JP2012104700A - Substrate processing system - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a substrate processing system which adjusts the schedule of material processing in the next process by monitoring delay time of materials.SOLUTION: A substrate processing system includes substrate processing devices 100 processing substrates and a management device 10 connecting with at least one of the substrate processing devices 100. Each substrate processing device 100 has an operation screen which allows a user to set at least an allowable delay time of substrate processing, executes a delay time monitor processing program that monitors a delay time of material processing to issue a warning and inform the management device of the delay when the delay time of the material processing in the substrate processing device 100 exceeds the allowable delay time.

Description

  The present invention relates to a substrate processing system including at least one substrate processing apparatus and a group management apparatus that manages the substrate processing apparatus, and more particularly to monitoring substrate processing in the substrate processing system.

  In semiconductor manufacturing factories (hereinafter referred to as factories), by introducing materials (substrates) into each manufacturing process (film formation, exposure, etching, etc.) in a predetermined order (scheduled) and carrying out material processing, The final product is completed.

In each manufacturing process, a large number of semiconductor manufacturing apparatuses (hereinafter referred to as apparatuses) which are a kind of substrate processing for performing the same material processing are installed, and material processing is performed by executing a recipe. The time required for each recipe is determined by the material processing conditions. However, when material processing is actually executed, in most cases, the required time is exceeded and the material processing ends.

Factors that exceed the required time include the following.
(1) Delay in material conveyance When the timing of material loading / unloading processing performed before and after the material processing overlaps with the timing of movement of the material used in the material processing to the reaction furnace, the material to the reaction furnace There is a case where the movement is waited.
(2) In order to perform delayed material processing by waiting for processing conditions, it is necessary to make the inside of the reactor ready for processing (temperature, filling amount of film forming gas, pressure and other furnace atmospheres are stable). However, the time until this state varies depending on the state of the apparatus before material processing and the number of substrates to be processed. If this time is longer than planned, a delay has occurred.

In the material processing between each process, the start time of the next process is determined in consideration of a certain delay based on the time required for each recipe, but if the delay time becomes longer than expected, After the process, it affects the start and end times of all processes, which may lead to a decrease in product production and a delay in production delivery.

Conventionally, the remaining time of the recipe has been monitored. For example, according to Patent Document 1, when an error occurs in a predetermined step constituting a recipe and the transition of the predetermined step for changing the total recipe time is detected, the total recipe time and the remaining recipe time are calculated. The updated result is displayed. In addition, for each step constituting the recipe, processing such as generating an alarm when a set time is specified and the conditional waiting time is exceeded is performed to monitor the conditional waiting time. For example, see Patent Document 2.

Japanese Patent No. 4526796 JP 2010-140978 A

It is an object of the present invention to provide a substrate processing system that can adjust a material processing schedule in the next process by monitoring a material delay time.

  A feature of the present invention is a substrate processing system including a substrate processing apparatus for processing a substrate and a management apparatus connected to at least one of the substrate processing apparatuses, and sets a delay time for substrate processing. A function, a function of monitoring the delay time of the material processing, and a function of notifying when the delay time of the material processing exceeds the allowable delay time.

According to the present invention, by adjusting the material processing schedule of the next process according to the delay time of the material processing of each device, each device can be operated efficiently and the factory productivity can be improved. it can.

It is a block diagram which shows an example of the substrate processing system which concerns on one embodiment of this invention. It is a plane perspective view of the substrate processing apparatus concerning the present invention. It is side surface perspective drawing of the substrate processing apparatus concerning this invention. It is a figure which shows the example of a display of the operation screen of the substrate processing apparatus which concerns on this invention. It is a figure which shows the flow of the delay time monitoring process program in embodiment of this invention.

First, the configuration and operation of a substrate processing system according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG.

As shown in FIG. 1, the substrate processing system 1 includes a substrate processing apparatus 100 as at least one apparatus that processes a substrate (material), and a management apparatus 10 as a host computer connected to the substrate processing apparatus 100. Is provided. Each substrate processing apparatus 100 is connected to a factory network together with a host computer (hereinafter referred to as a host) 10 that manages production processes. The connection between the substrate processing apparatus 100 and the host 10 may be a direct connection using a communication cable or the like, a network connection via a local line, or a wide area line such as the Internet or a dedicated line network. It may be a network connection. In such a configuration, each substrate processing apparatus 100 receives a material carry-in / out instruction or an operation start instruction from the host 10, performs a material (substrate) process, and various information including an operating state and a failure in the host 10. Is sending. Moreover, as the information (data) to be transmitted, all information generated by the substrate processing apparatus 100 may be transmitted, or only predetermined information set in advance may be transmitted. Each substrate processing apparatus 100 includes an operation unit (operation terminal) 300 including at least a display unit that displays a remaining time until completion of a recipe being executed and a delay time generated by waiting for material processing conditions to be satisfied at least in real time. Have The operation unit 300 includes not only a display unit, but also a transfer control unit that controls a transfer system (not shown) of the substrate processing apparatus 100, a process control unit that controls (controls) the processing system of the substrate processing apparatus 100, and a substrate processing. The storage unit stores at least various files such as a predetermined recipe and a predetermined program executed by the apparatus 100. In addition, each substrate processing apparatus 100 is configured such that a delay allowable time, which will be described later, can be set on the operation screen displayed on the display unit of the operation terminal 300 regarding the execution of the recipe.

  Next, a substrate processing apparatus as an apparatus according to the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS.

In the present embodiment, the substrate processing apparatus is configured as a semiconductor manufacturing apparatus that performs processing steps in a method of manufacturing a semiconductor device (IC).
In the following description, a case will be described in which a vertical apparatus (hereinafter simply referred to as a substrate processing apparatus) that performs oxidation, diffusion processing, CVD processing, or the like is applied to a substrate as the substrate processing apparatus.

FIG. 2 is a plan perspective view of the substrate processing apparatus applied to the present invention. FIG. 3 is a side perspective view of the substrate processing apparatus shown in FIG.
As shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, the substrate processing of the present invention uses a hoop (substrate container; hereinafter referred to as a pod) 110 as a wafer carrier containing a wafer (substrate) 200 made of silicon or the like. The apparatus 100 includes a housing 111.
A front maintenance port 103 as an opening provided for maintenance is opened at the front front portion of the front wall 111a of the casing 111, and front maintenance doors 104 and 104 for opening and closing the front maintenance port 103 are respectively built. It is attached.
A pod loading / unloading port (substrate container loading / unloading port) 112 is opened on the front wall 111a of the casing 111 so as to communicate between the inside and the outside of the casing 111. The pod loading / unloading port 112 has a front shutter (substrate container loading / unloading port). The loading / unloading opening / closing mechanism 113 is opened and closed.
A load port (substrate container delivery table) 114 is installed in front of the front side of the pod loading / unloading port 112, and the load port 114 is configured so that the pod 110 is placed and aligned. The pod 110 is carried onto the load port 114 by an in-process carrying device (not shown), and is also carried out from the load port 114.

A rotary pod shelf (substrate container mounting shelf) 105 is installed at an upper portion of the casing 111 in a substantially central portion in the front-rear direction. The rotary pod shelf 105 stores a plurality of pods 110. It is configured. That is, the rotary pod shelf 105 is vertically arranged and intermittently rotated in a horizontal plane, and a plurality of shelf plates (substrate container mounts) radially supported by the column 116 at each of the four upper and lower positions. And a plurality of shelf plates 117 are configured to hold the pods 110 in a state where a plurality of pods 110 are respectively placed.
A pod transfer device (substrate container transfer device) 118 is installed between the load port 114 and the rotary pod shelf 105 in the housing 111, and the pod transfer device 118 moves up and down while holding the pod 110. A pod elevator (substrate container lifting mechanism) 118a and a pod transfer mechanism (substrate container transfer mechanism) 118b as a transfer mechanism are configured. The pod transfer device 118 includes a pod elevator 118a and a pod transfer mechanism 118b. The pod 110 is transported between the load port 114, the rotary pod shelf 105, and the pod opener (substrate container lid opening / closing mechanism) 121 by continuous operation.

A sub-housing 119 is constructed across the rear end of the lower portion of the housing 111 at a substantially central portion in the front-rear direction.
A pair of wafer loading / unloading ports (substrate loading / unloading ports) 120 for loading / unloading the wafer 200 into / from the sub-casing 119 are arranged on the front wall 119a of the sub-casing 119 in two vertical stages. A pair of pod openers 121 and 121 are installed at the wafer loading / unloading ports 120 and 120 at the upper and lower stages, respectively.
The pod opener 121 includes mounting bases 122 and 122 on which the pod 110 is placed, and cap attaching / detaching mechanisms (lid attaching / detaching mechanisms) 123 and 123 for attaching and detaching caps (lids) of the pod 110. The pod opener 121 is configured to open and close the wafer loading / unloading port of the pod 110 by attaching / detaching the cap of the pod 110 placed on the placing table 122 by the cap attaching / detaching mechanism 123.

The sub-housing 119 constitutes a transfer chamber 124 that is fluidly isolated from the installation space of the pod transfer device 118 and the rotary pod shelf 105. A wafer transfer mechanism (substrate transfer mechanism) 125 is installed in the front region of the transfer chamber 124, and the wafer transfer mechanism 125 is a wafer transfer device (rotation or linear movement of the wafer 200 in the horizontal direction). A substrate transfer device) 125a and a wafer transfer device elevator (substrate transfer device lifting mechanism) 125b for moving the wafer transfer device 125a up and down.
By the continuous operation of the wafer transfer device elevator 125b and the wafer transfer device 125a, the tweezer (substrate holder) 125c of the wafer transfer device 125a is used as a placement portion for the wafer 200 with respect to the boat (substrate holder) 217. The wafer 200 is loaded (charged) and unloaded (discharged).

As shown in FIG. 2, the supply chamber 124 is supplied with a clean atmosphere 133 or an inert gas supplied to the right end of the transfer chamber 124 opposite to the wafer transfer apparatus elevator 125 b side. A clean unit 134 composed of a fan and a dustproof filter is installed. Between the wafer transfer device 125a and the clean unit 134, a notch alignment as a substrate alignment device for aligning the circumferential position of the wafer 200 is provided. A device 135 is installed.
The clean air 133 blown out from the clean unit 134 is circulated to the notch aligning device 135 and the wafer transfer device 125a, and then sucked in by a duct (not shown) to be exhausted to the outside of the housing 111, or clean. The unit 134 is circulated to the primary side (supply side) which is the suction side, and is again blown into the transfer chamber 124 by the clean unit 134.

In the rear region of the transfer chamber 124, a casing (hereinafter referred to as a pressure-resistant casing) 140 having a confidential performance capable of maintaining a pressure lower than atmospheric pressure (hereinafter referred to as negative pressure) is installed. A load lock chamber 141 which is a load lock type standby chamber having a capacity capable of accommodating the boat 217 is formed by the pressure-resistant housing 140.
A wafer loading / unloading opening (substrate loading / unloading opening) 142 is formed in the front wall 140a of the pressure-resistant housing 140, and the wafer loading / unloading opening 142 is opened and closed by a gate valve (substrate loading / unloading opening / closing mechanism) 143. It has become. A gas supply pipe 144 for supplying nitrogen gas to the load lock chamber 141 and an exhaust pipe 145 for exhausting the load lock chamber 141 to a negative pressure are connected to the pair of side walls of the pressure-resistant housing 140, respectively. Yes. A processing furnace 202 is provided above the load lock chamber 141. The lower end portion of the processing furnace 202 is configured to be opened and closed by a furnace port gate valve (furnace port opening / closing mechanism) 147. A furnace port gate valve cover 149 that accommodates the furnace port gate valve 147 when the lower end portion of the processing furnace 202 is opened is attached to the upper end portion of the front wall 140 a of the pressure-resistant housing 140.

As shown in FIG. 2, a boat elevator (substrate holder lifting mechanism) 115 for raising and lowering the boat 217 is installed in the pressure-resistant housing 140. A seal cap 219 serving as a lid is horizontally installed on an arm 128 serving as a connector connected to the boat elevator 115, and the seal cap 219 supports the boat 217 vertically and closes the lower end of the processing furnace 202. Configured as possible.
The boat 217 includes a plurality of holding members so that a plurality of (for example, about 50 to 125) wafers 200 are horizontally held in a state where their centers are aligned in the vertical direction. Composed.

Next, the operation of the substrate processing apparatus of the present invention will be described.
As shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, when the pod 110 is supplied to the load port 114, the pod loading / unloading port 112 is opened by the front shutter 113, and the pod 110 on the load port 114 is moved by the pod transfer device 118. A pod loading / unloading port 112 is loaded into the housing 111.
The loaded pod 110 is automatically transported and delivered by the pod transport device 118 to the designated shelf 117 of the rotary pod shelf 105, temporarily stored, and then one pod opener from the shelf 117. It is conveyed to 121 and transferred to the mounting table 122, or directly transferred to the pod opener 121 and transferred to the mounting table 122. At this time, the wafer loading / unloading port 120 of the pod opener 121 is closed by the cap attaching / detaching mechanism 123, and the transfer chamber 124 is filled with clean air 133. For example, the transfer chamber 124 is filled with nitrogen gas as clean air 133, so that the oxygen concentration is set to 20 ppm or less, which is much lower than the oxygen concentration inside the casing 111 (atmosphere).

The pod 110 mounted on the mounting table 122 has its opening-side end face pressed against the opening edge of the wafer loading / unloading port 120 on the front wall 119a of the sub-housing 119, and the cap is removed by the cap attaching / detaching mechanism 123. The wafer loading / unloading port of the pod 110 is opened.
Further, when the wafer loading / unloading opening 142 of the load lock chamber 141 whose interior is previously set at atmospheric pressure is opened by the operation of the gate valve 143, the wafer 200 is removed from the pod 110 by the tweezer 125c of the wafer transfer device 125a. After being picked up through the loading / unloading port and aligned with the notch aligner 135, the wafer is loaded into the load lock chamber 141 through the wafer loading / unloading opening 142, transferred to the boat 217, and loaded (wafer charging).
The wafer transfer device 125 a that has transferred the wafer 200 to the boat 217 returns to the pod 110 and loads the next wafer 200 into the boat 217.

  During the loading operation of the wafer 200 to the boat 217 by the wafer transfer device 125a in the one (upper or lower) pod opener 121, the other (lower or upper) pod opener 121 has the rotary pod shelf 105 to the load port. Another pod 110 is transferred from 114 by the pod transfer device 118, and the opening operation of the pod 110 by the pod opener 121 is simultaneously performed.

When a predetermined number of wafers 200 are loaded into the boat 217, the wafer loading / unloading opening 142 is closed by the gate valve 143, and the load lock chamber 141 is evacuated from the exhaust pipe 145 to be decompressed. When the load lock chamber 141 is reduced to the same pressure as that in the processing furnace 202, the lower end portion of the processing furnace 202 is opened by the furnace port gate valve 147. At this time, the furnace port gate valve 147 is carried into and stored in the furnace port gate valve cover 149.
Subsequently, the seal cap 219 is lifted by the lift table 161 of the boat elevator 115, and the boat 217 supported by the seal cap 219 is loaded into the processing furnace 202.

  After loading, the inside of the processing furnace 202 is adjusted to a predetermined pressure (processing pressure) and a predetermined temperature (target temperature), and arbitrary processing is performed on the wafer 200 in the processing furnace 202. After the processing, the boat 217 is pulled out by the boat elevator 115, and the gate valve 143 is opened after the pressure inside the load lock chamber 141 is restored to atmospheric pressure. After that, the wafer 200 and the pod 110 are discharged to the outside of the casing 111 by the reverse procedure described above except for the wafer alignment process in the notch aligner 135.

  Next, the delay allowable time in the present embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 4 shows an example of displaying the operating state of each substrate processing apparatus 100, which is shown in the display section as an operation screen of each substrate processing apparatus 100 in the substrate processing system of the present invention. In FIG. 4, a temperature state display area for displaying information on temperature, a pressure information display area for displaying information on pressure, a gas flow rate display area for displaying information on gas flow rate, and a material state for displaying the substrate transfer status An operation screen having a display area, a part for displaying a recipe progress status display area for displaying the progress status of the recipe, and a part for displaying various buttons for setting for operation control is shown as an example.

As shown in FIG. 4, the recipe progress status display area is configured to display at least the remaining recipe time, the delay time, and the allowable delay time.

In this embodiment, since the recipe is created on the setting screen having substantially the same configuration as that in FIG. 4, the delay allowable time is set in the same manner as the above-described temperature, pressure, gas flow rate, and the like are set. When the recipe is executed, the operation state of the substrate processing apparatus 100 is displayed as shown in FIG. Although not shown, the remaining time, delay time, and allowable delay time of each step constituting the recipe may be displayed in the recipe progress display area.

It should be noted that a temperature state display area for displaying information on temperature, a pressure information display area for displaying information on pressure, a gas flow rate display area for displaying information on gas flow rate, and a material state display area for displaying the substrate transport status And a portion for displaying a recipe progress status display area for displaying the progress status of the recipe may be individually displayed. However, in this case, a portion for displaying various buttons for setting for operation control and each display area are configured to be displayed on the same screen.

    FIG. 5 shows a flow of the delay time monitoring processing program according to the present embodiment.

    The delay time monitoring processing program is started. The delay time monitoring processing program starts when an instruction to be executed by the recipe, for example, an operation start instruction from the host is received. Note that each substrate processing apparatus may be automatically started at the time of activation.

    Next, a process for updating the remaining recipe time and the delay time is performed. The remaining time of the recipe is updated while subtracting the elapsed time from the time required for the recipe being executed. When the processing condition is not satisfied, for example, the delay time is updated while adding the elapsed time for waiting for establishment.

    Then, after the recipe remaining time and the delay time are updated, the delay time is compared with the allowable delay time. If the delay time is within the allowable delay time, the process ends. If the delay time exceeds the allowable time, the host managing the device is warned that the allowable delay time is exceeded and the process ends. .

    When the host receives this warning, it can determine whether there is an effect on the start time of material processing for the next process. If it is determined that there is an effect, it reschedules the material processing for the next process. be able to.

In the embodiment of the present invention, the vertical substrate processing apparatus has been described as the semiconductor manufacturing apparatus. However, the present invention can also be applied to a single wafer processing apparatus and a horizontal substrate processing apparatus. Further, the present invention can be applied not only to a semiconductor manufacturing apparatus that processes a substrate (wafer) but also to a processing apparatus that processes a glass substrate such as an LCD device.
As described above, the present invention can be modified in various ways, and the present invention naturally extends to the invention thus modified.

100 substrate processing apparatus 200 wafer (substrate)
300 Operation terminal (operation unit)

Claims (1)

A substrate processing system including a substrate processing apparatus for processing a substrate and a management apparatus connected to at least one of the substrate processing apparatuses,
The substrate processing apparatus includes:
A function for setting at least a substrate processing delay allowable time; and
The ability to monitor material processing delays;
A substrate processing system having a function of notifying the management apparatus when a delay time of material processing in the substrate processing apparatus exceeds an allowable delay time.