Vacuum processing and operating method

Drying and gas or vapor contact with solids – Process – Gas or vapor pressure is subatmospheric

Reexamination Certificate

Rate now

  [ 0.00 ] – not rated yet Voters 0   Comments 0

Details

Reexamination Certificate

active

06330755

ABSTRACT:

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a vacuum processing apparatus and operating method therefor. More specifically, the present invention relates to a vacuum processing apparatus having vacuum processing chambers the inside of which must be cleaned, and its operating method.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In a vacuum processing apparatus such as a dry 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 of 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.
An example of vacuum processing apparatuses having such a dry cleaning function is disclosed in Japanese Utility Model Laid-Open No. 127125/1988. This apparatus includes a preliminary vacuum chamber for introducing wafers to be treated into a processing chamber from an atmospheric side to a vacuum side, which is disposed adjacent to the processing chamber through a gate valve, dummy wafers are loaded in the preliminary vacuum chamber and are transferred into the processing chamber by exclusive conveyor means before the processing chamber is subjected to dry cleaning, and the dummy wafer is returned to the vacuum preparatory chamber by the conveyor means after dry cleaning is completed.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
In the prior art technology described above, the structure of the vacuum processing apparatus is not much considered. The preliminary vacuum chamber for storing the dummy wafers must have a large capacity, the exclusive conveyor means is necessary for transferring the dummy wafers and thus, the apparatus is complicated in structure.
Dummy wafers used for plasma cleaning are again returned to the preliminary vacuum chamber and are made to stand by. In this instance, reaction products generated during plasma cleaning and residual gas used for plasma cleaning adhere on the used dummy wafers. Thereafter, normal processing for wafers is resumed. Therefore, the used dummy wafers and unprocessed wafers exist in mixture inside the preliminary vacuum chamber and this state is not desirable from the aspect of contamination of unprocessed wafers.
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.


REFERENCES:
patent: 3652444 (1972-03-01), Lester et al.
patent: 3981791 (1976-09-01), Rosvold
patent: 4138306 (1979-02-01), Niwa
patent: 4226897 (1980-10-01), Coleman
patent: 4311427 (1982-01-01), Coad et al.
patent: 4313783 (1982-02-01), Davies et al.
patent: 4313815 (1982-02-01), Graves, Jr. et al.
patent: 4318767 (1982-03-01), Hijikata et al.
patent: 4449885 (1984-05-01), Hertel et al.
patent: 4457661 (1984-07-01), Flint et al.
patent: 4534314 (1985-08-01), Ackley
patent: 4563240 (1986-01-01), Shibata et al.
patent: 4576698 (1986-03-01), Gallagher et al.
patent: 4634331 (1987-01-01), Hertel
patent: 4643629 (1987-02-01), Takahashi et al.
patent: 4705951 (1987-11-01), Layman et al.
patent: 4715764 (1987-12-01), Hutchinson
patent: 4824309 (1989-04-01), Kakehi et al.
patent: 4836733 (1989-06-01), Hertel et al.
patent: 4836905 (1989-06-01), Davis et al.
patent: 4851101 (1989-07-01), Hutchinson
patent: 4895107 (1990-01-01), Yano et al.
patent: 4902934 (1990-02-01), Miyamura et al.
patent: 4903937 (1990-02-01), Jakuniec et al.
patent: 4909695 (1990-03-01), Hurwitt et al.
patent: 4911597 (1990-03-01), Maydan et al.
patent: 4915564 (1990-04-01), Eror et al.
patent: 4917556 (1990-04-01), Stark et al.
patent: 4923584 (1990-05-01), Bramhall, Jr. et al.
patent: 4924890 (1990-05-01), Giles et al.
patent: 4936329 (1990-06-01), Michael et al.
patent: 4951601 (1990-08-01), Maydan et al.
patent: 4969790 (1990-11-01), Petz et al.
patent: 5007981 (1991-04-01), Kawasaki et al.
patent: 5014217 (1991-05-01), Savage
patent: 5225036 (1993-07-01), Watanabe et al.
patent: 5292393 (1994-03-01), Maydan et al.
patent: 5351415 (1994-10-01), Brooks et al.
patent: 5436848 (1995-07-01), Nishida et al.
patent: 5452166 (1995-09-01), Aylwin et al.
patent: 5462397 (1995-10-01), Iwabuchi
patent: 5504033 (1996-04-01), Bajor et al.
patent: 5504347 (1996-04-01), Jovanovic et al.
patent: 5509771 (1996-04-01), Hiroki
patent: 5556714 (1996-09-01), Fukuyama et al.
patent: 5651858 (1997-07-01), Lin
patent: 5675461 (1997-10-01), Aylwin et al.
patent: 5685684 (1997-11-01), Kato et al.
patent: 5829939 (1998-11-01), Iwai et al.
patent: 5934856 (1999-08-01), Asakawa et al.
patent: 20246453 (1987-04-01), None
patent: 20381338 (1990-05-01), None
patent: 57-29577 (1982-02-01), None
patent: 60-246635 (1985-12-01), None
patent: 62-44571 (1987-02-01), None
patent: 62-50463 (1987-03-01), None
patent: 62-89881 (1987-04-01), None
patent: 62-207866 (1987-09-01), None
patent: 63-153270 (1988-06-01), None
patent: 6412037 (1989-01-01), None
patent: 636582 (1989-01-01), None
patent: 131971 (1989-02-01), None
patent: 131970 (1989-02-01), None
patent: 1135015 (1989-05-01), None
patent: 1-251734 (1989-10-01), None
patent: 1-310553 (1989-12-01), None
patent: 1298180 (1989-12-01), None
patent: 2-61064 (1990-03-01), None
patent: 265252 (1990-03-01), None
patent: 294647 (1990-04-01), None
patent: 2-106037 (1990-04-01), None
patent: 430549 (1992-04-01), None
patent: 8707309 (1987-05-01), None
R.P.H. Chang, “Multipurpos

LandOfFree

Say what you really think

Search LandOfFree.com for the USA inventors and patents. Rate them and share your experience with other people.

Rating

Vacuum processing and operating method does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this patent.

If you have personal experience with Vacuum processing and operating method, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Vacuum processing and operating method will most certainly appreciate the feedback.

Rate now

     

Profile ID: LFUS-PAI-O-2586007

  Search
All data on this website is collected from public sources. Our data reflects the most accurate information available at the time of publication.