JP2005177566A - Treatment apparatus and treatment method of substrate - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a treatment apparatus capable of efficiently performing uniform treatment of a substrate such as removal of organic material. <P>SOLUTION: The treatment apparatus of treating the substrate by using active species produced by plasma is provided with a plasma generator 11 which has a plasma generation part 16 of generating plasma for a nozzle pore 13 and the part opposite to the nozzle pore and is arranged on the upper side of the substrate so as to incline the axial line of the nozzle pore at an angle smaller than 90° for the plate surface of the substrate and a gas supply tube 17 through which a gas is supplied to the plasma generation part of the plasma generator to generate the active species and allows the active species to flow out to the plate surface of the substrate from the nozzle port together with the gas. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2005,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to a processing apparatus and a processing method for processing a substrate with active species generated by plasma.

  For example, in a manufacturing process of a liquid crystal display device or a semiconductor device, there is a step of forming a circuit pattern on a substrate such as a glass substrate or a semiconductor wafer. In the process of forming the circuit pattern or in the process before and after the process, the organic matter adhered to the substrate is removed, unnecessary portions of the thin film formed on the substrate are removed, and the photoresist for etching is removed. Processing may be performed.

  As the various treatments described above, a wet method using a chemical solution and a dry method using active species generated by plasma are known, and recently, a dry method that can be performed accurately under atmospheric pressure is often employed. It has become to.

  Conventionally, when these processes are performed by a dry method, active species are generated by supplying a gas to a plasma region generated by a plasma generator, and the gas containing the active species is substantially perpendicular to the plate surface of the substrate. By supplying at an appropriate angle, various treatments are performed on the plate surface of the substrate.

  If the gas containing the active species is supplied almost perpendicularly to the plate surface of the substrate, the gas that collides with the plate surface of the substrate is difficult to flow along the plate surface of the substrate, and may easily stay at the collision location. . For this reason, the substrate may not be uniformly processed due to gas retention, or the processing efficiency may be reduced.

  The present invention is directed to a substrate processing apparatus and a process capable of performing various processes on a substrate uniformly and efficiently by facilitating the flow of gas containing active species along the plate surface of the substrate. It is to provide a method.

The present invention relates to a processing apparatus for processing a substrate with active species generated by plasma.
A nozzle hole and a plasma generator for generating plasma at a portion facing the nozzle hole are provided, and the axis of the nozzle hole is inclined at an angle smaller than 90 degrees with respect to the plate surface of the substrate above the substrate. A plasma generator disposed; and
Gas supply means for generating active species by supplying a gas to a plasma generating portion of the plasma generator, and for supplying the active species together with the gas from the nozzle hole to the plate surface of the substrate. In the substrate processing apparatus.

  The inclination angle of the nozzle hole with respect to the plate surface of the substrate is preferably 75 degrees or more.

  It is preferable that the substrate is transported in a predetermined direction by a transport unit, and the nozzle holes of the plasma generator are inclined so as to inject gas toward the upstream side of the substrate in the transport direction.

  It is preferable that exhaust means for sucking and exhausting the gas injected from the nozzle hole of the plasma generator toward the plate surface of the substrate is provided.

  It is preferable that a thin film is formed on the substrate, and unnecessary portions of the thin film are removed by active species flowing out from the nozzle holes.

The present invention relates to a substrate processing method for processing with active species generated by plasma.
Generating the plasma;
Supplying a gas to the generated plasma region to generate active species, and supplying the gas containing the active species at an angle smaller than 90 degrees with respect to the plate surface of the substrate. The substrate processing method is characterized.

  According to this invention, since the gas containing the active species is supplied at an angle smaller than 90 degrees with respect to the plate surface of the substrate, the gas supplied to the substrate is smoothly supplied along the plate surface of the substrate. Therefore, the substrate can be uniformly and efficiently processed.

  Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

  FIG. 1 shows a substrate processing apparatus according to a first embodiment of the present invention. This processing apparatus includes a chamber 1. A carry-in port 2 is formed at one end of the chamber 1, and a carry-out port 3 is formed at the other end at the same level as the carry-in port 2.

  A conveying means 4 is provided in the chamber 1. In this conveying means 4, a plurality of conveying rollers 5 are arranged at predetermined intervals with their axes parallel, and at least one of these conveying rollers 5 is driven to rotate by a drive source 6. The rotation of the transport roller 5 that is rotationally driven by the drive source 6 is transmitted to other transport rollers 5 by means such as a belt.

  A substrate 7 is supplied from the carry-in port 2 into the chamber 1. The substrate 7 is a rectangular panel made of glass used for a liquid crystal display device, for example, and is fed into the chamber 1 so that it is transported toward the carry-out port 3 by the transport roller 5. That is, the substrate 3 is transported along a predetermined direction indicated by an arrow in the figure in a horizontal state.

  A plasma generator 11 is disposed in the chamber 1 above the substrate 7 to be transferred. As shown in FIG. 2, the plasma generator 11 includes a casing 12 having an elongated hollow box shape along the transport direction of the substrate 7. In this embodiment, the length of the casing 12 is set slightly longer than the width dimension of the substrate 7.

  A nozzle hole 13 is formed in the lower end surface of the housing 12 over the entire length in the longitudinal direction. In the housing 12, a pair of electrode plates 14 that are opposed to each other at a predetermined interval in the front-rear direction of the housing 12 are disposed over the entire length in the longitudinal direction. A high frequency voltage is applied between the pair of electrode plates 14 by the power supply unit 15 as shown in FIG. Thereby, plasma is generated between the electrode plates 14. A space between the pair of electrode plates 14 is a plasma generator 16.

  The plasma generator 16 has a lower end communicating with the nozzle hole 3 and a gas supply pipe 17 serving as a gas supply unit connected to the upper end. The gas supply pipe 17 supplies gas to the plasma generator 16. As the gas, an inert gas such as nitrogen or argon, or a mixed gas in which a predetermined amount of oxygen is mixed with these inert gases is used.

  When a gas is supplied to the plasma generator 16, active species are generated by the plasma generated by the plasma generator 16, and the active species are supplied together with the gas from the nozzle hole 13 toward the plate surface of the substrate 7. .

  The plasma generator 11 is configured so that the gas supplied from the nozzle hole 13 toward the plate surface of the substrate 7 is supplied toward the upstream side in the transport direction of the substrate 7 transported by the transport roller 5. The axis of the nozzle hole 13 is inclined with respect to the plate surface of the substrate 7 at an angle smaller than 90 degrees. This inclination angle is indicated by θ in FIG.

  The processing apparatus having the above configuration is suitable for removing organic substances adhering to the plate surface of the substrate 7, and the unprocessed substrate 7 is supplied into the chamber 1 from the carry-in port 2 with the contaminated surface facing up. The substrate 7 supplied into the chamber 1 is conveyed by the conveyance roller 5 toward the carry-out port 3 at a predetermined speed.

  When the substrate 7 reaches below the plasma generator 11, gas is supplied from the nozzle hole 13 of the plasma generator 11. The gas supplied from the nozzle hole 13 to the substrate 7 passes through the plasma generated between the pair of electrode plates 14 of the plasma generator 16 of the plasma generator 11. For this reason, active species are generated by supplying gas from the gas supply pipe 17 to the plasma generating unit 16, and therefore, the active species are included in the gas flowing out from the nozzle holes 13 to the plate surface of the substrate 7. Therefore, organic substances adhering to the plate surface of the substrate 7 can be removed by the action of the active species.

  The gas containing the active species is supplied from the nozzle hole 13 at an inclination angle smaller than 90 degrees with respect to the plate surface of the substrate 7. That is, the gas is supplied toward the upstream side in the transport direction of the substrate 7. Therefore, the gas supplied to the plate surface of the substrate 7 smoothly flows toward the upstream side in the transport direction of the substrate 7 and does not stay on the plate surface of the substrate 7. It becomes possible to treat the plate surface uniformly.

  FIG. 3 shows the relationship between the angle θ formed by the axis of the nozzle hole 13 of the plasma generator 11 when processing the substrate 7 and the plate surface of the substrate 7, that is, the inclination angle, and the contact angle of the substrate 7 after processing. It is the graph calculated | required by experiment. The smaller the contact angle, the higher the processing state of the substrate 7, that is, the higher the organic matter removal rate, and the higher the hydrophilicity. In the figure, a curve X is when the transport speed of the substrate 7 is V, a curve Y is 2V twice the speed V, and a curve Z is 3V when it is 3 times.

  As can be seen from the figure, in the case of the curve X, the contact angle is 10 degrees when the tilt angle is 60 degrees, and when the tilt angle is gradually increased, the contact angle is about 3 degrees and the smallest when the tilt angle is 75 degrees. Thereafter, the contact angle slightly increased until the tilt angle reached 90 degrees, but it was confirmed that the contact angle could be in the range of about 3 to 4 degrees.

Even if the tilt angle is 90 degrees, that is, the axis of the nozzle hole 13 is perpendicular to the plate surface of the substrate 7, the contact angle is sufficiently small, but in this case, the gas supplied to the substrate 7 flows smoothly. It is easy to stay at a supply place without doing. Therefore, when the tilt angle is 90 degrees, even if the contact angle can be reduced, it is difficult to uniformly treat the gas containing the active species over the entire plate surface of the substrate 7, so the tilt angle is more than 90 degrees. It is desirable to make it smaller.
From the above, when the conveyance speed is the curve X of V, the inclination angle of the axis of the nozzle hole 13 with respect to the plate surface of the substrate 7 is preferably 75 to 85 degrees, and the more preferable inclination angle is approximately 75 to 80 degrees. A preferable inclination angle is 75 degrees. In other words, the inclination angle of the gas supplied from the nozzle hole 13 to the plate surface of the substrate 7 may be in the range of 75 to 90 degrees when only the contact angle is taken into consideration, but in the case of considering the uniformity of processing. It was confirmed by experiment that the closer to 75 degrees, the better in the range of 75 to 85 degrees.

  In the case of the curve Y and the curve Z in which the substrate 7 becomes larger, the contact angle becomes the smallest at about 3 degrees when the inclination angle is 75 degrees as compared with the case of the curve X, but at other inclination angles, the conveyance speed is lower. It was confirmed that the contact angle increased as the value increased.

  However, even if the conveyance speed is different, the contact angle is largely decreased by the inclination angle of 75 degrees or more, and the treatment with the gas containing the active species is uneven over the entire plate surface of the substrate 7. In order to carry out uniformly, it is preferable to make an inclination angle into the range of 75-85 degree | times at any conveyance speed.

  FIG. 4 shows a second embodiment of the present invention. In this embodiment, a polyimide film 21 is formed as a thin film on the substrate 7, and an unnecessary portion of the polyimide film 21, that is, a portion protruding from a predetermined region is removed by a gas containing active species.

For example, the polyimide film 21 of _two patterns P ₁ and P ₂ is formed in the longitudinal direction of the substrate 7, and a plurality of patterns are formed in the width direction, and one end of each of the patterns P ₁ and P ₂ is removed. An embodiment of the case is shown.

The substrate 7 is transported and positioned in a horizontal state at a predetermined position by appropriate transport means such as a transport roller or an XY table. Whereby, at one end above the pattern P ₁ facing across the width the entire length of the first plasma generator 11A is a substrate 7, at one end above the pattern P ₂ of the second plasma generator 11B is a substrate 7 Opposing across the entire length in the width direction.

  Each of the plasma generators 11A and 11B has the same structure as the plasma generator 11 of the first embodiment shown in FIG. 2, and these plasma generators 11A and 11B have the axis of the nozzle hole 13 on the plate surface of the substrate 7. On the other hand, the inclination angle is set in a range of 75 to 85 degrees, which is a predetermined angle, that is, an angle smaller than 90 degrees.

  In the vicinity of the first plasma generator 11A, a first exhaust duct 23 is disposed as exhaust means in the direction in which the gas supplied from the nozzle hole 13 of the first plasma generator 11A flows to the substrate 7 flows. In the direction in which the gas supplied from the nozzle hole 13 of the second plasma generator 11B flows to the substrate 7, a second exhaust duct 24 is disposed as exhaust means. The ends of the first and second exhaust ducts 23 and 24 are opposed to locations where gas is supplied from the nozzle holes 13 of the substrate 7.

According to the processing apparatus having such a configuration, the first and second plasma generators 11 </ b> A and 11 </ b> B are formed on the substrate 7 by the gas containing active species supplied from the nozzle holes 13 toward the substrate 7. Unnecessary portions of the patterns P ₁ and P ₂ of the polyimide film 21 are removed. FIG. 5 shows the substrate 7 from which unnecessary portions of the patterns P ₁ and P ₂ are removed.

The axis of the nozzle hole 13 of each plasma generator 11A, 11B is inclined with respect to the plate surface of the substrate 7 at an angle smaller than 90 degrees. Therefore, unnecessary portions of the patterns P ₁ and P ₂ can be efficiently and uniformly removed by the gas containing the active species supplied from the nozzle hole 13 to the substrate 7.

  The polyimide film 21 removed from the substrate 7 is sucked and discharged together with the gas supplied from the nozzle hole 13 by the first and second exhaust ducts 23 and 24 disposed in the vicinity of the plasma generators 11A and 11B. . Therefore, the polyimide film 21 removed from the substrate 7 can be prevented from adhering and remaining on the substrate 7, and the active species can be removed without diffusing the gas containing the active species to the surroundings. It can prevent acting on the part which may be.

  In the second embodiment, the case of removing an excess portion of a thin film such as a polyimide film formed on the substrate has been described. However, the present invention is also applied to the case of ashing the photoresist remaining on the substrate. By doing so, it is possible to remove the photoresist evenly and surely without scattering the removed photoresist.

The schematic block diagram of the processing apparatus which shows 1st Embodiment of this invention. The expanded sectional view of a plasma generator. The graph which shows the relationship between the inclination angle of the axis line of the nozzle hole with respect to the plan surface of a board | substrate, and the contact angle of the processed board | substrate. The schematic block diagram of the processing apparatus which shows 2nd Embodiment of this invention. Explanatory drawing of the board | substrate from which the unnecessary part of the polyimide film was removed.

Explanation of symbols

  DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 4 ... Conveyance means, 5 ... Conveyance roller, 7 ... Board | substrate, 11 ... Plasma generator, 13 ... Nozzle hole, 14 ... Electrode plate, 16 ... Plasma generation part, 17 ... Gas supply pipe (gas supply means), 23 ... 1st 1 exhaust duct (exhaust means), 24... Second exhaust duct (exhaust means).

Claims (6)

In a processing apparatus for processing a substrate with active species generated by plasma,
A nozzle hole and a plasma generator for generating plasma at a portion facing the nozzle hole are provided, and the axis of the nozzle hole is inclined at an angle smaller than 90 degrees with respect to the plate surface of the substrate above the substrate. A plasma generator disposed; and
A gas supply means for supplying a gas to a plasma generation section of the plasma generator to generate active species, and for causing the active species to flow out from the nozzle hole to the plate surface of the substrate together with the gas. Substrate processing apparatus.   The substrate processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein an inclination angle of the nozzle hole with respect to a plate surface of the substrate is 75 degrees or more.   The substrate is transported in a predetermined direction by a transport means, and the nozzle hole of the plasma generator is inclined so as to inject gas toward the upstream side of the transport direction of the substrate. Substrate processing equipment.   2. The substrate processing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising exhaust means for sucking and exhausting a gas jetted from a nozzle hole of the plasma generator toward a plate surface of the substrate.   2. The substrate processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein a thin film is formed on the substrate, and unnecessary portions of the thin film are removed by active species flowing out of the nozzle holes. In a substrate processing method of processing a substrate with active species generated by plasma,
Generating the plasma;
Supplying a gas to the generated plasma region to generate active species, and supplying the gas containing the active species at an angle smaller than 90 degrees with respect to the plate surface of the substrate. A feature of a substrate processing method.

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