JPH0766171A - Semiconductor device manufacturing equipment - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] [Purpose] To provide a manufacturing apparatus capable of cleaning a transfer mechanism without exposing the inner wall of a container containing the transfer mechanism to the atmosphere and obtaining a semiconductor device having a high yield rate and performance. provide. [Structure] At least a part of dust or contaminants attached to or adsorbed on a substrate transport mechanism 101 is transported by a transport mechanism 10.
The mechanism for removing the inner wall of the container storing 1 without exposing the inner wall of the container to the ambient atmosphere makes it possible to clean the transport mechanism 101 without exposing the inner wall of the container housing the transport mechanism 101 to the atmosphere. Further, by providing a plurality of transfer mechanisms having the same function, the substrate can be transferred even during cleaning of the transfer mechanism, and therefore the operation rate of the apparatus is not lowered by cleaning the transfer mechanism at all.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a semiconductor device manufacturing apparatus, and more particularly to a manufacturing apparatus for performing processing such as film formation and dry etching on a substrate.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art With the increase in diameter of substrates, the number of single-piece semiconductor manufacturing devices is increasing. This is because the single-wafer type apparatus can control the process conditions with higher accuracy than the conventional batch type apparatus, and is also suitable for obtaining in-plane uniformity on a large-diameter substrate. One of the drawbacks of single-wafer devices is the generation of dust and pollutants. Unlike conventional methods, one treatment is required for each sheet, so the amount of dust generated and the amount of pollutants generated per number of treated sheets are generally larger than in batch-type equipment. Dust and contaminants reduce the yield of semiconductor devices and reduce performance, so it is necessary to clean the inside of the processing container on a regular basis.However, if the inner wall of the processing container is exposed to the atmosphere for cleaning, Since it takes a lot of time to return the apparatus to a state in which it can be exhausted and can be processed again, there is an adverse effect that the operating rate of the apparatus is significantly reduced.

Further, CVD using a highly reactive gas
In the case of a film forming apparatus or a dry etching apparatus by the (chemical vapor deposition) method, a gas adsorbed on the inner wall of a container such as a processing container provided in the manufacturing apparatus reacts with moisture in the atmosphere to cause harmful substances. There was also a risk that the product would be generated and the container would be corroded. For this reason, some CVD apparatuses have attempted to remove a film formed on an unnecessary portion such as an inner wall of a processing container by plasma discharge of an etching gas introduced into the processing container. This is because the film formed at an unnecessary portion is removed before it becomes a dust or a pollution source.

However, although this method is effective for etching a film formed on an unnecessary portion such as the inner wall of the processing container,
This method cannot remove dust or contaminants adhering to or adsorbed on the transfer mechanism for transferring the substrate. This is because the transfer mechanism needs to be evacuated to a transfer chamber or the like outside the processing container when performing cleaning by plasma discharge inside the processing container. Since the transfer mechanism is in direct contact with the substrate, the dust or contaminants attached or adsorbed to the transfer mechanism are likely to move to the substrate, which causes a decrease in the yield rate of semiconductor devices and a decrease in performance.

[0005]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention to obtain a semiconductor device having a high non-defective rate and performance, which enables cleaning of the transfer mechanism without exposing the inner wall of the container containing the transfer mechanism to the atmosphere. It is to provide a manufacturing apparatus capable of

[0006]

In order to achieve the above object, in a semiconductor device manufacturing apparatus according to the present invention, at least a part of dust or contaminants attached or adsorbed to a substrate transport mechanism is housed in the transport mechanism. A mechanism is provided for removing the inner wall of the container without exposing it to the surrounding atmosphere.
It is desirable to provide a plurality of transfer mechanisms having the same function so that the substrate can be transferred even during the removal of dust or contaminants.

[0007]

The mechanism for removing at least a part of the dust or contaminants attached to or adsorbed to the substrate transport mechanism without exposing the inner wall of the container containing the transport mechanism to the ambient atmosphere is a container containing the transport mechanism. It is possible to clean the transfer mechanism without exposing the inner wall of the container to the atmosphere. For this reason, in the conventional apparatus, it takes a lot of time to return the apparatus to a state in which it can be processed again by vacuum exhausting after exposing the inner wall of the container housing the transfer mechanism to the atmosphere for cleaning, and the apparatus operation rate is high. The harmful effects that have been significantly reduced are eliminated. Further, if a plurality of transfer mechanisms having the same function are provided, the substrate can be transferred even while the transfer mechanisms are being cleaned, so that there is an effect that the operation rate of the apparatus is not reduced by cleaning the transfer mechanisms.

[0008]

EXAMPLE 1 Example 1 will be described with reference to FIGS.
This embodiment is an embodiment in which the present invention is applied to a semiconductor device manufacturing apparatus in which a substrate is dry-etched.

FIG. 1 is a plan view showing a manufacturing apparatus of this embodiment. The manufacturing apparatus of this embodiment has three processing chambers 106 and 10.
This is a cluster tool provided with 7, 108 and the like for performing dry etching processing of a wiring layer on a substrate. Substrate is transfer chamber 10
It is transported by the transport mechanism 101 housed in 2. Of the two load lock chambers 103 and 104, one of the plurality of substrates stored in the cassette installed in the load lock chamber 103 is first transferred to the etching chamber 1 by the transfer mechanism 101.
It is transported to 06. After being subjected to the etching treatment here, the substrate is transported to the anticorrosion treatment chamber 107 by the transport mechanism 101 and subjected to the anticorrosion treatment. After that, the substrate is transported to the asher chamber 108 by the transport mechanism 101 and the resist is removed by the asher. The substrate from which the resist has been removed and all processing by the cluster tool has been completed is stored in a cassette installed in the load lock chamber 104 by the transfer mechanism 101. The remaining substrates stored in the cassette installed in the load lock chamber 103 are sequentially processed in the same manner.

The three processing chambers 106, 107, 108 provided in the manufacturing apparatus of this embodiment are heavily dusted and pollutant generated, and must be self-cleaned by plasma discharge every time a prescribed number of treatments are completed. .

The carrying mechanism 101 can be cleaned in the carrying mechanism cleaning chamber 105 provided in the manufacturing apparatus of this embodiment. Transport mechanism cleaning chamber 105 and transport chamber 10
When the gate valve between 2 and 2 is opened, a slit sufficient for the transfer arm to pass through appears, and differential evacuation with a higher vacuum on the transfer mechanism cleaning chamber 102 side is possible. At the time of cleaning the transfer mechanism, Ar is introduced from the transfer chamber 102 side to perform the differential evacuation to prevent dust and contaminants from flowing from the transfer mechanism cleaning chamber 105 into the transfer chamber 102. There is. In the manufacturing apparatus of this embodiment, the self-cleaning mode is set in addition to the processing mode, and it is possible to perform the self-cleaning of the three processing chambers 106, 107 and 108 simultaneously with the cleaning of the transport mechanism 101. In this embodiment, cleaning is performed for each treatment of 10 substrates.

FIG. 2 is a cross section of the transport mechanism cleaning chamber. Both of the upper and lower electrodes 202 and 204 can be connected to the output of the high frequency power source 203, and a transfer system 204 that is preliminarily grounded via the transfer system shaft 205 by introducing a cleaning gas into the transfer mechanism cleaning chamber. By applying high frequency power of 13.56MHz between
Plasma discharge can be generated. Although Ar is used in the manufacturing apparatus of this embodiment, the gas is not necessarily limited to Ar, and a fluorine-based gas such as NF ₃ or a chlorine-based gas such as HCl is also effective. Further, unlike the present embodiment, when the present invention is applied to a CVD apparatus, the etching gas of the material for film formation is effective for cleaning. The flow rate of Ar was set to 30 sccm, the pressure was kept at 5 mTorr by a conductance control valve, and cleaning was performed for 3 minutes.

In the manufacturing apparatus of this embodiment, when the transfer mechanism cleaning chamber 105 is not used and only the three processing chambers 106, 107, and 108 are self-cleaned for each processing of 10 substrates, the semiconductor is detected by the particle counter. When the number of dust particles on the board is measured, even if self-cleaning is performed, it does not recover to the level when completely cleaned.
It was found that the number increased as the number of processed sheets increased. Further, the number of atoms of pollutants on the semiconductor substrate measured by the total reflection X-ray fluorescence device showed the same tendency. It has been found that this is mainly due to the movement of the dust or contaminants adhering to and adsorbing to the transport mechanism 101 to the substrate. Therefore, in order not to reduce the non-defective rate and performance of the semiconductor device, the transfer chamber 102
It is indispensable to perform the cleaning of the transport mechanism 101 by exposing the wafer to the atmosphere, and the cleaning is performed for each processing of 20 substrates. After this cleaning, the transfer chamber 102
It took about 4 hours to evacuate the substrate and return the manufacturing apparatus to the state in which the substrate can be processed again, and there was a problem that the apparatus operating rate was significantly lowered.

Using the transfer mechanism cleaning chamber 105 in the manufacturing apparatus of this embodiment, the transfer mechanism 102 is cleaned at the same time as the self-cleaning of the three processing chambers 106, 107, and 108 performed for each processing of 10 substrates. In this case, the number of dust particles adhering to the semiconductor substrate measured with a particle counter and the number of atoms of contaminants on the semiconductor substrate measured with a total reflection X-ray fluorescence apparatus are completely restored to the level at the time of cleaning by self-cleaning. Therefore, it is not necessary to clean the transfer mechanism 101 by exposing the transfer chamber 102 to the atmosphere, which has been performed for each processing of 20 substrates in the related art, and it is possible to obtain a semiconductor device having a high yield rate and performance without lowering the operation rate. It has become possible.

In this embodiment, dust or contaminants on the transfer mechanism 101 are removed by plasma discharge. For removal of these, mechanical force generated by controlling the air flow or electricity generated by controlling the electric potential. Power may be used. For example, it is possible to remove dust by electrostatic force by providing an electrode configuration similar to that of FIG. 2 of the present embodiment, setting the transport system 204 once to a floating potential, and then applying a positive potential or a negative potential to the electrodes 201 and 202. . After the cleaning is completed, the cleaning chamber can be cleaned in preparation for the next cleaning by first grounding the transport system and retracting it from the cleaning chamber, and then grounding the electrodes and exhausting air. Further, in the manufacturing apparatus of the present embodiment, it is not necessary because the transport mechanism 101 is cleaned at the same time as the self-cleaning of the processing chambers 106, 107, 108, but if a plurality of transport mechanisms having the same function are provided, the transport mechanism is cleaned. Substrates can be transported inside and processing in the processing chamber can be continued. In this way, the cleaning of the transport mechanism does not cause a decrease in the operating rate of the manufacturing apparatus.

Although the manufacturing apparatus of this embodiment is a manufacturing apparatus for performing a dry etching process, the present invention can be effectively applied to other manufacturing devices such as a manufacturing apparatus for performing a film forming process by the CVD method.

[0017]

The manufacturing apparatus of the present invention can remove at least a part of dust or contaminants attached to or adsorbed on the substrate transport mechanism without exposing the inner wall of the container housing the transport mechanism to the ambient atmosphere. Therefore, in the conventional device, it takes a lot of time to return the device to a state in which it can be processed again by exposing it to the atmosphere for cleaning the inner wall of the container that houses the transfer mechanism and then exhausting it to vacuum. The bad effect that the rate was remarkably reduced is solved. Further, if a plurality of transfer mechanisms having the same function are provided, the substrate can be transferred even during cleaning of the transfer mechanisms, and therefore the operating rate of the apparatus is not reduced at all by cleaning the transfer mechanisms.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a plan view of an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram of an embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

101 ... Transport mechanism, 102 ... Transport chamber, 103, 104 ...
Load lock chamber, 105 ... Transport mechanism cleaning chamber, 10
6 ... Etching chamber, 107 ... Anticorrosion chamber, 108 ...
Ascha room.

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. A semiconductor device manufacturing apparatus for performing processing such as film formation and dry etching on a substrate, wherein at least a part of dust or contaminant adhered to or adsorbed to the substrate transport mechanism is housed in the transport mechanism. An apparatus for manufacturing a semiconductor device, comprising a mechanism for removing the inner wall of the container without exposing it to the surrounding atmosphere. 2. The semiconductor device manufacturing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the force required for removing dust or contaminants is a mechanical force generated by controlling the air flow in the container. 3. The semiconductor device manufacturing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the force necessary for removing dust or contaminants is an electric force generated by controlling the potential inside the container. 4. The semiconductor device manufacturing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a plurality of transfer mechanisms having the same function so that the substrate can be transferred even while dust or contaminants are being removed. 5. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the container has a state defined separately from a substrate processing state for cleaning the inside of the container for processing the substrate, and in that state, dust or contaminants of the transport mechanism are present. An apparatus for manufacturing semiconductor devices that simultaneously removes.