JP2002343700A - Rotary wafer processing apparatus and method therefor - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To improve product quality and yield by properly performing processing in a treatment mode in a device for rotating type wafer processing having a plurality of kinds of treatment modes in which predetermined processing for a wafer is performed, while rotating the wafer, and to provide a method for the same. SOLUTION: When the velocity of a wafer-supporting board 11 is increased to a maximum velocity Vmax, in end portion 131 of a center support pin 13 is lowered to a lowest position Hmin. As a result, the height of the central surface of the wafer is considerably lower than that of the periphery in a bowl- like shape. The wafer is dried by shaking into such a bent state. Thus, by supporting a wafer W in a smoothly bent state, local corrugations (depressions and projections) of the wafer W can be prevented, and vibration of the wafer can be suppressed, even when the wafer is rotated at a high speed.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

The present invention relates to a method for rotating a semiconductor substrate, a glass substrate for a liquid crystal display device, a glass substrate for a plasma display, a glass substrate for a photomask, a substrate for an optical disk, and the like (hereinafter, referred to as a "substrate"). The present invention also relates to a rotary substrate processing apparatus and method for performing required processing on the substrate.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art As a conventional substrate processing apparatus of this type, there is an apparatus for sequentially performing, for example, a chemical liquid processing mode, a cleaning processing mode, and a drying processing mode on a substrate in that order. Among these processing modes, in the chemical liquid processing mode and the cleaning processing mode, required processing is performed by the chemical liquid and the cleaning liquid supplied to the substrate while rotating the substrate in a horizontal plane. On the other hand, in the drying mode, the substrate is dried by rotating the substrate in a horizontal plane.

As described above, since it is necessary to rotate the substrate in any of the processing modes, in this type of substrate processing apparatus, a substrate support for holding the substrate in a horizontal posture, a substrate support, and the substrate support are provided. And a driving unit that integrally rotates the substrate supported by the driving unit.
More specifically, in the substrate support portion, a plurality of support pins are erected on the upper surface of a circular substrate support plate in plan view,
The substrate is supported by these support pins. A rotating shaft of a motor constituting a driving unit is fixed to a central portion of the lower surface of the substrate supporting plate. Accordingly, the rotational force is transmitted to the substrate via the support pins, and the substrate rotates together with the substrate support plate.

[0004] Two liquid nozzles are arranged opposite to the front and back surfaces of the substrate, respectively. Each of these liquid nozzles is configured to be selectively connected to a chemical liquid supply source and a cleaning liquid supply source, and configured to control supply / stop of a chemical liquid or a cleaning liquid according to a processing mode. .

In the substrate processing apparatus configured as described above,
Substrate processing is performed as follows. First, a substrate is placed on a substrate support plate. Subsequently, the motor starts to rotate the substrate together with the substrate support plate. When the number of rotations of the substrate reaches a predetermined value, a chemical solution is supplied to the substrate from upper and lower liquid nozzles to perform a chemical solution process (chemical solution processing mode). When the chemical solution processing is completed, a cleaning liquid is supplied to the substrate in place of the chemical solution while the substrate is being rotated, and the substrate is cleaned (cleaning mode). When the cleaning process is completed, the substrate is dried by rotating the substrate (drying mode).

[0006]

By the way, in the conventional apparatus, the substrate is rotated while the substrate is supported by the support pins as described above. However, the substrate attitude is the same in any processing mode, that is, substantially horizontal attitude. It has become. According to various experiments and verifications performed by the present inventors, the substrate is rotated while actively supporting the substrate in a curved posture that is actively curved rather than in a horizontal posture depending on the processing mode. Has found that this is desirable for performing the processing mode satisfactorily and improving product quality and yield. However, the conventional apparatus does not adopt a configuration in which the substrate posture is changed according to the processing mode, and can support the substrate only in a single substrate posture. There was a lot of room left.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned problems, and is directed to a rotary substrate processing apparatus and method having a plurality of types of processing modes for performing required processing on a substrate while rotating the substrate. It is another object of the present invention to improve the product quality and the yield by performing the processing mode well in the mode.

[0008]

A substrate processing apparatus according to the present invention includes a substrate holding unit for holding a substrate substantially horizontally, and a driving unit for rotating the substrate holding unit, and holding the substrate by the substrate holding unit. A rotating substrate processing apparatus having a plurality of types of processing modes for performing a required process on the substrate while rotating the substrate, wherein the substrate holding unit is provided in accordance with the processing mode. Then, the substrate is rotated in a state where the relative relationship between the central surface height at the central portion of the substrate and the peripheral surface height at the peripheral portion of the substrate is different (claim 1).

Further, a substrate processing method according to the present invention is characterized in that:
A rotation type substrate processing method having a plurality of types of processing modes for performing required processing on the substrate while rotating the substrate held substantially horizontally, a rotary substrate processing method having a plurality of types, and in accordance with the processing mode, A relative relationship between a central surface height at a central portion of the substrate and a peripheral surface height at a peripheral portion of the substrate is changed (claim 1).
0).

In this specification, "substantially horizontal" means that the substrate is disposed horizontally, and the final holding of the substrate obtained by supporting the horizontally disposed substrate with support pins or the like. It does not mean posture. Therefore, the term “substantially horizontal” includes not only the case where the horizontally arranged substrate is completely horizontal, but also the case where the substrate is curved to the extent of bending.

In the invention (substrate processing apparatus and method) configured as described above, when each processing mode is executed, the relative relationship between the center surface height of the substrate and the peripheral surface height of the substrate is changed. Processing is performed in a substrate posture suitable for the processing mode. Therefore, each processing mode can be performed favorably to improve product quality and yield.

Here, as one example of a specific processing mode, there is a drying processing mode in which the substrate is dried by rotating the substrate. In this drying processing mode, the center surface height is lower than the peripheral surface height. The substrate is rotated by (2). Normally, in the drying mode, the substrate is often rotated at a relatively high speed in order to increase the drying efficiency.
In this way, the center surface height is lower than the peripheral surface height, that is, by supporting the substrate in a curved state, local waving (unevenness) of the substrate is eliminated, and even when the substrate is rotated at a high speed, the substrate vibrates. Inconvenience due to local waviness of the substrate (such as scattering or breakage of the substrate)
Can be effectively prevented.

As a specific processing mode, in addition to the drying processing mode, there is a chemical processing mode in which a substrate to which a chemical is supplied is rotated to perform a required chemical processing with the chemical. This chemical processing mode is performed prior to the drying processing mode. In this chemical processing mode, it is desirable that the substrate be rotated in a state where the center surface height and the peripheral surface height are substantially the same (claim 3). This is because, during the chemical treatment, the substrate is rotated while the substrate is held in a horizontal state, whereby the chemical is spread over the entire substrate and uniform chemical treatment can be performed.

As a specific processing mode, in addition to the above-described drying processing mode and chemical liquid processing mode, a cleaning processing mode in which a substrate supplied with a cleaning liquid is rotated to perform cleaning processing on the substrate with the cleaning liquid. is there. The cleaning processing mode is executed between the chemical processing mode and the drying processing mode. In this cleaning processing mode, it is desirable to rotate the substrate with the center surface height being lower than the peripheral surface height. ). This is because, in the cleaning process, the substrate is rotated at a higher rotation speed than in the chemical solution process, so that the vibration of the substrate due to the high-speed rotation of the substrate is suppressed, as in the case of the drying process. This is because it is desirable to prevent inconvenience (such as scattering or breakage of the substrate).

The number of rotations of the substrate in the cleaning process is often smaller than the number of rotations of the substrate in the drying process.
In addition, when the cleaning liquid is supplied to the substrate to perform the cleaning processing and the cleaning liquid is largely curved, the cleaning liquid may stay at the center of the substrate. It is desirable to adjust the relative relationship so that the amount is larger than the amount of displacement in the cleaning processing mode (claim 5).

Incidentally, in order to change the above-mentioned relative relationship, the substrate holding portion is formed of a central support pin for supporting the central portion of the substrate, a peripheral support pin for supporting the peripheral portion of the substrate, a central support pin and the peripheral support pin. It may be constituted by a pin elevating mechanism for moving at least one up and down (claim 6).

As described above, in the drying mode, it is desirable to control the posture of the substrate so that the height of the center surface is lower than the height of the peripheral surface. The support pin may be lowered to lower the center surface height below the peripheral surface height (claim 7), or the peripheral support pin may be raised by a pin lifting mechanism to lower the center surface height below the peripheral surface height. (Claim 8).

The timing of changing the above-mentioned relative relationship by the pin elevating mechanism is such that at least one of the center support pin and the periphery support pin is moved up and down in accordance with the switching of the processing mode, so that the center surface height and the periphery surface height are changed. Is desirably changed before and after the mode switching (claim 9).

[0019]

FIG. 1 is a vertical sectional view showing one embodiment of a rotary substrate processing apparatus according to the present invention. This substrate processing apparatus is an apparatus that sequentially performs a chemical solution process, a cleaning process, and a dry process on a glass substrate W for LCD (hereinafter, simply referred to as “substrate W”) in this order. As shown in FIG. 1, the apparatus includes a substrate supporting unit 1 for holding a substrate W.
A drive unit 2 that rotationally drives the substrate support unit 1, an upper shield unit 3 that forms and shields a processing space S above the substrate support unit 1, and a lifting unit 4 that moves the upper shield unit 3 up and down; The apparatus includes a cup section 5 for collecting the liquid shaken off from the substrate W, and a housing 6 for accommodating each unit of the apparatus.

The substrate supporting portion 1 includes a substrate supporting plate 11 having a circular shape in plan view, a peripheral supporting pin 12 fixed to an upper surface of the substrate supporting plate 11 to support a peripheral portion of the substrate W, A central support pin 13 for supporting the central portion of the substrate W on the upper surface side of the substrate 11 and a pin lifting mechanism 14 for lifting and lowering the central support pin 13 are provided.

The peripheral support pins 12 are arranged corresponding to the four corners of the substrate W. Each of the peripheral edge support pins 12 includes a support member 121 that supports the outer peripheral edge of the substrate W from below, and a support member 1.
And a guide rising surface 122 that abuts on the outer peripheral end surface of the substrate W supported by the substrate 21 to regulate the movement of the substrate W, supports the peripheral edge of the substrate W at four points, and fixes the peripheral edge of the substrate W to a predetermined position. (Hereinafter referred to as “peripheral surface height”). In FIG. 1, only two peripheral support pins 12 are shown to avoid complicating the drawing.

The four center support pins 13 are arranged on the substrate support plate 11 corresponding to the center of the substrate W. The center support pins 13 are moved up and down by the pin elevating mechanism 14 to support the center of the substrate W. Moreover, the surface height of the central portion of the substrate (hereinafter referred to as “central surface height”) can be changed. The configuration and operation of the center support pin 13 and the pin elevating mechanism 14 will be described later in detail.

The driving section 2 is provided so as to be connected to an opening at the center of rotation of the substrate support plate 11. An upper end of the cylindrical shaft 21 is connected to the substrate support plate 11 and a lower end thereof is connected to a motor 23 via a belt mechanism 22 so as to communicate with the opening. When the substrate 21 rotates, the substrate support plate 11 and the support pins 1
The substrate W held by the substrate supporting unit 1 by means of 2 and 13 is rotated around a vertical axis P.

The cylindrical shaft 21 is formed of a hollow cylindrical member, and the liquid nozzle 16 is disposed along the center thereof.
The upper end of the liquid nozzle 16 faces the center of the lower surface of the substrate W, and the substrate W
The processing liquid (chemical liquid or cleaning liquid) can be supplied to the vicinity of the rotation center on the lower surface of the liquid crystal display.

Further, the cylindrical shaft 21 extends toward the opening of the substrate support plate 11, and is located above the substrate support plate 11, so that the discharge port 17 is opened. Then, at the outlet 17, the side surface of the liquid nozzle 16 and the cylindrical shaft 21
Air from the atmospheric pressure atmosphere is discharged from the gap with the inner peripheral surface. The tip of the liquid nozzle 16 is formed in a T-shaped cross section, and a processing liquid nozzle hole is opened at the center of the flat upper surface.

The liquid nozzle 16 is connected to a pipe 80. The base end of the pipe 80 is branched, and a chemical liquid supply source 81 is connected to one of the branch pipes 80a, and a pure water supply source 82 is connected to the other branch pipe 80b. Each branch pipe 80a, 80b has an on-off valve 83a,
83b, and these on-off valves 83a, 83b
By switching between opening and closing, the chemical liquid and pure water can be selectively switched and supplied from the nozzle hole of the liquid nozzle 16 toward the back surface of the substrate W.

The gas supply passage 18 is provided in the liquid nozzle 16, and the lower end thereof is connected to a gas supply source 85 via a pipe 84 provided with an on-off valve 84a. A structure in which a clean gas such as clean air or clean inert gas (such as nitrogen gas) can be supplied to a space between the substrate support plate 11 and the lower surface of the substrate W from the discharge port at the upper end of the passage 18. Have been.

Further, the gap between the cylinder shaft 21 and the liquid nozzle 16 is configured such that the pipe 86 is opened to the atmospheric pressure atmosphere via the flow control valve 86a. The gap between the cylinder shaft 21 and the liquid nozzle 16 is formed through the opening 19 through the substrate support plate 11.
The substrate W is communicated with a space between the substrate and the substrate W, so that air in the gap can be discharged into the space.

The motor 23 and the belt mechanism 22 are accommodated in a cylindrical casing 62 provided on a base member 61 as a bottom plate of the substrate processing apparatus. The casing 62 is connected to the outer peripheral surface of the cylindrical shaft 21 via the bearing 63, and is in a state of covering the cylindrical shaft 21. That is,
The periphery of the cylindrical shaft 21 immediately before the connection from the motor 23 to the substrate support plate 11 is covered with the casing 62, and the motor 23 attached to the cylindrical shaft 21 below is also covered with the cover.

The upper shield 3 is provided with an upper rotating plate 31 so as to face the substrate support plate 11 with the substrate W interposed therebetween, and is moved up and down by a rotating plate lifting mechanism 41 of the lifting unit 4. The upper rotating plate 31 has a ring shape that covers the peripheral region of the substrate W, and has a large opening 31a in the center. A partition wall 31b is provided upright around the opening 31a in a cylindrical shape. An auxiliary shielding mechanism 32 is provided in the partition wall 31b so as to cover the opening 31a, and a cleaning liquid such as pure water is applied to the upper surface of the substrate W. The supply liquid nozzle 33 is provided to be vertically movable. Then, the auxiliary shielding mechanism 32 and the liquid nozzle 33 are vertically moved by the auxiliary shielding elevating mechanism 42 of the elevating unit 4. For this reason, the upper rotating plate 31 is moved by the rotating plate lifting mechanism 41 to the substrate supporting plate 11.
Side, the upper rotating plate 31 is supported by the peripheral support pins 12, and the auxiliary shielding mechanism 32 and the liquid nozzle 33 are moved by the auxiliary shielding elevating mechanism 42 to the substrate supporting plate 11.
When the opening 31a is closed by being lowered to the side, a processing space S sandwiched by the substrate support plate 11 is formed.

A nozzle hole is provided in the liquid nozzle 33 toward the processing space S, and a chemical solution and pure water can be selectively switched and supplied to the center of the upper surface of the substrate W similarly to the liquid nozzle 16 side. It has become. That is, the liquid nozzle 3
A liquid supply pipe 332 is penetrated through the hollow portion of the substrate 3, and a processing liquid (chemical solution or cleaning liquid) can be supplied from a lower end of the liquid supply pipe 332 to the vicinity of the rotation center of the upper surface of the substrate W held on the substrate support plate 11. ing. The liquid supply pipe 332 is connected to a pipe 87. The base end of the pipe 87 is branched, and one of the branch pipes 87a is provided with a chemical supply source 81.
Are connected to each other, and a pure water supply source 82 is connected to the other branch pipe 87b. In addition, each branch pipe 8
Opening / closing valves 88a and 88b are provided in 7a and 87b. By switching between opening and closing of these opening / closing valves 88a and 88b, the liquid nozzle 33 is selectively switched between the chemical solution and pure water to the center of the upper surface of the substrate W. Can be supplied.

The inner peripheral surface of the liquid nozzle 33 and the liquid supply pipe 3
A gap between the outer peripheral surface of the gas turbine 32 and the outer peripheral surface of the gas turbine 32 serves as a gas supply passage 333. The gas supply path 333 is connected to a gas supply source 85 via a pipe 89 provided with an opening / closing valve 89a.
It is configured such that clean gas can be supplied to the space between the substrate and the upper surface of the substrate W.

Next, the configuration of the center support pin 13 and the pin lifting mechanism 14 will be described with reference to FIG.

FIG. 2 is a sectional view showing a pin elevating mechanism employed in the substrate processing apparatus of FIG. 1. FIG. 2 (a) shows a state in which the substrate support plate has stopped rotating and is rotating at a low speed. FIG. 3B shows a state where the substrate support plate is rotating at high speed. The center support pin 13 is inserted through an opening 111 provided in the substrate support plate 11, and has a front end 1.
While the substrate W is supported by 31, the rear end surface 132 is finished to a tapered surface. Then, the tapered surface 132
The pin lifting mechanism 14 acts on the central support pin 13
Moves up and down with respect to the substrate support plate 11 to move up and down the central portion of the substrate W.

The pin elevating mechanism 14 is configured to
A pin guide member 142 is provided for guiding the vertical movement of the center support pin 13 in a case 141 attached to the lower surface of the case. A guide rail 143 is provided on the inner bottom surface of the case 141 in the centrifugal direction about the axis P (FIG. 1). Therefore, when the guide rail 143 provided on each pin elevating mechanism 14 is viewed in a plan view, it extends radially around the axis P.

The guide rail 143 includes the action member 1
44 is slidably mounted. The upper surface 144a of the action member 144 is a tapered surface that can engage with the tapered surface 132 of the center support pin 13. And
The end 144 of the action member 144 on the axis side (the right hand side in the figure)
A spring member 145 is provided between the inner surface of the case 141 and the inner surface of the case 141, and urges the action member 144 toward the axis. Note that reference numerals 146 and 147 in the figure denote an uppermost point stopper and a lowermost point stopper, respectively.

According to the pin elevating mechanism 14 configured as described above, when the rotation of the substrate support plate 11 is stopped, as shown in FIG. Are urged toward the axis, and are positioned at the position determined by the uppermost stopper 146 so that the tip 131 of the central support pin 13 is
And the same height as the substrate supporting position. For this reason, the surface height of the central portion of the substrate supported by the central support pins 13, that is, the central surface height is the same as the surface height of the peripheral portion of the substrate supported by the peripheral support pins 12, that is, the peripheral surface height. When the substrate support plate 11 starts to rotate, the rotation of the substrate support plate 11 applies a force toward the opposite side (left hand side in the figure) of the acting member 144 toward the axis P, that is, a centrifugal force.
While the number of rotations is low (below the number of rotations Vth to be described later), the urging force of the spring member 145 is larger than the centrifugal force, and is maintained in the state shown in FIG. You.

When the number of rotations of the substrate supporting plate 11 further increases, the centrifugal force accompanying the rotation becomes larger than the urging force, so that the operation member 144 is on the opposite side to the axis P (the left-hand side in the figure).
The center support pin 13 retreats with respect to the substrate support plate 11 with the movement, and the height of the center surface becomes lower than the height of the peripheral surface. However, in this embodiment, the provision of the lowermost point stopper 147 allows the center support pin 13
Is prevented from becoming lower than the state (high-speed rotation state) of FIG.

Next, the operation of the substrate processing apparatus configured as described above will be described with reference to FIGS.

FIG. 3 is a timing chart showing the operation of the substrate processing apparatus of FIG. FIG. 4 is a schematic view showing a substrate supporting state in the substrate processing apparatus of FIG.
In this substrate processing apparatus, the substrate W is placed on the substrate support 1. At this time, the supply of the processing liquid (chemical liquid and cleaning liquid) from each of the liquid nozzles 16 and 33 is stopped, the number of rotations of the substrate support plate 11 is zero, and the rotation is stopped. Therefore, the tip 131 of the center support pin 13 is at the highest position Hmax, and the center surface height of the substrate W is the same as the peripheral surface height. That is, the substrate W is held by the substrate support 1 in a horizontal posture as shown in FIG.

Next, at a predetermined timing T1, the motor 23 starts and the substrate support plate 11 starts rotating. Then, the rotation of the substrate support plate 11 is accelerated, and the number of rotations becomes a predetermined value Vth.
When it becomes, it shifts to constant speed control. Further, the chemical solution is supplied from the liquid nozzles 16 and 33 toward the substrate W from the predetermined timing T1 to the timing T2, and the chemical solution processing is executed (chemical solution processing mode). At this time, in this embodiment, when the rotation speed is equal to or less than the predetermined value Vth, the urging force of the spring member 145 is larger than the centrifugal force, and as shown in FIG. In FIG. 4A, the chemical treatment is performed in a horizontal state as shown in FIG. As described above, since the substrate W is rotated while the substrate W is kept horizontal during the chemical liquid processing, the chemical liquid can be spread over the entire substrate, and uniform chemical liquid processing can be performed.

At the timing T2 at which the chemical processing is completed, the cleaning liquid is supplied from the liquid nozzles 16 and 33 instead of the chemical, and the number of rotations of the substrate support plate 11 is increased to a predetermined value V.
The rotation speed is increased to a rotation speed higher than th (however, a rotation speed lower than the maximum rotation speed Vmax), and the leading end 13 of the central support pin 13 is increased.
1 is set lower than in the case of chemical treatment. That is, FIG.
As shown in (b), the central surface height of the substrate W is in a shallow dish state slightly lower than the peripheral surface height, and in such a curved state, the cleaning processing with the cleaning liquid is performed until timing T3 (cleaning). processing mode).

At timing T3 when the cleaning process is completed,
The supply of the cleaning liquid from the liquid nozzles 16 and 33 to the substrate W is stopped, and the rotation speed of the substrate support plate 11 is controlled to be accelerated / decelerated in the acceleration / deceleration pattern shown in FIG. A drying process is performed on the substrate W (drying mode). That is, after the rotation speed of the substrate support plate 11 is increased to the maximum rotation speed Vmax, the rotation speed is gradually reduced to zero at the timing T4, and the drying process is completed. As described above, when the rotation speed of the substrate support plate 11 is increased to the maximum rotation speed Vmax, the tip 131
Decreases to the lowest position Hmin, and as a result, FIG.
As shown in (c), the height of the center surface of the substrate W is considerably lower than the height of the peripheral surface, and the spin-off drying process is performed in such a curved state. Therefore, the following operation and effect can be obtained.

Conventionally, when a substrate W is supported by support pins, many substrate processing apparatuses support the substrate W in a horizontal position.
However, a large number of support pins are required to horizontally support the substrate W, and there is a difficulty due to a limitation in accuracy, and the substrate W is easily supported in a locally wavy state.
When the substrate W is rotated at a high speed in such a wavy state, the substrate W vibrates and the processing becomes unstable, or the substrate W
This causes inconvenience such as scattering or breakage. On the other hand, in the present embodiment, by supporting the substrate W in a smoothly curved state as described above, local waviness (unevenness) of the substrate W can be eliminated, and the substrate W is rotated at a high speed. Even at this time, the vibration of the substrate W can be suppressed.

When the chemical processing, the cleaning processing, and the drying processing are completed as described above, the processed substrate W is carried out of the apparatus by a substrate transport robot (not shown). Then, in the same manner as described above, the unprocessed substrate W is carried in, and a series of processing is repeated.

As described above, according to this embodiment, when each processing mode is executed, the relative relationship between the center surface height of the substrate and the peripheral surface height of the substrate is changed according to the processing mode. Therefore, the processing is performed in a substrate posture suitable for the processing mode. For example, in the chemical solution processing mode, the substrate posture (FIG. 4) in which the center surface height and the peripheral surface surface height substantially match.
Since the substrate W is rotated in (a), the chemical solution spreads over the entire substrate, and uniform chemical solution processing can be performed. Further, in the drying process mode, the substrate W is rotated in a substrate posture (FIG. 9C) whose central surface height is lower than the peripheral surface height, so that local waving (unevenness) of the substrate W is eliminated. Even when the substrate is rotated at a high speed, the vibration of the substrate can be suppressed, and the inconvenience due to local waving of the substrate (such as scattering or breakage of the substrate) can be effectively prevented. Further, in the cleaning processing mode, the central surface height is lower than the peripheral surface height, and the displacement amount (= Hmax−Hcl) of the central surface height with respect to the peripheral surface height in the cleaning processing mode is the displacement amount (= Hmax−Hcl) in the drying processing mode. Hmax−Hmin), the substrate W is rotated in a substrate posture (FIG. 2B), so that the vibration of the substrate due to the substrate rotation is suppressed while preventing the cleaning liquid from staying at the center of the substrate. In addition, the inconvenience due to local waviness of the substrate W (such as scattering or breakage of the substrate) is prevented. As described above, according to this embodiment, in each processing mode, the processing is performed in a substrate posture suitable for the processing mode, so that each processing mode can be favorably performed and the product quality and the yield can be improved.

The present invention is not limited to the above embodiment, and various changes other than those described above can be made without departing from the gist of the present invention. For example, in the above embodiment, the pin lifting mechanism 14 is configured so that the center support pin 13 moves up and down by centrifugal force generated by the rotation of the substrate support plate 11, but the configuration of the pin lifting mechanism 14 is not limited to this. Instead, any configuration may be adopted as long as the configuration allows the center support pin 13 to be driven up and down. For example, as shown in FIG. 5, the center support pin 13 may be moved up and down by an actuator 148 such as an air cylinder or a solenoid.

Further, in the above embodiment, the present invention is applied to the substrate processing apparatus which performs the chemical liquid processing mode, the cleaning processing mode, and the drying processing mode on the substrate W in this order. The present invention is not limited to this, and can be applied to all substrate processing apparatuses that execute a plurality of different types of processing modes. The substrate to be processed is not limited to a glass substrate for a liquid crystal display device, but may be a semiconductor substrate, a glass substrate for a photomask,
An optical disk substrate is also included.

Further, in the above embodiment, as shown in FIG. 4, in the chemical processing mode (FIG. 4A), the cleaning processing mode (FIG. 4B) and the drying processing mode (FIG. 4C). Although the relative relationship between the central surface height and the peripheral surface height is all different, it is not an essential component of the present invention to make all the relative relationships different in all the processing modes, for example, a chemical solution processing mode and a cleaning processing mode. In this case, the substrate W may be rotated in a horizontal posture, while the substrate W may be rotated in a bowl-shaped substrate posture in the drying processing mode. In addition, a plurality of types of chemicals may be used, but in each of the chemicals processing modes, all of them may be rotated in a horizontal posture.

In the above embodiment, the peripheral support pin 1
2 is fixedly arranged, and the center support pin 13 is moved up and down by the pin elevating mechanism 14 to change and set the relative relationship between the center surface height and the peripheral surface height. In order to change the relative relationship, A pin elevating mechanism is also provided on the side of the peripheral support pin 12 so that both the peripheral support pin 12 and the center support pin 13 can be moved up and down, or the central support pin 13 is fixedly arranged, while the peripheral support pin 12 is moved up and down by the pin. It may be configured to move up and down by a mechanism.

Further, in the above embodiment, four peripheral support pins 12 and four central support pins 13 are provided, but the number, arrangement, shape, and the like of these pins are not limited thereto.

[0052]

As described above, according to the present invention, the relative relationship between the central surface height at the central portion of the substrate and the peripheral surface height at the peripheral portion of the substrate is changed according to the processing mode. When executing each processing mode, the relative relationship between the center surface height of the substrate and the peripheral surface height of the substrate is changed, and the processing is performed in a substrate posture suitable for the processing mode. In addition, each processing mode can be favorably performed. As a result, product quality and yield can be improved.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a longitudinal sectional view showing one embodiment of a rotary substrate processing apparatus according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a sectional view showing a pin elevating mechanism employed in the substrate processing apparatus of FIG.

FIG. 3 is a timing chart illustrating an operation of the substrate processing apparatus of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a schematic view showing a support state of a substrate in the substrate processing apparatus of FIG. 1;

FIG. 5 is a longitudinal sectional view showing another embodiment of the rotary substrate processing apparatus according to the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Substrate support part 2 ... Drive part 11 ... Substrate support plate 12 ... Peripheral edge support pin 13 ... Center support pin 14 ... Pin lifting mechanism Hmax ... Peripheral surface height P ... Shaft core W ... Substrate

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁷ Identification symbol FI Theme coat ゛ (Reference) B05D 7/00 H01L 21/304 643A H01L 21/304 643 651B 651 21/30 569C 21/306 21/306 J (72) Inventor Hiroyuki Kitazawa 4-chome, Tenjin Kita-cho, Horikawa-dori, Kyoto, Kyoto, Japan 1 Dainippon Screen Manufacturing Co., Ltd. Teranouchi 4 chome 1 Tenjin Kitamachi 1 Dai Nippon Screen Manufacturing Co., Ltd. (72) Inventor Satoshi Suzuki 4 Kyoto, Higashidori, Hikaru-ku, Kyoto City F-term (reference) in Screen Manufacturing Co., Ltd. 4D075 AC64 AC71 AC78 AC84 AC86 AC93 BB14Y BB24Y BB65Y CA47 CA48 DA06 DA08 DB13 DB14 DC21 DC 22 DC24 EA07 4F042 AA02 AA07 AA08 BA08 CC04 CC09 DD41 DD44 DD45 DF03 DF04 DF07 DF28 DF32 DF34 DF36 EB05 EB08 EB17 EB23 EB29 5F043 AA40 BB27 EE07 EE08 EE35 EE40 GG10 5F046 LA05

Claims (10)

[Claims] A substrate holding portion for holding the substrate substantially horizontally;
A driving unit that rotationally drives the substrate holding unit; and a rotary substrate processing apparatus having a plurality of types of processing modes for performing required processing on the substrate while rotating the substrate held by the substrate holding unit. The substrate holding unit may rotate the substrate in a state in which a relative relationship between a central surface height at a central portion of the substrate and a peripheral surface height at a peripheral portion of the substrate differs according to a processing mode. Characteristic rotary substrate processing equipment. 2. One of the plurality of processing modes includes a drying processing mode in which the substrate is dried by rotating the substrate. In the drying processing mode, the height of the central surface of the substrate holding unit is set at the peripheral edge. The rotary substrate processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the substrate is rotated in a state lower than a surface height. 3. One of the plurality of processing modes includes a chemical processing mode in which a substrate to which a chemical is supplied is rotated to perform a required chemical processing with the chemical, and after executing the chemical processing, 3. The rotary substrate processing according to claim 2, wherein a drying processing mode is executed, and said substrate holding unit rotates said substrate in a state in which said central surface height and said peripheral edge surface height substantially coincide with each other in said chemical solution processing mode. apparatus. 4. One of the plurality of processing modes includes a cleaning processing mode in which a substrate supplied with a cleaning liquid is rotated to perform a cleaning process on the substrate with the cleaning liquid. The cleaning mode is executed between the cleaning mode and the processing mode, and the substrate holding unit rotates the substrate in the cleaning mode in a state where the center surface height is lower than the peripheral surface height. 4. The rotary substrate processing apparatus according to 3. 5. The rotary substrate processing apparatus according to claim 4, wherein a displacement amount of the center surface height with respect to the peripheral surface height in the drying processing mode is larger than the displacement amount in the cleaning processing mode. 6. The substrate holding unit includes a center support pin for supporting a center of the substrate, a periphery support pin for supporting a periphery of the substrate, and a pin for moving at least one of the center support pin and the periphery support pin up and down. 2. The rotary substrate processing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising an elevating mechanism. 7. One of the plurality of processing modes includes a drying processing mode in which the substrate is dried by rotating the substrate. In the drying processing mode, the pin elevating mechanism lowers the center support pin to lower the center supporting pin. 7. The rotary substrate processing apparatus according to claim 6, wherein the center surface height is lower than the peripheral surface height. 8. A drying processing mode for drying the substrate by rotating the substrate as one of the plurality of processing modes. In the drying processing mode, the pin elevating mechanism raises the peripheral edge supporting pin to lift the peripheral supporting pin. 7. The rotary substrate processing apparatus according to claim 6, wherein the center surface height is lower than the peripheral surface height. 9. The pin raising / lowering mechanism moves at least one of the center support pin and the peripheral edge support pin up and down in response to switching of a processing mode, thereby changing a relative relationship between the central surface height and the peripheral surface height. 9. The rotary substrate processing apparatus according to claim 6, wherein the rotation type substrate processing apparatus is changed before and after the mode switching. 10. A rotary substrate processing method having a plurality of types of processing modes for performing required processing on a substrate held substantially horizontally while rotating the substrate, wherein the center of the substrate is determined according to the processing mode. A relative surface height between a central surface of the substrate and a peripheral surface of the peripheral portion of the substrate is changed.