Semiconductor manufacturing apparatus
AssigneeNEC Corporation
InventorTakashi Ogawa
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A semiconductor manufacturing apparatus which enables, inside a vacuum, the transport of and mounting at a prescribed position of a supporting component or processing component, such as a susceptor or a shower head is provided. An electrode exchanging chamber 31, inside of which a vacuum can be generated, is provided adjacent to a process chamber 30 via a gate valve 8, an electrode up/down elevator pin 22 is provided inside the process chamber 30 for transporting a susceptor 1 or a shower head 2 to a prescribed height, and clamping mechanism 40 and 41, which hold a susceptor 1 or a shower head 2 with a prescribed torque from outside the process chamber 30.
Claims36
A semiconductor manufacturing apparatus which performs processing of a semiconductor wafer in a hermetically sealed processing space, said hermetically sealed space including a processing component fixedly clamped thereto and a supporting component also fixedly clamped thereto, said semiconductor manufacturing apparatus comprising:
- a replacement processing or supporting component storage and transport in/out mechanism to store at least one of a supporting component and a processing component, and transport said replacement processing or supporting component into said hermetically sealed processing space and remove from said hermetically sealed processing space a replaced processing or supporting component without disturbing the hermetically sealed condition of said hermetically sealed processing space;
- and
- a clamping mechanism in said hermetically sealed processing space which, responsive to operations from outside said hermetically sealed processing space, either holds said supporting component or said processing component in a position within said hermetically sealed processing space or releases the hold thereon at a position, without disturbing said hermetically sealed condition inside said hermetically sealed processing space.
A semiconductor manufacturing apparatus which performs processing of a semiconductor wafer in a hermetically sealed processing space, said hermetically sealed space including a processing component fixedly clamped thereto and a supporting component also fixedly clamped thereto, said semiconductor manufacturing apparatus comprising:
- a replacement processing or supporting component storage and transport in/out mechanism to store at least one of a supporting component and a processing component, and transport said replacement processing or supporting component into said hermetically sealed processing space and remove from said hermetically sealed processing space a replaced processing or supporting component without disturbing the hermetically sealed condition of said hermetically sealed processing space;
- and
- a position adjusting means in said hermetically sealed processing space that can be driven upward and downward for the purpose of adjusting, responsive to operations from outside said hermetically sealed processing space, the horizontal position of said supporting component or said processing component without disturbing the hermetically sealed condition inside said hermetically sealed processing space.
A semiconductor manufacturing apparatus which performs processing of a semiconductor wafer in a hermetically sealed processing space, said hermetically sealed space including a processing component fixedly clamped thereto and a supporting component also fixedly clamped thereto, said semiconductor manufacturing apparatus comprising:
- a replacement processing or supporting component storage and transport in/out mechanism to store at least one of a supporting component and a processing component, and transport said replacement processing or supporting component into said hermetically sealed processing space and remove from said hermetically sealed processing space a replaced processing or supporting component without disturbing the hermetically sealed condition of said hermetically sealed processing space;
- and
- a clamping mechanism in said hermetically sealed processing space which, responsive to operations from outside said hermetically sealed processing space, either holds said supporting component or said processing component in a position within said hermetically sealed processing space or releases the hold thereon at a position, without disturbing said hermetically sealed condition inside said hermetically sealed processing space;
- and
- a position adjusting means in said hermetically sealed processing space that can be driven upward and downward for the purpose of adjusting, responsive to operations from outside said hermetically sealed processing space, the horizontal position of said supporting component or said processing component without disturbing the hermetically sealed condition inside said hermetically sealed processing space.
A semiconductor manufacturing apparatus comprising:
- a process chamber;
- a wafer transport chamber coupled to said process chamber to transfer a wafer into said process chamber;
- and
- an exchanging chamber coupled to said process chamber to transfer a replacement component into said process chamber, wherein said replacement component comprises at least one of a process component and a supporting component.
A semiconductor manufacturing apparatus comprising:
- a first chamber for processing a wafer and including a wafer transport up/down elevator pin for rising or lowering said wafer, an electrode up/down elevator pin for moving an electrode, and a clamp system for clamping said electrode;
- and
- a second chamber coupled to said first chamber to transfer said electrode into said first chamber and take out said electrode from said first chamber.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.