JP2007266253A - Substrate processing apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a substrate processing apparatus capable of preventing defective drying of a substrate by shifting rising position of a liquid level. <P>SOLUTION: When raising a substrate W from an inner bath 7, a dry air da is jetted in horizontal direction from a jetting nozzle 33 and an air cylinder 55 sets the height of the upper side wall of the inner bath 7 to a dry time level. So, a pure water flows into a second outer bath 49 without being backed up with the upper edge of the inner bath 7. Since the width of the second outer bath 49 is wider than a first outer bath 47 positioned on the upper stream side of the jetting nozzle 33, the pure water rises at the position away from the inner bath 7. So, drying manner is constant regardless of portions of the substrate W that is raised. Further, since the pure water is prevented from splashing due to jetting of the dry air da, defective drying caused by droplets is prevented as well. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2008,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a substrate processing apparatus for processing a substrate such as a semiconductor wafer or a glass substrate for a liquid crystal display device (hereinafter simply referred to as a substrate) with a processing liquid.

  Conventionally, as this type of apparatus, the processing liquid is stored and the substrate is immersed in the processing liquid, the processing tank having the inner tank and the outer tank for recovering the processing liquid overflowing from the inner tank, and the substrate in an upright posture. There is a substrate processing apparatus that includes a holding mechanism that holds and moves up and down in the processing tank and above the processing tank, and a nozzle that is disposed above the processing tank and supplies dry gas in the horizontal direction (for example, Patent Document 1).

In the apparatus configured as described above, the processing liquid in the inner tank overflows into the outer tank when the holding mechanism is raised after finishing the processing on the substrate in the inner tank while supplying the processing liquid from the bottom of the inner tank. Then, a dry gas is supplied from the nozzle, and the substrate portion exposed from the liquid surface of the processing liquid is pulled up and dried sequentially.
JP-A-11-354486 (FIG. 2)

However, the conventional example having such a configuration has the following problems.
That is, when the dry gas is ejected from the nozzle, the conventional apparatus pushes the liquid level in the inner tank to the downstream side and stops at the upper edge of the inner tank. Among them, a phenomenon (approximately 1 to 2 mm) in which the portion corresponding to the downstream side of the nozzle rises occurs. As a result, there is a problem in that the degree of drying differs between the portion of the substrate that is pulled up and exposed from the processing solution in the inner tank and that is on the downstream side of the nozzle and the portion that is on the upstream side. Specifically, the portion of the substrate on the downstream side of the nozzle is in contact with the processing liquid for a long time, and because it is dried while being raised, it cannot be dried sufficiently in a short time, resulting in poor drying. Prone to occur. Further, the spray of the dry gas scatters the spray from the liquid surface, but a lot of the spray scatters on the downstream side of the nozzle where the liquid surface is raised. Therefore, poor drying due to the splash of the processing liquid is likely to occur.

  The present invention has been made in view of such circumstances, and an object of the present invention is to provide a substrate processing apparatus that can prevent a substrate from being poorly dried by shifting the rising position of the liquid level. And

In order to achieve such an object, the present invention has the following configuration.
That is, the invention described in claim 1 is a substrate processing apparatus for processing a substrate with a processing liquid, an inner tank for storing the processing liquid, and an injection means for injecting a dry gas horizontally in the upper part of the inner tank. And the width of the downstream side of the jetting means is wider than the upstream side, the outer tank for collecting the processing liquid overflowing from the inner tank, the substrate is supported, and the processing position corresponding to the inside of the inner tank is above and below A support means that moves up and down over the standby position, and an adjustment means that adjusts the height of the upper side wall of the inner tank, which is downstream of the injection means, by the processing height and the drying height lower than the processing height; And a control means for injecting dry gas from the injection means when raising the substrate by the support means, and for adjusting the height of the upper side wall of the inner tank to the height during drying by the adjustment means. With features Is shall.

  [Operation / Effect] According to the invention described in claim 1, when the control means raises the substrate from the inner tank by the support means, the control means injects the dry gas in the horizontal direction from the injection means, and the adjustment means The height of the upper side wall of the tank is set to the height when dry. Therefore, the processing liquid pushed to the downstream side by the dry gas flows into the outer tank without being blocked by the upper edge of the inner tank. Furthermore, since the width of the outer tank on the downstream side of the injection means is made wider than the width on the upstream side of the injection means, the processing liquid swells at a position away from the inner tank. As a result, the liquid level of the processing liquid in the inner tank forms a substantially horizontal surface, so that the drying condition can be made uniform regardless of the portion of the substrate being pulled up. In addition, since the treatment liquid can be prevented from being scattered by the injection of the dry gas, poor drying due to the splash can be prevented.

  Further, in the present invention, the inner tank includes a movable wall whose upper side wall on the downstream side of the injection means can swing between a vertical attitude and an inclined attitude toward the outer tank, It is preferable to adjust the posture of the movable wall. The adjustment means can adjust the dry height only by changing the posture of the movable wall from the vertical posture to the inclined posture, and the configuration can be simplified.

The width of the outer tub, which is downstream of the injection means, is 30 to 70 mm when the substrate diameter is 300 mm, the pure water flow rate is 0 to 30 liters / minute, and the dry gas flow rate is 6 to 10 m ³ / minute. It is preferable that there is (claim 4).

  According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a substrate processing apparatus for processing a substrate with a processing liquid, an inner tank for storing the processing liquid, and an injection means for injecting a dry gas horizontally in the upper part of the inner tank. And an outer tank that is formed wider than the upstream side on the downstream side of the injection means and has an upper edge that is higher than the upper edge of the inner tank, and that collects the processing liquid overflowing from the inner tank, A flow rate adjusting means for adjusting the drainage flow rate from the outer tub, a support means for supporting the substrate and moving up and down between a processing position corresponding to the inside of the inner tub and a standby position above the inner tub, and the substrate is lifted by the support means And a control means for reducing the drainage flow rate by the flow rate adjusting means and for injecting dry gas from the injection means.

  [Operation / Effect] According to the invention described in claim 5, when the substrate is raised by the support means, the control means causes the flow rate adjusting means to reduce the drainage flow rate and causes the ejection means to inject dry gas. Therefore, the processing liquid drained through the outer tank fills the outer tank, and the liquid level of the processing liquid is integrated from the inner tank to the outer tank. Furthermore, since the width of the outer tank on the downstream side of the injection means is wider than that on the upstream side, the treatment liquid swells at a position away from the inner tank. As a result, the liquid level of the processing liquid in the inner tank forms a substantially horizontal surface, so that the drying condition can be made uniform regardless of the portion of the substrate being pulled up. In addition, since the treatment liquid can be prevented from being scattered by the injection of the dry gas, poor drying due to the splash can be prevented.

  Moreover, in this invention, it is preferable that the upper edge of the said outer tank is 1-3 mm higher than the upper edge of the said inner tank (Claim 6). It is possible to prevent the processing liquid filling the outer tank from overflowing around.

  According to the substrate processing apparatus of the present invention, the control means injects the dry gas in the horizontal direction from the injection means when the substrate is raised from the inner tank by the support means, and the adjustment means causes the upper side wall of the inner tank to be injected. Set height to dry height. Therefore, the processing liquid pushed to the downstream side by the dry gas flows into the outer tank without being blocked by the upper edge of the inner tank. Furthermore, since the width of the outer tank on the downstream side of the injection means is made wider than the width on the upstream side of the injection means, the processing liquid swells at a position away from the inner tank. As a result, the liquid level of the processing liquid in the inner tank forms a substantially horizontal surface, so that the drying condition can be made uniform regardless of the portion of the substrate being pulled up. In addition, since the treatment liquid can be prevented from being scattered by the spray of the dry gas, poor drying due to the splash can be prevented.

Embodiment 1 of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.
FIG. 1 is an overall view illustrating a schematic configuration of the substrate processing apparatus according to the first embodiment.

  The processing tank 1 is covered with an outer container 3. The outer container 3 includes a loading / unloading port 5 that can be freely opened and closed. The processing tank 1 includes an inner tank 7 for storing the processing liquid and an outer tank 9 for recovering the processing liquid overflowing from the inner tank 7. The upper edge of the outer tub 9 is substantially the same height as the upper edge of the inner tub 7. A pair of ejection pipes 11 for supplying a processing liquid is disposed on both sides of the bottom of the inner tank 7, and a drainage port 13 is formed at the bottom. A discharge port 15 for discharging the processing liquid and gas is formed at the bottom of the outer container 3.

  One end side of the supply pipe 17 is connected to the ejection pipe 11, and the other end side is connected to the pure water supply source 19. A control valve 21 and a mixing valve 23 are disposed in the supply pipe 17 from the downstream side. The control valve 21 has a function of adjusting the flow rate of the processing liquid flowing through the supply pipe 19, and the mixing valve 23 has a function of mixing various chemical solutions into the supply pipe 19.

  The support arm 25 corresponding to the support means in the present invention includes a plate-like back plate 27 and a support member 29 that is disposed below the back plate 27 and supports the substrate W in a standing posture. . The support arm 25 is moved by the elevating mechanism 31 to a “standby position” above the outer container 3, a “drying position” inside the outer container 3 and above the processing tank 1, and a “processing” corresponding to the inside of the inner tank 7. It is configured to be movable up and down over the “position”.

  An injection nozzle 33 is attached to the one side wall (the left side wall in FIG. 1) of the outer container 3 above the processing tank 1. Further, an exhaust port 35 is disposed on the other side wall (the right side wall in FIG. 1) of the outer container 3 facing the injection nozzle 33. One end side of the pipe 37 is connected to the injection nozzle 33, and the other end side is connected to the gas supply unit 39. A control valve 41 is attached to the pipe 37. One end side of an exhaust pipe 43 whose one end side communicates with exhaust is connected to the exhaust port 35 in communication. The exhaust pipe 43 is provided with a control valve 45. The gas supply unit 39 supplies, for example, dry air. Note that dry nitrogen or the like may be supplied instead of dry air.

  The injection nozzle 33 corresponds to the injection means in the present invention.

  Reference is now further made to FIG. FIG. 2 is a longitudinal sectional view of the treatment tank.

  The width of the first outer tub 47 on the left side in FIGS. 1 and 2 and the second outer tub 49 in the outer tub 9 described above are different. Specifically, the width of the second outer tub 49 on the downstream side of the injection nozzle 33 is wider than the width of the first outer tub 47 on the upstream side. The width is set according to the diameter of the substrate W, the flow rate of the processing liquid when the substrate W is pulled up, the flow rate of the gas from the injection nozzle 33, and the like. Specifically, when the width of the first outer tub 47 is 25 mm, it is preferably approximately 30 to 70 mm. A drain port 48 is formed at the bottom of the second outer tank 49 and communicates with the drain.

  Of the upper side walls of the inner tank 7, the side corresponding to the second outer tank 49 has an opening 51 formed in the upper part. A movable wall 53 is attached to the opening 51 so as to be swingable around a horizontal axis P. A fixed lever 54 projects from the lower part of the outer wall surface of the movable wall 53. An air cylinder 55 is attached below the second outer tank 49. The advanceable / retractable operating piece 57 has a distal end engaged with the fixed lever 54. In a state where the operating piece 57 of the air cylinder 55 is extended, the movable wall 53 is in a vertical posture to close the opening 51 (the state shown in FIGS. 1 and 2), and the operating piece 57 of the air cylinder 55 is contracted. In the state, the movable wall 53 is inclined outward and opens the opening 51 (a state indicated by a two-dot chain line in FIG. 2). Here, the position where the movable wall 53 closes the opening 51 is referred to as “processing height”, and the position where the movable wall 53 opens the opening 51 is referred to as “drying height”.

  The air cylinder 55 described above corresponds to the adjusting means in the present invention.

  The above-described flow rate adjustment of the control valve 21, raising and lowering of the support arm 25, supply by the gas supply unit 39, opening and closing of the control valve 41, opening and closing of the control valve 45, driving of the air cylinder 55, etc. The control unit 59 performs overall control. The control unit 59 includes a CPU, a memory, and the like.

  Next, the operation of the above-described apparatus will be described with reference to FIGS. FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram at the time of processing with the processing liquid, and FIG.

  Hereinafter, a case where the substrate W is subjected to the cleaning process while pure water is supplied as the processing liquid, and then the drying process is performed while pulling up the substrate W will be described as an example. Note that the support arm 25 is already in the processing position, and the movable wall 53 is at the processing height.

  The control unit 59 opens the control valve 21, supplies pure water as a processing liquid to the inner tank 7 at a predetermined flow rate, and cleans the substrate W at the processing position with pure water. The pure water supplied to the inner tank 7 is collected in the outer tank 9 and drained. By performing this process for a predetermined time, the cleaning of the substrate W is completed (FIG. 3).

  Next, the control unit 59 operates the air cylinder 55 to move the movable wall 53 at the processing height to the drying height. Thereby, the opening part 51 of the inner tank 7 is open | released, and the height of the liquid level of the 2nd outer tank 49 and the inner tank 7 corresponds (FIG. 3). Further, the control unit 59 starts to raise the support arm 25 from the processing position to the drying position at a predetermined speed. At the same time, the control valve 41 is opened, and the dry air da is injected from the injection nozzle 33 in the horizontal direction at a predetermined flow rate. The sprayed dry air da dries the substrate W while passing above the liquid level of the inner tank 7 and is exhausted through the exhaust port 35. The dry air da is ejected from the ejection nozzle 33 and reaches the exhaust port 35 while gradually expanding. Accordingly, a part of the liquid level of the inner tub 7 is pushed toward the exhaust port 35 and the liquid level rises. The liquid level swell ma generated by this is pushed to the second outer tank 49. In this state, the support arm 25 is raised to a drying height at a predetermined speed to dry the substrate W. In addition, if it is a conventional apparatus, it will be dammed by the upper right edge of the inner tank 7, and a liquid level rise (ma) will generate | occur | produce on the right side of the inner tank 7. FIG.

  As described above, when the control unit 59 raises the substrate W from the inner tank 7 by the support arm 25, the control unit 59 ejects the dry air da from the ejection nozzle 33 in the horizontal direction, and the air cylinder 55 causes the upper side wall of the inner tank 7 to be ejected. Set the height to the height when dry. Therefore, the pure water pushed to the downstream side by the dry air da flows into the second outer tank 49 without being blocked by the upper edge of the inner tank 7. Furthermore, since the width of the second outer tub 49 is wider than the width of the first outer tub 47 on the upstream side of the injection nozzle 33, the pure water rises at a position away from the inner tub 7. As a result, the level of pure water in the inner tank 7 forms a substantially horizontal surface, so that the drying condition can be made uniform regardless of the portion of the substrate W that is being pulled up. In addition, since the pure water can be prevented from being scattered by the injection of the dry air da, it is possible to prevent the drying failure caused by the splash.

Next, Embodiment 2 of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.
FIG. 5 is an overall view illustrating a schematic configuration of the substrate processing apparatus according to the second embodiment. In addition, about the structure similar to Example 1 mentioned above, the same code | symbol is attached | subjected and detailed description is abbreviate | omitted.

The second embodiment is greatly different from the first embodiment in the configuration of the treatment tank 1A.
That is, the processing tank 1A includes an inner tank 7A and an outer tank 9A. A first outer tank 47A is disposed on the injection nozzle 33 side, and a second outer tank 49A is disposed on the exhaust port 35 side. The second outer tub 49A is configured wider than the width of the first outer tub 47A. The area is the same as that of the first embodiment. The outer tub 9A is configured such that the upper edge is higher than the upper edge of the inner tub 7A. The height is preferably about 1 to 3 mm. Further, a drain pipe 61 is connected to the drain port 48 of the second outer tank 49A, and a control valve 63 capable of adjusting the flow rate is disposed here. The control unit 47A controls the flow rate by the control valve 63 in addition to the flow rate adjustment of the flow rate adjustment valve 21, the raising and lowering of the support arm 25, and the like.

  The controller 59A operates the control valve 63 to adjust the drainage flow rate from the outer tub 9A. Specifically, at the time of processing with the processing liquid, the processing liquid collected in the outer tank 9A is set to a flow rate (flow rate at the time of processing) that can be smoothly discharged to the drain. While being collected by 9A, the flow rate is reduced so that the liquid level of the inner tank 7 and the liquid level of the outer tank 9A substantially coincide (flow rate during drying).

  The controller 59A corresponds to the control means in the present invention, and the control valve 63 corresponds to the flow rate adjusting means in the present invention.

  Next, the operation of the above apparatus will be described with reference to FIGS. 6 is an explanatory diagram at the time of processing with the processing liquid, and FIG. 7 is an explanatory diagram at the time of pulling and drying.

  Hereinafter, a case where the substrate W is subjected to the cleaning process while pure water is supplied as the processing liquid, and then the drying process is performed while pulling up the substrate W will be described as an example. It is assumed that the support arm 25 is already in the processing position and the control valve 63 is set to the processing flow rate.

  The control unit 59A opens the control valve 21, supplies pure water as a processing liquid to the inner tank 7A at a predetermined flow rate, and cleans the substrate W at the processing position with pure water. The pure water supplied to the inner tank 7A is collected in the outer tank 9A and discharged through the drain pipe 61. By performing this process for a predetermined time, the cleaning of the substrate W is completed (FIG. 6).

  Next, the control unit 59A adjusts the control valve 63 to set the flow rate of the drainage pipe 61 to the dry flow rate. Thereby, the discharge flow rate from the outer tank 9A is reduced, and the liquid level heights of the second outer tank 49A and the inner tank 7A are matched (FIG. 7). Further, the control unit 59A starts to raise the support arm 25 from the processing position to the drying height at a predetermined speed. At the same time, the control valve 41 is opened, and the dry air da is injected from the injection nozzle 33 in the horizontal direction at a predetermined flow rate. The injected dry air da dries the substrate W while passing above the liquid level of the inner tank 7A, and is exhausted through the exhaust port 35. The dry air da is ejected from the ejection nozzle 33 and reaches the exhaust port 35 while gradually expanding. Therefore, a part of the liquid level of the inner tank 7A pushes toward the exhaust port 35, and the liquid level rises. The liquid level swell ma generated thereby is pushed to the second outer tank 49A. In addition, if it is a conventional apparatus, it will be dammed by the upper right edge of the inner tank 7A, and the rise (ma) of a liquid level generate | occur | produces on the right side of the inner tank 7A. In this state, the support arm 25 is raised to a drying height at a predetermined speed to dry the substrate W.

  As described above, when the substrate 59 is lifted from the inner tank 7A by the support arm 25, the control unit 59A ejects the dry air da from the ejection nozzle 33 in the horizontal direction, and reduces the drainage flow rate from the outer tank 49A. To do. Therefore, the pure water drained through the outer tank 49A fills the outer tank 49A, and the liquid level of the pure water is integrated from the inner tank 7A to the outer tank 49A. Furthermore, since the width of the second outer tank 49A is wider than that of the first outer tank 47A on the upstream side, the swell of pure water occurs at a position away from the inner tank 7A. As a result, the level of pure water in the inner tank 7A forms a substantially horizontal surface, so that the drying condition can be made uniform regardless of the portion of the substrate W that is being pulled up. In addition, since it is possible to prevent the pure water from being scattered by the injection of the dry air da, it is possible to prevent poor drying due to the splash.

  The present invention is not limited to the above embodiment, and can be modified as follows.

  (1) In the first embodiment described above, the movable wall 53 is swung by the air cylinder 55 to adjust the processing height and the drying height. For example, the movable wall 53 is moved up and down while maintaining the vertical posture. You may comprise so that it may adjust. Further, a screw shaft or the like may be used instead of the air cylinder 55 to adjust the posture.

  (2) In Example 1 mentioned above, although the upper edge of the inner tank 7 and the upper edge of the outer tank 9 is made into the substantially same height, this invention can be implemented irrespective of these height relationships.

  (3) In the above-described second embodiment, the drainage flow rate from the outer tub 9A is reduced by operating the control valve 63. However, the flow rate may be similarly adjusted by adjusting the open / close time by the open / close valve. .

  (4) In each of the first and second embodiments described above, an example of a device that does not circulate the processing liquid has been described as an example. However, the processing liquid is transferred between the inner tank 7 (7A) and the outer tank 9 (9A). The present invention can also be applied to an apparatus that circulates.

1 is an overall view showing a schematic configuration of a substrate processing apparatus according to Embodiment 1. FIG. It is a longitudinal cross-sectional view of a processing tank. It is explanatory drawing at the time of the process by a process liquid. It is explanatory drawing at the time of pulling up drying. 6 is an overall view showing a schematic configuration of a substrate processing apparatus according to Embodiment 2. FIG. It is explanatory drawing at the time of the process by a process liquid. It is explanatory drawing at the time of pulling up drying.

Explanation of symbols

W ... Substrate 1 ... Processing tank 3 ... Outer container 7 ... Inner tank 9 ... Outer tank 11 ... Ejection pipe 13 ... Drainage port 15 ... Ejection port 17 ... Supply piping 25 ... Support arm 33 ... Ejection nozzle 35 ... Exhaust port 47 ... First outer tank 49 ... Second outer tank 51 ... Opening 53 ... Movable wall 55 ... Air cylinder 59 ... Control part da ... Dry air ma ... Swelling

Claims (7)

In a substrate processing apparatus for processing a substrate with a processing liquid,
An inner tank for storing the processing liquid;
Injecting means for injecting dry gas horizontally in the upper part of the inner tank,
An outer tub that is formed wider than the upstream side on the downstream side of the injection means, and collects the processing liquid overflowing from the inner tub;
A supporting means for supporting the substrate and moving up and down over a processing position corresponding to the inside of the inner tank and a standby position corresponding to the processing position;
An adjusting means for adjusting the height of the upper side wall of the inner tank on the downstream side of the spraying means to the height during processing and the height during drying lower than the height during processing;
When raising the substrate by the support means, the control means for injecting the dry gas from the injection means, and the height of the upper side wall of the inner tub by the adjustment means,
A substrate processing apparatus comprising: The substrate processing apparatus according to claim 1,
The inner tank includes a movable wall whose upper side wall on the downstream side of the injection means can swing between a vertical posture and an inclined posture toward the outer tank side,
The substrate processing apparatus, wherein the adjusting means adjusts a posture of the movable wall. The substrate processing apparatus according to claim 1 or 2,
The substrate processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein an upper edge of the outer tank is substantially the same height as an upper edge of the inner tank. In the substrate processing apparatus according to claim 1,
The width of the outer tub on the downstream side of the jetting means is 30 to 70 mm when the substrate diameter is 300 mm, the pure water flow rate is 0 to 30 liters / minute, and the dry gas flow rate is 6 to 10 m ³ / minute. A substrate processing apparatus. In a substrate processing apparatus for processing a substrate with a processing liquid,
An inner tank for storing the processing liquid;
Injecting means for injecting dry gas horizontally in the upper part of the inner tank,
An outer tub that is formed wider than the upstream side of the downstream side of the injection means, and has an upper edge that is higher than the upper edge of the inner tub, and collects the processing liquid overflowing from the inner tub;
A flow rate adjusting means for adjusting a drainage flow rate from the outer tank;
A supporting means for supporting the substrate and moving up and down over a processing position corresponding to the inside of the inner tank and a standby position corresponding to the processing position;
When raising the substrate by the support means, the control means for reducing the drain flow rate by the flow rate adjustment means and injecting dry gas from the injection means,
A substrate processing apparatus comprising: The substrate processing apparatus according to claim 5,
The upper edge of the outer tank is 1 to 3 mm higher than the upper edge of the inner tank. The substrate processing apparatus according to claim 5 or 6,
The width of the outer tub on the downstream side of the jetting means is 30 to 70 mm when the substrate diameter is 200 mm, the pure water flow rate is 0 to 30 liters / minute, and the dry gas flow rate is 6 to 10 m ³ / minute. A substrate processing apparatus.

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