JP2003297799A - Device and method for treating substrate - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a device for treating a substrate in which the substrate can be treated uniformly by treatment liquid. <P>SOLUTION: The device for treating the surface of a substrate W by jetting treatment liquid thereto comprises a carrying shaft 4 having a roller 5 for carrying the substrate along a specified direction, and a plurality of nozzles 21 arranged at least in the direction intersecting the carrying direction of substrate out of the carrying direction and the intersecting direction at a specified interval above the substrate being carried and jetting the treatment liquid to the substrate in a rectangular pattern such that side parts of adjacent rectangular patterns are overlapped. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2004,JPO

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a substrate processing apparatus and processing method for processing a glass substrate for a liquid crystal display device with a processing liquid.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A circuit pattern is formed on a glass substrate used for a liquid crystal display device. A lithographic process is used to form a circuit pattern on a substrate.
In the lithographic process, as is well known, a resist is applied to the substrate, and the resist is irradiated with light through a mask on which a circuit pattern is formed.

Next, a series of steps such as removing a portion of the resist which is not irradiated with light or a portion of which the light is irradiated and etching a portion of the substrate where the resist has been removed are repeated a plurality of times so that the above substrate is formed. Form a circuit pattern.

In such a lithographic process, a step of treating the substrate with an etching liquid or a stripping liquid for removing the resist after etching and a treating liquid such as a cleaning liquid for cleaning the substrate after the removal is required. .

Conventionally, when a plate surface of a substrate is treated with a treatment liquid, for example, the substrate is conveyed in a predetermined direction by a conveyance roller, and the treatment liquid is jetted from a nozzle body located above the substrate during the conveyance. Processing a substrate is being done.

The nozzle bodies are arranged at predetermined intervals in the substrate transport direction and the direction intersecting the substrate transport direction. Then, from the nozzle body, in general, the treatment liquid is jetted in a circular pattern, and the circular patterns of the adjacent treatment liquids are wrapped so that the unevenness of the treatment by the treatment liquid does not occur. .

[0007]

By the way, when the processing liquid is sprayed from the nozzle body in a circular pattern, in order to prevent a portion where the processing liquid is not sprayed from the plate surface of the substrate, the width direction of the substrate is adjusted. Also, the lap margins of the circular patterns adjacent to each other in the transport direction intersecting the width direction must be large.

When the lap margin of the adjacent circular patterns is increased, the number of nozzle bodies arranged in the width direction of the substrate must be increased, and accordingly, the structure is complicated and the number of parts is increased. become. In particular, when the substrate is a glass substrate for a liquid crystal display device having a rectangular shape, it may be difficult to evenly inject the treatment liquid at both ends in the width direction of the substrate in the case of a circular pattern, so that the treatment state may be uneven. May occur.

An object of the present invention is to provide a substrate processing apparatus and a processing method capable of efficiently and uniformly spraying a processing liquid onto a substrate.

[0010]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a processing device for spraying a processing liquid onto a plate surface of a substrate to process the plate surface, and a transfer means for transferring the substrate along a predetermined direction. Above the substrate to be transported, among the transport direction of this substrate and the direction intersecting the transport direction, at least the direction intersecting the transport direction is arranged at a predetermined interval and the processing liquid is rectangular with respect to the substrate. According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a substrate processing apparatus, comprising: a plurality of nozzle bodies that spray in a pattern so that side portions of adjacent rectangular patterns overlap each other.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided the substrate processing apparatus according to the first aspect, wherein the wrap margin of the rectangular patterns adjacent to each other in the processing liquid is 0% or more and 30% or less.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, there is provided the substrate processing apparatus according to the first aspect, wherein the transfer means reciprocates the substrate below the nozzle body along the predetermined direction.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, the nozzle body is provided so that its height can be adjusted with respect to the plate surface of the substrate by a height adjusting mechanism. On the device.

According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, the nozzle bodies are arranged at predetermined intervals in a substrate transport direction and a direction intersecting the substrate transport direction, and the nozzle bodies are adjacent to each other in the substrate transport direction. The substrate processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the position of the body is displaced with respect to a direction intersecting the transport direction.

According to a sixth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a processing method of injecting a processing liquid onto a plate surface of a substrate to process the plate surface, the step of transferring the substrate, and the plate surface of the substrate transferred to a predetermined position. Of the substrate transport direction and the direction intersecting the transport direction, the treatment liquid has a plurality of rectangular patterns along at least the direction intersecting the transport direction, and the rectangles are adjacent to each other on the plate surface of the substrate. And a step of spraying so that the side portions of the pattern wrap.

The invention according to claim 7 is the method for processing a substrate according to claim 6, characterized in that the lapping margin of the processing liquid on the substrate is adjusted by changing the injection height of the processing liquid. .

According to the present invention, the treatment liquid is jetted in a rectangular pattern, and the side portions of the adjacent rectangular patterns are overlapped at least in the direction intersecting the substrate transport direction. Therefore, a small number of nozzle bodies are used. The processing liquid can be uniformly sprayed onto the plate surface of the substrate.

[0018]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

The processing apparatus of the present invention shown in FIG. 1 includes a chamber 1. The chamber 1 has a carry-in port 2 at one end in the longitudinal direction and a carry-out port 3 at the other end, and a plurality of transport shafts 4 are rotatably provided inside the chamber 1 at predetermined intervals in the longitudinal direction. A plurality of transport rollers 5 are provided on the transport shaft 4 at predetermined intervals in the axial direction.

As shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, both ends of each conveying shaft 4 are rotatably supported by bearings 6. A worm wheel 7 is fitted to one end of each of the plurality of transport shafts. A worm wheel 7 provided on the transport shaft 4 meshes with a worm gear 8. Worm gear 8
Is fitted to a driven shaft 9 arranged along the longitudinal direction of the chamber 1.

A driven pulley 11 is provided on the driven shaft 9, and a chain 14 is stretched between the driven pulley 11 and the drive pulley 13 fitted to the rotary shaft 12a of the drive source 12. Accordingly, when the drive pulley 13 is rotationally driven by the drive source 12, the transport shaft 4 provided with the worm wheel 7 is rotationally driven via the driven shaft 9 according to the rotation. .

A sprocket (not shown) is provided at one end of each transport shaft 4. A chain (not shown) is stretched around each sprocket. As a result, when the transport shaft 4 provided with the worm wheel 7 is rotationally driven,
The other transport shaft 4 is interlocked with the rotation.

The drive of the drive source 12 is controlled by a control device (not shown), and the rotation direction of the drive pulley 13 can be rotated in the forward rotation direction, the reverse rotation direction, and the forward rotation direction and the reverse rotation direction alternately. It is like this.

From the carry-in port 2 of the chamber 1, a glass rectangular substrate W used in a liquid crystal display device is carried in. The substrate W loaded into the chamber 1 is transported with its lower surface in contact with the transport roller 5 provided on the transport shaft 4.

Above the carrier shaft 4, both ends are bearings 1.
A pressing shaft 18 rotatably supported by 7 is arranged. At both ends of the pressing shaft 18, pressing rollers 19 for pressing the upper surfaces of the widthwise ends of the substrate W conveyed by the conveying rollers 5 of the conveying shaft 4 are provided. That is, the substrate W is configured such that the lower surface and the upper surface of both widthwise end portions are held by the carrying roller 5 and the pressing roller 19 and carried.

A large number of nozzle bodies 21 for ejecting a processing liquid such as an etching liquid, a resist stripping liquid, and a cleaning liquid toward the upper surface of the substrate W are arranged above the substrate W transported in the chamber 1. There is.

That is, the transfer roller in the chamber 1
The upper part of the substrate W carried by the substrate 5 is shown in FIG.
A plurality of rod-shaped mounting members along the transport direction of the substrate W
22 is the pitch P₁It is located in. Each mounting member 2
2 has a plurality of nozzle bodies 21 as shown in FIG.
Pitch P in the direction_TwoIt is installed in. Where P
₁= P_TwoIs set to.

As shown in FIG. 5, the nozzle bodies 2 provided on the attachment members 22 adjacent to each other in the transport direction of the substrate W.
1 is a half of the pitch P _{2 in} the width direction of the substrate W.
Deviated. That is, the nozzle bodies 21 are arranged in a zigzag pattern in the transport direction of the substrate W.

As shown in FIG. 3, each nozzle body 21 has a nozzle tip 23, and the nozzle tip 23 has pyramidal injection holes 24 as shown in FIG.
An opening is formed on the lower surface of the. A cylindrical supply hole 24a communicates with the top of the injection hole 24, and the processing liquid is supplied through the supply hole 24a.
It is supplied to the injection hole 24 from a.

The processing liquid supplied to the nozzle body 21 is
A rectangular pattern corresponding to the shape of the injection hole 24 of the nozzle chip 23 is ejected onto the upper surface of the substrate W. In this embodiment, the injection hole 24 opened on the lower surface of the nozzle tip 23 has a square shape. Therefore, the processing liquid is sprayed on the plate surface of the substrate W in a square pattern.

The height of the nozzle body 21 with respect to the plate surface of the substrate W can be adjusted by a height adjusting mechanism 25 provided at both ends of the mounting member 22. The height adjusting mechanism 25 is mounted on the mount rod 27 as shown in FIG.
Have. One end of the mount rod 27 is attached to both ends of the attachment member 22 via connecting pieces 26. The mount rod 27 is provided with its axis parallel to the axis of the mounting member 22.

Guide members 28 are erected on both ends in the width direction of the chamber 1 via L-shaped brackets 29. The lower end of the bracket 29 is fixed to the lower portion of the side wall of the chamber 1. The guide member 28 has an elongated guide hole 31 in the vertical direction.
Is formed so as to penetrate in the thickness direction.

In the guide hole 31, one end of the guide member 28 in the thickness direction from the other end of the mount rod 27 is slidably inserted along the longitudinal direction of the guide hole 31. From the other end in the thickness direction of the guide member 28, a thumbscrew 32 is attached to the end surface of the mount rod 27 with a washer 33.
It is screwed through.

Therefore, if the thumbscrew 32 is loosened,
The mounting member 22 can be vertically slid along the guide hole 31 of the guide member 28, and the mounting member 22 can be fixed at a predetermined position by tightening the thumbscrew 32.

An adjusting screw 34 is screwed onto the mount rod 27. This adjustment screw 34 is
The upper end portion is rotatably inserted into a support member 35 provided on the upper end of the guide member 28, and the lower end portion is the guide member 2
It is rotatably supported on the upper surface of a bracket 29 to which 8 is attached.

Nuts 36 located on the upper surface side and the lower surface side of the supporting member 35 are screwed into the adjusting screw 34. By loosening either one of the pair of nuts 36 and the thumbscrew 32 screwed to the mount rod 27 and rotating the adjusting screw 34, the height of the mounting member 22 can be increased via the mount rod 27. It can be finely adjusted upward or downward. That is, the height of the nozzle body 21 attached to the attachment member 22 can be adjusted by the height adjustment mechanism 25 with respect to the plate surface of the substrate W.

By changing the height of the nozzle bodies 21, it is possible to change the area of the square of the processing liquid ejected from each nozzle body 21 and reaching the upper surface of the substrate W. For example, if the distance of the nozzle body 21 to the upper surface of the substrate W, that is, the height of the nozzle body 21 is increased, a square pattern F of the processing liquid that reaches the plate surface of the substrate W according to the height (see FIG. 5). (Shown) becomes larger.

Therefore, by changing the size of the square pattern F of the processing liquid reaching the substrate W, the lap margin of the adjacent patterns F is adjusted in the width direction of the substrate W and the transport direction intersecting this width direction. You can do it. The lap margins of the patterns F adjacent to each other in the width direction of the substrate W and the transport direction intersecting the width direction are set to be 0% or more and 30% or less.
In this embodiment, the height of the nozzle body 21 is set so that the lap margin is 20%. That is, since the height of the nozzle body 21 can be adjusted by the height adjusting mechanism 25, the height of the nozzle body 21 is adjusted so that the lap margin of the square patterns F adjacent to the processing liquid on the plate surface of the substrate W can be adjusted. Can be changed.

Next, a procedure for processing the substrate W by the processing apparatus having the above configuration will be described. First, the drive source 12 is operated to load the substrate W into the chamber 1 through the carry-in port 2. At the same time, the processing liquid is jetted toward the plate surface of the substrate W from the nozzle body 21 provided in the chamber 1.

When the substrate W is transported to the substantially central portion in the chamber 1, the substrate W is reciprocated with a predetermined stroke along the transport direction. That is, the substrate W is reciprocated within a range that does not deviate from the ejection region of the processing liquid ejected from the nozzle body 21 indicated by R in FIG.

When the substrate W is reciprocated with a predetermined stroke, the processing liquid jetted onto the plate surface of the substrate W flows and the processing liquid uniformly contacts the plate surface of the substrate W. Will be uniformly treated by the treatment liquid.

Moreover, as shown in FIG. 5, the lap portions n of the pattern F adjacent to each other in the transport direction of the substrate W are displaced in the moving direction of the substrate W by reciprocating the substrate W, and the substrate W is further moved. Since the lap portions m of the patterns F adjacent to each other in the width direction of the pattern are displaced in the pitch P ₂ / zigzag pattern in the transport direction of the substrate W, the lap portions m also reciprocate the substrate W, The position shifts in the moving direction of W.

That is, by reciprocating the substrate W, it is possible to prevent the lap portions n and m from staying only at predetermined positions on the plate surface of the substrate W. Therefore, even if the pattern F of the processing liquid is wrapped, the processing of the substrate W can be prevented from becoming non-uniform due to the wrap portions n and m.

The processing liquid sprayed on the plate surface of the substrate W has a square pattern, and the pattern F adjacent to the transport direction of the substrate W and the direction intersecting the transport direction is wrapped with a lap margin of 20%. There is. Therefore, since the processing liquid can be uniformly supplied to the entire upper surface of the substrate W that is reciprocally driven in the chamber 1 with a predetermined stroke, the substrate W can be processed according to the supply state. .

When the supply pressure and the viscosity of the processing liquid fluctuate, the pattern F on the plate surface of the substrate W becomes small, and the lap margin of the adjacent patterns F may be reduced or may not be lapped.

However, since the lap margin of the pattern F adjacent to the transfer direction of the substrate W and the direction intersecting the transfer direction is set to 20%, the supply pressure and the viscosity of the processing liquid are changed and the plate of the substrate W is changed. Pattern F on the surface
Even if the size becomes smaller, the decrease in the lap cost is almost 2
Since it falls within 0%, the adjacent patterns F do not overlap each other.

Therefore, the processing liquid can always be uniformly supplied to the substrate W over the entire plate surface irrespective of fluctuations in the supply pressure and viscosity of the processing liquid, which also makes the processing uniform.

The pattern F of the processing liquid sprayed from the nozzle body 21 onto the plate surface of the substrate W is square. Therefore, if there is no fluctuation in the supply pressure or viscosity of the processing liquid, if the adjacent patterns F in the width direction and the longitudinal direction of the substrate W are wrapped with a lap margin of 0 or more, the processing liquid is spread over the entire plate surface. It can be sprayed evenly.

That is, by making the pattern F of the processing liquid square, the processing liquid can be uniformly sprayed onto the plate surface of the substrate W even if the lap margin of the adjacent patterns F is small. Accordingly, the number of nozzle bodies 21 can be reduced.

Particularly, when the substrate W has a rectangular shape, the substrate W
Since both end portions in the width direction can be surely covered with the square pattern F, it is possible to uniformly process the entire surface of the substrate W.

The lap margin of the adjacent pattern F is 3
If it is 0% or more, the processing liquids in the lap portion may interfere with each other and the processing state may not be uniform.
Therefore, the lap margin of the adjacent patterns F is preferably 0% or more and 30% or less, particularly 20%.
By setting the percentage, it becomes possible to perform the treatment uniformly even if the supply pressure of the treatment liquid, the viscosity, and the like change.

In the above-described embodiment, the nozzle bodies 21 are arranged at a predetermined pitch along both the direction intersecting the substrate W transport direction and the transport direction. When carrying in from the carry-in port 2 and carrying out from the carry-out port 3, the nozzle bodies may be arranged at a predetermined pitch only in the direction intersecting the carrying direction.

Further, the pattern of the treatment liquid is not limited to a square, but may be a rectangle, and the point is that it is a rectangular pattern. Further, when the substrate W is processed, the substrate W is reciprocated along the transport direction with a predetermined stroke, and at the same time, the nozzle body 21 is swung with a predetermined stroke in a direction intersecting the transport direction of the substrate W. You may try
By doing so, the processing of the substrate W can be made more uniform.

[0054]

As described above, according to the present invention, the treatment liquid is jetted in a rectangular pattern, and the side portions of the adjacent rectangular patterns are wrapped at least in the direction intersecting the substrate transport direction.

Therefore, since the processing liquid can be uniformly sprayed onto the plate surface of the substrate by a small number of nozzle bodies, the substrate can be uniformly processed according to the spraying state.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a sectional view showing a schematic configuration along a longitudinal direction of a processing tank according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an enlarged sectional view taken along the width direction of the processing tank.

FIG. 3 is an enlarged view of one end in the width direction of the processing tank.

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of a nozzle tip of a nozzle body.

FIG. 5 is an explanatory view showing a state in which the processing liquid is sprayed from the nozzle body onto the substrate in a square pattern as viewed from above.

[Explanation of symbols]

4 ... Transport axis 5 ... Conveyor roller 12 ... Drive source 21 ... Nozzle body 25 ... Height adjusting means W ... substrate

   ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continued front page    (72) Inventor Akinori Iso             2-5-1 Kasama, Sakae-ku, Yokohama-shi, Kanagawa             Shibaura Mechatronics Co., Ltd. Yokohama Office (72) Inventor Hideki Sueyoshi             2-5-1 Kasama, Sakae-ku, Yokohama-shi, Kanagawa             Shibaura Mechatronics Co., Ltd. Yokohama Office F term (reference) 2H096 AA27 GA21 HA19 LA02                 5F043 DD13 EE07 EE36                 5F046 MA06 MA10

Claims (7)

[Claims] 1. A processing apparatus for injecting a processing liquid onto a plate surface of a substrate to process the plate surface, wherein a transfer means for transferring the substrate along a predetermined direction, and the substrate above the transferred substrate. Of the transport direction and the direction intersecting the transport direction, the treatment liquid is arranged in a rectangular pattern at least in a direction intersecting the transport direction, and the processing liquid is in a rectangular pattern on the substrate, and a side of an adjacent rectangular pattern. And a plurality of nozzle bodies for spraying so that the parts overlap each other. 2. The apparatus for processing a substrate according to claim 1, wherein a lap margin of the rectangular patterns adjacent to each other in the processing liquid is 0% or more and 30% or less. 3. The substrate processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the transporting means reciprocates the substrate below the nozzle body along the predetermined direction. 4. The substrate processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the nozzle body is provided so that its height can be adjusted with respect to the plate surface of the substrate by a height adjusting mechanism. 5. The nozzle bodies are arranged at predetermined intervals with respect to a substrate transport direction and a direction intersecting the substrate transport direction, respectively, and positions of nozzle bodies adjacent to each other in the substrate transport direction are defined by: 2. The substrate processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the substrate processing apparatus is offset with respect to a direction intersecting the transport direction. 6. A treatment method for treating a substrate surface by injecting a treatment liquid onto the substrate surface, the step of transporting the substrate, and transporting the substrate to the substrate surface transported to a predetermined position. Of the plurality of rectangular patterns of the processing liquid along at least the direction intersecting the transport direction and the transport direction, and the side portions of the rectangular patterns adjacent to each other on the plate surface of the substrate. And a step of spraying so as to wrap the substrate. 7. By changing the injection height of the processing liquid,
7. The method for processing a substrate according to claim 6, wherein a lap amount of the processing liquid on the substrate is adjusted.