Source: http://www.google.com/patents/US7497912?dq=mezick
Timestamp: 2015-04-19 05:30:14
Document Index: 650319087

Matched Legal Cases: ['art 50', 'art 53', 'art 50', 'art 53', 'art 19', 'art 19']

Patent US7497912 - Substrate processing apparatus - Google PatentsSearch Images Maps Play YouTube News Gmail Drive More »Sign inAdvanced Patent SearchPatentsA cell controller controls the operation of a transport robot to keep a substrate belonging to a succeeding lot carried into a heating part in the fourth transport cycle from being transported out of the heating part in the next or fifth transport cycle, thereby preventing interference between the transport...http://www.google.com/patents/US7497912?utm_source=gb-gplus-sharePatent US7497912 - Substrate processing apparatusAdvanced Patent SearchPublication numberUS7497912 B2Publication typeGrantApplication numberUS 10/947,000Publication dateMar 3, 2009Filing dateSep 22, 2004Priority dateSep 22, 2003Fee statusPaidAlso published asUS20050061248Publication number10947000, 947000, US 7497912 B2, US 7497912B2, US-B2-7497912, US7497912 B2, US7497912B2InventorsYasufumi Koyama, Kenji Hashinoki, Takaharu YamadaOriginal AssigneeDainippon Screen Mfg. Co., Ltd.Export CitationBiBTeX, EndNote, RefManPatent Citations (13), Referenced by (2), Classifications (28), Legal Events (2) External Links: USPTO, USPTO Assignment, EspacenetSubstrate processing apparatus
There has been proposed a substrate processing method known as a �flex flow� which is capable of efficiently successively processing a plurality of lots different in transport sequence (or process flow) in a substrate processing apparatus for performing a series of processes on substrates by transporting the substrates to a plurality of processing units.
The conventional flex flow technique reduces time loss by connecting the processes of successive lots A and B different in transport sequence to each other without interruption under conditions of no interference between the process of the lot A loaded earlier and the process of the lot B loaded later if there is a processing unit (e.g., a heating processing unit) the use of which is shared between the lots A and B. An example of the conventional flex flow technique is disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 7-283094 (1995). A lot loaded earlier is referred to hereinafter as a �preceding lot,� and a lot loaded immediately subsequently to the preceding lot is referred to hereinafter as a �succeeding lot.�
FIG. 14 shows an example of substrate transport cycles in the conventional flex flow. The reference characters �ID,� �HP,� �CP,� and �SC� designate an indexer, a heating processing unit, a cooling processing unit, and a resist coating processing unit, respectively. The term �transport cycle� refers to a cycle of operation during which the transport robot starting from the substrate transfer position in the indexer circulates among the processing units and then returns to the substrate transfer position again.
In the second transport cycle (denoted as �2�) as shown in FIG. 14, the transport robot receives the substrate A5 belonging to the preceding lot A placed in the transfer position in the indexer, and transports the substrate A5 to the heating processing unit. Because the substrate A4 is present in the heating processing unit at this time, the substrate A5 is carried into the heating processing unit after the substrate A4 is carried out of the heating processing unit. The transport robot transports the substrate A4 carried out of the heating processing unit to the cooling processing unit, and changes places between the substrate A3 present in the cooling processing unit and the substrates A4 transported by the transport robot. Next, the transport robot transports the substrate A3 carried out of the cooling processing unit to the resist coating processing unit, and changes places between the substrate A2 present in the resist coating processing unit and the substrate A3 transported by the transport robot. Then, the transport robot places the substrate A2 carried out of the resist coating processing unit in the transfer position in the indexer. After receiving the substrate A2 subjected to a series of processes, the indexer stores the substrate A2 into a cassette. Then, the indexer takes the last substrate A6 belonging to the preceding lot out of the cassette to place the substrate A6 in the transfer position.
In the third transport cycle (denoted as �3� in FIG. 14), the transport robot receives the substrate A6 placed in the transfer position in the indexer, transports the substrate A6 to the heating processing unit, and changes places between the substrate A6 and the substrate A5 present in the heating processing unit. The transport robot transports the substrate A5 carried out of the heating processing unit to the cooling processing unit, and changes places between the substrate A5 and the substrate A4 present in the cooling processing unit. Then, the transport robot transports the substrate A4 carried out of the cooling processing unit to the resist coating processing unit, and changes places between the substrate A4 and the substrate A3 present in the resist coating processing unit. Next, the transport robot places the substrate A3 carried out of the resist coating processing unit in the transfer position in the indexer. After receiving the processed substrate A3, the indexer stores the substrate A3 into the cassette.
Thereafter, the indexer unconditionally takes a substrate out of the cassette and places the substrate in the transfer position if the substrate belongs to the same lot as its preceding substrate. However, the substrate to be processed next is a substrate belonging to the succeeding lot B different in transport sequence from the preceding lot A. This creates a possibility that transferring the first substrate B1 belonging to the lot B subsequently to the substrate A6 to the transport robot causes interference between the transport of the substrate B1 and the transport of the substrates belonging to the lot A in the subsequence transport cycles. To prevent the interference, a controller (referred to hereinafter as a �transport controller�) for controlling the transport of the substrates in the substrate processing apparatus performs the virtual transport of the first substrate B1 belonging to the lot B to judge whether or not the interference between the transport of the substrate B1 and the transport of the substrates belonging to the preceding lot A occurs before the completion of all transport of the substrate B1 in a previously determined transport sequence. Based on the result of the judgment, the transport controller controls the actual transport of the substrates.
In this example, if the assumption is made that the substrate B1 is placed subsequently to the substrate A6 in the transfer position, the transport robot receives the substrate B1 and transports the substrate B1 to the heating processing unit in the fourth transport cycle (denoted as �4� in FIG. 14). Because no substrates belonging to the preceding lot A are transported to the heating processing unit in the fourth transport cycle, no interference occurs between the transport of the substrate B1 and the transport of the substrates belonging to the preceding lot A. Further virtual transport of the substrate B1 results in the transport of the substrate B1 into the indexer in the fifth transport cycle (denoted as �5� in FIG. 14). In the fifth transport cycle, the interference occurs between the transport of the substrate B1 and the transport of the substrate A5 belonging to the preceding lot A because the substrate A5 is transported into the indexer.
Prior to the start of the fifth transport cycle, the transport controller performs the virtual transport of the substrate B1 belonging to the lot B again to judge whether or not the interference between the transport of the substrate B1 and the transport of the substrates belonging to the preceding lot A occurs before the completion of all transport of the substrate B1. In this step, if the assumption is made that the substrate B1 is taken out of the cassette and placed in the transfer position, the transport robot receives the substrate B1 and transports the substrate B1 to the heating processing unit in the fifth transport cycle. Because no substrates belonging to the preceding lot A are transported to the heating processing unit in the fifth transport cycle, no interference occurs between the transport of the substrate B1 and the transport of the substrates belonging to the preceding lot A. Further virtual transport of the substrate B1 results in the transport of the substrate B1 into the indexer in the sixth transport cycle (denoted as �6� in FIG. 14). In the sixth transport cycle, the interference occurs between the transport of the substrate B1 and the transport of the substrate A6 belonging to the preceding lot A because the substrate A6 is transported into the indexer. Therefore, the transport controller causes the indexer to stop taking the substrate B1 out of the cassette again, and executes the actual fifth transport cycle.
In the actual fifth transport cycle, after the substrate A5 taken out of the resist coating processing unit is carried into the indexer, the indexer stores the substrate A5 into the cassette. In this step, the transport controller performs the virtual transport of the substrate B1 belonging to the succeeding lot B again to judge whether or not the interference occurs between the transport of the substrate B1 and the transport of the substrates belonging to the preceding lot A. In this example, if the assumption is made that the substrate B1 is taken out of the cassette and placed in the transfer position, the substrate B1 is transported to the heating processing unit in the sixth transport cycle. Because no substrates belonging to the preceding lot A are transported to the heating processing unit in the sixth transport cycle, no interference occurs between the transport of the substrate B1 and the transport of the substrates belonging to the preceding lot A. Further virtual transport of the substrate B1 results in the transport of the substrate B1 into the indexer in the seventh transport cycle (denoted as �7� in FIG. 14). In the seventh transport cycle, no substrates belonging to the preceding lot A are transported to the indexer, because the last substrate A6 belonging to the preceding lot A is carried into the indexer in the sixth transport cycle. Therefore, no interference occurs between the transport of the substrate B1 and the transport of the substrate A6.
On the other hand, this preferred embodiment employs another type of units for transport control regarding the transport of substrates, aside from the blocks which are units based on the above-mentioned mechanical division. The units for transport control regarding the transport of substrates are referred to herein as �cells.� Each of the cells comprises a target location to which a substrate is transported, and a transport robot functioning as a transport element for transporting a substrate to the target location. The target locations in this preferred embodiment include, for example, the various processing units (the thermal processing units, the coating processing units and the development processing units), the substrate rest parts PASS1 to PASS10 for merely placing a substrate W thereon, the table 6, the return buffer RBF, the send buffer SBF, and the like.
Each of the substrate rest parts PASS1 to PASS10 functions as an entrance substrate rest part for the receipt of a substrate W into a cell or as an exit substrate rest part for the transfer of a substrate W out of a cell. The transfer of substrates W between the cells is carried out through the substrate rest parts. The �transport robot� used herein as a constituent of the cells shall include the substrate transfer mechanism 7 and the transport mechanism 35.
The control part 50 includes a CPU for performing various computation processes. The data input part 53 includes, for example, a keyboard. The operator manipulates the keyboard to input data to the control part 50. The memory 51 stores therein a processing unit recipe, a flow recipe and the like which are created by the operator manipulating the data input part 53, and also stores therein an operating program and the like. The �processing unit recipe� refers to a collection of processing conditions in each of the processing units. An example of the processing unit recipe for one of the heating processing units includes a collection of heating temperature, heating time and the like. The �flow recipe� refers to a collection of substrate transport sequences, i.e. process flows, by means of the transport robots in the substrate processing apparatus. The flow recipe is individually prepared for each lot when a plurality of lots different in transport sequence from each other are used for the transport of substrates.
The cell controller CC for controlling the resist coating cell (referred to hereinafter as a �cell controller RCC�) controls the operation of the transport robot 10B, based on a flow recipe for the lot A and a flow recipe for the lot B both received from the main controller MC, to achieve the transport of the substrates belonging to the lots A and B in the resist coating cell.
As shown in FIG. 9, after the transport robot 10A of the BARC cell takes the substrate A5 belonging to the preceding lot A from the substrate rest part PASS1 and places the substrate A5 onto the substrate rest part PASS3, the second transport cycle (denoted as �2� in the �Transport Cycle� column of FIG. 9) in the resist coating cell starts, and the transport robot 10B receives the substrate A5 from the substrate rest part PASS3 and transports the substrate A5 to the heating part PHP1. Because the substrate A4 occupies the temporary substrate rest part 19 of the heating part PHP1 at this time, the transport robot 10B takes the substrate A4 out of the temporary substrate rest part 19 of the heating part PHP1, and thereafter carries the substrate A5 into the heating part PHP1.
After the transport robot 10A of the BARC cell takes the substrate A6 from the substrate rest part PASS1 and places the substrate A6 onto the substrate rest part PASS3, the third transport cycle (denoted as �3� in the �Transport Cycle� column of FIG. 9) in the resist coating cell starts, and the transport robot 10B receives the substrate A6 from the substrate rest part PASS3 and transports the substrate A6 to the heating part PHP1. Then, the transport robot 10B changes places between the substrate A6 and the substrate A5 present in the heating part PHP1.
After the transport robot 10A of the BARC cell takes the substrate B1 from the substrate rest part PASS1 and places the substrate B1 onto the substrate rest part PASS3, the cell controller RCC virtually executes therein the next transport cycle, i.e., the fourth transport cycle (denoted as �4� in the �Transport Cycle� column) for the transport of the substrate belonging to the succeeding lot B, as shown in FIG. 10, based on the flow recipes for the respective lots A and B, prior to taking the substrate B1 from the substrate rest part PASS3. In the virtual fourth transport cycle, the cell controller RCC judges whether or not interference occurs between the transport of the substrate B1 and the transport of the substrates belonging to the preceding lot A. With reference to FIG. 10, no interference occurs between the transport of the substrate B1 and the transport of the substrates belonging to the preceding lot A in the virtual fourth transport cycle because the substrate B1 is transported to the heating part PHP1 and no substrates belonging to the lot A are transported to the heating part PHP1.
After the transport robot 10A of the BARC cell takes the substrate B2 from the substrate rest part PASS1 and places the substrate B2 onto the substrate rest part PASS3, the cell controller RCC virtually executes therein the next transport cycle, i.e., the fifth transport cycle (denoted as �5� in the �Transport Cycle� column) for the transport of the substrate belonging to the succeeding lot B, as shown in FIG. 11, prior to taking the substrate B2 from the substrate rest part PASS3. In the virtual fifth transport cycle, the cell controller RCC judges whether or not interference occurs between the transport of the substrates belonging to the succeeding lot B and the transport of the substrates belonging to the preceding lot A. With reference to FIG. 11, the interference occurs between the transport of the substrates belonging to the preceding lot A and the transport of the substrates belonging to the succeeding lot B in the virtual fifth transport cycle because the substrate A5 and the substrate B1 are transported to the substrate rest part PASS4.
After the transport robot 10B places the substrate A5 onto the substrate rest part PASS4, the cell controller RCC virtually executes again the next transport cycle, i.e., the sixth transport cycle (denoted as �6� in the �Transport Cycle� column), as shown in FIG. 12. With reference to FIG. 12, the interference occurs between the transport of the substrates belonging to the preceding lot A and the transport of the substrates belonging to the succeeding lot B in the virtual sixth transport cycle because the substrate A6 and the substrate B1 are transported to the substrate rest part PASS4. Therefore, the cell controller RCC controls the operation of the transport robot 10B so that the substrate B1 is not transported out of the heating part PHP1 but remains in the heating part PHP1 during the actual execution of the next or sixth transport cycle, as shown in FIG. 9. Specifically, in the actual sixth transport cycle, the transport robot 10B neither receives the substrate B2 from the substrate rest part PASS3 nor transports the substrate B1, but moves to the coating processing unit 15 a and takes the substrate A6 out of the coating processing unit 15 a. Then, the transport robot 10B places the substrate A6 taken out of the coating processing unit 15 a onto the substrate rest part PASS4. Thereafter, the substrate A6 placed on the substrate rest part PASS4 is stored into the cassette C.
After the transport robot 10B places the substrate A6 onto the substrate rest part PASS4, the cell controller RCC virtually executes again the next transport cycle, i.e., the seventh transport cycle (denoted as �7� in the �Transport Cycle� column), as shown in FIG. 13. With reference to FIG. 13, no interference occurs between the transport of the substrates belonging to the preceding lot A and the transport of the substrates belonging to the succeeding lot B in the virtual seventh transport cycle because the substrates B1 and B2 are transported to the substrate rest part PASS4 and the heating part PHP1, respectively, and no substrates belonging to the lot A are transported to the substrate rest part PASS4 and the heating part PHP1. Therefore, the cell controller RCC actually executes the virtual seventh transport cycle shown in FIG. 13.
After the transport of the first substrate B1 belonging to the succeeding lot B to the last target location, the cell controller RCC causes the substrates belonging to the succeeding lot B to be transported in succession without executing the virtual transport cycle. In this example, because the substrate B1 is placed on the substrate rest part PASS4 which is the last target location in the seventh transport cycle, the next transport cycle, i.e., the eighth transport cycle (denoted as �8� in the �Transport Cycle� column) is immediately executed. In the eighth transport cycle, the transport robot 10B takes the substrate B3 from the substrate rest part PASS3, transports the substrate B3 to the heating part PHP1, and changes places between the substrate B3 and the substrate B2 present in the heating part PHP1. Then, the transport robot 10B places the substrate B2 onto the substrate rest part PASS4. Thereafter, a similar operation is repeated.
Patent CitationsCited PatentFiling datePublication dateApplicantTitleUS5668733Apr 6, 1995Sep 16, 1997Dainippon Screen Mfg. Co., Ltd.Substrate processing apparatus and methodUS5687085Apr 7, 1995Nov 11, 1997Dainippon Screen Mfg. Co., Ltd.Substrate processing apparatus and methodUS5928389 *Oct 21, 1996Jul 27, 1999Applied Materials, Inc.Method and apparatus for priority based scheduling of wafer processing within a multiple chamber semiconductor wafer processing toolUS5975740 *May 28, 1996Nov 2, 1999Applied Materials, Inc.Apparatus, method and medium for enhancing the throughput of a wafer processing facility using a multi-slot cool down chamber and a priority transfer schemeUS5980591 *Aug 22, 1997Nov 9, 1999Tokyo Electron LimitedSystem for processing a plurality of objects contained in a plurality of cassettesUS6122566 *Mar 3, 1998Sep 19, 2000Applied Materials Inc.Method and apparatus for sequencing wafers in a multiple chamber, semiconductor wafer processing systemUS6336204 *May 7, 1998Jan 1, 2002Applied Materials, Inc.Method and apparatus for handling deadlocks in multiple chamber cluster toolsUS20020081108 *Oct 17, 2001Jun 27, 2002Tokyo Ohka Kogyo Co., Ltd.Heat treatment apparatus and methodJP2000340633A Title not availableJP2001155992A Title not availableJP2003007795A Title not availableJPH1022361A Title not availableJPH08153765A Title not available* Cited by examinerReferenced byCiting PatentFiling datePublication dateApplicantTitleUS8401701 *Sep 16, 2009Mar 19, 2013Kabushiki Kaisha Yaskawa DenkiSubstrate transfer robot, substrate transfer apparatus including the same, and semiconductor manufacturing apparatus including the sameUS20100161124 *Sep 16, 2009Jun 24, 2010Kabushiki Kaisha Yaskawa DenkiSubstrate transfer robot, substrate transfer apparatus including the same, and semiconductor manufacturing apparatus including the same* Cited by examinerClassifications U.S. Classification118/719, 118/668, 156/345.32, 156/345.24, 700/121, 118/725, 118/724, 414/935, 156/345.31, 118/729International ClassificationH01L21/677, B05C11/00, H01L21/68, H01L21/306, H01L21/027, H01L21/02, H01L21/00, C23C16/00, C23F1/00Cooperative ClassificationH01L21/67276, Y10S414/135, H01L21/67742, H01L21/67184, H01L21/67178European ClassificationH01L21/67S8E, H01L21/67S2Z2V, H01L21/67S2Z4, H01L21/677B2Legal EventsDateCodeEventDescriptionAug 8, 2012FPAYFee paymentYear of fee payment: 4Sep 22, 2004ASAssignmentOwner name: DAINIPPON SCREEN MFG. CO., LTD., JAPANFree format text: ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNORS INTEREST;ASSIGNORS:KOYAMA, YASUFUMI;HASHINOKI, KENJI;YAMADA, TAKAHARU;REEL/FRAME:015827/0277;SIGNING DATES FROM 20040827 TO 20040906RotateOriginal ImageGoogle Home - Sitemap - USPTO Bulk Downloads - Privacy Policy - Terms of Service - About Google Patents - Send FeedbackData provided by IFI CLAIMS Patent Services