JPH0624182B2 - Substrate exchange device - Google Patents

Description

Description: TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a substrate exchange apparatus such as an electron beam drawing apparatus.

[Prior art and its problems]

In a substrate exchanging device such as an electron beam drawing device, a conventional substrate is set on a substrate holder in advance on a jig, and a plurality of substrate holders on which the substrates are set can be loaded into a substrate holder magazine (hereinafter referred to as a holder magazine) 53 ( (See FIG. 5), and as shown in FIG. 5, the holder magazine 53 is attached to the lifter 51 in the vacuum chamber 50 connected to the sample chamber 1 of the electron beam drawing apparatus or the like through the gate valve 3. The substrate holder 25 is placed and loaded into the sample chamber 1 by the holder transport device 52, and after being drawn, it is returned to the holder magazine 53. The holder magazine 53 is the lifter 5
The operation of lifting the next unprocessed substrate 4 together with the substrate holder 25 into the sample chamber 1 again is repeated by one step by 1. In FIG. 5, 2 is a drawing stage,
27 and 33 are vacuum exhaust devices, and 54 is a door for loading and unloading the substrate holder.

As described above, conventionally, the work of attaching / removing the substrate 4 to / from the substrate holder 25 and the work of inserting / removing the substrate holder 25 from / into the holder magazine 53 are manually performed, which requires a long time, is an unacceptable rate, and causes more contamination. There was a drawback of bringing the cause into the sample chamber.

[Object of the Invention]

An object of the present invention is to automate the attachment / detachment of a substrate to / from a substrate holder to improve the work efficiency and reduce the carry-in of a cause of contamination into the sample chamber.

[Outline of Invention]

The present invention for achieving the above-mentioned object includes a vacuum sample chamber in an electron beam drawing apparatus and the like, a preliminary chamber connected to the sample chamber through a gate valve and capable of being evacuated, and processing in the sample chamber. A means for alternately transferring the substrate holder that holds the substrate to be detached between the sample chamber and the spare chamber, and loading / unloading the substrate holder via a separate gate valve to the substrate holder in the spare chamber. And a means for exchanging an "empty" substrate holder inside the spare chamber and another "empty" substrate holder outside the spare chamber via a further gate valve, and during normal operation,
The substrate holder is loaded and unloaded facing the substrate holder without exposing the substrate holder from the sample chamber and the preliminary chamber, and when the substrate size is different, the substrate holder is replaced by the replacement means, and the replaced substrate holder On the other hand, the board is loaded and unloaded in the same manner as described above.

Example of Invention

1 to 4 showing an embodiment of the present invention will be described below. In FIGS. 1 and 2, the sample chamber 1 of the electron beam drawing apparatus or the like is evacuated, and the substrate holder 25 holding the substrate 4 is placed on the drawing stage 2 inside the sample chamber 1 and the electron optical column (EOS). ) 24, the electron beam is scanned to draw on the substrate 4. The substrate holder 25 is placed in the drawing stage 2 of the sample chamber 1 with the gate valve 3 opened.
And the moving stage 22 in the spare chamber are exchanged by the holder transfer device 18. The holder transfer device 18 is similar to the conventionally used holder transfer device 52 shown in FIG. During drawing, the gate valve 3 is closed to maintain the vacuum tightness of the sample chamber 1 with respect to the preliminary chamber 5. As shown in FIG. 3, the moving stage 22 is shuttle-moved by the pitch P of the substrate holder holding portions A and B by a driving device such as a motor 21 and a ball screw 23. The substrate holder 2 is placed on the moving stage 22.
There are two places A and B for holding 5, where A holds the processed substrate holder 25 and B holds the unprocessed substrate holder 25.
3 shows the state in which the substrate holder 25 in the position B is transferred from the moving stage 22 to the sample chamber 1 and becomes "empty". The substrate holder 25 shows a state in which the drawn substrate 4 is to be unloaded from the unload station 19 described later. After the substrate 4 is unloaded at the unload station 19, the substrate holder 25 which has become “empty” is moved from the position A to the position B by the pitch P by the moving device 31, and the moving stage 22 is loaded by P, which will be described later. It is moved to the station 12 by the driving device 21. The substrate 4 is clamped to the substrate holder 25 by a spring (not shown) provided in the substrate holder 25, and the release mechanism 7, 7'shown in FIG. Therefore, when the substrate 4 is loaded or unloaded on the substrate holder 25, the release mechanism 7 or 7'is operated and the clamp is opened. The load station 12 and the unload station 19 have almost the same structure as the load station 12 and the unload station 19 described in FIGS. 1 and 4, and have a function of sending the substrate 4 to the substrate holder 25 on the moving stage 22. The only difference is the function received, and the numbers indicating the parts are the same, and for the unload station, a dash (') is added to the number. Gate valves 8 and 8'are in the spare chamber 5
And load station 12, unload station 1
9 is connected and is opened only when the substrate 4 is exchanged. Substrate cassettes 9 and 9'retain unprocessed and treated substrates 4, respectively, and substrate transfer plates 11 and 11 'placed on elevators 10 and 10' and moved up and down receive substrate 4 from substrate cassette 9 or It is delivered to the cassette 9'and moved along the guide rails 13 and 13 'by the motors 14 and 14' and the ball screws 15 and 15 '. 34 and 34 'are drive motors for the elevators 10 and 10',
0'is a ball screw.

Next, the substrate holder exchanging device will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 and 2. A substrate holder exchanging device 16 and a holder magazine 17 are provided in the center front part of the auxiliary chamber 5. The substrate holder exchanging device 16 has two sets of arms 16a which can be rotated by 180 °, and the arms 16a are extendable and contractible in the radial direction.
The pair of arms 16a receives the substrate holder 26 in the holder magazine 17 and transfers it to the preliminary chamber 5, and the other arm 16a receives the substrate holder 25 in the preliminary chamber 5 and transfers it to the holder magazine 17. Is designed to do. The substrate holder 25 in the preliminary chamber 5 opens the lid 32 of the preliminary chamber 5 in a state where the drawing work is stopped and raises the plurality of push-up rods 39 incorporated in the main body of the moving stage. Since it ascends through the hole provided in the moving stage 22, it is lifted to the upper part of the auxiliary chamber 5. In this state, the substrate holder exchanging device 16 is operated to receive the substrate holder 25 by the arm 16a, and the substrate holder 26 for the next rod already received by the other arm 16a.
The arms 16a are rotated 180 ° while holding, and the arms 16a are extended and placed on the push-up rod 39 and in the holder magazine 17. The above operation is repeated twice to replace the two sets of substrate holders in the preliminary chamber 5.

Next, the operation of this apparatus will be described. First, the substrate cassette 9 accommodating the unprocessed substrate 4 is set in the load station 12, and the "empty" substrate cassette 9'is set in the unload station 19. When the lifter 10 of the load station 12 is in the upper limit position and the lifter 10 'of the unload station 19 is in the lower limit position, the substrate 4 is moved one by one to transfer or store the substrate transport plates 11 and 11'. Then, the substrate cassettes 9 and 9'are automatically lowered or raised one pitch at a time. Substrate holder 2 in preparatory chamber 5 for substrate 4
The transfer to the substrate 5 is performed while the movable stage 22 is moved to the load station 12 side, the gate valve 8 is opened, the release mechanism 7 is pressed, and the spring clamp of the substrate holder 25 is opened. The carrier plate 11 is moved forward to transfer the substrate 4 to the substrate holder 25 in the substrate holder holding part B, the release mechanism 7 is returned, and the spring clamp is performed. Then, the substrate carrier plate 11 is retracted. The gate valve 8 is closed to seal the preliminary chamber 5. At this time, the substrate holding part A of the moving stage 22 located in front of the sample chamber 1 is “empty”.
And waiting for the drawing to be completed in the sample chamber 1. When the drawing is finished, open the gate valve 3,
The transport mechanism 18 of the substrate holder 25 is operated to take the drawn substrate holder 25 from the sample chamber 1 to the substrate holder holding portion A of the moving stage 22. The moving stage 22 is moved to the unload station 19 side, and the substrate holder 25 holding the unprocessed substrate 4 in the substrate holder holding part B moved to the front of the sample chamber 1 is moved to the sample chamber 1 by operating the transfer mechanism 18. Gate valve 3 after feeding in and retracting transport mechanism 18
After closing, the drawing work is started in the sample chamber 1. Further, in order to unload the drawn substrate 4 on the substrate holding portion A, the spring clamp is opened by the release mechanism 7 ′, the gate valve 8 ′ is opened, and the substrate transfer plate 11 ′ is moved forward and backward to move the drawn substrate 4 The substrate 4 is stored in the substrate cassette 9 '.

In this way, the above operation is repeated and the load station 1
When the second unprocessed substrate cassette 9 becomes "empty" and the processed substrate cassette 9'in the unload station 19 becomes full and one lot is completed, the entire apparatus stops the cycle.
The substrate cassettes 9 and 9'are exchanged and set, and a restart is instructed for the next lot.

When the lot production as described above is repeated and next lots of different substrate sizes are produced, the substrate holder exchange device 16 is used to change the substrate holder 25 to the substrate holder 26. At this time, the substrate holders 25 are moved to the moving stage 22 while the two substrates 4 are “empty”.
In this state, the lid 32 of the auxiliary chamber 5 is opened, the push-up rod 39 is raised, and the substrate holder 25 on the holding portion B is lifted up in FIG. The arm 16a is attached to the holder 25 and the substrate holder 26.
Are simultaneously extended and engaged with each other to reduce the size of both arms 16 and the substrate holders 25 and 26 on the substrate holder exchange device 16.
With the arm mounted, rotate the arm 16a 180 °,
When it is extended, disengaged, and contracted, the substrate holder 2
5 and 26 are respectively on the push-up rod 39 on the auxiliary chamber 5,
It is placed in the holder magazine 17. The push-up rod 39 is lowered to place the substrate holder 26 on the substrate holder holding portion B of the moving stage 22. Next, the moving stage 22 is moved to the load station side by P, and the substrate holder exchanging operation described above is repeated again with the substrate holder magazine 17 lowered, and the substrate holder 26 is placed on the substrate holder holding portion A to hold the holder. Finish the exchange operation. The lid 32 is closed and the exchange operation is completed.

In the above-described embodiment, an example in which the two substrate holders 25 are placed on the moving stage 22 and the load station 12 and the unload station 19 are separately provided,
However, the present invention is not limited to this, and various modifications can be made such that only one substrate holder is placed on the moving stage 22 or one station serves as a loading / unloading station.

〔The invention's effect〕

1) Productivity can be improved by omitting the manual work of mounting the substrate on the substrate holder and automating it.

2) The substrate holder that enters the sample chamber does not go out of the spare chamber and is not touched by human hands unless the substrate holder is replaced. Can be held more reliably.

3) When the size of the board changes, the board holder in the spare chamber is automatically replaced with a board holder according to the size of the board, which enables efficient operation for various sizes. Moreover, since no human intervention is required, pollution can be suppressed.

[Brief description of drawings]

1 to 4 show an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 1 is a plan view, FIG. 2 is a sectional view taken along the line XX in FIG. 1, and FIG. 3 is YY in FIG. FIG. 4 is a sectional view taken along the line ZZ in FIG. 1, and FIG. 5 is a plan view showing a conventional technique. 1 ... Sample chamber, 2 ... Drawing stage, 3, 8, 8 '...
Gate valve, 4 ... Substrate, 5 ... Preliminary chamber, 7, 7 '...
... Release mechanism, 9,9 '... Substrate cassette, 10,10'
...... Cassette elevator, 11, 11 '…… Substrate carrier plate, 12
…… Road station, 13,13 ′ …… Guide, 14,1
4 ', 21, 29, 34 ... Motor, 15, 15', 20, 20 ', 2
3, 30 …… Ball screw, 16 …… Board holder exchange device, 16a
…… Arm, 17 …… Holder magazine, 18 …… Holder transfer device, 19 …… Unload station, 22 …… Movement stage, 24 …… EOS, 25,26 …… Substrate holder, 27,
33 …… Vacuum exhaust device, 28 …… Surface plate, 31 …… Movement device, 32
...... Lid, 36, 37, 38 …… Guide, 39 …… Push-up rod,
50 …… Vacuum chamber, 51 …… Lifter, 52 …… Holder transfer device, 53 …… Substrate holder magazine, 54 …… Door.

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A vacuum sample chamber in an electron beam drawing apparatus, a preliminary chamber which is connected to the sample chamber via a gate valve and is capable of vacuuming, and a substrate to be processed is attached and detached in the sample chamber. Means for alternately transferring the substrate holder that holds the substrate between the sample chamber and the preliminary chamber, and means for loading and unloading the substrate through another gate valve with respect to the substrate holder in the preliminary chamber A substrate exchanging device, comprising means for exchanging an "empty" substrate holder inside the spare chamber and another "empty" substrate holder outside the spare chamber via a further gate valve. 2. A means for transferring a substrate holder has a moving stage for placing one or a plurality of substrate holders in a preliminary chamber, the substrate holder being a sample chamber, a means for exchanging the substrate holder, and loading / unloading. The substrate exchanging device according to claim 1, wherein the substrate exchanging device is configured to be transferable to a position facing each gate valve communicating with the section.