JPH04219953A - Board delivery method - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] This bulletin contains application data before electronic filing, so abstract data is not recorded.

Description

[Detailed description of the invention]

0001

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a method for transferring a substrate in a chamber in which the pressure fluctuates, such as in a semiconductor manufacturing apparatus, using vacuum suction.

0002

2. Description of the Related Art FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram showing the structure of a conventional semiconductor manufacturing apparatus that transfers substrates using vacuum suction.

[0003] In a chamber 411 of a semiconductor manufacturing apparatus or the like, vacuum suction to a substrate 403 is performed by a hand 401 and a chuck 402, respectively. hand 40
1 is an X stage 40 that is movable in the left and right direction of the drawing.
7. It is connected to a Z stage 408 movable in a direction perpendicular to the drawing and is moved by each of these stages, and is connected to a pump 405 provided outside the chamber 411 via a valve 409. Also, chuck 4
02 is connected to a pump 405 via a valve 404. By switching the valves 409 and 404, each of the hand 401 and the chuck 402 can be connected to the pump 405 to perform vacuum suction (hereinafter referred to as the first state) or to the chamber 41
1 (hereinafter referred to as the second state) is placed in one of the states that allows communication with the internal atmosphere of the second state. Hand 401 and valve 4
09 and between the chuck 402 and the valve 404, vacuum sensors 410 and 406 are provided, respectively, to detect the pressure of each pipe in order to confirm the suction state in the hand 401 and the chuck 402.

[0004] Operations in chamber 411 are controlled by a control device (not shown). The control device receives the detected values of the vacuum sensors 410 and 406, and controls the movement of the X stage 407 and Z stage 408, the opening and closing operations of the valves 404 and 409, and other operations according to the input values. I do.

[0005] Here, the operation of the control device when the substrate 403 is attracted to the hand 401 and transferred to the chuck 402 will be explained.

First, the control device controls the X stage 407 and the Z stage 407.
The stage 408 is driven to bring the hand 401 into contact with the substrate 403 installed at a predetermined position, and the valve 409 is moved to the first position.
In this state, the substrate 403 is attracted to the hand 401. In order to confirm whether the substrate 403 is properly attracted to the hand 401, the pressure detected by the vacuum sensor 410 is confirmed. If the detected pressure is P1 (Torr), which is the pressure when normal suction is performed, the substrate 403 that is being suctioned by the hand 401 in order to transfer the substrate 403 to the chuck 402 is at the upper position of the chuck 402. The X stage 407 is driven so that the Next, the Z stage 408 is driven so that the surface of the substrate 403 on the chuck 402 side comes into contact with the chuck 402. At this stage, valve 4
04 is the second state, and the piping pressure of the chuck 402 is set to the same pressure as the inside of the chamber 411. The controller now sets the valve 404 to the first state and switches the substrate 403 to the first state.
The chuck 402 also performs suction. At this time, the suction state of the substrate 403 is monitored by the detection pressure of the vacuum sensor 406. When the detection pressure of the vacuum sensor 406 becomes equal to P1 (Torr), which is the detection pressure of the vacuum sensor 410, the valve
409 is set to the second state, and the suction operation by the hand 401 is stopped. After confirming that the suction force of the hand 401 has disappeared based on the pressure detected by the vacuum sensor 410, the control device sequentially drives the Z stage 408 and the X stage 407 to move the hand 401 to a predetermined position.

The case where the substrate 403 is transferred from the hand 401 to the chuck 402 has been described above, but when the substrate 403 is transferred from the chuck 402 to the hand 401, the suction state based on the pressure detected by each vacuum sensor is similar to the above procedure. confirmation and switching of each valve is performed.

As described above, the adsorption state of the substrate is confirmed by checking whether the pipe pressure detected by the vacuum sensor is lower than the predetermined pressure value P1, but if the pressure inside the chamber of the semiconductor manufacturing equipment is If it changes, the pipe pressure that indicates the adsorption state will change, so
It is not possible to determine whether the adsorption state is sufficient.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing how the pipe pressure changes in the adsorption state depending on the pressure state within the chamber.

In state B, where the pressure inside the chamber of semiconductor manufacturing equipment or the like is atmospheric pressure P2, the piping pressure when the substrate is attracted is P1, and the pressure inside the chamber is reduced to P4. In the case of state A, the piping pressure when the substrate is attracted is P3. In the figure, a line L1 connecting P2 and P4 indicates the piping pressure (chamber internal pressure) when the substrate is not attracted, and a line L2 connecting P1 and P3 indicates
It shows the piping pressure when the substrate is attracted, and the shaded area is the area where the substrate is attracted. In state B, the piping pressure P1 indicates that the substrate is attracted.
However, in state A, it indicates that the substrate has shifted or has come off, and in state A, the piping pressure P4 indicates that the substrate is not adsorbed, but in state B, it indicates that the substrate is adsorbed. This will result in pressure to show.

[0011]

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] In the conventional substrate transport method described above, the suction state of the substrate 403 is confirmed by checking the detected pressure value of each vacuum sensor and a predetermined pressure value (constant value).
Therefore, in semiconductor manufacturing equipment where the pressure inside the chamber fluctuates, there is a problem that it is not possible to accurately determine whether the substrate is in an adsorbed state.

The present invention has been made in view of the problems of the prior art described above, and aims to realize a substrate transfer method that can reliably transfer a substrate within a chamber where the pressure value fluctuates. purpose.

[0013]

[Means for Solving the Problems] The substrate transfer method of the present invention is a substrate transfer method for transferring a substrate held by vacuum suction in a chamber where the pressure fluctuates, the method comprising:
The pressure within the chamber and the suction pressure of the substrate are respectively detected, and when the suction pressure of the substrate is lower than a predetermined pressure according to the chamber internal pressure, the substrate is determined to be in the suction state and the substrate is delivered. .

[0014]

[Operation] Whether or not the substrate is being adsorbed is checked by checking whether the current adsorption pressure of the substrate is lower than a predetermined pressure depending on the current pressure in the chamber. It is also possible to check the adsorption state according to its changes.

[0015]

Embodiments Next, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram showing the configuration of an apparatus used to implement a first embodiment of the present invention.

Chamber 1 of semiconductor manufacturing equipment, etc. of this embodiment
11 , vacuum suction to the substrate 103 is performed by a hand 101 and a chuck 102 . hand 10
1 is connected to and moves with an X stage 107 that is movable in the left-right direction in the drawing and a Z stage 108 that is movable in the direction perpendicular to the drawing.
11 is connected to a pump 105 provided outside. Furthermore, the chuck 102 is connected to a pump 105 via a valve 104. In this embodiment as well, as in the conventional example shown in FIG. It is placed in one of two states. hand 101
Vacuum sensors 110 and 1, which serve as second pressure detection means and detect the pressure of the pipes, are installed in the pipes connecting the valve 109 and the chuck 102 and the valve 104.
06, and vacuum sensors 113 and 112, which are first pressure detection means and detect the differential pressure between the pipe pressure and the pressure inside the chamber 111, are provided, respectively. The control device used in this embodiment stores the relationship between the chamber internal pressure and the piping pressure as shown in FIG. 5, determines whether or not the adsorption state is established, and controls the operation of the device. This embodiment will be described assuming that the substrate 103 is attracted to the hand 101 and transferred to the chuck 102.

First, the pump 105 is operated, and the valve 1
09 is the first state, and the substrate 103 is attracted to the hand 101. In this state, the pipe pressure is measured by the vacuum sensor 110.
Detect with. Further, the vacuum sensor 112 detects the pressure difference between the piping pressure and the inside of the chamber 111, and calculates the pressure inside the chamber 111. Next, by checking whether the detected pipe pressure is a value indicating an adsorption state (below a predetermined pressure) corresponding to the calculated internal pressure of the chamber 111, it is determined whether or not the substrate 103 is currently in an adsorption state. to decide. If it is in the adsorption state, drive the X stage 107,
The substrate 103 is moved to the top of the chuck 102. Next, the Z stage 108 is driven to bring the back surface of the substrate 103 into contact with the suction surface of the chuck 102. Next, the valve 104 is set to the first state so that the chuck 102 can be sucked. Subsequently, the substrate 103 is chucked based on the pressure detected by the vacuum sensor 106 that detects piping pressure and the vacuum sensor 112 that detects differential pressure.
Determine whether or not it has been attracted to 2. Here, if it is confirmed that the suction state is obtained, the valve 109 is set to the second state and the hand 101 is set to the non-adsorption state. next,
After confirming that the hand 101 is in a non-adsorption state based on the detected pressure of each vacuum sensor 110, 113, the Z stage 108 and the X stage 107 are driven to move the hand 1
01 to a predetermined position.

As described above, in this embodiment, the pressure in the piping and the differential pressure between the piping and the chamber are detected, and the pressure changes in the chamber are taken into consideration to serve as a reference for checking the adsorption state of the substrate. Since the pressure value is changed, even if the pressure inside the chamber fluctuates, the suction of the substrate can be confirmed reliably.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing the configuration of a second embodiment of the present invention.

Chamber 2 of the semiconductor manufacturing apparatus, etc. of this embodiment
01 is provided with a vacuum sensor 202 for detecting absolute pressure. This allows chamber 2
Since the pressure inside 01 can be directly detected, each vacuum sensor 112, 11 that was provided to detect the differential pressure between the piping pressure and the chamber pressure in the first embodiment
3 is omitted. Other configurations include the first
Since it is similar to the embodiment, the same number will be given and the explanation will be omitted.

In this embodiment, confirmation of suction of the substrate 103 is performed by detecting the absolute pressure of the piping and the absolute pressure of the chamber. The confirmation sequence of the control device is the same as in the first embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing the configuration of a third embodiment of the present invention.

Chamber 3 of the semiconductor manufacturing apparatus, etc. of this embodiment
01 is provided with a vacuum sensor 202 for detecting the absolute pressure inside the chamber 301, as in the second embodiment, and is connected to the piping between the hand 101 and the valve 109 and between the chuck 102 and the valve 104. Vacuum sensors 302 and 303 are provided in the pipes between the chambers, respectively, to detect the differential pressure between the chamber internal pressure and the pipe pressure. Since the other configurations are similar to those of the first embodiment shown in FIG. 1, the same reference numerals are given and explanations are omitted.

In this embodiment, the suction of the substrate 103 is confirmed by using each vacuum sensor 3 that detects the absolute pressure inside the chamber 301 and the differential pressure between the pressure in the chamber 301 and the pressure in the piping.
The absolute pressure of the piping pressure is calculated from the detected values of 02 and 303. The confirmation sequence of the control device is the same as in the first and second embodiments.

[0026]

[Effects of the Invention] Since the present invention is constructed as described above, it produces the following effects.

[0027] Since the reference pressure value for checking the suction state of the substrate is based on the pressure fluctuation within the chamber, it is possible to accurately check the suction state of the substrate, and the transfer of the substrate can be There are certain effects that can be achieved.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

1 to 3 are explanatory diagrams showing the configurations of the first to third embodiments of the present invention, FIG. 4 is a diagram showing the main part configuration of the conventional example, and FIG. It is a figure showing a relationship. 101 Hand 102 Chuck 103 Substrate 104, 109 Valve 105 Pump 106, 110, 112, 113, 202, 302, 3
03 Vacuum sensor 107 X stage 108 Z stage

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A substrate transfer method for transferring a substrate held by vacuum suction in a chamber where the pressure fluctuates, the method comprising: detecting the pressure in the chamber and the suction pressure of the substrate, respectively; 1. A substrate delivery method, characterized in that when the adsorption pressure of the substrate is lower than a predetermined pressure depending on the pressure within a chamber, the substrate is assumed to be in an adsorption state and the substrate is delivered.