DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0033] Preferred embodiments of the present invention will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

[0034] In one preferred embodiment of the present invention, an exposure apparatus comprises a conveying hand for conveying a substrate, to be exposed, to a holding surface, and whetstone conveying means for conveying a whetstone by use of the conveying hand. This removes the necessity of provision of conveying means exclusive for whetstone conveyance.

[0035] Whetstone conveying mechanism may have a transfer member freely projectable from and retractable from a substrate holding surface, so that transfer of a whetstone between it and an urging mechanism with intervention of the transfer member. For transfer of the whetstone, the transfer member may be protruded above the holding surface while, for cleaning of the holding surface, it may be embedded below the holding surface. Preferably, a surface step (level difference) may be defined between the holding surface and the surface of the whetstone supported by the transfer member. This enables vacuum attraction to the whetstone during transfer of the same by the transfer member, and prevents contamination of the transfer member or the like during whetstone conveyance after the cleaning.

[0036] Urging mechanism for urging the whetstone against the holding member may include a pressing mechanism for pressing the whetstone against the holding surface with a predetermined pressure. The whetstone may be provided with a magnetic material at a side remote from its cleaning surface, and the urging mechanism can perform mounting and demounting of the whetstone by use of an electromagnet and the magnetic material. A surface step in the form of a slot may be defined on the cleaning surface of the whetstone, and the urging mechanism may have a protrusion which is engageable with the slot when the whetstone is to be mounted. Movement of the stage relative to the whetstone may comprise rectilinear or rotary motion. This ensures that different points contacting the whetstone have the same relative speed, relatively to the whetstone.

[0037] The exposure apparatus may comprise a chamber, and it may have an access opening for introducing a whetstone into the exposure apparatus. Whetstone conveying mechanism may serve to pick up a whetstone out of a whetstone containing cassette, having been introduced into the exposure apparatus while carrying the whetstone therein, and to convey the whetstone to the urging mechanism. This enables cleaning the holding surface without reducing the cleanness inside the apparatus, and prevents cleanness reduction inside the apparatus due to an external environmental factor.

[0038] FIGS. 1 and 2 are a top plan view and a front view, respectively, of an exposure apparatus according to a first embodiment of the present invention. Denoted in these drawings at 1 is a semiconductor wafer, and denoted at 2 is an anti-vibration mount for supporting the exposure apparatus. Denoted at 3 is a base which is supported by the mount 2, and denoted at 4 is a movable table which is provided on the base 3. Denoted at 4a is a wafer holding surface provided on the movable table 4. Denoted at 5 are substrate relay pins which are projectable upwardly from the wafer holding surface 4a. Denoted at 6 is a projection lens for projecting and imaging an exposure pattern, and denoted at 6a is a projection lens support table for supporting the projection lens 6. Denoted at 7 is a reticle having an exposure pattern, and denoted at 7a is a reticle holding table for holding the reticle 7. Denoted at 8 is an illumination system for illuminating the reticle 7. Denoted at 9 is a wafer cassette carrying table, and denoted at 9a are whetstone cassette positioning pins provided on the wafer cassette carrying table. Denoted at 11 is a wafer prealignment station. Denoted at 10 is a first wafer conveying hand which is operable to pick up a wafer out of a wafer cassette, placed on the wafer cassette carrying table 9, and to convey the wafer to the prealignment station 11. Denoted at 12 is a second wafer conveying hand for conveying the wafer from the prealignment station 11 to the wafer holding surface 4a. Denoted at 13 is a whetstone for cleaning the wafer holding surface 4a, and denoted at 14 is a whetstone urging mechanism for urging the whetstone 13 against the wafer holding surface 4a. Denoted at 15 is a chamber which serves to keep the whole apparatus clean.

[0039] FIGS. 3A and 3B are a plan view and a sectional view, respectively, of the whetstone 13. As shown in these drawings, the whetstone 13 comprises a bottom plate 20 of alumina ceramics material which has a cleaning surface 20a, a conveyance holding surface 20b and fitting bores 20c for the positioning with respect to a whetstone cassette (to be described later), as well as a top plate 21 of magnetic material having positioning bores 21a for the positioning thereof. Between the cleaning surface 20a and the conveyance holding surface 20b, there are three slots formed to define a small surface step (level difference). This level difference serves to prevent adhesion of any contamination on the cleaning surface 20a, after the cleaning operation, to the conveyance holding surface 20b.

[0040] FIG. 4 illustrates the structure of the whetstone urging mechanism 14 which is movable along an axis perpendicular to the wafer holding surface 4a while charring the whetstone 13 thereon, and which is operable to urge and press the whetstone 13 toward and against the wafer holding surface 4a with a predetermined pressing force. As illustrated, the urging mechanism 14 comprises an air cylinder 30 and a piston shaft 30a thereof as well as a whetstone engaging portion 31 provided at a free end of the piston shaft 30a and having engaging pins 31a to be engaged with the positioning bores of the whetstone 13. The urging mechanism further comprises an electromagnet 32 for holding the whetstone 13 by attraction. At the upper end of the air cylinder 30, there is a positive pressure air inlet opening 30b through which an air is introduced to urge the piston shaft 30a downwardly with a predetermined force. Disposed inside the air cylinder 30 is a spring 30c for urging the piston shaft 30a upwardly. The piston shaft 30a is provided with a rotation limiting mechanism (not shown) for preventing rotation thereof. As an air of predetermined pressure is introduced through the air inlet opening 30b, the piston shaft 30a moves downwardly to apply a predetermined pressing force to the whetstone 13. As the air inlet opening 30b is opened to the atmosphere, the piston shaft 30a moves upwardly under the influence of the spring 30c. The whetstone can be held as the electromagnet 32 is energized, and it can be released as the electromagnet is de-energized.

[0041] FIGS. 5A and 5B are a plan view and a sectional view, respectively, of a whetstone cassette 40 which is used to place a whetstone 13 on the carrying table 9 for carrying a wafer cassette thereon. The cassette 40 includes two-level shelves 40a and 40b for accommodating the whetstone 13. At the shelf 40a, there are pins 40c to be engaged with the fitting bores 20c formed in the whetstone 13 for positioning the same. At the bottom surface of the cassette 40, there are fitting bores 40d engageable with the positioning pins 9a provided on the wafer cassette carrying table 9, for positioning the cassette 40.

[0042] When in the above-described structure a reticle pattern is going to be transferred to a wafer, a wafer presence/absence detecting sensor (not shown) detects a wafer 1 inside a wafer cassette (not shown) which is placed on the wafer cassette carrying table 9. On the basis of information detected, the wafer cassette carrying table 9 is elevated upwardly or downwardly by an elevating mechanism (not shown) and, then, the first conveying hand 10 picks up the wafer 1 out of the wafer cassette and conveys it to the wafer prealignment station 11. At the prealignment station 11, any deviation of the wafer 1 is detected by use of a sensor (not shown), and then the positioning of the wafer 1 is performed by means of a positioning mechanism (not shown). The wafer 1 thus positioned at the prealignment station is conveyed by the second conveying hand 12 onto the substrate relay pins 5, mounted on the movable table 4 at the wafer supplying position and being protruded above the wafer holding surface 4a. The wafer 1 thus held by the relay pins 5 can be lifted up as the substrate holding surface 4a is moved slightly above the relay pins 5 by a holding surface elevating mechanism (not shown), and it can be held by the substrate holding surface 4a.

[0043] Subsequently, the movable table 4 moves from the wafer supplying position to a first shot exposure position to bring the wafer 1 into registration with the imaging plane of the projection lens 6. Then, the illumination system 8 illuminates the reticle 7 held on the reticle holding table 7a, such that the reticle pattern is transferred onto the wafer 1 through the projection lens. Thereafter, exposures of the remaining shots are performed while moving the movable table 4 in accordance with a predetermined shot layout. As the exposures of all the shots are completed, the movable table 4 is moved to a wafer collection position, and the wafer holding surface 4a is moved down. Thus, the wafer 1 supported on the relay pins 5 can be collected by the first conveying hand 10 and conveyed into a wafer cassette (not shown). During this operation, the whetstone urging mechanism 14 is at its upper position, and it does not interfere with the operation.

[0044] Next, the operation for cleaning the wafer holding surface 4a will be described with reference to the flow chart of FIG. 6.

[0045] First, a whetstone cassette 40 having a whetstone 13 accommodated in its shelf 40a is placed on the wafer cassette carrying table 9. In response to a cleaning start signal supplied from an operation panel (not shown), the cleaning operation starts. By using the wafer detection sensor (not shown) described above, presence/absence of the whetstone 13 as well as whether it is placed at a correct carrying position (i.e., at the shelf 40a) or not are detected (Steps S1 and S2). If any abnormality is detected, an alarm is produced (Step S3) for informing an operator that the whetstone 13 should be set again at its correct position. If the placement is correct, the wafer cassette carrying table 9 is moved upwardly or downwardly by means of the elevating mechanism (not shown) (Step s4). Then, the first conveying hand 10 holds the whetstone 13 by vacuum attraction and picks up it out of the whetstone cassette 40, and it moves the whetstone onto the substrate relay pins 5 on the movable table 4 which is at the wafer collection position (Step S5).

[0046] The whetstone 13 is held by the relay pins 5 through vacuum attraction and, thereafter, it is moved to the underneath of the whetstone urging mechanism 14 (Step S6). Here, a positive pressure air is supplied into the cylinder 30 of the urging mechanism 14, whereby the piston shaft 30a is moved down. Then, the whetstone engaging portion 31 engages with the whetstone 13. The electromagnet 32 is then energized such that the whetstone 13 is held by attraction through its magnetic force (Step S7). Then, by using the substrate holding surface elevating mechanism (not shown), the substrate holding surface 4a is moved upwardly, slightly beyond the relay pins 5 (Step S8). The whetstone 13 and the substrate holding surface 4a are engaged and contacted with each other and, while keeping this state, the movable table 4 is moved rectilinearly, circularly or two-dimensionally based on the combination of rectilinear and circular motions. Thus, the whetstone 13 is uniformly contacted to the whole substrate holding surface 4a, for cleaning the same (Step S9).

[0047] After the cleaning is completed, the movable table 4 is moved back to the whetstone engaging position (Step S10). The substrate holding surface 4a is then moved down, and the whetstone 13 is held on the substrate relay pins 5 by vacuum attraction (Step S11). Thereafter, the electromagnet 32 is deenergized to release the holding force of the whetstone engaging mechanism 31. After this, the cylinder 30 is opened to the atmosphere, and the whetstone engaging mechanism 31 is moved upwardly (Step S12). Finally, the movable table 4 is moved to the wafer collection position (Step S13) while the whetstone 13 is conveyed to and accommodated into the whetstone cassette 40 by using the first conveying hand 10, whereby the cleaning process finished (Steps S13-S16 ).

[0048] The holding mechanism of the whetstone urging mechanism 14 is not limited to use of the electromagnet 32. Preferably, the whetstone holding mechanism may serve to prevent disengagement of the whetstone 13 and the whetstone engaging mechanism 31 when during the cleaning operation the supply of positive pressure air which is a drive source for the whetstone urging mechanism 14 is interrupted, to thereby enable holding a clean whetstone constantly and performing the cleaning operation at desired timing.

[0049] A second embodiment of the present invention will be described below. FIG. 7 is a top plan view of a semiconductor exposure apparatus according to the second embodiment, which differs from the first embodiment in that there is no wafer cassette carrying table such as at 9 and, in place, there is a front open type SMIF opening/closing mechanism 50. The mechanism 50 serves to supply a wafer. A whetstone 13 can be supplied into the semiconductor exposure apparatus from a SMIF box 51 having accommodated therein a whetstone supporting shelf 52 having a similar function as of the whetstone cassette 40 described hereinbefore. The remaining portion has essentially the same structure as of the first embodiment.

[0050] Next, an embodiment of a semiconductor device manufacturing method which uses an exposure apparatus such as described above, will be explained.

[0051] FIG. 8 is a flow chart of procedure for manufacture of microdevices such as semiconductor chips (e.g. ICs or LSIs), liquid crystal panels, CCDs, thin film magnetic heads or micro-machines, for example.

[0052] Step 1 is a design process for designing a circuit of a semiconductor device. Step 2 is a process for making a mask on the basis of the circuit pattern design. Step 3 is a process for preparing a wafer by using a material such as silicon. Step 4 is a wafer process which is called a pre-process wherein, by using the so prepared mask and wafer, circuits are practically formed on the wafer through lithography. Step 5 subsequent to this is an assembling step which is called a post-process wherein the wafer having been processed by step 4 is formed into semiconductor chips. This step includes assembling (dicing and bonding) process and packaging (chip sealing) process. Step 6 is an inspection step wherein operation check, durability check and so on for the semiconductor devices provided by step 5, are carried out. With these processes, semiconductor devices are completed and they are shipped (step 7).

[0053] FIG. 9 is a flow chart showing details of the wafer process.

[0054] Step 11 is an oxidation process for oxidizing the surface of a wafer. Step 12 is a CVD process for forming an insulating film on the wafer surface. Step 13 is an electrode forming process for forming electrodes upon the wafer by vapor deposition. Step 14 is an ion implanting process for implanting ions to the wafer. Step 15 is a resist process for applying a resist (photosensitive material) to the wafer. Step 16 is an exposure process for printing, by exposure, the circuit pattern of the mask on the wafer through the exposure apparatus described above. Step 17 is a developing process for developing the exposed wafer. Step 18 is an etching process for removing portions other than the developed resist image. Step 19 is a resist separation process for separating the resist material remaining on the wafer after being subjected to the etching process. By repeating these processes, circuit patterns are superposedly formed on the wafer.

[0055] With these processes, large-size microdevices can be manufactured with reduced cost.

[0056] In accordance with the embodiments of the present invention as described hereinbefore, a whetstone is urged against a substrate holding surface by means of a whetstone urging mechanism while the holding surface is moved by a stage, to thereby perform cleaning the holding surface. This enables that the same relative speed relative to the whetstone is established at every point on the holding surface contacted to the whetstone, and it assures uniform cleaning of the whole holding surface without relying on the skill of the operator. Further, conveyance of the whetstone is performed by use of substrate conveying means or substrate transfer member for transferring a substrate to the holding surface. This removes the necessity of a maintenance area for the cleaning of the substrate holding surface, and it effectively simplifies the structure of the apparatus.

[0057] Further, an access opening for loading a whetstone into the exposure apparatus is provided. Additionally, the whetstone can be picked up out of a container cassette having been introduced into the exposure apparatus through this access opening. This enables supply and collection of the whetstone without opening the cover of the exposure apparatus, and effectively prevents a decrease of cleanness inside the apparatus due to external environment.

[0058] While the invention has been described with reference to the structures disclosed herein, it is not confined to the details set forth and this application is intended to cover such modifications or changes as may come within the purposes of the improvements or the scope of the following claims.