JP3521086B2 - Semiconductor manufacturing 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 pressure regulating valve of a semiconductor manufacturing apparatus, for example, a pressure regulating valve used for maintaining a reaction gas in a reaction chamber of the semiconductor manufacturing apparatus at a required pressure.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A CVD apparatus which is one of semiconductor manufacturing apparatuses
Is provided with a pressure Preparation valve, the pressure regulating valve is provided between the reaction chamber and the exhaust pump, and adjusting the opening of the valve based on a signal from the gas pressure detecting device, the reaction chamber Adjust the gas pressure to the required value.

The reaction gas in the CVD apparatus has a property of forming a solid film on the wall surface of the flow path due to the exhaust gas component which solidifies on the cooling surface after leaving the chamber. For this reason, the solid film formed in the narrow gap integrates the moving parts such as the valve body with the fixed parts such as the valve box, and the operating resistance of the pressure regulating valve increases significantly, causing the actuator motor to become overloaded. May burn out.

[0004]

Therefore, it is necessary to periodically disassemble and clean the pressure regulating valve in order to prevent the burnout. However, in the conventional pressure control valve, the valve body and the valve shaft of the valve body are integrally configured, or the valve shaft is penetrated through the valve body, and the bearing is removed for periodic cleaning. , The valve housing that houses the valve body must be completely disassembled or the valve shaft must be pulled out, making it difficult to clean. Therefore, cleaning requires a skilled person and takes a long time. Etc., semiconductor
This has been a cause of reducing the operating rate of the manufacturing equipment.

[0005] The present invention has been made in view of the such circumstances, those to prevent the solid film is formed on the channel walls to reduce significantly the burden for cleaning, and so to improve the operation rate of the semiconductor manufacturing apparatus Is.

[0006]

The present invention SUMMARY OF] is Ri consists movable portion of the valve body or the like for opening and closing the gas flow path and the fixed portion of the valve casing or the like having a gas flow path, said valve body is a valve stem Can be rotated through
A semiconductor manufacturing apparatus in which a pressure adjusting valve is provided between a reaction chamber and an exhaust pump ,
The heated contact portion of the fixed portion and the movable portion when the generated reaction gas flowing through the pressure regulating valve, the contact portion
The heater for maintaining the heating temperature for the minutes is the valve box and the heater.
It is characterized in that it is provided on the valve body .

[0007]

The valve body and the valve box are heated and maintained by the heaters at temperatures higher than the solidification temperature in the exhaust gas. Therefore, the solidified component contained in the flowing reaction gas does not solidify even when it touches the valve body and the valve box, and a solid film is not formed by the reaction gas.

[0008]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

In this embodiment, the components of the pressure regulating valve such as the valve box and the valve seat, especially the components in contact with the gas passage are heated and kept above the dew point of the gas to form a solid film on the wall surface of the passage. To be prevented.

A detailed description will be given below with reference to FIGS. 1 and 2.

A bearing housing 3, 3 having an axis perpendicular to the axis of the cylindrical hollow portion 1 is fitted into a valve box 2 having a hollow cylindrical portion 1, and both bearing housings 3, 3.
The valve shafts 5 and 6 are rotatably inserted into the shaft 3 through bearings 4 and 4.

O-rings 7, 7 are sandwiched between the valve shafts 5, 6 and the valve box 2 to hermetically seal between the valve shafts 5, 6 and the valve box 2. The two valve shafts 5 and 6 are on the same axis, and the valve body 9 is fixed to the inner ends of the two valve shafts 5 and 6.
A worm wheel 11 is fitted on one valve shaft 5 of the valve shafts 5 and 6 via a heat insulating collar 10, and the other valve shaft 6 and the valve body 9 are fitted.
An O-ring 12 is provided between and.

A motor support fitting 14 is provided on the valve box 2 via a heat insulating plate 13, and the motor support fitting 14 is provided with a speed reducer 15
The valve opening / closing motor 16 is attached via the
A worm 18 is fitted to the output shaft 17 of No. 6 and the worm wheel 11 is meshed with the worm 18.

The shape of the valve body 9 is a disk shape having a curved peripheral surface, and the large-diameter concave portion 1 is formed on each of two planes of the valve body 9.
9 and a small-diameter recess 2 further formed in the center of the large-diameter recess 19.
0 is formed, and the valve body heater 21 formed in a donut shape is housed in the small-diameter recess 20.

An O-ring 8 is embedded concentrically with the small-diameter recess 20 and a cover plate 22 is fitted in the large-diameter recess 19 to hermetically close the small-diameter recess 20. Further, the valve body 9 is provided with a guide hole 24 for communicating the small-diameter recesses 20, 20 with each other.
A horizontal hole 25 that communicates in a T-shape is formed. The lateral hole 25
Are provided on the same axis as the other valve shaft 6.

The other valve shaft 6 is hollow, and a through hole 26 penetrating the valve shaft 6 along its axis communicates with the lateral hole 25.

The lead wire 2 with an insulating coating is provided in the through hole 26.
7 is inserted, and one end of the lead wire 27 is connected to the valve heater 2
1 and the other end of the lead wire 27 is connected to a temperature control device (not shown).

A closing hole 28 is formed in the one valve shaft 5, a temperature sensor 29 is inserted into the closing hole 28, and a lead wire 30 of the temperature sensor 29 is connected to a temperature control device (not shown).

A plate-shaped valve box heater 31 is fixed to two planes of the valve box 2 which are not penetrated by the valve shafts 5 and 6, and a temperature sensor 32 for detecting the temperature of the valve box 2 is fixed by a metal fitting 33. The valve box 2 is attached closely. The plate-shaped valve box heater 31 and the temperature sensor 32 are connected to the temperature control device (not shown).

The valve device is attached to related equipment through a heat insulating member to prevent heat leakage from the valve device.

The operation will be described below.

The valve opening / closing motor 16 is adjusted by adjusting the opening / closing of the valve.
Drive the worm 18, the worm wheel 11 ,
The valve body 9 is rotated via the valve shaft 5. The rotation angle of the valve body 9 is detected by detecting the rotation speed of the valve opening / closing motor 16 and the rotation angle of the valve shaft 5, and the opening degree of the valve device is determined.

The valve element heater 21 and the valve box heater 31 are energized to heat and keep the valve element 9 and the valve box 2 heated. The heating temperature is selected from the range of about 35 ° C. to 150 ° C. and is set as the target set temperature.

The temperature detection signals from the temperature sensors 29 and 32 are input to a temperature control device (not shown), and the energization of the valve heater 21 and the valve box heater 31 is controlled based on the detected temperature. Thus, the valve box 2, the valve body 9, and the like, where the reaction gas is in contact, are controlled to be maintained at a temperature of 80 ° C to 100 ° C.
Further, in order to enable such control, the valve heater 21,
The electric capacity of the valve box heater 31 is determined, and the maximum value of the applied voltage is selected so that the O-ring or the like is not burned even when the temperature control device is hindered and cannot be controlled.

The reaction gas flows through the valve device with the CVD process, but as described above, the valve body 9 and the valve box 2 are heated and kept warm by the valve body heater 21 and the valve box heater 31, respectively. Therefore, the solidified component existing in the reaction gas does not solidify even if it contacts the wall surface of the hollow cylindrical portion 1 and the surface of the valve body 9. Therefore, even if the reaction gas is circulated, no solid film is formed on the wall surface of the hollow cylindrical portion 1 and the surface of the valve body 9.

There are various conceivable examples of the valve body heater 21 and the valve box heater 31. As the valve body heater 21, a ribbon-shaped wire 36, which is a required heating element, is wound around a donut-shaped base 34 of thin mica. An example of the valve box heater 31 is a valve box heater 31 in which a heating element 38 is wound around a mica rectangular thin plate 37, sandwiched by a mica thin plate 39, and further covered by a metal cover 40. The thing fixed to the side surface of the box 2 is mentioned.

The valve box heater may be buried inside the valve box.

[0028]

As described above, according to the present invention, the portion exposed to the flowing gas is heated to maintain the solidification temperature above the solidification component contained in the flowing gas. It is not generated, and therefore disassembly and cleaning for removing the solid film is unnecessary.

Thus, it is possible to reduce the valve-holding work and to prevent the apparatus from being stopped by disassembling and cleaning, thereby improving the operating rate of the semiconductor manufacturing apparatus and so on.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a partially broken perspective view showing an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a side sectional view of the embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 Cylindrical hollow part 2 valve box 9 valve body 21 Valve heater 31 valve box heater

─────────────────────────────────────────────────── --Continued from the front page (56) Reference JP-A-3-20188 (JP, A) JP-A-60-172792 (JP, A) JP-A-58-98916 (JP, A) JP-A-59- 57420 (JP, A) JP-A-63-263716 (JP, A) Actual development 64-43280 (JP, U) Actual development 62-194268 (JP, U) (58) Fields investigated (Int.Cl. ⁷ , DB name) F16K 49/00 H01L 21/205

Claims (2)

(57) [Claims] 1. A Ri consists movable portion of the valve body or the like for opening and closing the gas flow path and the fixed portion of the valve casing or the like having a gas flow path, said valve
A semiconductor manufacturing apparatus in which a pressure regulating valve, the body of which is rotatable via a valve shaft, is provided between a reaction chamber and an exhaust pump,
The reaction gas generated by the treatment in the reaction chamber is
The valve box and the valve body are provided with a heater for heating a contact portion between the fixed portion and the movable portion when flowing through the force adjustment valve, and maintaining a heating temperature of the contact portion. Semiconductor manufacturing equipment. 2. The semiconductor manufacturing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising two valve shafts that are provided on the same axis to allow the valve body to rotate in the valve box.