JP2000150335A - Treatment apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To make it possible to control the temperature and humidity of atmosphere for treatment units individually and adjust the whole treatment units under the same condition or adjust each treatment unit under different conditions according to the necessary treatment for each treatment unit. SOLUTION: By using a temperature control unit 81 and a humidity control unit 82, a cleaning gas fed from a common gas feeding source 8 is adjusted for a plurality of coating units in a way that the temperature and moisture content of the gas are made lower than the necessary ones that are controlled by each atmosphere adjusting unit 7 at the application units. The cleaning gas is adjusted again through a heater 73 and a humidifier 74 to a desired temperature and moisture content level in each atmosphere adjusting unit 7, so the cleaning gas with the same temperature and humidity can be fed to a plurality of coating units, and all the atmosphere is adjusted to the same for each coating unit.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a processing apparatus for processing an object to be processed in a predetermined atmosphere.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In a semiconductor device manufacturing process, a coating liquid made of a resist is applied to a wafer surface while rotating a semiconductor wafer (hereinafter, referred to as a wafer), and the resist film is exposed using a photomask. A photolithography technique is used in which a resist mask having a desired pattern is formed on a wafer by developing the resist mask. Coating and developing devices used in such photolithography technology include a plurality of coating units for applying a resist solution, a plurality of developing units for performing development, a unit for performing heating and cooling, and a unit for performing hydrophobic treatment. The unit is built in a so-called clean room with a clean atmosphere maintained at a predetermined temperature and humidity.

FIG. 6 is a schematic view showing a main part of a conventional coating and developing apparatus having four coating units, and FIG.
It is a schematic diagram which shows the state of the conventional atmosphere adjustment with respect to each coating unit. Conventionally, a clean gas in a clean room is taken in, adjusted by a controller 11 to a predetermined temperature and humidity, for example, 23 ° C. and a relative humidity of 45%, and the adjusted clean air (gas for atmosphere) such as a duct. Distributed to each coating unit 14 via the flow paths 12 and 13,
Each of the units 14 is supplied to the inside of the unit 14 through a filter 15.

[0004]

However, as described above, the coating / developing apparatus incorporates a heating unit (not shown) together with the coating unit 14, and conventionally, clean air is individually provided for each coating unit 14. Because the temperature and humidity are not adjusted, even if the temperature of the clean air from the supply source is controlled, the coating unit 14 disposed near the heating unit, which is the heat source, and the flow path of the clean air near the heating unit Coating unit 14 that flows
In this case, the temperature of the clean air rises, which causes a temperature variation in the atmosphere of each unit 14 (FIG. 7).
reference). As a result, there is a problem that the thickness of the coating film varies between the units, and uniform processing cannot be performed.

It is conceivable to separately control the temperature and humidity from the air supply source for the atmosphere to send air to each processing unit. However, this method is costly and requires a wide space. Furthermore, in order to perform uniform processing, it is conceivable to individually adjust the wafer rotation speed of each coating unit 14 in accordance with the temperature and humidity of the clean air. Various changes are required, and there is an inconvenience of complexity. Also, since the way of receiving heat from the heat source is not constant,
There is also a disadvantage that the processing becomes unstable.

Further, when the processing method is to be changed between the coating units 14, even if the type of resist is changed by the coating unit 14, for example, the temperature and humidity cannot be adjusted independently for each unit 14. Change the type of resist in one coating and developing device,
It has been difficult to adopt a configuration that performs a different processing method.

[0007] The present invention has been made under such circumstances, and an object of the present invention is to individually control the temperature and humidity of the atmosphere for a plurality of processing units, thereby enabling the entire unit to be controlled. It is an object of the present invention to provide a processing apparatus that can adjust the atmosphere in the same manner, and can also adjust the atmosphere to be different for each unit according to the processing content of each unit.

[0008]

A processing apparatus according to the present invention is provided with a plurality of processing units for processing an object to be processed, and is provided for each processing unit. And a temperature adjusting unit for controlling the temperature of the atmosphere gas, and a common gas for sending the atmosphere gas whose temperature has been adjusted by the temperature adjusting unit to each atmosphere adjusting unit. And a supply source.

The present invention is specifically applicable to, for example, the following apparatus. That is, the processing apparatus includes a loading station in which a cassette containing a plurality of plate-like workpieces is loaded, a processing unit for applying a coating liquid to the surface of the workpiece taken out of the cassette, A heating unit for heating the object to be processed, a transport unit for transporting the object to be processed between the heating unit and the processing unit, and a processing unit provided for each processing unit for purifying an atmosphere gas for processing. A filter unit to be supplied to the unit, an atmosphere adjusting unit provided at the upstream side of the filter unit for each processing unit, for adjusting at least the temperature of the gas for the atmosphere and supplying the gas to the processing unit, and a gas for the atmosphere. A temperature control unit for controlling the temperature of the temperature control unit, and a common gas supply source for sending the gas for the atmosphere temperature-controlled by the temperature control unit to each of the atmosphere control units. And butterflies. According to such an invention, the temperature of the atmosphere gas is roughly adjusted by the gas supply source and finely adjusted by each atmosphere adjustment unit of the plurality of processing units. Can be set to In this case, if the temperature is adjusted on the gas supply source side to be lower than the temperature of the gas to be adjusted in each atmosphere adjustment unit,
In each of the atmosphere adjusting units, the temperature of the sent gas can be easily adjusted because it can be heated as needed. Therefore, even if the degree of the influence of heat from here differs depending on the position with respect to the heating unit, even if the processing units perform the same processing, there is no variation in the ambient temperature. Thus, uniform processing can be performed even for processing whose processing state is affected by the processing.

In the present invention, the atmosphere adjusting section has a humidifier for humidifying the gas for the atmosphere, while the gas supply source supplies a water amount lower than the absolute humidity of the gas to be adjusted in each atmosphere adjusting section. It may be configured to have a humidity adjustment unit for controlling the water content of the clean gas. With this configuration, uniform processing can be performed even for processing whose processing state is affected by the atmospheric humidity.

As described above, according to the present invention, since the temperature and the humidity of the atmosphere can be set for each processing unit, the processing of at least two of the plurality of processing units can be made different from each other. The type of resist can be changed between units.

[0012]

FIG. 1 is a schematic view of an example of a coating and developing apparatus provided with an atmosphere control device for a coating unit according to the present invention. In FIG. 1, reference numeral 2 denotes a cassette loading / unloading stage for loading / unloading a wafer cassette (hereinafter, referred to as a cassette) C. For example, a cassette C containing 25 wafers to be processed is an automatic transfer robot (not shown), for example. It is placed by. For example, on the back side of the loading / unloading stage 2, for example, 3
Heating and cooling system unit 31 divided into two groups
On the right side, for example, a total of four coating units 32 and two developing units 33 stacked in the same manner are arranged two by two in the order from the near side, respectively, from the near side, respectively. Further behind, an interface unit 5 for transferring wafers to and from the exposure apparatus 4 is provided.

FIG. 2 is a longitudinal sectional view showing a main part of the coating and developing apparatus shown in FIG. In the heating / cooling system unit 31, for example, as shown in FIG.
The transfer unit 35, the hydrophobizing unit 36, the cooling unit 37, and the like are provided vertically.

The coating unit 32 and the developing unit 33
A wafer transfer arm 38 is provided between the heating and cooling unit 31. This wafer transfer arm 3
Numeral 8 is supported by a guide member 39 and is configured to be movable up and down, movable left and right, back and forth, and rotatable about a vertical axis, for example, between the coating unit 32, the developing unit 33, and the heating and cooling unit 31. To deliver the wafer.

The coating unit 32 includes a rotatable rotary mounting table 61 provided with a spin chuck for sucking the wafer W, a nozzle 62 for dropping a resist liquid as a coating liquid on the wafer W thereon, and a wafer during spin coating. A cup 63 is provided so as to surround the periphery of the wafer W in order to receive the excess resist liquid scattered from the peripheral edge.

Each coating unit 32 has an atmosphere adjusting unit 7 that can adjust the temperature and humidity of an atmosphere gas (clean air) introduced into the unit. Although not particularly limited, for example, the atmosphere adjusting section 7 extends along the bottom from the side of the heating / cooling system unit 31 side of the coating / developing apparatus, and starts up between the coating unit 32 and the wafer transfer arm 38. It is connected to an air supply path 30 formed of a duct or the like, and clean air, which is a gas for atmosphere, is supplied through the air supply path 30. The configuration of the atmosphere adjusting unit 7 will be described later. Note that the clean air in the application unit 32 is exhausted through an exhaust path (not shown) provided in the cup 63.

The flow of wafers in the coating and developing apparatus will be described. First, a cassette C containing a wafer is loaded into the loading / unloading stage 2 from the outside, and is transferred from the cassette C by a transfer arm which cannot be seen in FIG. The wafer is taken out and delivered to the delivery unit 35. Next, the wafer W on the delivery unit 35 is transferred to the hydrophobic processing unit 36 by the wafer transfer arm 38, and the wafer W
Here, after the hydrophobic treatment is performed, the coating unit 32
A resist solution is applied to form a resist film.
The wafer on which the resist film has been applied is heated by the heating unit 34 and then sent to the exposure device 4 via the interface unit 5, where exposure is performed via a mask corresponding to the pattern. Thereafter, the wafer is heated by the heating unit 34, cooled by the cooling unit 37, and then sent to the developing unit 33 to be subjected to a developing process to form a resist mask. Thereafter, the wafer is returned to the cassette C on the loading / unloading stage 2.

FIG. 3 is an exploded perspective view showing an example of the atmosphere adjusting section 7. As shown in FIG. The atmosphere adjusting unit 7 includes a ventilation chamber 72 that is connected to the air supply passage 30 through a gas intake 71, and a heating chamber that heats and humidifies the clean air introduced therein through the gas intake 71. Vessel 73 and humidifier 7
4. A temperature sensor 75 and a humidity sensor 76 for detecting the temperature and humidity of the clean air in the ventilation chamber 72, respectively, and a filter unit 77 for removing particles and the like in the clean air blown into the unit. Heater 7
Reference numeral 3 denotes, for example, a sheathed fin heater formed by connecting a large number of fins. The humidifier 74 is composed of a water tank (not shown) containing water and a heater for heating the water tank, and the heater heats the water tank to evaporate water to humidify the water. The filter unit 77 is made of an ULPA filter obtained by folding paper into a pleated shape.

FIG. 4 is a schematic view showing an example of an atmosphere adjusting mechanism of a coating unit using the atmosphere adjusting section 7. As shown in FIG. Each atmosphere adjusting section 7 is connected to a common gas supply source 8 via an air supply path 30. The gas supply source 8 takes in, for example, clean air in a clean room, and converts the temperature to a temperature lower than the air temperature that is desired to be finally obtained in each atmosphere adjusting unit 7 by the temperature adjusting unit 81 having, for example, a heating unit and a cooling unit. And a humidity controller 82 provided with a dehumidifier and a humidifier, for example, a cooling unit for dew condensation of moisture in the air. The humidity is adjusted to a predetermined value, and the clean air is sent to the air supply passage 30. A temperature sensor 83 and a humidity sensor 84 are provided in the air supply passage 30 in order to detect the temperature and humidity of the sent clean air. Note that the humidity sensor 84
One of the humidity sensors 76 described below provided in each of the atmosphere adjustment units 7 may be used in common.

The atmosphere adjusting mechanism is controlled by a control unit 9. The control unit 9 includes a main controller 91 for adjusting the temperature and humidity of the clean air in the gas supply source 8, A sub-controller 92 for adjusting the temperature and humidity of the clean air is provided. The main controller 91 includes the temperature sensor 8
3 and the temperature adjustment unit 81 based on the temperature detection value and the humidity detection value of the clean air sent from the humidity sensor 84.
In addition, feedback control of the humidity adjustment unit 82 is performed. Each sub-controller 92 feeds back a heating unit 73 and a humidifier 74, which are heating units, based on the temperature detection value and the humidity detection value of the clean air sent from the temperature sensor 75 and the humidity sensor 76, respectively. Control.

FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram showing a state of atmosphere adjustment by the atmosphere adjustment mechanism. For example, when the clean air adjusted to a temperature of 20 ° C. and a relative humidity of 40% in the gas supply source 8 is introduced into each of the atmosphere adjusting units 7, the temperature of the clean air does not necessarily become uniform due to the arrangement of the coating units 32 and the like. is not. That is, the temperature of the clean air supplied to the coating unit 32 closer to the heating unit 34 is not higher than that of the coating unit 32 far from the heating unit 34. However, by heating the clean air to a predetermined temperature, for example, 23 ° C. in each atmosphere adjusting unit 7,
Clean air at a temperature of 23 ° C. is introduced into each coating unit 32. In this case, the absolute humidity (the amount of moisture in the air) is the same between the application units 32. Therefore, for example, when the same processing is performed in four coating units 32, that is, when the same resist is coated, each coating unit 32 has the same temperature and humidity.

For example, when the four coating units 32 are divided into two groups, and different resists are applied between the groups, a temperature suitable for the processing of the resist is applied to each group. What is necessary is just to make it a humidity atmosphere. In this case, for the temperature adjustment, the clean air is heated to a predetermined temperature by each heater 73, and for the adjustment of the absolute humidity, the clean air is humidified to the predetermined humidity by each humidifier 74.

According to the above-described embodiment, the temperature and the water content of the common gas supply source 8 are lower than the temperature of the air to be adjusted by the atmosphere adjusting units 7 of the four coating units 32, for example. Since the temperature and humidity of the clean air are adjusted again so as to have the desired temperature and water content in each atmosphere adjusting section 7, the atmosphere can be adjusted with high accuracy for, for example, four coating units 32. Temperature and humidity control can be performed.

Therefore, for example, the atmosphere of all the coating units 32 can be adjusted to be the same, so that when the same resist is coated, the variation in the film thickness between the coating units 32 can be suppressed. In addition, for example, different atmospheres can be adjusted for each of the four coating units 32 in accordance with the processing content of each unit, so that at least two of the coating units 32 have different types of resists. Can be applied.

Further, the gas supply source 8 adjusts the temperature and humidity of the clean air so that the temperature and the water content are lower than the temperature of the gas to be adjusted by each atmosphere adjusting unit 7. It is not necessary to provide a means for cooling or dehumidifying the clean air in each atmosphere adjusting unit 7, so that the atmosphere control device can be made compact and can be obtained at low cost.

In the above, the present invention can be applied to a processing unit other than a unit for applying a resist solution, and without providing a temperature sensor 83 and a humidity sensor 84 for the gas supply source 8, each of the atmosphere adjusting units 7 can be used. The detection values of the temperature sensor 75 and the humidity sensor 76 of the atmosphere adjustment unit 7 to which the highest temperature clean gas is supplied may be fed back to the main controller 91. The object to be processed is not limited to a wafer, but may be a glass substrate for a liquid crystal display.

[0027]

As described above, according to the present invention, a predetermined atmosphere can be set to each processing unit with high accuracy.
Therefore, the temperature of the atmosphere,
Furthermore, the humidity can be individually controlled, whereby the atmosphere of all units can be adjusted to be the same, or the atmosphere can be adjusted to be different for each unit according to the processing content of each unit.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic view of an example of a coating and developing device provided with an atmosphere control device for a coating unit according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a longitudinal sectional view showing a main part of the coating and developing apparatus.

FIG. 3 is an exploded perspective view illustrating an example of an atmosphere adjusting unit of the coating unit.

FIG. 4 is a schematic view showing an example of an atmosphere adjusting mechanism of a coating unit using the atmosphere adjusting unit.

FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram showing a state of atmosphere adjustment by the atmosphere adjustment mechanism.

FIG. 6 is a schematic view showing a main part of a conventional coating and developing apparatus.

FIG. 7 is a schematic view showing a state of a conventional atmosphere adjustment.

[Explanation of symbols]

 W Wafer (object to be processed) 30 Air supply path 32 Coating unit (processing unit) 61 Rotary mounting table 7 Atmosphere adjuster 71 Gas inlet 72 Vent chamber 73 Heater 74 Humidifier 75 Temperature sensor 76 Humidity sensor 77 Filter unit 81 Temperature adjustment unit 82 Humidity adjustment unit 9 Control unit

 ──────────────────────────────────────────────────の Continued on the front page (72) Inventor Yoshio Kimura 2655 Tsukure, Kikuyo-cho, Kikuchi-gun, Kumamoto Prefecture Inside the Kumamoto Office of Tokyo Electron Kyushu Co., Ltd. (72) Masami Satsumoto 2655 Tsukure, Kikuyo-cho, Kikuchi-gun, Kumamoto Tokyo Electron Kyushu Co., Ltd.Kumamoto Office (72) Inventor Yasuhiro Sakamoto 2655 Tsukure, Kikuyo-cho, Kikuchi-gun, Kumamoto Prefecture Tokyo Electron Kyushu Co., Ltd.Kumamoto Office, (2) Inventor Nobuyuki Jinnai 2655 Address Tokyo Electron Kyushu Co., Ltd. Kumamoto Office F-term (reference) 5F046 JA07 JA24 LA13

Claims (6)

[Claims] 1. A plurality of processing units for processing an object to be processed, an atmosphere adjustment unit provided for each processing unit, for adjusting at least the temperature of an atmosphere gas and supplying the gas to the processing unit, A temperature control unit for controlling the temperature of the atmosphere gas, and a common gas supply source for sending the atmosphere gas whose temperature has been adjusted by the temperature adjustment unit to each atmosphere adjustment unit. Processing equipment. 2. A loading station in which a cassette containing a plurality of plate-like workpieces is loaded, a processing unit for applying a coating liquid to a surface of the workpiece taken out of the cassette, and a processing unit. A heating unit for heat-treating the processing object; a conveying unit for conveying the object to be processed between the heating unit and the processing unit; and a processing unit provided for each processing unit for purifying an atmosphere gas. A filter unit that is provided upstream of the filter unit for each processing unit, adjusts at least the temperature of the gas for the atmosphere, and supplies the gas to the processing unit. A temperature control unit for controlling the temperature, and a common gas supply source for sending gas for the atmosphere whose temperature has been adjusted by the temperature control unit to each of the atmosphere adjustment units. Processing equipment. 3. The temperature adjusting section controls the temperature of the atmosphere gas so as to be lower than the temperature of the gas to be adjusted in each atmosphere adjusting section, and each atmosphere adjusting section has a heating section. 3. The processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein 4. The atmosphere adjusting section has a humidifier for humidifying an atmosphere gas, while the gas supply source has a moisture content lower than the absolute humidity of the gas to be adjusted in each atmosphere adjusting section. 4. The apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a humidity control unit for controlling the water content of the atmosphere gas.
The processing device of the processing unit according to the above. 5. The processing unit according to claim 1, wherein all of the plurality of processing units perform the same processing.
Or the processing apparatus according to 4. 6. At least two of the plurality of processing units
5. The processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the plurality of processing units perform different processing.