Cluster tool for fabricating semiconductor device

Details Cluster tool for fabricating semiconductor device Cluster tool for fabricating semiconductor device

2001-02-27

2003-03-11

Mills, Gregory (Department: 1763)

Coating apparatus

Gas or vapor deposition

Multizone chamber

C414S935000, C156S345310

Reexamination Certificate

active

06530993

ABSTRACT:

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a equipment for fabricating a semiconductor device, and more particularly to a cluster tool having a wafer cooling apparatus for fabricating a semiconductor device that is capable of solving a problem of bottleneck occurring in performing processes for fabricating a semiconductor device.
2. Description of the Background Art
A cluster tool for fabricating a semiconductor device refers to a multiple reaction chamber type composite equipment which includes a polyhedral transfer chamber with a wafer handling robot inserted at the center thereof, a plurality of process chambers positioned at each wall face of the polyhedral transfer chamber; and a loadlock chamber installed at a different wall face of the transfer chamber.
FIG. 1
is a schematic view illustrating a construction of the cluster tool
100
for fabricating a semiconductor device. At the center of the cluster tool, there is installed a wafer transfer chamber
130
. The transfer chamber
130
is formed in a polyprism shape having a plurality of wall faces, and a wafer handling robot
132
is installed at the central portion of the transfer chamber
130
to transfer automatically the Wafer
140
.
The wafer transfer robot
132
takes out the wafer
140
from the process chambers
110
a
,
110
b
and
110
c
and transfers it to loadlock chambers
120
a
and
120
b
or transfers the wafer from the loadlock chambers
120
a
and
120
b
to the process chambers
110
a
,
110
b
and
110
c.
The plurality of process chambers
110
a
,
110
b
and
110
c
are attached at the plurality of wall faces of the transfer chamber
130
, respectively.
A wafer aligner
122
and a first loadlock chamber
120
a
are attached in serial at a wall face of the transfer chamber
130
. A cooling plate
124
and a second loadlock chamber
120
b
are installed at a wall face of the transfer chamber
130
. The first and the second loadlock chambers
120
a
and
120
b
include a cassette (not shown) respectively with a plurality of wafers mounted thereon.
The operation of the cluster tool for fabricating a semiconductor device constructed as described above will now be explained.
First, a cassette (not shown) having the plurality of wafers is mounted at the first loadlock chamber
120
a.
Next, the pressure in the first loadlock chamber
120
a
is lowered to a certain level by means of a vacuum pump.
When the pressure of the first loadlock chamber
120
a
is lowered to a desired level, the wafer handling robot
132
takes out the wafer from the cassette and puts it on the wafer aligner
122
for flat zone alignment of the wafer.
The aligned wafer is put into the process chamber
110
a
by the wafer handling robot
132
and undergoes fabrication processes of a semiconductor device.
In case that a unit process in fabricating a semiconductor device is performed in a state that the wafer is heated, after the process is completed, the wafer is taken out from the process chamber
110
a
by the wafer handling robot
132
and mounted on the cooling plate
124
, that is, an incooler, so as to be cooled at a room temperature.
The cooled wafer is put in the cassette of the second loadlock chamber
120
b
by the wafer handling robot
132
and then fetched out from the cluster tool.
In case that the temperature in the process chamber
110
a
,
110
b
,
110
c
is more than 300° C., approximately, it takes 100 seconds to cool the wafer on the cooling plate
124
of the cooling chamber
130
.
In this respect, however, the cooling plate
124
of the cluster tool for fabricating a semiconductor device of the conventional art allows only one wafer to be mounted. Thus, when the plurality of process chambers performs the processes simultaneously at a high temperature, a process bottle neck phenomenon occurs due to the delay in cooling of the wafer.
In other words, even though the fabrication process of a semiconductor device is terminated in each process chamber, since the wafer is mounted on the cooling plate only one by one, in case that other wafer is in the state of cooling, the process is in a standby state without proceeding further process successively, causing a problem that the overall term of the fabrication process of a semiconductor device is lengthened.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a cluster tool for fabricating a semiconductor device that is capable of removing the process bottle neck phenomenon caused due to delay in cooling a wafer of a cluster tool having a plurality of process chamber.
To achieve these and other advantages and in accordance with the purpose of the present invention, as embodied and broadly described herein, there is provided a cluster tool for fabricating a semiconductor device comprising: a transfer chamber having a wafer handling robot in center portion and a plurality of wall faces; a plurality of process chambers installed adjacent to each wall face of the transfer chamber; a loadlock chamber installed adjacent to a wall face of the transfer chamber, in which a cassette is positioned to bring in and take out a wafer; and a cooling chamber installed at a wall face of the transfer chamber with an open-and-shut unit therebetween, the cooling chamber being provided with a wafer multiple-mounting unit having a plurality of wafer mounting plates for simultaneously mounting wafers which finishes undergoing processes in the process chamber and cooling them.
In the cluster tool for fabricating a semiconductor device of the present invention, a wafer contact portion of the wafer mounting plate is made of ceramic or quartz.
In the cluster tool for fabricating a semiconductor device of the present invention, the wafer mounting plate includes a stainless steel plate and a ceramic layer or a quartz layer coated at the upper portion of the stainless steel plate.
In the cluster tool for fabricating a semiconductor device of the present invention, the number of the wafer mounting plates are five or 25.
In the cluster tool for fabricating a semiconductor device of the present invention, a cooling gas injection pipe is connected with the cooling chamber to inject a cooling gas of nitrogen or argon in the cooling chamber.
In the cluster tool for fabricating a semiconductor device of the present invention, a water cooled tube is installed to surround the wall of the cooling chamber to cool the inner side of the cooling chamber.
In order to achieve the above objects, the cluster tool for fabricating a semiconductor device further includes: an open-and-shut unit provided at both walls of the loadlock chamber and of the cooling chamber so as for the cooling chamber and the loadlock chamber to selectively communicate with each other; a cassette transfering device for moving the cassette and a wafer multiple-mounting unit transferring device for moving the wafer multiple-mounting unit.
In the cluster tool for fabricating a semiconductor device of the present invention, the cassette transfering device reciprocally rotates the cassette between the transfer chamber direction and the wafer multiple-mounting unit direction, and the wafer multiple-mounting unit moving device includes: a first unit for reciprocally rotating the wafer multiple-mounting unit between the transfer module direction and the cassette direction; a second unit for adjusting a height of the wafer mounting plate to a slot position of the cassette; and a third unit for forwarding the wafer multiple-mounting unit to the cassette and retreating it.
In the cluster tool for fabricating a semiconductor device of the present invention, the second unit is a vertical transfer unit of the wafer multiple-mounting unit itself or a vertical shift unit of the wafer mounting plate itself.
The foregoing and other objects, features, aspects and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent from the following detailed description of the present invention when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.


REFERENCES:
patent: 4709655 (1987-12-01),

Affiliated with

Also associated with

Rating

Cluster tool for fabricating semiconductor device does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this patent.

If you have personal experience with Cluster tool for fabricating semiconductor device, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Cluster tool for fabricating semiconductor device will most certainly appreciate the feedback.

Rate now

Comments { 0 }

Profile ID: LFUS-PAI-O-3068691