JP2002075943A - Substrate processor, and substrate processing method - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a substrate processor, which can apply treatment to the bottom of a substrate with simple constitution, and a substrate processing method. SOLUTION: An ultrasonic diaphragm 14 is arranged on the top of a base member 12 being retained roughly horizontally on the top end of a rotary shaft 11. A cylindrical dam member 13 is erected at the periphery of the base member 12. A substrate W is placed inward of this dam member 13. Pure water is supplied to space between the substrate W and the ultrasonic diaphragm 14, and a liquid layer 20 is made. The ultrasonic vibration from the ultrasonic diaphragm 14 is given to the substrate W through this liquid layer 20. The pure water is supplied continuously, and the ultrasonic washing treatment of the substrate W is performed, while overflowing the pure water from the cut 13A of the dam member 13.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

[0001] The present invention relates to a semiconductor wafer,
The present invention relates to a substrate processing apparatus and a substrate processing method for performing processing by ultrasonic vibration on various substrates such as optical and magneto-optical disk substrates and glass substrates for liquid crystal display devices and plasma display devices. Such an apparatus includes a substrate cleaning apparatus for cleaning a substrate after a CMP (Chemical Mechanical Polishing) process, an etching processing apparatus for performing an etching process on a substrate, and the like. Also,
The present invention is particularly suitably applied to a single-wafer type apparatus for processing substrates one by one.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A substrate cleaning apparatus for cleaning a substrate after a CMP process includes, for example, a double-side cleaning unit for cleaning the front and back surfaces of a wafer and a precision cleaning for precisely cleaning the front surface of the wafer after the double-side cleaning. A unit and a washing / drying unit for washing / drying the wafer after the precision washing are provided. The precision cleaning unit has a configuration in which, for example, a rotating brush that rotates on the tip of a swing arm that swings above the wafer is pressed against the surface of the wafer. As a spin chuck for holding and rotating the wafer, a vacuum chuck that suctions and holds the back surface of the wafer is used. This is because in a spin chuck having a configuration in which the end face of a wafer is gripped by a plurality of chuck pins, there is a possibility that mechanical damping of the rotating brush or the swing arm may occur.

[0003]

However, in such a substrate cleaning apparatus as described above, the cleaning performance on the back side of the wafer is lower than that on the front side of the wafer, and there has been a demand for improvement in this point. Adding a unit for brush cleaning the backside of the wafer would solve this problem, but this solution is not preferred because it sacrifices cost. Therefore, an object of the present invention is to treat the lower surface (front surface or back surface) of a substrate with a simple configuration (particularly, a cleaning process)
It is an object of the present invention to provide a substrate processing apparatus and a substrate processing method capable of performing the method.

[0004]

According to the first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a substrate processing apparatus for processing at least a lower surface of a substrate (W) which is held substantially horizontally, with a processing liquid. An apparatus (10), comprising: an opposing member (12) provided to oppose a lower surface of a substrate; and a processing liquid supplied between the opposing member and the lower surface of the substrate. A processing liquid supply means (15) for forming a liquid layer of the processing liquid between the substrate and an ultrasonic vibration plate provided on the upper surface of the facing member and applying ultrasonic vibration to the substrate via the liquid layer (14) A substrate processing apparatus comprising: However, the alphanumeric characters in parentheses represent the corresponding components in the embodiment described later. Hereinafter, the same applies in this section.

According to this structure, a liquid layer is formed on the lower surface of the substrate, and an ultrasonic vibration is applied to the substrate from the ultrasonic vibration plate facing the lower surface of the substrate via the liquid layer. With the configuration, the lower surface of the substrate can be processed. That is, since the ultrasonic vibration from the ultrasonic vibration plate is applied to the substrate and the processing liquid near the substrate, for example, foreign substances adhering to the lower surface of the substrate can be effectively removed. In the substrate processing apparatus having the configuration of the present invention, the number of movable parts is significantly smaller than that of a brush cleaning apparatus or the like for cleaning a substrate with a brush, so that the configuration can be extremely simplified.

The processing liquid for forming a liquid layer between the lower surface of the substrate and the facing member may be, for example, pure water or aqueous ammonia. For example, the substrate processing apparatus of the present invention can be applied to a substrate after a CMP (Chemical Mechanical Polishing) process. In this case, the slurry (abrasive) attached to the surface of the substrate after the CMP processing is removed from the substrate surface by ultrasonic vibration. For example, a substrate cleaning apparatus using an ultrasonic nozzle for supplying a processing liquid (generally pure water) having ultrasonic vibration applied to the upper surface of a substrate is known. However, since the ultrasonic nozzle is configured to guide the processing liquid from the nozzle tip to the substrate surface after applying the ultrasonic waves generated from the ultrasonic vibration plate to the processing liquid, when the processing liquid is guided to the substrate surface, The ultrasound inside is attenuated considerably. On the other hand, in the configuration of the present invention, since the ultrasonic vibration plate is opposed to the lower surface of the substrate via a slight liquid layer of the processing liquid, the ultrasonic vibration is applied to the substrate and the processing liquid in the vicinity thereof. Vibration can be effectively applied.
Thus, foreign substances adhering to the surface of the substrate (particularly, the lower surface of the substrate) can be effectively removed.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided a substrate processing apparatus according to the first aspect, wherein a dam member (13) for maintaining the liquid layer is provided on an upper surface of the facing member. It is. According to this configuration, on the upper surface of the facing member,
Since the dam member for maintaining the liquid layer is provided, the liquid layer of the processing liquid can be easily maintained between the facing member and the lower surface of the substrate. The weir member preferably has a size capable of surrounding the substrate to be processed, and is preferably arranged as such.

The invention according to claim 3 is characterized in that the weir member includes:
3. The substrate processing apparatus according to claim 2, wherein a notch (13A) or an opening for discharging the processing liquid is formed. According to the present invention, since the cutout or the opening is formed in the weir member, the substrate to be processed can be held at a position lower than the upper edge of the weir member. Thus, for example, the substrate can be subjected to ultrasonic vibration processing while the processing liquid overflows from the notch or opening. Thus, the foreign matter removed from the lower surface of the substrate is promptly removed by the overflowing processing liquid. Therefore, once removed, the foreign matter does not adhere to the surface of the substrate again.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, the processing liquid supply means includes a nozzle (15) having a discharge port (15A) directed toward the substrate through the opposed member. 3. The substrate processing apparatus according to any one of 3. In this configuration, since the processing liquid can be supplied from the nozzle that penetrates the opposing member and opposes the lower surface of the substrate, a liquid layer can be reliably formed between the lower surface of the substrate and the opposing member.

[0010] In particular, by directing the discharge port of the nozzle toward the center of the (lower surface) of the substrate as described in claim 5,
A uniform liquid layer can be formed between the lower surface of the substrate and the facing member. The invention according to claim 6 is the substrate processing apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 5, further comprising an upper surface processing liquid supply means (17) for supplying a processing liquid to the upper surface of the substrate.

According to this configuration, since the processing liquid also exists on the upper surface of the substrate, the ultrasonic vibration applied to the liquid layer from the lower surface of the substrate is transmitted to the upper surface of the substrate via the substrate. Is done. As a result, foreign substances on the upper surface side of the substrate can also be removed. Further, the processing liquid supplied to the upper surface of the substrate reaches from the peripheral edge of the substrate to the end surface of the substrate. Therefore, the processing by the ultrasonic vibration can be performed over the entire circumference of the end face of the substrate.

Further, the substrate which is to be lifted by the processing liquid supplied to the lower surface of the substrate can be held down by the processing liquid supplied to the upper surface. The distance from the plate can be stabilized. The invention according to claim 7 is the substrate processing apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 6, further comprising a substrate support member (16) for supporting a substrate above the opposing member.

According to this configuration, since a gap can be reliably formed between the opposing member and the lower surface of the substrate, a liquid layer can be reliably formed between the opposing member and the lower surface of the substrate. The substrate support member preferably holds the substrate at a height at which a liquid layer having a preferable thickness is formed between the lower surface of the substrate and the opposing member. If the height of the substrate supporting member is too high, the transmission efficiency of the ultrasonic waves generated by the ultrasonic vibration plate deteriorates. By supplying a liquid from below the substrate without providing the substrate support member, a liquid layer is formed between the substrate and the opposing member. May be subjected to processing by ultrasonic vibration.

The invention according to claim 8 is the substrate processing apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 7, further comprising a rotation drive mechanism (2) for rotating the facing member together with the substrate. According to this configuration, the surface of the substrate can be uniformly processed by rotating the facing member together with the substrate. At the same time, since a centrifugal force acts on the liquid layer between the lower surface of the substrate and the facing member, foreign substances removed from the lower surface of the substrate and floating in the processing liquid can be effectively removed. This configuration is particularly effective when the substrate is processed while continuously supplying the processing liquid and replacing the processing liquid for forming the liquid layer.

According to a ninth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a process for forming a liquid layer of a processing liquid on a lower surface of a substrate (W) which is held substantially horizontally, and wherein the processing liquid is disposed to face the lower surface of the substrate with the liquid layer interposed therebetween. Applying an ultrasonic vibration from the ultrasonic vibration plate (14) to the substrate via the liquid layer. With this method, the effects described in relation to claim 1 can be achieved. The substrate processing method according to the ninth aspect can be modified as described in the second to eighth aspects.

[0016]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. FIG. 1 is a plan view showing a simplified internal configuration of a substrate cleaning apparatus to which a substrate processing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention is applied. This substrate cleaning apparatus is an apparatus for cleaning a substrate (for example, a semiconductor wafer) after a CMP (Chemical Mechanical Polishing) process. Particles such as a slurry (abrasive) used in the CMP process exist on the surface of the substrate W after the CMP process. This slurry must be removed from the surface of the substrate W before the next process in a manufacturing process of a semiconductor device or the like. FIG. 1 shows a substrate cleaning apparatus for removing the slurry.

The substrate cleaning apparatus includes an ultrasonic cleaning unit 10 and an unloader 32 behind the front panel 21. The substrate W that has been subjected to the CMP processing by the CMP processing apparatus (not shown) is carried into the ultrasonic cleaning unit 10 by a transfer robot (not shown). And
The ultrasonic cleaning unit 10 temporarily performs an ultrasonic cleaning process on the substrates W while the substrates W after the CMP process are carried in the standby state. Also, the unloader 32
Is capable of mounting a cassette 37 in which the substrates W cleaned by the substrate cleaning apparatus are stored.

The substrate cleaning apparatus is conveyed through a substantially U-shaped path 40 in a plan view from the ultrasonic cleaning section 10 to the unloader 32. In the process, the cleaning processing and the drying processing are performed. Has become. That is, along the path 40, in order from the ultrasonic cleaning unit 10 side, the ultrasonic cleaning unit 10, the double-sided brush cleaning unit 50, and the surface brush cleaning unit 6 which are the substrate processing apparatus according to the embodiment of the present invention.
0, a washing / drying processing unit 70 is provided.

Further, on the path 40, an ultrasonic cleaning unit 1 is provided.
The first intermediate transfer robot 81 is disposed between the double-sided brush cleaning unit 50 and the double-sided brush cleaning unit 50, and the second intermediate transfer robot 82 is disposed between the double-sided brush cleaning unit 50 and the front brush cleaning unit 60. A third intermediate transfer robot 83 is arranged between the section 60 and the washing / drying processing section 70, and an unloader transfer robot 42 is arranged between the washing / drying section 70 and the unloader 32. That is, the transport robots 81, 82, 83, and 40 allow the substrate W to be transferred between the processing units from the underwater loader 31 to the unloader 32.
Is carried out, the substrate W is transported along the U-shaped path 40, while ultrasonic cleaning, double-sided brush cleaning,
After being subjected to surface cleaning, water washing / drying, and the like, it is housed in a cassette 37 disposed in the unloader 32.

The first intermediate transfer robot 81 disposed adjacent to the ultrasonic cleaning unit 10 receives one substrate W from the ultrasonic cleaning unit 10 and transfers it to the double-sided brush cleaning unit 50. The first intermediate transfer robot 81 includes a lower arm LA rotatable along a horizontal plane and an upper arm UA provided at the tip of the arm LA so as to be rotatable along the horizontal plane. It is configured by a robot. That is, when the lower arm LA rotates, the upper arm UA is configured to rotate in a direction opposite to the rotation direction of the lower arm LA by twice the rotation angle of the lower arm LA. . Thereby, the lower arm LA and the upper arm UA are in a contracted state in which both arms are vertically overlapped,
Both arms can be in an extended state extended toward the ultrasonic cleaning unit 10 or the double-sided brush cleaning unit 50 along the path 40.

At the end of the upper arm UA, a substrate W
(For example, four) gripping claws N for gripping from above
Is provided. The gripping claws N of the transport hand UH are configured to contact the end face of the substrate W to grip the substrate W when gripping the substrate W, and have a structure that does not contact the upper and lower surfaces of the substrate W. I have. The second intermediate transfer robot 82 and the third intermediate transfer robot 83 are configured in the same manner as the first intermediate transfer robot 81 except for the shape of the tip of the upper arm UA. In each part of 83,
The corresponding parts of the first intermediate transfer robot 81 are denoted by reference numerals, and description thereof is omitted. Note that the tip of the upper arm UA of the second intermediate transfer robot 82 and the third intermediate transfer robot 83 is the first intermediate transfer robot 8.
There is no such thing as 1 transfer hand UH,
This is a configuration in which a hole for sucking a substrate is simply provided on the upper surface of the tip of the upper arm UA. That is, in the second intermediate transfer robot 82 and the third intermediate transfer robot 83, the lower surface of the substrate W is suction-held by the substrate suction hole at the tip of the upper arm UA.

The unloader transfer robot 42 includes a bending / stretching robot composed of a pair of upper and lower arms 43 and 44, a linear transfer mechanism (not shown) for reciprocating the bending / stretching robot along a path 40. And a lifting mechanism (not shown) for raising and lowering the bending and stretching robot. That is, the lower arm 44 of the bending and stretching robot is rotatable along a horizontal plane, and the upper arm 43
It is mounted so that it can rotate freely along the horizontal plane. When the lower arm 44 rotates, the upper arm 43
Corresponds to the lower arm 4 in the direction opposite to the rotation direction of the lower arm 44.
It is configured to rotate by twice the rotation angle of No. 4. The entire bending and stretching robot is held by the elevating mechanism, and the elevating mechanism is supported by a carriage (not shown) of the linear transport mechanism. The linear transport mechanism may be, for example, a ball screw mechanism.

FIG. 2 is a schematic sectional view for explaining the configuration of the ultrasonic cleaning unit 10. The ultrasonic cleaning unit 10
A rotating shaft 11 arranged along a vertical direction, a disk-shaped base member 12 fixed substantially horizontally to an upper end of the rotating shaft 11 and facing a substrate W to be processed;
A substantially cylindrical dam member 13 erected on the periphery of the second member 2;
Inside the weir member 13, there is provided an ultrasonic vibration plate 14 disposed on the surface of the base member 12.

The rotating shaft 11 is a hollow shaft, and a nozzle 15 for supplying pure water is disposed so as to pass through the inside of the rotating shaft 11. The pure water supply lower nozzle 15 penetrates through holes formed in the base member 12 and the ultrasonic vibration plate 14, respectively, and is exposed from the center of the upper surface of the ultrasonic vibration plate 14 and upward (the substrate W to be processed). (The center of the lower surface of the nozzle). On the inner peripheral surface of the weir member 13 and on the upper surface of the ultrasonic vibration plate 14, the substrate W (for example, a circular substrate such as a semiconductor wafer) is brought into contact with the peripheral portion of the lower surface of the substrate W to be processed. A substrate support member 16 is provided for holding the ultrasonic vibration plate 14 at a position separated from the upper surface of the ultrasonic vibration plate 14 by a predetermined distance.

The substrate supporting members 16 are provided at a plurality of positions (for example, three positions) at intervals in the circumferential direction of the dam member 13 so as to contact the peripheral portion of the substrate W at the plurality of positions. . Above the substrate W to be supported by the substrate supporting member 16, the pure water supply nozzle 1
7 are arranged. The pure water supply upper nozzle 17 is arranged so as to discharge pure water toward substantially the center of the substrate W. Pure water from the pure water supply source 1 is supplied to the pure water supply lower nozzle 15 and the pure water supply upper nozzle 17 via pure water supply valves 18 and 19, respectively. In addition, the rotating shaft 11 is connected to the rotation driving mechanism 2 including a motor and the like. By rotating the rotation shaft 11 around the vertical axis by the rotation drive mechanism 2,
Base member 12, weir member 13, and ultrasonic diaphragm 14
Can be rotated about a vertical axis together with the substrate W supported by the substrate support member 16. Ultrasonic vibration plate 14
Is connected to a driver circuit 3 for supplying power to the ultrasonic vibration plate 14 to generate ultrasonic vibration.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view for explaining the structure of the weir member 13. The weir member 13 is formed in a tubular shape that can accommodate the substrate W to be processed therein. For example, when the substrate W is a circular substrate such as a semiconductor wafer, the dam member 13 is preferably formed in a cylindrical shape. Further, if the substrate W is a rectangular substrate such as a glass substrate for a liquid crystal display device, the weir member 13 is preferably formed in a rectangular quadrilateral shape in a plan view accordingly.

In this embodiment, as shown in FIG. 3, the dam member 13 is formed in a cylindrical shape corresponding to a circular substrate. Near the upper end of the cylindrical weir member 13, a notch 13A for overflowing the processing liquid (pure water) in the weir member 13 is formed. In this embodiment, a plurality of notches 13 (four at equal angular intervals in the example of FIG. 3) are provided in the vicinity of the upper end of the weir member 13 at intervals in the circumferential direction.
A is formed. The height of the lower end of the notch 13A is lower than the height of the lower surface of the substrate W supported by the substrate support member 16. Note that these four notches 1
3A is formed at the same angular position as the four gripping claws N of the transfer hand UH of the first intermediate transfer robot 81 described above. When the substrate W is delivered, the gripping claws N enter the notches 13A and The substrate W can be smoothly transferred to the inside of the member 13.

First intermediate transfer robot 81 (see FIG. 1)
Transfers the substrate W onto the substrate support member 16 with the back surface (the surface on which the functional element such as a transistor is not formed) facing downward. In this state, the pure water supply valve 1
When the openings 8 and 19 are opened, a liquid layer 20 is formed between the upper surface of the ultrasonic vibration plate 14 and the lower surface of the substrate W opposed thereto, and a liquid layer is also formed on the upper surface of the substrate W. It is formed.
Further, the rotation shaft 11 is rotated by the rotation driving mechanism 2, so that the base member 12 and the ultrasonic vibration plate 1 are rotated.
4 rotates around the vertical axis with the substrate W. In this state, by supplying power from the driver circuit 3 to the ultrasonic vibration plate 14, ultrasonic vibration is applied to the substrate W via the liquid layer 20 between the substrate W and the surface of the ultrasonic vibration plate 14. . Further, the ultrasonic vibration is transmitted to the pure water on the upper surface side of the substrate W by propagating through the substrate W. The pure water on the upper surface side of the substrate W reaches the peripheral surface of the substrate W to the end surface. Therefore, the ultrasonic vibration can be applied to the end face of the substrate W over the entire circumference.

In this way, the ultrasonic vibration from the ultrasonic vibration plate 14 disposed close to and opposed to the substrate W is efficiently transmitted to the lower surface of the substrate W. Thereby, the substrate W vibrates, and pure water near the substrate W vibrates. As a result, the slurry on the lower surface, the upper surface, and the end surface of the substrate W is removed, and is discharged into pure water around the substrate W. The foreign matter thus released is immediately removed from the surface of the substrate W by overflow through the notch 13A of the weir member 13.

Since the base member 12 and the ultrasonic vibration plate 14 are rotating together with the substrate W, pure water forms a flow from the center of rotation toward the outside of the rotation radius on the lower surface and the upper surface of the substrate W. Become. As a result, the foreign matter removed from the surface of the substrate W is efficiently guided to the outside of the weir member 13, and there is no possibility that the foreign matter will adhere to the substrate W again. The ultrasonic cleaning unit 10 having the above configuration has a very simple configuration because there is no movable member such as a swing arm. Therefore, it can be manufactured at low cost. In this manner, the lower surface (the upper surface in this embodiment) of the substrate W can be cleaned by a processing unit having a simple and inexpensive processing unit. Thereby, the cleaning ability of the substrate W in the substrate cleaning apparatus can be improved.

Next, other components of the substrate cleaning apparatus shown in FIG. 1 will be outlined. The double-sided brush cleaning unit 50 includes:
A plurality (six in this embodiment) of holding rollers 51A,
The end surface of the substrate W (especially a circular substrate) is held by 52A, and the substrate W is rotated in a horizontal plane. At the same time, the upper and lower surfaces of the substrate W are scrub-cleaned by the disk brushes 53 arranged above and below the substrate W. For example, three holding rollers 51A of the six holding rollers 51A and 52A are held by the holding mechanism 51, and the remaining three holding rollers 52A are held by the holding mechanism 52. The holding mechanisms 51 and 52 can move close to and away from each other. Accordingly, a state where the substrate W is held and a state where the holding of the substrate W is released can be taken.

The front brush cleaning unit 60 includes a spin chuck 62 that supports the peripheral edge of the back surface of the substrate W with a plurality of (for example, six) holding pins 61. The spin chuck 62 holds the substrate W held horizontally by the holding pins 61.
Is rotated about a vertical axis. Spin chuck 62
A scan brush 63 as a surface scrub cleaning mechanism is provided above the substrate W held on the substrate W. The scan brush 63 includes an oscillating arm 63 </ b> A having a disk type brush that is driven to rotate about a rotation axis along a direction substantially perpendicular to the surface of the substrate W at its tip. As the swing arm 63A swings, the disk-type brush reciprocates repeatedly in the range between the rotation center position of the substrate W and the peripheral edge thereof, and the surface of the substrate W is cleaned.

The washing / drying processing unit 70 includes a spin chuck 71 for horizontally holding and rotating the substrate W, and a pure water supply nozzle (FIG. 1) for supplying pure water to the substrate W held on the spin chuck 71. (Not shown). With this configuration, water washing is performed while rotating the substrate W at a high speed, and further, the supply of pure water is stopped, and draining / drying is performed to shake off moisture adhering to the front and back surfaces of the substrate W. Above the spin chuck 71, a shielding plate 75 for limiting a space above the substrate W is arranged. This shielding plate 75
An inert gas (for example, nitrogen gas) is supplied to the space between the substrate and the upper surface of the substrate W during drying, thereby improving the efficiency of the drying process.

As described above, one embodiment of the present invention has been described, but the present invention is not limited to the above embodiment. For example, in the above embodiment, the notch 13A for overflowing the pure water is formed in the weir member 13, but the notch 13A is not formed and the weir member 1 is not formed.
The pure water may overflow from the upper edge of the nozzle 3. However, in order to securely hold the substrate W in the weir member 13, it is preferable to form a notch. Further, instead of the notch 13A, an opening of an arbitrary shape such as a round hole or a square hole is formed at a position of an appropriate height of the weir member 13,
Pure water may overflow through this opening.

Further, in the above-described embodiment, the substrate support member 16 is provided inside the dam member 13 to support the substrate W. However, the substrate support member 16 may be omitted. That is, the substrate W is suspended on the liquid layer 20 formed by discharging pure water from the discharge port of the pure water supply lower nozzle 15 toward the center of the lower surface of the substrate W. May be transmitted to the substrate W via the liquid layer 20.

In the above-described embodiment, the substrate support member 16 is provided on the inner peripheral surface of the weir member 13. However, the substrate support member 16 is provided, for example, in an area inside the ultrasonic vibration plate 14. Protruding substrate support pins (preferably, those whose contact surfaces that contact the lower surface of the substrate W are convexly curved surfaces) may be provided, and the substrate W may be held by the support pins. In this case, the substrate support pins are preferably provided at a plurality of locations. In the above embodiment, the substrate W
Of the substrate W is opposed to the ultrasonic vibration plate 14, but the surface of the substrate W (for example, the surface on which a functional element such as a transistor is formed) is defined as the lower surface facing the ultrasonic vibration plate 14, and the ultrasonic cleaning unit is used. It may be set to 10.

In the above embodiment, the pure water is supplied also to the upper surface side of the substrate W. However, the supply of the pure water may be omitted. The thickness of the liquid layer formed between the ultrasonic vibration plate 14 and the lower surface of the substrate W (that is, the height of the substrate support member 16 from the ultrasonic vibration plate 14) varies from the ultrasonic vibration plate 14 to the substrate W. It may be appropriately determined in consideration of the ultrasonic transmission efficiency and the replacement speed of pure water constituting the liquid layer. For example, the thickness of the liquid layer is suitably about 10 mm. More specifically, the ultrasonic vibration plate 1
When the standing wave is formed in the liquid layer 20 inside the weir member 13, the thickness of the liquid layer may be set so that the antinode of the standing wave corresponds to the lower surface of the substrate W.

Further, in the above embodiment, the dam member 13
Although a configuration in which pure water as a processing liquid is supplied to the substrate W in the above has been described, a chemical such as ammonia water may be supplied to the substrate W as a processing liquid. In addition, various design changes can be made within the scope of the matters described in the claims.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a simplified plan view showing an internal configuration of a substrate cleaning apparatus to which a substrate processing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention is applied.

FIG. 2 is an illustrative sectional view for explaining a configuration of an ultrasonic cleaning unit.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view for explaining a configuration of a weir member.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Pure water supply source 2 Rotation drive mechanism 3 Driver circuit 10 Ultrasonic cleaning part 11 Rotating shaft 12 Base member 13 Weir member 13A Notch 14 Ultrasonic vibration plate 15 Pure water supply lower nozzle 15A Discharge port 16 Substrate support member 17 Pure water Nozzle on supply 18 Pure water supply valve 20 Liquid layer 31 Underwater loader 50 Double-sided brush cleaning unit 60 Surface brush cleaning unit 70 Water washing / drying processing unit W Substrate

Continued on the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁷ Identification symbol FI Theme coat II (reference) H01L 21/68 H01L 21/68 NF term (reference) 3B201 AA03 AB01 AB34 AB42 BA02 BA13 BA33 BB21 BB85 BB93 CC01 CC12 CC13 5F031 CA02 CA05 FA01 FA02 FA07 FA12 GA08 GA15 GA43 GA47 GA48 GA49 HA09 HA46 HA48 HA59 LA12 MA03 MA23 NA04

Claims (9)

[Claims] 1. A substrate processing apparatus for processing at least a lower surface of a substrate held substantially horizontally with a processing liquid, comprising: an opposing member provided so as to oppose a lower surface of the substrate; and an opposing member and a lower surface of the substrate. And a processing liquid supply means for supplying a processing liquid between the counter member and a lower surface of the substrate to form a liquid layer of the processing liquid, provided on an upper surface of the counter member, via the liquid layer An ultrasonic vibration plate for applying ultrasonic vibration to the substrate. 2. The substrate processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein a dam member for maintaining the liquid layer is provided on an upper surface of the facing member. 3. The substrate processing apparatus according to claim 2, wherein a cutout or an opening for discharging the processing liquid is formed in the weir member. 4. The substrate processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said processing liquid supply means includes a nozzle penetrating said opposing member and having a discharge port directed to a substrate. 5. The substrate processing apparatus according to claim 4, wherein the discharge port of the nozzle is directed to the center of the substrate. 6. The substrate processing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising an upper surface processing liquid supply means for supplying a processing liquid to an upper surface of the substrate. 7. The substrate processing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a substrate supporting member that supports the substrate above the opposing member. 8. The substrate processing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a rotation drive mechanism for rotating the facing member together with the substrate. 9. A step of forming a liquid layer of a processing liquid on a lower surface of a substrate which is held substantially horizontally, and the step of forming the liquid layer from an ultrasonic vibration plate disposed opposite to the lower surface of the substrate with the liquid layer interposed therebetween. Applying ultrasonic vibration to the substrate via a layer.