JP2000012416A - Substrate processor - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a substrate processor using a processing recipe for facilitating the change of data contents. SOLUTION: The control part of the substrate processor controls the operation of respective operating parts in accordance with a processing recipe 25. The operating procedures and operating conditions of respective parts are specified in the processing recipe 25. As the operating conditions, the operating time of each operating part, the number of times of operation repeated and the class of a processing solution to be supplied are specified. A variable or variable expression can be set for the operating conditions. By applying prescribed numerical data to each variable, the respective operating parts can perform different kinds of processings, while the single processing recipe 25 is utilized.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a substrate processing apparatus controlled based on a processing recipe.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In a manufacturing process of semiconductor wafers, glass substrates for photomasks, glass substrates for liquid crystal display devices, substrates for optical disks, etc., various substrate processing apparatuses are used. In the substrate processing apparatus, the control unit performs predetermined processing on the substrate by controlling the operation of each operation unit according to a processing recipe.

FIG. 8 is a schematic diagram showing the structure of a developing device as an example of a conventional substrate processing apparatus. The developing device in FIG. 8 includes a rotation drive mechanism 30A that drives the substrate W to rotate, and a supply mechanism 30B that supplies a developer to the substrate W. The rotation driving mechanism 30A includes a substrate holding unit 31 that holds the substrate W, and a motor 32 that rotates the substrate holding unit 31. Further, the supply mechanism 30B is provided with the developer discharge nozzle 3
3, support arm 34, nozzle drive mechanism 35, liquid feed pipe 3
6, an on-off valve 37 and a developer tank 38. The developer discharge nozzle 33 is formed so as to be movable between a position above the center of the substrate W and a standby position outside the substrate W by the nozzle driving mechanism 35.

A waiting pot 39 is provided at the waiting position. In the standby pot 39, a suction block 40 for sucking and removing the developer adhering to the tip of the cylindrical developer discharge nozzle 33 and a suction pipe 41 connected to the suction block 40 are provided. An on-off valve 41 a is provided in the suction pipe 41.

In the developing device, a motor 32 of the rotary drive mechanism 30A, a motor 35a of the nozzle drive mechanism 35, an opening / closing valve 37 in the liquid supply pipe 36, an opening / closing valve 41a in the suction pipe 41, and other operating parts are a control section 42. It is connected to the.

The developing device stores a processing recipe. In the processing recipe, operation procedures and operation conditions of each operation unit of the developing device are defined in advance. Then, the control unit 42 controls the operation of each operation unit according to the processing recipe.

When the developing device is on standby, the developing solution discharge nozzle 33 is stationary in the standby pot 39. Also,
When supplying the developer, the developer discharge nozzle 33 moves from the standby pot 39 to a position above the center of the substrate W, and discharges the developer onto the surface of the substrate W. Further, when the discharge of the developer is completed, the developer discharge nozzle 33 returns to the standby pot 39 from the position above the center of the substrate W again and stands by.

Further, at the time of standby, the dispensing operation of the developer is performed. The dispensing operation is to discharge the developer from the developer discharge nozzle 33 in the standby pot 39,
This is a process of discarding the developer stored inside the developer discharge nozzle 33. At the time of standby, the developer near the discharge port of the developer discharge nozzle 33 that comes into contact with the outside air may be deteriorated with time. Therefore, the deteriorated developer is discarded,
The dispensing operation is performed so that a uniform developing solution can always be discharged from the developing solution discharge nozzle 33. In particular, the dispensing operation during standby before discharging the developer is referred to as a pre-dispensing operation, and the dispensing operation during standby after discharging the developer is referred to as an after-dispensing operation.

At the time of standby, a dropping operation is performed together with a dispensing operation. The droplet removal operation is performed to remove the developer droplets attached to the tip of the developer discharge nozzle 33 and to keep the outer surface of the tip of the developer discharge nozzle 33 clean. In the dropping operation, the opening / closing valve 41 a is opened under the control of the control unit 42, and as shown by a broken line, the developing block adhering to the tip of the developing solution discharge nozzle 33 The liquid droplets are removed by suction.

The above dispensing operation and dropping operation are performed according to a processing recipe. In the processing recipe, the opening / closing time of the opening / closing valve 37 of the liquid supply pipe 36 for the dispensing operation and the opening / closing valve 41 of the suction conduit 41 for the dropping operation are set.
The opening and closing time of a is specified.

FIG. 9 is an explanatory diagram of the operation at the time of standby based on the processing recipe. The horizontal axis in FIG. 9 indicates the operation time for each processing step. The processing steps are set separately for each start and stop of each operation unit. That is, the processing step s1 sets a processing period from when the open / close valve 41a of the suction pipe line 41 is opened to when the open / close valve 37 of the liquid feed pipe 36 is opened. Processing step s2
After the on-off valve 37 of the liquid supply pipe 36 is opened, the on-off valve 3
A processing period until 7 is closed is set. Further, the processing step s3 sets a processing period from when the on-off valve 37 of the liquid feed pipe 36 is closed to when the on-off valve 41a of the suction conduit 41 is closed.

In the processing step s1, a droplet removing operation is performed. In the processing step s2, a developing solution discharging operation and a droplet removing operation are performed. Done.

[0013]

As described above, in a conventional substrate processing apparatus, operating conditions such as processing time in a processing recipe are given as numerical data.

On the other hand, in recent years, the diameter of a substrate has been increased, and the element structure formed on the substrate has been miniaturized. For this reason, it is strongly demanded that the developing device perform the developing process uniformly over the entire surface of the substrate. Therefore, a slit nozzle having a linear discharge port suitable for uniformly supplying a developing solution to a large-diameter substrate has been proposed.

However, this slit nozzle is
Compared to the conventional cylindrical developer discharge nozzle 33, new operations such as a water washing operation of the nozzle tip and an operation of removing air bubbles generated inside the nozzle, which are not conventionally required, are required. The operation of the device is complicated. For this reason, the setting work of the processing recipe becomes complicated.

Further, with the diversification of substrate diameters and processing processes, processing conditions required for a substrate processing apparatus have been diversified. For this reason, it is necessary to prepare various kinds of processing recipes in advance according to the diversification of the substrate diameter and the processing process.
Setting the processing recipe in the substrate processing apparatus tends to be complicated.

An object of the present invention is to provide a substrate processing apparatus using a processing recipe in which data contents can be easily changed.

[0018]

Means for Solving the Problems and Effects of the Invention A substrate processing apparatus according to a first aspect of the present invention includes an operating unit that operates to perform predetermined processing on a substrate, and a plurality of operating units that control the operation of the operating unit. Storage means for storing a processing recipe having data; and control means for controlling the operation of the operation unit based on the processing recipe stored in the storage means, wherein the plurality of data of the processing recipe includes a variable or a variable expression. It is a thing.

In the substrate processing apparatus according to the first invention, the control means controls the operation of the operation section based on the processing recipe. In the processing recipe, a variable or a variable expression can be set as data for controlling the operation of the operation unit. For this reason, when the type of the substrate, the processing condition, or the like changes, a numerical value corresponding to the change is given to a variable or a variable expression, so that the operation unit performs various operations without newly creating a processing recipe. be able to. This allows the substrate processing apparatus to perform various operations with a simple operation.

A substrate processing apparatus according to a second aspect of the present invention is the substrate processing apparatus according to the first aspect, further comprising setting means for setting a predetermined numerical value to a variable or a variable expression included in the processing recipe. It is.

In this case, the data of the processing recipe can be easily changed by giving a numerical value to the variable or the variable formula of the processing recipe by the setting means.

The substrate processing apparatus according to a third aspect of the present invention is the substrate processing apparatus according to the second aspect of the present invention, further comprising a storage unit for storing a plurality of numerical values, wherein the setting unit stores the numerical values stored in the storage unit. Is set to a variable or variable expression.

In this case, by storing the numerical values corresponding to the processing under various conditions in the storage means, the numerical values read from the storage means are given to the variables or variable expressions of the processing recipe, and the data of the processing recipe is changed. Thus, various operations can be easily switched and performed.

[0024]

FIG. 1 is a plan view of a developing device as an example of a substrate processing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a sectional view taken along line XX in FIG. Is Y in FIG.
FIG. 4 is a sectional view taken along the line Z-Z in FIG. 1.

As shown in FIGS. 1 to 4, the developing device includes a substrate holding unit 1 for holding the substrate W by suction in a horizontal posture.
The substrate holding unit 1 is fixed to a tip of a rotating shaft 3 of a motor 2 and is configured to be rotatable around a vertical axis.
Around the substrate holding portion 1, a circular inner cup 4a is provided so as to be vertically movable so as to surround the substrate W. A square outer cup 4 is provided around the inner cup 4a.
b is provided.

As shown in FIG. 1, standby pots 6a and 6b are arranged on both sides of the outer cup 4b, respectively, and a guide rail 8 is arranged on one side of the outer cup 4b. The nozzle arm 9 is provided so as to be movable in the scanning direction A and the opposite direction along the guide rail 8 by the arm driving unit 10. A pure water discharge nozzle 12 for discharging pure water is provided on the other side of the outer cup 4b so as to be rotatable in the direction of arrow R.

The nozzle arm 9 is provided with the developer discharging nozzle 1
1 is mounted perpendicular to the guide rail 8. Thus, the developing solution discharge nozzle 11 can move in a straight line in the scanning direction A from the position of the standby pot 6a to the position of the standby pot 6b through the substrate W.

As shown in FIG. 2, the developing solution discharge nozzle 11
Is supplied with a developer by a developer supply system 14. The developer supply system 14 contains a developer tank 17. A liquid feed pipe 18 for supplying a developer to the developer discharge nozzle 11 is connected to the developer tank 17.
An on-off valve 16 is provided in the middle of 8.

2 and 4, the developing solution discharge nozzle 11 is constituted by a slit nozzle having a slit discharge port 15 extending linearly. Inside the developing solution discharge nozzle 5, a hollow developing solution reservoir 11a is formed. The upper surface of the developer pool 11a is
The bubble 24 is formed to incline toward the opening of the waste liquid pipe 7 so that the bubbles 24 generated in a are guided to the waste liquid pipe 7. The developing solution supplied through the liquid feeding pipe 18 passes through the developing solution reservoir 11 a and is discharged from the slit-shaped discharge port 15.
The discharge amount of the developer from the developer discharge nozzle 11 is adjusted by the pressure applied to the developer tank 17, the opening degree of the on-off valve 16, and the like.

A waste liquid pipe 7 is provided on the upper surface of the developing solution discharge nozzle 11.
Is connected. The upstream end of the waste liquid pipe 7 communicates with the developer reservoir 11 a of the developer discharge nozzle 11. The downstream end of the waste liquid pipe 7 is connected to an external waste liquid treatment facility. A waste liquid pipe opening / closing valve 19 is provided in the middle of the waste liquid pipe 7, and the opening / closing operation of the waste liquid pipe opening / closing valve 19 controls the operation of releasing air from the developer discharge nozzle 11.

As shown in FIG. 3, the developing solution discharge nozzle 11
Stands still inside the waiting pot 6a. A standby block 20 is arranged inside the standby pot 6a.
On the upper surface of the standby block 20, a V-shaped concave portion 20a is formed along the tip shape of the developer discharge nozzle 11.
A suction line 23 is connected to the standby block 20.
The upstream end of the suction pipe 23 is opened at the bottom of the concave portion 20a corresponding to the lower end of the developer discharge nozzle 11, and the downstream end is connected to an external suction source. In addition, a suction opening / closing valve 23 a is arranged in the suction pipe 23. This suction line 2
3, the developer discharge nozzle 11
The droplets (developer or pure water) attached to the tip of the nozzle can be sucked and removed from the tip of the developer discharge nozzle 11.

The standby block 20 includes a pure water supply pipe 2.
1 is connected. The downstream end of the pure water supply pipe 21 communicates with a plurality of discharge holes opened on the inclined surface of the concave portion 20a of the standby block 20, and the upstream end is connected to an external pure water supply source. Further, a supply opening / closing valve 21a is provided in the pure water supply pipe 21.
Is arranged. When pure water is supplied to the standby block 20 through the pure water supply pipe 21, the pure water is jetted to the developer discharge nozzle 11 from a discharge hole formed on the inclined surface of the concave portion 20 a of the standby block 20. Thereby, the surface of the distal end portion of the developer discharge nozzle 11 can be cleaned.

The standby pot 6b shown in FIG.
A standby block having the same configuration as the standby block 20 is provided.

The processing recipe is stored in a storage device 50 composed of a hard disk device, a floppy disk device, a semiconductor memory or the like, and defines the operation procedure and operation condition data of each operation section of the developing device.

The control unit 13 reads the processing recipe from the storage device 50, and according to the processing recipe, the motor 2, the arm driving unit 10, the on / off valve 16 in the liquid feeding pipe 18, the waste liquid pipe opening / closing valve 19 of the waste liquid pipe 7, the suction pipe. The operation of the suction on-off valve 23a of the passage 23 and the supply on-off valve 21a of the pure water pipe supply pipe 21 is controlled.

In this embodiment, the motor 2, the arm drive unit 10, the on / off valve 16 in the liquid feed pipe 18, the waste liquid pipe open / close valve 19 for the waste liquid pipe 7, the suction open / close valve 23a of the suction pipe 23, and the pure water pipe supply The supply opening / closing valve 21a of the pipe 21 corresponds to an operating unit of the present invention, the storage device 50 corresponds to a storage unit and a storage unit, and the control unit 13 corresponds to a control unit and a setting unit.

Hereinafter, the operation of the developing device according to the processing recipe will be described. Here, as an operation example of the developing device,
The dispensing operation during standby will be described. The dispensing operation includes a process performed before the step of discharging the developer onto the substrate W (pre-dispensing operation), a process performed after the discharging (after-dispensing operation), and a process performed periodically during standby (auto-dispensing operation). There is.

FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram showing a processing recipe of the dispensing operation, and FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram showing the dispensing operation of FIG. In the dispensing operation, the operations of dropping, bleeding air, and washing with water are performed individually or overlapped with the developer discharging operation.

The developing solution discharging operation is performed by the developing solution discharging nozzle 11.
This is an operation of discharging the developer from the nozzle and discarding the developer stored at the tip of the developer discharge nozzle 11. The dropping operation is an operation of sucking and removing the developer droplets and washing droplets attached to the tip of the developer discharge nozzle 11. The air bleed operation is an operation of discharging bubbles generated in the developer pool 11 a of the developer discharge nozzle 11 to the outside through the waste liquid pipe 7. Further, the water washing operation is an operation in which pure water is jetted to the tip of the developer discharge nozzle 11 to perform washing.

The processing recipe 25 shown in FIG. 5 defines the operation procedure and operating conditions of the above-described developer discharge, droplet removal, air release and water washing. In the processing recipe 25, the processing steps indicate the order of operation. This processing step is set separately for each start and stop of each operation unit. T1 indicates the time in each processing step. C1 to C4 indicate the type of the processing solution, and C1 to C4
No. 101 in each column indicates the discharge of the developing solution.
Indicates dropping, 123 indicates air bleeding, and 105 indicates washing with water.

Further, the number of repetitions defines the number of times each process up to the process step is repeated, and the jump destination indicates the number of the first process step of the process to be repeated.

In the processing recipe 25, the processing time T1 of the processing step S3 is represented by a variable expression (x-3).
Further, the number of repetitions is indicated by a variable expression (y-1).

5 and 6, at the time of the dispensing operation, the dropping operation is started first. The dropping operation is performed from processing step S1 to processing step S5.

One second after the start of the dropping operation, the developing solution discharging operation and the air releasing operation are started. The developing solution discharge operation is continued for x (= 3.0 + x-3) seconds (processing steps S2 and S3). The air bleeding operation is continued for 3 seconds (processing step S2). Further, each operation from the processing step S1 to the processing step S4 is further (y-
1) Repeated times.

Thereafter, the water washing process is started. The water washing process is continued for 5 seconds (processing steps S5 and S6).
The dropping operation is stopped one second after the start of the water washing operation.

Further, after the washing operation is stopped, a dropping operation is performed for 5 seconds (processing step S7).

In the processing recipe 25 described above, the duration (x-3) of the developing solution discharging operation in the processing step 3 and the number of repetitions (y-1) of the processing steps S1 to S4 are defined using a variable expression. . Therefore, the control unit 13
By setting desired values for the variables x and y of the variable expression, the operation of each processing step can be arbitrarily controlled. This makes it possible to use one processing recipe 25 to perform processing in which the developer discharge time and the number of repetitions of the developer discharge, drop collection, and air removal operations are different.

For the variables of the variable formulas set in the processing recipe 25, a data file storing various numerical data according to the processing conditions is stored in the storage device 50, and is stored in the storage device 50. The control unit 13 may select and substitute the corresponding numerical data from the data file,
Alternatively, the operator may input numerical data directly from the input unit of the substrate processing apparatus, and the control unit 13 may substitute and set the numerical data based on the numerical data.

Further, in the above-described embodiment, an example has been described in which variables are set in the processing recipe that defines the dispensing operation of the developing device. However, the present invention is not limited to this. The present invention can also be applied to a substrate processing apparatus.

For example, FIG. 7 is an explanatory view showing a processing recipe of a rotary coating apparatus. Rotary coating device processing recipe 2
In 6, the rotation time, the number of rotation processes, and the number of rotations are set by variables x, y, and z, respectively. On the other hand, a data file 27 having different numerical data is prepared. The data file 27 is stored in the storage device 50. Then, the data file 2 for each substrate or each lot of the substrate
Numerical data is sequentially input to each of the variables x, y, and z from 7, and the substrate can be rotated in different states.

This makes it easy to change the rotation processing state of the substrate for each substrate or for each lot. Further, the method using the processing recipe 26 and the data file 27 makes it possible to easily perform the trial processing for determining the processing conditions of the substrate.

Further, instead of each variable of the processing recipe 26, a variable expression may be set. For example, assuming that the number of processing steps is n, a mathematical expression that increases or decreases the number of rotations or rotation time for each processing step, for example, (1000+
10 × n (rpm)) and the rotation time is (10 + 2 × n
(Seconds)).

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a plan view of a developing device as an example of a substrate processing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a sectional view taken along line XX in FIG.

FIG. 3 is a sectional view taken along line YY in FIG.

FIG. 4 is a sectional view taken along line ZZ in FIG.

FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram showing a processing recipe of a dispensing operation.

FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram showing an operation of the dispensing operation of FIG. 5;

FIG. 7 is an explanatory diagram of a processing recipe of the rotary coating device.

FIG. 8 is a schematic diagram illustrating a configuration of a developing device as an example of a conventional substrate processing apparatus.

FIG. 9 is an explanatory diagram of an operation at the time of standby based on a processing recipe.

[Explanation of symbols]

 6a, 6b Standby pot 7 Waste liquid pipe 11 Developing solution discharge nozzle 18 Liquid feed pipe 16 Open / close valve 19 Waste liquid pipe open / close valve 13 Control unit 20 Standby block 21 Pure water supply pipe 21a Supply open / close valve 23 Suction pipe line 23a Suction open / close valve 25, 26 processing recipe 27 data file 50 storage device

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁷ Identification symbol FI Theme coat ゛ (Reference) H01L 21/30 502G

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. An operation unit that operates to perform a predetermined process on a substrate; a storage unit that stores a processing recipe having a plurality of data for controlling the operation of the operation unit; and a storage unit that is stored in the storage unit. A control unit for controlling the operation of the operation unit based on the processing recipe, wherein the plurality of data of the processing recipe include a variable or a variable expression. 2. The substrate processing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising setting means for setting a predetermined numerical value to said variable or said variable expression included in said processing recipe. 3. The apparatus according to claim 2, further comprising storage means for storing a plurality of numerical values, wherein said setting means sets said numerical values stored in said storage means in said variable or said variable expression. Substrate processing equipment.