APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR PROCESSING SUBSTRATES USING ONE OR MORE VACUUM TRANSFER CHAMBER UNITS

Abstract

An apparatus and method for processing substrates uses one or more vacuum transfer chamber units to transfer some of the substrates between at least one load lock chamber unit and at least one vacuum process chamber unit.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a simplified plan view, partly schematic, of an apparatus in accordance with an embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 2 is a vertical cross-sectional view, partly schematic, of the apparatus 10 of FIG. 1 taken along line 2-2 in FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is an enlarged view of the cross-sectional view of FIG. 2 with respect to a load lock chamber unit of the apparatus of FIG. 1.

FIG. 4 is a vertical cross-sectional view, partly schematic, of the load lock chamber unit taken along line 4-4 in FIG. 1.

FIG. 5 is an enlarged, top plan view of a robotic transfer mechanism included in the apparatus in accordance with an embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 6 is a rear view of the robotic transfer mechanism taken along line 6-6 in FIG. 5.

FIG. 7 is a simplified, partially schematized, cross-sectional view of a vacuum process chamber unit configured for a plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition process in accordance with an embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 8 is a top plan view, partially schematized, of an apparatus in accordance with an alternative embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 9 is a top plan view, partially schematized, of an apparatus in accordance with another alternative embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 10 is a top plan view, partially schematized, of an apparatus in accordance with another alternative embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 11 is a process flow diagram of a method for processing substrates in accordance with an embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 12 is a process flow diagram of a method for processing substrates in accordance with another embodiment of the invention.

Claims

1. An apparatus for processing substrates, said apparatus comprising: a vacuum transfer chamber unit having a side;at least one load lock chamber unit connected to said side of said vacuum transfer chamber unit;at least one vacuum process chamber unit connected to said side of said vacuum transfer chamber unit; anda linear robotic transfer mechanism located within said vacuum transfer chamber unit to transfer some of said substrates between said at least one load lock chamber unit and said at least one vacuum process chamber unit through said vacuum transfer chamber unit.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein said at least one load lock chamber unit includes two load lock chamber units connected to said vacuum transfer unit such that said linear robotic transfer mechanism located within said vacuum transfer chamber unit is able to access one or both of said two load lock chamber units.

3. The apparatus of claim 1 further comprising a plurality of slit valves attached to said vacuum transfer chamber unit, said at least one load lock chamber unit and said at least one vacuum process chamber unit at interfaces between said vacuum transfer chamber unit, said at least one load lock chamber unit and said at least one vacuum process chamber unit.

4. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein said at least one load lock chamber unit includes an elevator assembly to hold some of said substrates, said elevator assembly being configured to raise, lower and rotate said substrates held by said elevator assembly.

5. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein each of said at least one vacuum process chamber unit is configured to perform a process selected from a group consisting of gas chemistry high density plasma etching, plasma enhanced gas chemistry deposition, atomic layer deposition, physical vapor deposition, physical sputtering, in-situ process monitoring, photolithography, gas chemistry dry cleaning, integrated dry and wet cleaning and wet chemical processing.

6. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein said linear robotic transfer mechanism includes at least one three link arm and at least one blade to hold one or more of said substrates.

7. The apparatus of claim 1 further comprising at least one additional process chamber unit connected to a second side of said vacuum transfer chamber unit such that said linear robotic transfer mechanism is able to access said at least one additional process chamber, said second side being an opposite side of said side of said vacuum transfer chamber unit.

8. The apparatus of claim 1 further comprising: a second vacuum transfer unit connected to said at least one load lock chamber unit and said at least one vacuum process chamber unit such that said at least one load lock chamber unit and said at least one vacuum process chamber unit are positioned between said vacuum transfer chamber unit and said second vacuum transfer unit; anda second linear robotic transfer mechanism located within said second vacuum transfer chamber unit to transfer some of said substrates between said at least one load lock chamber unit and said at least one vacuum process chamber unit through said second vacuum transfer chamber unit.

9. The apparatus of claim 8 further comprising a plurality of slit valves attached to said vacuum transfer chamber unit, said second vacuum transfer chamber unit, said at least one load lock chamber unit and said at least one vacuum process chamber unit at interfaces between said vacuum transfer chamber unit, said second vacuum transfer chamber unit, said at least one load lock chamber unit and said at least one vacuum process chamber unit, each of said at least one load lock chamber unit and each of said at least one vacuum process chamber unit being attached to two of said slit valves.

10. The apparatus of claim 8 further comprising: at least one additional vacuum process chamber unit connected to said vacuum transfer chamber unit such that said vacuum transfer chamber unit is positioned between said at least one vacuum process chamber unit and said at least one additional vacuum process chamber unit;a third vacuum transfer chamber unit connected to said at least one additional vacuum process chamber unit such that said at least one additional vacuum process chamber unit is positioned between said second vacuum transfer chamber unit and said third vacuum transfer chamber unit; anda third linear robotic transfer mechanism located within said third vacuum transfer chamber unit to access said at least one additional vacuum process chamber unit.

11. The apparatus of claim 10 further comprising: a fourth vacuum transfer chamber unit connected to said at least one load lock chamber unit;at least one additional load lock chamber unit connected to said fourth vacuum transfer chamber unit such that said fourth vacuum transfer chamber unit is positioned between said at least one load lock chamber unit and said at least one additional load lock chamber unit; anda fourth linear robotic transfer mechanism located within said fourth vacuum transfer chamber unit to transfer some of said substrates between said at least one load lock chamber unit and said at least one additional load lock chamber unit through said fourth transfer chamber unit.

12. An apparatus for processing substrates, said apparatus comprising: a first vacuum transfer chamber unit;a second vacuum transfer chamber unit;at least one load lock chamber unit connected to said first and second vacuum transfer chamber units such that said at least one load lock chamber unit is positioned between said first and second vacuum transfer chamber units;at least one vacuum process chamber unit connected to said first and second vacuum transfer chamber units such that said at least one vacuum process chamber unit is positioned between said first and second vacuum transfer chamber units;a first robotic transfer mechanism located within said first vacuum transfer chamber unit to transfer some of said substrates between said at least one load lock chamber unit and said at least one vacuum process chamber unit through said first vacuum transfer chamber unit; anda second robotic transfer mechanism located within said second vacuum transfer chamber unit to transfer some of said substrates between said at least one load lock chamber unit and said at least one vacuum process chamber unit through said second vacuum transfer chamber unit.

13. The apparatus of claim 12 wherein said at least one load lock chamber unit includes two load lock chamber units, each of said two load lock chamber units being connected to said first and second vacuum transfer units.

14. The apparatus of claim 12 wherein each of said first and second robotic transfer mechanisms are linear robotic transfer mechanisms on at least one linear guide for linear motion.

15. The apparatus of claim 12 further comprising: at least one additional vacuum process chamber unit connected to said second vacuum transfer chamber unit such that said second vacuum chamber unit is positioned between said at least one vacuum process chamber unit and said at least one additional vacuum process chamber unit;a third vacuum transfer chamber unit connected to said at least one additional vacuum process chamber unit such that said at least one additional vacuum process chamber unit is positioned between said second vacuum transfer chamber unit and said third vacuum transfer chamber unit; anda third robotic transfer mechanism located within said third vacuum transfer chamber unit to access said at least one additional vacuum process chamber unit.

16. The apparatus of claim 15 further comprising: a fourth vacuum transfer chamber unit connected to said at least one load lock chamber unit;at least one additional load lock chamber unit connected to said fourth vacuum transfer chamber unit such that said fourth vacuum transfer chamber unit is positioned between said at least one load lock chamber unit and said at least one additional load lock chamber unit; anda fourth linear robotic transfer mechanism located within said fourth vacuum transfer chamber unit to transfer some of said substrates between said at least one load lock chamber unit and said at least one additional load lock unit through said fourth transfer chamber unit.

17. A method for processing substrates, said method comprising: loading some of said substrates into at least one load lock chamber unit, said at least one load lock chamber unit being connected to a side of a vacuum transfer chamber unit;linearly transferring some of said substrates from said at least one load lock chamber unit to at least one vacuum process chamber unit through said vacuum transfer chamber unit, said at least one vacuum process chamber unit being connected to said side of said vacuum transfer chamber unit;performing at least one fabrication process on some of said substrates within said at least one vacuum process chamber unit; andlinearly transferring some of said substrates from said at least one vacuum process chamber unit to said at least load lock chamber unit through said vacuum transfer chamber unit.

18. The method of claim 17 wherein said linearly transferring some of said substrates from said at least one load lock chamber unit to said at least one vacuum process chamber unit through said vacuum transfer chamber unit includes transferring some of said substrates through a plurality of slit valves attached to said vacuum transfer chamber unit, said at least one load lock chamber unit and said at least one vacuum process chamber unit at interfaces between said vacuum transfer chamber unit, said at least one load lock chamber unit and said at least one vacuum process chamber unit.

19. The method of claim 17 further comprising raising, lowering and rotating some of said substrates within said at least one load lock chamber unit.

20. The method of claim 17 wherein said performing said at least one fabrication process includes performing a process selected from a group consisting of gas chemistry high density plasma etching, plasma enhanced gas chemistry deposition, atomic layer deposition, physical vapor deposition, physical sputtering, in-situ process monitoring, photolithography, gas chemistry dry cleaning, integrated dry and wet cleaning and wet chemical processing.

21. The method of claim 17 further comprising transferring some of said substrates to at least one additional process chamber unit connected to a second side of said vacuum transfer chamber unit, said second side being an opposite side of said side of said vacuum transfer chamber unit.

22. The method of claim 17 further comprising linearly transferring some of said substrates between said at least one load lock chamber unit and said at least one vacuum process chamber unit through a second vacuum transfer unit, said second vacuum transfer unit being connected to said at least one load lock chamber unit and said at least one vacuum process chamber unit such that said at least one load lock chamber unit and said at least one vacuum process chamber unit are positioned between said vacuum transfer chamber unit and said second vacuum transfer unit.

23. The method of claim 22 further comprising linearly transferring some of said substrates to at least one additional vacuum process chamber unit through a third vacuum transfer chamber unit, said at least one additional vacuum process chamber unit being connected to said second and third vacuum transfer chamber units such that said at least one additional vacuum process chamber unit is positioned between said second and third vacuum transfer chamber unit.

24. The method of claim 23 further comprising: loading some of said substrates into at least one additional load lock chamber unit; andlinearly transferring some of said substrates from said at least one additional load lock chamber unit to said at least one load lock chamber unit through a fourth vacuum transfer chamber unit, said fourth vacuum transfer chamber unit being connected to said at least load lock chamber unit and said at least one additional load lock chamber unit such that said fourth vacuum transfer chamber unit is positioned between said at least load lock chamber unit and said at least one additional load lock chamber unit.

25. A method for processing substrates, said method comprising: loading some of said substrates into at least one load lock chamber unit, said at least one load lock chamber unit being connected to first and second vacuum transfer chamber units such that said at least one load lock chamber unit is positioned between said first and second vacuum transfer chamber units;transferring some of said substrates from said at least one load lock chamber unit to at least one vacuum process chamber unit through one of said first and second vacuum transfer chamber units, said at least one vacuum process chamber unit being connected to said first and second vacuum transfer chamber units such that said at least one vacuum process chamber unit is positioned between said first and second vacuum transfer chamber units;performing at least one fabrication process on some of said substrates within said at least one vacuum process chamber unit; andtransferring some of said substrates from said at least one vacuum process chamber unit to said at least one load lock chamber unit through one of said first and second vacuum transfer chamber units.

26. The method of claim 25 further comprising transferring some of said substrates to at least one additional vacuum process chamber unit through a third vacuum transfer unit, said at least one additional vacuum process chambers being connected to said second and third vacuum transfer chamber units such that said at least one additional vacuum process chamber unit is positioned between said second and third vacuum transfer chamber units.

27. The method of claim 26 further comprising: loading some of said substrates into at least one additional load lock chamber unit; andtransferring some of said substrates from said at least one additional load lock chamber unit to said at least one load lock chamber unit through a fourth vacuum transfer chamber unit, said fourth vacuum transfer chamber unit being connected to said at least load lock chamber unit and said at least one additional load lock chamber unit such that said fourth vacuum transfer chamber unit is positioned between said at least load lock chamber unit and said at least one additional load lock chamber unit.