JP2000317298A - Treating liquid preparation device and washing treatment device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a treating liquid preparation device in which the prescribed quantity of chemical liquid can be fed with high accuracy to a weighing tank. SOLUTION: This preparation device in which chemical liquid is diluted with dilution liquid to prepare treating liquid is provided with a weighing tank 18 which has a manifold 17 and into which chemical liquid is fed through the manifold, a first feeding hole made in the manifold and for feeding the chemical liquid along the peripheral direction of the inner surface of the manifold, an upper limit detection sensor 27 installed in the weighing tank and for detecting the level of the chemical liquid fed through the manifold, and a preparation tank 16 for mixing the chemical liquid weighed by the weighing tank with the dilution liquid.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a processing liquid preparation apparatus and a cleaning apparatus used for cleaning an object to be processed.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art For example, in a process of manufacturing a semiconductor device or a liquid crystal display device, there are a film forming process and a photo process for forming a circuit pattern on a substrate to be processed such as a semiconductor wafer or a glass substrate. In these processes, pattern formation and cleaning processing are repeatedly performed on the substrate.

[0003] When a substrate is subjected to a cleaning treatment, the type of processing liquid used differs depending on the type of dirt removed from the substrate. For example, in order to efficiently and reliably wash and remove metal ions attached to a substrate, a treatment solution obtained by diluting hydrofluoric acid as a chemical solution with pure water as a diluent is used. In that case, the desired concentration of the stock solution of hydrofluoric acid by the pure water,
That is, it is used after being diluted to a concentration corresponding to the processing conditions.

[0004] When the treatment liquid is weighed in a weighing tank, the treatment liquid is supplied to a preparation tank, and is diluted with a diluting liquid in the preparation tank. When the concentration of hydrofluoric acid contained in the treatment liquid is set low as described above, the weighing tank needs to accurately measure the supply amount of the chemical solution.

[0005]

Conventionally, a level sensor is provided in the weighing tank, and the level sensor is used to measure the supply amount of the chemical.

However, if the chemical is simply flowed into the weighing tank, the chemical may be scattered at the time of the flow or the liquid level may undulate and contact the level sensor. In some cases, the sensor erroneously detects the liquid level of the chemical solution, and cannot accurately set the amount of the chemical solution supplied to the mixing tank.

[0007] Therefore, even if the chemical weighed in the weighing tank in the blending tank is diluted with a predetermined amount of diluent, the concentration of the chemical in the processing liquid may be lower or higher than a set value. In such a case, the substrate may not be sufficiently washed, or if the concentration is too high, the substrate may be attacked by hydrofluoric acid.

According to the present invention, there is provided an apparatus for preparing a processing solution capable of precisely setting the amount of a chemical solution supplied to a weighing tank, and a process for cleaning an object to be processed with a processing solution having a precisely set chemical solution concentration. It is an object of the present invention to provide a cleaning apparatus capable of performing the cleaning.

[0009]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a compounding apparatus for diluting a chemical solution with a diluting liquid to prepare a processing liquid, comprising: a weighing tank having a manifold through which the chemical solution is supplied; A supply unit provided in the manifold to allow the chemical solution to flow in the circumferential direction of the inner surface of the manifold, an upper limit detection sensor provided in the weighing tank and detecting that a predetermined amount of the chemical solution has been supplied through the manifold, An apparatus for preparing a processing liquid, comprising: a preparation tank for preparing a chemical solution weighed in a weighing tank and the diluting liquid.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, the preparation of the processing liquid according to the first aspect of the present invention is characterized in that the manifold has a circular cross-sectional shape, and the supply section supplies a chemical solution from a tangential direction of the cross-sectional shape of the manifold. In the device.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, an opening / closing control valve is provided between the blending tank and the manifold, and a chemical supplied to the weighing tank is supplied to the manifold via the opening / closing control valve. 2. The processing liquid preparation apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a lower limit detection sensor for detecting that the supply has been completed.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a cleaning apparatus for cleaning an object to be processed with a processing liquid, wherein the cleaning liquid is supplied with the processing liquid prepared by the mixing apparatus according to the first aspect. The cleaning treatment apparatus is characterized in that:

According to the first and second aspects of the present invention, since the chemical is supplied along the inner peripheral surface of the manifold, the chemical flowing into the weighing tank is prevented from being scattered and the liquid surface is prevented from waving. Therefore, the supply amount of the chemical solution can be set precisely.

According to the third aspect of the present invention, the completion of the supply of the chemical solution from the weighing tank to the blending tank can be detected by the lower limit sensor. The next weighing operation can be performed quickly.

According to the fourth aspect of the present invention, it is possible to reliably clean an object to be processed with a processing liquid whose concentration of a chemical solution is precisely adjusted.

[0016]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 2 shows a cleaning apparatus, which has a base 1. A robot 2 is provided at a central portion of the base 1. A spin processing unit 3, an ultraviolet irradiation unit 4, a brush cleaning unit 5, a loader unit 6, and an unloader unit 7 are arranged around the base 1 so as to surround the robot 2.

The robot 2 is an object to be processed (not shown).
Is taken out of the loader unit 6 and supplied to the ultraviolet irradiation unit 4, where ultraviolet light is irradiated to decompose organic substances attached to the processing object, and then the processing object is supplied to the brush cleaning unit 5 for brush cleaning. I do. Next, the robot 2 supplies the object to be processed to the spin processing unit 3.

The processing order of the object to be processed may be such that the organic material is decomposed and removed by brushing, spinning, and then irradiating ultraviolet rays.

In the spin processing unit 3, the object to be processed is driven to rotate. Then, a predetermined cleaning process can be performed on the upper surface by injecting the processing liquid onto the object to be rotated and driven.

The processing liquid supplied to the spin processing unit 3 is ozone water or hydrofluoric acid as a chemical solution. When the ozone water is used as shown in FIG. When hydrofluoric acid is used, the hydrofluoric acid is supplied from the hydrofluoric acid supply unit 12.

The ozone water is generated by an ozone water generator (not shown) provided in the ozone water supply unit 11, and the hydrofluoric acid is supplied to the mixing device 13 (FIG. 3) provided in the hydrofluoric acid supply unit 12. 4 and FIG. 4), a predetermined concentration, that is, a stock solution of hydrofluoric acid is diluted with pure water to a desired concentration of 0.5 to 3%, and supplied.

The compounding device 13 has a device main body 14 as shown in FIG. A storage section 15 is formed in the apparatus main body 14 in an airtight manner. The storage section 15 is provided with a mixing tank 16. The mixing tank 16 includes a weighing tank 18 having a manifold 17 connected to the bottom thereof.
Are connected to each other through an open / close control valve 19.

FIG. 1 (b) is a perspective view of the manifold 17 shown in FIG.
As shown in FIG. 3C, an inflow portion 17a having a circular cross section and open at both end surfaces, and a first supply hole 21 and a second supply hole 22 communicating with the inflow portion 17a are formed.

The first supply hole 21 as a supply section is
It is formed tangentially to the inner peripheral surface of the inflow portion 17a formed in a circular cross section. Further, the first supply hole 21 is formed so that its axis is perpendicular to the axis of the manifold 17.

As shown in FIG. 4, the first supply holes 21
Is connected via a second opening / closing control valve 24 to a stock solution supply pipe 23 for feeding a stock solution of hydrofluoric acid. A pure water supply pipe 25 is connected to a portion of the raw liquid supply pipe 23 downstream of the second open / close control valve 24 via a third open / close control valve 26.

From the stock solution supply pipe 23 to the manifold 17
The stock solution of hydrofluoric acid supplied to the first supply hole 21 flows into the weighing tank 18 through the inflow portion 17a.
The weighing tank 18 is provided with an upper limit detection sensor 27 for detecting the liquid level by contacting the liquid level. The upper limit detection sensor 27 sets the liquid level of the stock solution, that is, the supply amount of the stock solution. Has become.

The upper limit detection sensor 27 is capable of adjusting the height position of the lower end thereof, whereby the supply amount of hydrofluoric acid to the weighing tank 18 can be adjusted.

When a predetermined amount of undiluted solution is supplied to the weighing tank 18 and its detection is detected by the upper limit detection sensor 27, the first opening / closing control valve 24 is closed to stop the supply of undiluted solution. Has become.

The second supply hole 22 is connected to one end of a conducting tube 28 formed of, for example, a transparent tube. The other end of the conduit 28 is connected to the weighing tank 18.
The upper part is open for communication. One end of the conducting tube 28 is disposed substantially horizontally, and a lower limit detection sensor 29 such as an optical sensor is provided on the outer periphery of this portion.

Based on the detection signal of the upper limit detection sensor 27, the lower limit detection sensor 29 opens the first open / close control valve 24, completes the discharge of the hydrofluoric acid in the weighing tank 18 to the mixing tank 16, and conducts the conduction. When the hydrofluoric acid is exhausted from the tube 28, the fact is optically detected.
That is, it is detected that hydrofluoric acid does not remain in the manifold 17.

Thus, it is confirmed that all the hydrofluoric acid supplied to the weighing tank 18 has flowed into the mixing tank 16 through the first opening / closing control valve 24.

Further, the first opening / closing control valve 19 is closed and the second opening / closing control valve 24 is opened by the detection signal of the lower limit detection sensor 29. Thereby, the weighing tank 18
Then, the next hydrofluoric acid can be weighed. That is, the next weighing can be started quickly by the detection signal from the lower limit detection sensor 29.

The mixing tank 16 is provided with a level sensor 31 having first to third detectors 31a to 31c having different heights. Further, the pure water supply pipe 25 is connected to the mixing tank 16 via a third opening / closing control valve 32.

Before the stock solution is supplied to the mixing tank 16, the third opening / closing control valve 32 is opened to supply pure water to the height of the second detecting portion 31b. . When the pure water is supplied, the hydrofluoric acid weighed in the weighing tank 18 is supplied to the blending tank 16, and then the pure water is supplied to the height position of the first detection unit 31a. .

That is, a predetermined amount of pure water is supplied to the mixing tank 16 in advance, hydrofluoric acid is supplied thereto, and then pure water is supplied. Thus, it is possible to obtain a treatment liquid diluted to a predetermined value.

The hydrofluoric acid diluted to a predetermined concentration, ie, the processing liquid, is supplied to the communication pipe 3 provided with the fourth opening / closing control valve 36.
3 to a supply tank 34. A supply pump 35 and a supply pipe 38 having a damper 37 for preventing pulsation of the processing liquid supplied by the supply pump 35 are connected to the supply tank 34. The processing liquid is supplied to the spin processing unit 3 by the supply pipe 38.
And is jetted toward a processing object provided in the processing unit 3.

When the processing liquid is not used in the spin processing unit 3, the processing liquid supplied to the supply pipe 38 is returned to the supply tank 34 by the return pipe 39. Further, a waste liquid pipe 42 is connected to the supply tank 34 via an on-off valve 41 so that the processing liquid in the supply tank 34 can be discharged.

In the cleaning apparatus having such a configuration,
First, in order to prepare a processing solution, a predetermined amount of a stock solution of hydrofluoric acid is supplied to a weighing tank 18 through a manifold 17.
The inflow portion 17a of the manifold 17 has a circular cross-sectional shape, and the first supply hole 21 for supplying the undiluted solution to the inflow portion 17a is formed tangentially to the inner peripheral surface of the inflow portion 17a. ing.

Therefore, the stock solution of hydrofluoric acid flows smoothly from the first supply hole 21 along the inner peripheral surface of the inflow portion 17a of the manifold 17, so that it may be scattered or the liquid surface may be wavy. Without being stored in the weighing tank 18.

As a result, the upper limit detection sensor 27 provided in the weighing tank 18 can reliably detect the liquid level of the stock solution stored in the weighing tank 18, so that the supply amount of the stock solution to the weighing tank 18 can be determined. It can be set with high accuracy.

When a predetermined amount of the undiluted solution has been supplied to the weighing tank 18, the first opening / closing control valve 19 is opened by the detection signal of the upper limit detection sensor 27. As a result, the undiluted solution is supplied to the blending tank 16 in which pure water has been supplied to the height position of the second detection unit 31b of the level sensor 31 in advance.
At the same time, the mixing tank 16 has a level sensor 3
Pure water is supplied to the height position of the first first detection unit 31a.

As a result, the stock solution is evenly and surely diluted with pure water, so that hydrofluoric acid of a predetermined concentration, that is, a processing solution is prepared.

The processing liquid prepared in the preparation tank 16 is supplied to a supply tank 34. That is, the fourth opening / closing control valve 33 is opened by the detection signal from the first detector 31 a of the level sensor 31, and the processing liquid is supplied to the supply tank 34. The processing liquid is supplied from the supply tank 34 to the supply pipe 38.
Is supplied to the spin processing unit 3 through the nozzle, and is sprayed toward the object to be rotated and driven by the spin processing unit 3 to perform a cleaning process on the object.

In the cleaning treatment of the object, if the concentration of hydrofluoric acid is low, the object cannot be cleaned in a desired state. If the concentration is too high, the object is attacked by hydrofluoric acid. This may cause defective products.

However, in the present invention, the hydrofluoric acid supplied to the spin processing unit 3 is set to a desired concentration with high accuracy. That is, when preparing the treatment liquid by diluting the hydrofluoric acid with pure water, the amount of the hydrofluoric acid supplied to the weighing tank 18 can be set with high precision as described above. Can be set.

Therefore, the object to be processed can be washed with a processing solution having a desired hydrofluoric acid concentration.
It is possible to reliably perform the cleaning processing of the object.

On the other hand, the processing liquid prepared in the preparation tank 16 is transferred to the supply tank 34 and supplied to the spin processing unit 3 therefrom. Therefore, the prepared processing liquid can be stored in the mixing tank 16. If the processing liquid stored in the supply tank 34 runs out, a new processing liquid is immediately transferred from the mixing tank 16 to the supply tank 34. Can be supplied.

That is, while the processing liquid stored in the supply tank 34 is being used, hydrofluoric acid can be diluted to a predetermined concentration in the preparation tank 16.
As soon as the processing solution is finished,
Can be transferred to the supply tank 34 for use.

The second supply hole 22 of the manifold 17
Is connected to a conduction pipe 28 provided with a lower limit detection sensor 29. Therefore, when the supply of hydrofluoric acid from the weighing tank 18 to the blending tank 16 is completed, the fact is immediately detected by the lower limit detection sensor 29, so that the next hydrofluoric acid can be quickly weighed.

The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment. For example, the cross-sectional shape of the manifold may be a closed curved shape other than a circular shape, for example, an elliptical shape, and the manifold communicates with the inflow portion of the manifold. The first supply hole may not be perpendicular to the axis of the manifold, but may be inclined upward or downward by a predetermined angle.

[0052]

As described above, according to the first and second aspects of the present invention, the chemical liquid is applied to the manifold connected to the weighing tank and supplying the chemical liquid to the weighing tank. A supply portion that can be supplied along the line was formed.

Therefore, the chemical liquid flowing into the weighing tank through the supply section is prevented from being scattered and the liquid surface is prevented from waving, so that the chemical liquid can be weighed in the weighing tank with high accuracy. Can be set with high precision.

According to the third aspect of the present invention, the manifold is provided with a lower limit sensor, and the lower limit sensor can detect that the supply of the chemical solution from the weighing tank to the mixing tank has been completed.

Therefore, it is possible not only to surely confirm that the chemical solution has been supplied to the mixing tank, but also to quickly perform the next weighing operation in the weighing tank based on the confirmation.

According to the fourth aspect of the present invention, the object to be processed can be cleaned with the processing liquid whose concentration of the chemical solution is adjusted with high precision, so that a reliable cleaning effect can be obtained.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1A is a side view of a manifold showing one embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2B is a sectional view taken along the line BB of FIG. 1A, and FIG. ) Is the same as in FIG.
Sectional drawing which follows the CC line of FIG.

FIG. 2 is a schematic configuration diagram of the cleaning apparatus.

FIG. 3 is a front view showing a schematic configuration of the blending device.

FIG. 4 is a piping diagram of the mixing device.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 16 ... Mixing tank 17 ... Manifold 18 ... Weighing tank 19 ... 1st opening / closing control valve 21 ... 1st supply hole (supply part) 27 ... Upper limit detection sensor 29 ... Lower limit detection sensor

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A dispensing device for diluting a chemical with a diluent to prepare a processing liquid, comprising: a weighing tank having a manifold to which a chemical is supplied through the manifold; and an inner surface of the manifold provided in the manifold. A supply unit that flows along the circumferential direction of the above, an upper limit detection sensor that is provided in the weighing tank and detects that a predetermined amount of the chemical solution has been supplied through the manifold, and a chemical solution weighed in the weighing tank and the diluent. And a preparation tank for preparing the processing liquid. 2. A sectional shape of the manifold is circular.
2. The processing liquid preparation apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the supply section supplies the chemical liquid from a tangential direction of a cross-sectional shape of the manifold. 3. An opening / closing control valve is provided between the compounding tank and the manifold, and the manifold includes:
2. The processing liquid mixing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a lower limit detection sensor for detecting that the chemical liquid supplied to the weighing tank has been supplied to the mixing tank through the open / close control valve. 4. A cleaning apparatus for cleaning an object to be processed with a processing liquid, wherein the processing liquid prepared by the mixing apparatus according to claim 1 is supplied to the cleaning processing apparatus. Cleaning equipment.