Claims
- 1. A wafer processing module comprising:
- a vacuum-tight processing module chamber;
- a plurality of process stations inside said module chamber;
- at least one wafer stage inside said module chamber;
- a module transfer arm inside said module chamber, said module transfer arm being controllable to transfer wafers to and from said wafer stage and to and from a plurality of said process stations; and
- at least one load lock abutting said module chamber,
- said load lock having space therein to hold a wafer carrier,
- said load lock having a door opener therein, said door opener being controllable to open the door of one of said wafer carriers inside said load lock while said load lock is under vacuum,
- said load lock being connected to a vacuum pump capable of pulling a hard vacuum,
- said load lock also including a transfer arm controllable to remove a desired wafer from the wafer carrier and place the desired wafer on said wafer stage.
- 2. The process module of claim 1,
- wherein a vacuum pump capable of pulling a hard vacuum, is connected to the interior of said vacuum process module.
- 3. The process module of claim 1,
- wherein said load lock transfer arm comprises along the periphery thereof a plurality of pins
- having conically tapered upper portions
- and spaced to support said wafers of said predetermined diameter.
- 4. The process module of claim 1,
- wherein said module transfer arm comprises along the periphery thereof a plurality of pins
- having conically tapered upper portions
- and spaced to support said wafers of said predetermined diameter.
- 5. The process module of claim 1,
- wherein said space within load lock for a wafer carrier is defined by
- a carrier position registration platform,
- whereby the position of a wafer carrier at rest in said load lock is accurately and precisely known.
- 6. The process module of claim 1,
- wherein said transfer arm in said load lock has only two degrees of freedom,
- and wherein said module transfer arm has three degrees of freedom.
- 7. The process module of claim 1,
- wherein said transfer arm in said load lock in extensible in a straight line only, and also is elevatable.
- 8. The process module of claim 1,
- wherein said load lock is connected near the bottom surface thereto to a vacuum exhaust manifold which is connected to a vacuum pump.
- 9. The process module of claim 1,
- wherein at least one of said process stations comprises an interior space which is connected near the bottom surface thereto to a vacuum exhaust manifold which is connected to a vacuum pump.
- 10. The process module of claim 1,
- wherein said transfer arm in said load lock is powered by motors located inside said exhaust manifold.
- 11. The process module of claim 1, further comprising
- pressure sensors connected to the interior of said load lock.
- 12. The process module of claim 1, further comprising
- pressure sensors connected to the interior of at least one of said process stations.
- 13. The process module of claim 1,
- wherein said load lock further comprises first and second position sensing switches,
- said first position sensing switch being located such that said first position sensing switch will indicate whether the door of a wafer carrier in said space in said load lock is fully open,
- and said second position sensing switch being located such that said second position sensing switch will indicate whether the door of a wafer carrier in said space in said load lock is fully closed.
- 14. The process module of claim 1,
- wherein the lid of said load lock further comprises a gas manifold therein,
- whereby filtered gas can be applied to said manifold to blow off particulates from the exterior of a wafer carrier in said load lock.
- 15. The process module of claim 1,
- wherein said wafer carrier is adapted to support wafers face down therein using line contact and not using substantial area contact.
- 16. A method for fabricating integrated circuits, comprising the steps of:
- providing a plurality of wafers in a vacuum sealable wafer carrier box;
- placing said wafer carrier box into a vacuum sealable load lock attached to a process module;
- pumping down said load lock to a hard vacuum;
- opening said wafer carrier and extending a load lock transfer arm into said wafer carrier, to remove a selected one of said wafers therefrom;
- transferring wafers in a desired sequence from said wafer carrier to one or more selected process stations inside said process module and back until a desired sequence of processing operations has been completed; and then
- closing said wafer carrier and raising the pressure of said load lock to approximately atmospheric,
- so that said wafers remain in vacuum inside said wafer carrier while said door of said wafer carrier is held closed by differential pressure.
- 17. A method for fabricating integrated circuits, comprising the steps of:
- providing a plurality of wafers in a wafer carrier box, said wafer carrier box having a vacuum sealable door;
- placing said wafer carrier box into a load lock attached to a process module,
- said load lock having a vacuum sealable lid;
- closing said lid and pumping down said load lock to a hard vacuum;
- opening said door of said wafer carrier and extending a load lock transfer arm into said wafer carrier, to remove a selected one of said wafers therefrom;
- transferring wafers in a desired sequence from said wafer carrier to one or more selected process stations inside a process module and back until a desired sequence of processing operations has been completed
- by selectively elevating and extending said load lock transfer arm
- toward said wafer carrier to remove or replace wafers from selected slots in said wafer carrier,
- and away from said wafer carrier, through a port between said load lock and said process module, to transfer wafers between said wafer carrier and a wafer stage inside said process module,
- and by selectively elevating, extending, and rotating a module transfer arm to selectively transfer wafers among said wafer stage and said process stations; and
- closing said door of said wafer carrier, closing said port in said adjacent processing chamber, and raising the pressure of said load lock to approximately atmospheric,
- so that said wafers remain in vacuum inside said wafer carrier and said door of said wafer carrier is held closed by differential pressure; and
- removing said wafer carrier from said load lock.
- 18. The method of claim 17,
- wherein said load lock comprises a door opener, positioned inside said load lock in proximity to a space for said wafer carrier,
- whereby said door opener can open and close the door of said wafer carrier while said load lock is under vacuum.
- 19. The method of claim 16,
- wherein said load lock comprises an elevatable and extensible transfer arm,
- said transfer arm containing support elements such that one of said wafers of said predetermined diameter can be supported by said transfer arm with line contact only.
- 20. The method of claim 16,
- wherein said wafer carrier supports said wafers with line contact and not by contact with any substantial area of the lower surface of said wafers.
- 21. The method of claim 17,
- wherein the lid of said load lock further comprises a gas manifold therein,
- and wherein filtered gas is supplied to said manifold to blow off particulates from the exterior of said wafer carrier after said carrier has been placed in said load lock.
- 22. The method of claim 17,
- wherein said space within said chamber for a wafer carrier is defined by
- a carrier position registration platform,
- whereby the position of one of said wafer carriers when at rest in said load lock is accurately and precisely known.
- 23. A wafer processing module comprising:
- a vacuum-tight processing module chamber;
- one or more wafer process stations in vacuum-tight communication with said module chamber;
- at least one load lock in vacuum-tight communication with said module chamber, said at least one load lock having space therein to hold a wafer carrier;
- wafer transfer means for face-down transfer of wafers to and from said one or more process stations to and from said wafer carrier.
- 24. The process module of claim 23, further comprising:
- vacuum pump means connected to the process module for creating a vacuum within said module chamber and said at least one load lock.
- 25. The process module of claim 24, wherein said vacuum pump is capable of creating a hard vacuum within said module chamber and said at least one load lock.
- 26. The process module of claim 23, further comprising:
- means for processing said wafers in a face-down orientation at said one or more process stations.
- 27. The process module of claim 23, wherein said wafer transfer means includes a wafer transfer arm.
- 28. The process module of claim 27, wherein said wafer transfer arm includes means for supporting a wafer substantially by its edge alone.
- 29. The process module of claim 28, wherein said supporting means comprise:
- three vertical pins spaced apart to contact the circumference of said supported wafer.
- 30. The process module of claim 27, wherein said wafer transfer arm is elevatable in a vertical direction.
- 31. The process module of claim 23, wherein said wafer carrier is vacuum sealable for transporting and storing said wafers under vacuum.
- 32. The process module of claim 23, wherein said at least one load lock is two load locks.
- 33. A module for processing wafers, comprising:
- a vacuum-tight processing module chamber;
- a plurality of wafer processing stations opening into said module chamber;
- at least one load lock opening into said module chamber, said at least one load lock having space therein to hold a plurality of wafers;
- wafer transfer means for face-down transfer of wafers to and from said plurality of process stations to and from said load lock.
- 34. The module of claim 33, further comprising:
- vacuum pump means connected to the module for creating a vacuum within said module and said at least one load lock.
- 35. The module of claim 33, wherein said space in said load lock for holding a plurality of wafers, is a space for accommodating a wafer carrier for holding said plurality of wafers.
- 36. The module of claim 35, wherein said wafer carrier includes means for holding said plurality of wafers in a face-down orientation.
- 37. The module of claim 36, wherein said wafer carrier includes means for holding said plurality of wafers spaced apart one form the other in a vertical column.
- 38. The module of claim 37, wherein said wafer transfer means comprises:
- at least one wafer transfer arm.
- 39. The module of claim 38, wherein said wafer transfer arm is elevatable vertically to access individual wafers in said vertical column of wafers in said wafer carrier.
- 40. The module of claim 36, wherein said wafer carrier is vacuum sealable for maintaining a vacuum within said carrier.
- 41. A method of processing wafers, comprising the steps of:
- transporting a plurality of wafers face-down into a vacuum-sealable load lock which opens into a vacuum-sealable processing module chamber;
- transferring said wafers face-down, one-at-a-time, from said load lock, through portions of said module chamber, to and from selected process modules opening into said module chamber, to and from said load lock.
- 42. The method of claim 41, further comprising the steps of:
- processing said wafers at said selected process modules while said wafers are in a face-down orientation.
- 43. The method of claim 41, wherein said step of transporting said plurality of wafers, includes the step of maintaining said wafers under vacuum during transport.
- 44. The method of claim 43, further comprising the step of:
- maintaining said wafers in a hard vacuum environment during all of said steps.
- 45. The method claim 42, wherein said step of processing takes place in a vacuum environment.
- 46. A wafer processing method, comprising the steps of:
- transporting a plurality of wafers face-down, under vacuum in a vacuum carrier;
- inserting said carrier into a load lock;
- pumping down said load lock to create a vacuum therein;
- transferring said wafers, face-down, one-at-a-time, through a module chamber under vacuum, to selected process stations which open on said module chamber; and
- processing said wafers at said selected process stations.
- 47. The processing method of claim 46, further comprising the steps of:
- selectively transferring said processed wafers from said selected process stations to others of said process stations, while under vacuum.
- 48. The processing method of claim 46, further comprising the steps of:
- selectively transferring said processed wafers from said selected process stations to said carrier in said load lock, while under vacuum.
Parent Case Info
This application is a continuation, of application Ser. No. 118,824, filed Nov. 9, 1987, now abandoned, which is a continuation of Ser. No. 060,976, filed on June 12, 1987, now abandoned, which is a continuation of Ser. No. 790,708, filed on Oct. 24, 1985, now abandoned.
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Number |
Name |
Date |
Kind |
4483651 |
Nakane et al. |
Nov 1984 |
|
4547247 |
Warenback et al. |
Oct 1985 |
|
4659413 |
Davis et al. |
Apr 1987 |
|
Non-Patent Literature Citations (1)
Entry |
Drytek Inc., Quad System, Brochure pp. 1-11. |
Continuations (3)
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Number |
Date |
Country |
Parent |
118824 |
Nov 1987 |
|
Parent |
60976 |
Jun 1987 |
|
Parent |
790708 |
Oct 1985 |
|