JP2011181796A - Mask stocker, mask supply system, and mask supply method - Google Patents

Abstract

To provide a mask stocker, a mask supply system, and a mask supply method capable of automatically performing all processes from taking out a cassette from a management shelf of a cassette containing a mask to supplying a mask to an exposure apparatus. .
SOLUTION: A chamber 2 isolated from the outside via a shutter 1, a management shelf 4 that accommodates and manages a number of cassettes 3 that are arranged outside the chamber 2 and store a mask M, and a chamber outside the chamber 2 2 and an automatic transfer device 6 that freely travels between the management shelf 4 and an exposure device 7, a mask loader 8, and a mask stocker 10 respectively disposed in the chamber 2, and the mask stocker 10 is a cassette. 3, the cassette loading stage 12 that can be moved between the cassette delivery position CP and the mask delivery position MP, and the position of the cassette 3 placed on the cassette placement stage 12 are set by the mask loader 8. 3 and an alignment adjustment mechanism 13 that adjusts the alignment so that the mask M can be taken out from the position accuracy.
[Selection] Figure 1

Description

  The present invention relates to a mask stocker, a mask supply system, and a mask supply method, and more particularly to a mask stocker, a mask supply system, and a mask supply method that automatically supply a mask to an exposure apparatus.

  An exposure apparatus for exposing and transferring a mask pattern onto a substrate is disposed in a clean room separated from an external environment together with a mask stocker and a mask loader. Conventionally, in order to supply and mount a mask having a pattern to be exposed on such an exposure apparatus, a cassette containing the mask is placed on a manual conveyance carriage from a mask management shelf or the like arranged outside the clean room. After transporting to the clean room, opening the shutter of the clean room, manually adjusting the height of the cassette on the manual transport carriage to the height of the mask stocker, and then moving it into the mask stocker. Then, the cassette was opened by the remote control device, and the mask loader took out the mask from the cassette and mounted it on the exposure apparatus.

  As such an apparatus, a holding unit for placing a cassette is raised by manual operation, and the height can be finely adjusted, for example, a carriage (see, for example, Patent Document 1), a mask management shelf for housing a cassette, and processing A stocker transport system (for example, see Patent Document 2) that transports between stations with a self-propelled transport vehicle is known.

JP 2006-347424 A JP 2001-44261 A

  The transport cart disclosed in Patent Document 1 performs cassette transport between a mask management shelf that stores cassettes and a mask stocker by a transport cart that is manually operated, and has a large load on the operator. There was a problem that work efficiency was low. Further, there is no description about the alignment between the mask stocker and the cassette, which is an indispensable condition when the mask is taken out from the cassette stored in the mask stocker by the mask loader and supplied to the exposure apparatus.

  The stocker transfer system of Patent Document 2 is used to transfer wafers, and the work efficiency is improved by performing wafer transfer between the wafer storage shelf and the processing station with a self-propelled transfer vehicle. There is no description of a specific accommodation procedure such as processing in the processing station, particularly alignment with the stocker.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above-described problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide a mask stocker, a mask supply system, and a mask supply system capable of automatically performing a process from supplying a mask to a exposure apparatus from a cassette containing a mask It is to provide a mask supply method.

The above object of the present invention can be achieved by the following constitution.
(1) A mask stocker for storing a mask delivered to a mask loader,
A cassette mounting stage that is movably provided on the base and is capable of mounting a cassette capable of accommodating a mask;
An alignment adjustment mechanism that adjusts the position of the cassette placed on the cassette placement stage to a position accuracy at which the mask loader can take out the mask from the cassette;
A mask stocker characterized by comprising:
(2) Between a cassette delivery position where the cassette placed on the cassette placement stage is delivered by an automatic transfer device and a mask delivery position where the mask accommodated in the cassette can be delivered by the mask loader. The mask stocker according to (1), further comprising a stage driving mechanism capable of driving the cassette mounting stage with respect to the base.
(3) The alignment adjustment mechanism may include a plurality of alignment cylinders that are arranged on the cassette mounting stage and press and position the four outer side surfaces of the substantially rectangular parallelepiped cassette. Or the mask stocker as described in (2).
(4) a chamber that is isolated from the outside through a shutter and maintains a predetermined environment different from the outside;
An automatic transport device that travels outside the chamber and transports a cassette containing a mask to the chamber;
An exposure apparatus disposed in the chamber and exposing and transferring the pattern of the mask to a substrate;
A mask stocker disposed in the chamber corresponding to the shutter and containing the mask;
A mask loader disposed in the chamber, supplying the mask from the mask stocker to the exposure apparatus, and delivering the mask from the exposure apparatus to the mask stocker;
With
The mask stocker is
A cassette mounting stage that is movably provided on the base and is capable of mounting a cassette capable of accommodating a mask;
An alignment adjustment mechanism that adjusts the position of the cassette placed on the cassette placement stage to a position accuracy at which the mask loader can take out the mask from the cassette;
A mask supply system comprising:
(5) A mask supply method for supplying the mask from the automatic transfer apparatus to the exposure apparatus using the mask supply system according to (4),
Opening the shutter when the automatic transfer device having a cassette containing the mask moves to a predetermined position near the shutter of the chamber;
The automatic transfer device placing the cassette containing the mask on the cassette placement stage;
The alignment adjusting mechanism aligning the cassette;
The mask loader takes out the mask in the cassette adjusted in alignment and supplies it to the exposure apparatus;
A mask supply method comprising:

  According to the mask stocker of the present invention, the alignment adjustment mechanism that adjusts the position of the cassette placed on the cassette placement stage provided in the mask stocker to a position accuracy that allows the mask loader to take out the mask from the cassette. Thus, the alignment adjustment work that has conventionally been performed manually becomes unnecessary, and the load on the operator is reduced. Further, the mask can be automatically taken out from the cassette by the mask loader and supplied to the exposure apparatus, and the working efficiency is greatly improved.

  Further, according to the mask supply system and the mask supply method of the present invention, the chamber isolated from the outside by the shutter, the automatic transfer device for transferring the cassette containing the mask to the chamber, the exposure device disposed in the chamber, The mask stocker is configured to include a mask stocker and a mask loader, and the mask stocker has a cassette placement stage on which a cassette can be placed, and an alignment adjustment mechanism that adjusts the position of the cassette on the cassette placement stage, When the automatic transfer device moves to a predetermined position near the shutter of the chamber, the shutter opens, the cassette is placed on the cassette placement stage, and then the mask loader takes out the mask from the cassette that is aligned by the alignment adjustment mechanism. To supply to the exposure equipment. Since, it is possible to perform the removal of the cassette from the management shelf, the entire process up to the supply of the mask in the exposure apparatus by a mask loader automatically. As a result, the burden on the worker is greatly reduced and the work efficiency is improved.

It is a schematic block diagram of the mask supply system of this invention. It is a front view of the stocker shown in FIG. It is a principal part top view of the stocker shown in FIG. (A) And (b) is a figure for demonstrating the state in which the alignment adjustment of the cassette in a stocker was performed. It is a figure for demonstrating the state by which the cassette was delivered to the mask stocker from the mask loader.

  DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, an embodiment of a stocker according to the present invention will be described in detail based on the drawings. First, a mask supply system according to the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram of a mask supply system of the present invention.

  As shown in FIG. 1, the mask supply system S includes a plurality of (four in the embodiment shown in FIG. 1) chambers 2 separated from the outside through a shutter 1, and a mask M disposed outside the chamber 2. A management shelf 4 that accommodates and manages a number of cassettes 3 that store the paper, an automatic transfer device 6 that freely travels between the chamber 2 and the management shelf 4 outside the chamber 2, and an exposure that is disposed in the chamber 2. An apparatus 7, a mask loader 8, and a mask stocker 10.

  The chamber 2 is isolated from the outside by the shutter 1 and the wall 9 and is a clean room in which the inside is maintained at a predetermined cleanliness. The management shelf 4 includes a large number of storage shelves 4a, and each of the storage shelves 4a can store a cassette 3 that stores a mask M, and centrally manages the large number of cassettes 3. The management shelf 4 includes a crane 5 that accommodates the cassette 3 in each of the storage shelves 4a and can take out the cassette 3 from the storage shelf 4a. The automatic transport device 6 is a so-called self-propelled transport vehicle (AGV) that travels independently as judged by the microcomputer itself.

  The exposure device 7, the mask loader 8, and the mask stocker 10 are disposed in the chamber 2, and the mask loader 8 takes out the mask M from the cassette 3 accommodated in the mask stocker 10 in a positioned state, and the exposure device. 7 to expose and transfer the pattern of the mask M onto the substrate.

  The mask stocker 10 is arranged in the chamber 2 in the vicinity of the shutter 1 so that the cassette 3 for storing the mask M can be delivered directly from the automatic transfer device 6. As shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, the mask stocker 10 is provided on a base 11, a cassette mounting stage 12 on which the cassette 3 can be mounted, and a cassette mounting stage 12 on which the cassette 3 can be mounted. And an alignment adjustment mechanism 13 that adjusts the position of the placed cassette 3 so that the mask loader 8 can take out the mask M from the cassette 3 to a position accuracy. The mask stocker 10 receives and transfers the cassette 3 between the automatic transfer device 6 and the cassette mounting stage 12, and the mask M between the cassette 3 mounted on the cassette mounting stage 12 and the mask loader 8. Is delivered.

  The base 11 includes a substantially C-shaped table 15 that is supported by a plurality of support columns 14 and opens to the shutter 1 side. The cassette mounting stage 12 has a slider 17 mounted on the back surface straddling two guide rails 16 arranged in parallel on the table 15 and is driven by a stage driving mechanism 18. Then, it reciprocates between the mask delivery position MP.

  The cassette delivery position CP is a position close to the shutter 1 indicated by the solid line in FIG. 2 where the cassette 3 can be delivered to and from the automatic transport device 6 via the opened shutter 1, and the mask delivery position MP is This is a position separated from the shutter 1 indicated by a one-dot chain line in FIG. 2 where the mask M can be transferred to and from the mask loader 8.

  As shown in FIG. 3, the stage drive mechanism 18 is configured as a stage cylinder in which the cylinder body 19 is fixed to the base 11 and the piston 20 is connected to the connecting piece 21 of the cassette mounting stage 12. Thus, the cassette mounting stage 12 is guided by the guide rail 16 according to the expansion and contraction of the piston 20 of the stage driving mechanism 18, and reciprocates between the cassette delivery position CP and the mask delivery position MP on the table 15. Moving.

  A total of eight alignment cylinders 30 are arranged on the cassette mounting stage 12 in correspondence with each outer surface 3 a of the substantially rectangular parallelepiped cassette 3. Each alignment cylinder 30 includes a cylinder body 31 fixed to the cassette mounting stage 12 and a roller 33 rotatably attached to the tip of the piston 32. As shown in FIG. 2, a plurality of rollers 3 c are attached to the lower surface of the cassette 3, and the cassette 3 can be easily moved relative to the cassette mounting stage 12 by moving the roller 33 of the alignment adjusting mechanism 13. Can be moved to.

  In addition, a plurality of (four levels in the embodiment shown in FIG. 2) stocker shelves 25 for temporarily storing the mask M to be used are provided at the upper part of the mask stocker 10. A mask pre-alignment mechanism 26 is provided on the top of the.

  In the mask supply system S configured as described above, the mask supply from the management shelf 4 to the exposure apparatus 7 is performed according to the following procedure. That is, the crane 5 takes out the cassette 3 storing the mask M from the storage shelf 4 a of the management shelf 4 and transfers it to the automatic transfer device 6. The automatic transfer device 6 transfers the cassette 3 to the chamber 2 in which the exposure device 7 that is to use the mask M is arranged. When the automatic transfer device 6 moves to a predetermined position near the shutter 1 of the chamber 2, the shutter 1 opens. The automatic transfer device 6 grips the cassette 3 and places it on the placement area surrounded by the eight alignment cylinders 30 of the cassette placement stage 12 located at the cassette delivery position CP.

  Since eight alignment cylinders 30 are provided on the cassette placement stage 12 so as to surround the placement area, the automatic conveyance device 6 does not interfere with the alignment cylinder 30 by the cassette 3 to be gripped. The cassette 3 is held at a position raised to a certain extent, inserted into the mask stocker 10, then lowered and placed on the cassette placement stage 12.

  At this time, the position accuracy of the cassette 3 placed on the cassette placement stage 12 by the automatic transfer device 6 is, for example, about ± 15 mm, as shown in FIG. In order to take out the mask M from the cassette 3, the positional accuracy is not always sufficient.

  For this reason, when the eight alignment cylinders 30 serving as the alignment adjusting mechanism 13 are operated and the pistons 32 are extended, the outer surface 3a of the cassette 3 is pressed, and the positional accuracy of the cassette 3 with respect to the cassette mounting stage 12 is increased. 8 shows the positional accuracy at which the mask M can be taken out from the cassette 3, specifically, as shown in FIG. 4B, the positional deviation between the center of the cassette mounting stage 12 of the mask stocker 10 and the center of the cassette 3 Adjust the alignment so that it is within ± 1 mm.

  2 and 3, the cylinder main body 19 that is the stage drive mechanism 18 starts to operate, and the piston 20 is extended so that the cassette mounting stage 12 positioned at the cassette delivery position CP is moved to the guide rail. 16, the guide is moved to the mask delivery position MP (the back side of the mask stocker 10, the right side in FIGS. 2 and 3).

  The mask loader 8 opens the shutter 3b of the cassette 3 located at the mask delivery position MP, takes out the mask M, supplies it to the exposure device 7, and sucks and holds it on the mask holding unit. At this time, since the cassette 3 is positioned with a positional accuracy within ± 1 mm on the cassette mounting stage 12 located at the mask delivery position MP, the mask loader 8 can easily take out the mask M from the cassette 3. .

  Then, the mask loader 8 takes out the mask M from the cassette 3 whose alignment has been adjusted on the cassette mounting stage, supplies the mask M to the exposure device 7, and sucks and holds it on a mask holding unit (not shown). The exposure apparatus 7 irradiates the substrate W held on a substrate stage (not shown) with exposure light through the mask M, and the pattern formed on the mask M held on the mask holding unit is applied to the substrate W. Transfer by exposure.

Further, the mask M used in the exposure apparatus 7 is transferred to the automatic transport apparatus 6 by a procedure completely opposite to the above procedure. That is, the mask loader 8 stores the used mask M from the exposure device 7 in the cassette 3 located at the mask delivery position MP, and the stage driving mechanism 18 moves the cassette mounting stage 12 from the mask delivery position MP to the cassette delivery position CP. , The shutter 1 is opened, and the automatic conveyance device 6 holds the cassette 3 in the mask stocker 10 and takes it into the automatic conveyance device 6. At this time, the mask loader 8 can deliver the cassette 3 on the cassette mounting stage 12 with a positional accuracy within ± 3 mm as shown in FIG. There is no need to perform alignment adjustment without collapsing and dropping the cassette.
Thereafter, the mask M transported by the automatic transport device 6 is stored in the storage shelf 4a of the management shelf 4 together with the cassette 3 and stored and managed.

  As described above, according to the mask stocker 10 of the present embodiment, the position of the cassette 3 placed on the cassette placement stage 12 provided in the mask stocker 10 is changed from the cassette 3 to the mask M by the mask loader 8. Since the alignment adjustment mechanism 13 that adjusts the alignment to the position accuracy that can be taken out is provided, the alignment adjustment work that has been conventionally performed manually becomes unnecessary, and the load on the operator is reduced. Further, the mask M can be automatically taken out from the cassette 3 by the mask loader 8 and supplied to the exposure apparatus 7, so that the working efficiency is greatly improved.

  Further, since the cassette mounting stage 12 is moved between the cassette delivery position CP and the mask delivery position MP by the stage driving mechanism 18, the cassette 3 is delivered to and from the automatic transfer device 6 at the optimum position for delivery. The mask M can be reliably transferred to and from the mask loader 8.

  Further, since the plurality of alignment cylinders 30 which are the alignment adjusting mechanisms 13 disposed on the cassette mounting stage 12 press and position the outer surface 3a of the cassette 3, the alignment adjustment of the cassette 3 can be performed with high positional accuracy. The mask M can be taken out by the mask loader 8 with certainty.

  In addition, according to the mask supply system and the mask supply method of the present invention, the chamber 2 isolated from the outside by the shutter 1, the automatic transfer device 6 for transferring the cassette 3 containing the mask M to the chamber 2, The exposure apparatus 7, the mask stocker 10, and the mask loader 8 are arranged on the cassette loading stage 12. The mask stocker 10 includes a cassette placement stage 12 on which the cassette 3 can be placed, and a cassette 3 on the cassette placement stage 12. And an alignment adjustment mechanism 13 for adjusting the position of the alignment. When the automatic transfer device 6 moves to a predetermined position near the shutter 1 of the chamber 2, the shutter 1 is opened, the cassette 3 is placed on the cassette placement stage 12, and then the alignment adjustment mechanism 13 performs alignment adjustment. Since the mask loader 8 takes out the mask M from the cassette 3 and supplies it to the exposure apparatus 7, the process from taking out the cassette 3 from the management shelf 4 to supplying the mask M to the exposure apparatus 7 by the mask loader 8. All processes can be performed automatically. As a result, the burden on the worker is greatly reduced and the work efficiency is improved.

  In addition, this invention is not limited to embodiment mentioned above, A deformation | transformation, improvement, etc. are possible suitably.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Shutter 2 Chamber 3 Cassette 3a Outer side surface 6 Automatic conveyance apparatus 7 Exposure apparatus 8 Mask loader 10 Mask stocker 11 Base 12 Cassette mounting stage 13 Alignment adjustment mechanism 18 Stage drive mechanism 30 Alignment cylinder CP Cassette delivery position MP Mask delivery position M Mask S Mask supply system

Claims (5)

A mask stocker for storing a mask delivered to a mask loader,
A cassette mounting stage that is movably provided on the base and is capable of mounting a cassette capable of accommodating a mask;
An alignment adjustment mechanism that adjusts the position of the cassette placed on the cassette placement stage to a position accuracy at which the mask loader can take out the mask from the cassette;
A mask stocker characterized by comprising:   Between a cassette delivery position for delivering the cassette placed on the cassette placement stage by an automatic transfer device and a mask delivery position where the mask housed in the cassette can be delivered by the mask loader, The mask stocker according to claim 1, further comprising a stage driving mechanism capable of driving the cassette mounting stage with respect to a base.   The said alignment adjustment mechanism is arrange | positioned at the said cassette mounting stage, and has a some alignment cylinder which presses and positions the 4 outer side surfaces of the said substantially rectangular parallelepiped-shaped cassette. Mask stocker. A chamber that is isolated from the outside through a shutter and maintains a predetermined environment different from the outside;
An automatic transport device that travels outside the chamber and transports a cassette containing a mask to the chamber;
An exposure apparatus disposed in the chamber and exposing and transferring the pattern of the mask to a substrate;
A mask stocker disposed in the chamber corresponding to the shutter and containing the mask;
A mask loader disposed in the chamber, supplying the mask from the mask stocker to the exposure apparatus, and delivering the mask from the exposure apparatus to the mask stocker;
With
The mask stocker is
A cassette mounting stage that is movably provided on the base and is capable of mounting a cassette capable of accommodating a mask;
An alignment adjustment mechanism that adjusts the position of the cassette placed on the cassette placement stage to a position accuracy at which the mask loader can take out the mask from the cassette;
A mask supply system comprising: A mask supply method for supplying the mask from the automatic transfer apparatus to the exposure apparatus using the mask supply system according to claim 4,
Opening the shutter when the automatic transfer device having a cassette containing the mask moves to a predetermined position near the shutter of the chamber;
The automatic transfer device placing the cassette containing the mask on the cassette placement stage;
The alignment adjusting mechanism aligning the cassette;
The mask loader takes out the mask in the cassette adjusted in alignment and supplies it to the exposure apparatus;
A mask supply method comprising:

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