Substrate Processing System

Abstract

To provide a substrate processing system capable of transporting with a high position accuracy a substrate to a mounting section of a module to which the substrate is transported by a substrate transportation device which uses a planar motor.SOLUTION: A substrate processing system includes: a module including a mounting section for a substrate; a transporting chamber to which the module is connected; and a substrate transporting device which is arranged inside the transporting chamber and transports the substrate. The substrate transporting device includes: a transportation unit having a substrate holding section capable of accessing the mounting section of the module and a base having a magnet inside and moving the substrate holding section along a base of the transporting chamber; and a planar motor including a plurality of tiles aligned along a bottom of the transportation chamber, a plurality of electromagnetic coils arranged in the plurality of tiles, and a linear driving unit which supplies power to the electromagnetic coils and magnetically levitates and linearly drives the base. A tile among the plurality of tiles corresponding to the module is connected to the module and is not connected to the transportation chamber.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 4

Description

[Technical Field]

[0001] The present disclosure relates to a substrate processing system. [Background technology]

[0002] For example, in a semiconductor manufacturing process, when processing semiconductor wafers, which are substrates, a substrate processing system is used that includes multiple processing chambers, a transfer chamber connected to the processing chambers, and a substrate transfer device installed in the transfer chamber.

[0003] In such a substrate processing system, a substrate transport device that transports a substrate has been proposed that includes a planar motor that uses magnetic levitation and a substrate transport unit (substrate carrier) that transports the substrate and is placed above the upper surface of the planar motor (e.g., Patent Documents 1 and 2). In this technology, the planar motor is used as the bottom surface of the transport chamber, and the substrate is loaded into and unloaded from the processing chamber with the substrate placed on the substrate support part of the substrate transport unit. [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0004] [Patent Document 1] Special Publication No. 2018-504784 [Patent Document 2] Patent Publication No. 2021-86986 Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0005] The present disclosure provides a substrate processing system that can transport a substrate to a mounting section of a module with high positional accuracy by a substrate transport device using a planar motor. [Means for solving the problem]

[0006] A substrate processing system according to an aspect of the present disclosure includes a module having a mounting portion on which a substrate is mounted, a transfer chamber connected to the module, and an interior of the transfer chamber.to move the board, a substrate transport device that transports a substrate to the module, the substrate transport device including a transport unit having a substrate holding part that holds a substrate and is accessible to the placement part of the module, and a base that has a magnet inside and moves the substrate holding part along the bottom of the transport chamber; a planar motor, the planar motor comprising: The transfer chamber Under the bottom wall , the bottom wall arranged along the Consists of a housing Multiple tiles and , a plurality of tiles are arranged inside each of the tiles. A plurality of magnetic fields are generated by being housed in an array and powered. Electromagnetic coil and , powering the electromagnetic coil; The magnetic field generated by this A linear drive unit that magnetically levitates and linearly drives the base and , and Among the plurality of tiles, Placed adjacently in said module Physically connected to the transport chamber Physically Not linked. [Effects of the Invention]

[0007] According to the present disclosure, a substrate processing system is provided in which a substrate can be transported with high positional accuracy to a mounting portion of a module to which the substrate is to be transported by a substrate transport device using a planar motor. [Brief explanation of the drawings]

[0008] [Figure 1] 1 is a schematic plan view illustrating a substrate processing system according to an embodiment. [Figure 2] FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view illustrating a transport unit and a planar motor of the substrate transport device. [Figure 3] FIG. 1 is a perspective view for explaining the driving principle of a planar motor. [Figure 4] 1 is a schematic cross-sectional view showing an arrangement of tiles in a substrate processing system according to an embodiment. [Figure 5] FIG. 2 is a schematic plan view showing an arrangement of tiles in a substrate processing system according to an embodiment. [Figure 6]FIG. 1 is a schematic cross-sectional view showing an arrangement of tiles in a conventional substrate processing system. [Figure 7] FIG. 10 is a schematic plan view for explaining the state of thermal expansion in a conventional substrate processing system. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0009] Hereinafter, embodiments will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings. FIG. 1 is a schematic plan view showing a substrate processing system according to an embodiment.

[0010] The substrate processing system 100 of this embodiment performs processing continuously on a plurality of substrates. The processing of the substrates is not particularly limited, and various processing such as film formation processing, etching processing, ashing processing, and cleaning processing can be cited. The substrate is not particularly limited, but an example thereof is a semiconductor wafer.

[0011] As shown in FIG. 1, the substrate processing system 100 is a multi-chamber system and includes multiple processing chambers 110, a vacuum transfer chamber 120, two load lock chambers 130, an atmospheric transfer chamber 140, a substrate transfer device 150, and a control unit 160.

[0012] The vacuum transfer chamber 120 has a rectangular planar shape, its interior is depressurized to a vacuum atmosphere, and multiple processing chambers 110 are connected to opposing wall sections on the long side via gate valves G. Two load lock chambers 130 are connected to one wall section on the short side of the vacuum transfer chamber 120 via gate valves G1. An atmospheric transfer chamber 140 is connected to the two load lock chambers 130 on the side opposite the vacuum transfer chamber 120 via gate valve G2. The processing chambers 110 and the load lock chambers 130 function as modules having a mounting section on which the substrate W is placed, and through which the substrate W is loaded and unloaded.

[0013] The substrate transfer device 150 in the vacuum transfer chamber 120 transfers the substrate W into and out of the processing chamber 110 and the load lock chamber 130, and includes a planar motor (linear unit) 10 and a transfer unit 20. Details of the substrate transfer device 150 will be described later.

[0014] The processing chamber 110 and the vacuum transfer chamber 120 communicate with each other by opening the gate valve G, allowing the substrate W to be transferred by the substrate transfer device 150, and are blocked by closing the gate valve G. In addition, the load lock chamber 130 and the vacuum transfer chamber 120 communicate with each other by opening the gate valve G1, allowing the substrate W to be transferred by the substrate transfer device 150, and are blocked by closing the gate valve G1.

[0015] The processing chamber 110 has a mounting table 111 having a mounting position for placing a substrate W, and performs a desired process (film formation process, etching process, ashing process, cleaning process, etc.) on the substrate W placed on the mounting table 111 with the interior pressure reduced to a vacuum atmosphere.

[0016] The load lock chamber 130 has a mounting table 131 on which the substrate W is placed, and controls the pressure between atmospheric pressure and vacuum when transferring the substrate W between the atmospheric transfer chamber 140 and the vacuum transfer chamber 120.

[0017] The atmospheric transfer chamber 140 has an atmospheric atmosphere, and for example, a downflow of clean air is generated. A load port (not shown) is provided on a wall surface of the atmospheric transfer chamber 140. The load port is configured to be connected to a carrier (not shown) containing a substrate W or an empty carrier. For example, a FOUP (Front Opening Unified Pod) or the like can be used as the carrier.

[0018] An atmospheric transfer device (not shown) for transferring the substrate W is provided inside the atmospheric transfer chamber 140. The atmospheric transfer device removes the substrate W accommodated in a load port (not shown) and places it on the mounting table 131 of the load lock chamber 130, or removes the substrate W placed on the mounting table 131 of the load lock chamber 130 and places it in the load port. The load lock chamber 130 and the atmospheric transfer chamber 140 are communicated with each other by opening gate valve G2, allowing the substrate W to be transferred by the atmospheric transfer device, and are blocked by closing the gate valve.

[0019] The control unit 160 is configured as a computer, and includes a main control unit with a CPU, an input device, an output device, a display device, and a storage device (storage medium). The main control unit controls the operation of each component of the substrate processing system 100. For example, it controls the processing of substrates W in each processing chamber 110, the opening and closing of gate valves G, G1, and G2, etc. The control of each component by the main control unit is performed based on a processing recipe, which is a control program stored in a storage medium (hard disk, optical disk, semiconductor memory, etc.) built into the storage device.

[0020] In this embodiment, the control unit 160 includes a transfer control unit 70 that controls the substrate transfer device 150 .

[0021] Next, the substrate transport apparatus 150 according to this embodiment will be described in detail with reference to Figure 1 mentioned above, as well as Figures 2 to 5. Figure 2 is a cross-sectional view illustrating the transport unit and planar motor of the substrate transport apparatus, Figure 3 is a perspective view illustrating the driving principle of the planar motor, Figure 4 is a schematic cross-sectional view showing the arrangement of tiles in this embodiment, and Figure 5 is a schematic plan view showing the arrangement of tiles in this embodiment.

[0022] As described above, the substrate transport device 150 includes the planar motor (linear unit) 10 and the transport unit 20.

[0023] A planar motor (linear unit) 10 linearly drives a transport unit 20 (moving element). The planar motor (linear unit) 10 has a plurality of tiles 11 (stators) arranged along the bottom of a vacuum transport chamber 120. Specifically, the plurality of tiles 11 are laid out under a bottom wall 121 of the vacuum transport chamber 120. A plurality of electromagnetic coils 12 are arranged within each tile 11, and the plurality of electromagnetic coils 12 are connected to a linear drive unit 13 that individually supplies power to the plurality of electromagnetic coils to generate a magnetic field and linearly drives the transport unit 20. The linear drive unit 13 is controlled by a transport control unit 70.

[0024] The transfer unit 20 has an end effector 50, which is a substrate holder that holds the substrate W, and a base 30, and the end effector 50 is attached to the base 30. The end effector 50 is accessible to the mounting table 111 in the processing chamber 110 and the mounting table 131 in the load lock chamber 130. Although the figure shows an example in which one transfer unit 20 is provided, two or more transfer units 20 may be provided.

[0025] 3, the base 30 has a plurality of permanent magnets 35 arranged therein, and is driven by a magnetic field generated when a current is supplied to an electromagnetic coil 12 provided in a tile 11 of the planar motor 10. Then, as the base 30 is driven, the end effector 50 holding the substrate W is moved.

[0026] The base 30 is configured to magnetically levitate from the surface of the tile 11 by supplying current to the electromagnetic coil 12 of the planar motor (linear unit) 10 in a direction such that the magnetic field generated thereby repels the permanent magnet 35. By stopping the current to the electromagnetic coil 12, the base 30 stops levitating and remains placed on the floor surface of the bottom wall 121 of the vacuum transfer chamber 120.

[0027] Furthermore, by individually controlling the current supplied from the linear drive unit 13 to the electromagnetic coil 12 by the transfer control unit 70, the base 30 can be moved (linearly and rotated) along the floor surface of the vacuum transfer chamber 120 in which multiple tiles 11 are arranged while magnetically levitating, and its position can be controlled. The amount of levitation can also be controlled by controlling the current. The position control of the base 30 by the transfer control unit 70 is performed based on the position of the tile 11.

[0028] 4 and 5, of the multiple tiles 11 of the planar motor 10, one (hereinafter referred to as tile 11A) located at a position corresponding to a processing chamber 110 having a mounting table 111, which is a mounting portion on which a substrate W is placed, is connected to the processing chamber 110 and is not connected to the vacuum transfer chamber 120. The processing chamber 110 is a module that requires particularly high transfer accuracy, since the substrate W is placed on the mounting table 111, which is a mounting portion, and processed therein.

[0029] On the other hand, among the plurality of tiles 11 of the planar motor 10, the one that does not correspond to the processing chamber 110 (hereinafter referred to as tile 11B) is connected to the vacuum transfer chamber 120.

[0030] A plurality of tiles 11A are provided corresponding to a plurality of processing chambers 110, and tiles 11B are provided between tiles 11A so as to be adjacent to tiles 11A.

[0031] In this way, since tile 11A corresponding to processing chamber 110 is connected to processing chamber 110, even if the vacuum transfer chamber 120 expands due to external heat, the position of tile 11A does not follow the thermal expansion of the vacuum transfer chamber 120, but follows the position of the corresponding processing chamber 110. On the other hand, tile 11B not corresponding to processing chamber 110 is connected to vacuum transfer chamber 120, and therefore follows the thermal expansion of the vacuum transfer chamber 120.

[0032] Furthermore, gaps 11a are formed between adjacent tiles 11, and these gaps 11a have the function of absorbing the thermal expansion of the tiles 11. For example, the amount of thermal expansion of tile 11A connected to the processing chamber 110 is different from that of tile 11B not connected to the processing chamber 110, but the difference in thermal expansion can be absorbed by the gaps 11a between them. The width of the gaps 11a is set appropriately depending on the amount of thermal expansion of the tiles, and approximately 1 mm or less is sufficient.

[0033] Next, an example of the operation of the substrate processing system 100 will be described. Here, as an example of the operation of the substrate processing system 100, an operation will be described in which a substrate W accommodated in a carrier attached to a load port is processed in the processing chamber 110 and then accommodated in an empty carrier attached to the load port. The following operation is performed based on a processing recipe of the control unit 160.

[0034] First, the substrate W is removed from a carrier connected to a load port by an atmospheric transfer device (not shown) in the atmospheric transfer chamber 140, and the gate valve G2 is opened to load the substrate W into the load lock chamber 130, which is in an atmospheric atmosphere. After the gate valve G2 is closed, the load lock chamber 130 into which the substrate W has been loaded is placed in a vacuum state corresponding to that of the vacuum transfer chamber 120. Next, the corresponding gate valve G1 is opened, and the substrate W in the load lock chamber 130 is removed by the end effector 50 of the transfer unit 20, and the gate valve G1 is closed. Next, the gate valve G corresponding to one of the processing chambers 110 is opened, and the end effector 50 loads the substrate W into that processing chamber 110 and places it on the mounting table 111. After the end effector 50 is retracted from that processing chamber 110 and the gate valve G is closed, processing such as film formation is performed in that processing chamber 110.

[0035] After processing in a processing chamber 110 is completed, the corresponding gate valve G is opened, and the end effector 50 of the transfer unit 20 removes the substrate W from that processing chamber 110. Then, after closing the gate valve G, the gate valve G1 is opened, and the substrate W held by the end effector 50 is transferred to the load lock chamber 130. Thereafter, the gate valve G1 is closed, and the load lock chamber 130 into which the substrate W has been transferred is filled with air. Thereafter, the gate valve G2 is opened, and the substrate W is removed from the load lock chamber 130 by an atmospheric transfer device (not shown), and stored in a carrier (neither of which is shown) of a load port. The above processing is performed simultaneously in parallel for multiple substrates W using multiple processing chambers 110. At this time, more efficient processing can be achieved by providing multiple transfer units 20 and using each transfer unit 20 to simultaneously transfer the substrate W.

[0036] In the above description, a parallel transfer has been described in which the substrate transfer device 150 transfers a substrate W to one of the processing chambers 110, and while the substrate W is being transferred in that processing chamber 110, another substrate W is transferred to another processing chamber 110. However, the present invention is not limited to this. For example, a serial transfer may be used in which one substrate W is transferred sequentially to multiple processing chambers 110.

[0037] During the above processing, the substrate W is transported by a substrate transport device 150 having a planar motor (linear unit) 10 and a transport unit 20. In the substrate transport device 150, the transport control unit 70 individually controls the current supplied from the linear drive unit 13 to the electromagnetic coil 12, thereby magnetically levitating the base 30 and moving (linearly moving and rotating) it to control its position. The transport position control at this time is performed based on the position of the tile 11.

[0038] Incidentally, conventionally, the tile 11, which is a stator, has generally been attached to a vacuum transfer chamber 120 as shown in FIG.

[0039] The vacuum transfer chamber 120 is a large container to which multiple modules, such as the processing chamber 110 and the load lock chamber 130, are connected, and is subject to relatively large deformation due to changes between the atmosphere and vacuum, and thermal expansion due to external heat sources. As a result, the positional deviation (displacement) of the tiles 11 due to the deformation and thermal expansion of the vacuum transfer chamber 120 is also relatively large. For example, when heat is applied by an external heat source, as shown in FIG. 7, the vacuum transfer chamber 120 expands mainly in the direction opposite the load lock chamber 130, which has no modules and is less rigid, and the tiles 11 are displaced in the same direction. As a result, the access position of the transfer unit 20 to the processing chamber 110 is also displaced in the same way.

[0040] On the other hand, among the modules connected to the vacuum transfer chamber 120, the processing chamber 110 performs high-precision processing on the substrate W, and therefore requires high transfer precision when transferring the substrate W to the mounting table 111. Furthermore, the processing chamber 110 is a module that is fixed to be earthquake-resistant and has little positional change.

[0041] Therefore, conventionally, displacement of the tiles 11 due to thermal expansion and deformation of the vacuum transfer chamber 120 can cause a problem of misalignment when the substrate W is transferred to the processing chamber 110 and placed on the mounting table 111.

[0042] In contrast, in this embodiment, among the multiple tiles 11 of planar motor 10, tile 11A located at a position corresponding to processing chamber 110, which requires high substrate transfer accuracy, is connected to processing chamber 110, but not to vacuum transfer chamber 120. Therefore, tile 11A does not displace in response to thermal expansion or deformation of vacuum transfer chamber 120, but rather displaces in response to the processing chamber 110 to which it is connected.

[0043] In this way, even if thermal expansion or deformation occurs in the vacuum transfer chamber 120, the tile 11A, which serves as the basis for position control of the transfer unit 20 when transferring the substrate W to the mounting table 111 of the processing chamber 110, displaces in accordance with the processing chamber 110 to which it is connected, so there is almost no positional deviation when transferring the substrate W to the processing chamber 110.

[0044] Furthermore, tile 11B, which does not correspond to processing chamber 110, displaces in response to the thermal expansion and deformation of vacuum transfer chamber 120, resulting in different amounts of displacement between tile 11A and tile 11B. However, since gap 11a is formed between these tiles, the difference in the amount of displacement can be absorbed.

[0045] In order to improve the transfer accuracy of the transfer unit 20 in the vacuum transfer chamber 120 regardless of whether it is a tile 11A or 11B, an external sensor may be provided to detect deformation of the vacuum transfer chamber 120, and control may be added to correct the absolute position of the transfer unit 20 (base 30) based on the deformation. Specifically, the positional deviation of the tile 11 may be calculated from the amount of deformation detected by the external sensor, and this may be fed back to the transfer control unit 70. Control may be added to adjust the current distribution of the electromagnetic coil to cancel the positional deviation of the tile 11, thereby correcting the absolute position of the transfer unit 20.

[0046] Although the embodiments have been described above, the disclosed embodiments should be considered to be illustrative and not restrictive in all respects. The above embodiments may be omitted, substituted, or modified in various ways without departing from the scope and spirit of the appended claims.

[0047] For example, in the above embodiment, the end effector is directly attached to the base as the transport unit of the substrate processing system, but a link mechanism may be provided between the base and the end effector. Also, two or more bases may be used.

[0048] In the above embodiment, a processing chamber in which substrates are loaded and unloaded and which requires high transfer accuracy is used as a module having a mounting section for mounting substrates, but this is not limiting. Such a module may be the load lock chamber described above, or another module.

[0049] Furthermore, although a semiconductor wafer has been exemplified as the substrate, it is not limited to a semiconductor wafer and may be other substrates such as an FPD (flat panel display) substrate, a quartz substrate, or a ceramic substrate. [Explanation of symbols]

[0050] 10; Planar motor 11, 11A, 11B; tiles 11a; gap 12; Electromagnetic coil 13: Linear drive unit 20.Transport unit 30; base 35; Permanent magnet 50: End effector (substrate holding part) 70: Transport control unit 100; Substrate processing system 110 Processing chamber 120: Vacuum transfer chamber 130 Load lock chamber 140: Atmospheric transport chamber 150: Substrate transport device 160;Control section W; substrate

Claims

1. a module having a mounting portion on which a substrate is mounted; a transfer chamber to which the module is connected; a substrate transfer device that moves a substrate within the transfer chamber and transfers the substrate to the module; and The substrate transport device is a transfer unit including a substrate holder that holds a substrate and is accessible to the placement portion of the module, and a base that has a magnet inside and moves the substrate holder along the bottom of the transfer chamber; a planar motor; and The planar motor comprises: a plurality of tiles configured as a housing arranged below a bottom wall of the transport chamber and along the bottom wall; a plurality of electromagnetic coils housed in an array within each of the plurality of tiles and adapted to generate a magnetic field when supplied with power; a linear driving unit that supplies power to the electromagnetic coil and magnetically levitates and linearly drives the base by a magnetic field generated thereby; and A substrate processing system, wherein one of the plurality of tiles arranged adjacent to the module is physically connected to the module and is not physically connected to the transfer chamber.

2. The substrate processing system of claim 1 , wherein a gap is formed between adjacent ones of the plurality of tiles.

3. The substrate processing system according to claim 1 , wherein among the plurality of tiles, those arranged at positions not adjacent to the module are physically connected to the transfer chamber.

4. 4. The substrate processing system of claim 3, wherein the plurality of tiles arranged adjacent to the module and the plurality of tiles arranged not adjacent to the module are provided adjacent to each other, with a gap formed therebetween.

5. 5. The substrate processing system according to claim 2, wherein the width of the gap is 1 mm or less.

6. 6. The substrate processing system according to claim 1, wherein the module is a processing chamber for processing the substrate, and a mounting table is provided as the mounting part.

7. The substrate processing system according to claim 1 , comprising a plurality of the modules.

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