CN115704648A

CN115704648A - Supercritical fluid-based drying device and method

Info

Publication number: CN115704648A
Application number: CN202110909571.7A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 王晖; 贾社娜; 陶晓峰; 贺斌; 赵歆; 孙樱南; 李斌; 王俊; 王坚; 陈福平; 张晓燕; 初振明; 王德云
Original assignee: ACM Research Shanghai Inc
Current assignee: ACM Research Shanghai Inc
Priority date: 2021-08-09
Filing date: 2021-08-09
Publication date: 2023-02-17
Also published as: TW202307383A

Abstract

The invention discloses a drying device based on supercritical fluid, comprising: an upper cover; the base is arranged below the upper cover and is suitable for moving relative to the upper cover along the vertical direction so as to form a pressure-resistant closed chamber in a closed mode; the substrate tray is arranged on the base and used for bearing the substrate; the first fluid supply pipe is arranged on the top wall of the upper cover and used for supplying supercritical fluid to the inside of the closed chamber, so that the closed chamber reaches a supercritical state from an atmospheric pressure state; a spoiler disposed below the first fluid supply pipe; a second fluid supply pipe arranged on the first side wall of the upper cover and used for supplying supercritical fluid to the inside of the closed chamber; and a fluid discharge pipe provided at the second sidewall of the upper cover. The invention can minimize the inner space of the closed chamber, save the dosage of the supercritical fluid and reduce the use cost.

Description

Supercritical fluid-based drying device and method

Technical Field

The invention relates to the technical field of semiconductor device manufacturing, in particular to a drying device and a drying method based on supercritical fluid.

Background

In the manufacturing process of integrated circuits, wet processing of substrates such as wafers is an important process that affects the yield of products. In the existing wet process, a wafer to be wet etched or cleaned is generally fixed on a wafer chuck, the wafer is driven by the wafer chuck to rotate, and wet chemical liquid is sprayed to perform process treatment on the surface of the wafer. After the wet etching or cleaning process is completed, the substrate needs to be dried.

Currently, most conventional drying processes use nitrogen or isopropyl alcohol (IPA) to dry the substrate. However, in the drying process of the substrate, the substrate is dried using nitrogen gas, and the fine pattern structure on the substrate is easily blown down, resulting in damage to the substrate. And the substrate is dried by using nitrogen and IPA, and the IPA attached to the surface of the substrate is easy to cause collapse of a fine pattern structure on the substrate due to the surface tension of IPA in the process of evaporation of IPA, thereby causing damage to the substrate.

In order to avoid damage to the substrate during the drying process, a drying process using a supercritical fluid with zero surface tension is employed, IPA is coated on the substrate surface, and the IPA on the substrate surface is replaced by the supercritical fluid, so that the substrate surface is coated with the supercritical fluid. Consequently, the supercritical fluid having a surface tension of zero is volatilized, so that collapse of fine patterns on the substrate is not caused, thereby preventing the substrate from being damaged.

Chinese patent application No. 200710108454.0 discloses a drying apparatus in 2007, 6.14.3. A closed chamber is formed after a substrate enters the chamber from above, and supercritical fluid is injected into the closed chamber from the side of the closed chamber, so that the substrate is in a supercritical state, and the substrate is dried in the supercritical state. Another chinese patent application No. 201711066490.5 discloses a drying apparatus in 2017, 11/2, which employs a substrate entering a chamber from a side edge to form a closed chamber, and a supercritical fluid is injected into the closed chamber from the bottom and the other side edge of the closed chamber to dry the substrate.

However, the above two drying apparatuses have problems that the process efficiency is low, the supercritical fluid usage amount is large due to a large internal space of the sealed chamber, and the like when the substrate is loaded into the sealed chamber from above or from the side.

Therefore, it is necessary to provide a novel drying apparatus and method based on supercritical fluid to solve the above problems.

Disclosure of Invention

In view of the above disadvantages of the prior art, an object of the present invention is to provide a drying apparatus and a drying method based on a supercritical fluid, which are used to solve the problems of low process efficiency and large usage amount of the supercritical fluid due to large internal space of a sealed chamber in the drying process of the supercritical fluid in the prior art.

To achieve the above and other related objects, the present invention provides a drying apparatus based on a supercritical fluid, comprising:

an upper cover;

the base is arranged below the upper cover and is suitable for moving relative to the upper cover along the vertical direction so as to form a pressure-resistant closed chamber in a closed mode;

the substrate tray is arranged on the base and used for bearing the substrate;

the first fluid supply pipe is arranged on the top wall of the upper cover and used for supplying supercritical fluid to the inside of the closed chamber, so that the closed chamber reaches a supercritical state from an atmospheric pressure state;

a spoiler disposed below the first fluid supply pipe;

a second fluid supply pipe disposed on the first sidewall of the upper housing for supplying supercritical fluid into the closed chamber in a supercritical state to dry the substrate inside the closed chamber;

and a fluid discharge pipe provided at the second sidewall of the upper cover.

In the drying device based on supercritical fluid, the gap between the spoiler and the substrate is smaller than a predetermined value.

The drying device based on the supercritical fluid is characterized in that the set value is 0-10mm.

In the drying device based on supercritical fluid, a plurality of first through holes are uniformly and horizontally distributed on the first side wall of the upper cover, and the plurality of first through holes are communicated with the second fluid supply pipe, so that the supercritical fluid can uniformly enter the closed chamber through the plurality of first through holes.

In the drying device based on the supercritical fluid, the first side wall of the upper cover is further provided with the first cavity, and the bottom surface of the first cavity is parallel to the upper surface of the substrate, so that the supercritical fluid introduced from the first through hole is uniformly distributed on the upper surface of the substrate after passing through the first cavity.

In the drying device based on supercritical fluid, the first through hole is a conical hole.

In the drying device based on supercritical fluid, a plurality of second through holes are uniformly and horizontally distributed on the second side wall of the upper cover, and the plurality of second through holes are communicated with the fluid discharge pipe.

In the drying device based on supercritical fluid, the second sidewall of the upper cover is further provided with a second cavity, and a bottom surface of the second cavity is parallel to the upper surface of the substrate.

In the drying device based on supercritical fluid, the second through hole is a conical hole.

The supercritical fluid-based drying apparatus described above, wherein the pipe diameter of the second fluid supply pipe is larger than the pipe diameter of the first fluid supply pipe.

The drying device based on supercritical fluid is characterized in that the upper cover is fixed, and the base is suitable for moving upwards along the vertical direction to form a closed chamber.

The drying device based on supercritical fluid is characterized in that the base is fixed, and the upper cover is suitable for moving downwards along the vertical direction to form a closed chamber.

In the drying device based on supercritical fluid, the upper cover is provided with the lock catch for clamping the base when the upper cover and the base move relatively to form the closed chamber, so as to lock the closed chamber.

In the drying device based on supercritical fluid, the upper cover has a square cover, the base has a square plate, and the hollow part of the closed chamber is a circular chamber.

In the drying apparatus using a supercritical fluid, the supercritical fluid is supercritical carbon dioxide.

In the drying device using supercritical fluid, the base and the substrate tray are integrally formed.

The invention also provides a drying method based on the supercritical fluid, which is characterized by comprising the following steps:

step S1: placing a substrate to be dried on a substrate tray, and enabling the base and the upper cover to move relatively in the vertical direction so as to close to form a pressure-resistant closed chamber;

step S2: supplying supercritical fluid from the upper part of the closed chamber through the first fluid supply pipe, wherein the fluid bypasses a spoiler below the first fluid supply pipe and reaches the upper surface of the substrate from the side surface of the substrate, so that the supercritical fluid is stopped from being supplied from the upper part of the closed chamber after the closed chamber reaches a supercritical state;

and step S3: supplying a supercritical fluid from a first side of the closed chamber through a second fluid supply pipe to perform a drying process on the substrate;

and step S4: after the drying treatment is finished, closing the second fluid supply pipe, reducing the internal pressure of the closed chamber, and converting the supercritical fluid into gas which is discharged out of the closed chamber from the second side of the closed chamber through the fluid discharge pipe;

step S5: and opening the closed chamber and taking out the substrate when the internal pressure of the closed chamber reaches the atmospheric pressure state.

In the above supercritical fluid-based drying method, before the substrate is taken out in step S5, the steps S2 to S4 are performed in a plurality of cycles.

In the above supercritical fluid-based drying method, the second fluid supply pipe supplies the supercritical fluid from the first side of the closed chamber at a flow rate angle parallel to the upper surface of the substrate.

In the above supercritical fluid-based drying method, the flow velocity angle of the supercritical fluid discharged from the fluid discharge tube is parallel to the upper surface of the substrate.

In the supercritical fluid-based drying method, the flow rate of the supercritical fluid supplied from the second fluid supply pipe is greater than the flow rate of the supercritical fluid supplied from the first fluid supply pipe.

The invention also provides a cleaning and drying device, comprising:

a substrate loading port for placing a substrate;

a cache device;

a front end robot for transferring substrates between the substrate load port and the buffer device;

the cleaning chamber is used for cleaning the substrate;

a drying device based on supercritical fluid for drying the cleaned substrate; the drying device includes:

an upper cover;

the substrate tray is arranged on the base and used for bearing the substrate;

a spoiler disposed below the first fluid supply pipe;

a second fluid supply pipe disposed on the first sidewall of the upper housing for supplying supercritical fluid into the closed chamber in a supercritical state to dry the substrate in the closed chamber;

a fluid discharge pipe provided at the second sidewall of the upper cover;

and the process mechanical arm is used for transferring the substrate among the caching device, the cleaning chamber and the drying device.

In the above cleaning and drying apparatus, the plurality of drying devices are symmetrically arranged at both sides of the process manipulator; the cleaning chambers are arranged above or below the drying device and correspond to the drying device one by one.

In the cleaning and drying equipment, the number of the drying devices is six, and three drying devices are arranged on two sides of the process manipulator respectively; six cleaning chambers are corresponding to the drying devices one by one.

The cleaning and drying apparatus described above, wherein the drying device is arranged on the first side of the process robot; the cleaning chambers are arranged on the second side of the process mechanical arm; the drying devices correspond to the cleaning chambers one to one.

The above cleaning and drying apparatus, wherein the cleaning chamber is used for single-wafer cleaning or tank cleaning.

The above cleaning and drying apparatus, wherein the cleaning chamber includes one or more of the following structures for trough cleaning: chemical liquid washing tank, quick deionized water washing tank, IPA tank and upset IPA wetting mechanism.

In the above cleaning and drying apparatus, the plurality of drying devices are distributed in a plurality of layers along the vertical direction on the first side of the process manipulator; the cleaning chambers are multiple and distributed in multiple layers along the vertical direction at the second side of the process mechanical arm.

In the cleaning and drying equipment, six drying devices are arranged, and the six drying devices are distributed in two layers on the first side of the process manipulator along the vertical direction; six cleaning chambers are arranged, and the six cleaning chambers are distributed into two layers along the vertical direction at the second side of the process manipulator.

The invention also provides a cleaning and drying device, comprising:

a substrate loading port for placing a substrate;

a cache device;

the cleaning chamber is used for cleaning the substrate;

a drying device based on supercritical fluid for drying the cleaned substrate;

the process manipulator is used for conveying the substrate among the caching device, the cleaning chamber and the drying device;

the drying devices are arranged on two sides of the process manipulator symmetrically;

the cleaning chambers are arranged above or below the drying device and correspond to the drying device one by one.

The invention also provides a cleaning and drying device, comprising:

a substrate loading port for placing a substrate;

a cache device;

the cleaning chamber is used for cleaning the substrate;

a drying device based on supercritical fluid for drying the cleaned substrate;

the process mechanical arm is used for transferring the substrate among the caching device, the cleaning chamber and the drying device;

wherein, the drying device is arranged at the first side of the process mechanical arm; the cleaning chambers are arranged on the second side of the process mechanical arm; the drying devices correspond to the cleaning chambers one to one.

The above cleaning and drying apparatus, wherein the cleaning chamber comprises one or more of the following structures for tank cleaning: chemical liquid washing tank, quick deionized water washing tank, IPA tank and upset IPA wetting mechanism.

As described above, compared with the prior art, the drying device and method based on supercritical fluid proposed by the present invention have the following beneficial effects:

1. in the drying device based on the supercritical fluid, the base plate is placed on the base, so that the base and the upper cover move relatively to form the closed chamber, the internal space of the closed chamber can be minimized, the using amount of the supercritical fluid is saved, and the using cost is reduced.

2. In the drying device based on the supercritical fluid, the spoiler is arranged between the first fluid supply pipe and the substrate, so that the damage to the substrate caused by blowing off IPA on the surface of the substrate by directly spraying the supercritical fluid on the surface of the substrate through the first fluid supply pipe is avoided.

3. In the drying device based on the supercritical fluid, the plurality of first through holes and the plurality of second through holes are uniformly formed in the side wall of the upper cover and are respectively communicated with the second fluid supply pipe and the fluid discharge pipe, so that the circulation efficiency of the second fluid supply pipe and the fluid discharge pipe is increased, and the process efficiency of drying the substrate is effectively improved.

4. In the drying device based on the supercritical fluid, the side wall of the upper cover is provided with the first cavity and the second cavity which are respectively communicated with the first through hole and the second through hole, and the first cavity and the second cavity are parallel to the upper surface of the substrate, so that the supercritical fluid introduced into the first through hole can be uniformly distributed on the upper surface of the substrate through the first cavity, and the supercritical fluid in the drying process and the fluid in the sealed cavity after the drying process are quickly discharged out of the sealed cavity through the second cavity and the second through hole, thereby improving the process speed of the supercritical fluid drying process and effectively improving the process efficiency of the drying process of the substrate.

Drawings

Fig. 1A is a schematic structural diagram of a supercritical fluid-based drying apparatus provided in a first embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 1B is another schematic structural diagram of a supercritical fluid-based drying apparatus provided in the first embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 2A is a schematic structural diagram of an upper cover according to a first embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 2B is a bottom view of the upper housing according to the first embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 3 is a schematic perspective view of a supercritical fluid-based drying apparatus according to a first embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 4 is a sectional view of a supercritical fluid-based drying apparatus according to one embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 5A is a cross-sectional view of a supercritical fluid-based drying apparatus according to one embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 5B is an enlarged view of the dashed box of FIG. 5A according to one embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram of a base and a substrate tray according to a first embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 7A is a schematic view of a support member for placing a substrate on a substrate tray according to one embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 7B is a top view of FIG. 7A according to one embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 8A is a schematic view illustrating a substrate being placed on a substrate tray and being pulled away by a support according to a first embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 8B is a top view of FIG. 8A according to one embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 9A is a top view of the cleaning and drying apparatus provided in the fourth and eighth embodiments of the present invention;

fig. 9B is a front view of the washing and drying apparatus provided in the fourth and eighth embodiments of the present invention;

fig. 9C is a front view of the cleaning and drying apparatus provided in the fifth and ninth embodiments of the present invention;

fig. 10A is a top view of the cleaning and drying apparatus provided in example six and example ten of the present invention;

fig. 10B is a front view of the cleaning and drying apparatus provided in the sixth and tenth embodiments of the present invention;

fig. 11 is a plan view of a washing and drying apparatus provided in embodiment seven and embodiment eleven of the present invention.

Detailed Description

The following embodiments of the present invention are provided by way of specific examples, and other advantages and effects of the present invention will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art from the disclosure herein. The invention is capable of other and different embodiments and of being practiced or of being carried out in various ways, and its several details are capable of modification in various respects, all without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention.

Please refer to fig. 1A to 11. It should be noted that the drawings provided in the present embodiment are only schematic and illustrate the basic idea of the present invention, and although the drawings only show the components related to the present invention and are not drawn according to the number, shape and size of the components in actual implementation, the form, quantity and proportion of the components in actual implementation may be changed arbitrarily, and the layout of the components may be more complicated.

Example one

Referring to fig. 1A to 8B, in one embodiment, a drying apparatus based on supercritical fluid is provided, which is used for drying a cleaned substrate w; in this example 1, the surface of the substrate w after cleaning is covered with a layer of IPA.

As shown in fig. 1A to 4, the supercritical fluid-based drying apparatus includes: an upper cover 1; the base 2 is arranged below the upper cover 1, and the base 2 and the upper cover 1 can relatively move along the vertical direction to form a pressure-resistant closed chamber 120 in a closed manner; a substrate tray 3 arranged on the base 2 for carrying a substrate w; after the upper cover 1 and the base 2 are closed to form the closed chamber 120, the substrate w is in the closed chamber 120 to perform a drying process on the substrate w whose surface is covered with IPA; a first fluid supply pipe 4, disposed on the top wall of the upper housing 1, for supplying supercritical fluid to the inside of the closed chamber 120, and continuously adding the drying fluid to continuously increase the pressure inside the closed chamber 120 until the pressure inside the closed chamber 120 is increased to above the critical pressure of the drying fluid to reach a supercritical state; the spoiler 5 is arranged below the first fluid supply pipe 4 and between the first fluid supply pipe 4 and the substrate w, so that the supercritical fluid entering from the first fluid supply pipe 4 bypasses the spoiler 5 and reaches the upper surface of the substrate w from the side surface of the substrate w, the impact force of the supercritical fluid is effectively buffered, and the phenomenon that the IPA on the surface of the substrate w is blown off by directly spraying the supercritical fluid with an overlarge flow onto the upper surface of the substrate w is avoided; a second fluid supply pipe 6 provided on the first sidewall of the upper cover 1, for supplying a supercritical fluid into the sealed chamber 120 in a supercritical state, replacing the supercritical fluid with IPA covering the surface of the substrate w, and drying the surface of the substrate w in the sealed chamber 120; and a fluid discharge pipe 7 provided on the second side wall of the upper cover 1.

When the first fluid supply pipe 4 is opened, the air and the fluid inside the sealed chamber 120 are discharged out of the sealed chamber 120 through the fluid discharge pipe 7 with the supply of the supercritical fluid, so that the air inside the sealed chamber 120 is completely replaced with the fluid, the supply amount of the supercritical fluid is continuously increased, the pressure inside the sealed chamber 120 is increased to be higher than or equal to the critical pressure, and after the inside of the sealed chamber 120 reaches the supercritical state, the first fluid supply pipe 4 is closed, and the supply of the supercritical fluid from above the sealed chamber 120 is stopped.

When the second fluid supply pipe 6 is opened, the supercritical fluid dries the substrate inside the sealed chamber 120, and at this time, the fluid discharged from the fluid discharge pipe 7 is the supercritical fluid.

After the drying process is completed, the second fluid supply pipe 6 is closed, and the fluid inside the sealed chamber 120 is continuously discharged through the fluid discharge pipe 7, so that the internal pressure of the sealed chamber 120 is reduced, the supercritical fluid inside the sealed chamber 120 is changed into a gas, and the gas is discharged out of the sealed chamber 120 through the fluid discharge pipe 7.

By placing the substrate w on the base 2, the base 2 and the upper cover 1 move relatively to form the closed chamber 120, so that the internal space of the closed chamber 120 can be minimized, the amount of the supercritical fluid can be saved, and the use cost can be reduced.

As shown in fig. 1A to 2B, the supercritical fluid supplied through the first fluid supply pipe 4 is prevented from being directly sprayed onto the upper surface of the substrate w by providing the spoiler 5 between the first fluid supply pipe 4 and the substrate w, thereby preventing IPA on the surface of the substrate from being blown off.

The clearance between the spoiler 5 and the substrate w is smaller than a set value; wherein the set value is 0-10mm; in the present embodiment 1, the most preferable setting value is 2mm, and the setting value may be set smaller, for example, 1mm, in order to further reduce the internal space of the hermetic chamber 120. The smaller the gap between the spoiler 5 and the substrate w is, the smaller the internal space of the closed chamber 120 is, and the higher the efficiency of replacing IPA of the supercritical fluid in the closed chamber 120 and on the surface of the substrate w is, so that the process efficiency of the drying treatment of the surface of the substrate w is effectively improved, the amount of the supercritical fluid is saved, and the use cost is further reduced.

As shown in fig. 1A and 1B, the base 2 and the upper cover 1 are relatively moved in the vertical direction to close a pressure-resistant closed chamber 120; in the embodiment 1, the upper cover 1 is kept stationary, and the base 2 moves upward in the vertical direction to close the pressure-resistant sealed chamber 120. In one embodiment, the substrate tray 3 and the base 2 may be integrally formed.

As shown in fig. 1A, fig. 1B and fig. 2A, the upper cover 1 is provided with a lock 110, which is used for locking the base 2 to lock the sealed chamber 120 when the upper cover 1 and the base 2 move relatively to close the sealed chamber 120, so as to enhance the pressure resistance of the sealed chamber 120. In other embodiments, a lock may be provided on the base 2 to lock the sealed chamber 120.

As shown in fig. 1A and 1B, in the present embodiment 1, the external shape of the upper cover 1 is a square cover, the base 2 is a square plate, and the hollow portion of the closed chamber 120 is a circle for accommodating the substrate w and the substrate tray 3. The hollow part of the closed chamber 120 is set to be circular, so that the internal space of the closed chamber 120 can be reduced, the dosage of the supercritical fluid is saved, and the use cost is reduced.

As shown in fig. 1A, 1B and 2A, the pipe diameter of the second fluid supply pipe 6 is larger than the pipe diameter of the first fluid supply pipe 4, so that the flow rate of the supercritical fluid introduced from the second fluid supply pipe 6 is larger than the flow rate of the supercritical fluid introduced from the first fluid supply pipe 4. The first fluid supply pipe 4 supplies a small flow of supercritical fluid, ensuring that the first fluid supply pipe 4 does not blow off IPA on the surface of the substrate when the supercritical fluid is slowly introduced. The second fluid supply pipe 6 supplies the supercritical fluid with a large flow rate, so that the efficiency of supplying the supercritical fluid by the second fluid supply pipe 6 is increased, the speed of the supercritical fluid drying process is further increased, and the process efficiency of drying the substrate w by the supercritical fluid is improved.

As shown in fig. 2B to fig. 3, a plurality of first through holes 101 are uniformly and horizontally distributed on the first side wall of the upper cover 1, and the first through holes 101 are communicated with the second fluid supply pipe 6, and the supercritical fluid uniformly enters the inside of the closed chamber 120 through the plurality of first through holes 101, so that the supercritical fluid can rapidly and uniformly enter the closed chamber 120, the supply efficiency of the supercritical fluid is effectively increased, the speed of the supercritical fluid drying process is further increased, and the process efficiency of the substrate w surface drying process is improved.

As shown in fig. 2B to 5B, the first sidewall of the upper housing 1 is further provided with a first cavity 102, and the first cavity 102 is communicated with the plurality of first through holes 101. The supercritical fluid entering through the plurality of first through holes 101 can be dispersed inside the first cavity 102, and the dispersed supercritical fluid can be more uniformly distributed on the upper surface of the substrate w, thereby avoiding the phenomenon that the surface of the substrate w receives the supercritical fluid unevenly. And as shown in fig. 5B, fig. 5B is an enlarged schematic view of the dashed box in fig. 5A, a bottom surface of the first cavity 102 is parallel to the upper surface of the substrate w, and more preferably, the bottom surface of the first cavity 102 is flush with the upper surface of the substrate w. Thus, the supercritical fluid introduced from the first through hole 101 can act on the upper surface of the substrate w in parallel through the first cavity 102, thereby saving the amount of the supercritical fluid and avoiding the waste of the supercritical fluid.

In this embodiment 1, as shown in fig. 5B, the first through hole 101 is a conical hole, and an opening of the first through hole 101 toward one end of the first cavity 102 is larger, so as to increase efficiency of introducing the supercritical fluid into the first through hole 101, and further improve a process rate of the surface drying treatment of the substrate w.

Similarly, as shown in fig. 2B to 5B, a plurality of second through holes 103 are uniformly and horizontally distributed on the second sidewall of the upper housing 1, and the second through holes 103 are communicated with the fluid discharge pipe 7, so that the fluid in the sealed chamber 120 can be rapidly discharged out of the sealed chamber 120 through the plurality of second through holes 103, the discharge rate of the fluid is effectively increased, the speed of the supercritical fluid drying process is further increased, and the process efficiency of the substrate w surface drying process is improved.

Meanwhile, as shown in fig. 5A, the second side wall of the upper housing 1 is provided with the second cavity 104, and the bottom surface of the second cavity 104 is parallel to the upper surface of the substrate w, and more preferably, the bottom surface of the second cavity 104 is flush with the upper surface of the substrate w, so that the fluid in the closed chamber 120 can be uniformly and rapidly discharged out of the closed chamber 120 through the second cavity 104 and the plurality of second through holes 103, the process of the supercritical fluid drying process is accelerated, and the process efficiency is improved.

In this embodiment 1, as shown in fig. 5B, the second through hole 103 is a conical hole, and an opening of the second through hole 103 toward one end of the second cavity 104 is larger, so as to increase efficiency of fluid discharged from the second through hole 103, and improve a process rate of the surface drying treatment of the substrate w.

In this embodiment 1, the plurality of first through holes 101 and the plurality of second through holes 103 are uniformly disposed on the two side walls of the upper cover 1, and are respectively communicated with the second fluid supply tube 6 and the fluid discharge tube 7, so that the circulation efficiency of the second fluid supply tube 6 and the fluid discharge tube 7 is effectively increased, the supercritical fluid and the processed fluid are respectively and rapidly introduced into and discharged from the closed chamber 120, the process rate of the supercritical fluid drying process is increased, and the process efficiency of the substrate w surface drying process is effectively improved.

In addition, in this embodiment 1, the first cavity 102 and the second cavity 104, the bottom surfaces of which are parallel to the upper surface of the substrate, are respectively disposed, so that the supercritical fluid introduced from the first through hole 101 can be uniformly distributed on the upper surface of the substrate through the first cavity 102, and the supercritical fluid is uniformly discharged from the second through hole 103 through the second cavity 104, thereby improving the process rate of the supercritical fluid drying process and effectively improving the process efficiency of the surface drying treatment of the substrate w.

The thicknesses (vertical dimensions in the figure) of the first cavity 102 and the second cavity 104 are substantially the same as the gap between the spoiler 5 and the substrate w, and when the gap between the spoiler 5 and the substrate w becomes smaller, the thicknesses of the first cavity 102 and the second cavity 104 can be correspondingly reduced to reduce the internal space of the closed chamber 120, save the usage amount of the supercritical fluid, and reduce the usage cost.

As shown in fig. 1 to 5, a plurality of connecting members 105 for connecting the spoiler 5 and the upper cover 1 are provided between the upper cover 1 and the spoiler 5; in this embodiment 1, there are four connectors 105 evenly distributed around the first fluid supply tube 4.

As shown in fig. 6, a plurality of grooves 301 are formed in the substrate tray 3, so that the plurality of supporting members 9 can conveniently take the substrate w from the substrate tray 3 or load the substrate w on the substrate tray 3, and the number of the grooves 301 corresponds to the number of the supporting members 9. In this embodiment, the number of the grooves 301 is four; as shown in fig. 7B and 8B, the number of the support members 9 is four.

Specifically, as shown in fig. 7A and 8A, the four supports 9 hold up the substrate w by a first driving device 801, such as a motor, and place the substrate w on the substrate tray 3; as shown in fig. 7B and 8B, after the substrate w is placed on the substrate tray 3, the second driving device 802 drives the supporting member 9 to be drawn out from the groove 301 on the substrate tray 3. Then, the third driving device 803 lifts the base 2 upward in the vertical direction, and closes the upper cover 1 to form the closed chamber 120. Then, the lock 110 is inserted below the base 2 so that the substrate w is in the pressure-tight sealed chamber 120, and the subsequent drying process is performed.

After the substrate w is dried, the second driving device 802 drives the supporting members 9 to be inserted into the grooves 301 of the substrate tray 3 so that the supporting members 9 are located at the bottom of the substrate w, and the first driving device 801 drives the supporting members 9 to lift the substrate w, so as to take the substrate w out of the substrate tray 3. In the first embodiment, the supporting element 9 may be a supporting pin or an ejector pin.

As shown in fig. 7A to 8B, the drying apparatus using supercritical fluid is further provided with an IPA replenishing mechanism 10 for replenishing IPA in time when the IPA covering the surface of the substrate w cannot completely cover the surface of the substrate w, so that the IPA on the surface of the substrate w completely covers the surface of the substrate w to have a certain thickness. As shown in fig. 7B and 8B, the nozzle 1011 of the IPA replenishment mechanism 10 is rotatably adjustable, and when the surface of the substrate w needs to be replenished with IPA, the nozzle 1011 of the IPA replenishment mechanism 10 is rotated from the initial position to above the substrate w; after the IPA replenishment is completed, the nozzle 1011 of the IPA replenishment mechanism 10 is rotated to the initial position.

As shown in fig. 1A to fig. 6, the base 2 is further provided with a plurality of sealing rings 201 for sealing the closed chamber 120 when the base 2 and the upper cover 1 move relatively to close the closed chamber 120.

As shown in fig. 1A, 1B and 2, the supercritical fluid-based drying apparatus further includes a heater 11 disposed at an outer periphery of the upper housing 1 for heating the hermetic chamber 120, the first fluid supply tube 4 and the second fluid supply tube 6 so that the entire hermetic chamber 120 reaches a critical temperature or higher at the time of the drying process of the substrate w.

In this example 1, the supercritical fluid is supercritical carbon dioxide.

Example two

Referring to fig. 1A to 8B, a second embodiment of the present invention further provides a drying device based on a supercritical fluid, which is different from the first embodiment in that:

as shown in fig. 1A and 1B, the base 2 and the upper cover 1 are relatively moved in the vertical direction to close a pressure-resistant closed chamber 120; wherein, the base 2 is kept stationary, and the upper cover 1 moves downward along the vertical direction to form a pressure-resistant closed chamber 120.

Other configurations of this embodiment are the same as those of the first embodiment, and are not described herein again.

EXAMPLE III

Referring to fig. 1A to 8B, a third embodiment of the present invention further provides a drying method based on a supercritical fluid, which is implemented based on the drying apparatus based on a supercritical fluid in the first or second embodiment, and the drying method includes the following steps:

s1: the plurality of supporters 9 hold up the substrate w to be dried by the first driving device 801 and place the substrate w on the substrate tray 3. After the substrate w is placed, the support pins 9 are pulled out from the grooves 301 of the substrate tray 3. Then, the base 2 and the upper cover 1 are relatively moved in the vertical direction to close the hermetic chamber 120 that is pressure-resistant, so that the substrate w is inside the hermetic chamber 120. The sealed chamber 120, the first fluid supply pipe 4, and the second fluid supply pipe 6 are heated so that the inside of the sealed chamber 120 becomes a critical temperature or higher.

S2: the supercritical fluid is supplied from above the sealed chamber 120 to the inside of the sealed chamber 120 through the first fluid supply pipe 4, and the fluid bypasses the spoiler 5 below the first fluid supply pipe from above the sealed chamber 120 and reaches the upper surface of the substrate w from the side surface of the substrate w, the pressure inside the sealed chamber 120 is continuously increased by the continuous addition of the supercritical fluid until the pressure inside the sealed chamber 120 is increased to be higher than the critical pressure so that the sealed chamber 120 reaches the supercritical state, and the supercritical fluid is stopped from above the sealed chamber 120 through the first fluid supply pipe 4 after the sealed chamber 120 reaches the supercritical state.

S3: the supercritical fluid is supplied from the first side of the closed chamber 120 to the inside of the closed chamber 120 in the supercritical state through the second fluid supply tube 6, and the drying process is performed on the substrate w.

Wherein, the flow rate of the supercritical fluid introduced by the second fluid supply pipe 6 is larger than that of the supercritical fluid introduced by the first fluid supply pipe 4.

Meanwhile, as shown in fig. 3 to 5B, the second fluid supply pipe 6 sequentially supplies the supercritical fluid from the first side of the hermetic chamber 120 through the plurality of first through holes 101 and the first cavity 102 communicating therewith, and the flow rate angle of the supercritical fluid at the outlet of the first cavity 102 is maintained parallel to the upper surface of the substrate w; the supercritical fluid is sequentially discharged from the second side of the closed chamber 120 through the second cavity 104, the plurality of second through holes 103, and the fluid discharge tube 7, and the flow velocity angle of the supercritical fluid discharged from the second cavity 104 is parallel to the upper surface of the substrate w, so that the amount of the supercritical fluid is saved, and the waste of the supercritical fluid is avoided.

S4: after the drying process is completed, the second fluid supply tube 6 is closed, the supply of the supercritical fluid from the first side of the hermetic chamber 120 is stopped, and the internal pressure of the hermetic chamber 120 is reduced, the supercritical fluid is changed into a gas, and the gas is discharged from the second side of the hermetic chamber 120 through the fluid discharge tube 7.

S5: when the internal pressure of the closed chamber 120 reaches the atmospheric pressure state, the upper cover 1 and the base 2 are relatively moved in the vertical direction to open the closed chamber 120, and the substrate w is lifted up from the groove 301 of the substrate tray 3 by using the support 9 and taken out.

Before the substrate is taken out in step S5, the steps S2 to S4 may be cycled for a plurality of times according to the process requirement, so as to dry the substrate w in the sealed chamber 120 sufficiently.

As shown in fig. 4 to 5B, the supercritical fluid is changed into gas and is sequentially discharged from the second side of the closed chamber 120 through the second cavity 104, the plurality of second through holes 103 and the fluid discharge pipe 7, so that the discharge rate of the fluid discharge pipe 7 is effectively increased, and the process efficiency of the drying process of the substrate w is improved.

Example four

Referring to fig. 9A and 9B, a fourth embodiment of the present invention further provides a cleaning and drying apparatus, including: a substrate load port 001 for placing a substrate w; the buffer device 002; a front end robot 005 for transferring the substrate w between the substrate load port 001 and the buffer device 002; a cleaning chamber 003 for performing a cleaning process on the substrate w; the supercritical fluid-based drying apparatus 004 disclosed in the first or second embodiment is used to dry the cleaned substrate w; as shown in fig. 1A to 8B, the supercritical fluid-based drying apparatus 004 includes: an upper cover 1; a base 2 disposed below the upper cover 1; the base 2 and the upper cover 1 can move relatively along the vertical direction to form a pressure-resistant closed chamber 120; a substrate tray 3 arranged on the base 2 for carrying a substrate w; after the upper cover 1 and the base 2 are closed to form the closed chamber 120, the substrate w is located inside the closed chamber 120; a first fluid supply pipe 4 disposed on the top wall of the upper housing 1, for supplying a supercritical fluid into the sealed chamber 120, wherein the supercritical fluid is continuously added to continuously increase the pressure inside the sealed chamber 120 until the pressure inside the sealed chamber 120 is increased to a value higher than the critical pressure of the fluid supplied from the first fluid supply pipe 4 into the sealed chamber 120, so that the fluid reaches a supercritical state; the spoiler 5 is arranged below the first fluid supply pipe 4 and between the first fluid supply pipe 4 and the substrate w, so that the supercritical fluid entering from the first fluid supply pipe 4 bypasses the spoiler 5 and then reaches the upper surface of the substrate w from the side surface of the substrate w, the impact force of the supercritical fluid is effectively buffered, and the supercritical fluid with overlarge flow is prevented from being directly sprayed to the upper surface of the substrate w; a second fluid supply pipe 6 provided on the first sidewall of the upper housing 1, for supplying a supercritical fluid into the closed chamber 120 in a supercritical state to dry the surface of the substrate w in the closed chamber 120; a fluid discharge pipe 7 provided on the second side wall of the upper cover 1; and a process robot 006 for transferring the substrate w among the buffer device 002, the cleaning chamber 003, and the drying device 004.

Specifically, the front end robot 005 takes out the substrate w to be cleaned from the substrate load port 001 and places it in the buffer device 002; the process robot 006 takes out the substrate w to be cleaned from the buffer device 002, places the substrate w in the cleaning chamber 003, and cleans the substrate w; after the cleaning process is completed, the process robot 006 takes out the cleaned substrate w from the cleaning chamber 003, places the substrate w on the support 9 in the first or second embodiment, places the cleaned substrate w on the substrate tray 3 through the support 9, and dries the cleaned substrate w; after the drying process is completed, the process robot 006 takes the dried substrate w off the support 9, places the substrate w in the buffer device 002, and takes the substrate w out of the buffer device 002 and places the substrate w in the substrate load port 001 by the front end robot 005.

As shown in fig. 9A, a plurality of drying devices 004 based on supercritical fluid are symmetrically arranged on both sides of the process robot 006; as shown in fig. 9B, a plurality of cleaning chambers 003 are disposed below the drying device 004 and correspond to the drying device 004 one by one.

In the fourth embodiment, six drying devices 004 and six cleaning chambers 003 are provided; as shown in fig. 9A, six drying devices 004 are symmetrically disposed along the process robot 006, such that three drying devices 004 are disposed on both sides of the process robot 006, and the cleaning chambers 003 correspond to the drying devices 004 one to one; as shown in fig. 9B, the drying device 004 is disposed above the corresponding cleaning chamber 003, and a plurality of first pipe systems 007 are further disposed above the drying device 004 for supplying the supercritical fluid into the drying device 004, and a plurality of second pipe systems 008 are disposed below the cleaning chamber 003 for supplying the chemical liquid into the cleaning chamber 003.

The cleaning and drying equipment provided by the fourth embodiment sets the drying device 004 above the cleaning chamber 003, so that the process manipulator 006 can directly move the cleaned substrate upwards to the inside of the drying device 004, thereby accelerating the process speed and avoiding the IPA dripping on the surface of the substrate.

EXAMPLE five

Referring to fig. 9A and 9C, a fifth embodiment further provides a cleaning and drying apparatus, which is different from the fourth embodiment in that:

as shown in fig. 9A, the supercritical fluid-based drying apparatus 004 is provided in plurality, and symmetrically arranged at both sides of the process robot 006; as shown in fig. 9C, a plurality of cleaning chambers 003 are disposed above the drying device 004 and correspond to the drying device 004 one by one.

In the fifth embodiment, as shown in fig. 9C, six drying devices 004 are provided, and six cleaning chambers 003 are provided, and are respectively located above the six drying devices 004; as shown in fig. 9A, six drying devices 004 are symmetrically disposed along the process robot 006 such that three drying devices 004 are disposed at both sides of the process robot 006, and the cleaning chambers 003 correspond to the drying devices 004 one to one.

In the fifth embodiment, the drying device 004 is disposed below the cleaning chamber 003, so that the process robot 006 can directly move the cleaned substrate w downward into the drying device 004.

Other configurations of this embodiment are the same as those of the fourth embodiment, and are not described herein again.

Example six

Referring to fig. 10A and 10B, a sixth embodiment further provides a cleaning and drying apparatus, which is different from the fourth embodiment in that:

as shown in fig. 10A, a plurality of drying devices 004 are arranged at the first side of the process robot 006; the plurality of cleaning chambers 003 are arranged at the second side of the process robot 006; the drying devices 004 correspond to the cleaning chambers 003 one by one. Wherein the plurality of drying devices 004 are distributed in a plurality of layers in a vertical direction at the first side of the process robot 006; the plurality of cleaning chambers 003 are distributed in a plurality of layers in a vertical direction at the second side of the process robot 006. In the fifth embodiment, as shown in fig. 10A and 10B, the first side drying devices 004 are six, and the six drying devices 004 are distributed in two layers in the vertical direction at the first side of the process robot 006; a first piping system 007 is further provided under each of the drying devices 004 for supplying the supercritical fluid to the inside of the drying devices 004. On a second side, not shown in fig. 10B, six cleaning chambers 003 are provided, and the six cleaning chambers 003 are distributed in two layers in a vertical direction on the second side of the process robot 006.

EXAMPLE seven

Referring to fig. 11, the seventh embodiment further provides a cleaning and drying apparatus, which is different from the sixth embodiment in that:

a plurality of drying devices 004 arranged at the first side of the process robot 006; the cleaning chambers 003 are plural and arranged at the second side of the process robot 006. Wherein the plurality of drying devices 004 are distributed in a plurality of layers in a vertical direction at the first side of the process robot 006; the plurality of cleaning chambers 003 are distributed in a plurality of layers in a vertical direction at the second side of the process robot 006.

Wherein, the cleaning chamber 003 can be used for single-chip cleaning or tank cleaning; specifically, as shown in fig. 11, the structure for the trough cleaning in the cleaning chamber 003 includes one or more of: chemical bath 0031, fast deionized water rinse bath (DI-QDR) 0032, IPA bath 0033, and inverted IPA wetting mechanism 0034.

Wherein, the chemical liquid in the chemical liquid cleaning tank 0031 can be any one or more of HF, DHF, SC, SPM, phosphoric acid and SC 2; and, according to the process requirement, the chemical liquid cleaning tank 0031 may comprise a plurality of cleaning tanks, and each cleaning tank may contain different chemical liquids. The fast deionized water rinse tank (DI-QDR) 0032 is used to remove particulate impurities and residual chemical solutions from the surface of the substrate to keep the surface of the substrate clean. The IPA tank 0033 removes moisture on the surface of the substrate after the cleaning process is completed, by using the principle of co-dissolving isopropyl alcohol (IPA) and water. The inverting IPA wetting mechanism 0034 is used to keep the substrate surface covered with IPA during the transfer of the substrate from the IPA tank 0033 to the drying apparatus 004.

Specifically, the front end robot 005 takes out the substrate w to be cleaned from the substrate load port 001 and places the substrate w in the buffer device 002; the process robot 006 takes out the substrate w to be cleaned from the buffer device 002, and sequentially places the substrate w in a phosphoric acid cleaning tank 0031, a fast deionized water rinsing tank (DI-QDR) 0032, an IPA tank 0033 and an inverting IPA wetting mechanism 0034 to clean the substrate w; after the cleaning process is completed, the process robot 006 takes out the cleaned substrate w from the cleaning chamber 003, places the substrate w in the drying device 004, and performs a drying process on the cleaned substrate w; after the drying process is completed, the process robot 006 takes out the dried substrate w from the drying device 004, places the substrate w in the buffer device 002, and takes out the substrate w from the buffer device 002 and places the substrate w in the substrate load port 001 by the front end robot 005.

In the seventh embodiment, six drying devices 004 are provided, and the six drying devices 004 are distributed in two layers in the vertical direction on the first side of the process robot 006; the cleaning chambers 003 are two, and the two cleaning chambers 003 are distributed in two layers in a vertical direction at the second side of the process robot 006.

Other configurations of this embodiment are the same as those of the sixth embodiment, and are not described herein again.

Example eight

Referring to fig. 9A and 9B, an eighth embodiment further provides a cleaning and drying apparatus, including: a substrate load port 001 for placing a substrate w; a buffer device 002; a front end robot 005 for transferring the substrate w between the substrate load port 001 and the buffer device 002; a cleaning chamber 003 for performing a cleaning process on the substrate w; a supercritical fluid-based drying device 004 for drying the cleaned substrate w; and a process robot 006 for transferring the substrate w among the buffer device 002, the cleaning chamber 003, and the drying device 004.

Specifically, the front end robot 005 takes out the substrate w to be cleaned from the substrate load port 001 and places the substrate w in the buffer device 002; the process robot 006 takes out the substrate w to be cleaned from the buffer device 002, places the substrate w in the cleaning chamber 003, and cleans the substrate w; after the cleaning process is completed, the process robot 006 takes out the cleaned substrate w from the cleaning chamber 003, places the substrate w in the drying device 004, and performs a drying process on the cleaned substrate w; after the drying process is completed, the process robot 006 takes out the dried substrate w from the drying device 004, places the substrate w in the buffer device 002, and takes out the substrate w from the buffer device 002 and places the substrate w in the substrate load port 001 by the front end robot 005.

As shown in fig. 9A, a plurality of drying devices 004 based on supercritical fluid are symmetrically arranged on both sides of the process robot 006; as shown in fig. 9B, a plurality of cleaning chambers 003 are disposed below the drying devices 004, and correspond to the drying devices 004 one to one.

In the eighth embodiment, six drying devices 004 and six cleaning chambers 003 are provided; as shown in fig. 9A, six drying devices 004 are symmetrically disposed along the process robot 006, such that three drying devices 004 are disposed on both sides of the process robot 006, and the cleaning chambers 003 correspond to the drying devices 004 one to one; as shown in fig. 9B, the drying device 004 is disposed above the corresponding cleaning chamber 003, and a plurality of first pipe systems 007 for supplying the supercritical fluid into the drying device 004 are disposed above the drying device 004, and a plurality of second pipe systems 008 for supplying the chemical liquid into the cleaning chamber 003 are disposed below the cleaning chamber 003.

The eight cleaning and drying equipment that provides of this embodiment sets up drying device 004 in washing chamber 003 top, and inside the direct rebound of base plate after being convenient for process robot 006 will wash to drying device 004, when having accelerated process rate, avoided the IPA drip on the base plate surface.

Example nine

Referring to fig. 9A and 9C, the ninth embodiment further provides a cleaning and drying apparatus, which is different from the eighth embodiment in that:

as shown in fig. 9A, the supercritical fluid-based drying apparatus 004 is provided in plurality, and is symmetrically arranged at both sides of the process robot 006; as shown in fig. 9C, a plurality of cleaning chambers 003 are disposed above the drying device 004 and correspond to the drying device 004 one by one.

In the ninth embodiment, as shown in fig. 9C, six drying devices 004 and six cleaning chambers 003 are correspondingly disposed above the six drying devices 004 respectively; as shown in fig. 9A, six drying devices 004 are symmetrically disposed along the process robot 006 such that three drying devices 004 are disposed at both sides of the process robot 006, and the cleaning chambers 003 correspond to the drying devices 004 one to one. .

Other configurations of this embodiment are the same as those of the eighth embodiment, and are not described herein again.

Example ten

Referring to fig. 10A and 10B, the present embodiment further provides a cleaning and drying apparatus, including: a substrate load port 001 for placing a substrate w; the buffer device 002; a front end robot 005 for transferring the substrate w between the substrate load port 001 and the buffer device 002; a cleaning chamber 003 for performing a cleaning process on the substrate w; a supercritical fluid-based drying device 004 for drying the cleaned substrate w; and a process robot 006 for transferring the substrate w among the buffer device 002, the cleaning chamber 003, and the drying device 004.

Specifically, the front end robot 005 takes out the substrate w to be cleaned from the substrate load port 001 and places it in the buffer device 002; the process robot 006 takes out the substrate w to be cleaned from the buffer device 002, places the substrate w in the cleaning chamber 003, and cleans the substrate w; after the cleaning process is completed, the process robot 006 takes out the cleaned substrate w from the cleaning chamber 003, places the substrate w in the drying device 004, and performs a drying process on the cleaned substrate w; after the drying process is completed, the process robot 006 takes out the dried substrate w from the drying device 004, places the substrate w in the buffer device 002, and takes out the substrate w from the buffer device 002 and places the substrate w in the substrate load port 001 by the front end robot 005.

As shown in fig. 10A, the drying device 004 is plural and arranged at the first side of the process robot 006; the plurality of cleaning chambers 003 are arranged at the second side of the process robot 006; the drying devices 004 correspond to the cleaning chambers 003 one by one. Wherein the plurality of drying devices 004 are distributed in a plurality of layers in a vertical direction at the first side of the process robot 006; the plurality of cleaning chambers 003 are distributed in a plurality of layers in a vertical direction at the second side of the process robot 006.

In the tenth embodiment, as shown in fig. 10A and 10B, the drying devices 004 are six, and the six drying devices 004 are distributed in two layers in the vertical direction at the first side of the process robot 006; a first pipeline system 007 is further arranged below each layer of drying devices 004 and used for supplying supercritical fluid to the interior of the drying devices 004; the number of the cleaning chambers 003 is six, and the six cleaning chambers 003 are distributed in two layers in a vertical direction at the second side of the process robot 006.

EXAMPLE eleven

Referring to fig. 11, the eleventh embodiment further provides a cleaning and drying apparatus, which is different from the tenth embodiment in that:

a plurality of drying devices 004 arranged at a first side of the process robot 006; the cleaning chambers 003 are plural and arranged at the second side of the process robot 006.

Wherein, the chemical liquid in the chemical liquid cleaning tank 0031 can be any one or more of HF, DHF, SC1, SPM, phosphoric acid and SC 2; and, according to the process requirement, the chemical liquid cleaning tank 0031 may comprise a plurality of cleaning tanks, and each cleaning tank may contain different chemical liquids. The fast deionized water rinse tank (DI-QDR) 0032 is used to remove particulate impurities and residual chemical solutions from the surface of the substrate to keep the surface of the substrate clean. The IPA tank 0033 removes moisture on the surface of the substrate after the cleaning process is completed, by using the principle of co-dissolving isopropyl alcohol (IPA) and water. The inverting IPA wetting mechanism 0034 is used to keep the substrate surface covered with IPA during the transfer of the substrate from the IPA tank 0033 to the drying apparatus 004.

Specifically, the front end robot 005 takes out the substrate w to be cleaned from the substrate load port 001 and places the substrate w in the buffer device 002; the process robot 006 takes out the substrate w to be cleaned from the buffer device 002, and sequentially places the substrate w in a phosphoric acid cleaning tank 0031, a rapid deionized water flushing tank (DI-QDR) 0032, an IPA tank 0033 and an overturning IPA wetting mechanism 0034 to clean the substrate w; after the cleaning process is completed, the process robot 006 takes out the cleaned substrate w from the cleaning chamber 003, places the substrate w in the drying apparatus 004, and performs a drying process on the cleaned substrate w; after the drying process is completed, the process robot 006 takes out the dried substrate w from the drying device 004, places the substrate w in the buffer device 002, and takes out the substrate w from the buffer device 002 by the front end robot 005 and places the substrate w on the substrate load port 001.

In the eleventh embodiment, there are six drying devices 004, and the six drying devices 004 are distributed in two layers in the vertical direction at the first side of the process robot 006; the cleaning chambers 003 are two, and the two cleaning chambers 003 are distributed in two layers in a vertical direction at the second side of the process robot 006.

Other configurations of this embodiment are the same as those of the embodiment, and are not described herein again.

While the present invention has been described in detail with reference to the preferred embodiments, it should be understood that the above description should not be taken as limiting the invention. Various modifications and alterations to this invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art upon reading the foregoing description. Accordingly, the scope of the invention should be determined from the following claims.

Claims

1. A supercritical fluid-based drying apparatus, comprising:

an upper cover;

the substrate tray is arranged on the base and used for bearing a substrate;

a spoiler disposed below the first fluid supply pipe;

a second fluid supply pipe disposed on the first sidewall of the upper housing, for supplying supercritical fluid into the closed chamber in a supercritical state to dry the substrate in the closed chamber;

and a fluid discharge pipe provided to the second sidewall of the upper cover.

2. The supercritical fluid-based drying apparatus according to claim 1 wherein the gap between the spoiler and the base plate is less than a set value.

3. The supercritical fluid-based drying apparatus according to claim 2 wherein the set value is 0-10mm.

4. The supercritical fluid-based drying apparatus according to claim 1, wherein a plurality of first through holes are uniformly and horizontally distributed on the first sidewall of the upper housing, and the plurality of first through holes are communicated with the second fluid supply tube for the supercritical fluid to uniformly enter the inside of the closed chamber through the plurality of first through holes.

5. The supercritical fluid-based drying apparatus according to claim 4, wherein a first cavity is further disposed on the first sidewall of the upper housing, and a bottom surface of the first cavity is parallel to the upper surface of the substrate, for uniformly distributing the supercritical fluid introduced from the first through hole on the upper surface of the substrate after passing through the first cavity.

6. The supercritical fluid-based drying apparatus according to claim 4 wherein the first through hole is a conical hole.

7. The supercritical fluid-based drying apparatus according to claim 1, wherein a plurality of second through holes are uniformly and horizontally distributed on the second sidewall of the upper housing, and the plurality of second through holes are communicated with the fluid discharge pipe.

8. The supercritical fluid-based drying apparatus according to claim 7, wherein a second cavity is further provided on the second sidewall of the upper housing, and a bottom surface of the second cavity is parallel to the upper surface of the substrate.

9. The supercritical fluid-based drying apparatus according to claim 7 wherein the second through hole is a conical hole.

10. The supercritical fluid-based drying apparatus according to claim 1 wherein the conduit diameter of the second fluid supply conduit is larger than the conduit diameter of the first fluid supply conduit.

11. The supercritical fluid-based drying apparatus according to claim 1 wherein the upper housing is stationary and the base is adapted to move upward in a vertical direction to close the closed chamber.

12. The supercritical fluid-based drying apparatus according to claim 1 wherein the base is stationary and the upper housing is adapted to move downward in a vertical direction to close into the closed chamber.

13. The supercritical fluid-based drying apparatus according to claim 1 wherein the upper housing is provided with a latch for latching the base to latch the closed chamber when the upper housing and the base are relatively moved to close the closed chamber.

14. The supercritical fluid-based drying apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the external shape of the upper cover is a square cover, the base is a square plate, and the hollow portion of the closed chamber is a circular shape.

15. The supercritical fluid-based drying apparatus according to claim 1 wherein the supercritical fluid is supercritical carbon dioxide.

16. The supercritical fluid-based drying apparatus according to claim 1 wherein the base is integrally formed with the substrate tray.

17. A supercritical fluid-based drying method, comprising the steps of:

step S2: supplying supercritical fluid from the upper part of the closed chamber through a first fluid supply pipe, wherein the fluid bypasses a spoiler below the first fluid supply pipe and reaches the upper surface of the substrate from the side surface of the substrate, and the supercritical fluid is stopped from being supplied from the upper part of the closed chamber after the closed chamber reaches a supercritical state;

and step S3: supplying the supercritical fluid from a first side of the hermetic chamber through a second fluid supply tube to perform a drying process on the substrate;

and step S4: after the drying process is finished, closing the second fluid supply pipe, reducing the internal pressure of the closed chamber, and discharging the supercritical fluid into gas out of the closed chamber from the second side of the closed chamber through a fluid discharge pipe;

18. The supercritical fluid-based drying method according to claim 17, wherein the steps S2 to S4 are performed in a plurality of cycles before the substrate is taken out in the step S5.

19. The supercritical fluid-based drying method according to claim 17, wherein the second fluid supply pipe supplies the supercritical fluid from the first side of the hermetic chamber at a flow rate angle parallel to the upper surface of the substrate.

20. The supercritical fluid-based drying method according to claim 17, wherein the supercritical fluid discharged from the fluid discharge tube has a flow velocity angle parallel to the upper surface of the substrate.

21. The supercritical fluid-based drying method according to claim 17, wherein the flow rate at which the supercritical fluid is supplied from the second fluid supply pipe is greater than the flow rate at which the supercritical fluid is supplied from the first fluid supply pipe.

22. A washing and drying apparatus, comprising:

a substrate loading port for placing a substrate;

a cache device;

a front end robot to transfer the substrate between the substrate load port and the buffer device;

a cleaning chamber for performing a cleaning process on the substrate;

a supercritical fluid-based drying device for drying the cleaned substrate; the drying device includes:

an upper cover;

the substrate tray is arranged on the base and used for bearing the substrate;

a spoiler disposed below the first fluid supply pipe;

a second fluid supply pipe disposed on the first sidewall of the upper housing, for supplying the supercritical fluid into the closed chamber in a supercritical state to dry the substrate in the closed chamber;

a fluid discharge pipe provided at a second sidewall of the upper cover;

a process robot to transfer the substrate between the buffer device, the cleaning chamber, and the drying device.

23. The cleaning and drying apparatus of claim 22, wherein said drying means is a plurality of drying means symmetrically arranged on both sides of said process robot; the cleaning chambers are arranged above or below the drying device and correspond to the drying device one by one.

24. The cleaning and drying apparatus of claim 23, wherein the number of the drying devices is six, and three drying devices are disposed on each of both sides of the process robot; the number of the cleaning chambers is six, and the cleaning chambers correspond to the drying devices one to one.

25. The cleaning and drying apparatus of claim 22, wherein said drying device is disposed on a first side of said process robot; the cleaning chamber is arranged on the second side of the process mechanical arm; the drying devices correspond to the cleaning chambers one to one.

26. The cleaning and drying apparatus of claim 25, wherein the cleaning chamber is used for single-wafer cleaning or slot cleaning.

27. The washing and drying apparatus of claim 26, wherein the washing chamber includes one or more of the following features for the trough wash: chemical liquid washing tank, quick deionized water washing tank, IPA tank and upset IPA wetting mechanism.

28. The cleaning and drying apparatus of claim 25, wherein said drying means is plural, and is distributed in a plurality of layers in a vertical direction on said first side of said process robot; the cleaning chambers are distributed in a plurality of layers along the vertical direction at the second side of the process manipulator.

29. The cleaning and drying apparatus of claim 28, wherein the number of drying devices is six, and the six drying devices are distributed in two layers in a vertical direction on the first side of the process robot; the number of the cleaning chambers is six, and the six cleaning chambers are distributed into two layers on the second side of the process manipulator along the vertical direction.

30. A washing and drying apparatus, comprising:

a substrate loading port for placing a substrate;

a cache device;

a cleaning chamber for performing a cleaning process on the substrate;

a supercritical fluid-based drying device for drying the cleaned substrate;

a process robot for transferring substrates among the buffer device, the cleaning chamber, and the drying device;

31. A washing and drying apparatus, comprising:

a substrate loading port for placing a substrate;

a cache device;

a cleaning chamber for performing a cleaning process on the substrate;

a supercritical fluid-based drying device for drying the cleaned substrate;

a process robot for transferring the substrate among the buffer device, the cleaning chamber and the drying device;

wherein the drying device is arranged at a first side of the process robot;

the cleaning chamber is arranged on the second side of the process mechanical arm;

the drying devices correspond to the cleaning chambers one to one.

32. The cleaning and drying apparatus of claim 31, wherein said drying means is plural, and is distributed in a plurality of layers in a vertical direction on said first side of said process robot; the cleaning chambers are multiple and are distributed in multiple layers on the second side of the process manipulator along the vertical direction.

33. The cleaning and drying apparatus of claim 31, wherein the cleaning chamber is used for single-wafer cleaning or slot cleaning.

34. The cleaning and drying apparatus of claim 33, wherein the cleaning chamber includes one or more of the following features for the trough cleaning: chemical liquid washing tank, quick deionized water washing tank, IPA tank and upset IPA wetting mechanism.