JP3036053B2 - Coating heat treatment equipment - Google Patents

Description

Description: BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a coating heat treatment apparatus used in a semiconductor manufacturing apparatus, and more particularly to a coating heat treatment apparatus having an improved heat treatment section.

[Conventional technology]

Conventionally, there are two methods of forming an insulating film on a semiconductor wafer, particularly, a method of depositing another substance, which is a CVD method, a PVD method, and a coating method. This is a method in which an insulating film is formed by applying a coating on a substrate, followed by drying and heat treatment. In recent years, a coating heat treatment apparatus that performs coating and heat treatment by one apparatus has been developed.

This conventional coating heat treatment apparatus will be described.
As shown in the diagram, the loader / unloader 1
, A wafer transfer device 2, a coating device 3, a wafer transfer device 4, and a heat treatment section 6.

Next, the operation will be described. The cassette 1b containing the semiconductor wafer 1a is set on the cassette stage 1c of the loader / unloader 1, and the operation is started. The wafer chuck 2b of the wafer transfer device 2 is a wafer chuck mechanism
By the rotation of 2a and the back-and-forth operation, it enters between the semiconductor wafers 1a of the loader / unloader 1, sucks the semiconductor wafer 1a, and transports it to the wafer chuck 3d of the coating machine 3. The semiconductor wafer 1a transported to the coating machine 3 is a wafer chuck 3d
And rotated at high speed by the spin motor 3e. The dispensing unit 3b sucks up the chemical solution in the chemical solution tank 3a, and drops a prescribed amount of the chemical solution onto the semiconductor wafer rotated at a high speed through the chemical solution pipe 3c to apply it. After the application, the semiconductor wafer is transferred to the boat 6c of the heat treatment section 6 by the wafer transfer device 4.

The above-described coating operation is performed for one cassette for each sheet, and the semiconductor wafer is stored in the boat 6c. Boat stage
Boat 6c installed on 6e is a boat stage elevator
By the ascending operation of 6f, it is inserted into the furnace core tube 6b maintained at a high temperature by the resistance heater 6a. The semiconductor wafer 6d is heat-treated in the furnace core tube 6b maintained at a high temperature. After the heat treatment, it descends in the opposite direction of the insertion, and the wafer transporter 4 and the wafer transporter 2
, And is returned to the cassette 1b of the loader / unloader 1 in a sheet-by-sheet manner without being coated by the coating machine 3, and the coating and heat treatment operation is completed.

[Problems to be solved by the invention]

In this conventional coating heat treatment apparatus, after the application of one cassette of semiconductor wafers on a single wafer is completed, the heat treatment is performed after waiting for one cassette in the heat treatment unit boat. During the heat treatment, the coating unit is in a standby state, and the processing time is prolonged.

In addition, since the semiconductor wafers applied in a single wafer for one cassette wait in the boat, the standby time of the first semiconductor wafer is different from the standby time of the last semiconductor wafer in the one cassette. However, there is a problem that the characteristics of the insulating film are different.

[Means for solving the problem]

The coating heat treatment apparatus of the present invention is a coating heat treatment apparatus that applies a chemical solution to a semiconductor wafer and heat-treats the semiconductor wafer while vertically stacking and holding the semiconductor wafers. A heating / cooling unit for cooling after the heat treatment is connected to the heat treatment unit, and a transfer device for transferring the semiconductor wafer between the coating unit and the heat treatment unit via the heating / cooling unit is provided. It is characterized in that continuous sheet processing is performed.

〔Example〕

Next, the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a sectional view showing the structure of a first embodiment of the present invention.

Load the cassette 1b containing the semiconductor wafer 1a into the loader
It is set on the cassette stage 1c of the unloader 1 and starts operation. Wafer chuck 2b of wafer transfer machine 2
Enters between the semiconductor wafers 1a of the loader / unloader 1 by the rotation and back and forth operation of the wafer chuck mechanism, adsorbs the semiconductor wafer 1a, is adsorbed by the wafer chuck 3d of the coating machine 3, and is high-speed by the spin motor 3e. Is rotated.

The dispensing unit 3b sucks up the chemical solution in the chemical solution tank 3a, and drops a prescribed amount of the solution onto the semiconductor wafer rotated at high speed through the chemical solution pipe 3a to apply the solution. After the coating, the wafer is transferred onto the wafer stage 5b of the heating / cooling unit 5 by the wafer transfer device 4. Until the semiconductor wafer is transferred from the coating machine 3, the lamp heater 5a of the heating and cooling unit 5 is turned off,
Although heating is not performed, the inside of the furnace core tube 6b of the heat treatment section 6 is maintained at a high temperature by a resistance heater 6a.

The semiconductor wafer is a wafer stage 5b of the heating / cooling unit 5.
Then, the lamp heater 5a is turned on, and the temperature is raised to the temperature in the furnace core tube 6b. After heating, wafer chuck
The semiconductor wafer on 4b is inserted into the boat 6c by the operation of the wafer chuck mechanism 4a. When the first semiconductor wafer is transferred from the coater 3 to the heating / cooling unit 5 by the wafer transfer unit 4, the second semiconductor wafer is transferred from the loader / unloader 1 to the coater 3 by the wafer transfer unit 2. You.

As described above, the semiconductor wafer is sequentially conveyed, coated, conveyed, and heated, and inserted into the empty slot of the boat 6c by the vertical movement of the boat stage elevator 6f. After the set heat treatment time, the semiconductor wafer 6d on the boat 6c is placed on the wafer chuck 4b, and the furnace core tube 6b is turned on by the lamp heater 5a which is turned on by the operation of the wafer chuck mechanism 4a.
The wafer is transferred to the wafer stage 5b maintained at the same temperature. Then, the ramping heater 5a is turned off and cooled.

After cooling, the wafer is returned to the sheet in the cassette 1b of the loader / unloader 1 without being coated by the coating machine 3 via the wafer transfer machine 4 and the wafer transfer machine 2. As mentioned above,
The coated semiconductor wafers are immediately heated and sequentially transported into the furnace core tube, and the semiconductor wafers after the heat treatment time are sequentially cooled, and the cassette 1b of the loader / unloader 1 is loaded.
Is stored in.

FIG. 2 is a sectional view showing the structure of a second embodiment of the present invention. A loader 7 and an unloader 10, and a heating unit 8 and a cooling unit 9 before and after the heat treatment unit 6, the semiconductor wafers are sequentially coated, heated, heat treated, cooled from the loader 7, and conveyed to the unloader 10, Processed continuously. Example 2
Are the heating unit 8 and the cooling unit 9 and the loader 7 and the unloader
Since the semiconductor wafers 10 are separated from each other, there is no need for a transporting step for returning the semiconductor wafer, thereby enabling more continuous coating and heat treatment.

〔The invention's effect〕

As described above, the present invention has the effect of extremely shortening the processing time for one cassette, since the transfer up to the application and the heat treatment by the single wafer is made possible. In addition, since the heat treatment is performed immediately after the application, there is an effect that the coating and the heat treatment can be performed evenly without waiting in the middle of the semiconductor wafer in one cassette.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a sectional view showing the structure of a first embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a sectional view showing the structure of a second embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 1. Loader / Unloader, 1a Semiconductor wafer, 1b Cassette, 1c Cassette stage, 2
Wafer transfer machine, 2a …… Wafer chuck mechanism, 2b…
... Wafer chuck, 3 ... Coating machine, 3a ... Chemical tank, 3b ... Dispense unit, 3c ... Chemical piping, 3d
…… Wafer chuck, 3e …… Spin motor, 4 ……
Wafer transfer machine, 4a …… Wafer chuck mechanism, 4b…
... Wafer chuck, 5 ... Heating / cooling unit, 5a ... Lamp heater, 5b ... Wafer stage, 6 ... Heat treatment unit, 6a ... Resistance heater, 6b ... Core tube, 6c ... Boat, 6d …… Semiconductor wafer, 6e …… Boat stage,
6f ... Boat stage elevator, 7 ... Loader, 8 ...
Heating section, 9: cooling section, 10: unloader.

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on the front page (58) Field surveyed (Int.Cl. ⁷ , DB name) H01L 21/312 H01L 21/316 H01L 21/318 H01L 21/31

Claims (1)

(57) [Claims] 1. A coating heat treatment apparatus for applying a chemical solution to a semiconductor wafer and heat-treating the semiconductor wafer while vertically stacking and holding the semiconductor wafers, wherein the semiconductor wafer coated with the chemical solution is overheated before the heat treatment and cooled after the heat treatment. A heating / cooling unit is connected to the heat treatment unit, and a transfer device is provided for transferring the semiconductor wafer between the coating unit and the heat treatment unit via the heating / cooling unit. A coating heat treatment apparatus that performs single-wafer processing.