Apparatus and method for pre-baking substrate upstream of process chamber

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9349620-B2
Application number	US-201414327134-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jul 9, 2014
Priority date	Jul 9, 2014
Publication date	May 24, 2016
Grant date	May 24, 2016

Abstract

A pre-baking apparatus for heating a substrate upstream of a process tool is adapted to be connected to an EFEM (equipment front end module) and includes: a chamber which has a front face with multiple slots arranged in a height direction of the chamber, and which is divided into multiple compartments extending from the multiple slots, respectively, toward a rear end of the chamber for loading and unloading substrates; and a connecting frame for connecting the chamber to the process tool. The multiple compartments are separated from each other by a divider plate and provided with heaters for heating the multiple compartments, and each compartment has a gas injection port for blowing a hot inert gas over the substrate placed therein toward the slot.

First claim

We claim:

1. A pre-baking apparatus for heating a substrate upstream of a process tool, comprising:
a chamber which has a front face with multiple slots arranged in a height direction of the chamber, each slot extending from side to side, and which is divided into multiple compartments extending from the multiple slots, respectively, toward a rear end of the chamber for loading and unloading substrates to and from the multiple compartments through the multiple slots, said multiple compartments being separated from each other by a divider plate and provided with heaters for heating the multiple compartments, each compartment having a gas injection port for blowing a hot inert gas over the substrate placed therein toward the slot; and
a connecting frame for connecting the chamber to the process tool.

2. The pre-baking apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the connecting frame is configured to connect the chamber to an EFEM (equipment front end module) connected to the process tool.

3. The pre-baking apparatus according to claim 2 , which is modularized and operable independently of the EFEM.

4. The pre-baking apparatus according to claim 2 , wherein the connecting frame has a structure to be attached to an interface for mechanically attaching a load port to the EFEM.

5. The pre-baking apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein each compartment is provided with a substrate support on which the substrate is placed in a manner allowing the hot inert gas to flow over both a top side and a reverse side of the substrate.

6. The pre-baking apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein each compartment is defined by adjacent upper and lower divider plates, side walls, and a rear wall opposite to the slot, wherein the gas injection port is disposed in a center of the rear wall.

7. The pre-baking apparatus according to claim 6 , wherein the multiple compartments have multiple holes formed in the height direction through the side walls and through the rear wall, wherein a cartridge heater is inserted in each hole.

8. The pre-baking apparatus according to claim 7 , wherein the holes formed through the side walls are disposed only near the front face in the side walls.

9. The pre-baking apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the compartment has a depth sufficient to place the substrate entirely inside the compartment.

10. The pre-baking apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the chamber is not capable of processing the substrate other than pre-baking by the heaters and the hot inert gas.

11. The pre-baking apparatus according to claim 1 , further comprising an exhaust duct disposed at a bottom of the chamber and projecting in a direction perpendicular to the front face in a manner discharging through the exhaust duct the hot inert gas flowing out of the multiple slots.

12. The pre-baking apparatus according to claim 1 , further comprising a gas manifold extending in the height direction of the chamber, from which gas manifold the hot inert gas is supplied to each compartment through each gas injection port.

13. The pre-baking apparatus according to claim 1 , further comprising a control unit including a gas supply system for heating an inert gas upstream of the gas injection ports and supplying the heated inert gas as the hot inert gas to the gas injection ports.

14. The pre-baking apparatus according to claim 13 , wherein the control unit is disposed under the chamber and has casters at a bottom of the control unit.

15. An EFEM (equipment front end module) area for a process tool for processing substrates, comprising:
a minienvironment which is a zone cleaner than a cleanroom and is configured to be connected to the process tool, said minienvironment having interfaces for mechanically attaching thereto at least one load port with a FOUP (front opening unified pod) for storing unprocessed and processed substrates and a cooling station for cooling substrates before storing processed substrates in the FOUP;
a load port with a FOUP mechanically attached to one of the interfaces; and
at least one pre-baking apparatus of claim 1 mechanically attached to another of the interfaces.

16. The EFEM area according to claim 15 , wherein the interfaces include two or more interfaces each for mechanically attaching one load port with a FOUP to the minienvironment and one interface for mechanically attaching a cooling station to the minienvironment, wherein the load port is attached to one of the two or more interfaces, and the pre-baking apparatus is attached to another of the two or more interfaces, and the EFEM area further comprises a cooling station attached to the interface for a cooling station.

17. A method for processing a substrate using a process tool with an EFEM area of claim 13 , said method comprising:
taking out a substrate from the FOUP to the minienvironment;
inserting the substrate into the pre-baking apparatus to pre-bake the substrate, wherein the compartments of the pre-baking apparatus are heated and a hot inert gas blows through the compartments toward the minienvironment;
inserting the pre-baked substrate into the process tool via the minienvironment;
processing the pre-baked substrate in the process tool; and
placing the processed substrate in the FOUP or another FOUP via the minienvironment.

18. The method according to claim 17 , wherein a cooling station is attached to the EFEM area and the method further comprises inserting the processed substrate into the cooling station before placing the processed substrate in the FOUP or another FOUP.

19. The method according to claim 17 , wherein the hot inert gas blowing through the pre-baking apparatus is N 2 gas flowing at a flow rate of about 10 slm to about 40 slm (standard liter/minute) and being heated to about 50° C. to about 150° C.

20. The method according to claim 17 , wherein the compartments of the pre-baking apparatus are heated to about 50° C. to about 150° C.

Assignees

• Asm Ip Holding Bv
• Asm Ip Holdings B V

Inventors

• Kamata Keisuke
• Sato Hiroyuki
• Furukawahara Kazunori
• Suwada Masaei
• Okubo Kenkichi
• Arai Izumi

Classifications

• H10P72/3411

  involving loading and unloading of wafers · CPC title

• H10P72/3408

  Docking arrangements · CPC title

• H10P72/0434 Primary

  mainly by convection · CPC title

• H01L21/67109 Primary

  Electricity · mapped topic

• F27B2009/124

  Cooling · CPC title