Bottle storage device

Abstract

The utility model provides a bottle storage device. When the bottle is handed over in the bottle placing part for the bottle of storage treatment liquid, the operator's burden is reduced. It is provided with: bottle placing part, it is for the bottle of storage treatment liquid for manufacturing semiconductor device to place; and switching mechanism, it is between the first state that the space around bottle placing part is closed and the second state that the space is opened for handing over the bottle relative to bottle placing part switches. Because the switching mechanism is used to switch between the first state and the second state, when the bottle is handed over relative to the bottle placing part in the second state, the operator's burden can be reduced.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] This disclosure relates to bottle containment devices. Background Technology

[0002] In the manufacturing process of semiconductor devices, a liquid treatment is performed by supplying a processing liquid, such as a photoresist, a coating liquid for forming an anti-reflective film, a solvent, or a precursor liquid for forming an insulating film, to the substrate through a nozzle. Patent Document 1 discloses a photoresist coating apparatus as such a device for supplying processing liquids.

[0003] Patent Document 1 shows that a resist coating apparatus includes a tank for storing a solution, and a nozzle is connected to the tank via a supply passage to supply the solution to the substrate from the nozzle. Furthermore, Patent Document 1 describes supplying the solution from a solution bottle containing the solution to the tank.

[0004] Existing technical documents

[0005] Patent documents

[0006] Patent Document 1: Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2016-189493 Utility Model Content

[0007] Problems to be solved by utility models

[0008] This disclosure provides a technique to reduce the burden on operators when transferring bottles to a bottle holder that holds bottles for storing treatment liquid.

[0009] Solution for solving the problem

[0010] The first technical solution of this utility model is a bottle receiving device, characterized in that the bottle receiving device comprises: a bottle holding part for storing a bottle for storing a processing liquid used in manufacturing a semiconductor device; and a switching mechanism that switches between a first state in which the space around the bottle holding part is closed and a second state in which the space is opened for handing over the bottle to the bottle holding part.

[0011] The second technical solution of this utility model is a bottle holding device according to the first technical solution. The bottle holding device is characterized in that it includes: a housing that surrounds the bottle holding part in the first state; and a moving mechanism that constitutes the switching mechanism so as to move the bottle holding part and the housing relative to each other in the second state such that the bottle holding part is located outside the housing.

[0012] The bottle receiving device of the third technical solution of this utility model is based on the bottle receiving device of the second technical solution. The moving mechanism causes the bottle holding part to move laterally relative to the housing. The moving mechanism is positioned above or below the bottle holding part and the bottle arrangement area on the bottle holding part.

[0013] The fourth technical solution of this utility model is a bottle receiving device according to any one of the first to third technical solutions. The bottle receiving device is characterized by comprising: a processing block having a liquid processing section for liquid processing of a substrate by being conveyed with the processing liquid; and a substrate feeding / exiting block having a container holding section for holding a container of the substrate and a conveying mechanism for transferring the substrate to the container on the container holding section. The substrate feeding / exiting block is disposed on one side of the processing block to transport the substrate between the container and the processing block. In the first state, the space around the bottle holding section is a space provided within the housing of the substrate feeding / exiting block.

[0014] The bottle receiving device of the fifth technical solution of this utility model is based on the bottle receiving device of the fourth technical solution. It is characterized in that the substrate feeding and feeding block includes: a standby part, which is disposed on the left and right sides relative to the container holding part, for the container to stand by; and a container conveying mechanism, which conveys the container between the container holding part and the standby part. The housing surrounds the standby part and the container conveying mechanism. In the first state, the left and right positions of the bottle holding part are the same as the left and right positions of the standby part.

[0015] The sixth technical solution of this utility model is a bottle receiving device according to any one of the first to third technical solutions. The bottle receiving device is characterized by comprising: a processing block having a liquid processing section for liquid processing of a substrate by being conveyed with the processing liquid; and a substrate feeding / exiting block having a container holding section for holding a container of the substrate and a conveying mechanism for transferring the substrate to the container holding section relative to the container. The substrate feeding / exiting block is disposed on one side relative to the processing block to convey the substrate between the container and the processing block. The bottle receiving device is provided with a housing surrounding the bottle holding section in the first state, the housing being disposed in front of or behind the substrate feeding / exiting block in a top view.

[0016] The bottle receiving device of the seventh technical solution of this utility model is based on the bottle receiving device of the sixth technical solution. The characteristic is that the housing includes: a first housing, which is disposed in front of or behind the substrate feeding and discharging block in a top view, opposite to the substrate feeding and discharging block; and a second housing, which is disposed on the substrate feeding and discharging block. In the first state, the bottle holding parts located in the first housing and the second housing are respectively located on the left and right sides of the first housing and the second housing, respectively, in the second state.

[0017] The bottle receiving device of the eighth technical solution of this utility model is a bottle receiving device according to any one of the first to third technical solutions. The bottle receiving device is characterized by comprising: a processing block having a liquid processing section for liquid processing of a substrate by being conveyed with the processing liquid; a substrate feeding / exiting block having a container holding section for holding a container of the substrate and a conveying mechanism for transferring the substrate from the container on the container holding section, the substrate feeding / exiting block being disposed on one side relative to the processing block to convey the substrate between the container and the processing block; and an intermediate block disposed between the feeding / exiting block and the processing block, having a conveying area for the substrate, a first space and a second space having the bottle holding section being respectively provided in front of and behind the conveying area, and the first space and the second space being switched separately between a first state and a second state.

[0018] The bottle receiving device of the ninth technical solution of this utility model is a bottle receiving device according to any one of the first to third technical solutions, characterized in that the bottle receiving device includes: a moving part whose position changes between a state in which the bottle is located in the bottle arrangement area on the bottle holder and a state in which the bottle is not located in the bottle arrangement area on the bottle holder; and a detection mechanism for detecting whether there is a bottle in the bottle arrangement area according to the position of the moving part.

[0019] The tenth technical solution of this utility model is a bottle holding device according to the ninth technical solution. The bottle holding part is characterized in that: the bottle holding part includes: an inclined surface opposite to the bottom surface of the bottle, which is inclined in order to hold the bottle at an incline; and a first support part and a second support part, which are provided at different heights in the inclined surface and respectively support the bottom surface of the bottle. Among the first support part and the second support part, only the first support part, which is provided at a position higher than the second support part, constitutes the moving part whose position change is detected by the detection mechanism.

[0020] The bottle receiving device of the eleventh technical solution of this utility model is a bottle receiving device according to any one of the first to third technical solutions. The bottle is characterized in that the bottle has a main body and a neck. The neck is located on the upper side of the main body and has a shape that is narrower than the main body. It forms a step with the main body. A first detection part and a second detection part are provided, which are respectively composed of a light-projecting part and a light-receiving part. The light-projecting part of the first detection part and the light-projecting part of the second detection part irradiate light toward the neck of the bottle in the bottle arrangement area from different directions when viewed from above.

[0021] Effects of the utility model

[0022] According to this disclosure, when transferring bottles to a bottle holder that holds the bottles for storing the treatment liquid, the workload of the operator can be reduced. Attached Figure Description

[0023] Figure 1 This is a top view showing the first embodiment of the wafer processing system constituting the bottle housing device.

[0024] Figure 2 This is the front view of the bottle-containing device.

[0025] Figure 3 This is a structural diagram showing the supply system for the treatment fluid.

[0026] Figure 4 This is a longitudinal sectional view showing a structural example of the housing and bottle mounting section.

[0027] Figure 5 This is a longitudinal sectional view showing a structural example of the bottle-mounted component.

[0028] Figure 6 It is a schematic top view of the bottle and jar in state 1.

[0029] Figure 7 This is a longitudinal sectional view showing a structural example of the bottle-holding section in its first state.

[0030] Figure 8 This is a longitudinal sectional view showing a structural example of the bottle-holding section in the second state.

[0031] Figure 9 This is a longitudinal sectional view showing a portion of the bottle-mounted section.

[0032] Figure 10 This is a longitudinal sectional view showing a portion of the bottle-mounted section.

[0033] Figure 11 It is a top view schematically illustrating the function of a bottle-containing device.

[0034] Figure 12 This is a longitudinal sectional view showing the second embodiment of the wafer processing system constituting the bottle housing device.

[0035] Figure 13 This is a side view of the bottle-containing device.

[0036] Figure 14 This is a longitudinal sectional view showing a portion of the bottle-containing device.

[0037] Figure 15 It is a top view schematically illustrating the function of a bottle-containing device.

[0038] Figure 16 This is a top view showing the third embodiment of a wafer processing system equipped with a bottle receiving device.

[0039] Figure 17 This is a top view schematically illustrating a fourth embodiment of a wafer processing system equipped with a bottle receiving device.

[0040] Figure 18 This is a top view showing the fifth embodiment of the wafer processing system constituting the bottle housing device.

[0041] Figure 19 This is a perspective view showing a structural example of the first space and the bottle mounting section.

[0042] Figure 20 This is a top view schematically representing a structural example of the first space.

[0043] Figure 21 This is a top view schematically representing a structural example of the first space.

[0044] Figure 22 This is a top view schematically representing a structural example of the first space.

[0045] Figure 23 It is a top view schematically illustrating the function of a bottle-containing device.

[0046] Figure 24 This is a longitudinal sectional view showing a structural example of the housing and bottle mounting section.

[0047] Figure 25 This is a perspective view showing an example of the structure of the first detection section and the second detection section.

[0048] Figure 26 This is a side view showing a structural example of the first and second detection units.

[0049] Explanation of reference numerals in the attached figures

[0050] W, Semiconductor wafer; 4, Bottle; 5, Bottle mounting section; 6, Switching mechanism (moving mechanism). Detailed Implementation

[0051] Hereinafter, the wafer processing system of the bottle receiving device according to this embodiment will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings. Furthermore, in this specification, elements having substantially the same functional structure are omitted from repeated description by using the same reference numerals.

[0052] <Wafer Processing System>

[0053] First, the structure of the wafer processing system of this embodiment will be described. Figure 1 , Figure 2 These are a top view and a front view, respectively, schematically showing the general structure of the wafer processing system 1. In this embodiment, the wafer processing system 1 is described as a photolithography system that performs resist film formation and development processes on a wafer W.

[0054] like Figure 1 As shown, the wafer processing system 1 includes: a cassette station 12, which constitutes a substrate feed / delivery block, through which a cassette C containing multiple wafers W is fed and delivered; and a processing station 13, which constitutes a processing block, the processing block having multiple various processing devices for performing predetermined processing on the wafers W. Furthermore, the wafer processing system 1 has a structure that connects the cassette station 12, the processing station 13, and the interface station 14 into a single unit, the interface station 14 handling the wafers W with an exposure apparatus (not shown) adjacent to the interface station 14 on the side opposite to the processing station 13. Additionally, as... Figure 1 As shown, processing station 13 has two units located between box station 12 and interface station 14, but it can also have one unit, or even three or more units. Hereinafter, the arrangement direction of box station 12 and processing station 13 is set to left-right. Figure 1 , Figure 2 In the Y direction), the direction orthogonal to the left and right directions is set as the front and back direction (in the Y direction). Figure 1 , Figure 2 The X direction in the diagram is used for illustration. Furthermore, in the left-right direction, the side where the box station 12 is located is designated as the left side, and the side where the processing station 13 is located is designated as the right side. In addition, in the front-back direction, the side closer to the front when the box station 12 appears to be on the left and the processing station 13 appears to be on the right is designated as the front side, and the side further back is designated as the rear side.

[0055] The cassette station 12 is equipped with multiple cassette loading stages 15 and wafer transport devices 21 and 22. The cassette station 12 uses the wafer transport devices 21 or 22 to transport wafers between the cassette C, which is placed on the cassette loading stage 15, and the processing station 13. For this purpose, the wafer transport devices 21 and 22 may, as needed, be equipped with drive mechanisms having movement paths in various directions such as horizontal (X and Y directions), vertical (Z direction), and around the vertical axis (θ direction), or they may be equipped with drive mechanisms having movement paths in all directions. In this example, the cassette loading stage 15 corresponds to a container loading section, and the wafer transport device 21 or 22 corresponds to a transport mechanism.

[0056] At least one of the wafer transport devices 21 and 22 can transfer wafers to the housing C, and can also perform a wafer transfer operation with the processing station 13. Furthermore, the wafer transfer operation with the processing station 13 refers, for example, to the transfer of wafers to a third block G3 that is accessible to the wafer transport device 23 within the processing station 13 (described later). The third block G3 may also have multiple transfer devices (not shown) arranged vertically.

[0057] Alternatively, an inspection device (not shown) for inspecting the wafer W may be provided at a location accessible to either of the wafer transport devices 21 or 22.

[0058] Processing station 13 has multiple blocks, such as block 1 G1, block 2 G2, and block 4 G4. Additionally, as... Figure 2 As shown, multiple layers 16, each containing a first G1 and a second G2, are stacked vertically. For example, on the front side of the processing station 13 ( Figure 1 The first G1 is located on the negative X-direction side of the processing station 13. Figure 1 A second G2 is installed on the X-direction positive side. On the interface station 14 side of processing station 13 ( Figure 1 The fourth G4 is provided on the connection portion (on the positive Y-direction side) or connected to another adjacent processing station 13. The fourth G4 may also have multiple connecting devices arranged in the vertical direction. In addition, the aforementioned third G3 may also be provided within the processing station 13.

[0059] The first piece G1 is equipped with multiple processing devices, such as a patterning film forming apparatus and a developing apparatus (not shown). The patterning film forming apparatus may include, for example, an anti-reflective film forming apparatus in addition to a resist film forming apparatus, and multiple processing devices may be arranged horizontally. Furthermore, the number, arrangement, and type of these processing devices can be arbitrarily selected.

[0060] In these patterning film forming apparatuses and developing apparatuses, a predetermined processing solution or a predetermined gas is supplied to the wafer W, for example. Thus, in the patterning film forming apparatus, a resist film used as a mask for forming the pattern of the underlying film is formed, as well as an anti-reflective film for efficiently performing light irradiation processing, such as exposure processing. On the other hand, in the developing apparatus, localized portions of the exposed resist film are removed to form the uneven shape of the aforementioned mask.

[0061] Additionally, for example, in the second G2, heat treatment devices (not shown) for heating and cooling wafer W are arranged in both the vertical and horizontal directions. Furthermore, in the second G2, in the vertical direction ( Figure 2 The wafer W is equipped with a hydrophobic treatment device (which performs hydrophobic treatment to improve the adhesion between the resist and the wafer W) and a peripheral exposure device (which exposes the outer periphery of the wafer W) arranged in the Z-direction and horizontal direction. These devices are not shown in the figure. The number and configuration of these heat treatment devices, hydrophobic treatment devices, and peripheral exposure devices can be arbitrarily selected.

[0062] like Figure 1 As shown, a wafer transport region 17 is formed in the area sandwiched between the first G1 and the second G2 when viewed from above. A wafer transport device 23, for example, is disposed in the wafer transport region 17.

[0063] The wafer transport device 23 has a transport arm 231 that is movable, for example, in the X, Y, Z, and θ directions. The wafer transport device 23 is capable of moving within the wafer transport area 17 to transport wafers W to predetermined devices within the surrounding first G1, second G2, third G3, and fourth G4 blocks. Figure 1 In the case where there are multiple processing stations 13, the wafer transport device 23 of the processing station 13 located on the interface station 14 side can transport wafers W to predetermined devices in the first G1, the second G2, and the fourth G3, and can also transport wafers W to predetermined devices in the fifth G5 (described later).

[0064] For example, Figure 2 As shown, multiple wafer transport devices 23 are arranged vertically. One wafer transport device 23 can transport a wafer W to a predetermined device at the height of the upper layer 16 among the multiple stacked layers 16. Another wafer transport device 23 can transport a wafer W to a predetermined device at the height of the multiple layers 16 located below these layers 16. Multiple wafer transport areas 17 are provided in a manner that enables the transport of such wafers W. Furthermore, the number of wafer transport devices 23 and the number of layers 16 corresponding to one wafer transport device 23 can be arbitrarily selected; for example, a wafer transport device 23 can be provided for each layer 16.

[0065] Alternatively, a shuttle transport device (not shown) may be provided in wafer transport area 17 or in the first G1 and the second G2. The shuttle transport device transports the wafer W in a straight line between a space adjacent to one side of the processing station 3 and another space adjacent to the opposite side.

[0066] Interface station 14 is equipped with a fifth block G5 having multiple transfer devices, and wafer transport devices 24 and 25. Interface station 14 uses wafer transport device 24 or 25 to transport wafer W between the fifth block G5, where wafer W is transferred by wafer transport device 23, and the exposure device. For this purpose, wafer transport devices 24 and 25 are respectively equipped with drive mechanisms having movement paths in the X, Y, Z, and θ directions, or may be equipped with drive mechanisms having movement paths in all directions. At least one of wafer transport devices 24 and 25 can support wafer W and transport wafer W between the transfer devices and the exposure device within the fifth block G5.

[0067] The cleaning device for cleaning the surface of wafer W and the aforementioned peripheral exposure device can also be located within the interface station 14 at a position accessible to either of the wafer transport devices 24 or 25.

[0068] As described above, the inspection device can be provided at the box station 12, but it can also be provided at either the processing station 3 or the interface station 14, or at any of the conveyor arms located within their respective locations. Figure 1 or Figure 2 The inspection device is located at a position that can be approached (23, 24, 25).

[0069] The wafer processing system 1 described above includes a control device 100, which serves as a control unit. The control device 100 is, for example, a computer, and has a program storage unit (not shown). The program storage unit stores a program for controlling the processing of the wafer W in the wafer processing system 1. Additionally, the program storage unit also stores a program for controlling the operation of the various processing devices, transport devices, and other drive systems described above to perform wafer processing in the wafer processing system 1. This program includes a set of steps required to perform the transport and processing of the wafer W in the wafer processing system 1. The control device 100 uses the program to output control signals to each part of the wafer processing system 1, controlling each part as described above to perform the transport and processing.

[0070] The aforementioned program can also be recorded on a computer-readable storage medium H and loaded from that storage medium H into the control device 100. The storage medium H may include ROM, RAM, or a hard disk, but its structure and type are not limited; it can be temporary or non-temporary. Furthermore, the control device 100 can include components for storing, reading, executing, and communicating related to programs used for wafer processing. These components can be configured either internally or externally to the wafer processing system 1. The control device 100 can be one or more circuits, which can be centrally located as a whole or partially separated.

[0071] [Operation of the wafer processing system]

[0072] Next, an example of wafer processing using the wafer processing system 1 configured as described above will be described.

[0073] First, the cassette C containing multiple wafers W is fed into the cassette station 12 and placed on the cassette placement stage 15. Next, the wafers W in the cassette C are sequentially removed using the wafer transport device 21 or 22 and transported to the transfer device of the third G3.

[0074] The wafer W, transported to the third G3 junction, is supported by the wafer transport device 23 and conveyed to the hydrophobication processing device located in the second G2 for hydrophobication treatment. Next, it is transported by the wafer transport device 23 to the resist film forming device to form a resist film on the wafer W. Afterward, it is transported to the heat treatment device for pre-baking treatment, and then transported to the fifth G5 junction. Furthermore, in... Figure 1 , Figure 2 In the case of multiple processing stations 3, wafer W is temporarily placed in the transfer device of the 4th G4 before being transferred to the transfer device of the 5th G5, and then transferred between multiple wafer transport devices 23. In addition, wafer W can also be transported by wafer transport device 23 to the peripheral exposure device as needed for exposure processing of the peripheral part of the wafer.

[0075] The wafer W, which is transferred to the fifth G5 transfer unit, is then transported by wafer transport units 24 and 25 to the exposure unit for exposure processing with a predetermined pattern. Alternatively, the wafer W can be cleaned using a cleaning unit before exposure processing.

[0076] After exposure processing, wafer W is transported by wafer transport devices 24 and 25 to the handover device for the fifth G5 wafer. Then, it is transported by wafer transport device 23 to the heat treatment unit for post-exposure baking.

[0077] After exposure and baking, the wafer W is transported by the wafer transport device 23 to the developing device for developing. After developing, the wafer W is transported by the wafer transport device 23 to the heat treatment device for post-baking.

[0078] Afterwards, wafer W is transported by wafer transport device 23 to the handover device of the third G3, and then by wafer transport device 21 or 22 of the cassette station 12 to the cassette C of the predetermined cassette stage 15. In this way, a series of photolithography processes are completed.

[0079] Furthermore, the wafer processing system in this disclosure is not limited to the structure and operation described above. For example, in the above embodiment, the wafer processing system is directly connected to the exposure apparatus, and the wafer W is transferred between the interface station 14 and the exposure apparatus. However, the wafer processing system may not be directly connected to the exposure apparatus. In this case, for example, the wafer W is transported from the cassette station 12 to the processing station 13 for the required processing, and then the wafer W is transported back to the cassette station 12 for delivery to the outside of the system. In addition, for unnecessary devices among the devices mentioned as processing devices, the wafer processing system may not be provided or the processing in those devices may not be performed.

[0080] <Processing fluid supply system>

[0081] Next, refer to Figure 3 The supply system of the processing liquid in processing apparatuses such as the resist film forming apparatus and the developing apparatus will be described. These processing apparatuses constitute a liquid processing unit that performs liquid processing on the wafer W by supplying processing liquid. Figure 3 As an example of a processing apparatus, a resist film forming apparatus 3 is shown. The resist film forming apparatus 3 includes a nozzle 33, which is held in a rotating holding disk 31 for supplying resist as a processing liquid to the center of the wafer W surrounded by a cup 32.

[0082] A resist solution, which serves as the processing fluid, is supplied to nozzle 33 from a supply source comprising a bottle 4 and a container 40 for storing the resist solution. Bottle 4 is a sealed bottle for storing the resist solution, for example... Figure 4 , Figure 5 As shown, it has a main body 41 for storing resist liquid, a neck 42 located on the upper side of the main body 41, and a flat bottom surface 43.

[0083] The neck 42 has a narrower profile than the main body 41. In this example, the main body 41 and the neck 42 are both configured as concentric circles when viewed from above, and the diameter of the neck 42 is smaller than the diameter of the main body 41. Therefore, the neck 42 is formed as a step with the main body 41. In addition, the upper end of the neck 42 has an opening, and a cover 44 is provided for opening and closing the opening.

[0084] Bottle 4 is connected to canister 40 via flow path 34 equipped with valve V1, and the upstream end of flow path 34 extends to the vicinity of bottom surface 43 of bottle 4 via cap 44. Additionally, a pressurized inert gas, such as nitrogen (N2), is supplied to bottle 4 from inert gas supply mechanism 35 via cap 44. Furthermore, canister 40 is connected to nozzle 33 via flow path 36, which sequentially includes valve V2, filter F, pump P, and valve V3 from the upstream side.

[0085] In this supply system, the resist solution in bottle 4 is pressurized by supplying an inert gas, thereby supplying the resist solution in bottle 4 to tank 40 and flow path 36 downstream of tank 40. Then, the resist solution in tank 40 is supplied to nozzle 33 via flow path 36 by pump P, and ejected from nozzle 33 onto wafer W on rotating holding disk 31. At this time, a filter F located in the middle of flow path 36 captures foreign matter (particles) contained in the resist solution flowing from upstream to downstream of flow path 34 and flow path 36, and removes the foreign matter from the resist solution.

[0086] In this example, the supply system of the resist film forming apparatus 3 was described as an example. However, in the wafer processing system 1, each processing solution used to manufacture semiconductor devices is provided with a bottle 4 for storing the processing solution and a tank 40 for supplying the processing solution stored in the bottle 4. Examples of processing solutions include, in addition to resist solution, solutions for forming anti-reflective films, solutions for forming insulating films, developing solutions for performing developing processes, diluents, and other solvents. Therefore, a wafer processing system 1 is equipped with multiple sets of bottles 4 and tanks 40.

[0087] In addition, bottle 4 is configured in wafer processing system 1, for example, when all the processing liquid in bottle 4 is supplied to tank 40, the empty bottle 4 is replaced with a new bottle 4 filled with processing liquid.

[0088] When performing this replacement operation, it is necessary to reduce the labor force of the operators. Therefore, the wafer processing system 1 that constitutes the bottle receiving device is configured to switch between a first state in which the space around the bottle holding part 5 where the bottle 4 is placed is closed and a second state in which the space is opened for the handover of the bottle 4 by means of a switching mechanism.

[0089] <First Embodiment>

[0090] Next, also refer to Figures 4 to 11 The first embodiment of the wafer processing system 1 with a bottle carrier 5 disclosed herein will be described. In this embodiment, a housing 7 is provided on the cassette station 12, which surrounds the bottle carrier 5 in a first state.

[0091] like Figure 1As its outline is represented by a single-dot dashed line, the housing 7 is, for example, disposed below the area where the wafer transport device 21 is located in the box station 12. In this example, the configuration is such that the bottle holder 5, in its first state located within the housing 7, is in the same position as the bottle holder 5... Figure 1 The bottle moves between two states, as indicated by the arrow with a single dotted line in the middle, located in front of the housing 7. Furthermore, the bottle 4 is transferred to the bottle holder 5 in the second state.

[0092] A summary of the casing 7. Figure 4 This is a longitudinal sectional view of the casing 7 as viewed from the front. Figure 6 This is a top view of the casing 7 as seen from above. Figure 7 and Figure 8 This is a longitudinal sectional view of housing 7 as seen from the processing station 13 side. Each of the aforementioned stations, including box station 12, has a housing, within which the aforementioned processing equipment and wafer transport equipment are housed (hereinafter referred to as the system housing for distinction from housing 7). Within the system housing of box station 12, a partition wall fixed relative to the system housing is provided. Figure 4 (See the upper wall 72, side walls 73, 74). These partition walls form the aforementioned housing 7 within the box station 12, surrounding the bottle holder 5 and the bottle 4. Furthermore, the space 70 within the housing 7 is a space separated from the space where the aforementioned processing apparatus and wafer transport apparatus 21, 22 are installed.

[0093] Furthermore, the system utilizes a portion of the sidewall of the housing ( Figure 7 , Figure 8 The plate-like body 57 shown constitutes the cover of the housing 7. This cover is movable in the front-rear direction and can be connected to another part of the side wall of the housing of the system (…). Figure 7 , Figure 8 The system can switch between a state where it is in contact with the wall portion 121 and integrated with it, and a state where it is separated from it. Furthermore, the system is configured such that the bottle holder 5 and the bottle 4 can also move along with the cap.

[0094] like Figure 7 As shown, with the plate-like body 57 serving as the lid connected to the wall portion 121, the space 70 inside the housing 7 becomes a sealed space. Since the bottle holder 5 and the bottle 4 are located in this space 70, the space surrounding the bottle holder 5 and the bottle 4 is sealed by the housing 7. That is, this state is the first state described above.

[0095] like Figure 8As shown, with the plate-shaped body 57 separated from the wall portion 121, the space 70 is open relative to the space outside the system housing (the space inside the cleanroom where the wafer processing system 1 is installed), and the bottle holder 5 and the bottle 4 are positioned in front of the partition wall constituting the housing 7. Therefore, in this state, the bottle holder 5 and the bottle 4 emerge from the space 70, forming a second state where the space around these bottle holders 5 and the bottle 4 is open relative to the space inside the cleanroom, enabling the replacement of the bottle 4 as described above.

[0096] The casing 7 will be further described in detail. Figure 4 This diagram shows a first state in which a bottle 4 is placed in the bottle holder 5 and the space around the bottle holder 5 is enclosed by the housing 7. In this example, as described above, the bottom wall 71, the upper wall 72, and the side walls 73 and 74 of the housing 7 are provided at the box station 12.

[0097] For example, Figure 4 and Figure 5 As shown, the bottle holder 5 is a bowl-shaped container with an opening at the top, configured to allow the lower side of the bottle 4 to be inserted and to support the bottle 4 in an inclined state. Figure 4 As shown, when viewed from the front, the two bottle holders 5 are arranged in such a way that the two bottles 4 are placed in the two bottle holders 5 in a state where they are moving away from each other as they face upwards and their respective necks 42 are tilted outwards.

[0098] The reason for placing bottle 4 at an angle in the bottle holder 5 is to allow the treated liquid stored in bottle 4 to accumulate when it is supplied to tank 40. More specifically, this is to make the... Figure 3 The lower end of the tube of the flow path 34 is located at the part where the treatment liquid accumulates, so that liquid can be delivered to the tank 40 even when the treatment liquid in the bottle 4 is small.

[0099] Furthermore, the second reason is that when the bottle holder 5 is set to the second state and the bottle 4 is handed over, the neck 42 of the bottle 4 is positioned on the outer side in the left-right direction, so that the bottle can be easily replaced from that left-right direction.

[0100] Therefore, such as Figure 5 As shown, the bottom surface 51 of the bottle holder 5 is formed opposite to the bottom surface 43 of the bottle 4, and is configured as an inclined surface for tilting the bottle 4. Furthermore, Figure 5 express Figure 4The left bottle holder 5 is shown among the two bottle holders 5 shown. Furthermore, on the inclined bottom surface 51, a first support portion 52 and a second support portion 53, respectively supporting the bottom surface 43 of the bottle 4, are provided at different heights. More specifically, both the first support portion 52 and the second support portion 53 have abutting portions 521 and 531 that abut against the bottom surface 43 of the bottle 4, and the positions of these abutting portions 521 and 531 on the inclined surface (bottom surface 51) differ between the first support portion 52 and the second support portion 53.

[0101] The abutting portions 521 of the first support portion 52 and 531 of the second support portion 53 are arranged horizontally along the bottom surface 51, which is an inclined surface, when viewed from the front. Furthermore, the abutting portion 521 of the first support portion 52 is positioned higher than the abutting portion 531 of the second support portion 53, and the first support portion 52 includes the detection mechanism described later. In this example, the bottom surface 51 of the bottle holder 5 is circular, and two of each of the first and second support portions 52 and 53 are provided at separate front and rear positions. However, in... Figure 5 In the diagram, only one of each of the first support portion 52 and the second support portion 53 is shown. Such first support portion 52 and second support portion 53 are mounted on a horizontal support body 55, which is rectangular in shape when viewed from above, using a support member 54.

[0102] As described above, the bottle holder 5 is a bowl-shaped container, with its side 56 positioned approximately perpendicular to the bottom surface 51. Furthermore, the bottle holder 5 is formed to be slightly larger than the bottle 4 in shape, so as to cover the underside of the bottle 4 when it is supported in its normal position by the first support 52 and the second support 53, and in the inclined direction ( Figure 5 The bottle 4 is supported on the lower side of the upper support (from the left). In this way, the bottle 4 is placed on the bottle holder 5 in a state where its position is restricted in the inclined direction.

[0103] exist Figure 4 In this configuration, the leftward position of bottle 4 is restricted by the bottle holder 5, and the rightward position of bottle 4 is restricted by the bottle holder 5. Furthermore, the state in which bottle 4 is placed in the bottle holder 5 is considered a normal placement state, and the area occupied by bottle 4 in this state is referred to as the bottle placement area. Hereinafter, the placement of bottle 4 in the bottle holder 5 will sometimes be described as placement of bottle 4 in the bottle placement area.

[0104] In this example, such as Figure 6As schematically shown, the bottle holders 5 are arranged on the support 55 in such a way that two are spaced apart from each other in the left-right direction (Y direction), and multiple, for example, four are spaced apart from each other in the front-back direction (X direction). More specifically, the bottle holders 5 are configured such that when viewed in the front-back direction, they are arranged in rows on the left and right sides of the support 55, and when viewed from the left-right direction, they form four rows arranged in the front-back direction.

[0105] In addition, such as Figure 4 and Figure 6 As shown, when the bottles 4 are arranged in the bottle arrangement area, two bottles 4 are arranged in a row above each other when viewed from the front, and the corresponding cans 40 are supported by support members (not shown). In this example, when viewed from the front, the cans 40 are located inside the bottles 4 in the left-right direction. These bottles 4 and cans 40 are connected by a flow path 34 (not shown). Furthermore, as described above, the configuration is such that pressurized inert gas is supplied to the bottles 4 by an inert gas supply mechanism 35 (not shown), thereby supplying the processing liquid from the bottles 4 to the cans 40.

[0106] The configuration of the tanks 40 and the bottles 4 in the bottle configuration area will be described in more detail. The tanks 40 are provided for each bottle 4 and are configured close to the bottle 4 to which the processing liquid is supplied. The tanks 4 to which the processing liquid is supplied from the left column of bottles 4 are located on the right side relative to the neck 42 of the bottle 4, and the tanks 4 to which the processing liquid is supplied from the right column of bottles 4 are located on the left side relative to the neck 42 of the bottle 4.

[0107] With this arrangement, the cans 40 are arranged in rows on the left and right sides of the support 55, just like the bottle holders 5. Furthermore, the lower sides of each can 40 arranged in this way are located in the space between the row of necks 42 of each bottle 4 on the left and the row of necks 42 of each bottle 4 on the right, and the lower sides of the cans 40 arranged on the left and right are sandwiched by the necks 42 of the bottles 4 to which the processing liquid is supplied.

[0108] That is, the cans 40 and bottles 4 are configured such that the height of the cans 40 partially overlaps with the height of the bottles 4 by utilizing the space formed between the necks 42 of the bottles 4, which are placed at an angle as described above. With this configuration, the height of the casing 7 can be suppressed.

[0109] Furthermore, as described later, for example, the bottle-changing robot R1 approaches the bottle-carrying unit 50, which has multiple bottle-carrying sections 5, to replace the bottle 4. As shown previously, the bottle-carrying sections 5 are arranged in a matrix shape when viewed from above, but the number of sections in the front-back direction is greater than the number in the left-right direction. Therefore, to prevent the bottle-changing robot R1 from approaching the bottle-carrying unit 50 from the left and right sides respectively, the bottle-carrying sections 5 are arranged at a position relatively far from the robot R1, and a larger number of bottle-carrying sections 5 are arranged near the robot R1. Therefore, the above-described layout, which has different numbers of bottle-carrying sections 5 in the front-back and left-right directions, helps to suppress errors when the bottle-changing robot R1 replaces the bottle 4.

[0110] Figure 7 This indicates that the bottle holder 5 is in state 1. Figure 8 The bottle holder 5 is shown in its second state. As described above, eight bottle holders 5 and eight cans 40 are arranged on the support 55. Since they move as a single unit, they will be described as a bottle holding unit 50. The bottle holding unit 50 is a component configured to move freely between the inside and outside of the housing 7, and includes the support 55, bottle holders 5, cans 40, and the moving mechanism 6 (described later). When the bottle holding unit 50 is in its second state, the cans 40 also move to the front of the box station 12 along with the bottles 4. Therefore, the flow path 36 connecting the cans 40 to the nozzle 33 is configured to have an appropriate length to avoid obstructing this movement.

[0111] For the bottle holding unit 50, vertical plate-like bodies 57 and 58 are respectively provided in front of and behind the support body 55 in the direction of movement. As described above, these plate-like bodies 57 and 58 constitute the wall portion in the front-rear direction of the housing 7. Furthermore, in this example, when the bottle holding unit 50 (bottle holding part 5) is in the first state, as... Figure 2 , Figure 7 As shown, the front plate 57 is integrated with the front wall 121 of the box station 12, and the plate 57 constitutes part of the wall of the box station 12 (part of the side wall of the aforementioned system housing).

[0112] In other words, an opening 120 is formed in the wall portion 121 in front of the box station 12 for forming a moving area for the bottle holding unit 50 mounted on the support body 55. This opening 120 is opened and closed by a plate-like body 57 that serves as a cover. Thus, when the bottle holding unit 50 is set to the first state, the opening 120 is blocked by the plate-like body 57, and the space around each bottle holding part 5 is closed by the housing 7.

[0113] Moreover, such as Figure 4As shown, the housing 7 (space 70), which is set to the first state and whose interior is a closed space, is vented by an venting mechanism 75 equipped with valves, an venting pump, etc. This venting of the housing 7 is to prevent the vaporized processing liquid from leaking to the outside of the housing 7 in the event that the processing liquid has vaporized from the bottle 4, the tank 40 and their attached flow paths.

[0114] Furthermore, the housing 7 is composed of an upper wall 72, side walls 73 and 74, plate-shaped bodies 57 and 58, and a support body 55. As described above, the plate-shaped body 57 serves as the cover of the housing 7 and can be moved using the moving mechanism 6 described later. In the previous description of the outline of the housing 7, it was stated that only the plate-shaped body 57, which serves as the cover, in the wall portion of the housing 7 moves. However, since the plate-shaped bodies 57 and 58 are respectively connected to the support body 55 as described above, the support body 55 and the plate-shaped body 58 also move together with the plate-shaped body 57. Moreover, the bottle-holding unit 50 supported on the support body 55 also moves together with the support body 55. As described above, by having a portion of the wall portion constituting the housing 7 remain stationary while another portion moves together with the bottle-holding unit 50 containing the bottle-holding portion 5, a second state is achieved where the space 70 formed by the housing 7 is open and the bottle-holding portion 5 is located outside the space 70 (outside the housing).

[0115] Next, the moving mechanism 6, which moves the bottle-holding unit 50 to the outside of the housing 7 to switch from the first state to the second state, will be described. The moving mechanism 6 constitutes a switching mechanism between the first state and the second state.

[0116] like Figure 4 As shown, for example, the two ends of the support body 55 in the left and right directions are bent downward near the walls 73 and 74 of the housing 7, so that a space is formed on the lower side of the support body 55, and the moving mechanism 6 is arranged in the space.

[0117] like Figure 4 , Figure 7 and Figure 8 As shown, the moving mechanism 6 includes, for example, a motor 61 located on the rear side of the lower surface of the support 55; a pinion 62 that is rotated by the motor 61; and a linear member 63 located on the bottom wall 71 of the housing 7 over the entire range in the front-rear direction in the area where the bottle-carrying unit 50 moves.

[0118] Therefore, the moving mechanism 6 is positioned below the bottle holder 5, the bottle placement area on the bottle holder 5, and the can 40, respectively, thus being at a different height from them. By setting them at different heights in this way, the space within the housing 7 for placing the bottles 4 and the bottle holder 5 can be prevented from being reduced, and the bottle holder 5 and the can 40 can be provided in sufficient quantities.

[0119] The pinion 62 is configured to rotate about a horizontal axis by being driven by the motor 61, and multiple teeth are formed on the linear member 63, for example at a position corresponding to the pinion 62.

[0120] Driven by the motor 61, the pinion 62 rotates while meshing with the teeth formed on the linear member 63, thereby moving the bottle-holding unit 50 containing the support 55 and the plate-shaped bodies 57 and 58 connected to the support 55 in the front-back direction. This front-back movement switches between the first state and the second state described above.

[0121] Next, refer to Figure 9 and Figure 10 The structure of the first support portion 52 and the second support portion 53 of each bottle mounting portion 5 provided in the bottle mounting unit 50 will be described. Figure 9 and Figure 10 The first support portion 52 includes: an abutment portion 521, which is T-shaped when viewed from the side; and a lower member 522 located below the abutment portion 521, having an inclined surface opposite to the bottom surface 51 of the bottle holder 5. Furthermore, the lower end of the abutment portion 521 and the upper end of the lower member 522 are connected by an elastic member, such as a spring 523. A rod-shaped body 524 extending downward inside the spring 523 is provided in the abutment portion 521. The rod-shaped body 524 extends in a direction orthogonal to the bottom surface 51, allowing the abutment portion 521 to move along this orthogonal direction.

[0122] Figure 9 This indicates that bottle 4 is about to be placed in front of bottle holder 5 but is not located in the bottle placement area. Figure 10 This indicates the status of bottle 4 within the bottle configuration area. For example... Figure 10 As shown, when the bottle 4 is located in the bottle placement area, the abutment portion 521 is pressed by the bottom surface 43 of the bottle 4, and the lower end of the abutment portion 521 approaches the lower member 522, so the spring 523 is in a contracted state, and the top of the rod 524 descends.

[0123] On the other hand, such as Figure 9 As shown, when bottle 4 is not located in the bottle placement area, the abutment portion 521 is more abutted due to the restoring force of spring 523 than... Figure 10 As the position shown rises, the lower end of the contact portion 521 moves away from the lower member 522, and the top end of the rod-shaped body 524 is higher than... Figure 10 The position shown rises. Thus, the first support portion 52 is configured as a movable portion whose position changes between a state where the bottle 4 is located in the bottle arrangement area and a state where the bottle 4 is not located in the bottle arrangement area.

[0124] In this example, each first support portion 52 is provided with a detection mechanism 8 for detecting the presence or absence of a bottle 4 in the bottle configuration area. The detection mechanism 8 detects the presence or absence of the bottle 4 based on the position of a moving part, such as a member 522 located below the first support portion 52. In this example, the detection mechanism 8 is composed of a light-shielding sensor and includes a light-emitting part 81 and a light-receiving part 82. Furthermore, it is configured to... Figure 9 With the bottle 4 not located in the bottle arrangement area, the rod-shaped body 524 is positioned above the optical axis illuminated by the light-emitting unit 81. Figure 10 With the bottle 4 shown in the bottle configuration area, the rod 524 is positioned to block the optical axis.

[0125] Each light-receiving unit 82 of the detection unit 8 sends a detection signal corresponding to the presence or absence of light to the control device 100. The control device 100 detects the presence or absence of bottle 4 in the bottle arrangement area based on each detection signal. Specifically, for example, if no light is detected by any of the light-receiving units 82, it is considered that a bottle is present in the bottle arrangement area; if light is detected by any of the light-receiving units 82, it is considered that no bottle is present in the bottle arrangement area. As described above, the bottle arrangement area is the area occupied by the bottle 4 in its normal position. Therefore, detecting the presence of a bottle in the bottle arrangement area means detecting that the bottle 4 is placed on the bottle holder 5 in its normal position.

[0126] On the other hand, detecting the absence of bottles in the bottle placement area means detecting the absence of bottles 4 on the bottle holder 5, or even if bottles 4 are placed there, their posture is abnormal. Examples of such abnormal posture will be shown later. Thus, the detection mechanism 8 is set up to detect the presence or absence of bottles 4 on the bottle holder 5 and to detect posture-related states (more precisely, to detect whether they are placed in a normal posture).

[0127] The second support portion 53 is constructed in the same manner as the first support portion 52, except that it lacks the detection mechanism 8. Here, the reason for providing the detection mechanism 8 only in the first support portion 52 will be explained. As previously described, the bottle 4 is placed in the bottle holder 5 with its orientation tilted to one side. Therefore, assuming that an anomaly occurs during the handover of the bottle 4 by the bottle replacement robot R1 relative to the bottle holder 5, resulting in the bottle 4 not being properly placed (the bottle 4 not being located in the bottle placement area), the bottle 4 is more likely to tilt to one side (a tilted posture than the normal posture). In other words, since the state in which the bottle 4 is properly placed is set in a posture where the bottle holder is tilted in a predetermined direction (in this example, to the left or right), it is easy for the bottle 4 to tilt further in that predetermined direction if it is not properly placed.

[0128] Thus, the following situation may occur: even if bottle 4 is tilted, it is supported by the side of the bottle holder 5 at the upper end, and the lower part of bottle 4 remains within the side 56 of the bottle holder 5, preventing bottle 4 from detaching from the bottle holder 5. In other words, although bottle 4 is placed on the bottle holder 5, its tilt ratio is considered to be... Figure 5 The state shown is a large posture abnormality. In this posture abnormality, the separation distance between the bottom surface 43 of the bottle 4 and the bottom surface 51 of the bottle holder 5 (which is an inclined surface) is smaller on the lower side within the bottle holder 5. Therefore, for the second support 53 located on the lower side of the bottom surface 51, there exists a situation where, even if the bottle 4 is in this posture abnormality, the second support 53 remains in contact with the bottom surface of the bottle 4. In this case, if a detection mechanism 8 is also provided on the second support 53, it will be detected that the bottle 4 is placed in a normal posture. However, the aforementioned separation distance increases towards the upper side within the bottle holder 5. Therefore, the bottom surface 43 of the bottle 4 reliably separates from the first support 52 located on the upper side of the bottom surface 51.

[0129] As described above, even with the detection mechanism 8 installed on the second support portion 53, the possibility of failing to detect an abnormal posture of the bottle 4 or misdetecting it as a normal posture is relatively high. On the other hand, by installing the detection mechanism 8 on the first support portion 52, the abnormal posture can be reliably detected. For the purpose of improving the detection accuracy of the abnormality and reducing the increase in the manufacturing cost of the device by reducing the number of detection mechanisms 8, the detection mechanism 8 is only installed on the first support portion 52 of the first support portion 52 and the second support portion 53. However, it is also possible to install the detection mechanism 8 on the second support portion 53 as well. Furthermore, there are... Figure 5 In the case where the first support portion 52, which includes the detection mechanism 8, has two locations in the X direction (depth direction), there are two detection mechanisms 8. In this case, if the two detection mechanisms produce different detection results (for example, only one detects light exposure), it is possible to detect an abnormal posture of the bottle 4 tilting in the depth direction.

[0130] In this example, such as Figure 11 As shown, multiple, for example, four wafer processing systems 1 are configured to be arranged in a front-to-back direction. Furthermore, adjacent wafer processing systems in the front-to-back direction are kept at a certain distance from each other as a maintenance area. Thus, the maintenance area is set to a size that prevents interference between the bottle-mounting unit 50 and adjacent wafer processing systems 1 when the bottle-mounting unit 50 is in its second state.

[0131] Furthermore, for each bottle-holding section 5 of the bottle-holding unit 50 in the second state, for example, it is configured such that a bottle-changing robot R1, capable of moving within a cleanroom, approaches it to perform the replacement of the bottle 4. Figure 11In the diagram, a double-dotted line represents the movement path of the bottle-changing robot 1. Furthermore, for... Figure 4 The bottle 4 arranged on one side in the left-right direction is replaced by a bottle replacement robot R1 approaching from that side. Similarly, the bottle replacement robot R1 replaces the bottles 4 arranged on the other side from the other side.

[0132] Specifically, for this replacement, the empty bottle 4 is received from the bottle holding unit 5 by the bottle replacement robot R1, and the bottle 4 filled with processing fluid is placed in the bottle holding unit 5 by the bottle replacement robot R1. The cap 44 of the bottle 4 is transferred from the bottle 4 received by the robot R1 to the new bottle 4 placed in the bottle holding unit 5 using a loading / unloading mechanism (not shown) provided in the wafer processing system 1 or the bottle replacement robot R1.

[0133] like Figure 7 and Figure 8 As shown, an operation panel 101, which constitutes a part of the control device 100, is provided in, for example, a cassette station 12 of the wafer processing system 1. The operator performs predetermined operations from this operation panel 101, thereby... Figure 4 The moving mechanism 6 described herein switches between the first and second states by performing an action.

[0134] In such Figure 11 Before the bottle replacement robot R1 replaces bottle 4 as shown, the operator operates the operation panel 101 of the wafer processing system 1 that needs to replace bottle 4. This causes the wafer processing system 1 to... Figure 7 The first state in which the bottle-carrying unit 50 is housed within the housing 7 is shown. Figure 8 The bottle-holding unit 50 is shown in its second state after exiting the housing 7. Then, after replacing the bottle 4, the operator operates the operation panel 101, returning from the second state to the first state. Alternatively, the transition between the first and second states can be achieved by the operator sending a command signal from an operation function unit (e.g., a main computer) separate from the wafer processing system 1 to the wafer processing system 1, instead of operating the operation panel 101.

[0135] For example, displayed on the operation panel 101 Figure 9 , Figure 10 The description refers to the presence or absence of bottles 4 in each bottle placement area, detected by the detection mechanism 8 of the bottle holder 5. Therefore, the operator observes this display and, if necessary, takes appropriate actions such as resetting to the second state and repositioning the bottles 4. Alternatively, the operation panel 101 may only display whether the light-receiving part 82 of the detection mechanism 8 detects light, and the operator, observing this display, determines whether bottles 4 are present in the bottle placement area.

[0136] According to this embodiment, the bottle-carrying unit 50, which includes the bottle-carrying section 5, is moved by the moving mechanism 6, thereby switching between a first state in which the bottle-carrying unit 50 is housed within the housing 70 and a second state in which the bottle-carrying unit 50 is removed from the housing 70 and can be replaced with a bottle 4. That is, since it is not necessary to manually move the bottle-carrying section 5, which is relatively heavy due to the presence of the bottle 4, can 40, etc., to replace the bottle 4, the workload of the operator in replacing the bottle 4 can be reduced. In the example described above, the bottle-changing robot R1 was used to replace the bottle 4, but this effect is achieved even when an operator replaces the bottle 4.

[0137] Furthermore, in the wafer processing system 1, the space 70 within the housing 7 of the bottle-holding unit 5 constitutes the space within the system 1. That is, in this first embodiment, the bottle-holding device is configured to be assembled in the wafer processing system 1. According to this structure, compared to the structure described later where the housing 7 is provided separately from the wafer processing system 1, the area required for the installation of the wafer processing system 1 and its attached bottle-holding unit 5 can be reduced.

[0138] In the example described above, in the cassette station 12, for example, a housing 7 is provided on the lower side of the area where the wafer transport device 21 is located. However, this is not limited to this example; the housing 7 may also be provided on the lower side of the area where the wafer transport device 22 is located, so that the bottle holder 5 is moved rearward and set to the second state. Furthermore, the housing 7 is not limited to being provided in the cassette station 12; it may also be provided in other stations 13 such as the processing station 13.

[0139] <Second Implementation>

[0140] Next, refer to Figures 12-15 The second embodiment of the wafer processing system constituting the bottle housing device will be described with a structure different from that of the first embodiment.

[0141] The wafer processing system 1A in this embodiment is configured as a stand-alone model without an interface station (not connected to the exposure apparatus). Furthermore, the cassette station 12A is provided with a standby unit 18 for cassette C to standby, and also includes a container transport mechanism 26.

[0142] The standby section 18 is arranged in two layers in the vertical direction and four layers in the front-to-back direction relative to the housing section 15, on one side in the left-right direction (the left side in this example). Furthermore, in Figure 13 In the middle, a single-dot dashed line represents box C, which is in standby mode in standby section 18.

[0143] The container conveying mechanism 26 is configured to move freely in the X, Y, Z and θ directions, so as to hold the holding part 10 located on the upper part of the box C by means of the arm 261 and convey the box C between the standby part 18 and the box placement part 15. Figure 12 In the figure, reference numeral 262 is the lifting shaft of the container conveying mechanism 26.

[0144] The standby unit 18 and the container conveying mechanism 26 are surrounded by a housing 76, which serves as the system housing. Therefore, although the first embodiment describes the system housing as surrounding the wafer transport apparatus and the processing apparatus, the housing 76 is configured to surround not only the wafer transport apparatus and the processing apparatus, but also the moving area of ​​the cassette C between the standby unit 18 and the cassette mounting unit 15. The other structures of the cassette station 12A and the processing station 13 are the same as in the first embodiment.

[0145] In this example, in the first state, the housing 7A surrounding the bottle holder 5 is positioned in the lower side region of the standby section 18 of the box station 12A. Regarding the housing 7A, as... Figure 13 As shown, when viewing box station 12A from the left, multiple, for example, three housings 7A are arranged in the front-to-back direction with gaps between them.

[0146] The housing 7A has the same structure as the housing 7, forming a space 70 inside. However, as will be described later, the bottle-holding unit 50 is pulled out to the left, so the part that becomes the cap, which corresponds to the plate 57 of the housing 7, forms the lower side wall on the left side of the housing 76 (plate 571 described later). Figure 13 In the diagram, the upper wall constituting the housing 7A is designated as 72A, and the side walls constituting the housing 7A are designated as 73A and 74A. The upper wall 72A, side walls 73A, and 74A are formed separately for each housing 7A within the system housing 76. Thus, the upper wall 72A, side walls 73A, and 74A forming each housing 7A are provided within the system housing 76.

[0147] Therefore, the aforementioned space 70 (the space around the bottle holder 5 in the first state) is provided inside the housing 7A, and is also provided inside the system housing 76 (the housing provided in the box station 12).

[0148] Each housing 7A is provided with a bottle-holding unit 50A that can move freely in the left-right direction. That is, in the first state, the bottle-holding unit 50A is located in the space 70 inside the housing 7A, and in the second state, the bottle-holding unit 50A moves to the left from the housing 7A.

[0149] like Figure 12 , Figure 14As shown, the bottle-holding unit 50A in this example is constructed in the same way as the bottle-holding unit 50 of the first embodiment, except that the bottle-holding section 5 is arranged in two layers in the vertical direction. For example, the support body 55 is arranged in two layers, and each support body 55 is provided with a bottle-holding section 5 and a can 40 for holding the bottle 4 in an inclined state. The bottle-holding section 5 and the can 40 of each layer are arranged in the same layout as in the first embodiment with respect to the direction of movement of the bottle-holding unit 50A.

[0150] Therefore, when viewed from the left side of the box station 12A, the bottle holders 5 of each layer are arranged in two rows on the left and four rows in the front and back, and the cans 40 are arranged in the same way as the bottle holders 5. Furthermore, a moving mechanism 6 is provided on the lower side of the plate-shaped body 55 of the lower layer, and a detection mechanism 8 is provided on the first support 52 of each bottle holder 5. In addition, from now on, one of the two columns of bottle holders 5 when viewed along the moving direction of the bottle holding units 50, 50A will be referred to as the first column, and the other column will be referred to as the second column.

[0151] When viewing these bottle-holding units 50A from the front side of box station 12A, as follows: Figure 14 As shown, wall portions 571 and 581 for forming the front and back walls of the housing 7A are respectively provided at the left and right ends of the plate-shaped body 55.

[0152] The wall portion 571 is configured to be integrated with the left wall portion 761 of the system housing 76 when the bottle holding unit 50A is in the first state, and the housing 7A is formed by the wall portions 571, 581, the lower support 55, the upper wall 72, and the side walls 73 and 74.

[0153] Thus, in this example, the space surrounding the bottle holder 5 in the first state is surrounded by the housing 76 surrounding the standby section 18 and the container conveying mechanism 26. Furthermore, the bottle holder 5 in the first state is positioned in the lower region of the standby section 18, and its left-right position is the same as that of the standby section 18 in the left-right direction.

[0154] In this example as well, Figure 15 As shown, multiple, for example, four wafer processing systems 1A are arranged with open intervals between them. As described above, the bottle loading unit 50A moves to the left from the cassette station 12A when changing bottle 4, and is set to the second state. Then, the bottle changing robot R1 approaches the bottle loading unit 50A in the second state to change bottle 4.

[0155] For example, similar to the first embodiment, the bottle-changing robot R1 approaches from the side of the first column and replaces the bottle 4 in that column, and approaches from the side of the second column and replaces the bottle 4 in that column. Figure 15The detailed movement path of robot R1 is omitted. Furthermore, a wafer processing system 1A has multiple bottle-loading units 50, but as... Figure 15 As shown, the bottle-carrying unit 50 selected from among them moves to a second state where it can transfer the bottle 4 relative to the bottle-carrying section 5. This prevents one bottle-carrying unit 50 from obstructing the robot R1 from approaching other bottle-carrying units 50. In subsequent embodiments, for example, similarly to the first and second embodiments, the bottle-changing robot R1 approaches the bottle-carrying unit 50 to change the bottle 4.

[0156] The other structures are the same as in the first embodiment. In this embodiment, the workload of the operator in changing the bottle 4 can also be reduced. In addition, in this example, by using the area below the standby section 18 as the housing 7A, as described above, a greater number of bottle holders 5 and cans 40 can be provided in the wafer processing system, which is therefore preferable.

[0157] <Third Implementation>

[0158] Reference Figure 16 A third embodiment of the wafer processing system equipped with a bottle housing device will be described, focusing on a structure different from the embodiments described above.

[0159] The wafer processing system 1B of this embodiment is configured such that the exposure apparatus 19 is connected to the wafer processing system 1A of the second embodiment via the interface station 14. The interface station 14 is configured similarly to that of the first embodiment, and its description is omitted. Figure 16 As shown, the box station 12A, processing station 13, interface station 14 and exposure device 19 are arranged in a front-aligned manner, with the exposure device 19 configured to protrude rearward.

[0160] In this example, a first housing 7B1 for holding the vial 5 is provided behind the cassette station 12A, facing it when viewed from above, and a second housing 7B2 for holding the vial 5 is provided at the cassette station 12A. Here, in the front-rear direction of the wafer processing system 1B, the first housing 7B1 is provided behind the cassette station 12A, corresponding to the direction in which the exposure apparatus 19 protrudes. More specifically, the first housing 7B1 faces one end of the exposure apparatus 19 in the left-right direction, and is configured adjacent to the cassette station 12A by being opposite it.

[0161] The aforementioned second housing 7B2 is, for example, provided in the box station 12A. Figure 12 The area below the standby section 18. In this figure, the second housing 7B2 is located in the front and rear areas within the box station 12A, but it can also be as shown... Figure 13 As with other examples, it is also located in the area between them.

[0162] The first housing 7B1 is constructed in the same manner as housing 7, except that it is located on the outside of box station 12A. That is, it has a bottom wall (not shown), a top wall 721, side walls 731 and 741, and a back wall 751. Furthermore, the first housing 7B1 houses a bottle holding unit 5B1, which is constructed in the same manner as in the second embodiment described above.

[0163] However, the first housing 7B1 is not composed of the partition wall or part of the system housing as previously described, but is constructed separately from them. However, similar to housing 7, the first housing 7B1 can accommodate the bottle-holding unit 5B1 within the space 70 in the first state, and this space 70 can be vented. Furthermore, in the second state, the bottle-holding portion 5 emerges from the space 70 as the cap (wall portion 571) moves.

[0164] Furthermore, the second housing 7B2 is constructed in the same manner as the housing 7A in the second embodiment. The second housing 7B2 also houses a bottle-holding unit 5B2, which is constructed in the same manner as in the second embodiment, except that, for example, two bottles 4 are arranged in the left-right direction.

[0165] Thus, the first housing 7B1 and the second housing 7B2 are respectively configured to enclose the space around each bottle-carrying unit 5 together with the wall portion 571 provided on the support body 55 when the bottle-carrying portion 5 of the bottle-carrying unit 5B1 and 5B2 is in the first state.

[0166] The second state in this example is Figure 16 The bottle-holding units 5B1 and 5B2 move to the left of the box station 12A from the first housing 7B1 and the second housing 7B2. Furthermore, a bottle-changing robot (not shown) approaches the bottle-holding units 5B1 and 5B2 in their second state from the left side of the box station 12A and replaces bottle 4.

[0167] The other structures are the same as in the first embodiment. In this embodiment, the workload of the operator in changing bottle 4 can also be reduced.

[0168] Furthermore, both bottle carriers 5B1 and 5B2 are moved to the left side of box station 12A and are set to the second state. Therefore, the area that the bottle changing robot can approach is concentrated near box station 12A, enabling efficient bottle changing operations.

[0169] In addition, consider Figure 16The connector between the wafer processing system 1B and the exposure apparatus 19 is arranged in a cleanroom. Assume that other substrate processing systems are located on the front and rear sides of this connector. To enable operators to perform various required operations on each system, the connector is arranged such that a predetermined space is formed between the exposure apparatus 19 (which has the largest front-to-back width within the connector) and the other substrate processing systems. For a simplified explanation, the connector is considered to be a rectangle containing the size of the connector when viewed from above, and is arranged such that a predetermined space is formed between the rectangle and the other substrate processing systems. Therefore, the area behind the wafer processing system 1B and facing the protruding exposure apparatus 19 becomes unused space.

[0170] However, in this example, the first housing 7B1 is positioned in the unused space by being arranged opposite the exposure apparatus 19. Therefore, it is preferable to have a larger number of bottles 4 provided in the wafer processing system 1B without affecting the positional relationship between the connectors and other substrate processing systems within the cleanroom (without increasing the spacing between them). In this example, the exposure apparatus 19 protrudes rearward relative to the wafer processing system 1B; therefore, for the reasons described above, the first housing 7B1 is positioned behind the wafer processing system 1B. If the exposure apparatus 19 protrudes forward relative to the wafer processing system 1B, the first housing 7B1 can be positioned in front of the wafer processing system 1B.

[0171] Furthermore, the first housing 7B1 can also be configured to be opposite to other stations instead of opposite to box station 12A. In this case, it can also be adjacent to those other stations. However, as mentioned above, from the viewpoint of preventing the bottle-changing robot R1 from approaching an area that expands in order to change bottle 4, thus requiring time for the change, it is preferable to configure it as described above, opposite to box station 12A where the second housing 7B2 is located.

[0172] Furthermore, when the first housing 7B1 is arranged opposite to the box station 12A, the direction in which the bottle holding unit 5B1 is pulled out from the first housing 7B1 is the same as the direction in which the bottle holding unit 5B2 is pulled out from the second housing 7B2, which is to the left. Thus, it is preferable that the directions of pulling out the bottle holding units 5B1 and 5B2 are consistent between the housings. More specifically, when the first housing 7B1, which is arranged adjacent to the rear of the box station 12, allows for the replacement of bottles 5 in the first and second columns, the bottle holding unit 5B2 can also be pulled out to the left and also to the rear.

[0173] However, if the wafer processing system 1B, including the first housing 7B1 and the bottle-holding units 5B1 and 5B2 that are pulled out in different directions, is considered as a rectangle as described above, then the rectangle may become larger due to the different pulling directions. Therefore, the installation of the wafer processing system 1B, including the first housing 7B1, in a cleanroom is limited. In other words, unifying the orientation of the bottle-holding units 5B1 and 5B2 helps to prevent such limitations in system installation.

[0174] Furthermore, the wafer processing system 1B, which includes a second housing 7B2 and a bottle-holding unit 5B housed within the second housing 7B2, is a bottle-holding device. Additionally, the first housing 7B1 and the bottle-holding unit 5B1 housed within the first housing 7B1 house bottles that store processing liquid supplied to the wafer processing system 1B, but because they are formed outside the wafer processing system 1B, they can be considered as a bottle-holding device different from the wafer processing system 1B.

[0175] <Fourth Implementation>

[0176] Reference Figure 17 The fourth embodiment of the wafer processing system equipped with a bottle housing device will be described, focusing on a structure different from the embodiments described above.

[0177] The wafer processing system 1C of this embodiment is an example in which a housing 7C and a bottle-mounting unit 50C are provided between adjacent wafer processing systems 1C when multiple wafer processing systems 1C are arranged with a gap between them in the front-to-back direction (X direction). For example, the wafer processing system 1C is configured by connecting the exposure apparatus 19 to the wafer processing system 1 of the first embodiment.

[0178] In this example, four wafer processing systems 1C are designated as System 1 C1, System 2 C2, System 3 C3, and System 4 C4 from the front side in the front-rear direction. The front-rear distance between System 1 C1 and System 2 C2, and between System 3 C3 and System 4 C4, is set to be greater than the front-rear distance between System 2 C2 and System 3 C3. Furthermore, in the region where the front-rear distance is set to be larger, a housing 7C is provided behind the cassette station 12 and the processing station 13, opposite to the cassette station 12 and the processing station 13 when viewed from above.

[0179] exist Figure 17 In the example shown, a housing 7C (7C1 to 7C4) is prepared relative to a wafer processing system 1C (C1 to C4) in such a way that the housing 7C is positioned opposite the housing 12 and the processing station 13 when viewed from above.

[0180] For example, between system 1 C1 and system 2 C2, the housing 7C1 for system 1 and the housing 7C2 for system 2 C2 are arranged in the left-right direction (Y direction). Similarly, between system 3 C3 and system 4 C4, the housing 7C3 for system 3 C3 and the housing 7C4 for system 4 C4 are arranged in the left-right direction.

[0181] Each housing 7C, for example, has two spaces 70 formed by internal partition walls, and a bottle-carrying unit 50C is provided in each space 70. Therefore, it can also be considered that there are essentially two housings relative to a wafer processing system 1C. The bottle-carrying unit 50C moves forward or backward from each housing 7C, changing from a first state located inside the housing 7C to a second state moved out of the housing 7C.

[0182] In this embodiment, the housing 7C may, for example, be disposed in front of or behind the box station 12 or the exposure device 19 in a manner that is opposite to the box station 12 or the exposure device 19 when viewed from above.

[0183] The other structures are the same as in the first embodiment. In this embodiment, the workload of the operator in changing bottle 4 can also be reduced. In this embodiment, the housing 7C and the bottle holding unit 50C provided in the housing 7C are bottle receiving devices. Therefore, the bottle receiving device is configured as a separate device from the wafer processing system 1C. That is, the bottle receiving device is not limited to being configured to be assembled inside the wafer processing system.

[0184] <Fifth Implementation>

[0185] Reference Figures 18-23 The fifth embodiment of the wafer processing system constituting the bottle housing device will be described with a structure different from the above-described embodiments.

[0186] The wafer processing system 1D of this embodiment is constructed by providing an intermediate station 20, which constitutes an intermediate block, between the wafer processing system 1 of the first embodiment and the wafer processing system 1. The intermediate station 20 includes a transport mechanism 27 and a transfer section 28. The transport mechanism 27 is configured to transport wafer W to the transfer device of the third block G3 of the wafer processing system 12. The transfer section 28 is configured to transfer wafer W to the wafer transport device 23 of the processing system 13.

[0187] Thus, the intermediate station 20 has the function of transporting wafers W between the box station 12 and the processing station 13. In the intermediate station 20, a transport area, for example composed of a transport mechanism 27 and a junction, is provided approximately at the center in the front-to-back direction. Furthermore, when viewed from above, a first space 91 and a second space 92, each equipped with a bottle-holding portion 5, are provided in front of and behind the transport area, respectively. These first spaces 91 and second spaces 92 are constructed identically to each other.

[0188] Figure 19 This section describes a structural example of the first space 91. The first space 91 is, for example, configured as the internal space of a storage rack 93, which serves as a housing. The storage rack 93, for example, has a door 94 on its front surface aligned with the side wall 201 at the front of the intermediate station 20, and includes a bottom wall 931, an upper wall 932, side walls 933 and 934, and a rear wall 935. The door 94 opens and closes an opening 930 formed integrally on the front surface of the storage rack 93. For example, the rear wall 935 is a partition wall within the system housing of the intermediate station 20, and the bottom wall 931, upper wall 932, side walls 933 and 934, and door 94 constitute the wall of the system housing.

[0189] In this example, the storage rack 93 has three shelves 94 arranged vertically, with the lower shelf consisting of a bottom wall 931. In each shelf 94, multiple bottle holders 5 are arranged in a row in the left-right (Y) direction. The bottle holders 5 are configured similarly to those in the first embodiment, including a first support 52, a second support 53, and a detection mechanism 8, and are positioned in a forward-tilted position above the bottles in the bottle placement area.

[0190] like Figures 20-22 As schematically shown, the door 94 has multiple, for example, three doors 941, 942, and 943 located at different positions in the front-to-back direction. These doors 941 to 943 are configured to move in the left-to-right direction. If these doors 941 to 943 are designated as door 1 941, door 2 942, and door 3 943 from front to rear, then door moving mechanisms 951 and 952 are respectively provided on the upper and lower surfaces of door 1 941 and door 3 943. Furthermore, in Figure 19 In this context, they are collectively represented as door moving mechanism 95.

[0191] The door moving mechanisms 951 and 952 include, for example, a drive pulley 962 located on one side of the first door 941 and the third door 943 in the left-right direction, which is rotated by a motor 961; a driven pulley 963 located on the other side of the first door 941 and the third door 943; and a timing belt 964 mounted between the drive pulley 962 and the driven pulley 963. Thus, depending on the rotation direction of the motor 961, the first door 941 and the third door 943 can move from left to right or from right to left.

[0192] Furthermore, for example, a backward-bending bend 971 is formed at both ends of the first door 941, a forward-bending bend 972 is formed at the left end of the second door 942, a backward-bending bend 973 is formed at the right end of the second door 942, and forward-bending bends 974 are formed at both ends of the third door 943. Moreover, the first door 941 and the second door 942, as well as the second door 942 and the third door 943, are respectively configured with bends 971 and 972 or 973 and 974 combined with each other.

[0193] Thus, driven by gate 1 (941) and gate 3 (943), thereby... Figure 20 This results in the opening 930 of the storage rack 93 being closed. Additionally, as... Figure 21 Thus, driven from right to left by the third door 943, the second door 942 moves along with the third door 943, and consequently the first door 941 moves, resulting in the right side of the opening 930 being open. Furthermore, as... Figure 22 Thus, driven from left to right by the first door 941, the second door 942 moves along with the first door 941, and then the third door 943 moves, forming a state in which the left side of the opening 930 is open.

[0194] In this example, such as Figure 20 As shown, the state in which the opening 930 is closed by the door 94 is the first state in which the space surrounding the bottle holder 5 (the first space 91) is closed. Furthermore, as... Figure 21 , Figure 22 As shown, the partially open state of the opening 930 is a second state in which the space (first space 91) is opened for the exchange of bottle 4 with respect to the bottle holder 5. Therefore, the door moving mechanisms 951 and 952 that move the door portions 941 and 943 are equivalent to switching mechanisms that switch between the first and second states. Furthermore, a mechanism is provided in the form of... Figure 20 An exhaust mechanism (not shown) that vents air from the interior of the storage rack 93 when the opening 930 is closed by the door 94 and the first state is set.

[0195] The second space 92 is configured in the same way as the first space 91, such that the first space 91 and the second space 92 switch between the first state and the second state separately.

[0196] For example, the configuration is such that when the operator operates the control panel 101, an opening command is output to the door moving mechanism 951, 952 of the door 94 according to the bottle 4 to be replaced, and the door 94 automatically moves to... Figure 21 or Figure 22 The location. Then, for example, Figure 23As shown, the bottle replacement robot R1, which has a moving area set on one side in the left-right direction relative to the wafer processing system 1D, moves to the first space 91 or the second space 92 that contains the bottle 4 to be replaced, and performs the bottle replacement operation.

[0197] Moreover, in this example, such as Figure 19 As shown, a detection mechanism 98 for interference can also be provided in front of the door 94 of the storage rack 93. This detection mechanism 98 includes a light-projecting part 981 located at one end (left in this example) of the storage rack 93 and a light-receiving part 982 located at the other end (right in this example). Multiple sets of light-projecting parts 981 and light-receiving parts 982 are arranged vertically. When the light from the light-projecting part 981 is blocked, it is determined that an interference is present, and the opening and closing of the door is stopped.

[0198] In this embodiment, when replacing bottle 4, the switching mechanism switches between the first and second states, thus reducing the workload of the operator in replacing bottle 4. Furthermore, since the switching between the first and second states is achieved by opening and closing the door 94 of the storage rack 93, it can be applied, for example, when wafer processing systems 1C are arranged in a front-to-back direction, to situations where the distance between adjacent wafer processing systems 1C is relatively short.

[0199] Furthermore, in this example, the door 94 of the storage rack 93 may not be a structure that slides in the left-right direction as in the above-described embodiment, but rather a structure that slides in the up-down direction, or it may be configured like a roller blind.

[0200] In addition, Figure 18 In the wafer processing system, the housing 7 and the bottle-carrying unit 50 of the first embodiment may also be provided in the region of the intermediate station 20 where the first space 91 and the second space 92 are formed, and the bottle-carrying unit 50 is configured to move between the first state and the second state by means of the moving mechanism 6.

[0201] The above structure can also be, for example, Figure 24 As shown, the moving mechanism 6A of the bottle holder 5 is positioned above the bottle holder 5 and the bottle arrangement area on the bottle holder 5. In this example, a wall portion 59 is provided above the can 40, opposite to the support body 55, and the moving mechanism 6A is provided between the wall portion 59 and the upper wall 72 of the housing 7. Figure 24As shown, the moving mechanism 6A includes a motor 61A, a pinion 62A, and a linear member 63A. The linear member 63A is arranged along the front-rear direction and has multiple teeth that engage with the pinion 62A. The motor 61A and the pinion 62A are located on the upper surface of the wall portion 59, and the linear member 63A is located on the lower surface of the upper wall 72 of the housing 4. Furthermore, for example, the lower surfaces of both ends of the support body 55 in the left-right direction are configured to move along the guide rail 550.

[0202] Furthermore, the structure of the moving mechanism that moves the bottle holder 5 is not limited to the structures of moving mechanisms 6 and 6A. When transmitting the power of the motor to the bottle holder unit 50, which is the object to be moved, other transmission mechanisms such as ball screws can be used instead of gears. Similarly, for the door moving mechanisms 951 and 952 shown in the fifth embodiment, when transmitting the power of the motor to the door, which is the object to be moved, transmission mechanisms other than belts can be used. Additionally, it is not limited to moving the bottle holder 5 relative to the housing 7; the drive mechanism 6 can also be configured to move the bottle holder 5 relative to the housing 7.

[0203] In addition, in the examples described above, the can 40 moves together with the bottle holder 5, but it can also be configured such that only the can 40 and the bottle holder 5 move.

[0204] Furthermore, the testing agency for whether or not bottle 4 is present in the testing bottle configuration area is not limited to... Figures 8-10 The structure can be, for example, a limit sensor, a reflective sensor, or a beam sensor.

[0205] Reference Figure 25 and Figure 26 An example using a beam sensor will be described. This example beam sensor includes a first detection unit 83 and a second detection unit 84. Each of the first detection units 83 and the second detection unit 84 includes a group of light-projecting units 831 and 841 and light-receiving units 832 and 842. The light-projecting units 831 of the first detection unit 83 and 841 of the second detection unit 84 are respectively configured to irradiate light onto the neck 42 of the bottle 4 in the bottle arrangement area from different directions when viewed from above. Furthermore, the optical axes from these two light-projecting units 831 and 832 are set at different height positions to prevent light interference.

[0206] Furthermore, for example, the control device 100 constitutes a determination unit that determines whether or not a bottle 4 exists in the bottle arrangement area based on the light received by the light-receiving part 832 of the first detection unit 83 and the light-receiving part 842 of the second detection unit 84. Figure 26 The solid line in the middle indicates the state in which the bottle 4 is normally arranged in the bottle arrangement area. In this case, the optical axes of the two light-emitting parts 831 and 841 are blocked by the neck 82 of the bottle 4, and the two light-receiving parts 832 and 842 are not illuminated.

[0207] In addition, Figure 26 The example shown is an abnormal posture of bottle 4 (bottle 4 is on bottle holder 5, but not in the normal bottle placement area). In this case, the optical axis of one light-emitting part 831 is blocked by the neck 82 of bottle 4, but the optical axis of the other light-emitting part 841 is not blocked. Therefore, one of the two light-receiving parts 832 and 842 is illuminated while the other is not. Moreover, when bottle 4 is not on bottle holder 5, the optical axes of the two light-emitting parts 831 and 841 are not blocked by bottle 4, and the two light-receiving parts 832 and 842 are directly illuminated together.

[0208] Therefore, for example, if the detection results of both the first detection unit 83 and the second detection unit 84 are "received light", the control device 100 determines that "no bottle". Furthermore, if the detection result of one of the first detection unit 83 and the second detection unit 84 is "received light" and the other is "not received light", it determines that "the bottle's posture is abnormal". Moreover, the configuration is such that if the detection results of both the first detection unit 83 and the second detection unit 84 are "not received light", it determines that "a bottle is present and the bottle's posture is normal". This determination result is displayed, for example, on the operation panel 101.

[0209] However, depending on the degree of abnormality in the posture of bottle 4, there are also cases where the detection results of the first detection unit 83 and the second detection unit 84 are both "received by light" or "not received by light". Therefore, it is also possible to increase the number of detection units to distinguish with high precision between cases where there is no bottle 4 on the mounting unit 5 and cases where there is a bottle 4 on the mounting unit 5 but its posture is abnormal.

[0210] Furthermore, suppose that the first detection unit 83 and the second detection unit 84 irradiate light toward the main body 41 of the bottle 4. In this case, since the volume of the main body 41 is larger than the volume of the neck 42, even if the bottle 4 is tilted relative to the bottle arrangement area and becomes abnormally oriented, the probability that the light paths of the first detection unit 83 and the second detection unit 84 will be blocked is higher, just as in the case of normal orientation. That is, the first detection unit 83 and the second detection unit 84 irradiate light toward the neck 42 of the bottle 4 in the bottle arrangement area in order to detect the abnormal orientation of the bottle 4 as described above.

[0211] Alternatively, the operator can make each determination based on the detection results of the first detection unit 83 and the second detection unit 84, instead of the control device 100. That is, the operator can also display on the operation panel 101 whether the light-receiving parts 832 and 842 of the first detection unit 83 and the second detection unit 84 are receiving light, and make a determination based on the display.

[0212] The structures of the wafer processing systems using the bottle-containing device differ among the various embodiments described above. However, the structures of the wafer processing systems in each embodiment are arbitrary, and the structures can be interchanged, combined, or appropriately modified between embodiments. Therefore, for example, the wafer processing system described as a stand-alone unit can be configured as a non-stand-alone unit, or the non-stand-alone wafer processing system can be configured as a stand-alone unit. The container conveying mechanism 26 described in the second embodiment can also be applied to other embodiments.

[0213] The semiconductor device for the processing liquid used to manufacture semiconductor devices is not limited to devices manufactured using semiconductor wafers, but can also be applied to bottle-containing devices including flat panel displays (FPDs) and storing processing liquids used to process FPD substrates.

[0214] The embodiments disclosed herein should be considered illustrative rather than restrictive in all respects. The above embodiments may also be omitted, substituted, or modified in various ways without departing from the appended claims and their spirit.

Claims

1. A bottle-containing device, characterized in that, The bottle containment device has the following features: A bottle holder for storing a processing solution used in the manufacture of semiconductor devices; and A switching mechanism that switches between a first state in which the space around the bottle holder is closed and a second state in which the space is opened for handing over the bottle to the bottle holder.

2. The bottle containing device according to claim 1, characterized in that, The bottle containment device has the following features: The housing, which surrounds the bottle-holding portion in the first state; and A moving mechanism, which constitutes the switching mechanism, moves the bottle holder and the housing relative to each other in the second state such that the bottle holder is located outside the housing.

3. The bottle containing device according to claim 2, characterized in that, The moving mechanism causes the bottle-mounted portion to move laterally relative to the housing. The moving mechanism is positioned above or below the bottle holder and the bottle arrangement area on the bottle holder.

4. The bottle-containing device according to any one of claims 1 to 3, characterized in that, The bottle containment device has the following features: A processing block comprising a liquid treatment section for liquid treatment of a substrate by being supplied with the processing liquid; and A substrate feeding / ejecting block includes a container holding section for holding a container for receiving the substrate and a conveying mechanism for transferring the substrate to the container relative to the container holding section. The substrate feeding / ejecting block is disposed on one side of the processing block to transport the substrate between the container and the processing block. In the first state, the space around the bottle holder is the space provided inside the housing of the substrate delivery block.

5. The bottle containing device according to claim 4, characterized in that, The substrate feeding / ejecting block includes: A standby section, located on one side relative to the container mounting section, for the container to be in standby mode; and A container conveying mechanism that conveys the container between the container holding section and the standby section. The housing surrounds the standby section and the container conveying mechanism. In the first state, the left and right positions of the bottle holder are the same as the left and right positions of the standby unit.

6. The bottle-containing device according to any one of claims 1 to 3, characterized in that, The bottle containment device has the following features: A processing block comprising a liquid treatment section for liquid treatment of a substrate by being supplied with the processing liquid; and A substrate feeding / ejecting block includes a container holding section for holding a container for receiving the substrate and a conveying mechanism for transferring the substrate to the container relative to the container holding section. The substrate feeding / ejecting block is disposed on one side of the processing block to transport the substrate between the container and the processing block. The bottle receiving device is provided with a housing that surrounds the bottle holding part in the first state. The housing is positioned in front of or behind the substrate feeding / ejecting block in a manner that, when viewed from above, is opposite to the substrate feeding / ejecting block.

7. The bottle containing device according to claim 6, characterized in that, The housing includes: A first housing, which is disposed in front of or behind the substrate feeding / ejecting block in a manner opposite to the substrate feeding / ejecting block when viewed from above; and The second housing is disposed on the substrate feeding / exit block. In the first state, the bottle holders located inside the first housing and the second housing respectively are located on the left and right sides relative to the first housing and the second housing in the second state.

8. The bottle-containing device according to any one of claims 1 to 3, characterized in that, The bottle containment device has the following features: A processing block having a liquid processing section for liquid processing of a substrate by being supplied with the processing liquid; A substrate feeding / ejecting block includes a container holding section for holding a container for receiving the substrate and a conveying mechanism for transferring the substrate to the container relative to the container holding section. The substrate feeding / ejecting block is disposed on one side relative to the processing block to convey the substrate between the container and the processing block; and An intermediate block, located between the feed-in / feed-out block and the processing block, includes a transport area for the substrate. A first space and a second space equipped with the bottle holder are respectively provided in front of and behind the conveying area, and the first space and the second space are switched between the first state and the second state individually.

9. The bottle-containing device according to any one of claims 1 to 3, characterized in that, The bottle containment device is equipped with: The moving part changes its position between a state in which the bottle is located in the bottle arrangement area on the bottle holder and a state in which the bottle is not located in the bottle arrangement area on the bottle holder; as well as A detection mechanism is used to detect whether there are bottles in the bottle configuration area based on the position of the moving part.

10. The bottle-containing device according to claim 9, characterized in that, The bottle carrier includes: An inclined surface, which is opposite to the bottom surface of the bottle, is inclined in order to place the bottle at an angle; and The first support portion and the second support portion, located at different heights on the inclined surface, respectively support the bottom surface of the bottle. Of the first support portion and the second support portion, only the first support portion, which is located at a higher position than the second support portion, constitutes the moving portion whose position change is detected by the detection mechanism.

11. The bottle-containing device according to any one of claims 1 to 3, characterized in that, The bottle has a main body and a neck. The neck is located above the main body and has a narrower profile than the main body, forming a step with the main body. The system includes a first detection unit and a second detection unit, each consisting of a light-projecting unit and a light-receiving unit. The light-projecting parts of the first and second detection units respectively irradiate light onto the neck of the bottle in the bottle arrangement area from different directions when viewed from above.

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