JP2003100691A - Wet processing method and device thereof - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a wet processing method and a device capable of increasing the processing rate and processing reliability of an object of processing such as a semiconductor wafer. SOLUTION: A wet processing device is equipped with a housing case 2 which house a plurality of processed objects 1, the processed objects 1 are transferred from the housing case 2 to a wet processor 11, liquid is fed to the processed objects 1, the processed objects 1 are subjected to wet processing in a lot while a contact member 13 is brought into contact with the object 1, and then the objects 1 subjected to processing are transferred to a drying processor 21 and dried up.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a wet processing method and apparatus, and is particularly suitable for processing such as cleaning of electronic component materials such as semiconductor wafers, printed circuit boards, liquid crystal substrates, etc., which require a high degree of cleanliness. The present invention relates to a wet processing method and apparatus that can be used.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, as the degree of integration of semiconductor devices has increased, circuit wiring has become finer and the distance between wirings has become smaller. As the degree of integration of semiconductor devices increases in this way, if dust larger than the inter-wiring distance exists on the semiconductor substrate, problems such as short-circuiting of the wiring occur. Therefore, the size of the residual dust allowed on the semiconductor wafer needs to be sufficiently smaller than the distance between the wirings. Therefore, in the semiconductor manufacturing process, a cleaning process for removing dust from the semiconductor substrate is indispensable.

For example, in a process of forming an LSI circuit on a semiconductor wafer, a contact type wet cleaning is used in which a cylindrical roll sponge is brought into contact with the surface of the wafer in the radial direction of the wafer and cleaning is performed using a cleaning liquid. It is known as a high quality cleaning method. A conventional wet cleaning apparatus that performs such contact-type wet cleaning includes a wafer cassette that stores wafers, a cleaning processing unit that performs the above-described contact-type wet cleaning on the wafers one by one, and the wafers rotate one by one. It is mainly configured by a drying processing unit for drying by doing so and a transfer robot for transferring the wafer between the respective units.

The processing operation in the wet cleaning apparatus having such a structure is as follows. First, the wafers stored in the wafer cassette are transferred one by one to the cleaning processing unit by the transfer robot. Then, in the cleaning processing unit, the above-described contact cleaning processing is performed one by one. After the cleaning, the wafer is transferred from the cleaning processing unit to the drying processing unit by the transfer robot, and the wafer is rotated at high speed in the drying processing unit with the center of the wafer as a rotation axis to dry the wafer one by one. After that, the wafer is again transferred from the drying processing section to the wafer cassette by the transfer robot, is stored in the original position originally stored in the wafer cassette, and the processing is completed.

[0005]

As described above, the conventional wet cleaning apparatus is preferably used for cleaning semiconductor wafers and the like, but as described above, the cleaning processing section and the drying processing section are individually operated one by one. Since it is processed, its processing capacity is low (60 to 80 wafers / h for a wafer having a diameter of 300 mm), and higher speed processing is desired. Further, the holding posture of the wafer is not unified in each part, and for example, a complicated mechanism for converting the wafer from the horizontal posture to the vertical posture is required, which causes instability of the operation and causes the device to become unstable. There is a problem that the reliability is lowered and the processing speed is lowered.

The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned problems, and provides a wet processing method and apparatus capable of improving the processing speed and processing reliability of an object to be processed such as a semiconductor wafer. With the goal.

[0007]

In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, the present invention conveys an object to be processed to a wet processing section from a storage container for accommodating a plurality of objects to be processed, and the object to be processed. A plurality of objects to be processed are collectively wet-processed by bringing a contact member into contact with the liquid while supplying the liquid to the object, and then the objects to be processed are conveyed to a drying processing section to be dried. In a preferred aspect of the present invention, the wet process is a cleaning process using a cleaning liquid as the liquid and a cleaning tool as the contact member. Preferred 1 of the present invention
The aspect is characterized in that the same number of target objects as the target objects that have been wet-processed in the wet process section are collectively dried in the dry processing section.

Another aspect of the present invention is to wet-process a plurality of objects to be processed collectively by bringing a container for accommodating a plurality of objects to be processed into contact with a contact member while supplying liquid. A wet processing unit, a drying processing unit that dries a plurality of processing targets that have been wet-processed by the wet processing unit, and an object to be processed is transferred between the storage container, the wet processing unit, and the drying processing unit. And a transport device for performing the same. As a preferred aspect of the present invention, the wet processing unit and the drying processing unit include horizontal holding means for horizontally holding the object to be processed, and the transfer device transfers the object to be processed when the object to be processed is transferred. It is characterized in that it is provided with a horizontal holding means for holding it horizontally.

According to the present invention, for example, when performing a wet cleaning process as the wet process, the cleaning process and the drying process can be collectively performed on a plurality of objects to be processed. Can be significantly reduced. Further, by adopting a mechanism for holding the object to be processed in a horizontal posture during transportation or each processing, each operation can be stabilized, and further, the wafer is changed from the horizontal posture to the vertical posture. It becomes possible to improve the processing capability and the processing reliability by eliminating the operation.

[0010]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a plan view of a semiconductor wafer wet processing apparatus according to a first embodiment of the present invention.
2 is a front view of the semiconductor wafer wet processing apparatus according to the first embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 3 is an outline of a cleaning processing unit in the semiconductor wafer wet processing apparatus according to the first embodiment of the present invention. It is a perspective view. The main purpose of the wet processing apparatus according to the embodiments of the present invention described below is to clean semiconductor wafers. In the present embodiment, wet processing mainly means cleaning processing using a solution such as a cleaning liquid. .

As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the wet processing apparatus according to this embodiment stores two wafer cassettes 2 and 2 which are storage containers for storing a plurality of wafers 1 and a plurality of wafers 1. A temporary placement table 3 for temporarily placing the wafer 1, a cleaning processing unit 11 for wet-cleaning the wafer 1, a drying processing unit 21 for drying the cleaned wafer 1, and a first transfer robot 4 for transferring the wafer 1 between these units. And a second transfer robot 5. The cleaning processing unit 11 functions as a wet processing unit that wet-cleans the wafer 1.

One wafer cassette 2 accommodates 25 wafers 1 to be processed, and the wafers 1 are arranged in the vertical direction with a certain space therebetween. A first transfer robot 4 for transferring the wafer 1 from the wafer cassette 2 to the temporary mounting table 3 is installed at a substantially intermediate position between the wafer cassette 2 and the temporary mounting table 3. The first transfer robot 4 has a fork 7 that holds and transfers the wafers 1 one by one. The fork 7 is configured so as to be freely movable in the vertical direction and the horizontal direction within a certain range while keeping the posture of the held wafer 1 horizontal, and functions as a horizontal holding unit for the wafer 1. ing.

The temporary placing table 3 is provided with 13 storage shelves (not shown) for storing 13 wafers 1 in a horizontal posture, and the storage shelves are vertically arranged at intervals of 30 mm. They are arranged in the direction. The temporary table 3 rotates when the number of wafers 1 transferred by the first transfer robot 4 reaches a predetermined number and turns toward the center of the second transfer robot 5 (see the chain double-dashed line in FIG. 1). The wafers 1 are transferred from the temporary placing table 3 to the cleaning processing section 11 by the second transfer robot 5 while maintaining the intervals of being stored in the storage shelves.

The second transfer robot 5 is located approximately in the middle of the temporary placing table 3 and the cleaning processing section 11, and has a fork 7a capable of collectively transferring a maximum of 13 wafers while holding them horizontally. I have it. Other configurations are similar to those of the first transfer robot 4. Here, the number of stages of the storage shelves of the temporary placing table 3 is set to 13 in order to process the 25 wafers stored in the wafer cassette 2 in two steps of 13 and 12. In the following, a case of processing 13 wafers will be described.

The cleaning processing section 11 includes a second transfer robot 5
Thus, a roller 12 for collectively receiving the 13 wafers 1 horizontally conveyed while keeping them horizontal is installed, and functions as a horizontal holding means for holding the wafers 1 horizontally. As shown in FIG. 1 and FIG. 3, four rollers 12 are provided for each wafer, and the four rollers 12 contact the outer peripheral edge of the wafer 1 to hold the wafer 1. The distance between the wafers 1 held by the rollers 12 is determined by the distance between the stages of the storage shelves provided on the temporary placing table 3, and the distance is 30 mm as described above. The four rollers 12 are each configured to rotate, and the wafer 1 held by the rollers 12 is rotated by the rotation of the rollers 12. Further, as shown in FIG. 3, a cleaning liquid supply nozzle 1 for supplying a cleaning liquid between each wafer 1.
4 are arranged. The tip of the cleaning liquid supply nozzle 14 faces the contact portion between the roll sponge 13 and the wafer 1,
At the time of cleaning, the cleaning liquid is supplied to the surface to be cleaned of the wafer 1.

As shown in FIG. 2, the cleaning processing section 11 is equipped with 14 roll sponges 13 as cleaning tools for cleaning the wafer 1.
The rollers 3 are held by the roller 12 and arranged one by one in each gap formed between the adjacent wafers. These roll sponges 13 are configured to be movable in the vertical direction. As shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, during cleaning, the roll sponges 13 move upward or downward so that one set (two) of the roll sponges 13 is moved to one.
The wafer 1 is brought into contact with the surface to be cleaned so as to sandwich the two wafers. That is, the wafer 1 is sandwiched and cleaned by a total of 7 sets of roll sponges 13, each set consisting of two pieces.
The diameter of the roll sponge 13 is set to 20 mm.

The drying processing section 21 includes a drying shelf 22 for accommodating a plurality of wafers 1, a drum 23 for accommodating and sealing the wafer 1 together with the drying shelf 22, and an evacuation device for reducing the pressure inside the drum 23 ( (Not shown) and a rotation device 24 for rotating the wafer 1 together with the drying rack 22 housed in the drum 23.
And a wafer pressing member 25 that presses the outer peripheral edge of the wafer 1 so that the wafer 1 does not jump out of the drying shelf 22 during rotation.
(See FIG. 1). Further, the drum 23 descends when loading and unloading the wafer 1 as shown by the solid line in FIG. 2, and rises as shown by the dotted line in FIG. It is configured to be movable. The drying shelf 22 is configured to horizontally hold and store each wafer 1, and functions as horizontal wafer holding means.

The specific operation of processing 13 wafers 1 by the cleaning processing section 11 and the drying processing section 21 configured as described above is as follows. First, in the cleaning processing unit 11, the wafers 1 arranged at odd-numbered positions (1, 3, 5, 7, 9, 11, 11th) from the bottom 7 are arranged.
The upper and lower surfaces of the wafer 1 are sandwiched by seven sets of roll sponges 13, and the wafers 1 are rotated by the rollers 12 while supplying the cleaning liquid to contact and clean the odd-numbered wafers 1 first. After cleaning for a predetermined time, the rotation of the wafer 1 is stopped. Next, the roll sponge 13 faces the even-numbered wafers 1 (2, 4,
6th, 8th, 10th, and 12th wafers 1), and sandwich each wafer 1 in the same manner as before,
It contacts the surface of each wafer 1. Then, the upper and lower surfaces of each even-numbered wafer 1 are contact-cleaned while rotating the wafer 1 again.

As described above, in this embodiment, the roll sponge 13 moves up and down the gap formed between the wafers 1 to sequentially contact the odd-numbered wafers 1 and the even-numbered wafers 1. To wash. Therefore, the gap between the wafers must be sufficiently separated so that the roll sponge 13 can move up and down. In this respect, in the present embodiment, as described above, the diameter of the roll sponge 13 is 2
The gap between the wafers is set to 30 mm, while the roll sponge 13 is set to 0 mm.
Has a sufficient gap to move up and down for cleaning work.

After cleaning all the 13 wafers 1, the 13 wafers 1 are collectively transferred to the drying processing section 21 by the second transfer robot 5. The drum 23 is positioned below the drying shelf 22 and stands by when the wafer 1 is loaded (FIG. 2).
See the solid line). At this time, the wafer pressing member 25 is in a state capable of receiving the wafer, and at the same time, the drying shelf 2
The wafer storage direction of No. 2 faces the direction of the second transfer robot 5 and stands by (see the chain double-dashed line in FIG. 1). In this state,
The 13 wafers 1 that have been cleaned are collectively transferred to the drying processing unit 21 by the second transfer robot 5, and the drying rack 2
It is stored in 2. After the storage, each wafer 1 is pressed by the wafer pressing member 25, and is fixed to the drying shelf 22 so that the wafer 1 does not jump out from the drying shelf 22 during rotation.
After that, the drum 23 rises, the wafer 1 is housed and sealed together with the drying rack 22 by the drum 23 (see the dotted line in FIG. 2), and while the vacuum exhaust device (not shown) evacuates the inside of the drum 23, the rotary device 24 The wafer 1 is rotated together with the drying rack 22 to dry the wafer 1. That is, in this embodiment, the wafer is spin-dried and vacuum-dried.

After the wafer 1 is dried, the inside of the drum 23 is returned to the atmospheric pressure and the drum 23 is lowered, and the drying rack 22 is moved so that the wafer can be taken out from the drying rack 22 by the first transfer robot 4. Rotate and at the same time
The wafer pressing member 25 is brought into a state in which the wafer can be unloaded.
Then, the 13 wafers 1 on the drying rack 22 are taken out one by one by the first transfer robot 4 while maintaining a horizontal posture, and are again stored in the position initially stored in the wafer cassette 2.

In the present embodiment, the 25 wafers stored in the wafer cassette 2 are processed twice. That is, of the 25 wafers, 13 wafers are processed first, and then 12 wafers are processed. For the 12 wafers to be processed later, the processing can be started when the 13 wafers, which have been previously processed, proceed from the temporary placing table 3 to the cleaning processing unit 11.

As a result of cleaning the wafer having a diameter of 300 mm by using the above-described wet processing apparatus according to this embodiment, the processing capacity per hour was 100 wafers. As described above, in the present embodiment, since the cleaning process and the drying process can be collectively performed on a plurality of wafers, it is possible to improve the wafer processing capability of the entire apparatus. Further, by maintaining the posture of the wafer during the processing work horizontally during the entire process, it becomes possible to increase the processing speed and improve the processing reliability.

Next, a second embodiment of the present invention will be described. FIG. 4A is a schematic diagram showing the flow of the first processing step of processing 15 of the 25 wafers stored in the wafer cassette by the wet processing apparatus according to this embodiment, and FIG. 4C is a schematic diagram showing a flow of a second processing step for processing the remaining 10 wafers, FIG. 4C is an enlarged schematic diagram showing unloading from the wafer cassette by the transfer robot, and FIG. FIG. 6 is an enlarged schematic view showing loading into a wafer cassette by a transfer robot. The numbers with # in the drawing indicate the numbers of the wafers stored in the wafer cassette, and the numbers 1 to 25 are assigned from the bottom to the top of the wafer cassette.

The basic structure of the wet processing apparatus according to this embodiment is substantially the same as that of the first embodiment, but the first transfer robot 4 is a five-step fork capable of collectively transferring five wafers 1. 7b is different from the point that the number of storage shelves included in the temporary storage table 3 and the pitch between the respective stages are changed. In the above-described first embodiment, the transfer of the wafer 1 from the wafer cassette 2 to the temporary mounting table 3 and the transfer of the wafer 1 from the drying processing unit 21 to the wafer cassette 2 were performed one by one. In the present embodiment, a plurality of wafers 1 are collectively taken out from the wafer cassette 2 with a predetermined space provided therebetween, and are conveyed to the cleaning processing unit 11 and the drying processing unit 21 while maintaining the space and the number of wafers 1 and processed. Further, the wafers 1 are returned to the wafer cassette 2 again in the order and the intervals in which they were originally stored in the wafer cassette 2. Here, the above-mentioned predetermined interval is an interval suitable for the cleaning process by inserting the roll sponge 13 between the plurality of arranged wafers 1 in the cleaning processing section 11. In addition,
The steps from taking out the wafer 1 stored in the storage shelf of the temporary placing table 3 to the drying process are the same as those in the first embodiment.

Similar to the first embodiment, the first transfer robot 4 transfers the wafer 1 from the wafer cassette 2 to the temporary placing table 3 and transfers the wafer 1 from the drying processing section 21 to the wafer cassette 2. Function. The fork 7b included in the first transfer robot 4 is a five-stage type as described above,
It functions as a collective holding means for holding five wafers at a time. The pitch p1 between the stages of the fork 7b is set as follows. That is, as shown in FIG. 4C, of the 25 wafers 1 stored in the wafer cassette 2, for example, the first wafer, the sixth wafer, and the fifth wafer 11 are arranged every fifth row from the bottom.
A pitch p1 corresponding to five storage pitches of the wafer cassette 2 is provided so that a total of five sheets of the 16th sheet, the 16th sheet and the 21st sheet can be taken out at once. Therefore, the wafer cassette 2
If the storage pitch of the wafer 1 is 10 mm, the pitch p1 of the five-stage fork 7b for taking out the wafer 1 by the first transfer robot 4 is 50 mm.

The temporary placing table 3 has a storage shelf that can store 15 wafers 1 at a pitch of 50 mm. Since the first transfer robot 4 can transfer five wafers at a time, as shown in FIG. 4A, 15 wafers are transferred from the temporary transfer table 3 by three transfer operations (,,). It will be stored in the storage shelf 3a at a pitch of 50 mm. This carrying operation will be described in more detail. For example, FIG.
As shown in (1), as the first transfer operation (), the first, sixth, eleventh, sixteenth, and twenty-first wafers are transferred from the bottom of the wafer cassette 2, and the second transfer operation is performed. As (), it is moved up one step and the second, seventh, and
The second, 17th, and 22nd wafers are transferred, and as the third transfer operation (), the wafers are further moved up by one step, and the 3rd, 8th, 13th, 18th wafers are transferred. The 23rd wafer is transferred. In this way, one of the 25 wafers 1 stored in the wafer cassette 2 can be obtained by carrying out three times.
Five sheets are stored in the temporary table 3.

In the next cleaning processing section 11 and drying processing section 21, the same apparatus as that of the first embodiment is used,
Fifteen wafers are collectively processed by the same operation.
After the completion of the drying process, the fifteen wafers 1 stored in the drying shelf 22 of the drying processing unit 21 are transferred by the first transfer robot 4 by five, as shown in FIGS. 4 (a) and 4 (d). Then, after three transfer operations (',', '), the wafers are again stored at the same position as the original position originally stored in the wafer cassette 2, and a series of processing steps is completed.

In this embodiment, the 25 wafers stored in the wafer cassette 2 are processed twice. That is, of the 25 wafers, 15 wafers are processed first (first processing step), and then 10 wafers are processed (second processing step). For the 10 wafers to be processed later, the processing can be started when the 15 wafers that have been previously processed advance from the temporary placement table 3 to the cleaning processing unit 11. In the second processing step, FIG. 4B and FIG.
As shown in (4), as the fourth transfer operation (), from the bottom of the wafer cassette 2, the fourth, ninth, 14th,
The 19th and 24th wafers 1 are transferred, and as the 5th transfer operation (), they are further moved up by one step, and the 5th and 1st wafers are transferred.
The 0th, 15th, 20th, and 25th wafers 1 are transferred. In the next cleaning processing section 11 and drying processing section 21,
Using the apparatus configured similarly to the first embodiment, 10 wafers are collectively processed by the same operation. After completion of the drying process, 10 wafers 1 are transferred twice (
It is loaded into the wafer cassette 2 by ','). Thus, in this embodiment, 15 wafers of 25 wafers (see FIG.
(A) step) and 10 sheets (step of FIG. 4 (b)) are divided into two batches for continuous processing.

As a result of cleaning the wafer having a diameter of 300 mm by using the above-described wet processing apparatus according to this embodiment, the processing capacity per hour was 145 wafers. As described above, in the present embodiment, the processing in each unit and the transfer between the units are collectively performed on a plurality of wafers, so that it is possible to significantly improve the wafer processing capacity.
Further, by maintaining the posture of the wafer during the processing work horizontally during the entire process, it becomes possible to increase the processing speed and improve the processing reliability.

Next, a third embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 5A is a schematic diagram showing the flow of the first processing step by the wet processing apparatus according to the present embodiment, and FIG. 5B shows the flow of the second processing step by the wet processing apparatus according to the present embodiment. It is a schematic diagram which shows, and FIG.
5D is a schematic diagram showing a flow of a third processing step by the wet processing apparatus according to the present embodiment, FIG. 5D is an enlarged schematic diagram showing unloading from a wafer cassette by a transfer robot, and FIG. FIG. 6 is an enlarged schematic view showing loading into a wafer cassette by a transfer robot.

The basic structure and operation of the wet processing apparatus according to this embodiment are almost the same as those of the second embodiment, but the first embodiment
The difference is that the fork of the transfer robot 4 uses a nine-stage fork 7c capable of collectively transferring nine wafers. The pitch p between each step of the fork 7c
2 is the wafer 1 stored in the wafer cassette 2
A pitch p2 corresponding to three storage pitches of the wafer cassette 2 is provided so that nine wafers can be taken out at every step. In this embodiment, the pitch between the stages of the wafer cassette 2 is 10 m.
Since it is m, the pitch p2 of the forks 7c is 30 mm.

In this embodiment, the first transfer robot 4 is
Since the maximum number of wafers that can be transferred at one time is nine, which is the number of wafers to be processed in one processing step, the processing of 25 wafers 1 stored in the wafer cassette 2 is performed in three batches. That is, nine wafers 1 are transferred to the temporary placement table 3 in the first transfer operation (), and while maintaining the number of wafers as they are, the cleaning processing unit 11 and the drying processing unit 21 collectively perform each processing, and again perform 9 processing. The wafer 1 is transferred to the wafer cassette 2 and the first processing step (') is completed (see FIG. 5A). In the second transfer operation (), eight wafers 1 are transferred to the temporary placement table 3, and after the cleaning processing unit 11 and the drying processing unit 21 perform each processing, the wafers are again processed as in the first processing step. 1 is transferred to the wafer cassette 2 and the second (') second
The processing step is finished (see FIG. 5B). In the third transfer operation (), eight wafers 1 are transferred to the temporary placement table 3, and after the cleaning processing section 11 and the drying processing section 21 perform each processing, as in the first processing step described above, the wafers are again processed. Cassette 2
Then, the third processing step is completed (FIG. 5).
(See (c)). In this way, processing of a total of 25 sheets can be completed by a total of 3 processing steps.

Here, in the above-mentioned second and third processing steps, as shown in FIGS. 5 (d) and 5 (e), when carrying out from the wafer cassette 2 and carrying in to the wafer cassette 2. , 9-stage fork 7c is used for the wafer cassette 2
Of the wafer stored in the uppermost stage, the uppermost two stages of the wafers will be intruded. For this reason, the space 6 corresponding to the two storage pitches of the wafer cassette is provided above the wafer cassette 2. The other operations of the wet processing apparatus according to this embodiment are the same as those of the above-described second embodiment.

As described above, in the present embodiment, as in the second embodiment described above, the processing in each part and the transfer between each part are carried out collectively for a plurality of wafers, so that the wafers It is possible to greatly improve the processing capacity.
Further, by maintaining the posture of the wafer during the processing work horizontally during the entire process, it becomes possible to increase the processing speed and improve the processing reliability.

Next, a fourth embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 6 is a plan view of a semiconductor wafer wet processing apparatus according to this embodiment. The basic configuration and operation of this embodiment are almost the same as those of the above-described first embodiment, but the first embodiment is that the number of wafer cassettes installed is increased to three and two drying processing units are provided. This embodiment is different from the above embodiment. Further, due to these changes, the arrangement positions of the respective parts such as the temporary table and the second transfer robot have been changed.

In the above-described first embodiment, one drying processing section 21 performs the drying processing, but in the present embodiment, as shown in FIG. 6, the two drying processing sections 21 and 21 perform the drying processing. Therefore, the processing capacity of the wafer 1 per hour can be improved to about 200 wafers. Also, the wafer processing capacity per hour is 1
If the number of wafers exceeds 00, it is necessary to install three or four wafer cassettes. Therefore, three wafer cassettes 2, 2 and 2 are installed to accommodate the expansion of the drying processing section, and It is possible to improve the processing capacity.

Although the embodiments described so far are examples in which the wet processing apparatus according to the present invention is applied to the cleaning processing of a semiconductor wafer, the present invention is not limited to this and is applied to other purposes. It is possible to For example, if a grindstone is used in place of the roll sponge and a polishing liquid is used in place of the cleaning liquid, it is possible to apply it to a polishing apparatus for semiconductor wafers.

[0039]

As described above, according to the present invention, since wet processing can be performed on a plurality of objects to be processed, the processing speed can be improved. For example, when the contact type wet cleaning process is performed as the wet process, a high quality cleaning process can be performed on a plurality of wafers at a time, and therefore, about twice as much as cleaning one by one. It can be washed with the processing capacity of. In addition, since the wet processing unit, the drying processing unit, and the transfer device are configured to hold the object to be processed horizontally, a complicated mechanism for changing the holding posture is unnecessary, and the reliability of the entire processing is improved. It is possible to improve the property.

Further, in the wet processing section, the contact member moves up and down, so that one contact member can process two objects to be processed. For example, in the case where the present invention is applied to a contact type wet cleaning device, in the cleaning processing unit,
By moving the roll sponge up and down, one roll sponge can clean the two wafer cleaning surfaces located above and below the roll sponge. Therefore, it becomes unnecessary to dispose a roll sponge on each surface to be cleaned of the wafer, and it becomes possible to reduce the space between the arranged wafers and save space.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a plan view of a wet processing apparatus for semiconductor wafers according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a front view of the semiconductor wafer wet processing apparatus according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a schematic perspective view of a cleaning processing unit in the wet processing apparatus for semiconductor wafers according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4A is a schematic diagram showing a flow of a first processing step of processing 15 out of 25 wafers stored in a wafer cassette by the wet processing apparatus according to the second embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 4B is a schematic diagram showing the flow of the second processing step for processing the remaining 10 wafers, and FIG. 4C is an enlarged schematic diagram showing unloading from the wafer cassette by the transfer robot. FIG. 4D is an enlarged schematic view showing the loading of the wafer cassette into the wafer cassette by the transfer robot.

FIG. 5 (a) is a schematic diagram showing a flow of a first processing step by a wet processing apparatus according to a third embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 5 (b) is a third embodiment of the present invention. It is a schematic diagram which shows the flow of the 2nd process process by the wet processing apparatus which concerns on a form,
FIG. 5C is a schematic diagram showing the flow of the third processing step by the wet processing apparatus according to the third embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 5D is an enlarged schematic diagram showing unloading from the wafer cassette by the transfer robot, and FIG. 5E is an enlarged schematic diagram showing loading into the wafer cassette by the transfer robot.

FIG. 6 is a plan view of a semiconductor wafer wet processing apparatus according to a fourth embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 wafer 2 Wafer cassette 3 Temporary stand 4 First transfer robot 5 Second transfer robot 6 spaces 7 forks 11 Cleaning unit 12 roller 13 roll sponge 14 Cleaning liquid supply nozzle 21 Drying processing section 22 Drying rack 23 drums 24 rotator 25 Wafer holding member

─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁷ Identification code FI theme code (reference) G02F 1/13 101 G02F 1/13 101 1/1333 500 1/1333 500 H01L 21/68 H01L 21/68 A F Term (reference) 2H088 FA17 FA21 HA01 2H090 JC19 5F031 CA02 CA05 FA01 FA07 FA09 FA11 FA13 GA43 HA42 HA48 MA23

Claims (13)

[Claims] 1. A plurality of objects to be processed by transporting the objects to be processed from a storage container that stores a plurality of objects to be processed to a wet processing section and contacting a contact member while supplying liquid to the objects to be processed. A wet processing method, comprising performing wet processing on a batch of objects, and then transporting an object to be processed to a drying processing section for drying. 2. The wet processing method according to claim 1, wherein the wet processing is a cleaning processing using a cleaning liquid as the liquid and a cleaning tool as the contact member. 3. The wet process according to claim 1, wherein the same number of objects to be processed as wet-processed in the wet processing section are collectively dried in the drying processing section. Method. 4. The wet processing method according to claim 1, wherein the drying processing unit rotates the object to be processed in a low-pressure atmosphere to dry it. 5. The object to be processed is conveyed from the storage container to the wet processing unit one by one.
5. The wet processing method according to any one of 4 to 4. 6. The wet processing method according to claim 1, wherein a plurality of objects to be processed are conveyed from the storage container to the wet processing unit. 7. When the object to be processed is conveyed from the storage container to the wet processing section, a predetermined number of the objects to be processed are taken out from the storage container at a predetermined distance from each other, and the object to be processed is taken out. After performing each processing in the wet processing unit and the drying processing unit while maintaining the number of objects and the interval, it is possible to store the object to be processed again in the original position stored in the storage container. The wet processing method according to claim 6, which is characterized in that. 8. A container for accommodating a plurality of objects to be processed, a wet processing part for collectively wet treating a plurality of objects to be processed by contacting a contact member while supplying a liquid, and the wet processing. A drying unit that dries a plurality of objects to be processed that have been wet-processed by a unit, and a carrying device that carries the objects to be processed among the storage container, the wet processing unit, and the drying unit. Wet processing equipment characterized by the following. 9. The wet processing unit and the dry processing unit include horizontal holding means for horizontally holding the object to be processed, and the transport device horizontally holds the object to be processed when the object to be processed is transported. The wet processing apparatus according to claim 8, further comprising horizontal holding means for holding. 10. The wet processing apparatus according to claim 8, wherein the transfer device includes a collective holding unit that collectively holds a plurality of objects to be processed. 11. The wet processing section horizontally holds a plurality of objects to be processed at a uniform distance from each other and a liquid supply means for supplying a liquid to the objects to be processed, and holds the objects to be processed. 11. A roll to be rotated, and a plurality of contact members that move between adjacent objects to be processed held by the rolls and contact the objects to be processed. 11. The wet processing apparatus according to any one of claims. 12. A cleaning liquid is used as the liquid, and a cleaning tool is used as the contact member.
1. The wet processing apparatus according to 1. 13. The drying processing section comprises a vacuum exhaust device for reducing the ambient atmosphere of the object to be processed and a rotating device for rotating the object to be processed. The wet processing apparatus according to any one of 1.