JPH0627650Y2 - Substrate loading / unloading equipment - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION <Industrial field of application> The present invention is a loading / unloading process suitable for loading a substrate such as a semiconductor wafer into a vacuum chamber and unloading a substrate processed in the vacuum chamber from the vacuum chamber. Regarding the device.

<Prior Art> Conventionally, as a device for loading a substrate into a vacuum chamber and unloading a substrate processed in the vacuum chamber,
The one shown in the figure is used. This processing apparatus comprises a vacuum chamber 6, a substrate loading / unloading robot 7, and another substrate loading / unloading robot 8.

That is, the vacuum chamber 6 has a structure in which a pair of doors 61 and 62 are provided so as to be openable and closable, and the substrate mounting carriage 60 can be carried in and out from either side thereof.

On the other hand, rails 63, 64, 65 for moving the board mounting carriage 60 are laid on the board mounting / unloading robot 7 and the vacuum chamber 6 and the other board mounting / unloading robots 8, respectively.

Therefore, the board mounting carriage 60 reciprocates on the rails 63, 64, 65. In such a processing apparatus, processing work is performed according to the processing flow shown in FIG. That is, the board mounting carriage on which the board has been previously mounted by the robot 7 for mounting and taking out the board.
The door 60a is carried into the vacuum chamber 6 from the open door 61 via the rails 63 and 64. Then, the door 61 is closed to evacuate the inside of the vacuum chamber 6, and the board mounting carriage 60a
Processing such as vapor deposition and leak is performed on each of the upper substrates.
When the process is completed, the door 62 opens and the board mounting carriage 60a travels from the rail 64 to the door 65 as shown in FIG.

On the other hand, when the preceding substrate mounting carriage 60a is carried into the vacuum chamber 6, the mounting substrate carriage 60b mounts a predetermined substrate on the rail 63 by the substrate mounting / unloading robot 7. Then, as described above, the preceding substrate mounting carriage 60a is carried out from the vacuum chamber 6, and at the same time, the door 61 is opened and the substrate mounting carriage 60b is carried into the vacuum chamber 6 via the rails 63 and 64. Then, the doors 61 and 62 are closed, and the above-mentioned processes are performed on each wafer on the substrate mounting carriage 60b. Further, the processed substrate on the substrate mounting carriage 60a carried out as described above in the meantime is taken out by the substrate mounting and taking-out robot 8 as shown in FIG. Then, the unprocessed substrate is mounted on the substrate mounting carriage 60a from which the processed substrate is taken out. Next, when the processing of each board on the board mounting carriage 60b is completed, the door 61 is opened and the board mounting carriage 60b travels on the rail 63 from the rail 64, and the processed board is taken out by the board mounting / unloading robot 7. To be done. When the substrate mounting carriage 60b is carried out from the vacuum chamber 6, the substrate mounting carriage 60a having the unprocessed substrate mounted thereon is carried into the vacuum chamber 6 again. As described above, the substrate mounting / unloading robots 7 and 8 are provided on both sides of the vacuum chamber 6 respectively, and the two substrate mounting carriages 60a and 60b are used to mount the unprocessed substrate and to remove the processed substrate. .

That is, in the processing apparatus, a vacuum process is performed in which the process of mounting the substrate, the process in the vacuum chamber, and the process of taking out the substrate are defined as one step, and these two steps are defined as one cycle.

<Problems to be Solved by the Invention> In the above processing apparatus, since the robots for mounting and unloading the substrates are respectively provided on both sides of the vacuum chamber, and the substrate mounting-vacuum processing-substrate unloading are one step, the substrate is processed. Since it was not possible to take out and attach the same at the same time, it was impossible to shorten the treatment process.

<Means for Solving the Problems> The present invention has been made to solve the above problems, and includes a vacuum chamber in which a vacuum mounting carriage is formed so as to be able to move in and out, and a substrate to the vacuum chamber via a carry-in / carry-out track. A rotary table on which the substrate carriage that carries in the mounting carriage and is unloaded via the same track is placed, a dedicated robot for mounting the substrate on the substrate mount carriage on this rotating table, and the substrate which is carried out from the vacuum chamber A robot exclusively for picking up the substrate from the mounting carriage is arranged around the rotary table, and at positions that make approximately 120 ° with respect to the vacuum chamber. Further, the rotary table is centered on the rotary table. The three loading / unloading tracks are arranged at equal intervals.

<Operation> The vacuum chamber, the robot for picking up the substrate, and the robot for mounting the substrate are respectively arranged at positions of about 120 °.

On the other hand, the rotary table is provided with three loading / unloading tracks arranged at equal intervals around the table rotation axis.

Therefore, the loading and unloading orbits are arranged at intervals of about 120 ° around the table rotation axis of the rotary table, and if the rotary table rotates around the table rotation axis and one path faces the vacuum chamber, the other The trajectories also face the board-extracting robot and the board-extracting robot, respectively. Moreover, by using the three substrate mounting carriages, the processing in the vacuum chamber, the mounting operation by the substrate mounting robot, and the substrate unloading task by the substrate unloading robot can be performed substantially at the same time.

<Example> Next, the substrate loading / unloading apparatus of the present invention will be described in detail.

FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram of the processing apparatus. That is, the apparatus comprises a vacuum chamber 1, a turntable 2, three substrate mounting carriages 3A, 3B, 3C, a substrate mounting robot 4, and a substrate ejection robot 5.

A door 11 is formed in the vacuum chamber 1 so that it can be opened and closed, and a track 12 is laid inside the vacuum chamber 1. On the other hand, a substrate mounting dedicated robot 4 is arranged at a position forming an angle of approximately 120 ° with the vacuum chamber 1. The board mounting robot 4 includes, for example, an arm 4a having a three-section structure and a hand section 4b provided at the tip of the arm 4a. The arm 4a is rotated by a control mechanism (not shown), and the hand section 4b handles the board. Attach to the board mounting cart. Similarly, a substrate-extraction robot 5 is arranged at a position forming an angle of approximately 120 ° with the vacuum chamber 1. The substrate take-out robot 5 is also composed of, for example, an arm 5a having a three-bar structure and a hand portion 5b provided at the tip thereof, and the arm 4a is rotated by a control mechanism (not shown).
Take out the processed substrate in 5b. Moreover, the board mounting dedicated robot 4 and the board taking out robot 5 are arranged around the rotary table 2, respectively.

On the other hand, the turntable 2 rotates about a table rotation axis O in a predetermined direction, and three loading / unloading tracks 21, 22, 23 are provided at equal intervals around the table rotation axis O. That is, the orbits 21 and 22, 22 and 23, and 23 and 21 are provided so as to form an angle of approximately 120 °, respectively. Therefore, loading / unloading track
If 21 is arranged in a continuous state with the orbit 12 in the vacuum chamber 1, another loading / unloading orbit 22 is provided to the substrate loading robot 5,
Further, the loading / unloading track 23 is in a state of facing the board mounting dedicated robot 4, respectively. Furthermore, on these loading / unloading tracks 21, 22, 23,
Substrate mounting carts 3A, 3B, 3C are movably mounted on each of them.

Vacuum processing using the processing apparatus having such a configuration will be described below.

The processing flow in this vacuum processing apparatus is shown in FIG.

When the substrate mounting carriage 3A is loaded into the vacuum chamber 1 from the track 21 as shown in FIG. 1, the door 11 is closed and the chamber is evacuated. Next, vapor deposition or leak is applied to the unprocessed substrate on the substrate mounting carriage 3A. When these vacuum processes are completed, the door 11 is opened and the board mounting carriage 3A is moved to its track 12
To the loading / unloading track 21 on the turntable 2 (second
See figure). At this time, the unprocessed substrate is attached by the substrate attachment dedicated robot 4 on the substrate attachment carriage 3B on the track 23.

On the other hand, in the substrate mounting carriage 3C that has been loaded into the vacuum chamber prior to the substrate mounting carriage 3A, the processed substrate is taken out by the substrate taking-out robot 5.

Then, as shown in FIG. 3, the rotary table 2 rotates about the table rotary shaft O by about 120 °. Then board mounting cart 3B
Is opposed to the vacuum chamber 1, and the substrate mounting carriage 3B is carried into the vacuum chamber 1 and vacuum processing is performed in the same manner as described above. While this vacuum processing is being performed,
The substrate mounting carriage 3A is placed in a state of facing the substrate take-out robot 5, and the robot 5 takes out the processed substrate.

On the other hand, the other substrate unloading cart 3C faces the substrate unloading dedicated robot 4, and the substrate dedicated robot 4 mounts the unprocessed substrate on the substrate unloading vehicle 3C. When the vacuum process for the substrate mounting carriage 3B in the vacuum chamber 1 is completed, the door 11 is opened and the substrate mounting carriage 3B travels from the track 12 to the track 23 and is placed on the turntable 2. Similarly, the other substrate mounting carriage 3C is also subjected to vacuum processing, and the processed substrate is taken out from the substrate mounting carriage 3B by the substrate taking-out dedicated robot 5 during this vacuum processing. Board mounting cart 3A
The unprocessed substrate is attached by the substrate attaching robot 4. The above steps are sequentially repeated to mount the unprocessed substrate and take out the vacuum-processed substrate.

Needless to say, the device of the present invention is not limited to a vacuum vapor deposition device, but can be applied to a sputtering device or a vacuum heating device.

<Effects of the Invention> As described above, in the loading / unloading processing apparatus of the present invention, while one substrate mounting carriage is carried into the vacuum chamber, the other substrate mounting carriage is operated by the substrate loading robot and the substrate loading robot. The processed substrate and the unprocessed substrate are taken out, respectively. That is, since the mounting of the unprocessed substrate and the removal of the processed substrate can be performed within the process time of the vacuum processing, the time required for the cycle of mounting the unprocessed substrate-vacuum processing-removing the processed substrate is significantly reduced. It Therefore, the so-called cycle time can be reduced, and the rationalization of the vacuum processing process can be significantly promoted.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram showing a carry-in / carry-out processing apparatus of the present invention, FIGS. 2 to 5 are views for explaining the processing steps, FIG. 6 is a flow of processing by this apparatus, FIG. FIG. 8 is a diagram showing a conventional substrate processing apparatus, FIGS. 8 and 9 are diagrams for explaining conventional processing steps, and FIG. 10 is a conventional processing flow. In the figure, 1 is a vacuum chamber, 11 is a door, 12 is an orbit, 2 is a rotary table, 21, 22 and 23 are loading / unloading trajectories, 4 is a substrate mounting robot, 5 is a substrate loading robot, and O is a table rotation. It is an axis.

Claims (1)

[Scope of utility model registration request] 1. A vacuum chamber in which a substrate mounting carriage is formed so as to be able to move in and out, a substrate mounting carriage is carried into the vacuum chamber via a carrying-in / carrying-out track, and the substrate mounting carriage carried out through the track is placed. A table, an exclusive mounting robot for mounting a substrate on a substrate mounting carriage on the rotary table, and a dedicated robot for taking out the substrate from the substrate mounting carriage carried out from the vacuum chamber are provided around the rotary table and in the vacuum chamber. For each
A substrate loading / unloading apparatus, comprising three loading / unloading tracks, which are arranged at a position of 120 ° and are arranged on the rotary table at equal intervals around a table rotation axis.