JP2001230198A - Method and apparatus for treatment with chemical liquid - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide method and an apparatus for treatment with a chemical liquid, which provide high uniformity to substrates with different line widths and spacing. SOLUTION: This method is characterized in the an initial dispense of a chemical liquid is made in a short time and then replacing the chemical liquid under a low-speed rotation of a rotary stage. This apparatus is characterized in that it comprises a rotary stage which rotates with a substrate mounted, a rotation control means for the said rotary stage, chemical liquid nozzles, a transfer means for the said chemical liquid nozzles, a plurality of flow control means, and a system control means which selects one from among the plurality of flow control means.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a method and an apparatus for treating a substrate such as a semiconductor wafer, a liquid crystal panel substrate and a mask thereof with a chemical solution.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A semiconductor mask will be described as an example. A chromium film is sputtered on a quartz substrate having a size of 150 mm square and 6.2 mm in thickness, a resist is applied on the chromium film, and electron beam drawing is performed selectively, followed by development.

The developing system includes a dip system, a spray system, and a paddle system. The chemical solution treatment method of the present invention belongs to a paddle system. The paddle method is a method in which a horizontally mounted mask is rotated at a low speed and a developing solution is discharged from a nozzle to build up the liquid on the mask, and then development is performed in a stopped state or in a state close to stopped.

On the other hand, semiconductors have been improved in integration degree to 180 nm.
Two years after the rule (corresponding to 256 megabit memory), it is about to become the 130 nm rule (corresponding to 1 gigabit memory).

With the improvement in the degree of integration, it has become necessary to perform a chemical treatment of a semiconductor substrate, in particular, a development treatment, with higher precision and uniformly over the entire surface of the substrate.

However, the conventional chemical processing method has a defect that the time required to wet the entire surface of the substrate with the chemical is as long as two to three seconds, and the dimensional accuracy cannot be improved.

Further, since integrated circuits having different functions such as memories and logics are mounted on the same chip, the integrated circuit has a wide line width and a narrow line width.

In such an integrated circuit, the phenomenon that the developing speed of a pattern having a narrow developing line width is high and the developing speed of a pattern having a wide developing line width is delayed (this phenomenon is called a loading effect) becomes remarkable, and the development is performed. Has a defect that the uniformity of the film is impaired.

[0009]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention to provide a method and an apparatus for treating a chemical solution, in which a loading effect hardly occurs and uniformity is high.

[0010]

The present invention is characterized in that the initial liquid filling is performed in a short time, and then the rotary stage is rotated at a low speed to perform the liquid replacement.

A rotary stage for mounting and rotating a substrate, rotation control means for the rotary stage, chemical solution nozzle, moving means for the chemical solution nozzle, a plurality of flow rate control means, and a specific flow rate from the plurality of flow rate control means. And a system control means for selecting

[0012]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram of the chemical solution treatment apparatus of the present invention. The mask 3 is placed on the rotating stage 2 of the chamber 1 and fixed by a vacuum suction method or the like (not shown) and rotated by the motor 4. The nozzle 5 attached to the arm 6 is swingable in an arc shape by a motor 7.

The developing solution 9 stored in the chemical solution tank 8 pressurizes the pressurizing port 10 with nitrogen gas and is supplied to the nozzle 5 through valves 11 and 12 and flow control valves 13 and 14. As shown, two systems of flow control means are provided, and the flow rate is selected according to the process step. The flow control valve 13 has a large flow rate,
The flow control valve 14 is set in advance to a small flow rate.

FIG. 2 is a time chart showing the chemical solution processing method of the present invention. 20 is the number of rotations of the rotary stage 2, 3
0 indicates the chemical liquid flow rate of the nozzle 5, and 40 indicates the swing state of the arm 6.

First, the nozzle 5 is moved to the center of the mask 3, the valve 11 is opened by the system controller 15, and the valve 1 is opened.
2 is closed and a large flow rate 31 flows for about 2 seconds, and at the same time, the rotation stage 2 is rotated at a medium speed 21, for example, 100 to 500 r.
pm, the developing solution is diffused by centrifugal force, and the solution is filled on the entire surface of the mask 3 in a short time.

At a flow rate of 2 l / min and a rotation speed of 200 rpm,
The liquid was applied to the entire surface of the mask in about 0.2 seconds.

After the completion of the high-speed liquid replenishment, the low-speed rotation 22,
For example, the chemical liquid replacement is performed while the arm 6 is oscillated in order to suppress the loading effect to 10 to 50 rpm. If the rotating stage is rotated at 50 rpm or more, the developer cannot be maintained in a liquid state due to centrifugal force. Therefore, the developer is rotated at, for example, 30 rpm.

During the replacement of the chemical, the valve 11 is closed and the valve 12 is opened to save the chemical, and the flow rate is reduced to 32, for example, 100 to 500 ml / min. be able to.

In the above description, the valve 11 is opened and the valve 1
2 is closed, the valve 11 is closed, and the valve 12 is opened to reduce the flow.
The flow rate can also be selected by opening the valves 11 and 12 to a large flow rate, closing the valve 11 and opening the valve 12 to a small flow rate, and the present invention can be realized.

As a result of implementing the above invention, the dimensional variation in the mask was improved from 15 nm in the prior art to 10 nm.

In the above description, the case where the substrate is developed with a semiconductor mask has been described. However, the present invention is not limited to this case.
The same can be realized with a semiconductor wafer.

[0022]

As described above, the present invention has the following effects.

A substrate with a complicated pattern in which a wide line width and a narrow line width are mixed can be uniformly treated with a chemical solution with little variation.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram of a chemical solution treatment apparatus of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a time chart showing the chemical solution treatment method of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Chamber, 2 ... Rotary stage, 3 ... Mask, 4, 7
... Motor, 5 ... Nozzle, 6 ... Arm, 8 ... Chemical liquid tank,
9: developer, 10: pressurized port, 11, 12: valve, 1
3, 14: Flow control valve, 15: Control device, 20: Number of rotations of rotary stage 2, 30: Flow rate of chemical solution of nozzle 5, 40 ...
The swing state of the arm 6

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Claims (6)

[Claims] 1. A method for treating a chemical solution by placing a substrate horizontally on a substrate, wherein the initial stage of the chemical solution is performed in a short time, and then the rotating stage is rotated at a low speed to perform the chemical solution replacement. . 2. The chemical processing method according to claim 1, wherein the initial liquid level is performed at a large flow rate and the chemical replacement is performed at a small flow rate. 3. The method according to claim 1, wherein the flow rate of the initial liquid is 1 l / min or more.
The chemical solution treatment method according to claim 1, wherein the chemical solution replacement is performed at 0.5 l / min or less. 4. The chemical liquid processing method according to claim 1, wherein the rotation speed of the rotary stage at the time of the initial liquid filling is 100 rpm or more, and the rotation speed of the rotary stage at the time of the chemical liquid replacement is 50 rpm or less. 5. The chemical processing method according to claim 1, wherein the chemical replacement is performed by swinging a chemical nozzle. 6. An apparatus for processing a chemical solution by horizontally mounting a substrate, a rotary stage for mounting the substrate, rotation control means for the rotary stage, a chemical solution nozzle, moving means for the chemical solution nozzle, and a plurality of flow rate control means. And a system control means for selecting a specific flow rate from the plurality of flow control means.