Substrate transport method and substrate transport device

Abstract

The present invention relates to a substrate transport method and a substrate transport apparatus that controls a substrate transport robot using position information of a substrate when the substrate is loaded or unloaded in the substrate transport robot. According to the present invention, after an initial reference value for substrate loading or unloading is set, if a new reference value needs to be set due to a change in the process or hardware, the reference value setting operation is automatically performed. This has the advantage that the substrate can be transported so that the substrate is positioned at the center of a susceptor without manually changing the reference value of the substrate transport robot.

Description

[Technical Field]

[0001] The present invention relates to a substrate transport method and a substrate transport device for a semiconductor device manufacturing apparatus that manufactures semiconductor devices, and more particularly to a substrate transport method and a substrate transport device that includes a substrate transport robot that loads or unloads a substrate, and that controls the substrate transport robot using position information of the substrate when the substrate is loaded or unloaded. [Background technology]

[0002] Generally, manufacturing semiconductor devices involves a thin film deposition process in which raw materials are deposited on a silicon wafer, a photolithography process in which selected areas of the thin film are exposed or hidden using a photosensitive material, and an etching process in which selected areas of the thin film are removed to create a desired pattern. Each of these processes is carried out in a chamber designed to provide an optimal environment for the process.

[0003] Recently, in order to increase productivity, cluster-type substrate processing apparatuses in which a plurality of process modules, a transfer module for transferring substrates, and the like are closely coupled to each other have been widely used.

[0004] FIG. 1 is a plan view showing a schematic configuration of such a cluster-type substrate processing apparatus, which has a structure in which a plurality of process modules 20 and a load lock module 30 are coupled around a transfer module 10.

[0005] The transfer module 10 includes a transfer robot 40 therein for transferring the substrate s, and the substrate s is moved between the process module 20 and the load lock module 30 by the transfer robot 40. The transfer module 10 is always maintained in a vacuum state except when necessary for setting or maintenance and repair.

[0006] The process module 20 is a process channel. Inside theThis is the area where actual processes such as thin film deposition and etching are carried out on the substrate s. Inside the The substrate mounting portion is provided with a susceptor on which a plurality of substrates are placed.

[0007] The load lock module 30 is a buffer space where substrates temporarily stay when they are transported into or out of the process module 20, which is in a vacuum state inside. In consideration of productivity, a structure in which two chambers are stacked one above the other is usually used.

[0008] Therefore, such a load lock module 30 is switched to a vacuum state when the substrate s is carried into the process module 20 from the outside, and is switched to an atmospheric pressure state when the substrate s is carried out from the process module 20 to the outside.

[0009] FIG. 2 is a side cross-sectional view of such a cluster-type substrate processing apparatus, in which a load lock module 30 and a process module 20 are connected around a transfer module 10, and the transfer module 10 includes a chamber 11 and a transfer robot 40 that operates inside the chamber 11.

[0010] The transport robot 40 comprises a drive frame 41 that supports a drive means such as a motor, a drive shaft 43 that extends from the top of the drive frame 41 and rotates and moves up and down by the drive means, a robot arm 44 that rotates and moves up and down by the drive shaft 43 and also moves in an extendable and retractable manner, and a substrate placement unit 45 that is connected to the end of the robot arm 44 and directly lifts the substrate s.

[0011] The drive unit frame 41 is fixed by penetrating the bottom surface 12 of the chamber, and in particular, a flange 42 is formed protruding along the outer circumferential surface of the drive unit frame 41 located inside the chamber 11, and the flange 42 is welded to the bottom surface 12 of the chamber to maintain the vacuum in the chamber 11.

[0012] The transfer robot 40, which transfers the substrate s to the process module 20 or the load lock module 30 by the rotation and vertical movement of the drive shaft 43 and the horizontal movement of the substrate placement part 45, must operate very precisely within a limited space.

[0013] Therefore, when setting up the device, a process of setting a reference position that serves as a reference point for the operation of the transfer robot 40 must be carried out.

[0014] That is, in order for the transfer robot 40 to load a substrate into a predetermined position on the susceptor in the process chamber 21 or to unload a substrate from the susceptor in the process chamber 21, various information is required, such as the degree of lifting and lowering of the transfer robot, the rotation angle, and the extension amount of the robot arm, based on the designed position of the transfer robot 40 and the position of the susceptor in the process chamber 21.

[0015] This information is stored by a skilled robotics engineer on a teaching pendant during the initial setup of the equipment. a The initial setup work is completed by manually inputting data appropriate for the equipment using a tool such as a meter. After that, there are frequent cases where the reference values ​​must be newly set due to hardware changes such as replacement of the susceptor in the process chamber 21.

[0016] On the other hand, considering that the environment in which the transfer robot 40 actually operates is a vacuum, it is preferable that the initial reference value setting process is also performed in a vacuum. However, in most cases, the work is carried out while checking with the naked eye or using other tools, and in this case, the reference value setting work is carried out in an atmospheric pressure state.

[0017] After the initial reference value setting operation is performed under atmospheric pressure, the process chamber 21 is switched to a vacuum state through vacuum pumping and heating processes. However, during the vacuum pumping and heating processes, there may be cases where the reference value setting operation must be performed again due to changes in the position of the susceptor in the process chamber 21. Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0018] The present invention aims to provide a substrate transport method and a substrate transport device in which, after a reference value that serves as a reference when a substrate transport robot in a substrate transport device loads or unloads a substrate is set, if a correction to a new reference value is required, the correction operation is automatically performed, thereby enabling the substrate to be accurately centered at the center of a susceptor in a chamber. [Means for solving the problem]

[0019] The substrate transport method according to the present invention is characterized by including a first substrate loading step of loading a substrate onto a susceptor using a first reference value that serves as a reference when a substrate transport robot loads or unloads a substrate so that the substrate is placed on the susceptor inside a chamber; a first position adjustment step of adjusting the substrate to a first position on the susceptor; a first substrate unloading step of unloading the substrate using the substrate transport robot; a first value acquisition step of acquiring a first value when the substrate is unloaded; and a first correction step of correcting the first value to a second reference value of the substrate transport robot if the first reference value differs from the first value.

[0020] A substrate transport device according to the present invention is characterized by including: a chamber including a susceptor on which at least one substrate is placed; a substrate transport robot that loads and unloads the substrate onto and from the susceptor; a substrate position detection unit that detects the position of the substrate when the substrate is loaded or unloaded from the chamber; a memory unit that stores the position of the substrate detected by the substrate position detection unit; and a control unit that controls the substrate transport robot using information regarding the position of the substrate so that the substrate is placed at a first position on the susceptor. [Effects of the Invention]

[0021] According to the substrate transport method and apparatus of the present invention, after an initial reference value for loading or unloading a substrate is set, if a new reference value needs to be set due to a change in the process or hardware, the reference value setting operation is performed automatically, thereby providing the advantage that the substrate can be transported so that it is positioned at the center of the susceptor without having to manually change the reference value of the substrate transport robot.

[0022] This has the effect of allowing the substrate to be accurately centered in the center of the susceptor of the chamber without errors due to the skill level of the engineer or errors due to environmental changes such as vacuum or high temperature. [Brief explanation of the drawings]

[0023] [Figure 1] FIG. 1 is a plan view showing a schematic configuration of a conventional cluster-type substrate processing apparatus. [Figure 2] FIG. 2 is a side cross-sectional view of the cluster type substrate processing apparatus shown in FIG. [Figure 3] 3 is a flowchart of a substrate transfer method according to an embodiment of the present invention. [Figure 4] 10 is a flowchart of a substrate transfer method according to another embodiment of the present invention. [Figure 5] 1 is a schematic diagram showing the configuration of a substrate transfer device according to the present invention. [Figure 6]4A and 4B are diagrams for explaining the principle of detecting the position of a substrate in the substrate transport device according to the present invention. [Figure 7] 4A and 4B are diagrams for explaining the principle of detecting the position of a substrate in the substrate transport device according to the present invention. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0024] Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. Terms used in this specification and claims should not be construed as being limited to their ordinary or dictionary meanings, but should be construed in the context of the technical subject matter of the present invention.

[0025] The embodiments described in this specification and the configurations shown in the drawings are preferred embodiments of the present invention and do not represent all of the technical ideas of the present invention, and therefore there may be various equivalents and modifications that can replace them at the time of this application.

[0026] FIG. 3 is a flowchart of a substrate transfer method according to an embodiment of the present invention.

[0027] Referring to FIG. 3, a substrate transport method according to one embodiment of the present invention includes a first substrate loading step S310, a first position adjusting step S320, a first substrate unloading step S330, a first value obtaining step S340, and a first correction step S350.

[0028] In the first substrate loading step S310, a substrate transport robot To The board Inside the The substrate is loaded onto the susceptor using a first reference value that serves as a reference when loading or unloading the substrate onto or from a different susceptor. At this time, the first reference value is a value that serves as a reference when the substrate transfer robot loads or unloads the substrate according to a design value.

[0029] In the first position adjusting step S320, the substrate loaded on the susceptor is adjusted to be positioned at a first position of the susceptor. At this time, the first position may be the center of the susceptor, or more specifically, the position of the substrate may be adjusted to be positioned at the center of a substrate mounting groove (not shown).

[0030] Even if the substrate W is loaded onto the susceptor in the chamber using a substrate transport robot according to the first reference value, which is the design value, various hardware factors may prevent the substrate from being accurately positioned at the center of the susceptor, so a centering process is required to position the substrate W at the center of the susceptor.

[0031] In the first substrate unloading step S330, the substrate is unloaded from the susceptor in the chamber using a substrate transfer robot according to the first reference value. Since another operation for positioning the substrate at the center of the susceptor was performed in the first position adjusting step S320, the substrate is positioned at the center of the susceptor at a position different from the first reference value. Therefore, in the first substrate unloading step S330, 3 When the substrate is unloaded in accordance with the first reference value in step 30, the substrate is unloaded while being placed at a position that is not a fixed position relative to the substrate placement unit of the substrate transport robot.

[0032] In the first value acquisition step S340, when the substrate is unloaded, a substrate position detection unit is used to detect the amount of deviation of the substrate compared to the first reference value, and a first value, which is position information when the substrate is unloaded, is acquired.

[0033] In the first value acquisition step S340, the length of the substrate detected by the substrate position detection unit when the substrate is unloaded from the susceptor is measured, and the length is compared with the length of the substrate detected by the substrate position detection unit when the substrate is loaded according to the first reference value to acquire the first value, which is position information when the substrate is unloaded.

[0034] Meanwhile, in the first value acquisition step S340, the time at which the substrate is detected by the substrate position detection unit when the substrate is unloaded from the susceptor may be measured, and the first value, which is position information at the time the substrate is unloaded, may be acquired by comparing this with the time at which the substrate is detected by the substrate position detection unit when the substrate is loaded according to the first reference value.

[0035] In the first correction step S350, the first value is compared with the first reference value, and if the first value differs from the first reference value, the first value is corrected to a second reference value, which is a new reference value for the substrate transport robot.

[0036] That is, a second reference value corrected using the amount of deviation of the substrate detected by the substrate position detection unit is set for the substrate transport robot, and the substrate transport robot is controlled using the second reference value.

[0037] According to the substrate transport method of Figure 3, after the first reference value is set according to the design value, even if the reference value changes due to errors in hardware assembly, the reference value can be automatically corrected, which has the advantage that the substrate can be transported so that it is positioned at the center of the susceptor without having to manually change the reference value of the substrate transport robot.

[0038] FIG. 4 is a flowchart of a substrate transfer method according to another embodiment of the present invention.

[0039] Referring to FIG. 4, a substrate transport method according to another embodiment of the present invention includes a second substrate loading step S410, a second position adjusting step S420, a second substrate unloading step S430, a second value obtaining step S440, and a second correction step S450.

[0040] In the second substrate loading step S410, the substrate is loaded onto the susceptor using a second reference value. At this time, the second reference value may be a reference value when loading or unloading a substrate according to the value corrected in the first correction step S350 of the substrate transfer method of FIG. 3, or may be a reference value when the substrate transfer robot loads or unloads a substrate according to an initial design value.

[0041] In the second position adjusting step S420, the substrate loaded on the susceptor is adjusted to be positioned at a second position of the susceptor. At this time, the second position may be the center of the susceptor, or more specifically, the position of the substrate may be adjusted to be positioned at the center of a substrate mounting groove (not shown).

[0042] Even if the substrate W is loaded onto the susceptor in the chamber using a substrate transport robot according to the second reference value, when the chamber is vacuum pumped or heated, the substrate cannot be accurately positioned at the center of the susceptor, so a centering process is required to position the substrate W at the center of the susceptor.

[0043] In the second substrate unloading step S430, the substrate is unloaded from the susceptor in the chamber using a substrate transfer robot according to the second reference value. Because a separate operation for positioning the substrate at the center of the susceptor was performed in the second position adjustment step S420, the substrate is positioned at the center of the susceptor at a position different from the second reference value. Therefore, when the substrate is unloaded according to the second reference value in the second substrate unloading step S430, the substrate is unloaded while being positioned at a position that is not the regular position relative to the substrate placement unit of the substrate transfer robot.

[0044] In the second value acquisition step S440, when the substrate is unloaded, a substrate position detection unit is used to detect the amount of deviation of the substrate compared to the second reference value, and a second value, which is position information when the substrate is unloaded, is acquired.

[0045] In the second value acquisition step S440, the length of the substrate detected by the substrate position detection unit when the substrate is unloaded from the susceptor is measured, and the length is compared with the length of the substrate detected by the substrate position detection unit when the substrate is loaded according to the second reference value to acquire the second value, which is position information when the substrate is unloaded.

[0046] Meanwhile, in the second value acquisition step S440, the time at which the substrate is detected by the substrate position detection unit when the substrate is unloaded from the susceptor can be measured, and the second value, which is position information at the time the substrate is unloaded, can be acquired by comparing this with the time at which the substrate is detected by the substrate position detection unit when the substrate is loaded according to the second reference value.

[0047] In the second correction step S450, the second value is compared with the second reference value, and if the second value differs from the second reference value, the second value is corrected to a third reference value, which is a new reference value for the substrate transport robot.

[0048] That is, a third reference value corrected using the amount of deviation of the substrate detected by the substrate position detection unit is set for the substrate transport robot, and the substrate transport robot is controlled using the third reference value.

[0049] The substrate transport method shown in Figure 4 has the advantage that, after the reference value is set according to the design value under atmospheric pressure conditions, even if the reference value changes due to vacuum pumping and heating processes, the reference value can be automatically corrected, thereby enabling substrate transport without errors due to environmental changes.

[0050] FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram showing the configuration of a substrate transfer device according to the present invention, and FIGS. 6 and 7 are diagrams for explaining the principle of detecting the position of a substrate in the substrate transfer device according to the present invention.

[0051] As shown in FIG. 5, a substrate transfer apparatus 100 according to the present invention includes a chamber 110, a substrate transfer robot 120, a substrate position detection unit 130, a storage unit (not shown), and a control unit (not shown).

[0052] The chamber may be a load lock chamber, a transfer chamber, or a process chamber, and preferably a process chamber for processing a substrate, i.e., a process chamber. The process chamber is a space where a process is performed, into which gases required for the process are introduced, and where vacuum pumping, heating, or plasma treatment is performed as needed.

[0053] The chamber 110 includes a substrate support 111 therein, and a susceptor 112 is formed above the substrate support 111, inside which the substrate is placed.

[0054] The substrate transfer robot 120 loads or unloads the substrate W onto or from the susceptor 112 in the chamber 110 .

[0055] The substrate position detection unit 130 is installed at the entrance of the chamber 110 through which the substrate transport robot 120 enters and exits, and detects the position of the substrate W when the substrate transport robot 120 loads the substrate W onto the susceptor 112 in the chamber 110 and when the substrate W is unloaded from the susceptor 112 in the chamber 110.

[0056] The memory unit (not shown) stores the position of the substrate detected by the substrate position detection unit 130, and the control unit (not shown) controls the movement of the substrate transport robot 120 using information regarding the position of the substrate.

[0057] The substrate transfer robot 120 includes a main body 121, an elevation module 122 that moves up and down along the main body, a robot arm 123 connected to the elevation module 122, and a substrate placement unit 124 connected to the end of the robot arm 123. Meanwhile, the substrate transfer robot 120 is controlled according to position information of the substrate detected by the substrate position detection unit 130. Specifically, the control can be performed based on the amount of rotation and extension of the robot arm.

[0058] 6, the substrate position detection unit 130 may include a light-emitting unit 131 and a light-receiving unit 132. When the substrate W2 passes between the light-emitting unit 131 and the light-receiving unit 132, the substrate position detection unit 130 measures the time during which light is not transmitted from the light-emitting unit 131 to the light-receiving unit 132 and compares this with the time based on an initial reference value, thereby detecting the position of the substrate W2 based on the X-axis coordinate value and the Y-axis coordinate value, and using this, the amount of misalignment of the substrate can be detected.

[0059] On the other hand, instead of measuring the time during which light is not transmitted from the light-emitting unit 131 to the light-receiving unit 132, the substrate position detection unit 130 can measure the length of the substrate during which light is not transmitted from the light-emitting unit 131 to the light-receiving unit 132, i.e., the length defined by the detection area Sa of the substrate position detection unit 130, and compare this with a preset reference length to detect the amount of deviation of the substrate.

[0060] In the above, it has been explained that the substrate position detection unit 130 is equipped with a light-emitting unit and a light-receiving unit, and uses a sensor to detect a target object positioned between them, but this is not limited to this, and various sensors that can measure the position of a target object can be used.

[0061] The amount of deviation of the substrate W is compared with a first reference value, which is an initial reference value based on a design value. 2 may be an amount of deviation in the X-axis direction, which is a first horizontal direction parallel to the inlet of the chamber 110, and in the Y-axis direction, which is a second horizontal direction perpendicular to the X-axis direction.

[0062] FIG. 7(a) shows the substrate W is The X-axis detection reference line L of the substrate position detection unit 130 is adjusted in accordance with the first reference value. X and Y-axis detection reference line L Y 7(b) shows that substrate W2 has shifted by 1.0 mm in the X-axis direction and 1.5 mm in the Y-axis direction relative to substrate W1 in its home position.

[0063] 7(b), if substrate W2 is displaced by 1.0 mm in the X-axis direction and 1.5 mm in the Y-axis direction relative to substrate W1 in its home position, the rotation angle θ of the substrate transfer robot 120 is changed slightly to the right to reflect the 1.0 mm displacement in the X-axis direction, thereby correcting the X-axis. Thereafter, taking into account the changed rotation angle θ, the extension amount d of the robot arm of the substrate transfer robot 120 is changed to reflect the 1.5 mm displacement in the Y-axis direction, thereby correcting the Y-axis.

[0064] That is, the control unit (not shown) can correct the X-axis coordinate value by adjusting the rotation angle θ of the robot arm 123 according to the amount of deviation in the X-axis direction (1.0 mm), and can correct the Y-axis coordinate value by adjusting the extension amount d of the robot arm 123 according to the amount of deviation in the Y-axis direction (1.5 mm), thereby correcting the reference value of the substrate transport robot to a second reference value, which is a new reference value obtained by correcting the Y-axis coordinate value.

[0065] As described above, the present invention has the advantage that, after a reference value is set in accordance with a design value, if a new reference value setting operation is required due to a change in the process or hardware, the reference value setting operation is automatically performed, thereby making it possible to transport a substrate so that the substrate is positioned at the center of the susceptor without having to manually change the reference value of the substrate transport robot.

Claims

1. The substrate transfer robot loads the substrate onto the susceptor inside the chamber. The substrate is loaded onto the susceptor using a first reference value that is a reference for loading or unloading the substrate. a first substrate loading step; a first position adjusting step of adjusting the substrate to a first position on the susceptor; a first substrate unloader that unloads the substrate using the substrate transport robot; and a first value acquiring step of acquiring a first value when the substrate is unloaded; If the first reference value and the first value are different, the first value is set to the second value of the substrate transport robot. a first correction step of correcting the value to a reference value; The first value acquisition step includes: When the substrate is unloaded from the susceptor, the substrate position is detected by a substrate position detection unit. The length of the substrate being loaded is measured and the length is determined based on the first reference value. When the substrate is being moved, the length of the substrate is detected by the substrate position detection unit. The first value is position information when the device is unloaded. Plate transport method.

2. The substrate transfer robot loads the substrate onto the susceptor inside the chamber. The substrate is loaded onto the susceptor using a second reference value that serves as a reference when loading or unloading the substrate. a second substrate loading step; a second position adjusting step of adjusting the substrate to a second position on the susceptor; a second substrate unloader for unloading the substrate using the substrate transport robot; and a second value acquiring step of acquiring a second value when the substrate is unloaded; If the second reference value and the second value are different, the second value is set to the third value of the substrate transport robot. a second correction step of correcting the value to a reference value; The second value acquisition step includes: When the substrate is unloaded from the susceptor, the substrate position is detected by a substrate position detection unit. The length of the substrate being loaded is measured and the length is determined based on the second reference value. When the substrate is being moved, the length of the substrate is detected by the substrate position detection unit. The second value is position information when the device is unloaded. Plate transport method.

3. The substrate transfer robot loads the substrate onto the susceptor inside the chamber. The substrate is loaded onto the susceptor using a first reference value that is a reference for loading or unloading the substrate. a first substrate loading step; a first position adjusting step of adjusting the substrate to a first position on the susceptor; a first substrate unloader that unloads the substrate using the substrate transport robot; and a first value acquiring step of acquiring a first value when the substrate is unloaded; If the first reference value and the first value are different, the first value is set to the second value of the substrate transport robot. a first correction step of correcting the value to a reference value; The first value acquisition step includes: When the substrate is unloaded from the susceptor, the substrate position detection unit The time taken for the substrate to be detected is measured and the time taken for the substrate to be loaded is determined according to the first reference value. When the substrate is being scanned, the substrate position is detected by the substrate position detection unit. The first value is position information when the device is unloaded. Plate transport method.

4. The substrate transfer robot loads the substrate onto the susceptor inside the chamber. The substrate is loaded onto the susceptor using a second reference value that serves as a reference when loading or unloading the substrate. a second substrate loading step; a second position adjusting step of adjusting the substrate to a second position on the susceptor; a second substrate unloader for unloading the substrate using the substrate transport robot; and a second value acquiring step of acquiring a second value when the substrate is unloaded; If the second reference value and the second value are different, the second value is set to the third value of the substrate transport robot. a second correction step of correcting the value to a reference value; The second value acquisition step includes: When the substrate is unloaded from the susceptor, the substrate position detection unit The time taken for the substrate to be detected is measured and the time taken for the substrate to be loaded is determined according to the second reference value. When the substrate is being scanned, the substrate position is detected by the substrate position detection unit. The second value is position information when the device is unloaded. Plate transport method.

5. a chamber including a susceptor on which at least one substrate is placed; a substrate transfer robot for loading or unloading the substrate onto or from the susceptor; and, the substrate as it is loaded and unloaded from the chamber; a substrate position detection unit for detecting the position of the substrate; a storage unit that stores the position of the substrate detected by the substrate position detection unit; The substrate is placed in a first position on the susceptor using information about the position of the substrate. a control unit that controls the substrate transport robot so that The substrate position detection unit The length of the substrate is measured when the substrate is loaded onto the susceptor. to detect the position of the substrate when it is loaded; The length of the substrate detected when the substrate is unloaded from the susceptor is and detecting the position of the substrate when it is unloaded. Conveying device.

6. The substrate transport robot The control is performed in response to information about the position of the substrate detected by the substrate position detection unit.

6. The substrate transport device according to claim 5, wherein:

7. a chamber including a susceptor on which at least one substrate is placed; a substrate transfer robot for loading or unloading the substrate onto or from the susceptor; and, the substrate as it is loaded and unloaded from the chamber; a substrate position detection unit for detecting the position of the substrate; a storage unit that stores the position of the substrate detected by the substrate position detection unit; The substrate is placed in a first position on the susceptor using information about the position of the substrate. a control unit that controls the substrate transport robot so that The substrate position detection unit Measure the time when the substrate is detected when the substrate is loaded onto the susceptor. to detect the position of the substrate when it is loaded; The time during which the substrate is detected when the substrate is unloaded from the susceptor is and detecting the position of the substrate when it is unloaded. Conveying device.

8. The control unit Information about the position of the substrate when it is loaded and the position of the substrate when it is unloaded and information about the position of the substrate when the substrate is transferred.

8. The substrate transport device according to claim 6 or 7.

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