JP2767144B2 - Processing equipment - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Industrial applications]

The present invention relates to a processing apparatus including a load lock chamber which is sealed by a lid and may be evacuated.

[Prior art]

For example, in plasma etching installation, two electrodes are provided in an etching chamber so as to sandwich a substrate to be processed, for example, a semiconductor wafer, and a high frequency power supply is connected between the electrodes. Then, in a state where the processing chamber was set to a predetermined vacuum atmosphere, a predetermined power was applied between the electrodes from this power source, and a desired processing gas was supplied between the electrodes to convert the processing gas into plasma. The surface of the semiconductor wafer is etched by the processing gas. In this case, in order to increase the throughput, a load lock chamber, which is a vacuum device, is provided on the loading side (inside) of the wafer into the processing chamber and on the unloading side (out side) of the wafer. That is, the wafer is loaded into the load lock chamber in the open-to-atmosphere state, or the wafer is unloaded from the load lock chamber to the receiver, and the semiconductor wafer is loaded from the load lock chamber to the processing chamber and from the processing chamber to the load lock chamber. Is performed by setting the load lock chamber in the same vacuum state as the processing chamber. In this way, the load lock chamber alternately repeats the opening to the atmosphere and the vacuum state for each semiconductor wafer, but the processing chamber for the etching process can always maintain a predetermined vacuum state, and the throughput is reduced. improves. Incidentally, the load lock chamber is configured such that, for example, an upper lid made of, for example, polycarbonate is directly screwed at a plurality of locations in a box body having an open upper surface.

[Problems to be solved by the invention]

However, in the conventional method in which the upper lid is fixed to the side wall of the container at a plurality of points by screws, the lid is fixed to the container by screws, that is, in a state of point contact. For this reason, when evacuation is performed, the lid is sucked so as to be depressed inside the container, so that a large force is applied only to the point-fixed screw portion of the lid, and there is a disadvantage that this portion is cracked. The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and has as its object to provide a vacuum device in which a lid is not cracked.

[Means for Solving the Problems]

The processing apparatus according to the present invention includes: a load lock chamber made of a resin, the opening being airtightly closed by a lid, being capable of vacuum suction, and a processing chamber for processing an object to be loaded from the load lock chamber. Wherein the lid comprises: a resin lid covering the opening; and an annular fixing member for pressing and fixing the lid at a portion along the periphery of the opening. A volume reduction member is provided in the load lock chamber.

[Action]

In this invention, the lid is pressed and fixed by the annular fixing member having the surface contact effect. Therefore, the load lock chamber and the lid are made of resin to reduce the weight,
Even when the cost is reduced and the lid is made transparent, the lid is fixed to the container in a state of surface contact, and no crack occurs. Further, since the volume reduction member is provided in the load lock chamber, it is possible to reduce the time for vacuum suction in the load lock chamber.

【Example】

Hereinafter, the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings, taking a case where the present invention is applied to a load lock chamber of an etching apparatus as an example. The plasma etching apparatus to which this example is applied is the third type.
As shown in the drawing, a load lock chamber 2 is connected to an object to be processed, for example, a wafer loading side of the etching processing chamber 1. The etching chamber 1 includes, for example, an aluminum electrode 3 and, although not shown, an aluminum electrode body provided with, for example, an amorphous carbon electrode above the aluminum electrode 3. A high frequency power supply is connected between the electrode and an amorphous carbon electrode (not shown). Also, a predetermined processing gas is supplied between the electrodes. The load lock chamber 2 is connected to the etching processing chamber 1 via a gate 4, and includes a handling arm 5 in the load lock chamber 2. Above the upper lid 6 of the load lock chamber 2, whether or not a semiconductor wafer is carried in and placed on the handling arm 5 in the load lock chamber 2 is externally detected via the upper lid 6. An optical sensor (not shown) is provided. For this reason, in this case, the upper lid 6 must be made of a transparent material so that the loading / unloading state in the load lock chamber 2 can be monitored. Since it is performed for each sheet, it is necessary to have high impact resistance. Therefore, polycarbonate is generally used as the material of the upper lid 6. Incidentally, the upper lid 6 of the load lock chamber 2 needs to be thick enough to withstand the force applied thereto when vacuum suction is performed. When vacuum suction is applied, the force applied to the lid is proportional to the plane area of the load lock chamber 2, that is, the surface area of the upper lid 6. No. For this reason, when the wafer size becomes large or the load lock chamber is enlarged due to the structure of the wafer transfer arm, the thickness of the lid is increased, for example, 20 to 30.
mm. By the way, a plate made of polycarbonate can be manufactured by integral molding up to a thickness of 12 mm with the current manufacturing technology, but a plate with a thickness greater than this must be a multilayer structure of multiple polycarbonate plates. No. Therefore, in the case of the upper lid 6 having the above thickness, a polycarbonate plate having a laminated structure is used. However, when the lid plate of this laminated structure is simply screwed directly to the side wall of the container of the load lock chamber 2 with a screw as in the conventional case, the upper lid 6 is fixed to the container in a point contact state at the screw position. Therefore, there is a drawback that the upper lid 6 is cracked from the layered portion in the screw portion which is the point contact due to the repetition of vacuum suction and opening to the atmosphere. Especially when aspirating suddenly like a mechanical booster,
The impact is large, and the cracks are easily generated. Therefore, in this embodiment, the method of stopping the upper lid 6 is as follows to prevent cracking. That is, in this example, the load lock chamber 2 is
As shown in FIG. 2 and FIG. 2, the upper lid 6 is screwed with the fixing portion in surface contact with the box 7. The load lock chamber 2 is made of, for example, polycarbonate, and has an upper surface having a square opening with a side length of, for example, 30 mm, and a top lid 6 also made of polycarbonate closing the opening of the box 7. It is placed as follows.
An O-ring 8 for maintaining airtightness is inserted at a contact portion between the upper lid 6 and the upper side wall of the box 7. In this case, the upper lid 6
Has a thickness of, for example, 30 mm and is made of laminated polycarbonate plates. The thickness of the side wall of the box 7 is
For example, it is set to 10 to 12 mm. Further, a portion around the upper surface of the upper lid 6 and facing the side wall of the box body 7 is cut out in an L-shape in the thickness direction, and has a thickness of, for example,
A 10 mm step 9 is formed. An annular plate as an example of the annular fixing member, for example, a reinforcing member having a surface contact effect of aluminum having a thickness of, for example, 10 mm,
For example, an annular metal plate 10 is arranged. Then, a plurality of screws 11 are screwed from the annular metal plate 10 through the upper lid 6 to the side wall of the box 7 to attach the upper lid 6 to the box 7.
Fixed to That is, the upper lid 6 is pressed by the annular metal plate 10 to the upper part of the side wall surface of the box body 7 in surface contact, and is fixed to the box body 7. In this case, for example, a counterbore hole 12 having a depth of 5 mm is provided in the screw insertion portion on the upper surface of the annular metal plate 10 to make the head of the screw 11 flush with the surface of the upper lid 6. The reinforcing member is not limited to aluminum but may be any material having a mechanical strength for dispersing the concentrated stress to the screwing hole due to the vacuum pressure, that is, any material having a surface contact effect. In the case of this example, a plate 13 made of polycarbonate, which is slightly smaller due to the inner dimensions of the box 7, is screwed to the upper cover 6 with screws 14 on the surface of the upper cover 6 on the box 7 side. . The plate 13 is for reducing the volume in the load lock chamber 2, reducing the time for vacuum suction by the vacuum pump, and reducing the force applied to the upper lid 6. The plate 13 may be formed integrally with the upper lid 6 by lamination instead of screwing. The operation of the etching apparatus configured as described above will be described below. The wafer transferred from the cassette by the transfer mechanism is placed on the handling arm 5 in the load lock chamber 2 which is open to the atmosphere. Then, this is detected by the sensor above the upper lid 6, and upon receiving the detection signal, the gate of the load lock chamber 2 is closed. And a vacuum suction device,
For example, load lock chamber 2 by mechanical booster
The inside of the chamber is evacuated, and the load lock chamber 2 is set to the same vacuum atmosphere as the etching chamber 1. Then, load lock room 2
The gate between the wafer and the processing chamber 1 is opened, and the wafer is carried into the processing chamber 1 in a vacuum atmosphere by the handling arm 5. In the processing chamber 1, a predetermined power is applied between the two electrodes from the high-frequency power supply, and a desired processing gas previously introduced into the processing chamber 1 is turned into plasma. Then, the surface of the semiconductor wafer is etched with the processing gas converted into plasma. Then, the processed semiconductor wafer is conveyed to the vacuum preparatory chamber or the out-side load lock chamber in the same vacuum atmosphere as the etching processing chamber 1 by opening the gate on the unloading side of the etching processing chamber 1. Thereafter, the gate on the unloading side of the etching chamber 1 is closed, the load lock chamber on the out side is opened to the atmosphere, and the semiconductor wafer is stored in the receiver. As described above, since the upper lid 6 of the load lock chamber 2 is fixed to the box body 7 by the annular metal plate 10 in a surface contact state, the upper lid 6 is made of a laminate of polycarbonate. However, when the vacuum suction and the opening to the atmosphere are repeated as described above, a crack does not occur from the laminated portion of the upper lid 6. Although the above example is a case where the present invention is applied to the load lock chamber of the etching apparatus, the present invention is not limited to this, and any processing apparatus that performs vacuum suction in the load lock chamber may be used. It goes without saying that the present invention is all applicable. Also, it goes without saying that the present invention is applicable even if the material of the lid is other than polycarbonate.

【The invention's effect】

As described above, according to the present invention, the lid is not directly screwed and fixed, but an annular fixing member is inserted between the screw and the lid, and the lid is pressed against the container by the annular fixing member. The fixed part of the lid is
Since a point contact state is obtained instead of a point contact state when simply screwed, it is possible to prevent a crack from being generated from the fixing portion.

[Brief description of the drawings]

1 and 2 are a plan view and a sectional view for explaining an example of a vacuum apparatus according to the present invention, and FIG. 3 shows a part of an etching apparatus as an example of an apparatus to which the present invention is applied. FIG. 6; Top lid 7; Box 8; O-ring 9; Step 10; Ring metal plate 11; Screw

Claims (3)

(57) [Claims] An opening is hermetically closed by a lid and vacuum-suctionable, and has a load lock chamber made of resin, and a processing chamber for processing an object loaded from the load lock chamber. In the processing apparatus, the lid includes: a resin lid that covers the opening; and an annular fixing member that presses and fixes the lid at a portion along a periphery of the opening. A processing device, wherein a volume reducing member is provided in the load lock chamber. 2. The processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the resin forming the load lock chamber and the lid is polycarbonate. 3. The processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the resin forming the lid is transparent.