Patent ID: 11898246
Assignee: SUMCO CORPORATION
Field: Semiconductors (Electrical engineering)
Classification: CPC C  H | IPC C  H

Claim 8:
9. A vapor deposition method using a vapor deposition device which is provided with a plurality of robots, the method comprising:
transporting, via the plurality of robots, a plurality of before-treatment wafers from a wafer storage container, through a factory interface, load-lock chamber, and wafer transfer chamber, to a reaction chamber in that order, and
transporting, via the plurality of robots, a plurality of after-treatment wafers from the reaction chamber, through the wafer transfer chamber, load-lock chamber, and factory interface, to the wafer storage container in that order, wherein:
the load-lock chamber communicates with the factory interface via a first door and also communicates with the wafer transfer chamber via a second door,
the wafer transfer chamber communicates, via a gate valve, with the reaction chamber in which a CVD film is formed on the wafer,
the plurality of robots includes a first robot provided with the wafer transfer chamber and a second robot provided with the factory interface,
the vapor deposition device further includes a plurality of ring-shaped carriers each which support an outer edge of a wafer,
the first robot deposits a before-treatment wafer transported into the load-lock chamber into the reaction chamber in a state where the before-treatment wafer is mounted on a carrier of the plurality of carriers and also withdraws an after-treatment wafer for which treatment in the reaction chamber has ended from the reaction chamber in a state where the after-treatment wafer is mounted on a carrier of the plurality of carriers and transports the wafer to the load-lock chamber,
second robot extracts a before-treatment wafer from the wafer storage container and mounts the wafer on a carrier of the plurality of carriers standing by in the load-lock chamber, and also stores in the wafer storage container an after-treatment wafer mounted on the carrier of the plurality of carriers that has been transported to the load-lock chamber,
the load-lock chamber is provided with a first holder that supports a carrier of the plurality of carriers at a topmost-level and a second holder that supports a carrier of the plurality of carriers under the first holder,
the second robot mounts the before-treatment wafer extracted from the wafer storage container on the carrier of the plurality of carriers standing by at the first holder in the load-lock chamber, and
the first robot transfers the carrier of the plurality of carriers supported by the second holder to the first holder when the first holder supports no carrier of the plurality of carriers upon the first robot mounting the before-treatment wafer extracted from the wafer storage container by the second robot on the carrier of the plurality of carriers standing by in the load-lock chamber.