Vacuum processing apparatus and operating method therefor

• US 20060032073A1
• Filed: 08/16/2005
• Published: 02/16/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 08/29/1990
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Atsushi Itou, Kouji Nishihata, Shigekazu Kato, Tsunehiko Tsubone
• Original Assignee: Atsushi Itou, Kouji Nishihata, Shigekazu Kato, Tsunehiko Tsubone
• Inventors: Kato, Shigekazu, Nishihata, Kouji, Itou, Atsushi, Tsubone, Tsunehiko
• Granted Patent: US 7,367,135 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 34/92
• CPC Class Codes: B01J 3/006 Processes utilising sub-atmospheric pressure; Apparatus therefor
• CPC Class Codes: B41J 2/36 Print density control
• CPC Class Codes: B41J 2/365 by compensation for variation in temperature
• CPC Class Codes: C23C 14/564 Means for minimising impurities in the coating chamber such as dust, moisture, residual gases
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 21/67028 for cleaning followed by drying, rinsing, stripping, blasting or the like
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 21/67167 surrounding a central transfer chamber
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 21/67253 Process monitoring, e.g. flow or thickness monitoring
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 21/67736 Loading to or unloading from a conveyor
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 21/67748 horizontal transfer of a single workpiece
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 134/902 Semiconductor wafer
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 414/137 including means for charging or discharging wafer cassette
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 414/139 including wafer charging or discharging means for vacuum chamber
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 414/14 Wafer cassette transporting

Abstract

This invention relates to a vacuum processing apparatus having vacuum processing chambers the insides of which must be dry cleaned, and to a method of operating such an apparatus. When the vacuum processing chambers are dry-cleaned, dummy substrates are transferred into the vacuum processing chamber by substrates conveyor means from dummy substrate storage means which is disposed in the air atmosphere together with storage means for storing substrates to be processed, and the inside of the vacuum processing chamber is dry-cleaned by generating a plasma. The dummy substrate is returned to the dummy substrate storage means after dry cleaning is completed. Accordingly, any specific mechanism for only the cleaning purpose is not necessary and the construction of the apparatus can be made simple. Furthermore, the dummy substrates used for dry cleaning and the substrates to be processed do not coexist, contamination of the substrates to be processed due to dust and remaining gas can be prevented and the production yield can be high.

Claims

1. A vacuum processing apparatus, comprising:

a plurality of vacuum processing chambers for processing substrates;

cassette mount tables in an atmosphere, for mounting cassettes each storing at least one substrate to be processed or at least one dummy substrate for cleaning;

an atmospheric transfer device for transferring substrates to be processed and dummy substrates in an atmosphere, being capable of moving at least vertically and of being controlled such that substrates to be processed and dummy substrates can be taken out of any location in said cassettes;

two lock chambers for exchanging between the atmosphere and a vacuum;

a vacuum transfer chamber for transferring said substrates to be processed and said dummy substrates in a vacuum; and

a controller for controlling used dummy wafers,

wherein said controller returns the used dummy wafers to their original positions in the cassette and manages the number of times of their use.

2. A vacuum processing apparatus, comprising:

a plurality of vacuum processing chambers for processing substrates;

cassette mount tables in an atmosphere, for mounting cassettes each storing at least one substrate to be processed or at least one dummy substrate for cleaning;

an atmospheric transfer device for transferring substrates to be processed and dummy substrates in an atmosphere, being capable of moving at least vertically and of being controlled such that substrates to be processed and dummy substrates can be taken out of any location in said cassettes;

two lock chambers for exchanging between the atmosphere and a vacuum;

a vacuum transfer chamber for transferring said substrates to be processed and said dummy substrates in a vacuum; and

a controller for controlling cleaning of each processing chamber without interrupting the flow of the processing of a substrate to be processed,

wherein said controller manages a cleaning cycle of each processing chamber which can be set arbitrarily.