Refrigeration – Automatic control – Of external fluid or means
Reexamination Certificate
2000-09-27
2002-08-06
Wayner, William (Department: 3744)
Refrigeration
Automatic control
Of external fluid or means
C062S201000, C165S169000, C219S390000, C373S113000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06427462
ABSTRACT:
TECHNICAL FIELD
The present invention relates to semiconductor manufacturing facilities, semiconductor manufacturing apparatuses and a semiconductor manufacturing method and, more particularly, to a semiconductor manufacturing facility which recover heat emitted from semiconductor manufacturing equipment installed in a clean room and a semiconductor manufacturing apparatus used in such a semiconductor manufacturing facility and a semiconductor manufacturing method performed by such a semiconductor manufacturing facility.
BACKGROUND ART
Some semiconductor manufacturing equipments are provided with a heat source. For example, a heating furnace is provided in a vertical heat treatment apparatus, which performs a heat treatment on semiconductor wafers supported by a support tool in a shelf-like arrangement. The outer surface of such a heating furnace reaches a high temperature of about several hundred degrees, and if the heating furnace is laid in a bare state, a heat is emitted from the heating furnace to the surrounding area, which may exert a bad influence on apparatuses in the surrounding area. Additionally, in a case in which an operator touches the heating furnace by mistake, the operator may receive a burn.
Accordingly, it is necessary to cool the outer surface of the heating furnace, which is a heat source.
FIG. 1A
is a perspective view of a coil-type cooling pipe
10
, which is conventionally used to cool a heating furnace, which is a heat source, and
FIG. 1B
is a front view of the coil-type cooling pipe
10
. The cooling pipe
10
is wound on the periphery of the heating furnace, and cooling water is supplied to a lower cooling water inlet port
11
and the cooling water flows out through an upper cooling water outlet port
12
. Release of heat to outside (inside the clean room) is suppressed by the cooling water absorbing the heat of the heat source.
The temperature of the cooling water supplied to the cooling water inlet port
11
is maintained at about 23° C., which is a setting temperature of a clean room so that dew formation does not occur. The temperature of the cooling water exiting from the cooling water outlet port
12
normally ranges from about 25° C. to 28° C. although the temperature varies according to the operating conditions. That is, a temperature difference between the inlet port
11
and the outlet port
12
is about 5° C. The reason for this is because if the temperature difference is large, the temperature difference influences the temperature distribution in the heat treatment atmosphere in the heating furnace, which lowers the process performance. Additionally, apparatus deterioration may be festinated in hardware. Further, it is undesired that a large temperature distribution is created in the clean room.
FIG. 2
is a structural diagram showing a supply and cooling system of the cooling water supplied to the coil-type cooling pipe
10
. Cold water of about 6° C., which is cooled by a refrigerating machine
101
and stored in a cold-water tank
102
, is delivered to a heat exchanger
103
so as to cool the cooling water for the coil-type cooling pipe
10
, and the cold water is returned to the cold-water tank
102
. On the other hand, the cooling water stored in a buffer tank
104
, which has a temperature higher than 23° C., is delivered to the heat exchanger
103
by a water pump
105
, and is cooled to the temperature of 23° C. by heat exchange with the cold water of 6° C. The cooling water enters the inlet port
11
, passes through the cooling pipe
10
and exits from the outlet port
12
so as to be returned to the buffer tank
104
. It should be noted that, in
FIG. 2
,
106
indicates a cooling tower,
107
indicates a temperature sensor, and
108
-
110
indicate water pumps.
In the above-mentioned cooling apparatus, the temperature of the cooling water supplied to the coil-type cooling pipe
10
must be set to the setting temperature of 23° C. of the clean room. Accordingly, the cooling water of the separate system must be controlled to about 23° C. by heat exchange by the heat exchanger
103
using the cold water of about 6° C. produced by the refrigerating machine
101
. Accordingly, the refrigerating machine
101
and the heat exchanger
103
are needed, thereby increasing a thermal energy loss. Additionally, since there are two cooling water delivery lines, a water pump must be provided to each of the lines. As a result, there is a problem in that an area occupied by the facility is increased, and a facility equipment cost is increased.
In the above-mentioned cooling system, an amount Q of heat absorbed by the cooling water from the heat source is represented by the following equation (1), where amount of cooling water is W, specific heat is Cw, inlet temperature is Ti, outlet temperature is T
0
and temperature difference between inlet and outlet is &Dgr;T.
Q=W·Cw·
(
T
0
−
Ti
)
=W·Cw·&Dgr;T
(1)
In the equation (1), since the specific heat Cw is constant, the amount W of cooling water must be increased so as to decrease the temperature difference &Dgr;T to about 5° C. Accordingly, a large amount of cooling water is needed, and there is a problem in that a power cost of the pump is increased. Additionally, a micro vibration is generated due to an inevitable increase in the amount of cooling water flowing through a main water delivery pipe due to a large amount of cooling water flowing through the cooling pipe. The generated micro vibration propagates the building frame (structure) of the clean room, and consequently propagates an area in which an exposure machine and a scanning electron microscope which are sensitive to a vibration are installed, which exerts a bad influence on those equipment.
Further, since a constant amount of cooling water is supplied to the inlet port
11
of the cooing water coil
10
, a large heat load is applied to the semiconductor manufacturing apparatus. The temperature of the outlet port
12
is increased when the temperature of the heat source is increased, and, on the contrary, an unnecessary cooing is made when the heat load is small. Accordingly, the heat load, which is used for the power to the water pump and producing unnecessary cooling water, is consumed, thereby increasing a loss of energy that is not efficiently used.
In addition to the above-mentioned problems, rust or corrosion occurs in the cooling pipe, the piping, the pump and the heat exchanger through which the cooling water flows, and it is one of the issues to prevent the rust or corrosion.
DISCLOSURE OF INVENTION
It is an object of the present invention to provide an improved and useful semiconductor manufacturing facility in which the above-mentioned problems are eliminated.
A more specific object of the present invention is to provide a semiconductor manufacturing facility and a semiconductor manufacturing apparatus having a cooling apparatus which has a small scale and is capable of reducing an amount of cooling water.
In order to achieve the above-mentioned objects, there is provided according to one aspect of the present invention a semiconductor manufacturing facility provided with semiconductor manufacturing equipment which generates heat during operation and a cooling apparatus for cooling a heat generating part of the semiconductor manufacturing equipment,
the cooling apparatus comprising:
an inner fluid passage formed so as to surround a periphery of the heat generating part and having an inlet port of cooling water on a vertically lower portion thereof;
an outer fluid passage communicated with the inner fluid passage and having an outlet port of the cooling water on a vertically upper portion thereof, the outer fluid passage being formed so as to surround a periphery of the inner fluid passage and is capable of exchanging heat with the cooling water in the inner fluid passage;
a communication passage connecting a vertically upper portion of the inner fluid passage and a vertically lower portion of the outer fluid passage; and
a cooling water supply facility which cools the cooling water flow
Kobayashi Sadao
Ohmi Tadahiro
Suenaga Osamu
Tokyo Electron Limited
Wayner William
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