coating layer such as a CEL film on the already coated resist film. Next, the robot l 1.0 as an example of the transport mechanism of the process station 100 will be described. Robot 110 includes a handling mechanism that includes a wafer holder 50 . In this case, two wafer holders 50 for holding the wafer W are attached to the handling mechanism so as to be superimposed on the upper F. These two wafer holders 50 can each independently move in the X direction (vertical direction) and Y direction (horizontal direction), and the superimposed wafer holder 50 can move downward in two directions (vertical direction) at the same time. With i+J function, it can also rotate in the θ direction. 2
In order to enable such parallel movement and rotation of the two wafer holders 50, the robot +10 is provided with a driving mechanism (not shown) such as a stepping motor and a ball screw connected thereto. The two wafer holders 50 are configured such that one wafer holder 50 holds an unprocessed wafer and transports it to a processing unit, and when there is a processed wafer in this processing unit, the other wafer holder 50 transfers the processed wafer. The unprocessed wafers in one wafer holder are then set in the processing unit. As shown in FIG. 4, the wafer holding section 50 of the first embodiment of the handling mechanism of the robot 110 has an arm 5!
A ring-shaped support frame 52 is provided at the tip. The support frame 52 is slightly larger than the diameter of the wafer W, and in the case of a 6-inch wafer, the tip of the ring is cut out within a range of approximately 72°. This support frame 52 is made of, for example, an aluminum plate. Three claw-shaped support members 80 are attached to the support frame 52 at approximately equal intervals so that the support portions 62 at the tips thereof protrude inwardly from the support frame 52 . These support members 60 are preferably made of a material that does not easily generate dust and has low thermal conductivity. For example, the support member 60 is made of a ceramic material such as alumina or silicon nitride, or Teflon (trade name). As shown in FIG. 5, each support member 60 is fixed to the support frame 52 from the back side of the support frame 52 with screws 53. The support portion 62 of the support member 60 will be described in detail with reference to FIGS. 6 and 7. A taber edge 64 is formed on the upper part of the support part 62. This Teva Edge 64
The slope slopes downward toward the tip. The inclination angle of the taber edge 64 of the support member 60 is preferably 30° to 60° with respect to the horizontal, and in this example is 45°, for example. Note that a screw hole 63 is formed in the base portion 61 of the support member 60. Next, by using the apparatus of the above embodiment, "11 conductor wafers/
The process of forming a photoresist film on the surface of %W will be explained step by step. This step is performed based on a pre-stored program of the control system described above. (1) The suction tweezers 204 are positioned below one wafer cassette 201 to hold only one semiconductor wafer I\W in a temporary tube. Next, the bin set 204 is moved in the X direction to take out the 12 conductor wafers/XW from the cassette 202. After rotating the bin set 204 by 9[)0, it is moved in the Y direction and the 16 conductor wafer W is placed on the wafer transfer table 201. At this time, the semiconductor urchin "W" is placed on the wafer transfer table 201 so that the orientation flat is on the opposite side of the track 10 (the side of the cassette station 200). (II) On the wafer transfer table 201, the three Raise the bin 2!0 and move the pair of sliders 209a, 209
The distance b is narrowed to center the semiconductor wafer W. After centering and positioning, the robot IlO is moved to the side of the transfer table 201, and one of the wafer holding parts 50
The supporting frame 52 is positioned below the semiconductor wafer W. The Z table of the robot 11O is raised, and three points on the wafer W are indicated using the instruction frame 52. At this time, the center of the wafer W on the wafer transfer table 201 and the center of the wafer holder 50 are aligned. Therefore, as shown in FIG. 5, the wafer W slides into the pointing frame 52 along the edge 84 of the pointing member BO and is accurately held horizontally. (m) Move the robot IIO in the Y-axis direction and
It is located in front of the processing unit 101. Next, the wafer holder 50 is rotated 90 degrees, moved in the X-axis direction, and further lowered to transfer the wafer W onto a receiving table (not shown) of the unit 101. (TV) The support frame 52 of the way 7\holding section 50 is removed from the processing unit 101, and the way 7\W is processed by HMDS. During this time, at the cassette station 200, the tweezers 204 are moved to take out the 2nd [1] IW from the cassette 202, and
Leave it on standby at 01. After the first wafer/1 has been carried into the Uni-Soto 101, the robot +10 receives the wafer No. 2 II/%W from the transfer table 201 and holds it in one wafer holding section 50. Then, the processing unit 101 waits until the processing of the first Ueno 1 is completed. When the processing of the first wafer W in the processing unit 101 is completed, the robot 110 performs the following operation. That is, first, the wafer holding section 5 that does not hold sea urchins/%
By inserting 0 into processing unit IO1, H
The first wafer that has undergone MDS processing is transferred to the processing unit +
Take it out from 01. After the processing unit 101 is emptied in this way, the wafer holding section 50 holding the second wafer is operated, and the wafer No. 2 [I is set in the processing unit 101. (V) Next, the wafer holding section 50 is rotated 180 degrees to position the wafer W held by the support frame 52 in front of the first coating unit 106. The wafer support section 50 is moved in the X-axis direction and lowered to transfer the wafer W onto the receiving table of the first coating unit 106, and the support frame 52 of the wafer holding section 50 is removed from the unit 106. From the above operation, the advantage of providing two wafer holders 50 can be understood. That is, when there is only one wafer holding section, the robot 110 first takes out the first wafer from the processing unit +01, sets it in the processing unit 10B, and then receives the second wafer from the transfer table 201. This is because it is necessary to set this in the processing unit 101. Note that while the above operation is being performed, the cassette station 200 keeps the wafer No. 3 El to be processed next by the bin set 204 on standby on the transfer table 201. The same applies below. Next, the robot 110 holds the third wafer from the transfer table 201 on the wafer support section 50 . Then, the processing unit 10B waits until the processing in the processing unit 10B is completed. (Vl) When the processing of the first wafer 1 in the processing unit 108 is completed, the robot 110 moves the wafer holder 50 that does not hold the wafer 1 to the processing unit 108.
The wafer 71 in 6 is taken out. And Robo Soto 11
0 in the Y-axis direction and then positioned in front of the programmed first pre-bake unit 102. (■) Next, the way/X holding section 50 is rotated 180', extended in the X-axis direction, and the way l\W is transferred to the receiving table in the unit 102. Ueno 1W is heated to a predetermined temperature within the unit 102. When the processing of the second wafer in the processing unit 101 is completed during this pre-bake processing, the robot 110 transfers this wafer to the processing unit using the wafer holder 50 that does not hold the wafer. Take it out from O1. Then, the third wafer held in the other wafer holder is transferred to the processing unit! Set to 01. Then, the wafer holder 50 is rotated 180', and the second wafer held therein is set in the processing unit 106. In addition, if the coating process for the first wafer is completed,
When the HMDS processing of the second wafer is finished,
It is also possible to program the following operations. That is, first, while unprocessed wafer No. 3 and 11 is held in one wafer holder 50, the second wafer is taken out from the processing unit 101 by the other wafer holder 50. Subsequently, the third wafer held in one of the wafer holding sections 50 is set in the processing unit O1, and then the processing unit waits. And the processing unit! After the first wafer coating process in step 06 is completed, the first wafer is taken out by one or the other wafer holder and transferred to the first unbaked unit 102.
Set to . In this case, the resist coating is performed using, for example, a spin coating device that drops a resist solution and spins the coating. (■) After the baking process, the wafer W is placed in the unit 102.
Take it out. When the wafer W is held, the area of contact between the wafer W and the support part (A 60) is extremely small (3-point support), so the temperature of the wafer W does not substantially change. , robot 110
Track 11! Run it on the top, each unit 101゜1
06, 102.103.107.104.105.10
By moving the wafer W in the order of 8, a predetermined resist film is formed on the pattern formation surface of the wafer W. X) Finish the surface coating layer coating process in the processing unit 108.
The processed wafer W is transferred to the transfer table 201 by moving the robot IIO in the Y-axis direction.
After centering on top, suck young tweezers! -204 holds the wafer W by suction. The suction bin set 204 is moved in the Y axis, rotated θ, moved in the X axis, and moved in the Z axis, and the processed wafer W is stored in the wafer cassette 203 on the unloading side. According to the above embodiment, the cassette station 2
The suction tweezers 204 of No. 00 hold the object to be processed by vacuum suction on the suction surface 22 provided at the tip of the tweezers main body 21 and whose contact area with the wafer W is minimized, thereby preventing mutual contact with the object to be processed. The area is reduced, and dust generation when holding objects to be processed with this suction bottle set 204 can be reduced. Also a process station! 00 wafer holding part 5
No. 0 does not have a suction part and is supported at at least three points, so it is possible to significantly reduce dust generation. In addition, since the wafer W is supported at three points by the taber edge 64 of the support part 62 of the wafer holding part 50, the wafer W
The area of the contact portion between the support member 60 and the supporting member 60 becomes extremely small. Therefore, even if the temperature difference between the wafer W and the wafer holder 50 is as much as 70 to 80 degrees Celsius, such as after baking, the temperature change of the wafer W before and after holding can be reduced to ±0.
．． It can be suppressed to a range of 3°C. As a result, a uniform resist film can be obtained without causing uneven coating. Further, according to the first embodiment, the wafer transfer table 20! Since pre-alignment (centering) for positioning the semiconductor wafer W with respect to the wafer holder 50 can be performed in the step, the support member 60 smoothly contacts the semiconductor wafer W without resistance and does not damage the semiconductor wafer W. Therefore, fewer particles are generated. Since the semiconductor wafer W slides into the support frame 52 along the tabular edge 64 of the support member 60, the semiconductor wafer W can be centered with higher precision. Note that while waiting on the wafer transfer table 201, it is effective to prevent dust by floating the wafer on the wafer without directly contacting the wafer placement section. Further, it is further advantageous if the standby mechanism is constituted by a carrier cassette. Also, in the pre-bake processing unit 102, Wa! By supporting the wafer with, for example, three spherical objects without directly placing it on the mounting table, and performing the heat treatment while slightly floating above the mounting table, it is advantageous in terms of dust prevention on the back side of the wafer. Furthermore, if the photoresist coating process and/or heating process takes more time than other processes, it is also possible to use two coating units and/or two heating units at the same time. As is clear from the above operation, according to the above embodiment,
The optimal process can be programmed by arbitrarily combining the plurality of processes necessary to form a photoresist film on the surface of a semiconductor wafer, including their order. Therefore, it is possible to select the most efficient combination process depending on the type of semiconductor wafer to be processed and obtain the maximum throughput. Further, since the robot 110 has two holding parts, each of which operates independently, the degree of freedom in processing is high. For example, if a wafer exists in a unit for the next process, there is no inconvenience such as not being able to replace the wafer for that process. Note that the number of wafer holding parts does not necessarily have to be two, and may be three or more. Furthermore, in the process station 100, since each processing unit is arranged on both sides of the track ill, the operation program of the robot 110 can be changed in eight steps. Furthermore, the processing units can be installed in a vertically stacked manner, and when the processing units are arranged on the ground in this way, the floor space required for installation is also reduced. The apparatus of the above embodiment can also be used as an apparatus for developing a photoresist film exposed in a predetermined pattern to form a resist pattern. In that case, 2
A unit for applying a developer 111 is provided as one of the two application units 108 and 107. For example, the developing device jets a developer onto the wafer 1 which is rotating at variable speeds to develop the image. By using one for coating the photoresist film and the other for coating the developer, it can be used as an apparatus for both forming and developing a photoresist film.In this case, there is also a wafer transfer table at the right end of the track l. By providing an interface mechanism similar to 201 and allowing wafers to be transferred to and from the exposure apparatus, processes from resist coating to development can be carried out as an integrated continuous process. A second embodiment of the wafer holding section of robot eye 0 will be described with reference to FIGS. As shown in Fig. 8, a ring-shaped support frame 72 is provided at the tip of the arm 71 of the ueno\ holding part 70 of the second embodiment.The support frame 72 has an inner diameter of, for example, This support frame 72 is slightly larger than the 6-inch diameter wafer W, and the tip of the ring is notched in a range of about 72@, for example.
is made of, for example, an aluminum plate. Six claw-shaped support members 74 are attached at approximately equal intervals so that the support portions 78 at the tips of the support members 74 protrude inward from the support frame 72. These support frames 72 are made of ceramic abrasive material such as alumina and silicon nitride. The support member 74 will be explained in more detail with reference to FIGS. 9 and 10. The support member 74 has a base portion 76, a guide tapered portion 77, and a support portion 78. A punch hole 75 is formed in the base portion 7B. A screw (not shown) is screwed into this screw hole 75 to fix the support member 74 to the support frame 72. The length of one side of the base portion 76 is several millimeters. The guide tapered portion 77 is provided between the base portion 7B and the support portion 78, and has a downward slope toward the tip. In this case, the inclination angle of the guide taper portion 77 is 45
°. The support frame 78 has a rectangular rod shape with a width of 1111 mm and a length of 511 square meters, and its upper surface 79 is tapered downward. The inclination angle of the support part 78 is preferably in the range of 1 to 3 degrees, and more preferably 2''. The wafer W is guided along the wafer, falls into the support part 78, and is supported while being in contact with a part of the support part 78. Therefore, the wafer W can be reliably held horizontally, and knee loading to each processing unit is prevented. In addition, according to the second embodiment, since the support member 74 has six support frames 72 attached, even if the wane/%W has an orientation flat, The wafer W can be held securely regardless of the orientation of the orientation flat. Furthermore, a third embodiment of the wafer holding section of the robot 110 is shown in FIGS. 11 to 13. As shown in FIG. In this example, Ueno\holding part 80
In this case, the three supporting members 84 are attached to the supporting frame 82 at equal intervals so that the supporting parts 88 protrude inward of the supporting frame 82. The support member 84 is screwed, for example, and is made of, for example, fluorinated resin. As shown in FIGS. 12 and 13, each support member 84 has a long base portion 86, a guide tapered portion 87, and a support portion 88. Two screw holes 85 are formed in the base portion 86 . A member 84 is attached to the frame 82 by screwing into a screw hole 85. The guide tapered portion 87 is provided between the base portion 8B and the support portion 88, and has a downward slope toward the tip. Next, if it is desired to further increase the number of processing units and connect them, the next track may be formed as an extension of track Ill, and a wafer standby mechanism may be provided at this connection. FIG. 14 is an example of that case. That is, the way/XW in the cassettes 202, 202
The wafer/1W is transferred between the carrier station run 200 having the tweezers 204 for carrying the wafer W into the set 203, 203, and this carrier station 20 port on the wafer 71 transfer table 201. A first process station run 100A including a robot 11OA; a standby mechanism 150 provided on the right side of the first process station 100A in the figure and having a wafer/1 loading table +51 similar to the wafer transfer table 201; The mounting table 15 of this standby mechanism 150
A second process station 100B having a robot port OB for transferring wafers W is provided. The first process station 100A includes, for example,
HMDS processing unit 121, first heating unit 12
2. A first cooling unit 123, a coating unit 124 for spin-coating the first layer of resist, and a second coating unit 125 for spin-coating the second layer 11 are provided, and each of these processing units is selectively The wafer is transported and processed. Further, the second process station 100B
Track III of process station 100A
In the direction leading to A, the truck I is placed across the standby aircraft 1150.
Ill B is provided, and a robot 110 B is provided on this track Ill B. The second process station IoOB also has a processing unit of ah. A third coating unit 133 that coats and forms a surface coating layer such as a film is on the track 111B.
are placed opposite each other. The mounting table 151 of the standby mechanism 150 can place one wafer/1W, and the robot 110A of the first process station 100A and the second process station 100
B's robot 110 Transfers ways/XWs to and from B. This standby mechanism! The configuration of 50 may be such that a buffer cassette is provided without providing the mounting table 151, and a plurality of ueno sheets 1 can be placed on standby using this cassette. With this buffer case and throat, robot 1
Even if there is a difference in the amount of work between 10A and robot 11OB,
This makes it possible to reduce the time that one robot waits. Note that, as in the example shown in the figure, process stations can be connected not only to the left and right sides of the standby machine +1M150, but also to the top and bottom directions of the standby mechanism 150 in the figure. In this way, by providing a plurality of processing stations via the standby mechanism 1.50, it is possible to accommodate an increase in the number of processing units and to handle the number of containers, and high-throughput processing becomes possible. In the above embodiment, an example was explained in which the application was applied to a resist coating and developing device as a semiconductor manufacturing device, but the invention is not limited to this, and for example, etching processing, CV
Similar effects can be obtained by D processing, ashing processing, etc. Effects of the Invention As described above, according to the semiconductor manufacturing apparatus according to the present invention, the transport mechanism for the substrate to be processed is divided into two, and the second transport mechanism is used for carrying the substrate to be processed into and out of the storage container. The mechanism is equipped with a vacuum suction section, and the substrates to be processed are carried in and out of multiple processing units without a vacuum suction section, and the contact area with the substrates to be processed, which are held at multiple points, is extremely small. Since this method uses a substrate, it is possible to significantly reduce dust generation and adhesion from the substrate to be processed during transportation compared to the conventional method. Furthermore, the amount of heat flowing out from the substrate to be processed and the amount of heat flowing into the substrate to be processed during transportation to a plurality of processing units can be reduced, and excellent processing can be performed at a predetermined processing temperature. Furthermore, if the wafer transfer table provided between the first and second transport mechanisms is provided with positioning means for the substrate to be processed, the first and second transport mechanisms themselves are Since there is no need to provide a positioning mechanism for the substrate to be processed, the configuration of these transport mechanisms can be simplified and the number of extra contact parts with the substrate to be processed can be reduced. This also contributes to reducing dust generation and adhesion from the substrate to be processed during transportation. As a result of the above-mentioned effects, the apparatus of the present invention greatly improves the reliability of the entire process. It is possible to improve the productivity of conductor wafers. 4. FiI'l of the Drawings (Explanation of It) FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a resist processing apparatus as an embodiment of a semiconductor manufacturing apparatus according to the present invention, and FIGS. 2 and 3 are an example of a second transport mechanism. FIG. 4 to FIG. 7 are diagrams showing a first embodiment of a wafer holding section of a process station as an example of the first transport mechanism. FIG. 10 is a diagram showing a second embodiment of the wafer holding section, FIGS. 11 to 13 are diagrams showing a third embodiment of the wafer holding section, and FIG. 14 is a diagram showing a semiconductor manufacturing method according to the present invention. A block diagram of another embodiment of the apparatus, FIG. 15 is a diagram showing an example of a conventional wafer suction bin set. 100; Process stage bins 101 to 108; Frame 60; Support member 62; Support part 64; Taper edge 200: Carrier station 201; Wafer transfer table 202, 203, cassette 204; Tracheid tweezers 21; Bin set body 2; Suction surface 3; Suction port

Claims (2)

[Claims] (1) a plurality of processing units provided along a transport path for the substrate to be processed; and a first processing unit that is movable along the transport path and capable of delivering and delivering the substrate to the processing unit to the plurality of processing units; a second transport mechanism for loading and/or unloading the substrate to be processed into and/or out of a storage container capable of accommodating a plurality of substrates to be processed; the first transport mechanism; and the second transport mechanism. a transfer table provided between the transfer mechanism and the transfer table for transferring the substrate to be processed between the first transfer mechanism and the second transfer mechanism, the first transfer mechanism , by multiple board holding claws,
A semiconductor manufacturing apparatus, wherein the semiconductor manufacturing apparatus is configured to hold the peripheral edge of the substrate to be processed at a plurality of points, and the second transport mechanism is capable of vacuum suctioning the substrate to be processed. (2) The semiconductor manufacturing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the transfer table is provided with means for positioning and adjusting the substrate to be processed.