JPH02121346A - Substrate treating device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To perform easily a modification of the number of times of treatment end the like in case a treatment of the same kind is performed on substrates a plurality of times and to eliminate the need to give a mark pattern to the substrates by a method wherein the number of times of setting treatment of each substrate and the total number of times of output of a treatment completion signal are compared with each other and when the value of the total number of times of output is smaller than that of the number of times of setting treatment, change-over transfer mechanisms are set in a through state and when the total number of times of output is coincided with the number of times of setting treatment, the change-over transfer mechanism on one side is set in a stored state. CONSTITUTION:If a substrate is detected by a substrate detector 43, the number DS of times of setting treatment of the substrate and the total number DP of times of output of a treatment completion signal are read out from an ID memory 47, '1' is added to the value of the total number of times of output and the added value is replaced with the former DP value. Moreover, whether the newly replaced DP value is coincided with the number DS or not is decided. In case the DP value is not coincided with the DS value, that is, in case the DP value is smaller than the DS value, a loader 11 and an unloader 15 are set in a through state. If it is decided that the total number DP is coincided with the number DS, the unloader 15 is set in a stored state. Subsequently, the substrates are discharged from a buffer 14 to the unloader 15 on the basis of a pinciple of first in, first out.

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] <Industrial Application Field> The present invention is applicable to applications in which a coating material is applied multiple times to a substrate such as a semiconductor wafer (hereinafter simply referred to as a substrate), such as when a coating material is applied in multiple layers. The present invention relates to a substrate processing apparatus that performs the same type of processing.

<Prior art> -a, when applying a coating material on a substrate,
Repeated application processes may be employed to apply multiple layers of coating material onto a substrate.

Conventionally, there are the following substrate processing apparatuses that perform the same type of processing on the same substrate multiple times.

For example, the substrate processing apparatus shown in FIG. 8 includes a rotor 1 that sequentially supplies substrates stored in a cassette (not shown) one by one, and a liquid coating material applied to the substrates supplied from the rotor 1 under predetermined conditions. a coater 2 as a first processing section that spins the substrate into a spin code; and an oven 3 as a second processing section that heats and dries the substrate coated with the coating material.
, unrotors 4 for sequentially storing heat-treated substrates in cassettes are arranged in tandem, and the above units are connected in a loop by a substrate transport mechanism 5 such as an air track, belt track, or robot arm. be.

According to this apparatus, the substrates are connected in a loop, such that the substrates are carried out from the cassette of the unrotor 4 that accommodates the group of substrates that have undergone the first coating process, and then the second coating process is performed again. By rotating the substrate between each unit, multiple layers of coating material are applied onto the substrate.

<Problems to be Solved by the Invention> However, the above-described conventional device has the following problems.

When automating the process, if the device performs one-time processing, it is easy to manage it by simply storing the processed substrates in the unrotor one after another. However, if the same type of processing is performed on the same substrate, On the other hand, in the above-mentioned apparatus that performs processing repeatedly, it is necessary to manage at what point the substrate is stored in the unrotor after the processing has been completed. In this regard,
Japanese Patent Publication No. Sho 63-18855 (title of invention: "Method for manufacturing semiconductor devices") discloses the following method. In this method, each substrate is provided with a mark pattern such as a bar code that records the processing conditions (for example, the set number of repeated processing, etc.), and at least one unrotor is attached in series to each processing device. , mark patterns are identified between each processing device and its attached unrotor, and the progress of processing is managed based on the individual mark patterns.

Although the above method is an excellent method, it
There is the trouble of requiring work to add a pattern.

The present invention has been made to solve these problems, and when performing the same type of processing on a substrate multiple times, it is possible to easily change the number of processing times, etc. The object of the present invention is to provide a substrate processing apparatus that does not require marking patterns to be applied to substrates.

<Means for Solving the Problems> In order to achieve the above object, the present invention has the following configuration.

That is, the present invention includes a rotor that sequentially supplies substrates, a processing section that performs required processing on the substrates supplied from the rotor,
An unrotor that sequentially stores the processed substrates is a substrate processing apparatus connected in a loop through a substrate transfer mechanism, and the substrates transferred from the processing section are transferred between the unrotor and the rotor. a switching transport mechanism configured to be able to switch between a state where the substrate passes through or bypasses and is sent to the processing section (through state) and a state where the substrate transported from the processing section is stored in the unrotor (store state); a processing number setting means for setting the number of processing repetitions (set processing number) necessary for each substrate; and processing completion for detecting processing completion and outputting a processing completion signal each time the processing is performed by the processing section. The signal detecting means compares the set number of processing times for each board with the cumulative number of outputs of the processing completion signal for each board, and if the cumulative number of outputs of the processing completion signal is smaller than the set number of processings, the switching is performed. a control means for controlling the switching transport mechanism so as to put the transport mechanism in a through state and, when the two numbers of times match, put the switching transport mechanism in a store state and store the processed substrate in the unrotor; It is characterized by having the following.

<Effect> The effects of the present invention are as follows.

First, the number of processing repetitions (set processing number) required for each substrate is set by the processing number setting means.

Then, each time the processing section performs the required processing on each substrate sequentially supplied from the rotor, a processing completion signal for each substrate is detected by the processing completion signal detection means. The control means compares the set number of times of processing and the cumulative number of times of outputting the processing completion signal for each board. If the cumulative number of times the processing completion signal is output is smaller than the set number of processing times, the control means sets the switching conveyance mechanism to the through state. Then, the substrate transported from the processing section is again supplied to the same processing section via the switching transport mechanism and subjected to the same type of processing again. When the cumulative number of outputs of the processing completion signal and the set number of processing times are matched, the control means sets the switching conveyance mechanism to the store state. As a result, each substrate that has been processed a preset number of times is sequentially stored in the unrotor.

<Example> Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing the configuration of a control system of a substrate processing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention, and the second recess shows the arrangement II of each part mechanism.

First, referring to FIG. 2, the outline of each part mechanism in this device will be explained.

The substrate processing apparatus according to this embodiment includes a rotor 11 that sequentially supplies substrates housed in a cassette, a coater 12 as a first processing section that applies a coating material to the substrates supplied from the rotor 11, An oven 13 as a second processing section that heats and dries the substrates coated with the coating material, a buffer 14, and an unrotor 15 that sequentially stores the coated substrates in a cassette, serve as a substrate transport mechanism. Direction change conveyor 16.
, 16□, etc., in a loop-like arrangement.

The buffer 14 is used to temporarily store processed substrates when they are discharged from the oven 13 before the rotor 11 has finished feeding out all the substrates. It is equipped with a substrate storage mechanism similar to that of the unrotor 15.

In addition, in this embodiment, from the oven 13 to the buffer 1
4, from the buffer 14 to the unrotor I5, from the unrotor 15 to the rotor 11, from the rotor 11 to the direction change conveyor 16. As a substrate transport mechanism, a transfer device is used for the arm-type substrate holder described later. However, the substrate transport mechanism used in the present invention is not limited to these; for example, a belt-type substrate transport mechanism or a mechanism that transports the substrate by air injection may be employed.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing the configuration of a substrate transfer device applied to the rotor II, the buffer 14, and the unrotor 15.

The substrate receiver provided on the substrate transfer path A is provided with an arm-type storage-side substrate transfer mechanism 22 and a take-out-side substrate transfer mechanism 23 on both sides of the transfer device 21, respectively. here,
The storage side substrate transfer mechanism 22 and the takeout side substrate transfer mechanism 23 provided in the rotor 11 and the unrotor 15 are as follows:
The substrate receiver, in conjunction with the transfer device 21, constitutes a switching conveyance mechanism in the present invention.

The substrate receiving and transferring device 21 is configured as follows.

That is, a pair of guide irons 2 erected on the base 24
5, a support frame 26 is slidably fitted. A threaded rod 27 is screwed into the base end of the support frame 260, and the threaded rod 27 is driven by a motor 28 with a belt. It is configured so that it can be raised and lowered freely. A top plate 30 is attached to the upper surface of the support frame 26 via a plurality of spacers 29. A cassette C for storing substrates W is detachably attached to this top plate 30. The gap between the support frame 26 and the top plate 30 is a tunnel portion 31 for receiving and passing the substrate W between the substrate transport mechanisms 22 and 23, which will be described later.
It has become. Inside this tunnel part 31, a receiving and receiving device for the substrate W between the substrate transport mechanisms 22 and 23 is provided to assist in transferring the substrate W.
A substrate mounting member (not shown) that can be raised and lowered is provided.

The storage side substrate transport mechanism 22 and the takeout side substrate transport mechanism 23 each have a transport motor 3 fixed to a base 24.
2. (32□) is the first arm 33. (33□)
One end side of the first arm 33. The first arm 33. (33!) is attached to the other end side via a regulating belt. The second arm 34. rotates in the opposite direction to (33□). (34!
) is attached. 27th-m34. (34
At the tip of □), there is a suction port 35 for suctioning and holding the back side of the substrate W. (35□) is formed.

The receiving of the substrate W from the storage-side substrate transport mechanism 22 to the take-out-side substrate transport mechanism 23 via the tunnel portion 31 is a transfer operation (
Hereinafter, such a state in which the substrate W is received and transferred is referred to as a "through state") is performed as follows.

First, the suction port 35 of the storage-side substrate transport mechanism 22. board W
While the second arm 34. the first arm 33. the second arm 34. Move the tip horizontally,
The substrate W is inserted into the tunnel section 31. This substrate W is transferred to a substrate arrangement member within the tunnel portion 31. Next, the transfer transmission motor 32 of the take-out side substrate transfer machine l123
□ is driven, and its second arm 34□ moves into the tunnel part 3
It is inserted within 1.

Then, the substrate W placed on the substrate platform is placed at the suction port 35.
After being suctioned and held by □, the substrate W is taken out from the tunnel portion 31 by rotating the transport electric motor 32 □ in the reverse direction.

Next, the operation when storing or removing the substrate W from the cassette C will be explained.

In this case, the motor 2B is rotated to move the support frame 26 downward from the position shown in FIG. When storing the substrates W in the cassette (cassette) C (hereinafter, such an operating state is referred to as a store state), the storage side substrate transport mechanism 23
operates in the same manner as in the through state described above, and stores the substrate W in a predetermined groove of the force set C. When the substrate W is not taken out from the cassette C, the take-out side substrate transport mechanism 22 is driven in the same way as in the through state described above.

Next, the configuration of the control system of this embodiment will be explained with reference to FIG.

In the figure, SWI is a loop number setting switch that is a processing number setting means for setting how many times the coating material is repeatedly applied to the substrate W, SW2 is a start switch that commands the start of loading the substrate, and SW3 is a substrate This is a closing switch that commands the termination of loading.

The light emitting diode 41 and the phototransistor 42 constitute a substrate detector 43 that detects the substrate W.

The substrate detector 43 is attached to, for example, the bumper 14 and detects the substrate W that has been coated with the coke 12 and heated with the oven 13.

A detection signal from the substrate detector 43 is taken into the CPU 45 via the parallel input/output interface 44. The substrate detector 43 corresponds to processing completion signal detection means in the present invention.

Furthermore, the CPtJ45 corresponds to the control means in the present invention, and via the parallel input/output interface 44,
Rotor 11, coater 12, oven 13, Hanwha 14
, the unrotor 15, and each of the above-mentioned transport mechanisms. Incidentally, the reference numeral 46 indicates R in which the control program is stored.
As shown in FIG. 4, the OM 47 outputs the set processing number DS input from the loop number setting switch SWI and the cumulative output number DP of the processing completion signal given from the CPU 45 to each board (as described later). In this example, it is an identification (ID) memory that is stored in association with the boards (Nα1 to Nα25) constituting 10 chips.

Next, the operation of the embodiment will be described with reference to the operation flowcharts shown in FIGS. 5 and 6.

First, referring to the fifth episode, the operation related to processing of the rotor 11 will be explained.

When the start switch SW2 is turned on (step S1), the rotor 11 is driven and the first
The second board is taken out (step.

S2). Then, the value set by the loop number setting switch SW1 (in this example, "3J") is read, and as shown in FIG.
In the memory area set to 7, set the number of processing times DS to 3 (that is, perform the coating process three times).
Then, O (unprocessed) is set as the cumulative number of outputs DP of the processing completion signal (step S3).

Next, in step S, it is determined from the state of the input switch SW3 whether or not loading of all the boards from the rotor 11 has been completed.
4) If loading has not been completed, the board is prohibited from being received from the unrotor 15 (step S5), and the process returns to step S2, where the next (second) board is taken out from the rotor [l]. In the memory area of that board, DS=3. D
Set P=O. Thereafter, the same process is repeated for each store making up the 10 stores.

When the loading of 10 substrates is completed, the loading end switch SW3 is pressed by the operator.

If each cassette is processed as 10 pieces, a loading end switch SW3 is attached to the rotor 11, and when loading of the substrates of the 1 cassette is completed, the loading end switch SW3 is automatically turned ON. You can leave it as is. For this purpose, for example, the rotor 11 is operated so that the substrates in the cassette C are sequentially loaded from the bottom substrate, and a position sensor is attached to detect when the support frame 26 has reached the lowest position. may be used as the closing/ending switch SW3. In addition, when processing multiple cassettes as 10 sets, a subtraction counter is attached and the number of cassettes in which substrates are loaded is sequentially subtracted from the number of cassettes set and inputted in advance. Then, the closing switch SW3 may be operated.

When it is determined that the closing switch SW3 is in the ON state (step S4), the process proceeds to the steering knob S6, where the rotor 11 is placed in the through state and stands by.

The above-mentioned through state continues until the processing of all the substrates is completed (step S7), and when the processing of all the substrates is completed, the rotor 11 returns to the initial state in which the substrates can be taken out (return to the origin) (step 58). .

Next, the processing operation regarding the buffer 14 will be explained with reference to FIG.

When inputting the substrate is started, the CPU 45 monitors whether the substrate has been detected based on the output signal from the substrate detector 43, that is, whether the coating process and heating process of the substrate have been completed. (step 511). When the board is detected, from 10 memory 47,
Read the set processing number DS of the board and the cumulative output number DP of the processing completion signal (Step 312), add J2 to the value of the cumulative output number, and replace the added value with the original DP value (Step 513) . Then, it is determined whether the newly replaced DP value matches the set number of processing times DS (step 514).

Note that in order to read out the set number of processing times DS and the cumulative number of output times DP of processing completion signals in step SI2, it is necessary to read out the DS (!: DP) corresponding to each board. Each time a memory area is read out, the next memory area is read out one by one.This is because in substrate processing equipment connected in a loop, the substrates This is because D in step S13 is being conveyed.
The replacement of the P value and the determination of whether the DP value matches the DS in step S14 are also performed by sequentially shifting the memory area by -.

If the DP value does not match the DS value, that is, if the DP value is smaller than the DS value, it means that the substrate has not been processed the required number of times, so step S
Proceeding to step 15, the rotor 11 and unrotor 15 are placed in the through state.

When the first processed substrates are temporarily stored in the buffer 14, they are stored and discharged on a first-in, first-out basis. On the other hand, if no substrate is stored in the buffer 14, the substrate that has reached the buffer 14 is directly discharged (step 516).

The base paper discharged from the buffer 14 passes through the buffer 14 and the rotor 11 which are in the through state, and is again discharged.
It is processed by coater 12 and oven 13 (step 517).

Then, by repeating the procedure from step Sll to step SI3, the cumulative number of times DP of outputting the processing completion signal is increased by "rl" each time each board is processed. In step SI4, if it is determined that the cumulative number of outputs DP of the processing completion signal matches the set number of processing times DS, the process proceeds to step S18, and the unrotor 15
to the store state. Subsequently, the substrates are discharged from the buffer 14 to the unrotor 15 on a first-in, first-out basis.

Then, depending on whether the DP values of all the boards in the ID memory 47 have become equal to the DS values, it is determined whether the processing of all the boards has been completed (step 520). If all the processing has not been completed, the step 520) The process returns to Sll, and if all processes have been completed, the operation ends.

In the above-described embodiment, the switching conveyance mechanism was constituted by the storage side substrate conveyance mechanism 22 and the takeout side substrate conveyance mechanism 23 attached to the transfer device 21.
For example, as shown in FIG. 7, a bypass conveyance path 50 that bypasses the unrotor 15 and the rotor 11 is provided,
In the through state, the substrate conveyed from the oven 13 is conveyed to the coater 12 via the bypass conveyance path 50, and in the store condition, the bypass conveyance path 50 is separated and the substrate is stored in the unrotor 15. It's okay.

In addition, in the embodiment, the processing section includes the coater 12 and the oven 13.
However, it goes without saying that this may be constructed using other processing equipment such as a substrate cleaning processing equipment.

Furthermore, the buffer 14 included in the device of the embodiment is provided to adjust the operating time of each mechanical section and as a safety measure in the event of an unexpected failure, so it is not necessarily required in the present invention. It's not something you can do.

<Effects of the Invention> As is clear from the above description, according to the substrate processing apparatus according to the present invention, the inlet, the processing section, and the unrotor are connected in a loop via the substrate transport mechanism, and the processing of the substrate is completed. If the cumulative number of outputs of the signal is less than the set processing number, the board is reprocessed by passing or bypassing the unrotor and rotor, and if the cumulative number of processing complete signal outputs matches the set number of processing, the board is processed again. Since it is configured to be stored in the unrotor, it is possible to automatically perform the same type of processing on the substrate multiple times. Further, by appropriately changing the set number of processing times, the number of repetitions of substrate processing can be easily changed.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

1 to 6 are explanatory diagrams of one embodiment of the present invention, in which FIG. 1 is a schematic block diagram of its control system, FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing an example of the arrangement of each part, and FIG. The board receiver commonly used for the rotor, unrotor, and buffer 1 is a perspective view of the transfer device and the board transport mechanism attached to it, Figure 4 is an explanatory diagram of the ID memory included in the control system, and Part 5 is the rotor. FIG. 6 is an operation flowchart regarding the buffer. Moreover, the seventh example is an explanatory diagram of another embodiment of the switching conveyance mechanism. FIG. 8 is a schematic block diagram of a conventional substrate processing apparatus. II...Rotor I2...Coater 13.
...Oven I4...Buffer 15...
Unrotor 16, , 16□...Direction change conveyor 21...
The substrate receiving device is a transfer device 22...Storage side substrate transfer mechanism 23...Takeout side substrate transfer mechanism 43...Substrate detector 45...CPtJ 50...Bypass transfer path SWI...Loop number setting switch 47 ... ID memory manager Dainippon Screen Manufacturing Co., Ltd. agent Patent attorney Tsutomu Sugitani

Claims (1)

[Claims] (1) A rotor that sequentially supplies substrates, a processing section that performs required processing on the substrates supplied from the rotor, and an unrotor that sequentially stores the processed substrates are connected in a loop via a substrate transport mechanism. The substrate processing apparatus is connected in a manner such that a substrate transported from the processing section is sent to the processing section by passing through or bypassing the unrotor and the rotor (through state), and a state where the substrate is sent out to the processing section after passing through or bypassing the unrotor and the rotor, and a state where the substrate is sent out to the processing section after passing through or bypassing the unrotor and the rotor; a switching conveyance mechanism configured to be able to switch between a state (store state) in which a received substrate is stored in the unrotor; a processing number setting means for setting the number of processing repetitions (set processing number) necessary for each substrate; processing completion signal detection means for detecting completion of processing and outputting a processing completion signal each time processing is performed by the processing unit; and the set number of processing times for each board and the cumulative number of outputs of the processing completion signal for each board. If the cumulative number of outputs of the processing completion signal is smaller than the set processing number, the switching transport mechanism is set to the through state, and if the two numbers match, the switching transport mechanism is set to the store state. A substrate processing apparatus comprising: control means for controlling the switching transfer mechanism so as to store the processed substrate in the unrotor.