JPH0828412B2 - Wafer transfer device - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION Object of the Invention (Field of Industrial Application) The present invention relates to a wafer transfer apparatus used in a semiconductor manufacturing apparatus such as an ion implantation apparatus.

(Prior Art) As is well known, an ion implantation apparatus carries a wafer from the atmosphere into the vacuum processing chamber through a preliminary vacuum chamber, and after the ion implantation, carries the wafer back into the atmosphere through the preliminary vacuum chamber. A wafer transfer device is provided.

As this type of wafer transfer apparatus, an apparatus that utilizes the weight of a wafer has been conventionally known. This wafer transfer device includes an inclination guide mechanism for a wafer from the atmosphere to a vacuum processing chamber via a preliminary vacuum chamber, and another inclination guide mechanism to extend from the vacuum processing chamber to the atmosphere via another preliminary vacuum chamber. The tilting guide mechanism sequentially moves the wafer downward using the self-weight of the wafer to perform the ion implantation process.

This wafer transfer device uses the weight of the wafer itself and therefore has the advantage of not requiring a drive device, but on the other hand, in the case of a wafer provided with a photoresist layer, it may be caught during the transfer and the work may be interrupted or transferred. However, it was difficult to increase the speed.

There is also a problem that when the wafer is stopped by the stopper, the resist layer attached to the wafer edge and the wafer edge are broken to generate particles (dust).

Further, in the conventional apparatus, since the wafers sequentially loaded from the wafer cassette into the ion implantation apparatus section are stored in another wafer cassette after the ion implantation, various problems occur in wafer management.

(Problems to be Solved by the Invention) As described above, in the conventional wafer transfer apparatus, there is a problem in that the smoothness of loading and unloading of wafers is lacking, speeding up is difficult, and particles are generated.

The present invention has been made in order to solve the above-mentioned conventional problems, and wafers can be loaded and unloaded smoothly and at high speed, particles are not generated, and wafers can be transported in both directions. The purpose is to provide a device.

[Structure of the Invention] (Means for Solving Problems) That is, the wafer transfer apparatus of the present invention comprises a guide rail made of ceramics arranged in the semiconductor device and a fluororesin running on the guide rail. It is characterized in that it has a guide wheel provided with wheels, a wafer holding device mounted on the guide wheel, and a drive device for driving the guide wheel. The above guide rails and wheels are
It suffices that the surfaces contacting each other are made of ceramics and fluororesin, and therefore a composite with a metal can also be used.

(Operation) In the wafer transfer device of the present invention, the wafer holding device is mounted on the guide wheel and travels on the guide rails, so that the wafer can be transferred in the left and right directions smoothly and at high speed.
Further, since the guide rails are made of wear-resistant and high-rigidity ceramics and the wheels of the carrier are made of fluorine resin having high lubricity and elasticity, generation of particles due to wear is extremely small.

(Example) Hereinafter, an example of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

1 to 3, the wafer transfer device 1 is
A pair of ceramic guide rails 2 and 3 arranged in parallel vertically and these guide rails 2 and 3 are sandwiched between wheels 4a, 4b, 4c, 5a, 5b and 5c made of fluororesin such as Teflon. Guide car 6 mounted on
Wafer holding devices 7 and 8 fixed to the upper part of the. The guide rails 2 and 3 and the wheels 3 described above
The surfaces of a, ..., 3b, ... That contact each other may be formed of ceramics and fluororesin. Therefore, as the guide rails 2 and 3, it is possible to use a bonded body with a metal or a body in which ceramics are sprayed on the metal. Further, as the wheels 3a, ..., 3b, ..., it is possible to use a molded product made of a fluororesin and a metal wheel whose outer periphery is coated with the fluororesin.

The guide wheel 6 has vertical arms 9b and 9 pointing upwards at both ends of horizontal arms 9a and 10a that extend along the guide rails 2 and 3, respectively.
c, 10b, 10c and vertical arm 9 pointing downwards in the center of horizontal arm 9a, 10a
Two independent sets of support members 9 and 10 having d and 10d, and wheels 4a, ..., 5 rotatably supported by the tips of the vertical arms.
It consists of a, ...

The wafer holding device 7 is fixed to the tip of an upward vertical arm 9b of one support member 9 fixed horizontally to the tip of an upward vertical arm 10b of the other support member 10 adjacent thereto. It is composed of an upward gripping claw 7b provided.

Further, the wafer holding device 8 has a holding claw 8a horizontally fixed to the tip of an upward vertical arm 9c of one support member 9 and a tip of an upward vertical arm 10c adjacent to this of the other support member 10. It is composed of an upward grip claw 8b provided.
As shown in FIG. 4, the gripping claws 7a, 7b and 8a, 8b respectively have an L-shaped or inverted L-shaped cross section, and the horizontal portion of the L-shaped or inverted L-shaped supports the weight of the wafer. In addition, the vertical portion holds the wafer. The L-shaped vertical portion is chamfered at 20 ° to 70 ° as a guide for gripping the wafer.

Further, in order to suppress the generation of particles, it is possible to coat the grip claws with fluororesin or the like.

The support members 9 and 10 described above have the wheels 4a, ..., 5a,
... and the like, and a reciprocating motion is performed synchronously on the guide rails 2 and 3 by a drive device (not shown), and a supporting member that advances from the rear in the vicinity of both ends of the guide rails 2 and 3 advances to the front. Slightly earlier, for example, it is stopped by a stopper (not shown) and stopped to slightly widen the gap between the gripping claws to perform a wafer gripping or releasing operation.

FIG. 5 shows an example in which the wafer transfer apparatus of this embodiment is arranged in the implant chamber 12 of the ion implantation apparatus 11.

In the figure, the supporting members 9 and 10 of the wafer holding device are
Each of them is reciprocally moved on a guide rail (not shown) via a belt or the like by a driving means such as a stepping motor or a brushless DC motor which operates in synchronization with each other.

In this embodiment, for example, when the wafer W ₁ introduced from the vacuum preparatory chamber on the right side of FIG. 5 is transferred to the central platen 13 and the wafer W ₂ on the platen 13 is transferred to the left side, 9 and 10 are slightly moved to the left or right, respectively, and are held by the gripping claws 8a, 8b, 7a and 7b.
Holds W ₁ and W ₂ . Next, the support members 9 and 10 move to the left and slightly to the right and left respectively to release the wafers W ₁ and W _{2 held} by the gripping claws 8a, 8b, 7a and 7b. The position of the wafer W _{2 at} this time is shown by a broken line. In the opposite case (when the wafers at the left and center positions are moved to the center and right positions, respectively), the reverse operation is performed,
Wafers in the left and center positions are moved to the center and right positions, respectively.

EFFECTS OF THE INVENTION As described above, in the wafer transfer device of the present invention, the wafer holding device is mounted on the guide wheel and travels on the guide rails, so that the wafer can be transferred smoothly and at high speed in both left and right directions. Moreover, since the guide rail and the wheels of the carrier are made of wear-resistant ceramics and fluorocarbon resin having high lubricity, the generation of particles due to wear is extremely small.

[Brief description of drawings]

1 is a front view of an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a plan view thereof, FIG. 3 is a side sectional view taken along line III-III of FIG. 1, and FIG.
FIG. 5 is a sectional view of the gripping claw taken along the line IV-IV in FIG. 2, and FIG. 5 is a plan view schematically showing a state in which this embodiment is arranged in the implant chamber of the ion implantation apparatus. 1 ... Wafer transfer device 2, 3 ... Ceramic guide rails, 4a, 4b, 4c, 5a, 5b, 5c2, 3 ... Fluorine resin wheels, 6 ... Guide wheel, 7, 8 ... Wafer Holding device, 9, 10 ... Supporting member, 11 ... Ion implantation device, 12 ...
… Implant chamber, 13 …… Platen

─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁶ Identification code Internal reference number FI technical indication H01L 21/265

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A guide rail made of ceramics arranged in a semiconductor manufacturing apparatus, a guide wheel equipped with wheels made of ceramics or synthetic resin and running on the guide rail, and a wafer mounted on the guide wheel. A wafer transfer device comprising a holding device and a drive device for driving the guide wheel. 2. The wafer transfer apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the semiconductor manufacturing apparatus is an ion implantation apparatus.