Optics: measuring and testing – Inspection of flaws or impurities – Surface condition
Reexamination Certificate
2002-08-16
2004-07-27
Font, Frank G. (Department: 2877)
Optics: measuring and testing
Inspection of flaws or impurities
Surface condition
C356S237100
Reexamination Certificate
active
06768542
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a defect inspecting device for a substrate to be processed in a semiconductor manufacturing process, and in particular, to a device used in a positioning device for a substrate and a method of manufacturing a semiconductor device.
2. Description of the Related Art
In general, a semiconductor manufacturing process includes a plurality of processes and processes a wafer as a substrate to be processed by the plurality of processes to manufacture a semiconductor device (H semiconductor chip). In this semiconductor manufacturing process, it is necessary to preclude the misalignment of the wafer so as to prevent or suppress a defect occurred in the course of processing and transfer. For this reason, there has been used a positioning device for positioning the wafer with high accuracy.
FIG. 8
is a block diagram showing a conventional positioning device.
Referring to
FIG. 8
, a reference numeral
1
denotes a wafer as a substrate to be processed; a reference numeral
2
a vacuum holding base; a reference numeral
3
a cylinder; a reference numeral
4
an actuator; a reference numeral
5
an alignment member; a reference numeral
6
a transmission sensor; and a reference numeral
7
a control unit. The alignment member
5
is provided with the first flat plane
5
a
with the first radius, a slope
5
b
inclined upward at a predetermined angle from the peripheral of the first flat plane
5
a
, and a second flat plane
5
c
extending outward in the radial direction of the top end of the slop
5
b
and with the second radius. The first radius is equal to the second ones. The control unit
7
drives and controls the actuator
4
and the transmission sensor
6
in response to a control signal given by the control unit of a semiconductor production equipment (hereinafter referred to as a main control unit (not shown)). Then, the cylinder
3
is driven in the vertical direction within a range (moving range) predetermined by the actuator
4
. Further, the cylinder
3
is rotated by the actuator
4
. Thereby, the vacuum holding base
2
is moved in the vertical direction within a range predetermined by the first flat plane
5
a
and the second flat plane
5
c
and, at the same time, is rotated by taking the cylinder
3
as the axis of rotation. The wafer
1
is formed in a circle, for example, and a notch
111
is previously formed on the rim of the wafer
1
. The notch
111
is devoted to positional detection.
Next, the operation of the conventional positioning device will be described.
The semiconductor production equipment (not shown) is provided with a carrier robot (not shown) and the wafer
1
is transferred by the carrier robot to the vacuum holding base
2
and is placed on the vacuum holding base
2
, with its main plane (top surface) abutted against the vacuum holding base
2
. In the case where the wafer
1
is placed on the vacuum holding base
2
, when the cylinder
3
is moved to the uppermost position within the moving range, that is, when the vacuum holding base
2
is positioned at the uppermost position, the wafer
1
is placed on the vacuum holding base
2
by the carrier robot. At this time, the surface of the wafer
1
is a little lower than the second flat plane
5
c.
After the wafer
1
is placed on the vacuum holding base
2
in this manner, the cylinder
3
is moved in the vertical direction in FIG.
8
by the actuator
4
and then the vacuum holding base
2
, that is, the wafer
1
is lowered. When the vacuum holding base
2
is lowered, the rim of the wafer
1
is lowered along the slope
5
b
and the top surface of the vacuum holding base
2
reaches the first flat plane
5
a
, the rim of the wafer
1
is positioned at the peripheral of the first flat plane
5
a
; that is, the wafer is centered.
Then, the wafer
1
is vacuum absorbed by the vacuum holding base
2
and then the cylinder
3
is moved upward by the actuator
4
to move up the vacuum holding base
2
, that is, the wafer
1
. Thereafter, the cylinder
3
is rotated by the actuator
4
to rotate the vacuum holding base
2
, that is, the wafer
1
in the direction shown by an arrow in
FIG. 8
by taking the cylinder
3
as the axis of rotation.
The transmission sensor
6
has a light projecting part
6
a
and a light receiving part
6
b
and, as shown in
FIG. 8
, the light projecting part
6
a
is opposed to the light receiving part
6
b
across the peripheral of the wafer
1
. The control unit
7
drives the light projecting part
6
a
to emit light. As described above, the wafer
1
has the notch
111
, so that when the notch
111
reaches a position where the transmission sensor
6
is arranged, the light emitted from the light projecting part
6
a
passes through the notch
111
and is received by the light receiving part
6
b
. That is to say, the wafer
1
is rotated until the light emitted from the light projecting part
6
a
is received by the light receiving part
6
b
to adjust the angle of the wafer
1
. In other words, the control unit
7
rotates the wafer
1
until the notch
111
is detected by the transmission sensor
6
to adjust the angle of the wafer
1
(position of the wafer
1
).
The angle (position) of the wafer
1
is adjusted in this manner and then the wafer
1
is received by the carrier robot and is transferred to a processing unit (processing chamber) attached to the semiconductor production equipment.
In the processing and the transfer processes of the wafer
1
, as described above, it is necessary to position the wafer
1
and to inspect a defect on the wafer
1
such as a foreign matter adhered thereto and a crack (chip at the end of the wafer
1
). In Japanese Patent Unexamined Publication No. 9-186209 (hereinafter referred to as a first prior art 1), there is disclosed a device (inspection device) for inspecting a defect on a wafer. In the first prior art, a wafer positioning unit is provided with a macro-inspecting function and when the wafer is positioned by detecting a positioning notch formed on the rim of the wafer, the wafer is slanted and vibrated to perform a macro observation. Further, in Japanese Patent Unexamined Publication No. 11-326229, there is disclosed a device in which a defect on a wafer is inspected when the wafer is positioned on an inspection stage with high accuracy (hereinafter referred to as a second prior art). That is to say, in the second prior art, a laser beam is irradiated on the inspection region (foreign matter detecting region) on the wafer and the upper scattered light is received by a detection optical system provided above in the vertical direction of an inspection table to detect a foreign matter. At this time, the coordinates of the center of the wafer are calculated and the calculated coordinates of the center are taken as the coordinates of the center of the wafer when the foreign matter is detected.
Further, in Japanese Patent Unexamined Publication No. 5-160245 (hereinafter referred to as a third prior art), there is disclosed a device for positioning a wafer and detecting a defect on the rim of the wafer. In the third prior art, the device includes a first rotary stage slightly rotatable nearly around the origin of an orthogonal coordinate system, a direct-moving stage mounted on the first rotary stage and two-dimensionally movable in the orthogonal coordinate system, and a second rotary stage mounted on the direct-moving stage and rotatable one rotation or more while holding the wafer. While the second rotary stage is rotating, the defect (chip or the like) on the rim of the wafer is detected by output information from the first detector for detecting information indicative of the change of displacement of the rim of the wafer from the center of rotation on a non-contact base.
In addition, in Japanese Patent Unexamined Publication No. 8-264606 (hereinafter referred to as a fourth prior art), there is disclosed a device for positioning a wafer on an X-Y stage in inspecting a foreign matter on the wafer. In the fourth prior art, the alignmen
Ise Hirotoshi
Kimura Yasuhiro
Komemura Toshio
Noguchi Toshihiko
Oono Toshiki
Nguyen Sang H.
Renesas Technology Corp.
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