US 5,833,726 AGranted

Storing substrates between process steps within a processing facility

AssigneeExtraction System, Inc.

InventorsDevon A. Kinkead, Michael A. Joffe

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Abstract

A scheme for defining, inside a processing facility, a storage environment that is substantially free of a targeted molecular contaminant and in which one or more substrates are to be stored for a period of time before or after a substrate processing step; the scheme including: an air blower for providing a flow of air within a storage environment defined inside a processing facility; a substrate support for holding one or more substrates inside the storage environment; and a molecular air filter having an input face positioned to receive air from the blower and having an output face for providing a flow of filtered air inside the storage environment, the molecular air filter being constructed and arranged to remove an airborne molecular contaminant from air flowing into the storage environment to achieve a concentration level of the molecular contaminant inside the storage environment suitable for storing one or more substrates therein for a sit time corresponding to the time before a subsequent substrate processing step; wherein the storage environment is substantially free of the targeted airborne molecular contaminant. Schemes for defining substrate storage environments for semiconductor device fabrication processes are also disclosed.

Claims39

Dependent claims

A system for defining, inside a processing facility, a storage environment that is substantially free of a targeted molecular contaminant and in which one or more substrates are to be stored for a period of time before or after a substrate processing step, the system comprising

an air blower for providing a flow of air from the processing facility to the storage environment defined inside the processing facility,
a substrate support for holding one or more substrates inside the storage environment, and
a molecular air filter having an input face positioned to receive air from the blower and having an output face for providing a flow of filtered air to the storage environment, the molecular air filter being chemically treated to selectively remove a targeted molecular contaminant having a significant detrimental affect upon the substrate processing step relative to other molecular contaminants contained in the air provided from the processing facility, the molecular air filter having a removal efficiency for the targeted molecular contaminant selected based upon the sensitivity of the substrate processing step to the targeted molecular contaminant, the expected concentration level of the targeted molecular contaminant in the air provided from the processing facility and the expected substrate storage sit time inside the storage environment, wherein the concentration of the molecular contaminant inside the storage environment is reduced to a level suitable for storing one or more substrates inside the storage environment for the duration of the expected substrate storage sit time without detrimentally affecting the substrate processing step.

A system for defining, within a semiconductor cleanroom, a storage environment that is substantially free of a targeted molecular contaminant and in which one or more semiconductor wafers are to be stored for a period of time before or after a semiconductor device processing step, the system comprising

an air blower for providing a flow of air from the processing facility to the storage environment,
a substrate support for holding one or more semiconductor wafers inside the storage environment, and
a molecular air filter having an input face positioned to receive air from the blower and having an output face for providing a flow of filtered air to the storage environment, the molecular air filter being chemically treated to selectively remove a targeted molecular contaminant having a significant detrimental affect upon the semiconductor device processing step relative to other molecular contaminants contained in the air provided from the semiconductor cleanroom, the molecular air filter having a removal efficiency for the targeted molecular contaminant selected based upon the sensitivity of the semiconductor device processing step to the targeted molecular contaminant, the expected concentration level of the targeted molecular contaminant in the air provided from the semiconductor cleanroom and the expected substrate storage sit time inside the storage environment, wherein the concentration of the molecular contaminant inside the storage environment is reduced to a level suitable for storing one or more substrates inside the storage environment for the duration of the expected substrate storage sit time without detrimentally affecting the semiconductor device processing step.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.