WO2008088109A1

WO2008088109A1 - A loadlock chamber having dual-arm and a transportation system for processing semiconductor material using a loadlock chamber having dual-arm

Info

Publication number: WO2008088109A1
Application number: PCT/KR2007/003702
Authority: WO
Inventors: Young Dae Kim
Original assignee: Tes Co., Ltd
Priority date: 2007-01-16
Filing date: 2007-08-01
Publication date: 2008-07-24

Abstract

A loadlock chamber having a dual arm and a transportation system for process a semiconductor material using the same are disclosed. The transportation system comprises a body frame having openings for loading and unloading the semiconductor material thereon; a FOUP loading portion for mounting a FOUP having the semiconductor formed at a vicinity of the openings of the body frame; a transportation robot for unloading the semiconductor material from the FOUP and loading the processed semiconductor material to the FOUP; an indexer for temporarily receive the unloaded and processed semiconductor material from the transportation robot and ascending and descending along an inside of the body frame; a horizontal transferring apparatus for moving forward and backward the indexer; and a plurality of loadlock chambers arranged between the indexer and the process chamber along a moving direction of the indexer and having a dual transportation arm for performing a semiconductor material transporting operation using a reciprocal reverse movement so as to transfer the semiconductor material between the indexer and the process chamber.

Description

A LOADLOCK CHAMBER HAVING DUAL-ARM AND A TRANSPORTATION SYSTEM FOR PROCESSING SEMICONDUCTOR MATERIAL USING A LOADLOCK CHAMBER

HAVING DUAL-ARM Technical Field

[1] The present invention relates to a transportation system for processing a semiconductor material, and more particularly, to a transportation system using loadlock chamber which has two transportation arms of a scalar arm structure formed at the upper and lower surfaces thereof for performing a semiconductor material transporting operation using a reciprocal reverse movement, thereby remarkably increasing the transferring and processing speed of the semiconductor material while decreasing a footprint thereof. Background Art

[2] Generally, a semiconductor element is constructed in such a manner that various materials are deposited on a wafer, that is, as a substrate in the form of a thin film and the deposited wafer is patterned. That is, in order to manufacture the semiconductor element, different processes such as a deposition process, an etching process, a washing process, a drying process and so on are required.

[3] The wafer as a processing object is processed in process chambers of each process under a proper circumstance. Recently, a cluster tool for transferring the wafer to the process module is widely used so as to progress each process.

[4] FIG. 1 is a schematic sectional view illustrating a structure of a conventional cluster tool.

[5] The cluster tool includes a plurality of loadports 115 through 118 having a FOUP

(front opening unified pod) of a front opening manner of seating the wafers thereon in first or final stage, a front end module 114 for arranging and transferring the wafers 122 located at the loadports 115 through 118, a loadlock chamber 108 for providing a vacuum pressure to an inside thereof so as to make it vacuous after the mounting of the wafers 122 transferred from front end module 114, and a transportation chamber 102 having a transferring robot 120 for transferring the wafers 122 loaded on the loadlock chamber 108 of a vacuum status to the corresponding process chamber 104.

[6] The front end system 20 located at the non-contaminated opened space includes an

ATM robot (atmosphere robot; not shown) for transferring the wafers 122 loaded on the loadports 115 through 118 and an ATM aligner (atmosphere aligner; not shown) for arranging the wafers transferred through the ATM robot, so that it can transfer and arrange the wafers.

[7] Also, loadlock chamber has a metal shelves (not shown) where the wafer will be loaded and the wafer loaded on the metal shelves are transferred to the corresponding process chamber 104 through the transferring robot 120 located at the transportation chamber 102.

[8] However, in the conventional cluster tool, the ATM robot and ATM aligner of the front end module 114 and the transferring robot 120 of the transportation chamber 102 are mounted thereto, thereby increasing the manufacturing cost. Also, the entire apparatus has become bigger owing to the mounting space of the front end module 114 and transferring robot 120 and so forth, thereby the mounting area and manufacturing cost can be increased.

[9] Also, the wafers are transferred through a multilevel transfer process, that is, from the loadports 115 though 118 to the front end module 114, from the front end module 114 to the loadlock chamber 208, and from the loadlock chamber 208 to the process chamber 104, so that the time spent on transferring the wafers 122 becomes longer, thereby lowering remarkably the yield thereof.

[10] In order to solve these problems, the Korean patent No. 10-417245 has been proposed that the transportation chamber is omitted and two vacuum transportation arms are formed at the inside of the loadlock chamber 208. In the Korean patent, when one vacuum transportation arm transfers the wafer received from the ATM robot to the process chamber, the other vacuum transportation arm collects the wafers processed in the process chamber and waits at the place for the ATM robot to unload the processed wafers.

[11] In the Korean patent, there is a merit in that the footprint is decreased on account of the omission of the transportation chamber. However, since it is possible to transfer the wafer only in a one-way direction, the ATM robot is required as ever, thereby considerably increasing the mounting area thereof. Also, because the wafers are transferred through a multilevel transfer process, that is, from the loadports to the ATM robot, from the ATM robot to the vacuum transportation apparatus, and from the vacuum transportation apparatus to the process chamber as ever, there is a limit in that it has no improvements in terms of the transferring speed of the wafer.

[12] In the vacuum transportation apparatus of the Korean patent, since the end-effector always faces the process chamber, the ATM robot cannot directly receive the wafer in a state that the end-effector loads the wafer from the process chamber. That is, after the transportation arm is rotated at an angle of 180 degrees, the ATM robot should unload the wafer. Accordingly, since the space corresponding to the radius of rotation of the transportation arm should be sufficiently secured, thereby increasing the footprint and the time spent on transferring the wafer owing to the operation of rotation of the transportation arm.

[13] Also, because two vacuum transportation apparatus are flush with each other, it is necessary to secure the space corresponding to the radius of rotation of each transportation arm. Accordingly, the structure of the robot is complicated and the height of the robot becomes higher, so that the volume of the loadlock chamber, the footprint, the time spent on purging and vacuuming the loadlock chamber are increased, thereby lowering the yield of semiconductor.

[14]

Disclosure of Invention Technical Problem

[15] Accordingly, the present invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned problems occurring in the prior art, and an object of the present invention is to provide loadlock chamber in that two transportation arms of a scalar arm structure formed at the upper and lower surfaces thereof can perform a reciprocally reverse movement of the semiconductor material, so that a separate transportation robot and so on are not mounted on the front and rear ends thereof. Accordingly, the installation area and cost and the transferring time of the wafer can be remarkably decreased, whereby improving remarkably the manufacturing yield of the semiconductor in comparison with the prior art.

[16] Another object of the present invention is to provide loadlock chamber in that two transportation arms are formed at the upper and lower surfaces of the inside thereof, therefore it requires only the operation space of one transportation arm, whereby decreasing the volume and the time spent on purging and vacuuming the loadlock chamber.

[17] Further another object of the present invention is to provide loadlock chamber in that the transportation arm and the end-effector are integrally formed, so that the semiconductor materials can be transferred to the frond and rear ends thereof through only forward and backward elongation of the transportation arm without rotating the entire transportation arm.

[18] Further another object of the present invention is to provide loadlock chamber in that a transportation robot consists of only a motor and a scalar arm, so that the construction thereof is simple and compact, thereby reducing the manufacturing cost thereof.

[19] Further another object of the present invention is to provide a transportation system for processing a semiconductor material in that the transportation and process of the semiconductor material are performed by using the loadlock chamber having a dual arm, whereby decreasing a footprint thereof and remarkably increasing the transferring and processing speed of the semiconductor wafer.

[20]

Technical Solution

[21] To achieve the above objects of the present invention, there is provided a loadlock chamber having a dual arm comprising: a body portion having gates for loading and unloading a semiconductor material formed at front and rear end portions thereof respectively; a first transportation arm of a scalar structure mounted on a top surface of an inside of the body portion and for processing a transportation of the semiconductor material between a front apparatus and a process chamber; a first driving portion formed at an upper surface of the body portion and for driving the first transportation arm; a second transportation arm of a scalar structure mounted on a bottom surface of the inside of the body portion and for performing a reciprocally reverse movement of the semiconductor material together with the first transportation arm; and a second driving portion formed at a lower surface of the body portion and for driving the second transportation arm.

[22] To achieve the above objects of the present invention, there is provided a transportation system for supplying a semiconductor material to a process chamber for processing the semiconductor material comprising: a body frame having openings for loading and unloading the semiconductor material on one side; a FOUP loading portion formed at a vicinity of the openings of the body frame and for mounting a FOUP having the semiconductor; a transportation robot for unloading the semiconductor material from the FOUP and loading the processed semiconductor material to the FOUP; an indexer formed in order to ascend and descend inside of the body frame and for temporarily receiving the unloaded and processed semiconductor material from the transportation robot; a horizontal transferring apparatus for moving forward and backward the indexer; and a plurality of loadlock chambers arranged between the indexer and the process chamber along a moving direction of the indexer and having dual transportation arms formed for performing a semiconductor material transporting operation using a reciprocal reverse movement so as to transfer the semiconductor material between the indexer and the process chamber.

Advantageous Effects

[23] As described above, according to the transportation system for processing the semiconductor material, having two transportation arms of the scalar arm structure formed at the upper and lower surfaces thereof and performing a reciprocally reverse movement of the semiconductor material, so that a separate transportation robot and so on are not mounted on the front and rear ends thereof. Accordingly, the installation area and cost and the transferring time of the wafer can be remarkably decreased, whereby improving remarkably the manufacturing yield of the semiconductor in comparison with the prior art.

[24] Also, the transportation arm and the end-effector are integrally formed, so that the semiconductor materials can be transferred to the frond and rear ends thereof through only forward and backward elongation of the transportation arm without rotating the entire transportation arm.

[25] Moreover, two transportation arms are formed at the upper and lower surfaces of the inside thereof, therefore it requires only the operation space of one transportation arm, whereby decreasing the volume of the loadlock chamber and the time spent on purging and vacuuming the loadlock chamber.

[26] Furthermore, the transportation robot consists of only the motor and scalar arm, so that the construction thereof is simple and compact, thereby reducing the manufacturing cost thereof.

[27] Finally, the transportation and process of the semiconductor material are performed by using the loadlock chamber having a dual arm, whereby decreasing a footprint thereof and remarkably increasing the transferring and processing speed of the semiconductor wafer.

[28]

Brief Description of the Drawings

[29] The above as well as the other objects, features and advantages of the present invention will be more apparent from the following detailed description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which:

[30] FIG. 1 is a schematic sectional view illustrating a structure of a conventional cluster tool for processing a semiconductor material;

[31] FIG. 2 is a perspective view illustrating a transportation system for processing a semiconductor material according to the present invention;

[32] FIG. 3 is a planar view illustrating a transportation system for processing a se mi- conductor material according to the present invention;

[33] FIG. 4 is an enlarged perspective view illustrating a transportation robot, indexer and horizontal transferring apparatus; and

[34] FIG. 5 is a perspective view illustrating a loadlock chamber according to the present invention.

[35]

Best Mode for Carrying Out the Invention

[36] A preferred embodiment of the invention will be described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings. [37] FIG. 2 is a perspective view illustrating a transportation system for processing a semiconductor material according to the present invention and FIG. 3 is a planar view illustrating a transportation system for processing a semiconductor material according to the present invention.

[38] As shown in FIG. 2 and FIG. 3, the transportation system for processing a semiconductor material according to the present invention formed at a body frame 20 includes a FOUP loading apparatus 10, a loadlock chamber 30, a process chamber 40, a transportation robot 50, an indexer 60, and a horizontal transferring apparatus 70.

[39] The body frame 80 includes a partially extending portion extending to an outside of a bay partition 90 for forming the boundary between a clean room and an outside thereof. Also, openings 81 for loading and unloading wafers 122 are formed at both side surfaces of the extending portion of the body frame 80.

[40] The transportation robot 50 is formed at the inside of the extending portion of the body frame 80 and two FOUP loading apparatuses 10 are formed at each lower portion of the openings 81 located at both side surfaces of the extending portion of the body frame 80.

[41] In the FOUP loading apparatus 10, the semiconductor materials are unloaded toward the opening 81, so that two FOUP loading apparatuses 10 and the transportation robot 50 are arranged in a straight line. Therefore, since the installation space of the conventional ATM robot is decreased, the footprints thereof can be considerably decreased.

[42] The FOUP loading apparatus 10 receives the FOUP from an OHT (overhead hoist transport). At this time, in the OHT, the FOUP 20 should be mounted to the FOUP loading apparatus in order that the front opening portion of the FOUP 20 faces the inside of the clean room as a service area. Accordingly, it is necessary to rotate the FOUP 20 at a right angle in order to allow the FOUP door 21 of the loaded FOUP 20 to face the opening 81 of the body frame 80. Also, it is necessary for the FOUP 20 rotated at a right angle to be adhered on the side surface of the body frame 80.

[43] A door opening and closing portion 19 for opening and closing the FOUP door 21 is formed at the vicinity of the opening 81 of the body frame 80. The door opening and closing portion 19 can ascend and descend in the inside of the body frame 80 and is provided with a latch key (not shown) for opening and closing the FOUP door 21.

[44] As described above, the transportation robot 50 is arranged in a straight line together with two FOUP loading apparatuses 10 located both sides thereof, so that it serves to unload the wafers 122 from the FOUP loading apparatus 10, transport the unloaded wafers to the indexer 60, unload the processed wafers 122 from the indexer 60, and reload the completed wafers 122 to the FOUP loading apparatus 10. Further construction on this will be described in detail with reference to FIG. 4. [45] The indexer 60 serves to temporarily receive the unloaded and processed wafers

122 from the transportation robot 50. Also, the indexer itself can be ascent, descent and rotated. Moreover, the lower end portion of the indexer 60 is connected to the horizontal transferring apparatus 70 so as to be moved forward and backward. Further construction on this will be described in detail with reference to FIG. 4.

[46] The loadlock chamber 30 serves to control the pressure difference between the inside of the body frame 80 and the vacuum process chamber 40. The plurality of the loadlock chambers 30 are arranged along the moving direction of the indexer 60 at both sides thereof.

[47] In the present invention, since four loadlock chamber 20 are formed at both sides centering around the horizontal transferring apparatus 70 respectively, the installation area becomes smaller and more process chamber 40 can be mounted, thereby improving remarkably the footprints.

[48] Also, in the present invention, since the indexer 60 loads or unloads the wafers 122 from each loadlock chamber 30 while being moved forward and backward along the upper portion of the horizontal transferring apparatus 70, eight process chambers 40 can be operated, thereby improving remarkably the yield thereof in comparison with the prior art.

[49] Here, a dual transportation arm for performing a semiconductor material transporting operation using a reciprocal reverse movement is formed at the inside of each loadlock chamber 30 in order to transfer the wafers 122 between the indexer 60 and the process chambers 40.

[50] That is, it is noted that the conventional front end module 114 formed between loadport 10 and loadlock chambers 30, and transportation chamber 102 having the transportation robot 120 are omitted.

[51] Each of four loadlock chambers 30 arranged along the moving direction of the indexer 60 at both sides thereof are different in size to be stepped, so that the transportation arms are approached from the right and left loadlock chambers 30 at once, thereby it can load and unload the wafers 122 from the indexer 60.

[52] Further construction and operation on the loadlock chamber 30 will be described in detail with reference to FIG. 5.

[53] It is preferred that a fan filter unit is formed at the upper portion of the body frame

80 so as to purify the inside thereof.

[54] FIG. 4 is an enlarged perspective view illustrating a transportation robot, indexer and horizontal transferring apparatus.

[55] As shown in FIG. 4, the transportation robot 50 includes a body portion 51, a rotation portion 53 rotationally formed at the upper portion of the body portion 51 , transportation arms 55 of a scalar arm structure rotated with the rotation portion 53 and elastically moved forward and backward in a straight line, an end-effector 57 for grasping the wafers 122 formed at the front end of the transportation arm 55. In this embodiment of the present invention, two transportation arms 55 are provided so as to transfer two wafers at the same time by means of the transportation robot 50.

[56] The indexer 60 includes a body portion 61, a supporting portion 62 for going up and coming down the body portion 61, a material receiving portion 63 for receiving the plurality of wafers 122 formed on the supporting portion 62. Here, a guide plate 67 for sliding along the a guide rail 73 of the horizontal transferring apparatus 70 is formed at the lower surface of the body portion 61 so as to move forward and backward along the horizontal transferring apparatus 70.

[57] The material receiving portion 63 includes a vertical connection member 64 connected to both sides thereof and a plurality of seating portions 65 formed along the vertical connection member at a predetermined interval. Here, it is preferred that the number of the seating portions 65, that is, the number of wafers 122 capable of receiving the material receiving portion 63 is more than two times as many as that of the loadlock chambers 130 so as to exchange the wafers 122 between each loadlock chambers and the indexer 60.

[58] The horizontal transferring apparatus 70 includes a guide body 71 , a pair of guide rails 73 formed at the upper portion of the guide body 71 , a belt 75 rotationally mounted at the inside of the guide body 71, and a motor for providing the belt 75 with a rotation force. Here, a connection bracket (not shown) is formed between the belt 75 and the guide plate 67, so that the guide plate 67 connected to the connection bracket can move forward and backward along the guide rail 73 of the horizontal transferring apparatus 70 during the rotation of the belt 75.

[59] FIG. 5 is a perspective view illustrating a loadlock chamber according to the present invention.

[60] As shown in FIG. 5, the loadlock chamber 30 includes a body portion 31, first and second dual arms, of dual arm structure and two driving motors 33a and 33b.

[61] Here, the front end portion of the body portion 31 of the loadlock chamber 30 is located at the rear end of the loadport 10 via the wall surface 90 of the clean room and the rear end thereof is located at the front end of the process chamber 40. Also, gates 39a and 39b for loading and unloading the wafers 122 are formed at the front and rear end portions thereof respectively. The loadlock chamber 30 further includes a purging line 37b for purging away the inside of the chamber prior to unloading of the processed wafers 122 formed at the lower portion of the body portion 31 and a vacuum line 38b for providing the vacuum pressure to the inside of the loadlock chamber 30 so as to make the loadlock chamber 30 vacuous identically with the process chamber 40 formed at the lower portion of the body portion 31. [62] The first and second dual arms 34 and 35 mounted on top and bottom surfaces respectively serves to process the transportation of the semiconductor material between the FOUP 20 mounted to the loadport 10 and the process chamber 40. Here, the first and second transportation arms 34 and 35 have a scalar arm structure folded and unfolded elastically. Also, an end-effector 36 for grasping the wafers 122 is formed at the front end of the second transportation arm 35.

[63] Since Differently with the conventional transportation arm of the robot, the end- effector 36 is integrally moved with the second transportation arm 35, it always faces the moving direction during the elongation of the forward and backward direction, it is possible to transfer the wafers between the indexer 60 and the process chamber 40 through only forward and backward movement of the transportation arm. Accordingly, the separate ATM robot for transferring the wafer 122 from the indexer 60 to the loadlock chamber 30 is unnecessary in the present invention. Also, the separated rotation movement of the transportation arm is not required.

[64] The driving motors 33a and 33b for driving the first and second dual arms 34 and

35 are formed at the upper and lower surfaces of the body portion 31 of the loadlock chamber 30 respectively. Here, since the driving motors 33a and 33b are mounted on the outside of the body portion 31 of the loadlock chamber 30, it is necessary to completely seal the coupling portion between the driving motors 33a and 33b and the first transportation arm 34 and a magnetic liquid and so on may be inserted into the coupling portion.

[65] Two motors 33a and 33b of the present invention are reciprocally rotated, so that it allows the first and second dual arms 34 and 35 to perform the reciprocally reverse movement of the semiconductor material.

[66] That is, since the first and second dual arms 34 and 35 are arranged at the top and bottom portion thereof, when one arm unloads the processing wafer 122 from the FOUP 20, the other arm transfers the processed wafer 122 to the FOUP 20. Also, when one arm transfers the processing wafer 122 to the process chamber 40, the other arm unloads the processed wafer 122 from the process chamber 40, thereby remarkably improving the processing speed of the wafer 122.

[67] Here, preferably, the first and second dual arms 34 and 35 are eccentrically formed from a center thereof, so that it can minimize the space for elastic movement of the transportation arm. That is, in order to drive the conventional dual arm, it requires two times as many as the distance between both axes for expansion and contraction of one transportation arm. However, in the present invention, since the first and second dual arms 34 and 35 are eccentrically formed at the upper and lower portion thereof and are not influenced by the reciprocal operation thereof, it requires only the axial distance of one transportation arm. [68] In case that the dual arm of the present invention are used, because the wafers 122 can be contaminated with the particles falling down thereon during the operation of the upper transportation arm, it is preferred that a separation plate 32 for separating the first transportation arm from the second transportation arm is mounted on the center of the inside of the body portion 31.

[69] Preferably, first and second through holes 37a and 38a are formed at each corner of the separation plate 32 located at the upper portions of the purging line 37b and the vacuum line 38b respectively so as to communicate the upper and lower spaces thereof with each other during the control operation of the purging and vacuum.

[70] The operation of the transportation system for processing the semiconductor material according to the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to FIG. 2 through FIG. 4.

[71] Firstly, where the FOUP 20 is mounted on the FOUP loading apparatus 10 through the OHT (overhead hoist transport), the stage of the FOUP loading apparatus 10 is rotated at an angle of 90 degrees and then, moves forward, so that it allows the FOUP door 21 of the loaded FOUP 20 to be adhered to the opening 81 of the body frame 80.

[72] Continuously, when the FOUP door 21 is adhered to the opening 81, the door opening and closing portion 19 allows the FOUP door 21 to be opened and descent, thereby completing the unloading preparation of the wafers 122.

[73] After the unloading preparation of the wafers 122 is completed, the transportation robot 50 unloads the wafers 122 from the FOUP 20 and then transports the unloaded wafers 122 to the corresponding location of the indexer 60.

[74] When the necessary wafers 122 are transferred to the indexer 60, the indexer 60 is moved forward by means of the driving of the horizontal transferring apparatus 70. Then, where the indexer 60 is reached on the corresponding location of the loadlock chamber 30, the first and second transportation arms 34 and 35 are moved forward to grasp the wafer 122. Thereafter, the grasped wafer 122 is transferred to the process chamber 40 located at the rear end portion thereof. In the present invention, since the first and second transportation arms 34 and 35 of the loadlock chamber 30 can be horizontally moved, the indexer 60 rises and falls according to the location of the loaded or unloaded wafer 122, the first and second transportation arms 34 and 35 of the loadlock chamber 30 allow the wafer to be loaded and unloaded from/to the indexer 60.

[75] In this manner, the indexer 60 repeats forward movements and stoppages of four times and then, the wafers 122 are supplied to each process chamber 40.

[76] When the wafers are supplied to each process chamber 40, each wafer 122 is chemical-processed in each processor chamber 40 in order.

[77] Then, the indexer 60 is moved toward the process chamber having the processed wafers 122. At this time, while the first transportation arm grasps the processed wafer 122 so as to be loaded on the indexer 60, the second transportation arm enters the indexer 60 in order to unload new wafer 122.

[78] In this manner, the indexer 60 is continuously moved toward the corresponding process chambers having the processed wafers 122 and then, performs the exchange operation between the processed wafer and the new one.

[79] When the exchange operation of the wafers is completed, the indexer 60 returns to the initial location and the transportation robot 50 loads the processed wafer 122 on the FOUP 20.

[80] According to the transportation system for processing the semiconductor material of the present invention, since the exchange operation of the wafers is rapidly performed in the course of the forward movements of four times, the exchange operations of the wafers between the indexer 60 and the loadlock chamber 30 and the FOUP 20 can be performed all together. Accordingly, the bottleneck state, which is due to the difference between the transportation time and the process time of the wafer 122, cannot be generated, thereby it is possible to fully operate eight process chambers 40.

[81] For example, in case that the process time is 80-100 seconds in a CVD process, the exchange time of the wafer between the indexer 60 and the loadlock chamber 30 is about 5 seconds and the exchange time of the wafer between the indexer 60 and the FOUP 20 is about 15 seconds. Accordingly, considering the moving time of the indexer 60, the total time is about 70 seconds, thereby eight process chambers 40 can be fully operated without the bottleneck state.

[82] While this invention has been described in connection with what are presently considered to be the most practical and preferred embodiments, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited to the disclosed embodiments and the drawings, but, on the contrary, it is intended to cover various modifications and variations within the spirit and scope of the appended claims.

[83]

Industrial Applicability

[84] The present invention relates to a transportation system for processing a semiconductor material in that two transportation arms of a scalar arm structure formed at the upper and lower surfaces thereof can perform a reciprocally reverse movement of the semiconductor material, so that a separate transportation robot and so on are not mounted on the front and rear ends thereof. Accordingly, the installation area and cost and the transferring time of the wafer can be remarkably decreased, whereby improving remarkably the manufacturing yield of the semiconductor in comparison with the prior art. Also, the transportation and process of the semiconductor material are performed by using the loadlock chamber having a dual arm, whereby decreasing a footprint thereof and remarkably increasing the transferring and processing speed of the semiconductor wafer.

Claims

[1] A loadlock chamber having a dual arm comprising: a body portion having gates for loading and unloading a semiconductor material formed at front and rear end portions thereof respectively; a first transportation arm of a scalar structure mounted on a top surface of an inside of the body portion and for processing a transportation of the semiconductor material between a front apparatus and a process chamber; a first driving portion formed at an upper surface of the body portion and for driving the first transportation arm; a second transportation arm of a scalar structure mounted on a bottom surface of the inside of the body portion and for performing a reciprocally reverse movement of the semiconductor material together with the first transportation arm; and a second driving portion formed at a lower surface of the body portion and for driving the second transportation arm.

[2] A loadlock chamber having a dual arm as claimed in claim 1, wherein the first and second transportation arms are eccentrically formed from a center thereof.

[3] A loadlock chamber having a dual arm as claimed in claim 1, wherein each transportation arm has a plurality of arms portion elastically moved by each driving portion and a front end of an end arm is formed integrally with an end-effector for grasping the semiconductor material.

[4] A loadlock chamber having a dual arm as claimed in claim 1 , wherein a separation plate for separating the first transportation arm from the second transportation arm is mounted on one side of the inside of the body portion.

[5] A loadlock chamber having a dual arm as claimed in claim 1, wherein first and second through holes are formed at corners of the separation plate so as to communicate upper and lower spaces of the separation plate with each other during a control operation of purging and vacuum.

[6] A transportation system for supplying a semiconductor material to a process chamber for processing the semiconductor material comprising: a body frame having openings for loading and unloading the semiconductor material on one side; a FOUP loading portion formed at a vicinity of the openings of the body frame and for mounting a FOUP having the semiconductor; a transportation robot for unloading the semiconductor material from the FOUP and loading the processed semiconductor material to the FOUP; an indexer formed in order to ascend and descend inside of the body frame and for temporarily receiving the unloaded and processed semiconductor material from the transportation robot; a horizontal transferring apparatus for moving forward and backward the indexer; and a plurality of loadlock chambers arranged between the indexer and the process chamber along a moving direction of the indexer and having dual transportation arms formed for performing a semiconductor material transporting operation using a reciprocal reverse movement so as to transfer the semiconductor material between the indexer and the process chamber.

[7] A transportation system for supplying a semiconductor material to a process chamber for processing the semiconductor material as claimed in claim 6, wherein the body frame has a partially extending portion extending to an outside of a bay partition for forming a boundary between a clean room and an outside thereof and the transportation robot is formed at an inside of the extending portion of the body frame.

[8] A transportation system for supplying a semiconductor material to a process chamber for processing the semiconductor material as claimed in claim 7, wherein a loading portion of the semiconductor material of the FOUP loading portion faces both sides of the extending portion of the body frame.

[9] A transportation system for supplying a semiconductor material to a process chamber for processing the semiconductor material as claimed in claim 6, wherein the transportation robot comprises a body portion, a rotation portion ro- tationally formed at an upper portion of the body portion, and transportation arms rotated with the rotation portion and for transferring and grasping the semiconductor material.

[10] A transportation system for supplying a semiconductor material to a process chamber for processing the semiconductor material as claimed in claim 6, wherein the indexer comprises a body portion, a supporting portion for going up and coming down the body portion thereof, and a material receipt for receiving the plurality of semiconductor materials formed on the supporting portion.

[11] A transportation system for supplying a semiconductor material to a process chamber for processing the semiconductor material as claimed in claim 6, wherein the loadlock chamber comprises: a body portion having gates for loading and unloading a semiconductor material formed at front and rear end portions thereof respectively; a first transportation arm of a scalar structure mounted on a top surface of an inside of the body portion and for processing a transportation of the semiconductor material between a front apparatus and a process chamber; a first driving portion formed at an upper surface of the body portion and for driving the first transportation arm; a second transportation arm of a scalar structure mounted on a bottom surface of the inside of the body portion and for performing a reciprocally reverse movement of the semiconductor material together with the first transportation arm; and a second driving portion formed at a lower surface of the body portion and for driving the second transportation arm.

[12] A transportation system for supplying a semiconductor material to a process chamber for processing the semiconductor material as claimed in claim 11, wherein the first and second transportation arms are of a scalar arm structure having a a plurality of arms folded and the first and second driving portions are motors for providing a rotation power to the scalar arms.

[13] A transportation system for supplying a semiconductor material to a process chamber for processing the semiconductor material as claimed in claim 11, wherein a separation plate for separating the first transportation arm from the second transportation arm is mounted on one side of the inside of the body portion.

[14] A transportation system for supplying a semiconductor material to a process chamber for processing the semiconductor material as claimed in claim 11, wherein first and second through holes are formed at corners of the separation plate so as to communicate upper and lower spaces of the separation plate with each other during a control operation of purging and vacuum.

[15] A transportation system for supplying a semiconductor material to a process chamber for processing the semiconductor material as claimed in claim 6, wherein a fan filter unit is formed at an upper portion of the body frame.

[16] A transportation system for supplying a semiconductor material to a process chamber for processing the semiconductor material as claimed in claim 6, wherein the plurality of four loadlock chambers arranged along the moving direction of the indexer at both sides thereof are reciprocally different in height.