Method of and apparatus for performing sequential processes requiring different amounts of time in the manufacturing of semiconductor devices

• US 20030098125A1
• Filed: 10/08/2002
• Published: 05/29/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 11/29/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Inventors: An, Jae-Hyuck
• Granted Patent: US 6,911,112 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 156/345.31
• CPC Class Codes: C23C 16/0236 by etching with a reactive gas
• CPC Class Codes: C23C 16/54 Apparatus specially adapted for continuous coating
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 21/31116 by dry-etching
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 21/67276 Production flow monitoring, e.g. for increasing throughput program-control systems per se G05B19/00, e.g. total factory control G05B19/418
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 414/139 including wafer charging or discharging means for vacuum chamber

Abstract

A method of manufacturing a semiconductor device includes first and second processes, the latter requiring more processing time. An apparatus for performing the semiconductor manufacturing process includes a first reactor, and a plurality of second reactors for each first reactor. A first group of wafers are subjected to the first process within the first reactor, and are then transferred into a second reactor as isolated from the outside air. The first group of wafers is subjected to the second process within the second reactor. At the same time, a second group of wafers are subjected to the first process within the first reactor. After the first process is completed, the second group of wafers is transferred into an unoccupied one of the second reactors as isolated from the outside air. There, the second group of wafers is subjected to the second process. Accordingly, process failures otherwise due to the exposure of the wafers are minimized, and productivity is high despite the difference in the processing times.

Claims

1. A method of performing a semiconductor manufacturing process, the method comprising:

i) transferring a first group of wafers into a first reactor;

ii) performing a first process on the first group of wafers within the first reactor;

iii) after the first process has been completed in the first reactor, transferring the first group of wafers into a first one of a plurality of second reactors while the first group of wafers is isolated from air outside the first and second reactors;

iv) performing a second process, requiring a process time longer than that required by the first process, on the first group of wafers within the first one of the second reactors, and at the same time transferring a second group of wafers into the first reactor;

v) performing the first process on the second group of wafers within the first reactor;

vi) transferring the second group of wafers, that have undergone the first process, into a second one of the second reactors that is not occupied by wafers while the second group of wafers is isolated from air outside the first and second reactors;

vii) performing the second process on the second group of wafers within the second one of the second reactors while the first group of wafers are undergoing the second process in the first one of the second reactors; and

viii) unloading the groups of wafers, that have undergone the second process, from the second reactors.

2. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the transferring of the first and second groups of wafers into the first reactor comprises loading the first group of wafers onto a first boat and the second group of wafers onto a second boat, respectively.

3. The method as claimed in claim 2, wherein the transferring of the first and second groups of wafers into the first reactor comprises transferring the first and second boats onto which the first and second groups of wafers have been loaded to a standby position adjacent the first reactor.

4. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the transferring of the first and second groups of wafers into the respective second reactors is carried out while the wafers are enveloped in nitrogen gas.

5. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the transferring of the first and second groups of wafers into the respective second reactors is carried out while the wafers are in a vacuum.

6. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the first process is a dry etch process.

7. The method as claimed in claim 6, wherein the dry etch process is an etch process for removing a native oxide film from a surface of the wafers.

8. The method as claimed in claim 6, wherein the dry etch process comprises

i) supplying a reaction gas comprising a fluorine-containing compound, and an excited carrier gas into an etching chamber to form a reaction product with a native oxide film formed on the wafers;

and

ii) separating the reaction product from the wafers.

9. The method as claimed in claim 8, wherein the supplying of the gases into the etching chamber is performed at a temperature ranging from about 15°

C. to 30°

C.

10. The method as claimed in claim 8, wherein the separating of the reaction product comprises maintaining a temperature of about 150°

C. to 300°

C. in the etching chamber.

11. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the second process is a chemical vapor deposition process.

12. The method as claimed in claim 11, and further comprising cooling the wafers after the wafers have undergone the chemical vapor deposition process.

13. An apparatus for performing a semiconductor manufacturing process, the apparatus comprising:

a first batch reactor in which a first process is performed, the first batch reactor having an inlet;

at least two second batch reactors in which the same second process is performed, the second process requiring more time to complete than the first process, and each of the second batch reactors having a respective inlet;

a loadlock chamber that confronts the inlets of the first and second reactors so as to provide a path along which wafers can be transferred through the loadlock chamber between the first and either of the second reactors, the loadlock chamber being sealed from outside air; and

a transfer module disposed in the loadlock chamber, the transfer module having a working envelope encompassing the inlets of said first and second reactors and operable to transfer respective groups of wafers to and from the reactors.

14. The apparatus as claimed in claim 13, wherein the total number of said plurality of second reactors in the apparatus is equal to or greater than a ratio of the first process time to the second process time.

15. The apparatus as claimed in claim 13, and further comprising a plurality of wafer boats each configured to support a group of wafers.

16. The apparatus as claimed in claim 15, wherein the total number of the boats in the apparatus is no less than the total number of the second reactors.

17. The apparatus as claimed in claim 15, wherein the transfer module is configured to transfer said boats.

18. The apparatus as claimed in claim 17, wherein the transfer module comprises:

a boat standby support configured to support the boats at a standby position;

a wafer transferring device having a working envelope encompassing said boat standby support and operable to load wafers into a boat supported at the standby position;

a first boat changer having a working envelope encompassing said standby position and locations respectively aligned with the inlets of the reactors, said first boat changer being operable to transfer the boats between said standby position and each of the inlets of the first and second reactors; and

a respective boat elevator operable to transfer a said boat between each of said locations and the inside of the reactor that has an inlet adjacent the location.

19. The apparatus as claimed in claim 18, wherein said boat changer includes an arm that is rotatable over a range of positions corresponding to said standby position and said locations aligned with the inlets of the reactors.

20. The apparatus as claimed in claim 13, and further comprising a source of nitrogen gas connected to said loadlock chamber so as to supply nitrogen gas into the loadlock chamber, and an exhaust pump connected to said loadlock chamber so as to exhaust the loadlock chamber.

21. The apparatus as claimed in claim 13, and further comprising a vacuum pump connected to said loadlock chamber so as to maintain the inside of the loadlock chamber in a vacuum state.

22. The apparatus as claimed in claim 13, wherein the first reactor comprises a dry etch module.

23. The apparatus as claimed in claim 22, wherein the dry etch module comprises:

an etching chamber having a volume capable of receiving a group of wafers all at once;

an etch gas supply line connected to the etching chamber;

a remote plasma generator connected to the etch gas supply line;

a first source of etch gas connected to the remote plasma generator so as to supply into the etching chamber a first etch gas that has been excited by said remote plasma generator;

a source of a second etch gas connected to said etch gas supply line at a location between the etching chamber and the remote plasma generator with respect to the flow of etch gas into the etching chamber via said etch gas supply line, such that the second etch gas is supplied into the etching chamber without being excited by said remote plasma generator; and

an exhaust system connected to the etching chamber so as to exhaust from the etching chamber etch gases that have not reacted with the wafers.

24. The apparatus as claimed in claim 23, wherein the etching chamber comprises a temperature controller for controlling the temperature of the wafers received in the etching chamber.

25. The apparatus as claimed in claim 23, and further comprising a first distribution plate disposed in said etching chamber as interposed between a location at which the etch gas supply line opens into said etching chamber and a region within the chamber dedicated to receive a batch of wafers for processing, said first distribution plate having a plurality of holes therethrough.

26. The apparatus as claimed in claim 25, wherein the distribution plate comprises a first portion adjacent said location at which the etch gas supply line opens into said etching chamber, and a second portion that is remote from said location at which the etch gas supply line opens into said etching chamber, the holes in said first portion being smaller than those in said second portion.

27. The apparatus as claimed in claim 23, and further comprising a second distribution plate disposed in said etching chamber as interposed between a location at which the exhaust system opens into said etching chamber and a region within the chamber dedicated to receive a batch of wafers for processing, said second distribution plate having a plurality of holes therethrough.

28. The apparatus as claimed in claim 27, wherein the second distribution plate comprises a first portion adjacent said location at which the exhaust system opens into said etching chamber, and a second portion that is remote from said location at which the exhaust system opens into said etching chamber, the holes in said first portion of the second distribution plate being smaller than those in said second portion thereof.

29. The apparatus as claimed in claim 13, wherein each of said second reactors is a furnace of a chemical vapor deposition system.

30. The apparatus as claimed in claim 29, and further comprising a cooling station at which wafers are cooled after having undergone a chemical vapor deposition process in either of said second reactors.

31. The apparatus as claimed in claim 30, and further comprising a plurality of wafer boats each configured to support a group of wafers, and wherein the transfer module comprises a boat standby support configured to support the boats at a standby position, and a boat changer having a working envelope encompassing said standby position and said cooling station, said boat changer being operable to transfer the boats between said standby position and said cooling station.

32. The apparatus as claimed in claim 13, wherein said first reactor is disposed equidistantly from said second reactors.