JP2002100619A - Etching apparatus for processing glass substrate or wafer - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To simplify the structure by omitting a buffer chamber positioned between etching chambers. SOLUTION: The etching apparatus for processing a glass substrate or wafer comprises a lower electrode on which the glass substrate or wafer applied with a photoresist is placed, an upper electrode forming an electric field together with the lower electrode, a gas slit or gas pipe to supply a gas into the chambers, a safety lid producing a sealed atmosphere together with an outside wall, a power supply device to form an electric field on the upper electrode and lower electrode, an insulator interposed between the upper electrode and the outside wall of the chamber to prevent electric contact, and an evacuation outlet to discharge photoresist evaporated in the chambers outside of the chambers.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a semiconductor manufacturing equipment, and more particularly to an ashing apparatus for processing a glass substrate or a wafer.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A photoresist is coated on a wafer surface in a semiconductor manufacturing process or a glass substrate surface in a liquid crystal display device manufacturing process to form a pattern of a functional thin film. After the pattern is formed, the photoresist remaining on the surface of the wafer or the glass substrate is removed by an etching process.

[0003] In recent years, a plasma etching apparatus or the like that irradiates plasma to an etched portion of a photoresist to ash it, gasifies it, and discharges it to the outside of the chamber is used. Damage the
Clean processing can be performed without contamination, cleaning can be simplified, and surroundings can be easily cleaned. Therefore, recently, the introduction of the active matrix display substrate has been gradually and widely promoted, including the processing of the substrate.

FIG. 1 is a view schematically showing a conventional glass substrate etching apparatus for a liquid crystal display device, and FIG.
It is sectional drawing by the -I line.

A conventional glass substrate esching apparatus for a liquid crystal display device has a plurality of esching chambers and a transfer device for transferring a glass substrate (13) between the chambers (10).
(Not shown) is installed. A buffer chamber (15) is provided on a plane between the chambers (10). A glass substrate (13) is seated in (10) of the esshing chamber,
A lower electrode for forming an electric field together with an upper electrode described later
(17) is provided, and the glass substrate (13) is seated on the lower electrode (17) by the transfer device through the inlet formed on one side of the chamber (10).

In FIG. 1, the direction of the arrow is the buffer chamber (15).
Represents the drawing direction of the glass substrate (13) to be drawn into each essing chamber (10) through.

[0007] A glass substrate using a conventional esshing apparatus
(13) An esshing process in which the photoresist (11) applied to the surface is removed will be examined.

First, a glass substrate (13) having a surface coated with a photoresist (11) is drawn into an esching chamber (10) by a transfer device (not shown) such as a transan to proceed with an esching process. Is seated on the lower electrode (17).

Next, when the fixing of the glass substrate (13) is completed, the transfer device is pulled out of the esshing chamber.
Then, the gas supply unit (19) provided outside the chamber (10)
Eshing gas is discharged through the gas supply line (19a), and is uniformly distributed over the entire upper surface of the upper electrode (23) by the gas diffusion plate (21).

Subsequently, when the power supply device (25) is turned on, an electric field is formed between the upper electrode (23) and the lower electrode (17), and gas flows along the direction of the electric field. Flows in the direction from the bottom electrode (17) to the lower electrode (17). As a result, the photoresist (11) applied to the surface of the glass substrate (13) is gasified and discharged out of the chamber (10) through the exhaust port (27).

Reference numeral 10a in the drawing denotes an esshing chamber (10).
Represents the outer wall.

However, the above-mentioned conventional esching apparatus has disadvantages that the equipment itself is complicated, large, and expensive. In addition, a buffer chamber was required to reduce the air pressure so that the esshing chamber was not directly exposed to the atmospheric pressure, and the arrangement of the esching chamber was limited by the presence of the buffer chamber. In addition, the internal structure of the esshing chamber was complicated, which was extremely disadvantageous in terms of device manufacturing and price.

[0013]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention was devised in order to solve the above-mentioned problems of the prior art, and an object of the present invention is to provide a conventional esching apparatus with a buffer between each esching chamber. This is to simplify the structure by omitting the chamber.

It is another object of the present invention to vertically stack the esching chambers to enhance the space utilization and to enable continuous progress by combining with various equipments used in the processes before and after the esching process. It is.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a slit or pipe type gas supply device using the outer wall of the chamber as an upper electrode inside the esshing chamber, and to attempt to simplify the overall configuration.

In order to achieve the above object, an esshing apparatus according to the present invention comprises: a lower electrode on which a glass substrate or a wafer coated with a photoresist is seated; an upper electrode for forming an electric field together with the lower electrode; A gas slit or gas pipe for supplying gas to the
A safety cover provided on the upper electrode and forming a closed atmosphere of the chamber with the outer wall of the chamber, a power supply device for generating an electric field between the upper electrode and the lower electrode, and inserted between the upper electrode and the outer wall of the chamber; And an exhaust port for discharging the photoresist vaporized in the chamber to the outside of the chamber.

[0017]

Preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the drawings.

In the following description, a wafer in a semiconductor manufacturing process will be regarded as being the same as a glass substrate in a liquid crystal display element manufacturing process, and a separate description will not be given for an etching apparatus for processing a wafer.

FIG. 3 is a schematic view of an apparatus for escaping a glass substrate for a liquid crystal display device according to the present invention. As shown in the drawing, the esshing apparatus of the present invention has a vertical laminated structure. This can be achieved by omitting the buffer chamber in the conventional esshing device, but the upper esshing chamber (100) and the lower esshing chamber (101) are mounted on the upper and lower chamber opening and dismounting mechanism (300). The layers are sequentially laminated in a state. Such a structure is very advantageous for securing the left and right working space in a narrow space, and it can be combined with various equipment used in the pre- and post-esching process, for example, etching process, cleaning process, etc., and proceed continuously. Enable.

Reference numerals 200 and 201 in the drawings denote safety lids that form a closed atmosphere of the chambers (100, 101) together with the outer walls (100a, 101a) of the respective chambers, and reference numeral 400 denotes a support base.

FIG. 4 is a longitudinal sectional view of the unit esshing apparatus of FIG. 3, and as shown in the drawing, the unit esshing apparatus of the present invention uses a glass substrate (113) coated with a patterned photoresist (111). A lower electrode (117) to be attached, an upper electrode (123) for forming an electric field together with the lower electrode (117), a gas slit or a gas pipe (220) for supplying gas into the chamber (100), and A safety lid (200) provided on the upper electrode (123) and forming a sealed atmosphere of the chamber (100) together with the outer wall (100a) of the chamber, and an electric field is formed between the upper electrode (123) and the lower electrode (117). Power supply for (125)
And an insulator (210) inserted between the upper electrode (123) and the outer wall of the chamber (100a) to prevent electrical contact, and a photoresist vaporized in the chamber (100) in the chamber (100).
It comprises an exhaust port (127) for discharging to the outside.

A description will now be given of an esching process in which the photoresist 111 applied to the surface of the glass substrate 113 is removed using the esshing apparatus according to the present invention.

The essing apparatus of the present invention takes a form in which a plurality of esching chambers having the same structure are vertically stacked. Hereinafter, an esching process performed in a unit esing chamber will be described.

First, a glass substrate (113) having a surface coated with a photoresist (111) is a transfer instrument such as Transan.
It is drawn into the esshing chamber (100) to proceed with the esching process by a not-shown, and is seated on the lower electrode (117).

Next, when the seating of the glass substrate (113) is completed, the transfer device is pulled out of the esshing chamber (100). Thereafter, an essing gas (O2) is discharged from a gas supply unit (not shown) provided to the outside of the chamber (100) through a gas slit (220) (in a direction indicated by a dotted arrow in the drawing).
In the lower region of the upper electrode (123), it is uniformly distributed over the entire inside of the chamber (100).

At this time, since the gas slit (220) is formed through one outer wall of the chamber (100), the gas slit can be replaced with a gas pipe. ) And upper electrode (123) and lower electrode (117) as compared to the conventional structure formed on
It has a simple structure where a smooth gas supply is generated in the space between them.

Subsequently, when the power supply device (125) is turned on, an electric field is formed between the upper electrode (123) and the lower electrode (117), and gas flows along the direction of the electric field.
Flows in the direction toward the lower electrode (117). As a result, the photoresist (111) applied to the surface of the glass substrate (113) is gasified and discharged out of the chamber (100) through the exhaust port (127).

In the drawings, the insulator (210) is inserted between the upper electrode (123) and the outer wall (100a) of the metal chamber to prevent electrical contact between the two substrates, and in the present invention, When the upper electrode (123) serves as an upper outer wall of the chamber (100) and the two substrates come into electrical contact with each other, when the power supply (125) is turned on, the two electrodes (123) are turned on. , 117)
This is to prevent the formation of an electric field between them. The insulator material is not particularly limited as long as it performs a normal insulating function.

As described above, the safety lid (200) is used to form a closed atmosphere of the chamber (100) together with the chamber outer wall (100a).
It has the same material or similar strength as that, and performs a function of protecting the chamber (100) from an external impact, and is not particularly limited.

The above series of steps has the following differences as compared with the prior art.

Omission of the buffer chamber Conventionally, it was difficult to work in a narrow space due to the buffer chambers disposed between the respective esching chambers. However, according to the present invention, the buffer chamber is omitted and the operation is relatively reduced. A wide working space can be secured.

Eshing Chamber of Vertically Laminated Structure Conventionally, a plurality of esshing chambers have a horizontal cascade structure. However, according to the present invention, the buffer chambers can be omitted and the plurality of chambers can be relatively vertically laminated to form a relative structure. In addition to ensuring a large work space, the machine can be continuously operated in combination with various types of equipment used in the processes before and after the esching process.

Conventionally, the upper electrode is separately provided in the chamber. However, according to the present invention, the upper electrode forms one outer wall of the chamber. It also contributes to the simplification of the chamber configuration.

Omission of Gas Diffusion Plate Conventionally, a gas diffusion plate has been adopted to evenly distribute the essing gas drawn into the chamber from an external gas supply device, but in the present invention, the gas is passed through one side of the chamber below the upper electrode. A gas slit or a gas pipe is provided so that the gas is supplied directly to simplify the structure.

As described above, although the preferred embodiment of the present invention has been described with reference to an esshing apparatus for processing a glass substrate of a liquid crystal display element, although not shown in the drawings, the present invention is also applicable to an esshing apparatus for processing a semiconductor wafer. The structure, function, and effect thereof are the same if only the difference between the objects to be etched is excluded. Therefore, the description of the wafer processing shing apparatus is omitted.

[0036]

According to the esshing apparatus of the present invention, the structure is simplified by omitting the buffer chamber.
A plurality of esching chambers are vertically stacked to enhance the space utilization, and can be continuously operated in combination with various equipment used fairly before and after the esching process.

Further, according to the present invention, a slit or pipe type gas supply device is provided by using the outer wall of the chamber as an upper electrode inside the esshing chamber, and an attempt is made to simplify the entire structure, so that the cost is low. An esshing apparatus with high process efficiency can be realized.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a drawing schematically showing a conventional glass substrate esshing apparatus for a liquid crystal display device.

FIG. 2 is a sectional view taken along line II of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a view schematically showing an apparatus for escaping a glass substrate for a liquid crystal display device according to the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a longitudinal sectional view of a unit shing apparatus for a glass substrate for a liquid crystal display element according to the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 100 Eshing chamber 111 Photoresist 113 Glass substrate 117 Lower electrode 123 Upper electrode 125 Power supply device 127 Exhaust port 200 Safety lid 210 Insulator 220 Gas slit 100a Outer wall of chamber

 ──────────────────────────────────────────────────の Continuation of the front page (71) Applicant 501259204 1009-1, Youngtong-dong, Paldal-ku, Suwon-shi, Kyungki-do, Korea F-term (reference) 2H090 JB02 JC09 JC19 5F004 AA16 BA04 BA20 BD01

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A lower electrode in a chamber on which an object to be etched coated with a photoresist is settled, an upper electrode forming an electric field together with the lower electrode, forming an outer wall on one side of the chamber, and the upper electrode A gas slit formed on one side of the inside of the chamber to supply an essing gas from a gas supply unit outside the chamber to the inside of the chamber; and a safety lid provided on the upper electrode and forming a closed atmosphere of the chamber together with the outer wall of the chamber. A power supply device for forming an electric field between the upper electrode and the lower electrode; an insulator inserted between the upper electrode and an outer wall of the chamber to prevent electrical contact; and a chamber for vaporizing the photoresist vaporized in the chamber. An esshing device including an exhaust port for discharging to the outside. 2. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the object is a glass substrate. 3. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the object is a wafer. 4. The shinging apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the essing gas is supplied from the gas supply unit to the inside of the chamber by a gas pipe.