BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Field of the Invention

The present invention relates generally to an apparatus having a cooling line for collecting a by-product in a semiconductor manufacturing process. More particularly, the present invention relates to a collecting apparatus in which in order to efficiently collect a by-product contained in exhaust gas discharged after use in a process chamber for manufacturing a semiconductor, a cooling channel is directly introduced into an internal space of the apparatus, thus increasing efficiency of collecting the by-product by an internal collecting tower.

Description of the Related Art

Generally, a semiconductor manufacturing process is roughly classified into a fabrication process and an assembly process.

The fabrication process is a process for manufacturing semiconductor chips on which a predetermined pattern is formed by repeating a process in which a thin film is deposited on a wafer in various process chambers and the deposited thin film is selectively etched.

The assembly process is a process of individually cutting the chips manufactured on the wafer in the fabrication process, and then joining the cut chip with a lead frame to assemble into the finished product.

In detail, the fabrication process is a process of depositing a thin film on the wafer or etching a thin film deposited on the wafer. The process is performed under high-temperature conditions by supplying process gases such as silane (SiH4), arsine, boron chloride, and hydrogen, and tungsten hexafluoride (WF6) into a process chamber. During the process, a large amount of various ignitable gases and hazardous gases containing corrosive foreign substances and toxic components are produced inside the process chamber.

Therefore, in order to purify and discharge such hazardous gases, the semiconductor manufacturing equipment is provided with: a vacuum pump evacuating the process chamber; and a scrubber provided at a rear end of the vacuum pump to purify the exhaust gas discharged from the process chamber and to discharge the exhaust gas to the atmosphere.

However, the scrubber only treats and removes a by-product which is in a form of gas. Due to this, when the by-product is discharged externally from the process chamber and then solidified, the by-product may be adhered to an exhaust line, leading to increasing exhaust pressure. In addition, the by-product may be introduced into the vacuum pump and cause a failure of the vacuum pump and backflow of the hazardous gas into the process chamber, leading to contamination of the wafer.

In order to address such problems, the semiconductor manufacturing equipment is provided with an apparatus for collecting a by-product between the process chamber and the vacuum pump to condense exhaust gas discharged from the process chamber.

Such an apparatus for collecting a by-product in the related art is connected to the process chamber and the vacuum pump by a pumping line to condense and collect particulate by-products contained in the exhaust gas that results from reaction and is discharged from the process chamber.

The apparatus for collecting a by-product generally includes: a housing providing a space for accommodating introduced exhaust gas; an upper plate covering top of the housing, with a cooling channel for O-ring protection and maintaining an appropriate temperature for byproduct collection; an internal collecting tower condensing and collecting a by-product that is contained in exhaust gas introduced into the housing; and a heater controlling an appropriate temperature distribution in which the exhaust gas introduced into the housing can form the by-product.

The most important thing in the apparatus for collecting a by-product configured as described above is that exhaust gas comes into uniform contact with each surface of plates constituting the internal collecting tower provided inside the housing, allowing particulate toxic substances contained in the exhaust gas to be efficiently and quickly condensed and collected as a by-product.

However, in the apparatus for collecting a by-product in the related art, there is employed a method in which collection of by-products is performed while high-temperature exhaust gas, which is introduced into the housing and controlled to have an appropriate temperature distribution capable of by-product formation by the heater, comes into contact with the surfaces of plates of the internal collecting tower, or a method in which a propeller is used to change the flow of the introduced exhaust gas to spread uniformly inside the housing such that collection of by-products is performed while the exhaust gas comes into contact with the surfaces of the plates of the internal collecting tower. This causes a problem in that the temperature of an inner plate of the internal collecting tower is higher than that of an outer plate, leading to lowering condensation efficiency. Another problem is that the exhaust gas is not introduced efficiently and does not spread uniformly, and thus the amount of surface contact with the plates of the internal collecting tower is not large, leading to increasing the time the introduced exhaust gas is condensed as a by-product.

The foregoing is intended merely to aid in the understanding of the background of the present invention, and is not intended to mean that the present invention falls within the purview of the related art that is already known to those skilled in the art.

Documents of Related Art

(Patent document 1) Korean Patent No. 10-0717837 (May 7, 2007)

(Patent document 2) Korean Patent No. 10-0862684 (Oct. 2, 2008)

(Patent document 3) Korean Patent No. 10-1447629 (Sep. 29, 2014)

(Patent document 4) Korean Patent No. 10-1806480 (Dec. 1, 2017)

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Accordingly, the present invention has been made keeping in mind the above problems occurring in the related art, and an objective of the present invention is to provide an apparatus for collecting a by-product, the apparatus including a main cooling channel passing through an internal collecting tower, an inner wall plate provided on an inner wall of a housing, and the internal collecting tower having gas holes of different sizes and assembled plates, whereby a vortex is generated while introduced exhaust gas is cooled, allowing a by-product condensed at high density to be collected.

In order to achieve the above objective, according to one aspect of the present invention, there is provided an apparatus having a cooling line for collecting a by-product in a semiconductor manufacturing process, the apparatus being provided on a line between a process chamber and a vacuum pump to collect a by-product in exhaust gas, which is discharged from the process chamber, the apparatus including:

a housing in which the exhaust gas introduced through an upper plate having a gas inlet and an upper plate cooling channel is accommodated and then the exhaust gas is discharged through a lower plate having a gas outlet, and including an inner wall plate on an inner wall thereof to collect the by-product while generating a vortex in the exhaust gas which is temperature-controlled by a heater while being introduced through the gas inlet of the upper plate;

an internal collecting tower provided inside the housing at a location spaced apart upward from the lower plate by a predetermined distance, and including multiple vertical plates providing a main cooling channel installation space, an upper cover plate covering upper sides of the vertical plates to induce flow of the exhaust gas, and vortex plates fitted to the vertical plates to generate a vortex in which the vertical plates, the upper cover plate, and the vortex plates are assembled together, the internal collecting tower condensing the introduced exhaust gas to collect the by-product;

a main cooling channel cooling the exhaust gas by using coolant while passing through the internal collecting tower; and

a multi-connection pipe sequentially supplying the coolant to the upper plate cooling channel and the main cooling channel in a circulative manner and discharging the coolant, by using a supply pipe and a discharge pipe that are provided outside the housing.

In a preferred embodiment, the inner wall plate may be provided as multiple inner wall plates that are arranged on each side of the inner wall of the housing at a regular interval over upper and lower regions, the inner wall plates on each side of the housing may be arranged alternately with the inner wall plates on a neighboring side, and the inner wall plates on each side of the housing may be arranged alternately at upper and lower locations such that each of the inner wall plates is shorter in length than a horizontal length of each side of the housing.

In a preferred embodiment, the upper plate cooling channel of the upper plate may be configured such that the coolant supplied externally is introduced through a first branch socket connected to a coolant inlet of the multi-connection pipe and circulates, and then the coolant is discharged to the multi-connection pipe through a second branch socket to be supplied to the main cooling channel.

In a preferred embodiment, the internal collecting tower may include the multiple vertical plates arranged spaced apart from each other at a regular interval, the upper cover plate covering the upper sides of the vertical plates, and a base plate supporting lower portions of the vertical plates, and the vortex plates fitted to cross the vertical plates in horizontal directions, wherein

gas holes may be respectively formed in surfaces of each of the vertical plates, the upper cover plate, the base plate, and each of the vortex plates, and

each of the vertical plates may include at least one pipe slit formed vertically to allow the main cooling channel to pass through the vertical plates, such that the main cooling channel having a U-shaped pipe shape may be installed while easily adjusting a vertical position thereof.

In a preferred embodiment, a part of the vortex plates may be provided at each of opposite vertical plates of the internal collecting tower so as to protrude outward, such that the flow of the exhaust gas may be retarded while generating the vortex.

In a preferred embodiment, the upper cover plate may include multiple gas holes of different sizes formed in a surface thereof, wherein a part of the gas holes that is located at opposite end portions in long side directions of the upper cover plate may be larger in size than a remaining part of the gas holes that is located at other locations, such that the exhaust gas introduced from above the upper cover plate may be more discharged through the end portions thereof than central portions.

In a preferred embodiment, the gas hole of each of the vertical plates may be larger in size than the gas hole of each of the vortex plates.

In a preferred embodiment, the main cooling channel may have a U-shaped pipe shape, with horizontal pipes located at upper and lower locations, and a curved pipe connecting the horizontal pipes to each other at a side of the main cooling channel.

In a preferred embodiment, the main cooling channel may be provided as two or more main cooling channels.

In a preferred embodiment, in the multi-connection pipe, the coolant may be introduced through a first branch socket of the upper plate cooling channel connected to a coolant inlet and circulate, the coolant may be discharged to the supply pipe through a second branch socket and supplied to the main cooling channel through a branch socket located below the supply pipe, the coolant introduced into lower horizontal pipes of the main cooling channels may be moved to upper horizontal pipes to cool the exhaust gas around the internal collecting tower and discharged to the discharge pipe, and the coolant may be discharged through a coolant outlet located at an end of the discharge pipe.

In a preferred embodiment, when two or more main cooling channels are provided, the multi-connection pipe may include a coolant chamber located at each of lower and upper locations in which the supply pipe and the discharge pipe are located, each of the respective coolant chambers having an internal space, such that one supply pipe simultaneously may supply the coolant collected in the internal space of the coolant chamber located at the lower location to two or more supply pipes located at lower locations, or heat-exchanged coolant discharged to the internal space of the coolant chamber located at the upper location may be discharged through one discharge pipe.

In a preferred embodiment, the heater may further include a heat distribution plate provided at a lower portion thereof by a fastening means so as to be spaced apart downward by a predetermined distance, the heat distribution plate having multiple gas holes formed in end portions thereof such that a part of the exhaust gas is supplied toward top of the internal collecting tower located below the heat distribution plate, and a remaining part of the exhaust gas is supplied toward the inner wall of the housing located sideward of the heat distribution plate.

The apparatus for collecting a by-product according to the present invention having the above characteristics has an advantage in that due to provision of the main cooling channel passing through the internal collecting tower, exhaust gas, which is temperature-controlled by the heater while being introduced into the housing, is cooled to an optimum temperature for collecting a by-product, thus collecting a by-product condensed at high density on the internal collecting tower.

The present invention has another advantage in that due to the assembly structure between the vertical plates, the upper cover plate, and the vortex plates constituting the internal collecting tower, and due to the structure of the gas holes of different sizes formed in the surfaces of the plates, introduced exhaust gas generates a vortex and thus is spread uniformly due to increased time the exhaust gas passing through the internal collecting tower stays therein, thus collecting a by-product condensed at high density from the exhaust gas.

The present invention is a useful invention having various advantages as described above and is expected to find wide application in industry.

