JP2003031459A - Liquid processing apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To save consumption of processing liquid when supplying the processing liquid such as developing liquid through horizontal scanning the supply nozzle against almost a circular substrate. SOLUTION: The supply nozzle 4 has ejection holes 50 along almost the same length as the diameter of a wafer W or the like, wherein the inside of the nozzle 4 is divided into three channels 51 to 53 in the longitudinal direction. A first ejection region Wa is formed by the flow channel 51, a second ejection region Wb is formed by the flow channels 51, 52, and a third ejection region Wc is formed by the flow channels 51 to 53. Each flow channel is connected to a respective supply channel 54 having a pressure-setting valve, and each supply channel 54 is connected to a common processing-liquid tank 55 via a common pump P1. The pressure of the pump P1 is controlled so that, for example, if the pressure exceeds 0.03 Mpa, the valve Va is opened to eject the developing liquid from the first flow channel 51. An ejection region of the nozzle 4 is selected in accordance with the region to be coated of the wafer W, and consequently the ejection to regions outside the wafer W is reduced to save the processing liquid.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a liquid processing apparatus which supplies a developing solution to the surface of a substrate which has been coated with a resist and which has been subjected to an exposure process to perform the developing process.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A mask for forming a circuit pattern on the surface of a semiconductor wafer (hereinafter referred to as a wafer) or an LCD substrate of a liquid crystal display is, for example, a photoresist solution (hereinafter referred to as a resist) applied to the surface of the wafer to form a light When the resist is, for example, a negative type, the portion exposed to light is cured after the irradiation with the above, and therefore, the non-cured portion, that is, the easily soluble portion of the resist is dissolved by a developing solution. In the case of a positive type resist, the exposed portion is dissolved by the developing solution.

As a method of performing the developing process, for example, a supply nozzle 12 in which a large number of ejection holes 11 are arranged over a length corresponding to the diameter direction of the wafer W shown in FIG.
As shown in FIG. 12B, a method of moving and arranging the supply nozzle 12 to the outside of the peripheral edge of the wafer W and further moving from this position to the outside of the peripheral edge of the wafer while ejecting is performed. Proposed.

[0004]

By the way, in such a method, while the wafer W has a substantially circular shape, the formation area of the discharge hole 11 of the supply nozzle 12 is almost the same as or larger than the diameter of the wafer W. Since it is large, for example, FIG.
As shown in FIG. 5, the developer puddle area 13 is larger than the wafer W, and the developer solution in the area of the puddle area 13 that extends beyond the wafer W is not actually used for development. It is wasted, and as a result, the consumption amount of expensive developer increases, resulting in an increase in production cost.

The present invention has been made under such circumstances, and an object thereof is to provide a technique for reducing the amount of coating liquid.

[0006]

Therefore, according to the present invention, there is provided a substrate holder for holding a substantially circular substrate substantially horizontally, and a treatment liquid for supplying the surface of the substrate held by the substrate holder to the processing liquid. A supply nozzle provided with a discharge hole for forming a discharge region having a length substantially equal to or longer than the width of the effective region of the substrate, and the supply nozzle is moved in a substantially horizontal direction relative to the substrate. And a plurality of flow paths formed inside the supply nozzle so as to divide the inside of the supply nozzle into a plurality of parts in the lengthwise direction, and to supply the processing liquid to each of the flow paths. A plurality of supply paths each having an opening / closing valve, a common processing liquid storage unit connected to the supply path, and a common pump for supplying a processing liquid from the processing liquid storage unit to the supply path, The operation of the moving mechanism and the opening / closing valve and / or the pump And a control unit that controls the operation of the substrate are divided into a plurality of coating regions of the substrate on which the processing liquid is coated, in a direction substantially parallel to the supply nozzle, and supply is performed so as to correspond to the coating region of the substrate. In changing the discharge area of the nozzle, the flow path of the supply nozzle is selected by controlling the opening / closing of the opening / closing valve by the control unit, and the processing liquid is supplied to the flow path, thereby the discharge area of the supply nozzle. It is characterized by changing. With such a configuration, since the area other than the substantially circular substrate to which the processing liquid is supplied from the supply nozzle is small, waste of the processing liquid can be suppressed and the amount of the processing liquid can be reduced.

In another aspect of the present invention, the opening / closing means opens / closes the ejection hole of the supply nozzle to change the ejection area of the supply nozzle so as to correspond to the application area of the substrate on which the processing liquid is applied. Characterized in that, for example, the opening and closing means, the plate-shaped regulating means for opening and closing the discharge hole by closing the discharge hole, thereby forming a discharge region,
Moving means for moving the regulating means in a substantially horizontal direction so as to form a predetermined discharge area, and the regulating means is moved along the guide rail by the moving means to correspond to the application area of the substrate. It is configured to form a discharge area. With such a configuration, since the discharge area of the supply nozzle continuously changes according to the shape of the substrate, waste of the processing liquid can be further suppressed, and the amount of the processing liquid can be saved.

[0008]

1 to 3 are schematic views showing an embodiment in which the liquid processing apparatus according to the present invention is applied to a developing apparatus. Reference numeral 2 is a spin chuck that forms a substrate holding unit that holds the wafer W, which is a substrate, in a central portion on the back surface in a vacuum and holds the wafer W substantially horizontally. The spin chuck 2 is configured so that it can be rotated and moved up and down by a drive unit 20.

When the wafer W is suction-held by the spin chuck 2, a cup 3 is provided so as to surround the lateral side of the wafer W. The cup 3 is composed of an outer cup 31 and an inner cup 32 which are vertically movable. . The inner cup 32 is formed so that the upper side of the cylinder is inclined inward and the upper side opening is narrower than the lower side opening.
When the outer cup 31 is raised by 0, the outer cup 31 is configured to move up and down in conjunction with a part of the movement range of the outer cup 31.

A lower portion of the cup 3 has a circular plate 33 surrounding the spin chuck 2, and a liquid receiving portion in which a concave portion is formed around the circular plate 33 and a drain port 34 is formed on the bottom surface. And 35. The outer cup 31 (and the inner cup 32) is housed slightly inside the side surface of the liquid receiving portion 35, and the side surface of the wafer W is laid across the upper level and the lower level of the wafer W by the recess and the cup 3. Surrounded. Further, a ring body 36 having a mountain-shaped cross section whose upper end approaches the back surface of the wafer W is provided on the peripheral edge of the disc 33.

Next, the supply nozzle 4 for supplying the developing solution as the processing solution to the wafer W attracted and held by the spin chuck 2 will be described. The supply nozzle 4 includes, for example, as shown in FIG. 2, an elongated rectangular nozzle body 41 to which a processing liquid such as a developing liquid is supplied, and a nozzle portion 42 provided on the lower surface thereof. A large number of ejection holes 50 are arranged in 42 so as to form a treatment liquid ejection region having a length equal to or longer than the width of the effective region (device formation region) of the wafer W, for example.

Such a supply nozzle 4 is provided at a standby position (one end of the guide rail 44) outside the cup 3 shown in FIG. 3 along a guide rail 44 provided outside the cup 3 by the first moving mechanism 43. Side position) through the upper side of the wafer W to a position facing the standby position with the wafer W sandwiched therebetween.

That is, as shown in FIG. 3, the guide rail 44 is provided so as to extend in the X direction so as to be substantially parallel to one side of the outer cup 31, for example.
The first moving mechanism 43 is located on one end side of 4. First
The moving mechanism 43 is composed of an arm portion 45 and a base portion 46, and the supply nozzle 4 is suspended and supported by the arm portion 45 so that the discharge holes 50 for the large number of treatment liquids are arranged in the Y direction. It can be moved along the guide rail 44 via a base portion 46 which is a moving portion.
The base portion 46 has an elevating mechanism (not shown) formed of, for example, a ball screw mechanism, and can move (up and down) the arm portion 46 in the Z direction by a driving force from a power source (not shown) such as a motor. it can.

In the present invention, in order to reduce the amount of the developing solution, a plurality of coating areas on the wafer W, for example, five areas A to E in a direction substantially parallel to the supply nozzle 4 as shown in FIG. When the processing liquid is discharged from the supply nozzle 4 for each coating area, the processing liquid discharge area is changed. Here, the coating region of the wafer W is a central region where the coating region C includes the diameter of the wafer W, the coating regions B and D are regions on both sides of the coating region C in the nozzle advancing direction, and the coating regions A and E are respectively. These are regions on both sides of the coating regions B and D in the nozzle advancing direction. For example, in the case of a 12-inch wafer W, the coating area C is, for example, 80 mm on both sides in the nozzle advancing direction from the center of the wafer.
To the outer side, the coating areas B and D to the outer sides of the coating area C on both sides in the traveling direction, for example, about 40 mm, and the coating areas A and E to the both sides of the coating areas B and D on the both sides in the traveling direction, for example, about 40 mm. Is set to.

Specifically, the inside of the supply nozzle 4 is
For example, as shown in FIG. 4, the nozzle 4 is divided so as to form a plurality of processing liquid flow paths in the longitudinal direction. In this example, the supply nozzle 4 is formed in the central portion of the nozzle 4 as schematically shown in the side view of the supply nozzle 4 of FIG. 4A and the bottom view of the supply nozzle 4 of FIG. 4B. The first flow channel 51, the second flow channel 52 formed outside the first flow channel 51, and the third flow channel 53 formed outside the second flow channel 52. It is divided. When the developing solution is discharged from the first flow path 51, a first discharging area Wa is formed, and when the developing solution is discharged from the first flow path 51 and the second flow path 52, a second discharging area is formed. Wb is formed, and the first flow path 5 is formed.
When the developing solution is discharged from the first and second flow paths 52 and the third flow path 53, the third discharge area Wc is formed.

The third discharge area Wc is the coating area C.
Which is used when applying the discharge area W
The width of c corresponds to, for example, the width of the diameter Lc of the wafer W or more, and the processing liquid is supplied to the area C ′ shown by the dotted line in FIG. . The first ejection area Wa is used when applying the application areas A and E, and the width of the ejection area Wa is substantially parallel to the diameter Lc of the wafer W and is outside the diameter Lc. Width L of the wafer W at the end positions of the coating areas A and E
It corresponds to a length equal to or longer than a, and the treatment liquid is supplied to the areas A'and E'including the coating areas A and E for the coating treatment. The second discharge area Wb is the application area B, D
Which is used when applying the discharge area W
The width of 2 is substantially parallel to the diameter Lc and the width La, and corresponds to a length equal to or larger than the width L2 of the wafer W at the positions of the end portions of the coating regions B and D outside the diameter Lc, For holding the coating process, the treatment liquid is supplied to the regions B'and D'including the coating regions B and D.

Next, the supply system of the processing liquid to the supply nozzle 4 will be described. The first to third flow paths 5 are described below.
1 to 53 are independently provided to the first to third supply paths 5 respectively.
4a, 54b, 54c are connected, and
The third supply paths 54a to 54c are provided with open / close valves Va,
Vb and Vc are interposed. Further, the upstream sides of these first to third supply paths 54a to 54c are grouped into a common 1
It is connected via a single pump P1 to a processing solution tank 55 which is a processing solution storage tank for storing a common processing solution, for example, a developing solution. The on-off valves Va to Vc are constituted by pressure setting valves that open when a pressure higher than a predetermined pressure is applied and close when the pressure becomes lower than the predetermined pressure. For example, the valve Va has a first pressure, for example, a pressure of 0.03 MPa or higher. , The valve Vb is opened when a second pressure higher than the first pressure, eg, a pressure of 0.05 MPa or more, and the valve Vc is applied a third pressure higher than the second pressure, eg, a pressure of 0.1 MPa or more. It is set. Also, the pump P
1 is constituted by, for example, a bellows pump, a diaphragm pump, or the like.

Further, reference numeral 60 in FIG. 2 denotes a cleaning nozzle for supplying a cleaning liquid to the wafer W to clean the surface of the wafer W. The cleaning nozzle 60 is, for example, a cup shown in FIG. 3 is provided so as to be horizontally movable from a standby position outside of 3 (position on the other end side of the guide rail 44) to a position facing the standby position with the wafer W sandwiched therebetween, passing above the wafer W.

The positions where the first moving mechanism 43 and the second moving mechanism 61 are respectively shown in FIG. 2 are the standby positions of the supply nozzle 4 and the cleaning nozzle 60 during the non-working as described above. Here, for example, the first moving mechanism 42 and the second moving mechanism 6 which are constituted by vertically movable plate-like bodies are used.
One standby unit 62, 63 is provided. Further, the cup 3, the first moving mechanism 44, and the second moving mechanism 61 are formed as a unit surrounded by a box-shaped casing 64, and the wafer W is transferred by a transfer arm (not shown).

The pump P1 and the drive unit 2 described above
0, the elevating unit 30, the first moving mechanism 43, and the second moving mechanism 61 are connected to the control unit C, respectively, and are operated by the first moving mechanism 43 in response to elevating the spin chuck 2 by the driving unit 20, for example. It is possible to perform control by interlocking each part so that the processing liquid is supplied (scanned).
Further, the operation of the pump P1, that is, the timing of starting and stopping the operation of the pump P1, the pump pressure, the timing of starting and stopping the movement of the first moving mechanism 43, and the moving speed are within a processing time preset by the controller C. It is controlled based on the above.

That is, in this example, the operation of the pump P1 and the operation of the first moving mechanism 43 are managed by, for example, the processing time, and the recipe stored in the control section C is based on the processing time. It is created in advance so that the operation of the first moving mechanism 43 is controlled. Explaining this control example, the pump pressure of the pump P1 is controlled based on a recipe created in advance by the control unit C, for example, as shown by a solid line in FIG.

In FIG. 5, the vertical axis represents the pump pressure and the horizontal axis represents the processing time. In this example, when the supply nozzle 4 is moved from the area A of the wafer W toward the area E,
The pump pressure is controlled so that the pump pressure is gradually increased up to the region C of the wafer W and then gradually decreased. Specifically, the pump pressure is gradually increased from 0 MPa, and is set to 0.
03 MPa or more, 0.05 MPa or more at time t1, 0.1 MPa or more at time t2, less than 0.1 MPa at time t3, less than 0.05 MPa at time t4, 0.0 at time t5
The pressure is less than 3 MPa, and thereafter, they are controlled so as to gradually decrease to 0 MPa.

The control of the processing liquid supply system will also be described. At time t0, the opening / closing valve Va is opened and the discharge start timing for discharging the developing liquid from the first discharge region Wa of the supply nozzle 4 is started. As shown in "Nozzle position on wafer W" in FIG. 5, the supply nozzle 4 is located at a position Y0 outside the outer edge Y1 on one end side of the wafer W by a predetermined distance, for example, 10 mm. The area A is controlled so as to move in the direction indicated by the arrow in FIG. 5 at a speed of 50 mm / sec, for example.

At time t1, the valve Vb is opened and the developing solution is discharged from the second discharge area Wb. At this time, the nozzle 4 is applied to the coating start position Y2 in the area B.
Then, it is controlled so as to move the area B at a speed of, for example, 60 mm / sec, which is higher than the moving speed of the area A. Further, at time t2, the valve Vc opens,
When the developing solution is discharged from the third discharge area Wc, the nozzle 4 is located at the coating start position Y3 of the C area, and then the C area is higher than the moving speed of the B area, for example, 70 mm / It is controlled to move at a speed of sec.

Subsequently, the time t3 is the timing when the valve Vc is closed, the nozzle 4 is located at the coating start position Y4 of the D area, and then the D area is smaller than the moving speed of the C area, for example, 60 mm / sec. In order to move at a speed, the time t4 is the timing when the valve Vb is closed, the nozzle 4 is located at the coating start position Y5 in the E area, and this E area is smaller than the moving speed in the D area, for example, 50 mm / sec. The time t5 is a timing at which the valve Va is closed so that the discharge of the developing solution from the nozzle 4 is stopped so that the nozzle 4 is moved at a speed of. 10mm outside position Y
The drive of the nozzles 4 is controlled based on the processing time so that the nozzles 4 are located at position 7.

Next, the operation of this embodiment will be described. First, the spin chuck 2 is lifted above the cup 3, and the wafer W, which has already been coated with the resist in the previous step and which has been exposed, is transferred to the spin chuck 2 from a transfer arm (not shown). Then, the spin chuck 2 is lowered so that the wafer W comes to a predetermined position shown by a solid line in FIG.
At this time, both the outer cup 31 and the inner cup 32 are in a lowered state.

Subsequently, the first moving mechanism 43 is guided along the guide rail 44 to a position corresponding to between the outer cup 31 and the peripheral edge of the wafer W, and from that position, for example, the outer edge Y1 of the wafer W. To a discharge start position Y0 outside a predetermined distance. At this time, since the position (height) of the supply nozzle 4 is set to a height at which the developing solution is supplied to the wafer W, the discharge hole 50 is placed at a position higher than the surface level of the wafer W by, for example, about 1 mm. Then, while the discharge of the developing solution from the supply nozzle 4 is started, the supply nozzle 4 is moved from one end side to the other end side of the wafer W, for example, in a direction indicated by an arrow in FIGS. Form a liquid film.

At this time, in the supply nozzle 4, when the areas A and E of the wafer W are coated, the first ejection area Wa is applied.
While applying the developer, the developer moves at a speed of 50 mm / sec, and when the areas B and D of the wafer W are applied, the developer is supplied by the second discharge area Wb and the speed of 60 mm / sec. When moving and applying the area C of the wafer W, the area is moved at a speed of 70 mm / sec while supplying the developing solution by the third discharge area Wc.

In this way, the nozzle 4 is moved in a substantially horizontal direction while changing the discharge area and the moving speed of the supply nozzle 4 and the pump pressure of the pump P1, so that the height of the wafer W is, for example, 1.2 mm. Form a liquid film. At this time, the tip of the supply nozzle 4 is in a position in contact with the developer supplied on the surface of the wafer, and the supply nozzle 4 is scanned in one direction while the tip of the supply nozzle 4 is in contact with the developer on the wafer. As a result, the developing solution on the wafer is spread by the tip portion of the nozzle 4, and the developing solution is evenly distributed on the entire surface of the wafer W. At this time, the supply nozzle 4 is moved so that the center of the discharge area in which the discharge holes 50 of the supply nozzle 4 are arranged passes above the center of the wafer W.

The outer edge Y6 on the other end side of the wafer W
The scanning of the supply nozzle 4 and the supply of the developing solution are stopped on the upper side of the position Y7 outside the predetermined distance. If it is necessary to discharge the developing solution onto the wafer W a plurality of times, the supply nozzle 4 is raised at the stop position, for example, to a height of 1 mm above the surface of the wafer W, and the scanning route is returned. For example, the developing solution is supplied.

After the application of the developing solution is completed, static development is performed with the developing solution remaining on the surface of the wafer W. Then, the first moving mechanism 43 returns to the standby unit 62,
The second moving mechanism 61 is moved from the standby portion 63 to the wafer W side in place of the first moving mechanism 43. Then, the spin chuck 2 is rotated while positioning the discharge portion of the cleaning nozzle 60 above the center of the wafer W, and a cleaning liquid, such as pure water, is supplied from the cleaning nozzle 60 to the central portion of the wafer W, and the wafer W is centrifuged. The developer is washed away by spreading the cleaning liquid from the central portion of the wafer W to the peripheral portion by force. Thereafter, the wafer W is subjected to processes such as spin drying, and the developing process is completed. At this time, the developing solution and the cleaning solution flow downward through the inner cup 32 and are stored in the solution receiving portion 35, and these solutions are discharged from the drain port 34 through a drain line (not shown).

As described above, in the embodiment according to the present invention, the wafer W is ejected from the ejection hole 50 of the supply nozzle 4.
For example, the area A to the area E is divided into five pieces in a direction substantially parallel to the area, and the developing solution is applied by changing the ejection area of the supply nozzle 4 for each area. Only the developing solution is supplied, and the amount of the developing solution supplied to the area other than the wafer can be reduced. Therefore, waste of the developing solution can be reduced and the amount of the developing solution can be reduced. .

That is, the supply area of the developing solution to the surface of the wafer is the areas A'to E'indicated by the dotted lines in FIG. 4, and the size thereof changes stepwise according to the shape of the wafer. Therefore, compared to the case where the developing solution is supplied to the wafer W by the conventional supply nozzle in which the discharge area is set according to the diameter of the wafer W and the size of the area does not change, the supply area other than the wafer is smaller. Liquid waste can be reduced.

At this time, for controlling the switching of the discharge area of the supply nozzle 4, a pressure setting valve is used to change the pump pressure of the pump P1 according to a preset recipe based on the processing time. Since it is performed by opening and closing, the switching of the discharge region can be performed only by controlling the pump pressure, and the control is easy.

Here, the alternate long and short dash line in FIG. 5 uses a nozzle of the conventional type in which the discharge area cannot be changed, starts discharging the developing solution at time t1 without changing the pressure of the pump P, and continues at time t5. It is the pump pressure when the developing solution is applied so as to finish the discharge in step 2. However, in the conventional example, the pump pressure is always constant, and it is recognized that the pump pressure is higher than that of the configuration of the present invention. Since the pump pressure and the discharge amount of the developer from the nozzle are in a proportional relationship, the discharge amount of the developer is large in the conventional example as compared with the constitution of the present invention, and the waste of the developer can be omitted in the constitution of the present invention. It is understood that it is possible.

Further, in the above example, since the moving speed of the supply nozzle 4 is changed for each coating area, even if the pump pressure of the pump P1 is changed for each coating area of the wafer W to change the discharge flow rate, The ejection amount per unit area within the scanning distance of the nozzle 4 can be matched. That is, when applying the regions A and E where the pump pressure is the smallest, the nozzle moving speed is minimized, and when applying the region C where the pump pressure is the largest, the nozzle moving speed is maximized and the pump pressure is intermediate. When applying the areas B and D, the moving speed of the nozzle is also set to an intermediate value. Here, when the pump pressure is small, the discharge amount of the developing solution per unit time becomes small, but if the moving speed of the nozzle is made small, the time for which the nozzle stays in the area becomes long, so that the application time can be increased. The amount of minute developing solution discharged increases. On the other hand, if the pump pressure is high, the discharge rate of the developing solution per unit time becomes large.Therefore, by increasing the moving speed of the nozzle and shortening the time the nozzle stays in the area, the discharge rate of the developing solution is reduced by that amount. Can be reduced. In this example, since the discharge amount per unit area within the scan distance of the supply nozzle 4 can be adjusted in this way, a substantially uniform amount of the developing solution can be supplied within the surface of the wafer W, and a uniform coating process can be performed. It can be performed. The optimum value of the moving speed of the supply nozzle 4 for making the supply amount of the developing solution almost uniform in the plane of the wafer W is
It is obtained in advance by, for example, an experiment based on the size of the coating area of the wafer W and the setting of the pump pressure of the pump P1.

Furthermore, if the supply of the developing solution is started or stopped outside the outer edge of the wafer W as in the above-described example, the impact on the wafer W at the start or the stop of the supply of the developing solution. However, it is possible to prevent the uniformity of the line width from deteriorating.However, the timing of starting and stopping the supply of the developing solution is determined by each example, and the developing solution is supplied from the outer edge of the one end side of the wafer. It may be set to start and stop the supply at the outer edge of the other end of the wafer W. In this case, the developer can be further saved.

Next, an outline of an example of a coating / developing apparatus in which the above-described developing apparatus is incorporated in a unit will be described with reference to FIGS. 6 and 7. In FIG. 6 and FIG. 7, reference numeral 7 denotes a loading / unloading stage for loading / unloading the wafer cassette, and for example, a cassette 71 containing 25 sheets is placed by, for example, an automatic transport robot. In the area facing the loading / unloading stage 7, the transfer arm 70 for the wafer W has X and Y directions and θ.
It is installed so that it can rotate (rotate around the vertical axis). Further, the coating / developing system unit u1 is on the back side of the transfer arm 70, for example, on the right side when viewed from the loading / unloading stage 7, and the heating / cooling is on the left side, front side, and back side. System units u2, u3, u4 are arranged respectively,
A wafer transfer arm for transferring the wafer W between the coating / developing system unit and the heating / cooling system unit, for example, vertically movable, movable left and right, forward and backward, and rotatable around a vertical axis. MA is provided. However, the wafer transfer arm MA is not shown in FIG. 7 for convenience.

In the coating / developing system unit, for example, the developing unit 72 provided with the above-mentioned two developing devices is provided in the upper stage, and the two coating units 73 are provided in the lower stage. In the heating / cooling system unit, a heating unit, a cooling unit, a hydrophobizing unit, and the like are provided above and below.

When the above-mentioned portion including the coating / developing system unit and the heating / cooling system unit is called a clean track, an exposure unit is provided on the back side of the clean track via an interface unit 74. 75 is connected. The interface unit 74 can be raised and lowered, for example.
The wafer W is transferred between the clean track and the exposure device 75 by a wafer transfer arm 76 which is movable left and right, front and back, and rotatable around a vertical axis.

The flow of wafers in this apparatus will be described. First, the wafer cassette 71 in which the wafer W is stored is carried into the carry-in / out stage 7 from the outside, and the wafer W is transferred from the cassette C by the wafer transfer arm 70. Are taken out and transferred to the wafer transfer arm MA via the transfer table which is one of the shelves of the heating / cooling unit u3 described above. Next, after the hydrophobic treatment is performed in the processing section of one shelf of the unit u3, the resist liquid is applied by the applying unit 73 to form a resist film. The wafer W coated with the resist film is heated by a heating unit, and then is transferred to the interface.
Sent to the exposure device 75 via the face unit 74,
Here, exposure is performed through a mask corresponding to the pattern. After that, the wafer W is heated by the heating unit, cooled by the cooling unit, and then sent to the developing unit 72 to be developed and a resist mask is formed. Then, the wafer W is returned to the cassette C on the loading / unloading stage 7.

In the above, the present invention is not limited to the above-mentioned example, and instead of controlling the opening / closing of the valves Va to Vc by changing the pump pressure of the pump P1 by the control unit C, the control unit C can control the valve Va. ~ Vc itself is controlled to be opened and closed to select the discharge area of the supply nozzle, and the pump P is controlled by the control unit C according to the selected discharge area.
The pump pressure of No. 1 may be changed to change the discharge flow rate of the developing solution. In this case as well, the opening / closing control of the valves Va to Vc and the pump pressure control of the pump P1 are created in advance based on the processing time. It is done based on the recipe.

Further, as shown in FIG. 8, for example, a pump P2
Then, the developing solution is supplied at a constant pressure, and the mass flow controllers Ma to Mc forming a flow rate adjusting unit are connected to the supply path 54a.
To 54c, the control unit C switches the valve Va to the valve Vc at a predetermined timing according to the processing time to select a flow path, and the mass flow controller Ma
It is also possible to control the discharge flow rate of the developing solution via ~ Mc.

Further, the inside of the supply nozzle 8 is shown in FIG.
As shown in, for example, the supply passages 81a to 81e, which are divided into, for example, five in the length direction of the nozzle, and which are provided with pressure setting valves V1 to V5 whose opening and closing are controlled by the pressure of the pump P3, are independently connected to each other, and When forming the discharge area Wa, the valve V3 is opened, and when forming the second discharge area Wb, the valve V2, the valve V3, and the valve V4 are opened.
All the valves V1 to V5 may be opened when forming the discharge region Wc. 80 in FIG.
Is a discharge hole, and 82 is a processing liquid tank. Also in this example, the opening / closing of the valves V1 to V5 itself may be controlled to select the discharge region, and the pump pressure of the pump P2 may be controlled to control the discharge flow rate of the developing solution.

Furthermore, the control of the discharge area of the supply nozzle is performed by controlling the size of the discharge hole 90 formed on the bottom surface of the supply nozzle 9 as shown in FIG.
10a and 91b serving as opening and closing means for forming a discharge area by closing the discharge hole 90 by advancing and retracting from both end sides in a substantially horizontal direction (see the bottom view of FIG. 10B). As shown in FIG. 10C, the means 91a and 91b are provided with two guide rails 92 provided along the arc of the peripheral edge of the wafer W held by the spin chuck 2.
Moving mechanisms 93a, 9 forming moving means along a, 92b
You may make it control the said discharge area by moving by 3b. The guide rails 92a, 92
b is fixed to the bottom plate 33 via a support member 94, for example.

The supply nozzle 9 is provided with a processing liquid tank 96 via a supply passage 95 equipped with a pump P4 and an opening / closing valve V6.
The timing of starting or stopping the discharge of the developing solution from the supply nozzle 9 and the driving of the moving mechanisms 93a, 93b are controlled by the control unit C based on the processing time, for example, the pump P4, the valve V6, the moving mechanism 93a, This is performed by controlling 93b.

Further, in this example, the guide rails 92a, 92
b is on the outer side of the wafer W on the front side and the rear side of the wafer W in the advancing direction of the nozzle so that the discharge of the developing solution is started and stopped on the outer side of the outer edge of the wafer W. The ejection area is extended so that the developing solution is ejected to an area that is the same as or larger than the wafer surface area when the regulating means 91a and 91b are moved along the guide rails 92a and 92b. It is becoming regulated.

In such a structure, since the discharge area of the supply nozzle 9 continuously changes along with the wafer W, the supply of the developing solution to the area other than the wafer W is suppressed, and further development is performed. The waste of the liquid can be suppressed and the amount can be saved.

As described above, in this example, as shown in FIG. 11, for example, instead of providing the guide rails 92a and 92b, the outer ends of the restricting means 91a and 91b protruding from the nozzles are constituted by, for example, air cylinders. The ejection regions of the nozzles 9 may be regulated by the regulation means 91a, 91b by pressing the pressure portions 97a, 97b. In this case, for example, a pressing portion 91a for obtaining a predetermined ejection area based on the processing time in advance,
The recipe is created in advance by calculating the pressing force of 91b, and the pressing unit is controlled by the control unit C based on this recipe. Other configurations are similar to those of the example shown in FIG. See also FIG.
0, also in the example shown in FIG. 11, the moving speed of the nozzle may be changed, or the pump pressure may be changed.

Although the example of controlling the pump pressure of the pump and the movement operation of the supply nozzle based on the processing time has been described above, these parameters may be controlled based on, for example, the movement distance of the supply nozzle. Good. Further, the discharge area of the supply nozzle may be set so that the developing solution is discharged to an area that is substantially the same as the effective area of the wafer W and is larger than the effective area.
Although it is divided into two, the number of divisions of the application area may be set depending on the case. Furthermore, the liquid processing apparatus of the present invention can be applied not only to development processing but also to resist coating processing.

[0051]

As described above, according to the present invention, since the discharge area of the supply nozzle is changed in accordance with the coating area of the substrate, the area other than the substrate onto which the processing liquid is discharged is reduced, and the processing liquid is reduced. It is possible to prevent waste of the liquid and reduce the amount of processing liquid.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view showing an embodiment in which a liquid processing apparatus according to the present invention is applied to a developing device.

FIG. 2 is a plan view showing a supply nozzle used in the liquid processing apparatus.

FIG. 3 is a plan view showing the liquid processing apparatus.

FIG. 4 is a sectional view and a bottom view showing the supply nozzle.

FIG. 5 is a characteristic diagram for explaining a control example of the supply nozzle.

FIG. 6 is a plan view showing an example of a coating / developing apparatus incorporating the liquid processing apparatus.

FIG. 7 is a perspective view showing an example of a coating / developing apparatus incorporating the liquid processing apparatus.

FIG. 8 is a sectional view showing a supply nozzle of another embodiment of the liquid processing apparatus according to the present invention.

FIG. 9 is a sectional view showing a supply nozzle of still another embodiment of the liquid processing apparatus according to the present invention.

FIG. 10 is a cross-sectional view and a plan view showing still another embodiment of the liquid processing apparatus according to the present invention.

FIG. 11 is a sectional view showing a supply nozzle of still another embodiment of the liquid processing apparatus according to the present invention.

FIG. 12 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of a conventional liquid processing apparatus.

[Explanation of symbols]

W wafer 2 spin chuck 3 cups 31 Outer Cup 32 inner cup 4,8,9 supply nozzle 43 First moving mechanism 50,80,90 Discharge hole 51 First Channel 52 Second channel 53 Third Channel C control unit Va-Vc, V1-V6 valves P1-P4 pump Wa First discharge area Wb Second ejection area Wc Third ejection area

   ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continued front page    (72) Inventor Akihiro Fujimoto             TBS release, 5-3-6 Akasaka, Minato-ku, Tokyo             Sending Center Tokyo Electron Limited (72) Inventor Kosuke Yoshihara             TBS release, 5-3-6 Akasaka, Minato-ku, Tokyo             Sending Center Tokyo Electron Limited (72) Inventor Shuji Kyoda             TBS release, 5-3-6 Akasaka, Minato-ku, Tokyo             Sending Center Tokyo Electron Limited (72) Inventor Hiroshi Takeguchi             TBS release, 5-3-6 Akasaka, Minato-ku, Tokyo             Sending Center Tokyo Electron Limited F-term (reference) 2H096 AA25 AA27 GA30 GA31                 4F041 AA02 AA06 AB02 BA02 BA13                       BA22 BA35 BA38                 4F042 AA02 AA07 BA06 BA12 CB02                       CB08 CB11 CB19 DF09 DF32                       EB18                 5F046 LA03 LA04 LA06

Claims (8)

[Claims] 1. A substrate holding portion for holding a substantially circular substrate substantially horizontally, and a width of an effective region of the substrate for supplying a processing liquid to the surface of the substrate held by the substrate holding portion are substantially the same. A supply nozzle provided with a discharge hole for forming a discharge region having a length longer than that, and the supply nozzle is provided in a substantially horizontal direction from one end side to the other end side of the substrate held by the substrate holding portion. A moving mechanism for relatively moving the supply nozzle, a plurality of channels formed inside the supply nozzle so as to divide the inside of the supply nozzle into a plurality of portions in the length direction, and each of the channels. A plurality of supply paths each having an opening / closing valve for supplying the processing liquid, a common processing liquid storage unit connected to the supply path, and a processing liquid from the processing liquid storage unit to the supply path Common pump, the moving mechanism, the open / close valve and And / or a control unit that controls the operation of the pump, and divides a coating region of the substrate on which the processing liquid is coated into a plurality of portions in a direction substantially parallel to the length direction of the supply nozzle, and the coating region of the substrate In changing the discharge area of the supply nozzle so as to correspond to the above, by controlling the opening / closing of the opening / closing valve by the control unit, the flow path of the supply nozzle is selected and the processing liquid is supplied to the flow path. A liquid processing apparatus, wherein the discharge area of the supply nozzle is changed. 2. The on-off valve is a pressure setting valve that opens at a pressure equal to or higher than a predetermined pressure, and the on-off valve is opened and closed by controlling the pressure of the pump by the control unit, thereby discharging the supply nozzle. The area and / or the discharge amount of the processing liquid is changed.
The liquid processing apparatus described. 3. A flow rate adjusting section, the operation of which is controlled by the control section, wherein the control section controls the pressure of a pump for supplying the processing liquid to the supply path at a substantially constant pressure, and the supply nozzle. Opening and closing of an open / close valve for selecting a plurality of flow paths and control of the flow rate adjusting unit for controlling the supply amount of the processing liquid to the flow paths are performed, and thus the discharge area of the supply nozzle and / or Alternatively, the discharge amount is changed, and the liquid processing apparatus according to claim 1. 4. A substrate holding part for holding a substantially circular substrate substantially horizontally, and a width of an effective region of the substrate for supplying a processing liquid to the surface of the substrate held by the substrate holding part are substantially the same as the width. A supply nozzle provided with a discharge hole for forming a discharge region having a length longer than that, and the supply nozzle is provided in a substantially horizontal direction from one end side to the other end side of the substrate held by the substrate holding portion. A moving mechanism for relatively moving the discharge hole of the supply nozzle, and an opening / closing means for opening / closing the discharge hole of the supply nozzle. By opening / closing the discharge hole of the supply nozzle by the opening / closing means, A liquid processing apparatus, wherein a discharge region of a supply nozzle corresponding to a coating region to be coated is formed. 5. The opening / closing means opens and closes the discharge hole by closing the discharge hole, thereby forming a discharge area and a plate-shaped restricting means, and the restricting means forming a predetermined discharge area. The liquid processing apparatus according to claim 4, further comprising a moving unit that moves in a substantially horizontal direction. 6. A guide rail is provided along an outer edge of the substrate, and the regulating unit is moved along the guide rail by the moving unit to form a discharge region corresponding to a coating region of the substrate. The liquid processing apparatus according to claim 4 or 5, wherein 7. The moving speed of a supply nozzle is changed for each coating area in order to make the supply amount of the processing liquid supplied to the substrate uniform. Liquid processing equipment. 8. The liquid processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the processing liquid is a developing liquid.