JP2006278606A - Apparatus and method for processing substrate - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an apparatus for processing a substrate capable of rapidly and positively substituting a chemical liquid by pure water, and in addition, suppressing an increase in consumption quantity of pure water. <P>SOLUTION: The apparatus is provided with an etching unit 10 and a rinse unit 30. A substrate W is transported in a direction shown by an arrow AR1 by a transport roller 2. A large quantity of an etching liquid remains on the surface of the substrate W immediately after being carried out from a dip tank 20 for performing dipping etching processing. The etching liquid is recovered by a suction recovering head 11, and the still remaining etching liquid is waterdripped and eliminated by an air knife 15. In this way, a mixed fluid containing a pure water liquid drop is ejected from a two-fluid slit nozzles 31 onto the surface of the substrate W where the etching liquid is almost eliminated, thereby substituting washing for substituting the etching liquid by pure water. Mists splashed due to ejection of the mixed fluid are discharged from a discharge nozzle 35 to the outside. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2007,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a substrate processing apparatus and substrate processing for carrying out a predetermined process while conveying a substrate for a thin plate electronic component such as a glass substrate for a liquid crystal display device or a semiconductor wafer (hereinafter simply referred to as “substrate”) in a substantially horizontal direction. More particularly, the present invention relates to a substrate processing technique in which a chemical solution is supplied to the surface of a substrate to perform etching processing, development processing, peeling processing, and the like.

  Conventionally, when performing etching and development processing on large square substrates such as glass substrates for liquid crystal display devices, the chemical solution processing unit, rinse processing unit, drying processing unit, etc. are arranged in a straight line, and are transported by rollers. Thus, the substrate is moved in the horizontal direction and sequentially transferred to the respective processing units to perform a series of processing (see, for example, Patent Documents 1 and 2).

  FIG. 7 is a schematic configuration diagram showing an example of a conventional substrate processing apparatus for performing an etching process on a substrate. This apparatus includes an etching unit 110 that performs an etching process on a substrate, and a rinse unit 120 that cleans the substrate after the etching process. The substrate W (in this example, a glass substrate for a liquid crystal display device) is conveyed from the left side to the right side of the drawing as indicated by an arrow AR7. A substrate introduction unit for receiving the substrate W is disposed in the front stage of the etching unit 110, and a precision rinse unit and a drying unit for performing finish cleaning are disposed in the rear stage of the rinse unit 120.

  A dip tank 111 is provided in the etching unit 110. The substrate W horizontally transported to the etching unit 110 by the transport roller 101 is transported into the dip tank 111. In the dip tank 111, the etching process is performed by immersing the substrate W in a predetermined etching solution. After the etching process is performed in the dip tank 111 for a predetermined time, the substrate W is unloaded from the dip tank 111. At this time, the etching solution adhering to the surface of the substrate W is drained by the air knife 112. Liquid draining by the air knife 112 is disclosed in Patent Documents 2 and 3, for example.

  The substrate W from which the liquid has been removed by the air knife 112 is transported to the rinse unit 120 by the transport roller 101. In the rinse unit 120, the slit curtain nozzle 121 and the replacement spray nozzle 122 are arranged above and below the transport path of the substrate W. Pure water is first discharged in a curtain form from the slit curtain nozzle 121 onto the upper and lower surfaces of the substrate W that has been transported to the rinse unit 120. Thereby, the density | concentration of the etching liquid adhering to the upper and lower surfaces of the board | substrate W becomes thin, and an etching process stops substantially. Since the slit curtain nozzles 121 simultaneously discharge pure water in a curtain shape, that is, linearly along the width direction of the substrate W, the etching process is simultaneously stopped in the width direction of the substrate W without a time difference.

  Next, pure water is sprayed from the replacement spray nozzle 122 onto the upper and lower surfaces of the substrate W where the etching process has stopped. By this replacement water washing, the etching solution remaining on the upper and lower surfaces of the substrate W is further diluted and removed. Thereafter, the substrate W is carried out from the rinse unit 120 to the next process.

JP 2001-102289 A JP 2003-17395 A JP 2002-43266 A

  However, in the conventional apparatus configuration as described above, first, the liquid drainage performance of the air knife 112 is not sufficient. In particular, in the above example, since the dipping process is performed in the dip tank 111, a large amount of the etchant adheres to the substrate W immediately after being carried out of the dip tank 111, and the etching liquid is sufficiently removed by the air knife 112. It was difficult to do. Then, since the substrate W that has not been sufficiently drained is transported to the rinse unit 120, in the rinse unit 120, unless a large amount of pure water is discharged, the concentration of the etchant is lowered to perform the etching process. I couldn't stop it. In addition, since it is necessary to avoid bringing in an etching solution after the precision rinsing step, which is the next step, the rinsing unit 120 adheres to the substrate W using a large amount of pure water for a long time for this purpose. The etched etchant had to be replaced.

  As a result, the rinsing unit 120 consumes a large amount of pure water and also generates a large amount of waste water containing a chemical solution, which increases the burden on the pure water production facility and the drainage treatment facility. In particular, when a large glass substrate of the seventh generation (1800 mm × 2200 mm) or more is processed, this problem becomes more remarkable.

  In order to sufficiently drain the liquid with the air knife 112, it is only necessary to increase the flow rate and flow velocity of the air to be blown. Then, as a result of powerful air blowing from the air knife 112, the etching liquid is removed in the etching unit 110. A large amount of mist scattering occurs, and the mist flows into downstream units after the rinsing unit 120 and adheres to the cleaned substrate W to cause contamination.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and can provide a substrate processing apparatus and a substrate processing method capable of quickly and surely replacing a chemical with pure water and suppressing an increase in the amount of pure water consumption. The purpose is to provide.

  In order to solve the above problems, the invention of claim 1 is a substrate processing apparatus that performs a predetermined process while transporting a substrate in a substantially horizontal direction, a chemical processing unit that performs chemical processing on the surface of the substrate with a chemical, and the chemical A suction collecting means for sucking and collecting a chemical liquid remaining on the surface of the substrate after the treatment, a chemical liquid removing means for removing a chemical liquid still remaining on the surface of the substrate after the suction collection, and a substrate from which the chemical liquid has been removed A droplet discharge unit that generates and discharges pure water droplets on the surface of the substrate, a mist exhaust unit that exhausts mist generated by the droplet discharge onto the surface of the substrate, and the suction from the chemical treatment unit A transport unit that transports the substrate along a substantially horizontal direction in the order of the recovery unit, the chemical solution removal unit, the droplet discharge unit, and the mist exhaust unit.

  According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the substrate processing apparatus according to the first aspect of the present invention, the droplet discharge unit causes the droplet discharge unit to discharge a droplet toward an obliquely downward direction toward the mist exhaust unit.

  According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the substrate processing apparatus according to the second aspect of the present invention, the liquid droplet ejection means causes the liquid droplet ejection means to eject a liquid droplet obliquely downward facing the downstream side in the substrate transport direction. ing.

  According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a substrate processing method for performing a predetermined process while transporting a substrate in a substantially horizontal direction, a chemical processing step for performing a chemical processing on the surface of the substrate with a chemical, and a substrate processing after the chemical processing. A suction recovery step for sucking and collecting a chemical solution remaining on the surface, a chemical solution removing step for removing a chemical solution still remaining on the surface of the substrate after the suction recovery is performed, and a surface of the substrate from which the chemical solution has been removed A droplet discharge step of generating and discharging pure water droplets, and a mist exhausting step of exhausting mist generated by discharging droplets onto the surface of the substrate.

  According to the first aspect of the present invention, after the chemical solution remaining on the surface of the substrate is sucked and collected, the remaining chemical solution is removed to remove the pure water droplets on the surface of the substrate from which the chemical solution is generally removed. Since it discharges, a chemical | medical solution can be replaced with a pure water rapidly and reliably, and also the increase in a pure water consumption can be suppressed.

  According to the second aspect of the present invention, since the droplet discharge means discharges the droplets obliquely downward toward the mist exhaust means, the mist discharge efficiency by the mist exhaust means becomes high.

  According to the invention of claim 3, since the droplets are ejected obliquely downward facing the downstream side from the upstream side in the transport direction of the substrate, the mist discharge efficiency by the mist exhaust means is increased.

  According to the invention of claim 4, pure water liquid is generally added to the surface of the substrate from which the chemical solution has been removed by removing the chemical solution remaining after the chemical solution remaining on the surface of the substrate is sucked and collected. Since the droplets are ejected, the chemical solution can be quickly and reliably replaced with pure water, and an increase in pure water consumption can be suppressed.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

  FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a schematic configuration of a substrate processing apparatus according to the present invention. This substrate processing apparatus is an apparatus that performs an etching process on a glass substrate for a liquid crystal display device, and includes an etching unit 10 that performs an etching process and a rinse unit 30 that performs replacement water washing. The etching unit 10 and the rinsing unit 30 are installed adjacent to each other. Further, a substrate introduction unit for receiving the substrate W is disposed in the front stage (left side in the figure) of the etching unit 10, and a precision rinse unit for performing final cleaning is provided in the rear stage (right side in the figure) of the rinse unit 30. A drying unit (both not shown) is arranged. The substrate W is transported in the horizontal direction from the left side to the right side of the drawing as indicated by an arrow AR1 in FIG.

  The conveyance of the substrate W is performed by a roller conveyor as a conveyance means constituted by a plurality of conveyance rollers 2. The plurality of transport rollers 2 are arranged in a row over the entire processing units described above. Each transport roller 2 is pivotally supported along a direction perpendicular to the transport direction of the substrate W, and is synchronously rotated by a driving mechanism (not shown). By placing the substrate W on the plurality of transport rollers 2 and rotating the transport rollers 2 synchronously, the substrate W is horizontally transported in the direction of the arrow AR1 in FIG.

  In the etching unit 10, a dip tank 20, a suction recovery head 11, and an air knife 15 are installed in this order from the upstream side (left side in FIG. 1). The dip tank 20 is an immersion processing tank that stores a chemical solution (for example, an Al etching solution) inside and advances the etching process by immersing the substrate W therein. The dip tank 20 is provided with an entrance gate 21 and an exit gate 22. The entrance gate 21 opens and closes the entrance side opening of the dip tank 20. On the other hand, the outlet gate 22 opens and closes the outlet side opening of the dip tank 20. When the entrance gate 21 and the exit gate 22 are closed, the inside of the dip tank 20 becomes a sealed space and can store the etching solution. Further, when the substrate W is loaded into the dip tank 20, the inlet gate 21 opens the inlet side opening, and when the substrate W is unloaded from the dip tank 20, the outlet gate 22 opens the outlet side opening.

  A plurality of dedicated transport rollers 25 are pivotally supported in the dip tank 20. The transport roller 25 is rotationally driven by a unique drive mechanism independent of the transport roller 2. The dip tank 20 is provided with an etching solution supply mechanism and a drainage mechanism (not shown).

  FIG. 2 is a plan view of the suction recovery head 11 and the air knife 15 as viewed from above. The suction recovery head 11 is provided at a position immediately above the transport path along which the substrate W is transported by the transport roller 2. The suction recovery head 11 is a so-called slit nozzle having a slit-like suction port 11a. The length of the suction port 11a in the longitudinal direction is longer than the width of the substrate W. A pump 12 is connected in communication with the suction recovery head 11, and by operating the pump 12, a negative pressure can be applied to the suction port 11 a of the suction recovery head 11.

  The air knives 15 are provided one by one above and below the transport path along which the substrate W is transported by the transport roller 2. The air knife 15 is formed with a slit-like discharge port 15a. The length of the discharge port 15 a is longer than the width of the substrate W. Each air knife 15 is connected in communication with an air supply unit 16, and an air flow can be discharged from a discharge port 15 a of the air knife 15 by supplying air from the air supply unit 16. Further, the air knife 15 is installed so that the direction of the air flow discharged from the air knife 15 is obliquely downward from the downstream side to the upstream side in the transport direction of the substrate W.

  Further, the etching unit 10 is formed with an upstream opening and a downstream opening through which the substrate W can pass. The upstream opening is connected to the downstream opening of the preceding unit of the etching unit 10. On the other hand, the downstream opening of the etching unit 10 is connected to the upstream opening of the rinse unit 30.

  A two-fluid slit nozzle 31 and an exhaust nozzle 35 are installed in the rinse unit 30 in order from the upstream side. The two-fluid slit nozzle 31 is provided at a position directly above the transport path along which the substrate W is transported by the transport roller 2. 4 is a view of the two-fluid slit nozzle 31 as viewed from the slit discharge port side, and FIG. 5 is a partial cross-sectional view of the two-fluid slit nozzle 31 as viewed from the front. As shown in FIGS. 4 and 5, the two-fluid slit nozzle 31 includes a slit discharge port 34 that is a slit-like opening having a length in the longitudinal direction longer than the width of the substrate W. In addition, a plurality of droplet generation units 37 are provided inside the two-fluid slit nozzle 31. Each droplet generation unit 37 generates mist-like pure water droplets by internally mixing the air and pure water (DIW) supplied from the air supply unit 32 and the pure water supply unit 33, respectively. This is a so-called internal mixing type two-fluid nozzle for discharging. As shown in FIG. 5, each droplet generation unit 37 has a double tube structure in which a gas introduction pipe 46 to which air is supplied is inserted into a pure water introduction pipe 45 to which pure water is supplied. Further, the downstream side of the end portion of the gas introduction pipe 46 in the pure water introduction pipe 45 is a mixing section 47 in which air and pure water are mixed. The pure water introduction pipe 45 of each droplet generation unit 37 is connected in communication with the pure water supply part 33, and the gas introduction pipe 46 is connected in communication with the air supply part 32.

  The air supplied under pressure from the air supply unit 32 and the pure water supplied from the pure water supply unit 33 are mixed in the mixing unit 47 to form a mixed fluid containing mist-like pure water droplets. The formed mixed fluid is accelerated by the acceleration pipe 48 on the downstream side of the mixing portion 47 and discharged from the discharge hole 49. At this time, each droplet generation unit 37 is installed so that the mixed fluid is discharged toward the slit discharge port 34.

  Of the mixed fluid discharged from the plurality of droplet generation units 37, only the fluid that has passed through the slit outlet 34 is discharged toward the outside of the two-fluid slit nozzle 31. That is, the mixed fluid discharged from the plurality of droplet generation units 37 is rectified by the slit discharge port 34 and discharged outside the nozzle. As a result, the mixed fluid containing mist-like pure water droplets is discharged from the two-fluid slit nozzle 31 in a curtain shape defined by the shape of the slit discharge port 34.

  Further, the two-fluid slit nozzle 31 is inclined and installed so that the direction of the mixed fluid containing pure water droplets discharged from the two-fluid slit nozzle 31 is directed to the exhaust nozzle 35 side from the vertical direction. Since the two-fluid slit nozzle 31 is installed upstream of the exhaust nozzle 35 in the substrate transport direction, the direction of the mixed fluid containing pure water droplets discharged from the two-fluid slit nozzle 31 is the transport of the substrate W. The direction is from the upstream side to the downstream side. That is, the two-fluid slit nozzle 31 is configured to discharge a mixed fluid containing mist-like pure water droplets toward a diagonally downward direction facing the downstream side in the substrate transport direction (side where the exhaust nozzle 35 is installed). -ing

  The exhaust nozzle 35 is provided at a position immediately above the transport path along which the substrate W is transported by the transport roller 2. The exhaust nozzle 35 includes an exhaust port (not shown) and is connected to the exhaust pump 36. By operating the exhaust pump 36, it is possible to apply a negative pressure to the exhaust port of the exhaust nozzle 35 to suck and exhaust the surrounding atmosphere. The rinse unit 30 also has an upstream opening and a downstream opening through which the substrate W can pass. The upstream opening is connected to the downstream opening of the etching unit 10. The downstream opening of the rinse unit 30 is connected to the upstream opening of the subsequent processing unit.

  Next, processing contents in the substrate processing apparatus having the above configuration will be described. The substrate W is horizontally transported by the transport roller 2 in the direction of the arrow AR1 in FIG. At this time, the inlet gate 21 opens the inlet side opening of the dip tank 20. Therefore, the substrate W transferred to the etching unit 10 is immediately carried into the dip tank 20.

  After the entire substrate W has been completely loaded into the dip tank 20 and placed on the transport roller 25, the inlet gate 21 closes the inlet side opening of the dip tank 20, and supplies the etching solution into the dip tank 20. Is started. At this time, since the outlet gate 22 closes the outlet side opening of the dip tank 20, the etching solution does not leak from the opening. Eventually, the supply of the etching solution is stopped when the etching solution is stored in the dip tank 20 to such an extent that the entire surface of the substrate W is immersed. Then, the transport roller 25 repeats forward rotation and reverse rotation so that the substrate W reciprocates back and forth in the etching solution in the dip tank 20. In this way, the etching process of the surface of the substrate W proceeds.

  When the etching process for a predetermined time is completed, the etching solution is drained from the dip tank 20 and the outlet gate 22 opens the outlet side opening of the dip tank 20. Then, the transport roller 25 of the dip tank 20 rotates synchronously, whereby the substrate W is transferred in the direction of the arrow AR1 and unloaded from the dip tank 20. At this time, a large amount of etching solution remains on the surface of the substrate W immediately after the immersion treatment. Note that the inlet gate 21 remains closed at the inlet side opening of the dip tank 20 when the substrate is carried out.

  Before the tip of the substrate W carried out of the dip tank 20 passes directly under the suction / collection head 11, the pump 12 starts operation and applies a negative pressure to the suction port 11 a of the suction / collection head 11. Further, the air supply unit 16 starts air supply and discharges an air flow from the discharge port 15 a of the air knife 15. In this state, the substrate W continuously passes directly under the suction recovery head 11 and between the upper and lower air knives 15.

  FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a state of processing by the suction recovery head 11 and the air knife 15. As shown in the figure, a large amount of etching solution remains on the surface of the substrate W immediately after the immersion treatment, and a considerable amount of the etching solution is sucked and collected by the suction and recovery head 11. Subsequently, an air flow is discharged from the air knife 15 onto the surface of the substrate W in a state where the remaining amount has decreased to a certain extent, but the etching solution still remains. As a result, the residual etching solution is substantially removed from the surface of the substrate W.

  As described above, in the etching unit 10 of the present embodiment, the suction recovery head 11 and the air knife 15 cooperate to perform the removal process of the residual etching solution after the immersion process. Even if a large amount of the etching solution adheres to the surface of the substrate W, the etching solution is first sucked and collected roughly by the suction and recovery head 11, and the remaining etching solution is removed by the air knife 15. Therefore, the etching solution can be sufficiently removed from the substrate W without increasing the burden on the air knife 15. That is, sufficient liquid draining can be performed without increasing the flow rate and flow velocity of the air blown from the air knife 15. Therefore, the amount of the etching solution brought into the rinse unit 30 as the next step can be suppressed to the minimum, and mist scattering due to the air blowing from the air knife 15 can be prevented.

  The substrate W after the residual etching solution is removed by the suction recovery head 11 and the air knife 15 is transported from the etching unit 10 to the rinse unit 30 by the synchronous rotation of the transport roller 2. On the surface of the substrate W at this time, the etching solution is almost removed, but a small amount of the etching solution is still attached, and the etching process is not yet stopped. Then, before the front end of the substrate W passes immediately below the two-fluid slit nozzle 31, air supply from the air supply unit 32 and pure water supply from the pure water supply unit 33 are started, and the droplet generation unit 37 is started. A mixed fluid containing mist-like pure water droplets is generated at, and the mixed fluid is discharged from the slit discharge port 34 of the two-fluid slit nozzle 31 in a curtain shape. At the same time, the operation of the exhaust pump 36 is started, and the atmosphere around the exhaust nozzle 35 is sucked and exhausted.

  FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating a state in which the mixed fluid is sprayed from the two-fluid slit nozzle 31 to the substrate W. When the mixed fluid containing pure water droplets is discharged onto the surface of the substrate W, the etching liquid that has adhered to the surface of the substrate W is replaced with pure water. At this time, due to the action of kinetic energy when the pure water droplet collides with the substrate W, the residual etching liquid is quickly and reliably replaced with pure water with high efficiency. Therefore, sufficient replacement water washing is performed within a short time, and the consumption of pure water required for replacement can be significantly reduced as compared with the conventional replacement spray system. As a result, the total amount of drainage from the rinsing unit 30 can also be significantly reduced as compared with the prior art. In addition, it is possible to prevent the etchant from being taken out in a process subsequent to the rinse unit 30.

  When the etching solution adhering to the surface of the substrate W is replaced with pure water, the concentration of the etching solution is lowered, thereby stopping the etching process. In the present embodiment, since the mixed fluid including pure water droplets is discharged from the slit discharge port 34 of the two-fluid slit nozzle 31 in a curtain shape, etching is performed uniformly on the line along the width direction of the substrate W without time difference. Processing will be stopped all at once.

  Incidentally, as shown in FIG. 6, when a mixed fluid containing pure water droplets is discharged onto the surface of the substrate W, mist scattering occurs due to the kinetic energy of the pure water droplets. The generated mist is sucked from the exhaust nozzle 35 and discharged outside the apparatus. At this time, since the two-fluid slit nozzle 31 is inclined so as to discharge the mixed fluid containing mist-like pure water droplets toward the obliquely downward direction facing the exhaust nozzle 35 side, most mist scattering is This occurs toward the exhaust nozzle 35, and the mist discharge efficiency by the exhaust nozzle 35 is increased. As a result, it is possible to minimize the diffusion of mist to the outside of the rinse unit 30.

  The substrate W that has been subjected to the replacement water washing in this way is transported from the rinse unit 30 to the subsequent process unit at the subsequent stage by the synchronous rotation of the transport roller 2. At this time, since the etching solution adhering to the substrate W is sufficiently replaced with pure water, the amount of the etching solution brought into the next process unit is extremely small.

  As described above, in the substrate processing apparatus of the present embodiment, the etching solution remaining in a large amount on the surface of the substrate W immediately after the dipping process in the dip tank 20 is first substantially performed by the cooperation of the suction recovery head 11 and the air knife 15. After that, pure water droplets are sprayed from the two-fluid slit nozzle 31 onto the surface of the substrate W on which a slight amount of the etching solution is adhered and washed with replacement water. The basic characteristic of the two-fluid slit nozzle 31 is that high pure water replacement efficiency can be obtained with a small amount of pure water consumption. In order to maximize the characteristics, the suction recovery head 11 and the air knife 15 are used. In this way, most of the remaining etching solution is removed in advance. By doing in this way, the etching liquid adhering to the board | substrate W can be rapidly and reliably replaced with a pure water, suppressing the increase in the pure water consumption as the whole apparatus.

  While the embodiments of the present invention have been described above, the present invention is not limited to the above examples. For example, in the above embodiment, the substrate W is etched with the Al etching solution. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and the developing treatment may be performed with the developer, or the peeling process may be performed. The process which peels the thin film on the board | substrate W with a liquid may be sufficient. That is, the technique according to the present invention is applied to any apparatus that performs a chemical treatment on the substrate W with a predetermined chemical and stops the reaction by washing the chemical remaining on the surface of the substrate W with pure water. Is possible.

  In the above embodiment, a slit nozzle provided with a slit-like suction port 11a is used as the suction recovery head 11. However, any substrate that can suck and recover a chemical solution remaining on the substrate surface may be used. You may make it use the suction roller which has the length more than this width | variety.

  Moreover, in the said embodiment, the two-fluid slit nozzle 31 which rectifies | straightens the mixed fluid containing the pure water droplet discharged from the several droplet production | generation part 37 with the slit discharge port 34, and forms a curtain-like mixed fluid is provided. However, the present invention is not limited to this method, and any two-fluid slit nozzle capable of forming a curtain-like mixed fluid having a length equal to or larger than the width of the substrate W may be used.

  Furthermore, the substrate to be processed by the substrate processing apparatus according to the present invention is not limited to the glass substrate for a liquid crystal display device, and may be a semiconductor wafer.

It is a figure which shows schematic structure of the substrate processing apparatus which concerns on this invention. It is the top view which looked at the suction collection head and the air knife from the upper surface. It is a figure which shows the mode of the process by a suction collection head and an air knife. It is the figure which looked at the 2 fluid slit nozzle from the discharge outlet side. It is the fragmentary sectional view which looked at the two fluid slit nozzle from the front. It is a figure which shows a mode that mixed fluid is sprayed on a board | substrate from a two-fluid slit nozzle. It is a schematic block diagram of the conventional substrate processing apparatus.

Explanation of symbols

2 Conveying roller 10 Etching unit 11 Suction collection head 15 Air knife 20 Dip tank 30 Rinse unit 31 Two-fluid slit nozzle 35 Exhaust nozzle W Substrate

Claims (4)

A substrate processing apparatus that performs a predetermined process while conveying a substrate in a substantially horizontal direction,
A chemical processing unit that performs chemical processing on the surface of the substrate with the chemical,
Sucking and collecting means for sucking and collecting the chemical remaining on the surface of the substrate after the chemical treatment;
Chemical solution removing means for removing the chemical solution still remaining on the surface of the substrate after the suction recovery;
Droplet discharge means for generating and discharging droplets of pure water on the surface of the substrate from which the chemical solution has been removed;
Mist exhausting means for exhausting mist generated by discharging droplets onto the surface of the substrate;
Transport means for transporting the substrate along the substantially horizontal direction in the order of the suction recovery means, the chemical solution removal means, the droplet discharge means, and the mist exhaust means from the chemical treatment section;
A substrate processing apparatus comprising: The substrate processing apparatus according to claim 1,
The substrate processing apparatus, wherein the droplet discharge means discharges a droplet toward an obliquely downward direction toward the mist exhaust means. The substrate processing apparatus according to claim 2,
The substrate processing apparatus, wherein the droplet discharge means discharges droplets obliquely downward facing the downstream side from the upstream side in the substrate transport direction. A substrate processing method for performing a predetermined process while transporting a substrate in a substantially horizontal direction,
A chemical treatment process for performing chemical treatment on the surface of the substrate with the chemical,
A suction recovery step of sucking and collecting the chemical remaining on the surface of the substrate after the chemical treatment;
A chemical solution removing step for removing the chemical solution still remaining on the surface of the substrate after the suction recovery is performed;
A droplet discharge step for generating and discharging pure water droplets on the surface of the substrate from which the chemical solution has been removed;
A mist exhausting process for exhausting mist generated by discharging droplets onto the surface of the substrate;
A substrate processing method comprising:

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