EP0398365A2
Expired / Lapsed
EP
⏱️ 0.0 years remaining
Multiple chamber staged-vacuum semiconductor wafer processing system
Assignee: Applied Materials Inc
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Filing: 1990-05-18
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Granted: —
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Expires: 2010-05-18
Abstract
Abstract A processing system for workpieces such as semiconductor wafers is disclosed which incorporates multiple, isolated vacuum stages between the cassette load lock station (21) and the main vacuum processing chambers (34). A vacuum gradient is applied between the cassette load lock (21) and the main processing chambers (34) to facilitate the use of a very high degree of vacuum in the processing chambers without lengthy pump down times. Separate robot chambers (24, 28) are associated with the vacuum processing chambers and the load lock(s). In addition, separate transport paths (30, 32) are provided between the two robot chambers (24, 28) to facilitate loading and unloading of workpieces. Pre-treatment and post-treatment chambers (26, 27) may be incorporated in the two transport paths.
Inventors
- 👤 Avi Tepman
- 👤 Howard Grunes
- 👤 Sasson Somekh
- 👤 Dan Maydan
Bibliographic Details
Application Number
—
Jurisdiction
EP
Data Source
google_patents
Last Synchronized
2026-11-03 19:55
CPC Classifications
H; H10; H10P; H10P72/00; H10P72/04; H10P72/0451; H10P72/0452; H10P72/0454; H10P72/50; H10P72/0461; H10P72/30; H10P72/33; H10P72/3302
Claims Analysis
Total Claims: 23
Claim 1
Independent Claim
113 words
A multiple chamber staged-vacuum semiconductor wafer processing system, comprising: at least a plurality of semiconductor wafer processing chambers (34), at least one wafer load/unload station (21) for supplying and receiving wafers, at least a plurality of chambers (24,26,27,28) interposed between and providing at least one and preferably a pair of transfer paths (30,37) between the at least one load/unload station (21) and the processing chambers (34), valve means (38) situated along said transfer paths and interposed beween adjacent chambers and selectively sealing said adjacent chambers to selectively isolate said adjacent chambers one from the other, and vacuum means communicating with the isolatable vacuum chambers for establishing a selected vacuum distribution in said system.
Claim 2
Dependent Claim
113 words
A multiple chamber staged-vacuum semiconductor wafer processing system, comprising: at least a plurality of semiconductor wafer processing chambers (34), at least one wafer load/unload station (21) for supplying and receiving wafers, at least a plurality of chambers (24,26,27,28) interposed between and providing at least one and preferably a pair of transfer paths (30,37) between the at least one load/unload station (21) and the processing chambers (34), valve means (38) situated along said transfer paths and interposed beween adjacent chambers and selectively sealing said adjacent chambers to selectively isolate said adjacent chambers one from the other, and vacuum means communicating with the isolatable vacuum chambers for establishing a selected vacuum distribution in said system.
Claim 3
Dependent Claim
15 words
The system of claim 1 wherein the processing stations are selected from deposition and etching.
Claim 4
Dependent Claim
18 words
The system of claim 1 or 2, the processing chambers including at least a physical vapor deposition chamber.
Claim 5
Independent Claim
113 words
The system of one of the preceding claims comprising a chamber housing (22) including first (24) and second (28) wafer transfer chambers communicating with one another along a first path (30) from the first wafer transfer chamber to the second wafer transfer chamber via a first intermediate processing chamber (26) and along a second path (32) from the second wafer transfer chamber via a second intermediate processing chamber (27) to the first wafer transfer chamber, the at least one load/unload station (21) being mounted to and communicating with the first wafer transfer chamber (24) and the semiconductor wafer processing chambers (34) being mounted to and communicating with the second wafer transfer chamber (28).
Claim 6
Dependent Claim
17 words
The system of claim 4, wherein the first intermediate chamber (26) is adapted for semiconductor wafer cleaning.
Claim 7
Dependent Claim
19 words
The system of claim 4 or 5, wherein the second intermediate chamber (27) is a wafer cool down chamber.
Claim 8
Dependent Claim
24 words
The system of claim 6 wherein the intermediate chambers are adapted for treating a wafer prior or subsequent to processing in the processing chambers.
Claim 9
Independent Claim
68 words
The system of one of claims 4 to 7, the first and second wafer transfer chambers (26, 27) each having a robot (40, 42) mounted therein for respectively (a) reciprocally transferring wafers between the at least one loading and unloading station (21) and the intermediate chambers (26, 27) and (b) for reciprocally transferring wafers between individual ones of the processing chambers (34) and the intermediate chambers (26, 27).
Claim 10
Dependent Claim
93 words
The system of claim 8, wherein the robot (42) in the second or transfer station (28) comprises a slide (50) mounted within the chamber for horizontal reciprocal rotation, a wafer holding arm (52) mounted on the slide for reciprocal sliding movement, a pair of co-axial shafts, a first one of the shafts connected to the slide for imparting reciprocal 0 rotation to the slide and the second shaft being connected via link means to the wafer arm for translating reciprocal rotational movement of said shaft into reversible R translation of said wafer arm.
Claim 11
Independent Claim
68 words
The system of one of the preceding claims in which the at least one load/unload station (21) comprises: wafer queuing load lock chamber means for imputing wafers to and retrieving wafers from the system, and/or in which a multiplicity of (mixed use) vacuum processing and transfer stations is interposed between and provides a serial transfer path between the load lock chamber means (21) and the processing chambers (34).
Claim 12
Independent Claim
70 words
The system of one of claims 4 to 10, in which the first wafer transfer chamber is a relatively small robot chamber (24) and the second wafer transfer chamber is a relatively large robot chamber (28), the robot chambers communicating with one another via at least a pair of intermediate chambers (26, 27) along distinct paths (30, 32) each of the paths comprising one of the intermediate chambers (26, 27).
Claim 13
Dependent Claim
144 words
The system of claim 11 comprising: access ports between and for providing communication between (a) the individual process chambers and the second robot chamber, (b) the second robot chamber and the two intermediate chambers (c) the two intermediate chambers and the first robot chamber, and (d) the first robot chamber and the load lock means, and valve means for selectively opening and closing said access ports; vacuum means for selectively providing a staged vacuum in the system with a relatively low degree of vacuum in the load lock means and a relatively high degree of vacuum in the processing chambers, and computer means for controlling processing within the vacuum processing chambers and selectively transferring wafers from said load lock means via the first path to selected vacuum processing chambers and from selected vacuum processing chambers via the second path to the load lock means.
Claim 14
Dependent Claim
30 words
The system of claim 12, wherein the vacuum means are provided for establishing a selected base vacuum level in each chamber and a vacuum gradient across the system from chamber-to-chamber.
Claim 15
Dependent Claim
70 words
A staged vacuum-isolating processing system especially according to one of the preceding claims comprising a multiplicity of isolatable communicating regions including at least a vacuum load lock chamber, at least a vacuum workpiece-processing chamber and at least one intermediate workpiece transport region; and vacuum means communicating with the isolatable regions for establishing a base vacuum level in said regions and a vacuum gradient across the system from region to region.
Claim 16
Dependent Claim
49 words
A workpiece transport system especially for use in the system of one of the preceding claims comprising first (24) and second (28) vacuum chambers and a pair of passages (30,32) interconnecting said first and second vacuum chambers for providing separate workpiece transport paths between said first and second chambers.
Claim 17
Dependent Claim
30 words
The workpiece transport system of claim 15, the first and second vacuum chambers (24, 28) including respective first (40) and second (42) robot means therein for loading and unloading workpieces.
Claim 18
Dependent Claim
26 words
The workpiece transport system of claim 15 or 16 further comprising valve means (38) for isolating said vacuum chambers and said passages one from the other.
Claim 19
Dependent Claim
80 words
The workpiece transport system of one of claims 15 to 17 further comprising first and second vacuum load lock chambers (21) in communication with a first (24) of said vacuum chambers for supplying wafers to and receiving wafers from said first vacuum chamber (24) and/or in which at least one of said first and second passageways further includes a treatment chamber (26, 27) therein for treating workpieces prior to transfer from one of said robot-containing vacuum chambers to the other.
Claim 20
Dependent Claim
166 words
The workpiece transport system of one of claims 15 to 18 further comprising at least a first and a second workpiece process chamber (34, 44, 46) in communication, respectively, with said first and second robot-containing vacuum chambers (24, 28) and valve means (38) for isolating said first and second vacuum process chambers from their associated robot-containing chambers, whereby the atmosphere in said first vacuum processing chamber is isolated from the atmosphere in said second vacuum processing chamber via said intervening chambers and passageways, thereby reducing the time required to pump down each chamber to its selected base level, a staged vacuum-isolation processing system especially acording to one of the preceding claims comprising a multiplicity of isolatable communicating regions including at least a vacuum load lock chamber, at least a vacuum workpiece-processing chamber and at least one intermediate workpiece transport region; and vacuum means communicating with the isolatable regions for establishing a base vacuum level in said regions and a vacuum gradient across the system from region-to-region.
Claim 21
Independent Claim
57 words
A method of transporting workpieces in vacuo, especially in the system of one of claims 1 to 14, comprising transferring selected workpieces from a first vacuum chamber to a second vacuum chamber along a first passageway interconnecting the chambers and returning selected wafers from the second to the first chamber via a second passageway interconnecting the chambers.
Claim 22
Dependent Claim
28 words
The transporting method of claim 20, wherein the transfer chambers are robot chambers each of which is in communication with one or more vacuum processing or treatment chambers.
Claim 23
Dependent Claim
67 words
A method of transporting a workpiece through a vacuum system especially according to claim 20 or 21, comprising loading a workpiece at a vacuum load lock station; sequentially transferring the workpiece within the system through isolated regions of increasing vacuum levels to a vacuum processing chamber for selected processing of the workpiece; and upon completion of the selected processing, returning the workpiece to the load lock station.
References Cited (Backward Citations)
No citation records indexed.
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