JP2005044975A - Equipment and method for substrate processing - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a substrate processing equipment and a substrate processing method by which a residue adhered to a substrate charged by a plasma discharging phenomenon can be removed efficiently. <P>SOLUTION: A substrate conveyance robot CR conveys a substrate W delivered from an indexer robot IR to an ashing part ASH. In addition, the substrate conveyance robot CR conveys to a cooling plate CP the substrate W to which specified ashing is applied in the ashing part ASH. An ionizer 5 removes static electricity from the substrate W when the substrate conveyance robot CR conveys the substrate W to the cooling plate CP. The substrate conveyance robot CR conveys to a cleaning part MPC1 or a cleaning part MPC2 the substrate W that is cooled as specified in the cooling plate CP. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2005,JPO&NCIPI

Description

[0001]
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a substrate processing apparatus and a substrate processing method for performing predetermined processing on a substrate.
[0002]
[Prior art]
In the manufacturing process of semiconductor devices, liquid crystal displays, etc., various processes such as cleaning, resist coating, exposure, development, etching, ion implantation, resist peeling, interlayer insulation film formation, and heat treatment for semiconductor wafers, glass substrates, etc. Is done.
[0003]
Of the above processes, the resist peeling may be performed by, for example, a plasma ashing process (hereinafter referred to as an ashing process) in which a plasma gas reacts with a resist on a substrate and the resist is vaporized and removed. is there. The resist is an organic substance composed of carbon, oxygen and hydrogen. The ashing process is a process for removing the resist by chemically reacting the organic substance and oxygen plasma.
[0004]
The actual resist contains impurities that do not evaporate, such as heavy metals, and the impurities adhere to the substrate after the ashing process. Further, resist particles (fine particles) may adhere to the surface of the substrate as a residue. Such a residue has a bad influence as a foreign substance in the subsequent substrate processing. Therefore, the residue adhering to the surface of the substrate is removed with a chemical solution (see, for example, Patent Document 1).
[0005]
[Patent Document 1]
JP-A-9-45610 [0006]
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
However, in the ashing process, the substrate may be charged in the process of turning the source gas into plasma by plasma discharge. In this case, an electrostatic attractive force acts between the residue adhered on the substrate and the substrate, and the residue is difficult to be removed in a subsequent cleaning process using a chemical solution or the like.
[0007]
An object of the present invention is to provide a substrate processing apparatus and a substrate processing method capable of efficiently removing residues adhering to a substrate charged by a plasma discharge phenomenon.
[0008]
[Means for Solving the Problems and Effects of the Invention]
A substrate processing apparatus according to the present invention includes a plasma processing unit that performs a predetermined process on a substrate using a plasma discharge phenomenon, a static elimination unit that neutralizes a substrate processed by the plasma processing unit, and a substrate that has been neutralized by the static elimination unit. And a cleaning processing unit for cleaning.
[0009]
In the substrate processing apparatus according to the present invention, the substrate is processed by the plasma discharge phenomenon by the plasma processing unit, and the substrate subjected to the processing by the plasma discharge phenomenon is discharged by the discharging means and then cleaned by the discharging means. Washed by the processing unit.
[0010]
In this case, the electrostatic attractive force between the residue adhered to the substrate due to static electricity in the plasma processing unit and the substrate is nullified by the static eliminating means. Thereby, the residue adhering to the substrate is efficiently removed by the cleaning process by the cleaning processing unit.
[0011]
The apparatus further includes a substrate placement unit on which at least one substrate is placed, and the static elimination unit is placed in the substrate loaded into the substrate placement unit, the substrate unloaded from the substrate placement unit, or the substrate placement unit. The substrate may be neutralized.
[0012]
In this case, the substrate processed by the plasma processing unit is mounted on the substrate mounting unit, and is temporarily on standby until the next processing. As a result, the temperature of the charged substrate is increased by the processing by the plasma processing unit, and the charged substrate is discharged before standby, during standby, or after standby.
[0013]
The substrate mounting unit may be mounted with a substrate before or after processing by the plasma processing unit or a substrate before or after processing by the cleaning processing unit.
[0014]
In this case, the substrate mounting unit can temporarily wait for the substrate before or after processing by the plasma processing unit or the substrate before or after processing by the cleaning processing unit. Thereby, the movement of the substrate between the processing units can be preferentially performed. As a result, the throughput of substrate processing is improved.
[0015]
The substrate platform may further include a cooling unit that cools the substrate. In this case, the substrate raised in temperature by the processing by the plasma processing unit is efficiently cooled in the substrate mounting unit. As described above, since the substrate platform is used for temporary standby and cooling processing of the substrate, the substrate processing apparatus can be reduced in size and space. Further, the time between the processing by the plasma processing unit and the processing by the cleaning processing unit is shortened, and the throughput of the substrate processing is improved.
[0016]
The cleaning processing unit may include a substrate rotating unit that rotates while holding the substrate, and may clean the substrate rotated by the substrate rotating unit. In this case, the substrate rotates while being held by the substrate rotating means. Thereby, the residue adhered on the substrate is more efficiently cleaned.
[0017]
The neutralizing unit may neutralize the substrate transported to the cleaning processing unit. In this case, the neutralized substrate is transferred to the cleaning processing unit without being recharged. Thereby, it is efficiently cleaned by the cleaning processing unit.
[0018]
The substrate processing method according to the present invention includes a step of processing a substrate by a plasma discharge phenomenon, a step of discharging a substrate processed by the plasma discharge phenomenon, and a step of cleaning the discharged substrate.
[0019]
In the substrate processing method according to the present invention, the substrate is processed by the plasma discharge phenomenon, is discharged after being processed by the plasma discharge phenomenon, and is cleaned after being discharged.
[0020]
In this case, the electrostatic attractive force between the residue adhered on the substrate due to static electricity and the substrate in the process by the plasma discharge phenomenon is invalidated. Thereby, the residue adhering to the substrate is efficiently removed during the cleaning by the cleaning processing unit.
[0021]
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
(First embodiment)
Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.
[0022]
In the following description, a substrate means a semiconductor wafer, a glass substrate for a liquid crystal display device, a glass substrate for a PDP (plasma display panel), a glass substrate for a photomask, a substrate for an optical disk, and the like.
[0023]
FIG. 1 is a plan view of a substrate processing apparatus 100 according to the present embodiment. As shown in FIG. 1, the substrate processing apparatus 100 has processing areas A and B, and a transfer area C between the processing areas A and B.
[0024]
In the processing area A, a main control unit 4, cleaning processing units MPC1, MPC2, and fluid box units 2a, 2b are arranged.
[0025]
The fluid box units 2a and 2b are respectively connected to the processing units MPC1 and MPC2, and the drains of the used processing solution from the cleaning units MPC1 and MPC2, pipes, joints, valves, flow meters, regulators, Houses fluid-related equipment such as pumps, temperature controllers, and processing liquid storage tanks.
[0026]
In the cleaning processing units MPC1 and MPC2, cleaning processing including residue removal processing is performed in order to remove residues such as impurities and particles attached to the substrate surface after ashing processing by the ashing unit ASH, which will be described later. The substrate is also dried.
[0027]
In the present embodiment, the cleaning processing unit MPC1 and the cleaning processing unit MPC2 have the same function, and two units are mounted in order to improve the throughput of the substrate processing. However, if a sufficient throughput of the substrate processing can be ensured, for example, only one cleaning processing unit MPC1 may be mounted. .
[0028]
In the processing area B, an ashing part ASH, a plurality of cooling plate parts CP, and an asher control part 3 are arranged. In the ashing unit ASH, an ashing process is performed with oxygen plasma under reduced pressure while the substrate is placed on a heating plate (not shown).
[0029]
In the plurality of cooling plate portions CP, the substrate is cooled to a predetermined temperature (for example, 23 ° C.) by a Peltier element or constant temperature water circulation while being placed on a cooling plate described later. The cooling plate portion CP is mainly used for cooling the substrate W that has been heated by the ashing process to a temperature at which the residue removal process or the cleaning process can be performed.
[0030]
Hereinafter, the ashing unit ASH, the cooling plate unit CP, and the cleaning processing units MPC1 and MPC2 are collectively referred to as processing units.
[0031]
In the transfer area C, the ionizer 5 and the substrate transfer robot CR are arranged. Details of the ionizer 5 will be described later.
[0032]
On one end side of the processing areas A and B, an indexer ID for carrying in and out the substrate W is arranged. The carrier 1 that stores the substrate W is placed on the indexer ID. In the present embodiment, a FOUP (Front Opening Unified Pod) that accommodates the substrate W in a sealed state is used as the carrier 1, but the present invention is not limited to this, and a SMIF (Standard Mechanical Interface Face) pod is used. OC (Open Cassette) or the like may be used.
[0033]
The indexer robot IR with the indexer ID moves in the direction of the arrow U, takes out the substrate W from the carrier 1 and passes it to the substrate transport robot CR, and conversely receives the substrate W subjected to a series of processing from the substrate transport robot CR. Return to carrier 1.
[0034]
The substrate transport robot CR transports the substrate W transferred from the indexer robot IR to the ashing unit ASH. The substrate transport robot CR transports the substrate W that has been subjected to a predetermined ashing process by the ashing unit ASH to the cooling plate unit CP.
[0035]
Further, the substrate transport robot CR transports the substrate W that has been subjected to a predetermined cooling process by the cooling plate section CP to the cleaning processing section MPC1 or the cleaning processing section MPC2. The substrate transport robot CR transports the substrate W that has been subjected to a predetermined cleaning process by the cleaning processing unit MPC1 or the cleaning processing unit MPC2 to the indexer robot IR.
[0036]
The cooling plate portion CP is used for other than the cooling process of the substrate W. Details will be described later.
[0037]
The asher control unit 3 includes a computer including a CPU (Central Processing Unit) and controls operations of the ashing unit ASH and the cooling plate unit CP in the processing area A. The main control unit 4 includes a computer including a CPU (Central Processing Unit) and the like. The operation of each processing unit in the processing areas A and B, the operation of the substrate transfer robot CR in the transfer area C, and the indexer robot with the indexer ID. Control IR operation.
[0038]
FIG. 2 is a longitudinal sectional view of the substrate processing apparatus 100 of FIG.
[0039]
As shown in FIG. 2, on the processing region B side, a plurality of cooling plate portions CP are arranged one above the other in the vertical direction.
[0040]
A filter fan unit FFU is provided above the transfer area C, and a substrate transfer robot CR is provided below. Further, the ionizer 5 is provided in the transfer area C and above the substrate loading / unloading port OS of the uppermost cooling plate portion CP. On the processing area A side, a cleaning processing section MPC2 is provided.
[0041]
The ionizer 5 removes static electricity from the substrate W when the substrate transport robot CR transports the substrate W to the cooling plate portion CP.
[0042]
The cleaning processing unit MPC2 is provided with a rotary holding device 50. The loaded substrate W is held by the rotary holding device 50. While the rotary holding device 50 rotates the substrate W, a processing liquid (chemical solution, pure water, etc.) is dropped from the processing liquid supply pipe 51, and the substrate W is cleaned. The cleaning processing unit MPC1 has the same structure as the cleaning processing unit MPC2.
[0043]
It is possible to place the substrate W on the cooling plate portion CP in order to make the substrate W stand by temporarily during a period not used for cooling the substrate W (hereinafter referred to as an unused period). In addition, since substrate processing apparatus 100 according to the present embodiment has a configuration in which cooling plate portions CP are stacked in three stages, three substrates W can be stored one by one in each cooling plate portion CP. It is.
[0044]
In the substrate processing apparatus 100 according to the present embodiment, during the processing of the substrate W in each processing unit, another substrate W before processing is transferred in advance from the carrier 1 in FIG. 1 to the cooling plate portion CP during the unused period. Is done. Thereby, the substrate W can be immediately carried into the ashing portion ASH from the cooling plate portion CP in a short process during the ashing process of the substrate W. Therefore, the throughput is improved.
[0045]
In addition, the substrate W processed in each processing unit is also placed on the cooling plate portion CP during the unused period. Accordingly, the substrate transport robot CR preferentially transports the substrate W between the processing units, and the processed substrate W placed on the cooling plate portion CP is not moved between the processing units. (Hereinafter, referred to as a waiting period) is passed to the indexer robot IR. Therefore, since the transfer of the substrate W between the indexer robot IR and the substrate transport robot CR is performed during the standby period, the substrate processing and throughput in the substrate processing apparatus 100 are further improved.
[0046]
FIG. 3 is a schematic cross-sectional view showing an example of the structure of the cooling plate portion CP.
[0047]
In FIG. 3, the cooling plate portion CP includes a housing 20 having a substrate loading / unloading port OS. A shutter SH is provided at the substrate loading / unloading port OS of the housing 20 so as to be opened and closed by a driving device PS such as an air cylinder.
[0048]
A cooling plate PL is provided in the housing 20. Three spherical spacers 21 that support the back surface of the substrate W are arranged in a substantially equilateral triangle shape on the upper surface of the cooling plate PL. The cooling plate PL is made of a highly heat-conductive member, and the temperature of the substrate W supported with a slight gap above the cooling plate PL is cooled to a predetermined temperature. A temperature sensor 22 is embedded in the cooling plate PL. The output of the temperature sensor 22 is input to the main control unit 4 in FIG.
[0049]
A cooling device 23 is provided on the lower surface of the cooling plate PL. The cooling device 23 is composed of, for example, a Peltier element. When the current is supplied, the Peltier element absorbs heat on one side and dissipates heat on the other side. Thereby, heat can be moved. The cooling device 23 using this Peltier element can adjust the temperature of the cooling plate PL in a short time.
[0050]
Further, a water cooling jacket 24 is provided on the lower surface of the cooling device 23. The water cooling jacket 24 has a cooling water passage 25 for circulating cooling water inside the plate member having high heat conductivity. The cooling water passage 25 is connected via a circulation pipe 26 to the outside, for example, a cooling water utility 27 in a factory where the substrate processing apparatus 100 is disposed. The cooling device 23 moves the heat of the substrate W to the water cooling jacket 24.
[0051]
A plurality of through holes 29 are formed in the cooling plate PL, the cooling device 23, and the water cooling jacket 24. In the present embodiment, there are three through holes 29. A plurality of lifting pins 28 that support the back surface of the substrate W are provided inside the through hole 29. The plurality of lifting pins 28 move the substrate W to and from the substrate transport robot CR by moving up and down by a substrate lifting device (not shown).
[0052]
An inert gas supply chamber 15 is disposed in the upper part of the housing 20. An inert gas inlet 14 is provided on the upper surface of the inert gas supply chamber 15, and a plurality of inert gas ejection holes 16 are provided on the lower surface.
[0053]
An inert gas introduction port 14 of the inert gas supply chamber 15 is connected to an air supply line 13 that guides an inert gas such as nitrogen gas. The air supply line 13 is connected to a gas utility (not shown) for supplying an inert gas such as nitrogen gas via the flow rate adjusting valve V1.
[0054]
Further, an exhaust port 17 is provided below the housing 20. An exhaust pipe 18 for discharging exhaust gas is connected to the exhaust port 17. The exhaust line 18 is connected to an exhaust facility (not shown) in the factory via a flow rate adjusting valve V2.
[0055]
By opening the flow rate adjusting valve V <b> 1, an inert gas such as nitrogen gas is injected onto the substrate W through the inert gas introduction port 14 and the plurality of inert gas ejection holes 16. Further, the inert gas injected onto the substrate W is exhausted from the exhaust port 17 and the exhaust pipe line 18 by opening the flow rate adjustment valve V2.
[0056]
FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the control system of the substrate processing apparatus of FIG.
[0057]
The asher control unit 3 controls various operations regarding the ashing process of the substrate W performed in the ashing unit ASH. Further, the asher control unit 3 controls various operations for cooling the substrate W performed by the plurality of cooling plate units CP.
[0058]
The main control unit 4 controls the substrate transfer operation of the indexer robot IR and the substrate transfer robot CR, and the operations of the cleaning processing units MPC1 and MPC2 and the ionizer 5.
[0059]
FIG. 5 is a diagram for explaining static electricity removal of the substrate W by the ionizer 5.
[0060]
The ionizer 5 is an electrode needle type static eliminator that plasmaizes the atmosphere around the electrode using a high-voltage spark emitted from the electrode needle to remove static electricity from the object.
[0061]
Ions are supplied by the ionizer 5 to the substrate W held on the arm AM of the substrate transport robot CR. In this case, when the substrate W is carried into and out of the cooling plate portion CP, ions generated by the high voltage spark are efficiently supplied to the substrate W being transported by the downflow formed by the filter fan unit FFU in the transport region C. Is done. The ions supplied to the substrate W electrically remove the static electricity of the substrate W and the residue attached on the substrate W.
[0062]
Thereby, the electrostatic attractive force between the residue adhered on the substrate W due to static electricity and the substrate W is invalidated. Therefore, in the subsequent cleaning process, the residue adhering to the substrate W is efficiently cleaned, and re-adhesion of the residue after cleaning is prevented.
[0063]
Further, since the static electricity of the substrate W is removed in about 1 to several seconds, the substrate transport robot CR does not need to reduce the transport speed under the ionizer 5. Accordingly, there is no influence on the transfer time of the substrate W, and the throughput does not decrease.
[0064]
In the substrate processing apparatus 100 according to the present embodiment, the ionizer 5 is provided above the substrate carry-in / out port OS of the uppermost cooling plate portion CP, but the static electricity of the substrate W after the ashing process and before the cleaning process It only has to be arranged at a position where removal is possible. For example, it may be above the substrate loading / unloading port of the ashing unit ASH or above the substrate loading / unloading port of the cleaning processing units MPC1, MPC2. Moreover, you may arrange | position in any of ashing part ASH, cooling plate part CP, and washing | cleaning process part MPC1, MPC2.
[0065]
In the substrate processing apparatus 100 according to the present embodiment, the processing unit provided in the processing region A is not limited to the cleaning processing units MPC1 and MPC2 that perform cleaning with a chemical solution or the like. For example, a polymer removal unit that cleans the substrate W using a polymer removal liquid instead of the cleaning processing units MPC1 and MPC2, a brush cleaning unit that scrubs the surface of the substrate W, an etching liquid, a polymer removal liquid, a resist stripping liquid, etc. Other cleaning processing units such as a vapor phase cleaning unit for cleaning the substrate W using the vapor of the processing liquid may be provided.
[0066]
Furthermore, as each processing unit according to the present embodiment, a single wafer processing unit is used, but a batch processing unit may be used.
[0067]
In the present embodiment, the ashing part ASH corresponds to the plasma processing part, the ionizer 5 corresponds to the charge removal means, the cooling plate part corresponds to the substrate mounting part, the cooling plate PL corresponds to the cooling means, and the rotation The type holding device 50 corresponds to the substrate rotating means.
[0068]
(Second Embodiment)
FIG. 6 is a plan view of a substrate processing apparatus 100a according to the second embodiment.
[0069]
A difference from the substrate processing apparatus 100 of FIG. 1 is that an ionizer 5a is provided outside the cleaning processing units MPC1 and MPC2. The ionizer 5a removes static electricity from the substrate W carried into the cleaning processing units MPC1 and MPC2 after the ashing process. Details of the operation of the ionizer 5a will be described later.
[0070]
FIG. 7 is a diagram for explaining static electricity removal of the substrate W by the ionizer 5a in the cleaning processing unit MPC1.
[0071]
The ionizer 5a is a weak X-ray irradiation device for irradiating weak X-rays that are electromagnetic waves having a charge eliminating action. The weak X-rays irradiated from the ionizer 5a spread in a conical shape having an angle of 120 degrees.
[0072]
A window 6 is provided in the cleaning processing unit MPC1. The window 6 is made of polyimide resin or acrylic resin. A polyimide resin or an acrylic resin has a property of easily passing X-rays. Thereby, the weak X-rays generated from the ionizer 5 a are irradiated to the substrate W through the window 6. In addition, as the material of the window 6, other various resins that easily transmit X-rays may be used.
[0073]
Weak X-rays are electromagnetic waves having a wavelength of 1.3 mm or more centered on 2 mm and an energy intensity of 3 to 9.5 eV. When weak X-rays are irradiated from the ionizer 5a, gas atoms and gas molecules in a stable state included in the irradiation range are ionized, and high-concentration gas atom ions and gas molecule ions are generated. Thereby, of the generated ions, ions having a polarity opposite to the charge of the member within the irradiation range are combined with the charge of the charged member, and static electricity is removed.
[0074]
Since the ions generated by the ionizer 5a have a high concentration and an excellent ion balance, the charged member is instantaneously discharged, and the member is not reversely charged.
[0075]
From the above, as shown in FIG. 6, when the substrate W charged by the ashing process is irradiated with weak X-rays from the ionizer 5a, the static electricity of the residue attached to the substrate W and the substrate W is removed.
[0076]
Thereby, the electrostatic attractive force between the residue adhered on the substrate W due to static electricity and the substrate W is invalidated. Therefore, in the subsequent cleaning process, the residue adhering to the substrate W is efficiently cleaned, and re-adhesion of the residue after cleaning is prevented.
[0077]
In the substrate processing apparatus 100a according to the present embodiment, the ionizer 5a is provided outside the cleaning processing units MPC1 and MPC2, but the position where the static electricity can be removed from the substrate W after the ashing processing and before the cleaning processing. It suffices if it is arranged in.
[0078]
For example, it may be disposed outside the cooling plate portion CP, may be disposed outside the ashing portion ASH, or may be disposed above the transport region C.
[0079]
In the present embodiment, the ionizer 5a corresponds to a static elimination means.
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 is a plan view of a substrate processing apparatus according to an embodiment.
2 is a longitudinal sectional view of the substrate processing apparatus of FIG.
FIG. 3 is a schematic cross-sectional view showing an example of a structure of a cooling plate portion.
4 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a control system of the substrate processing apparatus of FIG. 1. FIG.
FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating removal of static electricity from a substrate by an ionizer.
FIG. 6 is a plan view of a substrate processing apparatus according to a second embodiment.
FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating removal of static electricity from a substrate by an ionizer in a cleaning processing unit.
[Explanation of symbols]
3 Asher control unit 4 Main control unit 5, 5a Ionizer 6 Window 100, 100a Substrate processing device IR Indexer robot CR Substrate transport robot ASH Ashing unit CP Cooling plate unit MPC1, MPC2 Cleaning processing unit W Substrate

Claims (7)

A plasma processing unit for performing predetermined processing on the substrate using a plasma discharge phenomenon;
Neutralizing means for neutralizing the substrate processed in the plasma processing unit;
A substrate processing apparatus, comprising: a cleaning processing unit that cleans the substrate that has been discharged by the discharging unit. It further comprises a substrate placement part on which at least one substrate is placed,
2. The neutralization unit neutralizes a substrate carried into the substrate platform, a substrate unloaded from the substrate platform, or a substrate placed in the substrate platform. Substrate processing equipment. 3. The substrate processing according to claim 2, wherein a substrate before or after processing by the plasma processing unit or a substrate before or after processing by the cleaning processing unit is mounted on the substrate mounting unit. apparatus. The substrate processing apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the substrate mounting unit further includes a cooling unit that cools the substrate. The substrate processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the cleaning processing unit includes a substrate rotating unit that rotates while holding the substrate, and the substrate rotating unit is cleaned by the substrate rotating unit. The substrate processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the static eliminating unit neutralizes a substrate transported to the cleaning processing unit. Processing the substrate by a plasma discharge phenomenon;
Removing the substrate treated by the plasma discharge phenomenon;
And a step of cleaning the neutralized substrate.

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