Material or article handling – Article reorienting device – Orienter has article gripping means
Reexamination Certificate
2000-04-07
2002-04-09
Bollinger, David H. (Department: 3652)
Material or article handling
Article reorienting device
Orienter has article gripping means
C414S331010
Reexamination Certificate
active
06368049
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a semiconductor manufacturing method including a process for detecting the orientation flat or notch of a substrate and aligning it to a specified position, ad to a semiconductor manufacturing apparatus equipped with a substrate alignment apparatus.
2. Description of the Related Art
An 8-inch cassette that carries wafers generally has an open construction (with a lid-less open cassette, the bottom part is also open), so the notch alignment of the wafers can be performed from the opening in the bottom of the cassette by standing the cassette upright so that the wafers are vertical, However, a wafer carrier called a FOUP (Front Opeaing Unified Pod), which is a 12-inch cassette, has a closed construction, so notch alignment always requires the wafers to be taken out of the FOUP. Because the wafers inside the FOUP are ordinarily in a horizontal state, to align the notches in a vertical state, the FOUP has to be stood up vertically or rotated 90°. Changing the attitude of the FOUP by standing it up vertically or rotating it 90° is extremely troublesome, which is partially due to the large size of the carrier. Also, when 25 12-inch wafers are carried, the FOUP becomes quite heavy, making it difficult to rotate it by 90°. In view of this, a method in which the wafers are taken out of the FOUP while it is still horizontal and the notches of the wafers are aligned in a horizontal state is considered easier than when this is done vertically.
An example of a mechanism proposed in the past for positioning wafers in a horizontal state is Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application H6-13450. With this mechanism, the wafer is placed on an eccentricity correction jig having a conical sloped surface, the eccentricity of the wafer is corrected, the eccentricity correction jig is lowered, the water is moved from the eccentricity correction jig to a rotating stage and secured thereto by suction, the eccentricity correction jig is then further lowered and retracted, the wafer is rotated on the rotating stage in this state, and the notch on the wafer is detected by an optical sensor, allowing proper alignment to be achieved. After this alignment, the wafer is collected by the reverse operation. As a result, the eccentricity of the wafer is corrected all at once, and the wafer is positioned more accurately.
With the above alignment mechanism, however, because the back of the wafer is supported by vacuum auction during the detection of notch position, the generation of particles is inevitable, the problem with which is that these particles oling to the back of the substrate.
Also, the above alignment mechanism is only intended for a single water, and while it is effective in terms of achieving good alignment accuracy one wafer at a time and making the mechanism simpler, because only one wafer can be detected, alignment is slow when a plurality of wafers are positioned one at a time, creating a bottleneck in the process and resulting in poor throughput for the apparatus as a whole.
It is possible to provide a plurality of the above-mentioned alignment mechanisms in series in order to position a plurality of wafers all at once, but this results in a bulky mechanism. Furthermore, if an attempt is made to position a plurality of substrates all at once, this requires a complicated operation in which the angular position of previously positioned substrates is left alone while subsequent substrates are being positioned among various other problems that are encountered and solving these problems is extremely complicated in terms of both the process and the mechanism.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is an object of the present invention to solve the problem associated with prior art where particles inevitably clung to the back side of the substrate because this side was supported, and to provide a semiconductor manufacturing method and semiconductor manufacturing apparatus with which it is possible to prevent particles from clinging to the back of the substrate during substrate alignment.
It is another object of the present invention to solve the problem associated with prior art whereby substrates could only be positioned one at a time, and to provide a semiconductor manufacturing method and semiconductor manufacturing apparatus with which it is possible to position a plurality of substrates all at once.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a semiconductor manufacturing method and semiconductor manufacturing apparatus with which throughput can be enhanced by performing substrate alignment during the idle time of the substrate transfer unit that transfers the substrates to a processing chamber or processing jig.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a semiconductor manufacturing method and semiconductor manufacturing apparatus with which it is possible to solve with ease the trouble encountered when a plurality of substrates are positioned simultaneously.
The invention of claim
1
is a semiconductor manufacturing method including a step of detecting the position of the orientation flat or notch of a substrate and aligning to a specific position, wherein a substrate transfer unit that transfers substrates to a processing chamber or processing jig is used for the orientation flat or notch alignment of the substrates.
When a substrate transfer unit that transfers substrates to a processing chamber or processing jig is used for the orientation flat or notch alignment, it is easier to place and remove the substrates with respect to the substrate alignment apparatus that performs the orientation flat or notch alignment. Also, since there is no need for a separate transfer unit to be readied, the apparatus is more compact and lower in cost.
The invention of claim
2
is the semiconductor manufacturing method according to claim
1
, wherein the orientation flat or notch alignment of the substrates is performed in a transfer chamber in which the substrate transfer unit is installed.
Because the orientation flat or notch alignment is performed in a transfer chamber, the substrate transfer unit can be utilized more efficiently. Also, because the substrate alignment apparatus is installed in the empty space of the substrate transfer chamber, there is no need for a separate chamber or the like in which the substrate alignment apparatus is installed to be readied, which allows the apparatus to be more compact and lower in cost.
The invention of claim
3
is a semiconductor manufacturing method according to claim
1
, wherein the substrates are removed from a substrate carrier by the substrate transfer unit and put into a substrate alignment apparatus that performs the orientation flat or notch alignment of the substrates, and the substrates are taken out of the substrate alignment apparatus by the substrata transfer unit after the orientation flat or notch alignment of the substrates and transferred to the processing chamber or processing jig.
When a substrate transfer unit that transfers the substrates to a processing chamber or processing jig is used it is easier to place and remove the substrates with respect to the substrate alignment apparatus that performs the orientation flat or notch alignment. Also, since there is no need for a separate transfer unit to be readied, the apparatus is more compact and lower in cost.
The invention of claim
4
is the semiconductor manufacturing method according to claim
1
, wherein the orientation flat or notch alignment of the substrates is performed ahead of time by exchanging substrate carriers and repeating the following steps (a) to (d): (a) the substrates are removed from the substrate carrier by the substrate transfer unit and put into a substrate alignment apparatus that performs the orientation flat or notch alignment of the substrates, and orientation flat or notch alignment of the substrates is performed, (b) the substrates that have undergone orientation flat or notch alignment are taken out of the substrate alignment apparatus and returned to the substrat
Noto Kouichi
Osaka Akihiro
Sekiyama Hiroshi
Sugawara Masaki
Bollinger David H.
Bower Kenneth W
Kokusai Electric Co. Ltd.
Oliff & Berridg,e PLC
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