Source: http://www.google.com/patents/US6886272?dq=5726663
Timestamp: 2016-12-09 21:25:46
Document Index: 422542374

Matched Legal Cases: ['Application No. 11', 'Application No. 2000', 'Application No. 2000', 'Application No. 2000', 'Application No. 2000', 'Application No. 2', 'Application No. 2646905', 'Application No. 2646905', 'Application No. 3', 'Application No. 8', 'Application No. 9', 'Application No. 9', 'Application No. 14984', 'Application No. 184682', 'Application No. 184682', 'Application No. 212819', 'Application No. 212874', 'Application No. 46756', 'Application No. 46757']

Patent US6886272 - Vacuum processing apparatus and operating method therefor - Google PatentsSearch Images Maps Play YouTube News Gmail Drive More »Sign inPatentsThis invention relates to a vacuum processing apparatus having vacuum processing chambers the insides of which must be dry cleaned, and to a method of operating such an apparatus. When the vacuum processing chambers are dry-cleaned, dummy substrates are transferred into the vacuum processing chamber...http://www.google.com/patents/US6886272?utm_source=gb-gplus-sharePatent US6886272 - Vacuum processing apparatus and operating method thereforAdvanced Patent SearchTry the new Google Patents, with machine-classified Google Scholar results, and Japanese and South Korean patents.Publication numberUS6886272 B2Publication typeGrantApplication numberUS 10/683,067Publication dateMay 3, 2005Filing dateOct 14, 2003Priority dateAug 29, 1990Fee statusLapsedAlso published asDE69128861D1, DE69128861T2, DE69128861T3, DE69133254D1, DE69133254T2, DE69133535D1, DE69133535T2, DE69133564D1, DE69133564T2, DE69133567D1, DE69133567T2, EP0475604A1, EP0475604B1, EP0475604B2, EP0805481A2, EP0805481A3, EP0805481B1, EP0856875A2, EP0856875A3, EP0856875B1, EP1076354A2, EP1076354A3, EP1076354B1, EP1079418A2, EP1079418A3, EP1079418B1, US5314509, US5349762, US5457896, US5553396, US5661913, US5784799, US5950330, US6012235, US6044576, US6055740, US6070341, US6108929, US6112431, US6263588, US6301801, US6301802, US6314658, US6330755, US6330756, US6332280, US6446353, US6457253, US6460270, US6463676, US6463678, US6467186, US6467187, US6470596, US6473989, US6484414, US6484415, US6487791, US6487793, US6487794, US6490810, US6499229, US6505415, US6588121, US6625899, US6634116, US6655044, US6662465, US6880264, US6904699, US6968630, US7367135, US20010000048, US20010001901, US20010001902, US20010002517, US20010003873, US20010004554, US20010004807, US20010007175, US20010008050, US20010008051, US20010008052, US20010009073, US20010009074, US20010009075, US20010009076, US20010010126, US20010011422, US20010011423, US20010016990, US20010020339, US20010020340, US20010037585, US20020032972, US20040074103, US20040074104, US20040187337, US20040187338, US20060032073Publication number10683067, 683067, US 6886272 B2, US 6886272B2, US-B2-6886272, US6886272 B2, US6886272B2InventorsShigekazu Kato, Kouji Nishihata, Tsunehiko Tsubone, Atsushi ItouOriginal AssigneeHitachi, Ltd.Export CitationBiBTeX, EndNote, RefManPatent Citations (95), Non-Patent Citations (65), Referenced by (4), Classifications (36), Legal Events (4) External Links: USPTO, USPTO Assignment, EspacenetVacuum processing apparatus and operating method therefor
US 6886272 B2Abstract
a plurality of vacuum processing chambers for generating a plasma in each of said chambers; at least one cassette mount table for mounting at least one cassette storing substrates and at least one cassette storing dummy substrates, in the atmosphere; an atmospheric transfer device for transferring said substrates and said dummy substrates in the atmosphere, being capable of moving at least vertically and being capable of being controlled such that any of said substrates and any of said dummy substrates can be taken out of any location in the cassettes mounted on said at least one cassette mount table; and a control means (a) for transferring substrates and said dummy substrates from any location in any of said cassettes mounted on said at least one cassette mount table in the atmosphere to the vacuum processing chambers via said atmospheric transfer device, and (b) for transferring said substrates and said dummy substrates in said vacuum processing chambers to original positions within original cassettes, at which respective substrates and dummy substrates were located prior to transfer to the vacuum processing chambers, via said atmospheric transfer device. 2. A vacuum processing apparatus, comprising:
a plurality of vacuum processing chambers for generating a plasma in each of said chambers; at least one cassette mount table for mounting at least one cassette storing substrates and at least one cassette storing dummy substrates, in the atmosphere; a transfer device for transferring said substrates and said dummy substrates, being capable of moving at least vertically and of being controlled such that any of said substrates and any of said dummy substrates can be taken out of any location in the cassettes mounted on said at least one cassette mount table; and a control means (a) for transferring said substrates and said dummy substrates from any location in any of said cassettes mounted on said at least one cassette mount table in the atmosphere to the vacuum processing chambers via said transfer device, and (b) for transferring said substrates and said dummy substrates in said vacuum processing chambers to original positions within original cassettes, at which respective substrates and dummy substrates were located prior to transfer to the vacuum processing chambers, via said transfer device. 3. A vacuum processing apparatus, comprising:
a plurality of vacuum processing chambers for generating a plasma in each of said chambers; at least one cassette mount table for mounting at least one cassette storing substrates and at least one cassette storing dummy substrates, in the atmosphere; an atmospheric transfer device for transferring said substrates and said dummy substrates in the atmosphere, being capable of being controlled such that any of said substrates and any of said dummy substrates can be taken out of any location in the cassettes mounted on said at least one cassette mount table; and a control means (a) for transferring said substrates and said dummy substrates from any location in any of said cassettes mounted on said at least one cassette mount table in the atmosphere to the vacuum processing chambers via said atmospheric transfer device, and (b) for transferring said substrates and said dummy substrates in said vacuum processing chambers to original positions within original cassettes, at which respective substrates and dummy substrates were located prior to transfer to the vacuum processing chambers, via said atmospheric transfer device. 4. A vacuum processing apparatus, comprising:
a plurality of vacuum processing chambers for generating a plasma in each of said chambers; at least one cassette mount table for mounting at least one cassette storing substrates and at least one cassette storing dummy substrates, in the atmosphere; a transfer device for transferring said substrates and said dummy substrates, being capable of being controlled such that any of said substrates and any of said dummy substrates can be taken out of any location in the cassettes mounted on said at least one cassette mount table; and a control means (a) for transferring said substrates and said dummy substrates from any location in any of said cassettes mounted on said at least one cassette mount table in the atmosphere to the vacuum processing chambers via said transfer device, and (b) for transferring said substrates and said dummy substrates in said vacuum processing chambers to original positions within original cassettes, at which respective substrates and dummy substrates were located prior to transfer to the vacuum processing chambers, via said transfer device. 5. A vacuum processing apparatus, comprising:
a plurality of vacuum processing chambers for generating a plasma in each of said chambers; at least one cassette mount table for mounting at least one cassette storing substrates and at least one cassette storing dummy substrates, in the atmosphere; an atmospheric transfer device for transferring said substrates and said dummy substrates in the atmosphere, being capable of moving at least vertically; and a controller connected at least to said atmospheric transfer device for controlling locations of said substrates and said dummy substrates such that substrates transferred from any location in one of the cassettes mounted on the at least one cassette mount table in the atmosphere to at least one of the vacuum processing chambers are transferred to original positions within original cassettes, in which said substrates or said dummy substrates are stored prior to processing. 6. A vacuum processing apparatus, comprising:
a plurality of vacuum processing chambers for generating a plasma in each of said chambers; at least one cassette mount table for mounting at least one cassette storing substrates and at least one cassette storing dummy substrates; a transfer device for transferring said substrates and said dummy substrates, being capable of moving at least vertically; and a controller connected at least to said transfer device for controlling locations of said substrates and said dummy substrates such that substrates transferred from any location in one of the cassettes mounted on the at least one cassette mount table to at least one of the vacuum processing chambers are transferred to original positions within original cassettes, in which said substrates or said dummy substrates are stored prior to processing. 7. A vacuum processing apparatus, comprising:
a plurality of vacuum processing chambers for generating a plasma in each of said chambers; at least one cassette mount table for mounting at least one cassette storing substrates and at least one cassette storing dummy substrates, in the atmosphere; an atmospheric transfer device for transferring said substrates and said dummy substrates in the atmosphere, and a controller connected at least to said atmospheric transfer device for controlling locations of said substrates and said dummy substrates such that substrates transferred from any location in one of the cassettes mounted on the at least one cassette mount table in the atmosphere to at least one of the vacuum processing chambers are transferred to original positions within original cassettes, in which said substrates or said dummy substrates are stored prior to processing. 8. A vacuum processing apparatus, comprising:
a plurality of vacuum processing chambers for generating a plasma in each of said chambers; at least one cassette mount table for mounting at least one cassette storing substrates and at least one cassette storing dummy substrates, in the atmosphere; a transfer device for transferring said substrates and said dummy substrates; and a controller connected at least to said transfer device for controlling locations of said substrates and said dummy substrates such that substrates transferred from any location in one of the cassettes mounted on the at least one cassette mount table to at least one of the vacuum processing chambers are transferred to original positions within original cassettes, in which said substrates or said dummy substrates are stored prior to processing. 9. A vacuum processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said control means is for transferring said substrates and said dummy substrates such that substrates to be processed can be transferred from any location in any one of the cassettes storing substrates, mounted on the at least one cassette mount table, at times substrates to be processed are to be transferred.
This application is a Continuation application of application Ser. No. 09/781,295, filed Feb. 13, 2001, now U.S. Pat. No. 6,662,465, which is a Divisional application of application Ser. No. 09/461,432, filed Dec. 16, 1999, now U.S. Pat. No. 6,330,755, which is a Continuation application of application Ser. No. 09/177,495, filed Oct. 23, 1998, now U.S. Pat. No. 6,012,235, which is a Continuation application of application Ser. No. 09/061,062, filed Apr. 16, 1998, now U.S. Pat. No. 5,950,330, which is a Continuation application of application Ser. No. 08/882,731, filed Jun. 26, 1997, now U.S. Pat. No. 5,784,799, which is a Divisional application of application Ser. No. 08/593,870, filed Jan. 30, 1996, now U.S. Pat. No. 5,661,913, which is a Continuing application of application Ser. No. 08/443,039, filed May 17, 1995, now U.S. Pat No. 5,553,396, which is a Divisional application of application Ser. No. 08/302,443, filed Sep. 9, 1994, now U.S. Pat. No. 5,457,896, which is a Continuing application of application Ser. No. 08/096,256, filed Jul. 26, 1993, now U.S. Pat. No. 5,349,762 which is a Continuing application of application Ser. No. 07/751,951, filed Aug. 29, 1991, now U.S. Pat. No. 5,314,509, the contents of which are incorporated herein by reference in their entirety.
In a vacuum processing apparatus such as a cry etching apparatus, a CVD apparatus or a sputtering apparatus, a predetermined number of substrates to be treated are stored as one unit (which is generally referred to as a “lot”) in a substrate cassette and are loaded in the apparatus. The substrates after being processed are likewise stored in the same unit in the substrate cassette and are recovered. This is an ordinary method of operating these apparatuses to improve the productivity.
In such a vacuum processing apparatus described above, particularly in an apparatus which utilizes a reaction by an active gas, as typified by a dry etching apparatus and a CVD apparatus, reaction products adhere to and are deposited on a vacuum processing chamber with the progress of processing. For this reason, problems such as degradation of vacuum performance, the increase of dust, the drop of the levels of optical monitoring signals occur. To solve these problems, conventionally the insides of the vacuum processing chambers are cleaned periodically. Cleaning operations include so-called “wet cleaning” which is wiping-off or the adhering matters by use of an organic solvent, etc, and so-called “dry cleaning” in which an active gas or plasma is used for decomposing adhering matters. Dry cleaning is superior from the aspect of the working factor and efficiency. These features of the dry cleaning have become essential with the progress in automation of production lines.
The present invention provides a vacuum processing apparatus which solves the problems described above, is simple in structure, prevents contamination of unprocessed substrates and accomplishes a high production yield. A vacuum processing apparatus having vacuum processing chambers the insides of which are dry-cleaned after substrates to be treated are processed in vacuum is provided with first storage means for storing substrates to be treated, second storage means for storing dummy substrates, the first and second storage means being disposed in the air, conveyor means for transferring the substrates to be processed between the first storage means and the vacuum processing chambers and for transferring the dummy substrates between the second storage means and the vacuum processing chambers, and control means for controlling the conveyor means so as to transfer the dummy substrates between the second storage means and the vacuum processing chambers before and after dry cleaning of the vacuum processing chambers. A method of operating a vacuum processing apparatus having vacuum processing chambers the insides of which are dry-cleaned after substrates to be processed are processed-in vacuum comprises the steps of disposing first storage means for storing the substrates to be processed together with second storage means for storing dummy substrates in the air atmosphere, transferring the substrates to be processed between the first storage means and the vacuum processing chambers and vacuum-processing the substrates to be processed, and transferring the dummy substrates between the second storage means and the vacuum processing chambers before and after dry-cleaning of the vacuum processing chambers.
FIG. 2 is a vertical sectional view taken along line I—I of FIG. 1.
FIGS. 1 and 2 show a vacuum processing apparatus of the present invention which is, in this case, a dry-etching apparatus for etching wafers, i.e substrates to be processed by plasma.
A load lock chamber 5 and unload lock chamber 6 are so disposed as to face the cassette tables 2 a and 2 b, and a conveyor 13 is disposed between the cassette tables 2 a, 2 b and the load lock chamber 5 and the unload lock chamber 6. The load lock chamber 5 is equipped with an evacuating device 3 and a gas introduction device 4, and can load unprocessed wafers in the vacuum apparatus through a gate valve 12 a. The unload lock chamber 6 is similarly equipped with the evacuating device 3 and the gas introduction device 4, and can take out processed wafers to the atmosphere through a gate valve 12 d. The conveyor 13 is equipped with a robot having X, Y, Z and axes, which operates so as to deliver and receive the wafers 20 between the cassettes 1 a, 1 b and the load lock and unload lock chambers 5 and 6 and the dummy wafers 30 between the cassette 1 c and the load lock and unload lock chambers 5 and 6.
For instance, the wafers 20 are sequentially loaded in the order from above into the etching chambers 11 a, 11 b, 11 c by the conveyors 13 and 14, and are etched. The etched wafers are stored in their original positions inside the cassette 1 a by the conveyors 14 and 13. In this case, from the start to the end of the operation, without changing the position and posture of the cassettes, the unprocessed wafers are taken out from the cassettes and are returned in their original positions where the wafers have been stored, and are stored there. In this manner, the apparatus can easily cope with automation of the production line, contamination of the wafers due to dust can be reduced and high production efficiently and high production yield can thus be accomplished.
Plasma cleaning is carried out in the following sequence. In this case, the explanation will be given about a cause where the etching chambers 11 a to 11 c are subjected to plasma cleaning by using three dummy wafers 30 among the dummy wafers 30 (twenty-five dummy wafers are stored in this case) stored in the cassette 1 c. Dummy wafers 30 which are stored in the cassette 1 c and are not used yet or can be used because the number of times of use for plasma cleaning is below a predetermined one are drawing by the conveyor 13. At this time, dummy wafers 30 stored in any position in the cassette 1 c may be used but in this case, the position numbers of the dummy wafers in the cassette and their number of times of use are stored in the controller 19, and accordingly dummy wafers having smaller numbers of times of use are drawn preferentially. Then, the dummy wafers 30 are loaded in the load lock chamber 5 disposed on the opposite side to the cassette 1 a by the conveyor 13 through the gate valve 12 a in the same way as the transfer at the time of etching of wafers 20. After the gate valve 12 a is closed, the load lock chamber 5 is evacuated to a predetermined pressure by the vacuum exhaust device 3 and then the gate valves 12 b and 15 a are opened. The dummy wafers 30 are transferred by the conveyor 14 from the load lock chamber 5 to the etching chamber 11 a through the transfer chamber 16 and are placed on the sample table 8 a. After the gate valve 15 a is closed, plasma cleaning is carried out in the etching chamber 11 a in which the dummy wafers 30 are disposed, under a predetermined condition.
In the interim, the gate valves 12 a, 12 b are closed and the pressure of the load lock chamber is returned to the atmospheric pressure by the gas introduction device 4. Next, the gate valve 12 a is opened and the second dummy wafer 30 is loaded in the load lock chamber 5 by the conveyor 13 in the same way as the first dummy wafer 30, and evacuation is effected again by the evacuating device 3 to a predetermined pressure after closing the gate valve 12 a. Thereafter, the gate valves 12 b and 15 b are opened and the second dummy wafer 30 is transferred from the load lock chamber 5 to the etching chamber 11 b through the transfer chamber 16 by the conveyor 14. Plasma cleaning is started after the gate valve 15 b is closed.
The used dummy wafers are returned to their original positions in the cassette and the numbers of times of their use is managed. Accordingly, it is possible to prevent the confusion of the used dummy wafers with the unused dummy wafers and the confusion of the dummy wafers having small numbers of times of use with the dummy wafers having large numbers of times of use or these reasons, the dummy wafers can be used effectively without any problem when plasma cleaning is carried out.
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Kazuo Maeda (Jun. 1990), pp. 158 (PTR).Referenced byCiting PatentFiling datePublication dateApplicantTitleUS7179334 *Mar 19, 2002Feb 20, 2007Tokyo Electron LimitedSystem and method for performing semiconductor processing on substrate being processedUS8153451Jan 24, 2007Apr 10, 2012Tokyo Electron LimitedSystem and method for performing semiconductor processing on target substrateUS20040159284 *Mar 19, 2002Aug 19, 2004Koichi SakamotoSystem and method for performing semiconductor processing on substrate being processedUS20070131537 *Jan 24, 2007Jun 14, 2007Tokyo Electron LimitedSystem and method for performing semiconductor processing on target substrate* Cited by examinerClassifications U.S. Classification34/92, 414/940, 118/730, 34/60, 118/719, 134/902, 414/939, 134/85International ClassificationB41J2/36, B41J2/365, B01J3/00, H01L21/00, H01L21/677, C23C14/56Cooperative ClassificationY10S134/902, Y10S414/139, Y10S414/137, Y10S414/14, H01L21/67748, C23C14/564, B01J3/006, H01L21/67736, H01L21/67167, B41J2/365, H01L21/67253, H01L21/67028, B41J2/36European ClassificationB01J3/00F, B41J2/36, B41J2/365, H01L21/677A11, H01L21/67S2D4, H01L21/67S8B, H01L21/67S2Z2C, H01L21/677B6, C23C14/56DLegal EventsDateCodeEventDescriptionSep 24, 2008FPAYFee paymentYear of fee payment: 4Dec 17, 2012REMIMaintenance fee reminder mailedMay 3, 2013LAPSLapse for failure to pay maintenance feesJun 25, 2013FPExpired due to failure to pay maintenance feeEffective date: 20130503RotateOriginal ImageGoogle Home - Sitemap - USPTO Bulk Downloads - Privacy Policy - Terms of Service - About Google Patents - Send FeedbackData provided by IFI CLAIMS Patent Services