JP2002110619A - Substrate-treating apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a substrate-treating apparatus that can smoothly substitute atmosphere, without disturbing an air current in a treatment chamber, has excellent cleanliness, and prevents increase in cost. SOLUTION: A substrate W is carried into a drying treatment chamber 4 by a roller conveyer 1. The carrying in/out of the substrate W is detected sensors 38 and 40. When the substrate is conveyed to the gas-spraying position of an air knife 9, gas is blown out of air knives 9a, 9b, 9c, and 9d, and liquid is blown off from both the surfaces of the substrate W for drying. When the substrate W is conveyed furthermore and does not exist at the gas-spraying position, gas is blown out of only the air knives 9a and 9b, and blow-off from the air knives 9c and 9d is inhibited for stopping. While the substrate W does not exist at the gas-spraying position, the gas will not blow out of the air knives 9c and 9d upward, by thus preventing disturbance in downward air current, formed by a clean cir current introducing mechanism 13 in the drying treatment chamber 4, and smoothly discharging treatment-liquid mist or the like.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

The present invention relates to a substrate processing apparatus for processing a surface of a substrate such as a glass substrate used for manufacturing a liquid crystal display panel or a plasma display panel, a semiconductor wafer, and a mask substrate for a semiconductor manufacturing apparatus. In particular, the present invention relates to a method of processing by blowing gas to a substrate.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art As this type of substrate processing apparatus,
One disclosed in JP-A-7-14819 is known. This conventional example is a substrate drying processing apparatus that supplies a gas to the substrate from air knives provided above and below the substrate, blows off liquid adhering to the surface of the substrate, removes the liquid, and performs drying processing. Here, a downflow by clean air is formed in the processing chamber by a clean unit provided in an upper part of the processing chamber, and exhaust is performed from an exhaust port provided in a lower part of the processing chamber. Then, a process is performed in which a gas is blown from an air knife to the substrate carried into the processing chamber from the carry-in entrance to remove the liquid attached to the substrate surface, dried, and then carried out.

Generally, in this type of apparatus, it is necessary to keep the substrate clean. However, in an apparatus such as this conventional example, a certain amount of liquid mist is often generated due to the principle that a gas is blown out to a substrate to which a liquid has adhered and the liquid is blown off and dried. Therefore, it is important to prevent the generated mist from adhering to the substrate. In the above publication, a clean unit is provided at the upper part of the apparatus, and a clean and uniform laminar downflow is generated in the processing chamber to replace an atmosphere containing mist in the processing chamber with a clean airflow.

However, in such a configuration, after the dried substrate is carried out of the processing chamber, the air blown from the upper and lower air knives collide near the substrate transfer path, and a part of the gas is upwardly swirled. The other part is turbulent due to a downward spiral. When such a turbulent flow occurs, the laminar flow of the down flow is disturbed, and the atmosphere cannot be replaced smoothly. In order to increase the replacement speed of the atmosphere, it is conceivable to increase the amount of air in the downflow or increase the amount of exhaust. However, any of these methods has a disadvantage that the running cost is increased.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and has been made in consideration of the above circumstances, and is capable of smoothly replacing an atmosphere without disturbing an air flow in a processing chamber, having high cleanliness, and having no cost increase. A processing device is provided.

[0005]

According to the first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a chamber constituting a processing chamber for processing a substrate, an airflow introducing mechanism for introducing an airflow from above the processing chamber into the processing chamber, and A discharge mechanism for discharging the atmosphere in the processing chamber from below, holding means for holding the substrate in the processing chamber, a first blowing mechanism for blowing gas downward from above toward the upper surface of the substrate in the processing chamber, A second blowing mechanism for blowing gas upward from below toward the lower surface of the substrate, and upward blowing of gas by the second blowing mechanism when the substrate to be blown by the second blowing mechanism is absent. And a control means for suppressing the occurrence of the pressure.

According to this configuration, the atmosphere can be replaced smoothly without disturbing the airflow in the processing chamber, the cleanliness is high, and the cost does not increase.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the first aspect, the control means further has a function of controlling the first blowing mechanism, and when the substrate to be blown by the second blowing mechanism is absent. The control is performed so as not to suppress the downward blowing of the gas by the first blowing mechanism.

According to this structure, the downdraft can be formed more positively in the processing chamber, so that the atmosphere can be replaced in a shorter time and discharged to the outside of the processing chamber.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the first aspect, the control means further has a function of controlling the first blowing mechanism, and when the substrate to be blown by the second blowing mechanism is absent. This also suppresses the downward blowing of gas by the first blowing mechanism.

According to this configuration, the gas consumption can be further reduced and the cost can be reduced.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, in the fourth aspect, the substrate holding means includes a transfer mechanism for transferring the substrate in a predetermined direction while holding the substrate.

According to this configuration, the processing can be performed while transporting the substrate.

According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, in any one of the first to fourth aspects, a sensor is provided near the second blowing mechanism and detects the absence of the substrate to be sprayed.

According to this structure, when the substrate is not in the vicinity of the second blowing mechanism, the absence of the substrate can be accurately detected and the blowing of gas can be more reliably suppressed, and the gas is blown only when necessary. Cost can be reduced.

According to a sixth aspect of the present invention, in any of the first to fourth aspects, an opening for loading and / or unloading the substrate into and from the processing chamber is formed in a chamber constituting body, and the substrate to be sprayed is provided. A sensor for detecting the absence of the sensor is provided near the opening.

According to this configuration, the presence or absence of the substrate in the processing chamber can be reliably detected, whereby the blow-out of gas can be more reliably suppressed.

[0017]

Next, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a schematic sectional view showing a schematic configuration of a main part of a first embodiment of a substrate processing apparatus according to the present invention. This substrate processing apparatus has a rectangular glass substrate W
(Hereinafter, simply referred to as a substrate W) in a horizontal posture or a slightly inclined posture, while being conveyed from left to right in FIG.
A chemical solution such as a developing solution is supplied to perform chemical treatment on the substrate W, and after the treatment, pure water is supplied to perform a cleaning process, and thereafter, dry air is supplied to the substrate W to perform a drying process. . The substrate processing apparatus includes a chemical processing apparatus for performing a chemical processing, a cleaning processing apparatus for performing a cleaning processing, and a drying processing apparatus for performing a drying processing.
And only the drying apparatus C are shown. The chemical processing apparatus is disposed adjacent to the cleaning apparatus B and to the left of the cleaning apparatus B in the figure, but is not shown. In the cleaning apparatus B, a nozzle N connected to a pure water supply mechanism, which will be described later, is provided in the cleaning processing chamber 2, and the nozzle N is supplied from a water supply channel 21 via an on-off valve 22 and a filter 23 capable of adjusting a flow rate. Pure water is supplied to the substrate W in a spray form. In the drying processing apparatus C, the drying processing chamber 4 is defined by the chamber component 3, and an opening 6 for carrying in a substrate is formed in a front wall 5 corresponding to the cleaning processing device B side of the chamber component 3, and the front wall 5 is connected to the front wall 5. Openings 8 for carrying out the substrate are formed in the opposite rear walls. The roller conveyor 1 is provided to transport the substrate W from a chemical processing apparatus (not shown) to a cleaning processing apparatus B and a drying processing apparatus C while holding the substrate W in a horizontal or slightly inclined posture. It is arranged so as to continue from the side B to the outside of the opening 8 via the opening 6. The roller conveyor 1 transports the substrate W while supporting only the left and right ends in the transporting direction of the substrate W. Above and below the roller conveyor 1 in the drying chamber 4, respectively,
Air knives 9a, 9b, 9c, and 9d for spraying dry gas onto the upper and lower surfaces of the conveyed substrate W to remove pure water adhering to the substrate W and dry them (when these are collectively referred to simply as air knives 9) Are described). The air knives 9a and 9b are sequentially provided on the upper side of the roller conveyor 1 in the substrate traveling direction, and are provided obliquely downward on the upstream side in the traveling direction of the substrate W, and the air knives 9c and 9d are disposed on the lower side of the roller conveyor 1 on the lower side. It is provided in order in the traveling direction and is provided obliquely upward on the upstream side in the traveling direction of the substrate W so as to blow gas to the substrate W to be transported.

An intake port 12 is formed in the upper wall 11 of the chamber structure 3, and the intake port 12 is provided with a clean air flow introduction mechanism 13 for introducing a clean air flow into the drying processing chamber 4.
Although not shown, the clean air flow introduction mechanism 13 includes a blower mechanism that blows air downward from above and a filter that cleans the airflow from the blower mechanism. Room component 3
An exhaust port 15 capable of draining and exhausting is formed in the lower wall 14. The exhaust blower 10 is connected to an exhaust path 34 from the exhaust port 15 via a gas-liquid separator 16. The atmosphere in the drying chamber 4 can be exhausted by the exhaust blower 10. Further, a damper 35 is provided in the exhaust path 34. The damper 35 can be switched between a fully open state and a half open state, and the opening degree at the half open state can be arbitrarily set. A sprinkling pipe 17 is provided below the opening 6 of the front wall 5 of the drying processing chamber 4 and below the opening 8 of the rear wall 7, and a pure water supply mechanism including a pure water tank 18 and a pump 19. From the water supply channel 20 and the on-off valve 2 with adjustable flow rate
Pure water is supplied through the filter 2 and the filter 23. Sprinkler pipes 17 spray pure water on front wall 5 and rear wall 7 to keep them clean and wet. This pure water supply mechanism is also connected to the nozzle N in the above-described cleaning chamber 2 via the water supply path 21, and supplies pure water to the substrate W from the nozzle N.

The air knives 9a, 9b, 9c and 9d include:
Valve mechanism 30 including on-off valves 30a, 30b with adjustable flow rate
Gas supply mechanism 31 composed of a gas and a dry gas supply source 29
Are connected via the air filters 32a and 32b. That is, the open / close valve 30a is connected to the air knives 9a and 9b, and the open / close valve 30b is connected to the air knives 9c and 9d. The dry gas supply mechanism 31, the exhaust blower 10, and the clean air flow introduction mechanism 13 are connected to a control device 33.
The operation is controlled by A sensor 38 for detecting the entry of the substrate into the position of the air knives 9a and 9c is provided on the upstream side of the air knifes 9a and 9c in the drying processing chamber 4 at the blowing position of the air knives 9a and 9c.
A sensor 4 for detecting the retreat of the substrate from the positions of the air knives 9b and 9d is provided downstream of the blowing position of the substrate d in the substrate traveling direction.
0 is provided. The sensors 38 and 40 are connected to the control device 33.
(Not shown) to transmit the detection result.
The control device 33 controls the valve mechanism 30 and the like with reference to the detection results of the sensors 38 and 40. The operation of the substrate processing apparatus will be described below with reference to FIG. FIG.
In each of (e), the arrow from the upper part to the lower part of the drying chamber 4 indicates the airflow by the clean airflow introducing mechanism 13, and the arrow from the lower part of the drying chamber 4 from the outlet 15. The two diagonally downward arrows on the upper middle stage of the drying chamber 4 indicate the airflows blown out to the air knives 9a and 9b, respectively, and the two diagonally upward arrows on the lower middle stage of the drying chamber 4 indicate the air knives, respectively. Arrows from 9c and 9d toward the top and downward from the top represent airflows blown out to the clean airflow introduction mechanism 13, and arrows corresponding to the airflows from the air knives 9a, 9b, 9c and 9d are not drawn. In this case, the corresponding air knife is in a state in which the blowing is suppressed and the blowing is stopped. The substrate is transported rightward as indicated by the arrow in FIG.

The substrate W that has been subjected to the chemical treatment by the chemical treatment device is conveyed to the cleaning treatment device B by the roller conveyor 1 and is subjected to the cleaning treatment with pure water supplied from the nozzle N. The substrate W having been subjected to the cleaning processing is subsequently transported to the drying processing apparatus C (FIG. 2A). In the drying processing apparatus C, the clean air flow introduction mechanism 13 constantly supplies a clean gas having a constant air volume into the drying processing chamber 4, and the exhaust blower 10 is controlled by the control device 33 to exhaust a constant air volume. Then, while the substrate W is not in the drying processing chamber 4, that is, in FIG.
As shown in (a), when the substrate is absent, the control means 33
Performs blowing of gas from the air knives 9a and 9b,
The valve mechanism 30 is controlled so that the on-off valve 30a is opened and the on-off valve 30b is closed so as to stop the gas blowing from the air knives 9c and 9d. At this time, the damper 35 is controlled by the control means 33 so as to be in a half-open state. When the damper 35 is in the half-open state at this time, the amount of air exhausted from the exhaust path 34 is almost equal to the sum of the amount of clean gas supplied from the clean air flow introduction mechanism 13 and the amount of air blown out from the air knives 9a and 9b. So that the pressure in the drying chamber 4 is substantially the same as the pressure in the cleaning chamber 2 communicating through the opening 6 and the pressure outside the drying chamber 4 communicating through the opening 8. Is set. At this time, since the gas is blown out only from the air knives 9a and 9b of the air knives 9 whose gas blowout directions are downward, the gas blown out from the air knives 9a and 9b is cleaned in the drying processing chamber 4. It is unlikely to disturb the downward airflow. Further, there is almost no air flow into and out of the drying processing chamber 4 through the openings 6 and 8.

When the substrate W is carried into the drying processing chamber 4 and reaches the positions of the air knives 9a and 9c and the presence thereof is detected by the sensor 38, the control device 33 activates the valve mechanism 3
0 to open both the on-off valves 30a and 30b. As a result, the dry gas is supplied to the air knives 9a, 9b, 9c, 9d and is blown out toward the substrate W passing therethrough, whereby the pure water adhering to both surfaces of the substrate W is blown off and removed. Then, the substrate W is dried (FIGS. 2B and 2C). Further, the control device 33 controls the damper 35 to be fully opened at the same time when the dry gas supply mechanism 31 is operated. Thereby, the exhaust path 34
, The amount of exhaust air discharged from the drying processing chamber 4 per unit time increases. The increase amount is the air knife 9c,
From 9d, the amount of the dry gas supplied into the drying chamber 4 is substantially equal to the pressure of the cleaning chamber 2 communicating through the opening 6 and the pressure in the drying chamber 4 through the opening 8. The pressure is set so as to be substantially the same as the pressure outside the drying processing chamber 4 which is in communication. Thereby, the air knives 9c, 9d
Even when the dry gas is blown out from the opening 6 and the opening 8
Thus, a state where almost no airflow enters and exits from the drying processing chamber 4 is maintained. When the substrate W is to be carried out of the drying processing chamber 4 through the positions of the air knives 9b and 9d,
The sensor 40 detects that the substrate has passed, whereby the control device 33 closes the on-off valve 30b again, stops the supply of the dry gas to the air knives 9c, 9d whose gas blowing directions are upward, and the air knife 9c, The blowing from 9d is stopped (FIG. 2 (d)). At this time, the gas is blown only from the air knives 9a and 9b whose blowing direction is downward, as in the state shown in FIG. There is little disturbance to the clean downward airflow formed in 4. The control device 33 controls the damper 35 to be in a half-open state at the same time as stopping the operation of the dry gas supply mechanism 31. As a result, the amount of exhaust air discharged from the drying processing chamber 4 through the exhaust path 34 per unit time is reduced, and the state is the same as before the substrate W is loaded. As a result, a state where almost no airflow enters and exits the drying processing chamber 4 from the openings 6 and 8 is maintained. Then, when the next substrate W is carried into the drying processing chamber 4 and approaches the positions of the air knives 9a and 9c, FIG.
In the same manner as in the state shown in FIG.
Substrates W supplied to 9b, 9c, 9d and passing therethrough
Spouted towards.

As described above, while the substrate W is at the position of the air knife 9, the air knives 9a, 9b, 9c, 9
d, the air knives 9c and 9d are directed upward while they are not at the position of the air knife 9.
Is stopped, the clean downward airflow formed in the drying chamber 4 is not disturbed by the clean airflow introduction mechanism 13, and the atmosphere in the drying chamber 4 is replaced. Is performed smoothly, and the degree of cleanliness can be kept high.

Further, the control device 33 controls the air knife 9a,
With the blowing operation of the gas from 9b, 9c, 9d,
By switching the damper 35, the air knives 9a, 9b,
Irrespective of the operation of blowing gas from 9c and 9d, the airflow into and out of the drying processing chamber 4 from the opening 6 and the opening 8 is kept almost non-existent, so that the atmosphere can be replaced more smoothly. Further, the air flow around the drying processing chamber 4 is not disturbed.

In the above embodiment, the sensors 38, 4
0 is provided near the position of the air knife 9 to detect whether or not the substrate W is at the position where the air knife 9 blows out. Therefore, the absence of the substrate W can be accurately detected, and the suppression of gas blowing can be more reliably achieved. In addition, the gas can be blown out only for the necessary solution and the cost is low. Note that these sensors are provided in the vicinity of the openings 6 and 8 so that the substrate W
May be configured to detect and control whether or not is present in the drying processing chamber 4. With such a configuration, the presence or absence of the substrate W in the drying processing chamber 4 can be reliably detected, and thereby, the suppression of gas blowing can be more reliably performed.

In this embodiment, the control device 33
However, when the substrate W to be sprayed is not present at the spray position of the air knives 9c and 9d, the air knife 9
It suppresses the upward blow of the gas by c and 9d to be stopped, and does not suppress the downward blow of the gas by the air knives 9a and 9b. For this reason, the gas from the air knives 9a and 9b can more positively form a descending airflow in the drying processing chamber 4, so that the atmosphere can be replaced in a shorter time and discharged to the outside of the drying processing chamber 4.

As a modification of the above embodiment, the control device 33 moves the air knives 9c and 9d to the spray positions.
When the substrate W to be sprayed is absent, the upward blowing of gas by the air knives 9c and 9d is suppressed to be stopped, and the downward blowing of gas by the air knives 9a and 9b is simultaneously stopped. Can be configured to be suppressed. FIG. 3 shows the operation of the substrate processing apparatus of this modification. FIGS. 3A to 3E correspond to FIGS. 2A to 2E, respectively. In this case, when the substrate W to be sprayed does not exist, a downward airflow is not actively formed, but the upward blowing of the gas is stopped, and the airflow in the drying processing chamber 4 is disturbed. The atmosphere can be replaced smoothly, the cleanliness can be increased, the gas consumption can be further reduced, and the processing can be performed at lower cost.

Further, as another modification, the first-stage air knives 9a and 9c and the second-stage air knives 9b and 9d can be separately controlled. In this case, the rear end of the substrate W is the first-stage air knife 9.
a, 9c, the blowing of the air knife 9c is suppressed.
When the air knife 9d passes through the air knife 9d, the blowing of the air knife 9d can be suppressed. According to this configuration, even when the processing tact time of the substrate is short, the transport time interval of the substrate is short, and the distance between the substrate and the substrate is short, the air knife 9 can be used.
Can be secured, and the processing cost can be reduced even in such a case.
As still another modification, when the rear end of the substrate W passes through the first-stage air knives 9a and 9c, the air knife 9
A configuration may be adopted in which both blowing out of both the air knives 9b and 9d are suppressed when the rear end of the substrate W passes through the second-stage air knives 9b and 9d.

Further, in the above embodiment, the suppression of the blowing from the air knife 9 is realized by completely stopping the blowing of the gas. It can also be realized by substantially reducing the amount of gas blown out to a level that does not substantially disturb the descending airflow formed toward 15.

[0029]

As is apparent from the above description, according to the substrate processing apparatus of the present invention, the atmosphere can be replaced smoothly without disturbing the airflow in the processing chamber, the cleanliness is high, and the cost is increased. It is possible to provide a substrate processing apparatus that does not generate any.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic sectional view showing a schematic configuration of a main part of a substrate processing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a schematic sectional view illustrating an operation of the substrate processing apparatus according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a schematic sectional view illustrating an operation of a substrate processing apparatus according to a modification of the embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 W ... Substrate 3 ... Chamber structure 4 ... Drying processing chamber 9a, 9b, 9c, 9d ... Air knife 10 ... Exhaust blower 13 ... Clean air flow introduction mechanism 33 ... Control device 35 ・ ・ ・ Damper

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁷ Identification symbol FI Theme coat ゛ (Reference) H01L 21/30 572B F-term (Reference) 3L113 AA02 AB02 AC31 AC35 AC48 AC50 AC54 AC67 BA34 CA20 CB23 DA24 5F031 CA02 CA05 CA07 FA01 FA02 FA04 GA53 JA01 JA22 NA02 NA16 5F046 LA07 LA14 MA05

Claims (6)

[Claims] 1. A chamber constituting a processing chamber for processing a substrate, an airflow introducing mechanism for introducing an airflow from an upper part of the processing chamber into the processing chamber, and a discharging mechanism for discharging an atmosphere in the processing chamber from a lower part of the processing chamber. Holding means for holding the substrate in the processing chamber, a first blowing mechanism for blowing gas downward from above toward the upper surface of the substrate in the processing chamber, and upward from below toward the lower surface of the substrate in the processing chamber. A second blowing mechanism for blowing gas; and control means for controlling at least the second blowing means, wherein the control means controls the second blowing when the substrate to be blown by the second blowing mechanism is absent. A substrate processing apparatus that controls so as to suppress upward blowing of gas by a mechanism. 2. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said control means has a function of controlling said first blow-out mechanism. When there is no substrate to be blown by said second blow-out mechanism, said control means is directed downward by said first blow-out mechanism. The substrate processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the substrate processing apparatus controls so as not to suppress blowing of the gas. 3. The control device according to claim 1, further comprising a function of controlling the first blowing mechanism, wherein when the substrate to be blown by the second blowing mechanism is absent, the first blowing mechanism is directed downward by the first blowing mechanism. 2. The substrate processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the blowout of the generated gas is suppressed. 4. The substrate processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said substrate holding means includes a transport mechanism for transporting said substrate in a predetermined direction while holding said substrate. 5. A device provided near the second blowing mechanism,
The substrate processing apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 4, further comprising a sensor that detects the absence of the substrate to be sprayed. 6. An opening for loading and / or unloading a substrate to and from the processing chamber is formed in a chamber component, and a sensor for detecting the absence of the substrate to be sprayed is provided near the opening. 2. The device according to claim 1, wherein
A substrate processing apparatus.