Substrate processing apparatus and method of manufacturing semiconductor device

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12489010-B2
Application number	US-202117463300-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Aug 31, 2021
Priority date	Mar 22, 2019
Publication date	Dec 2, 2025
Grant date	Dec 2, 2025

Abstract

A substrate processing apparatus includes a boat including plural slots to hold at least one substrate, a process furnace that processes the at least one substrate held in the boat, a boat elevator that raises and lowers the boat, a transfer device that transfers the at least one substrate between plural carriers where the at least one substrate is stored and the boat, and a controller capable of controlling the boat elevator and the transfer device, wherein the controller sets plural positions where the transfer device transfers the at least one substrate to the boat elevator, and select the positions to minimize a number of shifts among the positions of the boat elevator or total time taken during the shifts.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A substrate processing apparatus comprising:
a boat including a plurality of slots configured to hold substrates; a process furnace configured to process the substrates held in the boat; a boat elevator configured to raise and lower the boat; a transfer arm configured to transfer the substrates between a plurality of carriers in which the substrates to be stored and the boat; and a controller configured to be capable of controlling the boat elevator and the transfer arm, wherein the controller is configured to set a plurality of positions of the boat elevator at which the transfer arm respectively transfers at least two of the substrates, and perform a selection of the plurality of positions to minimize a number of shifts among the plurality of positions of the boat elevator or a total time taken during the shifts in each of an operation of the transfer arm to load the substrates into the boat from the plurality of carriers until the substrates are loadable into the process furnace and an operation of the transfer arm to unload the substrates processed in the process furnace from the boat to the plurality of carriers, wherein the boat includes the slots formed over a range wider than a range in which the substrates are transferrable to the boat in one of the plurality of positions, wherein the plurality of positions include a first position and a second position, wherein the boat comprises a first area including slots that can only be accessed by the transfer arm when the boat is in the first position, a second area including slots that can only be accessed by the transfer arm when the boat is in the second position, and a third area including slots that can be accessed by the transfer arm when the boat elevator is in the first position and when the boat elevator is in the second position, wherein the first area and the third area constitute a first position transfer area, and the second area and the third area constitute a second position transfer area, wherein the section of the plurality of positions is applied to an operation of loading the substrates and an operation of unloading the substrates with respect to the slots in which the substrates are transferrable using any of the first position and the second position, and wherein when the boat elevator is located in the first position, the transfer arm is raised or lowered and transfers a plurality of substrates among the substrates to the first position transfer area; and then, when the boat elevator is moved to be located in the second position, the transfer arm is raised or lowered and transfers a plurality of other substrates among the substrates to the second position transfer area.

2 . The substrate processing apparatus of claim 1 ,
wherein when the boat elevator is in the first position, the transfer arm is accessible to an uppermost slot of the boat; and when the boat elevator is in the second position, the transfer arm is accessible to a lowest slot of the boat; wherein the controller starts the operation of loading at the first position and starts the operation of unloading at the second position.

3 . The substrate processing apparatus of claim 1 , comprising:
a partition wall configured to separate a charging chamber in which the boat is raised and lowered and a transfer chamber in which the transfer arm is installed; and a gate door installed at the partition wall and configured to be opened to a portion of the plurality of slots of the boat mounted on the boat elevator which takes the first position or the second position, wherein the range in which the substrates are transferrable is limited by a movable range of the transfer arm or the opening of the gate door.

4 . The substrate processing apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the substrates include plural types of substrates, and the plural types of substrates are held in the boat,
wherein when the boat elevator is in the first position, the transfer arm is accessible to an uppermost slot of the boat; and when the boat elevator is in the second position, the transfer arm is accessible to a lowest slot of the boat; wherein the controller is configured to be capable of controlling the transfer arm such that the substrates are mounted in the plurality of slots of the boat sequentially in order from top to bottom and the substrates are discharged from the plurality of slots of the boat sequentially in order from bottom to top, for each of the types of substrates, and wherein at least one selected from the group of the plural types of substrates is a dummy substrate unevenly arranged in slots at the sides of an upper end and a lower end of the boat.

5 . The substrate processing apparatus of claim 4 , wherein the plural types of substrates further include a product substrate, a fill-dummy substrate and a monitor substrate, and
wherein the controller is configured to be capable of controlling the transfer arm to mount the substrates including dummy substrates, fill-dummy substrates, product substrates and monitor substrates in that order within 5 times of shifts between the first position and the second position and to discharge the substrates including the monitor substrates, product substrates, the fill-dummy substrates and the dummy substrates in that order within 6 times of shifts between the first position and the second position.

6 . The substrate processing apparatus of claim 4 , comprising: a memory configured to store a substrate arrangement parameter including the types of substrates mounted in the plurality of slots of the boat,
wherein the controller is configured to be capable of determining substrate transfer information to set a carrier that is a loading and unloading source of the substrates mounted in the plurality of slots of the boat, a holding area of the substrates in the carrier, and a loading and unloading order of the substrates, according to a definition of the substrate arrangement parameter, and creating transfer operation data that coordinates and controls the transfer arm and the boat elevator based on the substrate transfer information, and wherein the transfer operation data is set to minimize the number of position shifts of the boat elevator when the substrates are loaded and unloaded.

7 . The substrate processing apparatus of claim 6 , wherein the controller is configured to be capable of performing boat mapping on the substrates on the boat based on the substrate transfer information before the substrates are unloaded from the boat, and
wherein a position of the boat elevator when the boat mapping is performed is selected from the first position and the second position.

8 . The substrate processing apparatus of claim 6 , wherein the controller is configured to prohibit a transfer operation of the transfer arm when the boat elevator is located at a position other than a position set such that the transfer arm transfers the substrates.

9 . The substrate processing apparatus of claim 1 , wherein in the second position, the transfer arm is capable of transferring the substrates to a slot at a lowest end of the boat, and a furnace opening shutter of the process furnace is not closable by interfering with the boat or prohibited from being closed,
wherein the substrates include a plurality of substrates and wherein when the substrates are shifted from the second position to the first position during a series of transfers of the substrates and a holding time taken until the substrates are again shifted to the second position is shorter than a predetermined time, the controller is configured to be capable of controlling the furnace opening shutter with the furnace opening shutter being opened during the holding time.

Assignees

• Kokusai Electric Corp

Inventors

• Shirako Kenji
• Taniyama Tomoshi

Classifications

• H10P72/3312

  Vertical transfer of a batch of workpieces · CPC title

• H10P72/50

  for positioning, orientation or alignment · CPC title

• H10P72/19

  closed carriers · CPC title

• H10P72/12

  Vertical boat type carrier whereby the substrates are horizontally supported, e.g. comprising rod-shaped elements · CPC title

• H10P72/3411 Primary

  involving loading and unloading of wafers · CPC title