JP2006110488A - Coater - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a novel coater capable of inspecting whether or not a foreign matter exists on a surface of a substrate. <P>SOLUTION: This coater has a mouthpiece 2 provided on a base 1; a substrate support base 3 capable of being reciprocated in a predetermined direction by a driving source not shown; the substrate 4 supported on the base support base 3 in the adsorption state; a light projection unit 5 for irradiating with a semiconductor laser beam in parallel to the mouthpiece 2 in the state having predetermined spreading; and a light receiving unit 6 for receiving the semiconductor laser beam. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2006,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to an apparatus for applying a fluid such as a chemical solution to an upper surface of a substrate so as to have a uniform predetermined thickness while moving a flat substrate such as a glass substrate relative to an application mechanism.

  Conventionally, there has been provided a substrate coating system that performs a coating process while moving a substrate relative to a coating mechanism.

  In applications where it is required to reduce the coating thickness and to reduce variations in thickness, a coater is employed, and the clearance between the base portion of the coater and the upper surface of the substrate is significantly reduced.

  In such a substrate coating system, an apparatus for inspecting whether or not a foreign substance exists on the surface of the substrate has not been incorporated in the substrate coating system.

  Therefore, it is necessary to clean the substrate, prevent foreign matter from entering the step of applying a fluid to the substrate, and the like.

  However, even if such measures are taken, the intrusion and adhesion of foreign matter cannot be completely eliminated. If foreign matter exists on the surface of the substrate, a defective product will be obtained and the base part will be damaged. There was a possibility.

  An object of this invention is to provide the novel coating device which can test | inspect whether the foreign material exists in the surface of a board | substrate.

  The coating apparatus according to the present invention includes a table member that supports a flat substrate, a coating unit that applies fluid to the upper surface of the substrate supported by the table member, and the presence or absence of foreign matter on the surface of the substrate supported by the table member. A detecting means for detecting the presence or absence of foreign matter, a connecting means for connecting the applying means and the detecting means for detecting the presence or absence of foreign matter to maintain a predetermined positional relationship, and the applying means and the detecting means for detecting the presence or absence of foreign matter. Driving means for moving in a predetermined relative direction at a predetermined relative speed.

  Here, the “predetermined positional relationship” represents the positional relationship between the applying unit and the foreign matter presence / absence detecting unit, and the positional relationship is preferably set so that the distance between the two is a preferable distance. . For example, when a foreign object is detected by the foreign object presence / absence detecting unit, the preferable distance can ensure the operation of avoiding the foreign object of the applying unit and the possibility that the foreign object may enter between the detection of the presence / absence of the foreign object and the application. The distance is determined so that the tact time can be shortened while decreasing, for example, empirically determined.

  The “predetermined relative speed” represents the speed when the application means and the foreign object presence / absence detection means are moved relative to the substrate supported by the table member. A high speed is preferable as long as it can be maintained. Moreover, since it is a relative speed, the case where only a board | substrate moves, the case where only an application | coating means and a foreign material presence detection means move, and the case where both move are included.

  The “predetermined relative direction” represents the moving direction of the coating unit and the foreign matter presence / absence detecting unit with respect to the substrate supported by the table member, and is determined by the configuration of the coating apparatus. The case where only the substrate moves, the case where only the coating means and the foreign matter presence / absence detecting means move, and the case where both move are included.

  In the coating apparatus of the present invention, since the application unit and the foreign object presence / absence detection unit are connected by the connection unit so as to maintain a predetermined positional relationship, the foreign object presence / absence detection scan can be performed simultaneously with the application scan by the application unit. it can. As a result, it is possible to prevent the occurrence of inconvenience due to the foreign matter. Further, the required time and tact time can be shortened as compared with the case where the application scan and the foreign matter presence detection scan are separately performed.

  In this case, it is preferable to further include a cover member that covers a space defined by the application unit and the foreign matter presence / absence detection unit.

  In this case, it is possible to prevent foreign matter from entering the upper surface of the substrate between the detection of the presence or absence of foreign matter by the foreign matter presence / absence detection means and the application of fluid by the coating apparatus.

  The present invention has a specific effect that it is possible to prevent the occurrence of inconvenience due to foreign matter.

Hereinafter, embodiments of a coating apparatus of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.
FIG. 1 is a schematic perspective view showing an example of a substrate coating system as an example of a substrate processing system.

  This substrate coating system includes a base portion 2 provided on a base 1, a substrate support 3 that can be reciprocated in a predetermined direction by a drive source (not shown), and a substrate 4 that is supported by the substrate support 3 in an adsorbed state. And a light projector 5 for irradiating a semiconductor laser beam in a state having a predetermined spread in parallel with the base part 2 (in a direction perpendicular to the moving direction of the substrate support 3 and along the upper surface of the substrate 4), and the semiconductor And a light receiver 6 for receiving laser light. The light projector 5 and the light receiver 6 constitute a foreign matter presence / absence detecting means. That is, the absence of foreign matter and the presence of foreign matter can be detected according to the amount of light received by the light receiver 6. Further, the base part 2 and the foreign substance presence / absence detecting means are connected to each other by the base 1 and are configured to maintain a predetermined relative positional relationship. It is preferable to provide a cover member 7 that covers the space defined by the base 2 and the foreign matter presence / absence detection means (see FIG. 2). It is possible to prevent foreign matter from entering the upper surface of the substrate during this period.

  Here, the specific relative positional relationship can be specifically determined as follows, for example.

  When applying to the upper surface of the substrate 1 at 100 m / sec, the required time from foreign matter detection to foreign matter detection signal transmission, drive of the base part withdrawal drive source and withdrawal of the base part 2 is 500 msec In this case, since the coating position moves by 50 mm within 500 msec, the distance in the direction substantially parallel to the upper surface of the substrate 1 may be set to 50 mm to 100 mm as the predetermined relative positional relationship.

  The projector 5 includes, for example, a micrometer (not shown) that finely adjusts the vertical laser beam emission angle, a fine adjustment screw mechanism (not shown) that finely adjusts the horizontal laser beam emission angle, And a feed screw mechanism (not shown) for finely adjusting the laser light emission position in the direction. And it has the clamp (not shown) for locking after fine adjustment with a micrometer.

However, other conventionally known configurations may be employed.
The laser included in the projector 5 is positioned so that the major axis of the elliptical laser light is parallel to the upper surface of the substrate 4, and as a result, the semiconductor laser light has a predetermined spread. Can be irradiated. Therefore, when the laser beam is narrowed down in a spot shape, it is necessary to change the vertical position of the projector and the light receiver in response to the change in the thickness of the substrate 4, whereas in the present embodiment, Even if the thickness of the substrate 4 changes, it is not necessary to change the vertical positions of the projector 5 and the light receiver 6.

  The light receiver 6 has, for example, a slit member (not shown) having a slit (not shown) extending in a direction orthogonal to the upper surface of the substrate 4 in front of the light receiving surface of a photodiode (not shown). is doing. As a result, only laser light in a range limited by the slit can be incident on the photodiode.

However, other conventionally known configurations may be employed.
In the case of the substrate coating system having the above-described configuration, the base 2 and the foreign matter presence / absence detecting means are relatively moved with respect to the substrate 4 by moving the substrate support 3 in a predetermined direction at a predetermined speed by a driving source (not shown). As a result, the application scan by the base 2 and the foreign object presence detection scan by the foreign object detection means can be performed simultaneously.

  In addition, since the presence / absence detection of foreign matter is performed by the foreign matter presence / absence detection means immediately before application by the base part 2 (very short time before), the presence / absence of foreign matter is detected and the absence of foreign matter is detected. Can be applied only to the base part 2, and conversely, when the presence of foreign matter is detected, the application by the base part 2 can be interrupted, possibly causing defective products, and the base part 2 is damaged. The possibility of doing so can be greatly reduced.

It is a schematic perspective view which shows an example of the substrate coating system as an example of a substrate processing system. It is a schematic perspective view which shows the other example of the substrate coating system as an example of a substrate processing system.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Base 2 Base part 3 Substrate support stand 4 Substrate 5 Emitter 6 Light receiver 7 Cover member

Claims (2)

A table member (3) for supporting a flat substrate (4), a coating means (2) for applying a fluid to the upper surface of the substrate (4) supported by the table member (3), and a table member (3) The foreign substance presence / absence detecting means (5) (6) for detecting the presence / absence of foreign substances on the surface of the substrate (4) supported on the substrate, the coating means (2) and the foreign substance presence / absence detecting means (5) (6) are arranged at predetermined positions. The connecting means (1) for connecting so as to maintain the relationship, the applying means (2), and the foreign substance presence / absence detecting means (5) (6) with respect to the substrate (4) supported by the table member (3) are predetermined. And a driving means for moving in a predetermined relative direction at a relative speed. The coating apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a cover member (7) covering a space defined by the coating means (2) and the foreign substance presence / absence detection means (5) (6).

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