Multideck wafer processing system

• US 6,176,667 B1
• Filed: 04/30/1996
• Issued: 01/23/2001
• Est. Priority Date: 04/30/1996
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Applied Materials Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Applied Materials Incorporated
• Inventors: Sinha, Ashok, Fairbairn, Kevin
• Primary Examiner(s): Bratlie, Steven A.
• Application Number:
  US08/644,636
• Time in Patent Office: 1,729 Days
• Field of Search: 414/217, 414/222, 414/939, 414/786, 414/226.01, 414/941, 414/937, 204/298.25, 204/298.35, 118/719, 156/395
• US Class Current: 414/217
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 21/67017 Apparatus for fluid treatment H01L21/67126, H01L21/6715 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 21/67178 vertical arrangement
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 21/6719 characterized by the construction of the processing chambers, e.g. modular processing chambers
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 21/67201 characterized by the construction of the load-lock chamber
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 21/67271 Sorting devices
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 21/67742 Mechanical parts of transfer devices robots in general in B25J
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 21/67754 horizontal transfer of a batch of workpieces
• 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 414/141 includes means for gripping wafer

Abstract

A multideck wafer processing system is described for the treatment of semiconductor wafers. The system includes at least two process chambers stacked one above the other to provide for higher wafer throughput per unit area of cleanroom space. The stacked process chambers enable sharing of pressurization, gas, electrical, and control support services for the processing chambers.

Claims

1. A system for treating semiconductor wafers comprising:

a wafer storage mechanism for storing a plurality of wafers;

at least one set of wafer processing chambers having at least a first wafer processing chamber and a second wafer processing chamber stacked one above the other, the first wafer processing chamber for carrying out a first semiconductor fabrication process consisting of a chemical vapor deposition process, a plasma vapor deposition process, or an epitaxial deposition process, and the second wafer processing chamber for carrying out a second semiconductor fabrication process different from the first semiconductor fabrication process consisting of a chemical vapor deposition process, a plasma vapor deposition process, or an epitaxial deposition process;

a wafer transfer chamber coupled to the wafer storage mechanism and to the first wafer processing chamber and the second wafer processing chamber to enable wafers from the wafer storage mechanism to be transported to the first wafer processing chamber and the second wafer processing chamber; and

wherein the first semiconductor fabrication process is carried out asynchronously with respect to the second process.

2. A system for treating semiconductor wafers as in claim 1 wherein the wafer transport chamber comprises a mechanism capable of moving at least two wafers together from the wafer storage mechanism and placing one of the wafers in each of the first and second wafer processing chambers.

3. A system for treating semiconductor wafers as in claim 2 wherein each of the first and second wafer processing chambers comprises a chamber for processing only a single wafer at a time.

4. A system for treating semiconductor wafers as in claim 2 wherein each of the first and second wafer processing chambers comprises a chamber for processing more than one wafer at a time.

5. A system as in claim 1 wherein the first and second wafer processing chambers are coupled to a pumping system for establishing a desired pressure within each of the chambers.

6. A system as in claim 5 wherein the pumping system comprises a common vacuum pump set shared by the first and second wafer processing chambers.

7. A system as in claim 1 wherein the first and second wafer processing chambers are each coupled to a power supply for creating an electromagnetic field within each of the chambers.

8. A system as in claim 7 wherein a common radio frequency generator is shared by the first and second wafer processing chambers.

9. A system as in claim 1 wherein the first and second wafer processing chambers are coupled to a gas system for supplying gases to each of the chambers.

10. A system as in claim 9 wherein a common gas supply is shared by the first and second wafer processing chambers.

11. A system as in claim 1 wherein the wafer storage mechanism comprises at least two loadlock chambers, each for holding at least two wafers therein.

12. A system as in claim 11 wherein the wafer storage mechanism comprises a pair of loadlock chambers, each for holding a cassette containing wafers.

13. A system as in claim 1 further comprising an additional chamber coupled to the wafer transfer chamber, the additional chamber for temporarily storing wafers after processing to allow them to cool to a lower temperature.

14. A system for treating semiconductor wafers as in claim 1 further comprising:

a second set of wafer processing chambers having at least a third wafer processing chamber and a fourth wafer processing chamber stacked one above the other, and spaced apart from the at least one set of wafer processing chambers;

the third wafer processing chamber and the fourth wafer processing chamber being coupled to the wafer transfer chamber to enable wafers from the wafer storage mechanism to be transported to the third wafer processing chamber and the fourth wafer processing chamber.

15. A system for processing semiconductor wafers comprising:

a loadlock chamber for storing a plurality of wafers to be processed;

at least two sets of processing chambers, each set including at least two wafer processing chambers stacked one above the other, each chamber including a separate system for processing wafers therein;

a wafer transfer chamber including a wafer handling system for transporting wafers from the loadlock chamber to the at least two sets of processing chambers, the wafer handling system being capable of moving at least two wafers simultaneously from the loadlock chamber to the processing chambers; and

wherein a different wafer processing operation consisting of a chemical vapor deposition process, a plasma vapor deposition process, or an epitaxial deposition process, may be carried out in each processing chamber in a set asynchronously with respect to each other processing chamber.

16. A system for processing semiconductor wafers as in claim 15 wherein the wafer handling system comprises a robot for taking at least two wafers from the loadlock chamber and placing separate ones of the at least two wafers into separate ones of the processing chambers in a single operation.

17. A system for treating semiconductor wafers as in claim 16 wherein each of the processing chambers comprises a chamber for processing only a single wafer.

18. A system as in claim 15 wherein each of the processing chambers are coupled to a pumping system for establishing a desired pressure within each of the chambers.

19. A system as in claim 18 wherein the pumping system comprises a common vacuum pumping set shared by the processing chambers.

20. A system for treating semiconductor wafers as in claim 19 wherein each of the chambers comprises a chamber for processing only a single wafer.

21. A system as in claim 15 wherein each of the processing chambers is coupled to a common power supply for creating an electromagnetic field within each of the chambers.

22. A system as in claim 21 wherein each of the processing chambers are coupled to a gas system for supplying gases to each of the chambers, and a common gas supply is shared by each of the wafer processing chambers.

23. A system as in claim 15 wherein each of the processing chambers is coupled to a separate power supply for creating an electromagnetic field within each of the chambers.

24. A method for processing more than one wafer simultaneously comprising:

providing at least two sets of two wafer processing chambers, each set including one processing chamber disposed above another processing chamber;

storing a plurality of wafers in a wafer storage mechanism;

removing at least two wafers from the wafer storage mechanism;

placing the at least two wafers, each in a separate process chamber;

performing a first semiconductor fabrication process consisting of a chemical vapor deposition process, a plasma vapor deposition process, or an epitaxial deposition process on one of the wafers to change its condition;

performing a second semiconductor fabrication process consisting of a chemical vapor deposition process, a plasma vapor deposition process, or an epitaxial deposition process on another of the wafers to change its condition, the second process having different conditions from the first process;

removing at least one of the at least two wafers from its corresponding process chamber; and

returning the wafers removed in the preceding step to the wafer storage mechanism.

25. A method for treating semiconductor wafers as in claim 24 wherein:

the step of removing comprises using a robot mechanism to move at least two wafers together from the wafer storage mechanism; and

the step of placing one of the wafers in each of the chambers comprises using the same robot mechanism to place the wafers.

26. A method as in claim 24 wherein the wafer processing chambers are coupled to a pumping system and the method further comprises, following the step of placing, a step of changing the pressure within at least one set of the chambers.

27. A method as in claim 24 wherein the wafer processing chambers are coupled to a gas system for supplying gases to each of the chambers, and the method further comprises, during the step of performing a process on the wafers to change their condition, a step of providing the gas to at least one of the processing chambers.

28. A method as in claim 27 wherein the step of providing the gas comprises providing gas from a common gas supply to each of the processing chambers stacked one above the other.

29. A method for processing semiconductor wafers comprising:

storing a plurality of wafers in a loadlock chamber;

providing at least two pairs of processing chambers, each pair including one chamber stacked above another chamber;

transporting at least two wafers from the loadlock chamber, one to each of the chambers in at least one of the pairs of processing chambers; and

performing a different semiconductor fabrication process consisting of a chemical vapor deposition process, a plasma vapor deposition process, or an epitaxial deposition process on each of the wafers.

30. A method for processing semiconductor wafers as in claim 29 wherein the step of transporting at least two wafers from the loadlock chamber comprises using a robot to transfer the wafers.

31. A method as in claim 29 wherein the method further comprises establishing a lower than atmospheric pressure within each of the chambers.

32. A method as in claim 31 wherein the step of establishing a lower than atmospheric pressure within each of the chambers comprises using a common vacuum pumping set to pump gas from each of the chambers.

33. A method as in claim 29 wherein the method further comprises coupling each of the at least two pairs of processing chambers through a power splitter to a common power supply for creating an electromagnetic field within each of the chambers.

34. A method as in claim 33 further comprising coupling each of the at least two pairs of processing chambers to a common gas system for supplying gases to each of the chambers.

35. In a system for treating semiconductor wafers which includes a wafer storage mechanism for storing a plurality of wafers, at least two sets of processing chambers, each having at least two chambers stacked one above the other, and a wafer transfer chamber coupled to the wafer storage mechanism and to the at least two sets of chambers to enable wafers from the wafer storage mechanism to be transported to any desired chamber, a stored program for controlling the system comprising:

a first sequence of instructions from a computer program for controlling the movement of wafers from the wafer storage mechanism to the at least two sets of chambers;

a second sequence of instructions from a computer program for controlling the at least two sets of processing chambers to cause them to carry out a desired semiconductor fabrication operation consisting of a chemical vapor deposition process, a plasma vapor deposition process, or an epitaxial deposition process, the desired semiconductor fabrication operation having different parameters for one processing chamber than for another; and

a third sequence of instructions from a computer program for controlling the movement of wafers from the at least two sets of processing chambers to the wafer storage mechanism.

36. A system for treating semiconductor wafers comprising:

a wafer storage mechanism for storing a plurality of wafers in a cassette;

at least one set of wafer processing chambers having at least two wafer processing chambers each for performing a different semiconductor manufacturing process consisting of a chemical vapor deposition process, a plasma vapor deposition process, or an epitaxial deposition process, stacked one above the other; and

a wafer transfer chamber coupled to the wafer storage mechanism and to the at least two chambers to enable wafers from the wafer storage mechanism to be transported to the at least two chambers.

37. A system for treating semiconductor wafers as in claim 36 wherein the wafer transport chamber comprises a mechanism capable of moving at least two wafers together from the wafer storage mechanism and placing one of the wafers in each of the at least two wafer processing chambers.

38. A system as in claim 36 wherein the wafer storage mechanism comprises at least two loadlock chambers, each for holding at least one cassette of wafers therein.

39. A system as in claim 36 further comprising an additional chamber coupled to the wafer transfer chamber, the additional chamber for temporarily storing wafers after processing to allow them to cool to a lower temperature.

40. A system for processing semiconductor wafers comprising:

a loadlock chamber for storing a plurality of wafers to be processed in a cassette;

at least one pair of processing chambers stacked one above the other, each chamber including a separate system for processing wafers therein using a different process than the other chamber, the process consisting of a chemical vapor deposition process, a plasma vapor deposition process, or an epitaxial deposition process; and

a wafer transfer chamber including a wafer handling system for removing wafers from the cassette in the loadlock chamber and transporting those wafers to the at least one pair of processing chambers, the wafer handling system being capable of moving at least two wafers simultaneously from the loadlock chamber to the processing chambers.

41. A system for processing semiconductor wafers as in claim 40 wherein the wafer handling system comprises a robot for taking at least two wafers from the cassette in the loadlock chamber and placing separate ones of the at least two wafers into separate ones of the at least one pair of processing chambers in a single operation.

42. A method for processing more than one wafer simultaneously comprising:

providing at least two wafer processing chambers, one disposed above the other;

storing a plurality of wafers in a cassette in a wafer storage mechanism;

removing at least two wafers from the cassette in the wafer storage mechanism;

placing at least one of the at least two wafers in a corresponding process chamber;

performing a different semiconductor fabrication process the process consisting of a chemical vapor deposition process, a plasma vapor deposition process, or an epitaxial deposition process on each of the wafers to change its condition;

removing at least one of the at least two wafers from its corresponding process chamber; and

later returning the wafers removed in the preceding step to the cassette in the wafer storage mechanism.

43. A method as in claim 42 wherein the step of removing comprises using a robot mechanism to move at least two wafers at the same time from the cassette in the wafer storage mechanism.

44. In a system for treating semiconductor wafers which includes a wafer storage mechanism for storing a plurality of wafers in at least one cassette, at least one set of processing chambers having at least two chambers stacked one above the other, and a wafer transfer chamber coupled to the wafer storage mechanism and to the at least two chambers to enable wafers from the cassette in the wafer storage mechanism to be transported to the at least two chambers, a stored program for controlling the system comprising:

a first sequence of instructions from a computer program for controlling the movement of wafers from the cassette in the wafer storage mechanism to the at least two chambers;

a second sequence of instructions from a computer program for controlling the at least one set of processing chambers to cause them to carry out different desired semiconductor fabrication operations consisting of a chemical vapor deposition process, a plasma vapor deposition process, or an epitaxial deposition process; and

a third sequence of instructions from a computer program for controlling the movement of the wafers after performance of the desired semiconductor fabrication operation from the at least one set of processing chambers to the cassette in the wafer storage mechanism.