JP2010040799A - Substrate processing system - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a substrate processing system that easily not only recognizes a correlation between an enlarged display and whole but also determines what part of the enlarged display is displayed. <P>SOLUTION: In the substrate processing system including a substrate processing device for processing the substrate and a group control unit for controlling a plurality of substrate processing devices, the group control unit includes an operating means having an operation screen for displaying substrate processing data predetermined and prepared when processing the substrate, and a control means for executing a predetermined displaying program. The control means allows the substrate processing data to be graphed and displayed on an operation screen. When the enlarged display designation is received by the operation screen, a screen whose predetermined scope is enlarged is displayed on the operation screen like the graphed screen by executing a screen display program for enlarging and displaying the substrate processing data. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2010,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a semiconductor processing apparatus and a substrate processing system including a group management apparatus connected to the semiconductor manufacturing apparatus via a network, and changes in temperature, pressure, gas flow rate, etc. in the process and history of semiconductor manufacturing, The present invention relates to a substrate processing system provided with a group management apparatus capable of displaying various information such as an operation status of an apparatus and comparison between apparatuses via an apparatus main body or a cable, wireless, network, or the like.

  Conventionally, in a substrate processing system comprising a semiconductor manufacturing apparatus which is a kind of substrate processing apparatus and a group management apparatus for managing these semiconductor manufacturing apparatuses, changes in temperature, pressure, gas flow rate, etc. in the process and history of semiconductor manufacturing, Various information such as the operation status of the apparatus and comparison for each apparatus has been displayed in a graph. However, since the amount of information is large, an enlarged display is indispensable to see details.

  However, when the enlarged display is performed, the details are well understood but the balance with the whole is difficult to grasp, so it is difficult to understand what the change on the graph means, and as shown in FIG. In many cases, once the location where there is no data is displayed by changing the position, it is difficult to know where to move the display position, and there is a waste of enlarging again after performing reduced display. When analyzing a large amount of data, there may be a situation where the reliability of the analysis work itself may be shaken due to the time and effort required to repeat the analysis. Similarly, if enlargement is performed in the image diagnosis, it is impossible to know which part of the whole is displayed, and the same waste as the above graph is generated. The same applies to the case where text such as an instruction manual is displayed.

  The purpose of the present invention is that it is difficult to understand the relationship between the current display position and the whole in the enlarged display of graphs, images, texts, etc. of the prior art, and which one should be moved once it is out of the area where the data exists An object of the present invention is to provide a substrate processing system that solves the problem of being unclear, makes it easy to recognize the correlation between the enlarged display and the entire display, and can easily determine where the enlarged display is displayed.

  A first feature of the present invention is a substrate processing system including a substrate processing apparatus that processes a substrate and a group management apparatus that manages a plurality of substrate processing apparatuses, wherein the group management apparatus includes: An operation unit having an operation screen for displaying substrate processing data set or generated during substrate processing; and a control unit that executes a predetermined display program, wherein the control unit stores the substrate processing data. When a graph is displayed and displayed on the operation screen and an enlarged display designation is received on the operation screen, a screen in which the designated range is enlarged by executing a screen display program for enlarging the substrate processing data is displayed. It is to be displayed on the operation screen in the same manner as the graphed screen.

  In a substrate processing system composed of a semiconductor manufacturing apparatus and a group management apparatus that manages these semiconductor manufacturing apparatuses, when displaying a large amount of data in a graph, even if it is enlarged to a detailed part, the location of the enlarged display can be understood. This eliminates the need to repeat enlargement and reduction even when it is desired to view a plurality of locations. Similarly, even if an area without data is displayed during enlarged display, it is understood whether the data can be displayed by moving up, down, left, or right, so that there is no need to return to the full display and expand again.

  Hereinafter, the configuration and operation of a substrate processing system according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. First, the configuration of a substrate processing system according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG.

  As shown in FIG. 1, the substrate processing system includes at least one substrate processing apparatus 10 that processes a substrate, and a group management apparatus 20 connected to the substrate processing apparatus 10. The connection between the substrate processing apparatus 10 and the group management apparatus 20 may be a direct connection using a communication cable, a network connection via a local line, or a wide area line such as the Internet or a dedicated line network. Network connection may be used. The substrate processing apparatus 10 includes a substrate processing system 100 for processing a substrate, a substrate processing apparatus controller 240 connected to the substrate processing system 100, and an operation terminal 241 connected to the substrate processing apparatus controller 240. The group management apparatus 20 is connected to the group management apparatus controller 21 connected to the substrate processing apparatus 10 through a network and the like, and is connected to the group management apparatus controller 21 so that a user (maintenance staff) operates the group management apparatus. And an operation terminal 22 which is an input / output device used at the time.

  In the best mode for carrying out the present invention, as an example, the substrate processing apparatus is configured as a semiconductor manufacturing apparatus that performs processing steps in a method of manufacturing a semiconductor device (IC). In the following description, a case where a vertical apparatus (hereinafter simply referred to as a processing apparatus) that performs oxidation, diffusion processing, CVD processing, or the like is applied to the substrate as the substrate processing apparatus will be described.

  As shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, the substrate processing according to the present invention uses a hoop (substrate container; hereinafter referred to as a pod) 110 as a wafer carrier containing a wafer (substrate) 200 made of silicon or the like. The system 100 includes a housing 111. A front maintenance port 103 as an opening provided for maintenance is opened at the front front portion of the front wall 111a of the casing 111, and front maintenance doors 104 and 104 for opening and closing the front maintenance port 103 are respectively built. It is attached. A pod loading / unloading port (substrate container loading / unloading port) 112 is opened on the front wall 111a of the casing 111 so as to communicate between the inside and the outside of the casing 111. The pod loading / unloading port 112 has a front shutter (substrate container loading / unloading port). The loading / unloading opening / closing mechanism 113 is opened and closed. A load port (substrate container delivery table) 114 is installed in front of the front side of the pod loading / unloading port 112, and the load port 114 is configured so that the pod 110 is placed and aligned. The pod 110 is carried onto the load port 114 by an in-process carrying device (not shown), and is also carried out from the load port 114.

  A rotary pod shelf (substrate container mounting shelf) 105 is installed at an upper portion of the casing 111 in a substantially central portion in the front-rear direction. The rotary pod shelf 105 stores a plurality of pods 110. It is configured. In other words, the rotary pod shelf 105 is vertically arranged and intermittently rotated in a horizontal plane, and a plurality of shelf boards (supported by a substrate container) that are radially supported by the support 116 at each of the upper, middle, and lower positions. And a plurality of shelf plates 117 are configured to hold the pods 110 in a state where a plurality of pods 110 are respectively placed. A pod transfer device (substrate container transfer device) 118 is installed between the load port 114 and the rotary pod shelf 105 in the housing 111, and the pod transfer device 118 moves up and down while holding the pod 110. A pod elevator (substrate container lifting mechanism) 118a and a pod transfer mechanism (substrate container transfer mechanism) 118b as a transfer mechanism are configured. The pod transfer device 118 includes a pod elevator 118a and a pod transfer mechanism 118b. The pod 110 is transported between the load port 114, the rotary pod shelf 105, and the pod opener (substrate container lid opening / closing mechanism) 121 by continuous operation.

  A sub-housing 119 is constructed across the rear end of the lower portion of the housing 111 at a substantially central portion in the front-rear direction. A pair of wafer loading / unloading ports (substrate loading / unloading ports) 120 for loading / unloading the wafer 200 into / from the sub-casing 119 are arranged on the front wall 119a of the sub-casing 119 in two vertical stages. A pair of pod openers 121 and 121 are installed at the wafer loading / unloading ports 120 and 120 at the upper and lower stages, respectively. The pod opener 121 includes mounting bases 122 and 122 on which the pod 110 is placed, and cap attaching / detaching mechanisms (lid attaching / detaching mechanisms) 123 and 123 for attaching and detaching caps (lids) of the pod 110. The pod opener 121 is configured to open and close the wafer loading / unloading port of the pod 110 by attaching / detaching the cap of the pod 110 placed on the placing table 122 by the cap attaching / detaching mechanism 123.

  The sub-housing 119 constitutes a transfer chamber 124 that is fluidly isolated from the installation space of the pod transfer device 118 and the rotary pod shelf 105. A wafer transfer mechanism (substrate transfer mechanism) 125 is installed in the front region of the transfer chamber 124, and the wafer transfer mechanism 125 rotates the wafer 200 in the horizontal direction or can move the wafer 200 in the horizontal direction. Substrate transfer device) 125a and wafer transfer device elevator (substrate transfer device lifting mechanism) 125b for raising and lowering wafer transfer device 125a. By the continuous operation of the wafer transfer device elevator 125b and the wafer transfer device 125a, the tweezer (substrate holder) 125c of the wafer transfer device 125a is used as a placement portion for the wafer 200 with respect to the boat (substrate holder) 217. The wafer 200 is loaded (charged) and unloaded (discharged).

  In the rear region of the transfer chamber 124, a standby unit 126 that houses and waits for the boat 217 is configured. A processing furnace 202 is provided above the standby unit 126. The lower end portion of the processing furnace 202 is configured to be opened and closed by a furnace port shutter (furnace port opening / closing mechanism) 147.

As shown in FIG. 2, the supply chamber 124 is supplied with a clean atmosphere 133 or an inert gas supplied to the right end of the transfer chamber 124 opposite to the wafer transfer device elevator 125b. A clean unit 134 composed of a fan and a dustproof filter is installed, and a notch aligner as a substrate aligner for aligning the circumferential position of the wafer between the wafer transfer device 125a and the clean unit 134. 135 is installed.
The clean air 133 blown out from the clean unit 134 is circulated through the notch aligning device 135 and the wafer transfer device 125a and then sucked in by a duct (not shown) to be exhausted to the outside of the casing 111 or clean. The unit 134 is circulated to the primary side (supply side) which is the suction side, and is again blown into the transfer chamber 124 by the clean unit 134.

As shown in FIG. 2, a boat elevator (substrate holder lifting mechanism) 115 for raising and lowering the boat 217 between the right end of the pressure-resistant casing 111 and the right end of the standby section 126 of the sub casing 119. Is installed. A seal cap 219 serving as a lid is horizontally installed on an arm 128 serving as a connector connected to the boat elevator 115, and the seal cap 219 supports the boat 217 vertically and closes the lower end of the processing furnace 202. It is configured as possible.
The boat 217 includes a plurality of holding members so that a plurality of (for example, about 50 to 125) wafers 200 are horizontally held in a state where their centers are aligned in the vertical direction. It is configured.

Next, the operation of the substrate processing system 100 of the present invention will be described.
As shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, when the pod 110 is supplied to the load port 114, the pod loading / unloading port 112 is opened by the front shutter 113, and the pod 110 above the load port 114 is connected to the pod transfer device. 118 is carried into the housing 111 from the pod loading / unloading port 112. The loaded pod 110 is automatically transported and delivered by the pod transport device 118 to the designated shelf 117 of the rotary pod shelf 105, temporarily stored, and then one pod opener from the shelf 117. It is conveyed to 121 and transferred to the mounting table 122, or directly transferred to the pod opener 121 and transferred to the mounting table 122. At this time, the wafer loading / unloading port 120 of the pod opener 121 is closed by the cap attaching / detaching mechanism 123, and the transfer chamber 124 is filled with clean air 133. For example, the transfer chamber 124 is filled with nitrogen gas as clean air 133, so that the oxygen concentration is set to 20 ppm or less, which is much lower than the oxygen concentration inside the casing 111 (atmosphere).

  The pod 110 mounted on the mounting table 122 is pressed against the opening edge of the wafer loading / unloading port 120 on the front wall 119a of the sub-housing 119, and the cap is removed by the cap attaching / detaching mechanism 123. The wafer loading / unloading port of the pod 110 is opened. When the pod 110 is opened by the pod opener 121, the wafer 200 is picked up from the pod 110 by the tweezer 125c of the wafer transfer device 125a through the wafer loading / unloading port, aligned with the notch alignment device 135, and then transferred to the transfer chamber 124. Is loaded into the standby unit 126 at the back of the vehicle and loaded into the boat 217 (wafer charging). The wafer transfer device 125 a that has delivered the wafer 200 to the boat 217 returns to the pod 110 and loads the next wafer 110 into the boat 217.

  During the loading operation of the wafer into the boat 217 by the wafer transfer device 125 in the one (upper or lower) pod opener 121, the other (lower or upper) pod opener 121 has a rotary pod shelf 105 or load port 114. The other pod 110 is transported by the pod transport device 118, and the opening operation of the pod 110 by the pod opener 121 proceeds simultaneously.

  When a predetermined number of wafers 200 are loaded into the boat 217, the lower end of the processing furnace 202 closed by the furnace port shutter 147 is opened by the furnace port shutter 147. Subsequently, the boat 217 holding the wafers 200 is loaded into the processing furnace 202 when the seal cap 219 is lifted by the boat elevator 115.

  After loading, arbitrary processing is performed on the wafer 200 in the processing furnace 202. After the processing, the wafer 200 and the pod 110 are discharged to the outside of the casing 111 in the reverse order of the above-described procedure except for the wafer alignment process in the notch aligner 135.

  Next, an embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail. In the present invention, when the enlarged display is performed to solve the conventional problems, the entire display is also performed while switching simultaneously or alternately on the same screen as shown in FIG. A frame is displayed by a conspicuous color line or painting on the entire display, and the position and range of the enlarged display are easily shown.

  A case where the graph is displayed with the X axis indicating time and the Y axis indicating temperature will be described as an example. Based on the time of the start position and end position of the enlarged display, based on the time data (X0, X1) of the start position (X0, Y0) and end position (X1, Y1) of the entire display, The start position (x0, y0) and the end position (x1, y1) are obtained.

The screen display program in the present embodiment will be described in detail using FIG. FIG. 6 is a graph showing a total of 24 hours when the time data of the X axis of the entire display is from 0:00 to 24:00. As shown in FIG. 6, two arbitrary points on the screen displaying the entire graph are designated. At this time, the start position is a position touched on the screen, and the end position is a position away from the screen. When the time data of the enlarged display is displayed for 3 hours from 15:00 to 18:00, when X0 = 100 and X1 = 500, x0 and x1 are obtained as follows.
x0 = X0 + ((X1−X0) × 15 ÷ 24) = 100 + ((500-100) × 15 ÷ 24) = 350
x1 = X0 + ((X1−X0) × 18 ÷ 24) = 100 + ((500-100) × 18 ÷ 24) = 400

Similarly, the Y-axis temperature data (Y0, Y1) of the entire display is a graph displaying a total of 500 ° C. from 0 ° C. to 500 ° C. When the enlarged display time data is 100 ° C. from 250 ° C. to 350 ° C. When Y0 = 100 and Y1 = 400, if the upper left is the drawing start position, y0 and y1 are obtained as follows.
y0 = Y0 + ((Y1−Y0) × (1−350 ÷ 500)) = 100 + ((400-100) × (1-350 ÷ 500) = 190
y1 = Y0 + ((Y1−Y0) × (1−250 ÷ 500)) = 100 + ((400-100) × (1-250 ÷ 500) = 250

  That is, in this example, the entire graph is drawn in the range from the start position (100, 100) to the end position (500, 400), and then the start position (350, 190) representing the enlarged display is displayed on the graph. 400, 250) can draw the enlarged display drawing range in the whole. Each time the enlargement position is changed, the deletion of the old rectangle, or the entire redisplay and the drawing of the new rectangle are repeated.

  As described above, the screen display program according to the present embodiment is executed by acquiring the data of the start position and end position of the entire screen for displaying the entire graph in advance and specifying the display of the enlarged screen on the entire screen. If there is an enlarged screen display designation, the screen display program acquires the data of the start position and end position, and uses the data of the start position and end position of the entire screen acquired in advance to specify the drawing The range is calculated, the drawing range is displayed on the entire screen, and the drawing range is enlarged and individually displayed as an enlarged screen, so that the entire screen and the enlarged screen are displayed on the same screen.

  Next, the case where the screen display program in the embodiment of the present invention is applied to the temperature data in the operation of the substrate processing system 100 described above will be described in detail.

1217839198685_0
Is an example of a film forming process performed in the substrate processing apparatus 10.
1217839198685_1
A flowchart is shown on the left side of FIG. 1, and a schematic diagram of temperature changes in the furnace is shown on the right side. A symbol attached to the schematic diagram of the temperature change indicates that the same processing in the flowchart is performed.

Step S101 is to maintain and stabilize the processing temperature of the furnace at a relatively low temperature T _0. In step S101, the boat 217 has not yet been put into the furnace. Step S102 is a process of throwing the boat 217 holding the wafers 200 into the furnace. Since the temperature of the wafer 200 is lower than the temperature T ₀ in the furnace at this time, as a result of putting the boat 217 into the furnace, the temperature in the furnace temporarily becomes lower than T ₀ . However, the furnace is stabilized again at T ₀ after a certain period of time by an appropriate control method using the temperature controller and power supply means using the power controller.

Step S103 is a process of gradually increasing the temperature in the furnace from T ₀ to the temperature T ₁ for performing the film forming process. Step S104 is a process for maintaining and stabilizing the temperature in the furnace at T ₁ in order to perform the film forming process on the wafer 200. Step S105 is a process of gradually lowering the temperature in the furnace from T ₁ to T ₀ again. Step S106 is a process of pulling out the boat 217 holding the wafer 200 on which the film formation process has been performed from the furnace. If the wafer 200 to be deposited remains, the process returns to step S101 again, and the same procedure is performed after replacing the deposited wafer 200 held in the boat 217 simultaneously with step S101 with an unprocessed one. Is to repeat.

  FIG. 9 shows a specific example in which the embodiment of the present invention is applied to temperature data of the substrate processing apparatus 10.

  Since the details of the temperature change when the board 217 is inserted into the furnace are displayed as shown in FIG. 9A, the state of the temperature change in the furnace can be understood. FIG. 9A shows that the temperature is stable on the entire screen, but it can be seen that overshoot actually occurs. Therefore, when the next film formation process is completed and an abnormality occurs in a later process, it is estimated that this is one of the causes of the abnormality.

  Although the embodiment of the present invention has been described with reference to the graph, the present invention is not particularly limited to the graph, and can be similarly applied to images and text as shown in FIG. 7, for example. .

1 is a schematic configuration diagram of a substrate processing system according to an embodiment of the present invention. Plane perspective view showing a substrate processing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention Side perspective view showing a substrate processing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention Diagram showing enlarged display in the prior art The figure which shows the enlarged display which concerns on embodiment of this invention The figure explaining the screen display program in embodiment of this invention The figure which shows the other Example in this invention. The figure which shows the outline of the temperature change of the substrate processing apparatus which concerns on this invention The figure which applied the screen display program which concerns on embodiment of this invention to the temperature control data of a substrate processing apparatus

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Substrate processing system 10 Substrate processing apparatus 20 Group management apparatus 21 Group management apparatus controller 22 Operation terminal (operation part)
100 Substrate processing system

Claims (1)

A substrate processing system comprising a substrate processing apparatus for processing a substrate and a group management apparatus for managing a plurality of substrate processing apparatuses,
The group management apparatus includes an operation unit including an operation screen for displaying substrate processing data set or generated during substrate processing, and a control unit that executes a predetermined display program. The substrate processing data is graphed and displayed on the operation screen. When the enlarged display designation is received on the operation screen, the designated range is executed by executing a screen display program for enlarged display of the substrate processing data. A substrate processing system, wherein an enlarged screen is displayed on the operation screen in the same manner as the graphed screen.

Images