JP3398308B2 - Vacuum processing equipment - Google Patents

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a liquid crystal substrate (LC
D substrate), a vacuum processing apparatus for manufacturing a semiconductor wafer and the like.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, in a vacuum processing apparatus for etching an object to be processed such as an LCD substrate and a semiconductor wafer, a load lock chamber and a processing chamber are provided adjacent to each other, and an object to be processed is transferred from the load lock chamber by a transfer arm. Is taken out in a single-wafer manner, loaded into the processing chamber, and when the processing of the object to be processed is completed, the object to be processed is carried out to the load lock chamber by the transfer arm.

A mounting table for mounting the object to be processed is provided in the processing chamber, and a shower head having a perforated plate is provided at an upper portion facing the mounting table, and processing gas supplied from a processing gas supply source is provided. It is diffused by the shower head and uniformly supplied to the object to be processed.

By the way, the processing chamber in the conventional vacuum processing apparatus is provided with a lamp unit provided with a plurality of halogen lamps 3 for heating an object W to be processed through a mounting table 2 below the processing chamber 1 as shown in FIG. 4 is provided to heat the object W to be processed.

Further, an exhaust passage 5 is provided around the processing chamber 1 having a mounting table 2 on which the object W to be processed is mounted.
The processing chamber 1 and the exhaust passage 5 are partitioned by an exhaust porous plate 6 arranged so as to surround the mounting table 2. Exhaust pipes 7 are connected to the exhaust passage 5 at intervals of 90 ° in the circumferential direction, and these four exhaust pipes 7 are connected to one forced exhaust pipe 8 provided in the lower portion of the processing chamber 1.

Therefore, the gas in the processing chamber 1 is
The exhaust gas passes through the exhaust porous plate 6 and is exhausted to the exhaust passage 5, and is further forcibly exhausted to the forced exhaust pipe 8 through the four exhaust pipes 7. Around 4
Since it is exhausted from some places, it is exhausted almost uniformly.

[0007]

However, as described above, four exhaust pipes 7 are provided in order to uniformly exhaust the gas above the object W in the processing chamber 1, and the lower part of the processing chamber 1 is provided. The structure that exhausts to 4 has four exhaust pipes 7.
Is connected to surround the lamp unit 4,
There is a problem that the exhaust pipe 7 becomes an obstacle during maintenance of the lamp unit 4, particularly during the periodical lamp replacement work of the halogen lamp 3, and the maintainability is poor.
Further, by arranging the four exhaust pipes 7 so as to surround the lamp unit 4, the size of the entire apparatus is increased, and a large installation space is required.

The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and an object thereof is to make it easy to maintain the lamp unit without obstructing the exhaust pipe and to downsize the device. It is to provide a vacuum processing apparatus capable of

[0009]

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides an exhaust passage around the inside of a processing chamber having a mounting table for mounting an object to be processed. A vacuum processing apparatus in which a processing chamber and an exhaust passage are partitioned by an exhaust porous plate disposed so as to surround the mounting table, and the exhaust passage is connected to an exhaust pipe to forcibly exhaust the inside of the processing chamber, Exhaust ports communicating with the exhaust passages are provided at two symmetrical positions on the upper part of the processing chamber with the mounting table interposed therebetween, and the exhaust ports are exhausted from two circumferential positions of the exhaust porous plate. Practically 4
An exhaust portion is formed at one place, and the exhaust port is connected to two upper exhaust pipes that bypass the upper part of the processing chamber, and these upper exhaust pipes are connected to one lower exhaust pipe that extends below the processing chamber. It is characterized by having merged.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, baffle plates are provided between the exhaust ports of the first aspect and the exhaust porous plate along the curvature of the exhaust porous plate, and exhaust portions are formed at both ends of the baffle plate. It is characterized by having done.

According to the above construction, the exhaust ports provided at two symmetrical positions with the center of the mounting table in the processing chamber interposed therebetween are
The gas is exhausted from two locations in the circumferential direction and is substantially exhausted from four locations, and the exhaust ports of the two locations extend from two upper exhaust pipes that bypass the upper part of the processing chamber to the lower part of the processing chamber. It will join the lower exhaust pipe of the book and be exhausted.

[0012]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 shows the overall structure of a vacuum processing apparatus. FIG. 1 (a) is a front view and FIG. 1 (b) is a side view.
A schematic configuration of the vacuum processing apparatus will be described. In the figure, 10 is a processing chamber, and a lamp unit 11 is provided below the processing chamber 10. Two upper exhaust pipes 12 communicating with an exhaust passage 18 described later are provided inside the processing chamber 10, and a lower exhaust pipe 13 connected to the upper exhaust pipe 12 is provided below the processing chamber 10. . The lower exhaust pipe 13 is located at a corner portion on the front left side of the processing chamber 10 in a front view of the apparatus, and is provided at a position retracted from the lamp unit 11.

As shown in FIG. 2, a mounting table 14 for mounting an object W to be processed such as a semiconductor wafer is provided in the lower portion of the processing chamber 10, and a shower head 15 is provided in the upper portion. The periphery of the processing chamber 10 is surrounded by a partition wall 16 to form a closed container.
The ring member 1 for supporting the outer peripheral edge of the mounting table 14 on the bottom of the
7 is provided. Further, as shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, an exhaust passage 18 is provided in an annular shape in the partition wall 16 surrounding the processing chamber 10 and the mounting table 14.

Exhaust ports 19 communicating with the exhaust passage 18 are provided at two symmetrical locations of the partition wall 16 with the mounting table 14 interposed therebetween.
Are provided so as to penetrate upward, and these exhaust ports 19 communicate with an exhaust pipe connection port 21 provided in a base plate 20 supporting the shower head 15. One end of the upper exhaust pipe 12 is connected to the exhaust pipe connection port 21, and the other end of the upper exhaust pipe 12 is connected so as to join the upper end of the lower exhaust pipe 13.

Further, a gap 2 is provided between the outer peripheral surface of the ring member 17 and the partition wall 16 so as to surround the outer periphery of the mounting table 14.
2 is provided, and the processing chamber 10 and the exhaust passage 18 communicate with each other through the gap 22. This gap 22
Is provided with a ring-shaped exhaust porous plate 23 having a large number of exhaust small holes 23a, and the exhaust porous plate 23 partitions the processing chamber 10 and the exhaust passage 18.
Then, the gas in the processing chamber 10 passes through the exhaust small holes 23a of the exhaust porous plate 23 on the outer periphery of the mounting table 14 to form the gap 22.
The gas enters into the exhaust passage 18 through the gap 22.

Further, the communication portion 18a of the exhaust passage 18 with the exhaust port 19 spreads in a fan shape so that the gas is smoothly guided from the exhaust passage 18 to the exhaust port 19, and the communication member 18a has a ring member. 17 is separated from the outer peripheral surface,
A baffle plate 25 having a branch exhaust passage 24 formed therebetween is provided. The baffle plate 25 is formed in an arc shape along the curvature of the ring member 17,
Exhaust parts 26 communicating with the branch exhaust passage 24 at both left and right ends.
a and 26b are formed.

By providing the baffle plate 25 in this way, it is possible to prevent the gas exhausted from the exhaust small holes 23a of the exhaust porous plate 23 located near the exhaust port 19 from being exhausted directly to the exhaust port 19. The gas exhausted from the exhaust small holes 23a of the exhaust porous plate 23 is branched left and right by the branch exhaust passage 24, and is exhausted to the exhaust passage 18 through the exhaust portions 26a and 26b at the left and right ends of the baffle plate 25. I have to.

Therefore, the exhaust ports 1 provided at two places
Baffle plates 25 are provided in the exhaust passages 18 located near the exhaust passages 9, and exhaust portions 26a, 26 are provided at both left and right ends thereof.
By providing b, the gas is exhausted from substantially four places, and the gas is uniformly exhausted from the outer periphery of the mounting table 14. By adjusting the length of the baffle plate 25, the distance between the exhaust parts 26a and 26b can be adjusted.

Next, the operation of the vacuum processing apparatus configured as described above will be described.

An object W to be processed is placed on the mounting table 14 in the processing chamber 10, the object W to be processed is heated from below by the lamp unit 11, and a processing gas is supplied from the shower head 15 above to be processed. It is supplied to the processing body W. Then, when the processing is completed, the processing gas in the processing chamber 10 is forcibly exhausted, but the gas in the processing chamber 10 is exhausted as follows.

Since one lower exhaust pipe 13 provided in the lower portion of the processing chamber 10 is connected to a forced exhaust source and is forcibly exhausted, the inside of the processing chamber 10 becomes negative pressure,
The gas in the processing chamber 10 is exhausted from the exhaust small holes 23 a of the exhaust porous plate 23 on the outer periphery of the object W to be processed and exhausted to the exhaust passage 18 through the gap 22. In this case, the gas exhausted from the exhaust small holes 23a of the perforated exhaust plate 23 located inside the baffle plate 25 is not directly exhausted to the exhaust passage 18, but once enters the branch exhaust passage 24,
Since the exhaust portions 26a and 26b at the left and right ends, which are branched to the left and right, exhaust the gas to the exhaust passage 18, the gas is exhausted from substantially four places, and the exhaust is uniformly exhausted from the outer periphery of the mounting table 14.

The gas exhausted into the exhaust passage 18 merges with one lower exhaust pipe 13 through the two upper exhaust pipes 12 through the two exhaust ports 19 and is exhausted. The gas is evacuated to the lower part of the processing chamber 10 bypassing the upper part of 10.

As described above, since one lower exhaust pipe 13 is provided in the lower portion of the processing chamber 10 and one lower exhaust pipe 13 is provided at the position where the lamp unit 11 is retracted, the lower exhaust pipe 13 is provided. 13 does not get in the way, maintenance of the lamp unit 11, particularly lamp replacement work of the halogen lamp can be easily performed, and in comparison with the conventional configuration in which four exhaust pipes are arranged so as to surround the lamp unit 11, It is possible to reduce the size of the device.

Although the baffle plate 25 which is a separate body is provided on the outer periphery of the ring member 17 in the above embodiment, the ring member 17 and the baffle plate 25 may be integrally formed.

[0026]

As described above, according to the first aspect of the present invention, exhaust ports communicating with the exhaust passage are provided at two symmetrical locations on the upper part of the processing chamber with the mounting table interposed therebetween, and the respective exhausts are exhausted. Since the gas is exhausted from the mouth to form substantially four exhaust parts, the exhaust can be uniformly exhausted from the outer periphery of the mounting table, and one exhaust pipe is provided in the lower part of the processing chamber. Therefore, the exhaust pipe does not get in the way, and the maintenance of the lamp unit, especially the lamp replacement work can be easily performed, and the exhaust pipe of the device can be compared with the conventional four exhaust pipes surrounding the lamp unit. The size can be reduced.

According to the second aspect, the baffle plate is provided between each exhaust port and the exhaust porous plate along the curvature of the exhaust porous plate, and the exhaust portions are formed at both ends of the baffle plate. Even though the structure is simple, the gas in the processing chamber can be uniformly and efficiently exhausted.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 shows a vacuum processing apparatus according to a first embodiment of the present invention, in which (a) is a front view and (b) is a side view.

FIG. 2 is a vertical sectional side view showing a processing chamber portion of the same embodiment.

3 is a cross-sectional plan view taken along the line AA of FIG.

FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional plan view taken along the line BB of FIG.

FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram of an exhaust path of the same embodiment.

FIG. 6 is a vertical sectional side view showing a part of a conventional vacuum processing apparatus.

[Explanation of symbols]

10 ... Processing chamber 11 ... Lamp unit 12 ... Upper exhaust pipe 13 ... Lower exhaust pipe 14 ... Mounting table 18 ... Exhaust passage 19 ... Exhaust port 23 ... Perforated plate for exhaust 25 ... Baffle plate 26a, 26b ... Exhaust section

Claims (2)

(57) [Claims] 1. A multi-hole system for exhausting, wherein an exhaust passage is provided around a processing chamber having a mounting table on which an object to be processed is mounted, and the processing chamber and the exhaust passage are arranged so as to surround the mounting table. In a vacuum processing apparatus which is partitioned by a plate, and the exhaust passage is connected to an exhaust pipe to exhaust the inside of the processing chamber, the exhaust is provided at two symmetrical positions with the mounting table above the processing chamber. An exhaust port communicating with the passage is provided, and each exhaust port exhausts from two locations in the circumferential direction of the exhaust porous plate to form substantially four exhaust sections. A vacuum processing apparatus, characterized in that it is connected to two upper exhaust pipes that bypass the upper part, and these upper exhaust pipes are joined to one lower exhaust pipe that extends below the processing chamber. 2. A baffle plate is provided along the curvature of the exhaust porous plate between each exhaust port and the exhaust porous plate, and exhaust parts are formed at both ends of the baffle plate. Item 1. The vacuum processing apparatus according to item 1.