JP2007173457A - Rotating treating apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a substrate holding technique that can hold a substrate, such as a wafer, by a simple mechanism and prevents turbulence from occurring in fluid, when fluid is supplied onto the surface of the substrate, such as a wafer, held on a turntable. <P>SOLUTION: A rotating treating apparatus comprises the turntable 1; and guide members 3a, 3b, 3c for guiding an object 4 placed on the turntable 1, where fluid is supplied onto the surface of the object 4 to be placed on the turntable 1 for treatment. In the rotating treating apparatus, the upper parts of the guide members 3a, 3b, 3c project at sides that oppose the object 4 to be placed. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2007,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a rotation processing apparatus. In particular, the present invention relates to a rotary processing apparatus of the kind such as a disk surface processing apparatus such as a wafer or a disk. In particular, the present invention relates to a disc holding mechanism. That is, it is related with the rotation processing apparatus provided with the holding mechanism which has a special effect.

  In an apparatus for processing a wafer while rotating, such as a spin coater, three or more guide pins are provided on the turntable in order to perform rough positioning. Since this guide pin is provided only for rough positioning, it is possible to position the wafer (wafer placed on the turntable) to be processed with good reproducibility. Special holding means are provided in order to achieve this and hold it securely during processing. Alternatively, the guide pins themselves are configured to be movable, that is, the guide pins are provided so as to be able to contact and separate, and the wafer is mounted with the guide pins separated as much as possible. On the other hand, there has been proposed an apparatus for holding a wafer by bringing guide pins into close contact with each other.

FIG. 8 shows a plan view and a side view of this type of apparatus (for example, a spin coater). In FIG. 8, 50 is a turntable, 51 is a rotating shaft, 52 is a guide pin provided at intervals of 120 °, 53 is an elliptical rotation holding member provided at intervals of 120 °, and 54 is an object to be processed (wafer). It is. That is, for example, in order to provide a resist film on the wafer 54, the resist solution is supplied onto the rotating wafer 54. First, the wafer 54 is first placed on the turntable 50. When the wafer 54 is mounted, a sufficient gap must be provided between the guide pins 52 and the elliptical rotation holding member 53 and the wafer 54. This is because if the gap is not sufficient, the work of placing the wafer 54 becomes very difficult. In other words, the guide pin 52 is provided only for rough positioning until it is rolled. Therefore, the wafer 54 is transferred by a robot arm (not shown) or other means, and first, the wafer 54 is placed on the turntable 50 in the area surrounded by the guide pins 52. At this stage, the wafer 54 is not firmly fixed. Thereafter, the elliptical rotation holding member 53 is rotated in the direction of the arrow, and the elliptical rotation holding member 53 is brought into contact with the end surface of the wafer 54, and the wafer 54 is firmly held by this clamping force. It becomes. Therefore, even if the turntable 50 is rotated in this state, the wafer 54 does not rattle. That is, an accident that the wafer 54 is scattered or dropped does not occur. Therefore, after this, a resist solution is supplied onto the wafer 54.
JP 2003-282670 A

  Now, the apparatus as described above requires the guide pin 52 and the elliptical rotation holding member 53, and is complicated accordingly. In particular, since the holding member 53 has a structure that also requires a rotation mechanism, it is complicated and expensive.

  Furthermore, since the contact area (area) between the elliptical rotation holding member 53 and the wafer 54 is large, when a fluid such as a resist solution is supplied onto the rotating wafer 54 surface, the elliptical rotation holding member It has been found that the fluid is disturbed in the vicinity of the contact portion with 53 and a film is not clearly formed. Further, it has been found that etching is not uniformly performed when an etching gas or an etching solution is supplied. It has also been found that when cleaning with a cleaning solution, the cleaning solution does not spread cleanly and a cleaning leak has occurred. Further, it has been found that the supplied fluid (resist solution, etching solution, etc.) scatters and causes surrounding contamination.

Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to solve the aforementioned problems.
That is, the first problem to be solved by the present invention is to provide a technique capable of holding a substrate such as a wafer by a simple mechanism.
A second problem to be solved by the present invention is to provide a substrate holding technique in which when a fluid is supplied to the surface of a substrate (wafer or the like) held on a turntable, the fluid is hardly disturbed. It is.

The above-described problem is a rotation processing apparatus including a turntable and a guide member for guiding a placement object placed on the turntable,
The guide member is solved by a rotation processing device characterized in that the upper portion of the guide member protrudes on the side facing the figurine.

In particular, the rotation is provided with a guide member for guiding the turntable and the placement object placed on the turntable, and the fluid is supplied to the surface of the placement object placed on the turntable and processed. A processing device comprising:
The guide member is solved by a rotation processing device characterized in that the upper portion of the guide member protrudes on the side facing the figurine.

  In addition, the above rotation processing device is configured to solve the rotation processing device characterized in that the object is held only by the guide member.

  Further, in the rotation processing apparatus, the guide member is provided so that the guide member and the placement object are in contact with each other when the turntable on which the placement object is placed is rotated. This is solved by the rotation processing device.

  Further, in the above rotation processing device, the guide member is solved by the rotation processing device characterized in that the guide member has a portion whose cross-sectional shape is tapered.

  Further, the present invention is solved by the above rotation processing device, wherein the guide member is a guide pin.

  According to the present invention, a substrate such as a wafer placed on a turntable is securely held by a simple guide member. In other words, the centrifugal force based on the rotation of the turntable can be balanced by the drag from the guide member, and the guide member protrudes from the upper side, so that even if the substrate is not sandwiched, the substrate blows away. Nothing happens.

  In addition, since this guide member does not require a special drive mechanism, it can be configured very simply and is low in cost. It is also easy to use and does not require any special operation. Therefore, there is no room for mistakes in work.

  In the present invention, the shape of the guide member is, for example, an inverted cone shape. Thereby, the contact area with the substrate to be held becomes very small. Therefore, the fluid supplied onto the substrate is not easily disturbed by the guide member, and the resist solution, the etching solution, or the cleaning solution is supplied uniformly and cleanly, and the processing is performed uniformly and cleanly.

  In the present invention, the substrate is not held by holding the end portion of the substrate, but only by the rotational force (centrifugal force) of the turntable itself and the guide member. The operation of transporting the substrate after film formation, etching, or cleaning is simple. That is, since no special holding release operation is required, it is easy to move to the next step.

  Furthermore, the present invention can be employed in a pressure reducing device, for example, and has high versatility. For example, although the vacuum suction means is employed as the holding means, such a technique cannot be employed in the decompression device, but the present invention has no restrictions.

The rotation processing apparatus of the present invention includes a turntable and a guide member for guiding a placement object placed on the turntable. In particular, the apparatus is a device in which a fluid is supplied to the surface of the object placed on the turntable to be processed. The upper side of the guide member protrudes on the side facing the figurine. For example, when the guide member is a guide pin, the guide pin has, for example, an inverted truncated cone shape. And such a guide pin is provided, for example, 2 or more, preferably about 3-6.
This will be described in more detail below.

  1 to 4 show a first embodiment of a rotation processing apparatus according to the present invention. FIG. 1 is a plan view and a side view of the whole, FIG. 2 is an enlarged view of a main part during rotation of a turntable, and FIG. FIG. 4 is an explanatory view for explaining the flow of the fluid supplied to the surface when the turntable is rotated, and FIG. 4 is an explanatory view showing a substrate transport state when the turntable is stopped.

  In each figure, 1 is a turntable and 2 is a rotating shaft.

  Reference numerals 3a, 3b, 3c are guide pins implanted on the surface of the turntable 1. The guide pins 3a, 3b, 3c are particularly configured in an inverted truncated cone shape (minimum radius a, maximum radius b). Guide pins 3a, 3b, 3c are provided on a circumference having a radius c around the rotation axis of the turntable 1 with an interval of 120 °.

  Reference numeral 4 denotes a substrate (wafer) having a radius less than (c−b). That is, the substrate 4 can be placed on the turntable 1 from above the turntable 1.

A case where a resist film is formed on the substrate 4 using the apparatus configured as described above will be described.
First, after placing the substrate 4 on the turntable 1, the turntable 1 is rotated. Then, the substrate 4 is slightly deviated from the center position by the action of the centrifugal force, and comes into contact with, for example, the guide pin 3a and the guide pin 3b among the three guide pins. Maintained. Note that the substrate 4 is not only restrained from floating due to its own weight, but also due to the inclined portions of the guide pins 3a and 3b in contact therewith. Therefore, the substrate 4 is prevented from blowing off.

  After the turntable 1 starts to rotate and starts to rotate normally, the resist solution starts to be supplied onto the surface of the substrate 4 from a resist solution supply nozzle (not shown). Then, as the substrate 4 rotates, the resist solution spreads uniformly on the surface of the substrate 4. In the uniform diffusion of the resist solution, the flow of the resist solution in the vicinity of the end portion 4a of the substrate 4 in contact with the guide pins 3a and 3b is as shown in FIG. That is, since there are only two contact points such as point contacts between the guide pins 3a and 3b and the substrate 4, there is little disturbance of the resist solution in the vicinity of the end portion 4a of the substrate 4, and the resist solution is transferred to the substrate 4. Formed uniformly on top.

  After the resist film is formed, the substrate 4 is lifted upward so that the substrate 4 is taken out from the region surrounded by the guide pins 3a, 3b, 3c while being biased toward the center position along the inclined portion of the guide pins. It comes to be. At this time, as can be seen from FIGS. 2, 3 and 4, the contact area between the end face of the substrate 4 and the end face of the guide pin 3a is small, and a large gap 5 is formed between them. Therefore, the problem that the supplied resist solution wraps around and adheres to the back side of the substrate 4 does not occur. Since the conventional guide pin does not have the inverted conical shape as described above, the gap 5 is very small. For this reason, it is often caused by the capillary phenomenon (surface tension) that the resist solution fits into a small gap, and when the substrate is lifted, the resist solution wraps around and adheres to the back side of the substrate. It was.

  Incidentally, a resist film was formed on a substrate (semiconductor wafer) using the rotation processing apparatus of the first embodiment. In this case, since the resist solution is highly viscous, when the conventional apparatus shown in FIG. 8 is used, the resist solution diffusion process is disturbed, resulting in a partially thick non-uniform resist film. It was formed, and the film formability of the resist film was inferior. Moreover, it was recognized that the resist solution also wraps around the back side of the substrate. However, such a problem was not recognized when the apparatus of the present invention shown in FIG. 1 was used.

  Further, it was used in an etching apparatus for semiconductor wafers. In this case, when the conventional apparatus of FIG. 8 was used, problems such as etching non-uniformity and excessive etching due to the disorder of the etching solution were recognized. However, such a problem was not recognized when the apparatus of the present invention shown in FIG. 1 was used.

  It was also used in a semiconductor wafer cleaning apparatus. In this case, when the conventional apparatus of FIG. 8 was used, a problem of insufficient cleaning due to the disturbance of the cleaning liquid was recognized. However, such a problem was not recognized when the apparatus of the present invention shown in FIG. 1 was used.

  Further, when the present invention was used in a semiconductor wafer vacuum etching apparatus or vacuum cleaning apparatus, no problems occurred. That is, the present invention can be used even under reduced pressure.

  5 and 6 are explanatory views of a main part (guide pin) of another embodiment of the rotation processing apparatus according to the present invention.

  The guide pin 3 shown in FIG. 5 has a structure (shape) in which an inverted frustoconical portion is provided on a cylindrical pedestal. In FIG. 5, reference numeral 4 denotes a substrate, and the substrate 4 is placed on the cylindrical pedestal of the guide pins 3.

  The guide pin 3 shown in FIG. 6 has a structure (shape) in which an inverted semi-elliptical frustum-shaped portion is provided on a cylindrical pedestal, similarly to the guide pin shown in FIG. In FIG. 6, reference numeral 4 denotes a substrate, and the substrate 4 is placed on a cylindrical pedestal of the guide pins 3.

  In FIGS. 1, 5 and 6, the guide pin has a substantially conical shape such as an inverted frustoconical shape or an inverted semi-elliptical frustum shape. However, the guide pin is not limited to this. The shaded portion of the inverted truncated cone is a so-called linear shape, but it may be a curved shape. That is, a reverse dome shape may be used.

  In the above embodiment, the guide member has been described as a guide pin. However, this is not limited to the pin-shaped one. For example, it may be as shown in FIG. That is, the guide member 11 may be substantially C-shaped or ring-shaped, for example, and the standing wall 12 from the turntable may be configured to have, for example, a reverse taper shape. In such a case, it is preferable that the hole 13 is formed so that the supplied fluid can escape from the inside of the guide member 11 to the outside. Reference numeral 14 denotes a substrate.

Explanatory drawing of the rotation processing apparatus which becomes 1st Embodiment of this invention. The principal part enlarged view at the time of turntable rotation of 1st Embodiment Explanatory drawing of the fluid at the time of turntable rotation of 1st Embodiment Substrate conveyance explanatory drawing at the time of turntable rotation stop of a 1st embodiment Explanatory drawing of the guide member in 2nd Embodiment Explanatory drawing of the guide member in 3rd Embodiment Explanatory drawing of the guide member in 4th Embodiment Explanatory drawing of a conventional rotation processing device

Explanation of symbols

1 Turntable 3a, 3b, 3c Guide pin 4 Substrate

Representative Katsumi Udaka

Claims (6)

A rotation processing apparatus comprising a turntable and a guide member for guiding a placement object placed on the turntable,
The rotation processing device according to claim 1, wherein the guide member is configured such that an upper portion thereof protrudes on a side facing the figurine.   2. The rotation processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the guide member is provided so that the guide member and the placement object are in contact with each other at a plurality of locations when the turntable on which the placement object is placed is rotated.   The rotation processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the guide member has a portion whose cross-sectional shape is tapered.   The rotation processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the guide member is a guide pin.   The rotation processing apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the placed object is held by only a guide member. The rotation processing apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein the rotation processing apparatus is a device in which a fluid is supplied to a surface of an object placed on a turntable and processed.

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