JP2000068351A - Substrate processing apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To reduce the size of an apparatus and to improve its throughput and processing efficiency. SOLUTION: An interface unit 31 is inserted between a coater 11 and an aligner 21. The coater 11 coats a photoresist onto a wafer, which is the object to be processed. The aligner 21 transfers a mask pattern image onto the resist- coated wafer. The unit 31, having a pre-alignment station 33, that aligns the wafer attitude with a prescribed reference on a preparatory basis, pre-aligns the resist-coated wafer. The pre-aligned wafer is transferred to an aligning section 24 of the aligner 21, by a loading slider 25 with its attitude maintained pre-aligned.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a microdevice such as a semiconductor device or a liquid crystal display device, which is sequentially subjected to processes such as application of a photosensitive material, transfer of a pattern, and development to a thin substrate such as a semiconductor wafer or a glass substrate. The present invention relates to a substrate processing apparatus to be manufactured.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art When a semiconductor device is manufactured using a lithography process, a semiconductor wafer (hereinafter simply referred to as "wafer") is used.
A coater (coating device) for applying a photoresist on the surface, a stepper (exposure device) for projecting and transferring a pattern image of a reticle (mask) onto a wafer coated with the photoresist to form a latent image of the pattern, And a substrate processing apparatus including a developer (developing device) for developing a latent image formed on the wafer.

In such a substrate processing apparatus, the transfer of wafers between the coater and the stepper and between the stepper and the developer is performed collectively by using a wafer carrier (wafer cassette) capable of storing a plurality of wafers. In some cases, the wafers are individually transferred to or from a coater or the like arranged near the stepper in a form in which the wafers are used. In recent years, the use of a wafer carrier has been abolished in order to improve productivity and reduce the size of the apparatus, and wafers have been directly transferred between a stepper and a coater. (Inline-dedicated devices) have come to be used. According to such an inline-dedicated apparatus, there is no need to provide a space necessary for installing a wafer carrier on the stepper, so that the stepper can be downsized, and thus the entire substrate processing apparatus can be downsized. .

In a stepper, a wafer transferred from a coater is transported by a transport device to an exposure processing section (a position where a pattern image is projected and transferred onto the wafer), and the wafer is introduced into the exposure processing section. Prior to this, pre-alignment is performed to preliminarily and roughly align the attitude of the wafer with a predetermined reference.

[0005] The pre-alignment is performed as follows. The wafer is provided with external features such as an orientation flat (orientation flat) which is a flat surface formed on a part of the outer periphery of the wafer or a notch which is a notch formed on a part of the outer periphery of the wafer. There are certain criteria. Then, the orientation flat or the notch and the outer periphery of the wafer are detected by a plurality of optical sensors, image pickup devices, and the like, and based on the detection results, two-dimensional movement in the X-axis direction and the Y-axis direction (approximately The movement in a parallel plane) and the rotation of the wafer around the Z axis (rotation about an axis substantially perpendicular to the surface of the wafer) are performed so as to match a predetermined reference. The pre-alignment is performed by a pre-alignment apparatus provided on a wafer transfer path from a wafer loading position in a stepper to an exposure processing unit.

[0006]

As described above, conventionally, in a pre-alignment apparatus provided on a wafer transfer path in an exposure apparatus, pre-alignment for preliminarily and roughly aligning a wafer to a predetermined reference is performed. Had the following problems.

That is, since a dedicated space for performing pre-alignment is required on the wafer transfer path in the exposure apparatus, the size of the exposure apparatus and the footprint (the area occupied by the apparatus installation surface) are reduced. Was inhibiting. Also,
It is necessary to transport the wafer received from the coater to the pre-alignment device, and after the pre-alignment, further transport to the exposure processing unit. In addition to the large number of wafer transfers, transport and pre-alignment from the wafer loading position to the pre-alignment device At least two steps of transport from the apparatus to the exposure processing unit are required, which requires a long time for transport, which causes a reduction in throughput.

In addition, the processing time per wafer in a coater or an exposure apparatus is highly efficient, as determined from the processing efficiency of the entire line, and it is generally higher than the processing time in the coater. Even though the processing time in the apparatus is longer, the exposure apparatus needs to wait uniformly for the time required for pre-alignment, and the efficiency of the entire line is low.

The present invention has been made to solve such a problem, and an object of the present invention is to reduce the size of a substrate processing apparatus and to improve the throughput and processing efficiency.

[0010]

In the following description, in order to facilitate understanding, constituent elements of the present invention will be described with reference numerals shown in the drawings of the embodiments. Are not limited by these reference numerals.

In order to achieve the above object, a substrate processing apparatus according to the present invention provides a substrate processing apparatus which performs a first processing on a substrate to be processed.
A processing apparatus (11) and a second processing unit on the substrate subjected to the first processing.
And a second processing apparatus (21) for performing processing, wherein the interface apparatus (31) that receives the substrate from the first processing apparatus and transfers the substrate to the second processing apparatus is a first processing apparatus and a second processing apparatus. And a pre-alignment device (3) for interposing the substrate and aligning the posture of the substrate with a predetermined reference.
3) is provided in the interface device, and the substrate transfer device (25) that transfers the substrate to the processing unit (24) of the second processing device while substantially maintaining the posture of the substrate aligned by the pre-alignment device is provided in the second device. It is characterized by being provided in a processing device.

According to the substrate processing apparatus of the present invention, a first processing apparatus (for example, a coater for applying a photoresist on a wafer) and a second processing apparatus (for example, an image of a mask pattern on a wafer on which a photoresist is applied) are formed. An interface device was interposed between the device and an exposure device for transfer. This interface device is used to absorb a mismatched portion (for example, a difference in a wafer transfer position in the height direction) in the design specifications between the first processing device and the second processing device, or alternatively, the first processing device and the second processing device are connected to each other. This device is provided from the viewpoint of improving the maintainability of the processing device.

According to the present invention, since the pre-alignment is performed in this interface device, it is not necessary to provide a pre-alignment device on the substrate transfer path of the second processing device, and the size of the second processing device can be reduced accordingly. In addition to this, it is not necessary to transfer the substrate for pre-alignment during the transfer of the substrate by the substrate transfer device, so that the transfer time can be reduced. The substrate transfer device of the second processing apparatus can be simplified, and cost reduction can be expected.

Further, if the processing time of the substrate in the first processing apparatus is shorter than the processing time of the substrate in the second processing apparatus, a waiting time occurs in the transfer unit. By performing in the interface device between the device and the second processing device, it is possible to perform pre-alignment using the waiting time, and to improve the throughput as compared with the case where the time required for pre-alignment is uniformly waited. Higher processing efficiency can be achieved.

[0015]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

In this embodiment, the present invention is applied to a substrate processing apparatus for performing a resist coating step, an exposure step, and a development step in a semiconductor device manufacturing line. FIG. 1 is a plan view schematically showing a schematic configuration of the substrate processing apparatus of the present embodiment. In the figure, the X axis is in the direction of device arrangement along the plane of the paper, the Y axis is
The description will be made by taking the Z axis in a direction perpendicular to the paper surface.

The substrate processing apparatus includes a C / D device 11 having a coater (resist coating device) and a developer (developing device), a projection exposure device 21, and an interface device 31.

The C / D device 11, the projection exposure device 21, and the interface device 31 are accommodated in chambers 12, 22, and 32 for air conditioning and dust prevention, respectively. C
/ D device 11 with chamber 12 and interface device 31
An opening (not shown) for transferring a wafer to be processed is formed in a joint portion with the chamber 32. Further, an opening (not shown) for transferring a wafer is formed at a joint between the chamber 32 of the interface device 31 and the chamber 22 of the projection exposure device 21.

The C / D device 11 includes a carrier carry-in station 13, a carrier carry-out station 14, a coater station (resist coating section) 15, a developer station (developing section) 16, a wafer carry-out station 17, and a wafer carry-in station 18. It is configured.

On the left wall surface of the chamber 12 of the C / D apparatus 11, a carrier loading / unloading port having an opening / closing door for loading / unloading a wafer carrier (wafer cassette) having a plurality of shelves for accommodating a plurality of wafers is provided. A wafer carrier is loaded into a carrier loading station 13 in the chamber 12 through the carrier loading / unloading port.
Alternatively, the wafer carrier is unloaded from the carrier unloading station 14.

The carrier loading station 13 is composed of a carrier mounting table having a positioning mechanism such as a universal coupling for removably mounting a wafer carrier. The carrier mounting table is moved up and down in the Z-axis direction as required. A lifting device is provided. A wafer carrier containing a plurality of wafers to be processed by the substrate processing apparatus is loaded and mounted on a carrier mounting table of the carrier loading station 13.

The carrier unloading station 14, like the carrier unloading station 13, also includes a carrier mounting table on which a wafer carrier is removably mounted, and as required, raises and lowers the carrier mounting table in the Z-axis direction. An apparatus is provided. Carrier unloading station 14
A wafer carrier for accommodating wafers processed by the substrate processing apparatus, that is, an empty wafer carrier, is loaded and mounted on the carrier mounting table.

The coater station 15 is composed of a spin coater, a baking device, and the like. The wafer is placed on a rotating table in a horizontal state, and a resist is dropped and the wafer is rotated to form a uniform resist film on the wafer. Form. Before and after the application of the resist, the wafer is appropriately baked and cooled for dehydration and the like.

The developing station 16 is composed of a spin developer, a baking device, and the like, and is a device for developing a latent image of a resist formed on the surface of the wafer after the exposure processing. Developing by spraying onto the wafer surface with a nozzle. The ware is appropriately baked and cooled before and after development for dehydration and the like.

Although not shown, the C / D device 11 has a carrier carry-in station 13, a carrier carry-out station 14, a coater station 15, a developer station 16, and a wafer carry-out station 1.
7 and a wafer transfer device for transferring (transferring) a wafer between the wafer transfer station 18. This wafer transfer device includes a multi-joint robot having a hand portion at its tip for vacuum suction of a wafer, and an X-joint robot.
It is composed of a slide device that moves in the axial direction.

The interface device 31 absorbs the difference (mismatched portion) in the design specifications between the C / D device 11 and the projection exposure device 21 designed and manufactured independently of each other, and also maintains the maintenance of the projection exposure device 21. It is a device that is installed to improve the quality. That is, when a C / D apparatus and a projection exposure apparatus are designed and manufactured independently of each other and combined to form a manufacturing line (substrate processing apparatus), for example, an inconsistent portion occurs at a wafer transfer position or the like. By interposing an interface device between the C / D device and the projection exposure device to provide a function of raising and lowering the wafer, etc., to absorb differences in design specifications while maintaining their independence. Can be.

If the C / D device and the projection exposure device are arranged adjacent to each other, maintenance may not be possible without moving one of them, but a relatively small interface device may be provided. By moving only this interface device, it is possible to easily access an arbitrary portion of the C / D device or the projection exposure device, thereby improving the maintainability.

The interface device 31 is provided on a pre-alignment station 33 provided on the path from the C / D device 11 to the projection exposure device 21 and on a path from the projection exposure device 21 to the C / D device 11. A wafer transfer station 34 is provided.

Although not shown, the pre-alignment station 33 includes a wafer holder for sucking and holding the central portion of the back surface of the wafer, an elevating device for raising and lowering the wafer holder in the Z-axis direction, and a pre-alignment device (first unit). Pre-alignment device).

The pre-alignment device includes a plurality (usually three) of optical sensors for detecting the peripheral portion of the wafer held on the wafer holding table, and rotates the wafer holding table and moves the wafer holding table along the X-axis. It has a positioning device that moves slightly in the direction and the Y-axis direction. The pre-alignment device detects the characteristic portion of the wafer (external features such as orientation flats or notches or the display of marks) and the outer periphery of the wafer using these optical sensors, and aligns the wafer so that the wafer is aligned with a predetermined reference. Is driven to rotate and finely move the wafer. In addition, as the optical sensor, a sensor that arranges a light emitting unit and a light receiving unit and detects light by a light transmission type or a reflection type, or a sensor that detects an attitude of a wafer by image recognition using an image pickup device such as a CCD or the like may be used. Can be.

The pre-alignment station 33 includes
In order to prevent dust generation, a peripheral exposure device for exposing the resist in the vicinity of the peripheral portion of the wafer in advance can be provided. The wafer transfer station 34 has a wafer holding table that suction-holds the central portion of the back surface of the wafer, an elevating device that moves the wafer holding table up and down in the Z-axis direction, and a plurality of shelves as a buffer that temporarily stores the wafer. ing.

Although not shown, the interface device 31 is a wafer composed of an articulated robot or the like that moves the wafer between the wafer holding table and the shelf of the pre-alignment station 33 or the wafer transfer station 34. It has a transport device. This wafer transfer device can transfer wafers to and from the wafer carry-out station 17 or the wafer carry-in station 18 of the C / D device 11.

The projection exposure apparatus 21 includes an exposure processing section 24 of an apparatus main body 23 for performing exposure processing, and an interface apparatus 3.
1 and a wafer transfer device 25 for transferring a wafer between the exposure processing unit 24. Although not shown, the wafer transfer device has a loading slider 25 having a loading arm having a substantially U-shaped contact portion with the wafer, and a substantially U-shaped contact portion with the wafer. And an unloading slider 26 having the unloading arm formed.

The carry-in arm and the carry-out arm have a function of holding the back surface of the wafer by vacuum suction, and are moved between the interface device 31 and the exposure processing unit 24 by the carry-in slider 25 or the carry-out slider 26. . That is, the loading slider 25 receives the wafer from the pre-alignment station 33 of the interface device 31, transfers the wafer to the exposure processing unit 24 in a state where the wafer is held, and transfers the wafer to the wafer holder. The unloading slider 26 receives the exposed wafer from the wafer holder, transports the wafer to the wafer transfer station 34 of the interface device 31, and transfers the wafer to the wafer transfer station 34.

In this embodiment, the loading and unloading sliders 25 and 26 move the wafer at two predetermined points (the interface device 31 and the exposure processing section 24) by one-axis operation without transferring the wafer on the way. They are conveyed linearly or curvedly between them. The loading and unloading sliders 25 and 26 can be transported by a two-axis operation by combining a slider in the X-axis direction and a slider in the Y-axis direction. Since the wafer is not transferred halfway, the posture of the wafer can be maintained, which is convenient.

Next, although not shown, the apparatus main body 23 of the projection exposure apparatus 21 will be described. Chamber 22
An anti-vibration table is installed on the floor of the base, and a base, a Y stage moving in the Y-axis direction, and an X stage moving in the X-axis direction are placed on the anti-vibration table, and are fixed on the X stage. The wafer to be exposed is placed on the wafer holder held by suction and held by suction. Further, a projection optical system is attached to the upper center of the first column implanted on the vibration isolation table,
A reticle (mask) on which an original pattern is formed is suction-held at the upper center of the second column fixed on the column. An illumination optical system is arranged above the reticle.

In the vicinity of the center of the wafer holder, three wafer transfer pins are implanted so as to be freely protruded and retracted at substantially equal angles. When loading the wafer into the wafer holder,
The loading arm holding the wafer by suction is positioned above the wafer holder to release the vacuum suction, and the pins are protruded from the wafer holder so that they are placed on the loading arm of the loading slider 25. The wafer is received, and the pins are buried after the loading slider is evacuated, whereby the wafer is placed on the wafer holder. Thereafter, the wafer is held on the wafer holder by vacuum suction.

On the other hand, when unloading the wafer from the wafer holder, the vacuum suction of the wafer holder is released, the pins are projected from the wafer holder, and then the unloading arm of the unloading slider 26 is moved to the back side of the wafer. The wafer is placed on the unloading arm by positioning and burying the pins in this state. Thereafter, the wafer is held by the unloading arm by vacuum suction, and is transported toward the interface device 31.

In this embodiment, the interface device 31 performs wafer pre-alignment,
Since the wafer is transported to the apparatus main body 23 by the wafer transport device (the loading slider 25) while maintaining the attitude, the attitude of the wafer is almost aligned with the reference. In some cases, it is better to perform accurate pre-alignment.
In such a case, the apparatus main body 23 may be provided with a second pre-alignment apparatus. The following configuration can be employed as the second pre-alignment apparatus.

That is, each pin of the wafer holder is rotated around the Z-axis by the drive mechanism as a whole, and finely moved in the X-axis direction and the Y-axis direction, and the wafer is mounted on these pins. In this state, a plurality (usually three) of optical sensors for detecting the peripheral portion of the wafer are arranged.
Then, these optical sensors detect characteristic portions of the wafer (display of external features such as orientation flats and notches or indications of marks) and the outer periphery of the wafer, obtain an error from a predetermined reference of the posture, and eliminate the error. The pin is rotated and moved as a whole by the driving mechanism as described above. In addition, as the optical sensor, a sensor that arranges a light emitting unit and a light receiving unit and detects light by a transmission type or a reflection type, or a sensor that detects an error in a posture of a wafer by image recognition using an image pickup device such as a CCD is used. can do.

Next, an example of an operation when a series of processing is performed on a wafer in the present embodiment will be described. First,
In the C / D apparatus 11 of FIG. 1, a carrier carrier opening / closing door of the chamber 12 is opened, and a wafer carrier containing a plurality of wafers is placed on a carrier mounting table of the carrier carrier station 13. Next, one of the wafers stored in the wafer carrier is taken out by the articulated robot of the wafer transfer device, placed on a rotary table of the coater station 15, and held by suction. After a resist solution is dropped on the surface of the wafer and the wafer is rotated to form a uniform resist film on the wafer, the resist film is transferred onto the wafer mounting table of the wafer unloading station 17 by the articulated robot. Before and after the resist coating step, processing such as baking and cooling is performed as necessary.

The wafer at the wafer unloading station 17 is
The interface device 31 is provided by the wafer transfer device of the C / D device 11 or the wafer transfer device of the interface device 31.
Is transferred onto the wafer holder of the pre-alignment station 33. This pre-alignment station 33
In the above, by detecting the outer characteristic feature or mark such as orientation flat or notch of the wafer on the wafer holding table and the outer periphery by the optical sensor, and rotating the wafer holding table and finely moving the wafer in the X-axis direction and the Y-axis direction. Then, a first pre-alignment for matching the posture of the wafer to a predetermined reference is performed. Here, peripheral exposure is also performed as needed.

Next, the wafer holding table is raised by the lifting device, and in this state, the loading arm of the loading slider 25 of the projection exposure apparatus 21 is positioned below the wafer, and the suction of the wafer holding table is released. The wafer is transferred to the loading arm by lowering the holding table. After the wafer is sucked and held by the carry-in arm, the carry-in slider 25 is driven to carry the wafer to a predetermined transfer position of the apparatus main body 23.

The X stage and the Y stage of the apparatus main body 23 are driven to move the wafer holder to a predetermined transfer position, the vacuum suction of the wafer by the loading arm is released, and each pin of the wafer holder is protruded to place the wafer on the pin. Is placed, and the loading arm is retracted (moved toward the interface device 31 to load the next wafer). In this state, the optical sensor detects the display and the outer periphery of a mark or the like, such as an orientation flat or a notch, of the wafer on the pins, and obtains an error from a predetermined standard of the attitude of the wafer. The second pre-alignment is performed by operating the drive mechanism so as to eliminate the error and rotating the pin as a whole and finely moving the pin in the X-axis direction and the Y-axis direction. In some cases, the second pre-alignment can be omitted.

After the second pre-alignment, the pins are buried, the wafer is placed on the wafer holder, and held by vacuum suction. Next, the X and Y stages are driven to move the wafer to the projection position of the projection optical system, and fine alignment such as detecting the reference mark formed on the wafer and aligning the reference mark with the reticle reference mark is performed. Then, the image of the reticle pattern is sequentially projected and transferred to the shot area on the wafer. Here, the apparatus main body 23 is assumed to be a step-and-scan type exposure apparatus in which a reticle and a wafer are synchronously moved with respect to a projection optical system and exposure is sequentially repeated.

When the exposure processing for all the shot areas on the wafer is completed, the vacuum suction of the wafer holder is released, the pins are protruded to raise the wafer, and the unloading slider 26 for unloading is unloaded under the wafer. After the arm is positioned, the wafer is transferred to the unloading arm by burying the pins, and the unloading arm is sucked and held, and then the unloading slider 26 is operated to transfer the wafer to the interface device 3.
The wafer is transferred to one wafer transfer station 34. Here, the suction holding of the unloading arm is released, the wafer holding table of the wafer transfer station 34 is raised, the wafer is transferred to the wafer holding table, and the unloading arm is retracted (exposure for unloading the next wafer). (Moves toward the apparatus main body 23).

The wafer at the wafer transfer station 34 is transferred to the wafer transfer station 18 of the C / D device 11 by the wafer transfer device of the C / D device 11 or the wafer transfer device of the interface device 31. In the interface device 31, the wafer may be temporarily stored on a buffer shelf.

Next, the wafer is transferred to the developing station 16 by a wafer transfer device of a C / D device, where it is developed by spraying a developer while being rotated or vibrated, and the developed wafer is transferred to the wafer transfer device. The apparatus stores the wafer on the shelf of the wafer carrier on the carrier mounting table of the carrier unloading station 14. The wafer after development may be stored in a wafer carrier shelf on a carrier mounting table of the carrier loading station 13 by the wafer transfer device. Note that baking and cooling are performed on the wafer before and after development as necessary.

According to the present embodiment, the interface device 31 is interposed between the C / D device 11 and the projection exposure device 21, and the pre-alignment is performed at the pre-alignment station 33 of the interface device 31,
Since the pre-alignment device is not provided in the transfer path of the wafer transfer device of the projection exposure apparatus as in the related art, the size of the projection exposure apparatus can be reduced and the footprint can be reduced. The overall size and footprint can be reduced.
Further, the wafer transferred from the interface device 31 is transferred to the exposure processing section 24 of the projection exposure device 21 by a one-axis operation wafer transfer device (loading slider 25). Since the transfer of the wafer is not performed on the way, the transfer time can be reduced, and the posture of the wafer is less likely to be disturbed during the transfer.

Further, the time required for the resist coating step by the C / D device 11 and the time required for the exposure processing by the projection exposure device 21 are generally longer, and therefore, the time required for the C / D device 11 is usually longer. The wafer after resist application is kept waiting before the exposure processing, and the overall throughput is reduced. In the present embodiment, however, the pre-alignment is performed in the interface device 31, that is, the waiting time of the wafer is reduced. Since it is performed by using, the time required for the pre-alignment performed on the transport path of the conventional exposure apparatus can be reduced by a time corresponding to the time required for the pre-alignment, and the overall throughput can be improved. it can.

It should be noted that the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, and can be variously modified within the scope of the present invention. In the above-described embodiment, the so-called step-and-scan type exposure apparatus has been described as an example. However, the present invention is not limited to this type of exposure apparatus.
The present invention can be applied to a so-called step-and-repeat type exposure apparatus and another type of exposure apparatus.

Further, in this embodiment, the C / D device 11 in which the coater and the developer are accommodated in the single chamber 12 is arranged adjacent to the projection exposure device 21, but the present invention is not limited to this. And the developer can be housed independently in the chamber.For example, a coater can be arranged on one side of the projection exposure apparatus and a developer can be arranged on the other side.In this case, a pre-alignment apparatus is provided between the coater and the projection exposure apparatus. It is good to interpose the interface device which has.

Further, the coater and the developer are not limited to those of the above-mentioned type, and the above-mentioned spin type is typical as the coater, but other types may be used. In addition to developers,
Dip developers, spray developers, and others can be employed.

[0054]

As described above, according to the present invention,
Since the pre-alignment for preliminarily aligning the posture of the substrate with a predetermined reference is performed in the interface device, there is an effect that the size of the substrate processing apparatus can be reduced and the throughput and processing efficiency can be improved.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a plan view schematically showing an overall configuration of a substrate processing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 11 ... C / D apparatus 13 ... Carrier carry-in station 14 ... Carrier carry-out station 15 ... Coater station 16 ... Developing station 17 ... Wafer carry-out station 18 ... Wafer carry-in station 21 ... Projection exposure apparatus 23 ... Equipment main body 24 ... Exposure processing part 25 ... Loading slider 26 ... Unloading slider 31 ... Interface device 33 ... Pre-alignment station 34 ... Wafer delivery station

Claims (7)

[Claims] 1. A substrate processing apparatus comprising: a first processing apparatus for performing a first processing on a substrate as a processing target; and a second processing apparatus for performing a second processing on the substrate on which the first processing has been performed. An interface device that receives the substrate from the first processing device and passes it to the second processing device is interposed between the first and second processing devices, and a pre-alignment device that matches the posture of the substrate with a predetermined reference. A substrate transfer device that is provided in the interface device, and that transfers the substrate to the processing unit of the second processing device while substantially maintaining the posture of the substrate aligned by the pre-alignment device, is provided in the second processing device. Substrate processing equipment. 2. The first processing device is a coating device for applying a photosensitive material to the substrate, and the second processing device is an exposure device for transferring an image of a mask pattern onto the substrate coated with the photosensitive material. The substrate processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein: 3. A pre-alignment device comprising: a substrate rotation device configured to rotate the substrate around an axis substantially perpendicular to a surface of the substrate; a feature detection device configured to detect a characteristic portion of the substrate; and the feature detection device. 3. The control device according to claim 1, further comprising: a control device configured to control the substrate rotating device such that the substrate matches a predetermined reference based on the detected position of the characteristic portion. 4. Substrate processing equipment. 4. The substrate processing apparatus according to claim 2, wherein another pre-alignment apparatus for adjusting the posture of the substrate to a predetermined reference is provided in the exposure processing unit of the exposure apparatus. 5. The interface device according to claim 2, wherein a peripheral exposure device for preliminary exposing a peripheral portion of the substrate coated with the photosensitive material by the coating device is provided.
A substrate processing apparatus according to claim 1. 6. A third processing apparatus for performing a third processing on the substrate on which the second processing has been performed, wherein the interface device receives the substrate from the second processing apparatus and transfers the substrate to the third processing apparatus. The substrate processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein: 7. The substrate processing apparatus according to claim 6, wherein the third processing apparatus is a developing apparatus that develops a substrate on which a pattern has been transferred by the exposure apparatus.