JP2008251862A - Substrate heat treatment apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To miniaturize a substrate heat treatment apparatus in the height direction. <P>SOLUTION: The substrate heat treatment apparatus 1 has a casing 10 in a double-wall structure that surrounds a hot plate 16. A discharge nozzle 20 for discharging heated air into space in the casing 10 is integrally assembled to a top wall 14 in the casing 10. On the lower surface of the top wall 14, a guide plate 26 is provided which allows the heated air to flow along the top wall 14 by guiding the heated air discharged from the discharge nozzle 20. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2009,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a substrate heat treatment apparatus for performing a heat treatment on a semiconductor substrate, a glass substrate for a liquid crystal display device, a glass substrate for a plasma display device, a glass substrate for a photomask, a substrate for an optical disk, etc. (hereinafter referred to as “substrate”). It is about.

  As this type of substrate heat treatment apparatus, a hot plate and a substrate support pin that moves out and through the hot plate are provided in the internal space of the housing, and the heat is generated from the hot plate while supporting the substrate with the support pin. Some heat-treat the substrate with heat.

  In this substrate heat treatment apparatus, for example, when a heat treatment is performed on a substrate coated with a resist solution, depending on the type of the resist solution, its components sublimate, and the sublimated product is formed on the inner wall surface of the casing, particularly the upper surface (ceiling surface). ) May adhere and accumulate. If such deposits are peeled off from the inner wall surface of the housing and dropped onto the substrate, it may cause product defects.

Therefore, in recent years, a substrate heat treatment apparatus as described in Patent Document 1 has been proposed in order to avoid such inconvenience. This apparatus is configured to dispose an ejection nozzle below the ceiling surface of the housing, and to discharge while heating air (clean air) is ejected from the ejection nozzle along the ceiling surface. In other words, the crystallization of the sublimate is prevented by flowing heated air along the ceiling surface of the housing, and further, the sublimate is exhausted together with the heated air, so that the sublimate adheres to the ceiling surface. It prevents deposition.
JP 2005-183638 A

  In a substrate production line, in order to process a plurality of substrates at the same time, a plurality of substrate heat treatment apparatuses are often stacked. In such a production line, a substrate transfer arm is arranged, and the substrate is horizontally supported by this arm, and the substrate is loaded into and unloaded from each substrate heat treatment apparatus through an inlet / outlet provided on the side wall of the housing. Is called.

  By the way, in this type of production line, it is possible to reduce the stacking portion of the substrate heat treatment apparatus in the height direction in order to save space in the production line. This is convenient for simplifying the drive system.

  However, in the conventional substrate processing apparatus as described above, the vertical space where the transfer arm enters and exits is sufficiently provided to avoid interference between the ejection nozzle and the transfer arm when the substrate is carried in and out of the housing. After securing, the ejection nozzle is arranged above the space. Therefore, it is difficult to make the substrate heat treatment apparatus compact in the height direction, and it is difficult to meet the above demands. Therefore, it is desirable to improve this point.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and in a substrate heat treatment apparatus that prevents adhesion / deposition of a resist solution sublimate or the like by ejecting heated air into a housing, the apparatus is provided with a height thereof. It aims to be compact in the direction.

  In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the present invention has a housing in which a base for performing heat treatment on a substrate is provided on the bottom side, and forms a heated gas flow along a ceiling wall in the housing. In a substrate heat treatment apparatus that performs heat treatment, a discharge unit that is integrated into the ceiling wall or side wall of the casing and discharges the heating gas into a space in the casing, and a heating gas discharged from the discharge unit And a guide means for flowing along the ceiling wall (Claim 1).

  In this configuration, the heated gas is discharged into the casing from the discharge means provided inside the ceiling wall or side wall of the casing, and flows along the ceiling wall while being guided by the guiding means. According to such a configuration, compared to the conventional processing apparatus in which the nozzle for injecting the heated gas is disposed in the space in the housing, in the space in the housing, particularly in the vicinity of the ceiling wall, when the substrate is loaded / unloaded. It becomes possible to reduce obstacles. Therefore, the space in the housing can be effectively reduced in the height direction.

  More specifically, the discharge means has a discharge port on the wall of the ceiling wall or side wall, and discharges the heating gas introduced into the heating gas introduction flow path provided inside the wall from the discharge port. (Claim 2).

  In this configuration, the heated gas is directly discharged from the ceiling wall or the wall surface of the side wall into the space in the housing. For this reason, there is no portion of the discharge means that protrudes into the space in the housing, which is advantageous in reducing the space in the housing in the height direction.

  In the case where the discharge port is provided on the ceiling wall of the housing, the guide means is provided on the ceiling wall or the side wall, and faces the discharge port and is substantially parallel to the ceiling wall. A structure having a guide surface is provided.

  According to this configuration, the heated gas can flow well along the ceiling wall while discharging the heated gas from the ceiling wall. In this configuration, since the guide means guides the heated gas along a guide surface substantially parallel to the ceiling wall, the guide means can be provided at a position close to the ceiling wall, and the protrusion to the space in the housing is suppressed. be able to.

  Further, in the case where the discharge port is provided on the side wall of the housing, the guide means includes a groove formed on the inner surface of the housing, and the discharge port is formed on the inner bottom surface of the groove. (Claim 4).

  In this configuration, the heated gas is discharged from the inner bottom surface of the groove portion formed on the side wall, and the heated gas flows along the ceiling wall by guiding the heated gas along the inner surface of the groove portion in the groove opening direction. . In this configuration, since the guide means is composed of the inner surface of the groove formed in the side wall, it is possible to avoid the guide means from protruding into the space in the housing.

  In the substrate heat treatment apparatus as described above, the discharge unit includes a plurality of the discharge ports arranged in a predetermined direction, and further includes an equalization unit that equalizes the discharge amount of the heated air at each discharge port. It is preferable that it is a waste (claim 5).

  According to this configuration, the heated gas can be favorably flowed along the ceiling wall by avoiding the heated gas from being biased and discharged to a specific discharge port.

  According to the substrate heat treatment apparatus according to the first to fifth aspects, the space in the housing can be effectively reduced in the height direction, and the substrate heat treatment apparatus can be made compact. In particular, the substrate heat treatment apparatus according to claim 2 is effective in reducing the space in the casing because the heated gas is discharged from the discharge port formed on the ceiling wall or side wall of the casing. And in the substrate heat processing apparatus which concerns on Claim 3, 4, enjoying the above effects, discharging a heating gas from a ceiling wall and a side wall, respectively, and forming the favorable heating gas flow along a ceiling wall Can do. Further, according to the substrate heat treatment apparatus of the fifth aspect, it is possible to prevent the discharge amount from being biased to a part of the heating from the plurality of discharge ports, and to form a good heated gas flow along the ceiling wall.

  A preferred embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

  1 and 2 are cross-sectional views of a substrate heat treatment apparatus according to the present invention. As shown in the figure, a substrate heat treatment apparatus 1 (hereinafter abbreviated as “treatment apparatus 1”) has a rectangular cross-section housing 10 having a bottom wall 12, a side wall 13, and a ceiling wall 14 as partition walls. A part of the side wall 13 of the housing 10 is a door body 15, and the door body 15 is opened and closed when the substrate S is loaded and unloaded. The loading and unloading of the substrate S will be described later.

  The side walls 13 and the like constituting the housing 10 have a double wall structure in order to improve heat insulation. Note that a grid-like reinforcing wall is provided inside the side wall 13 and the like for securing rigidity, but this is omitted in the drawing.

  A hot plate 16 is installed on the upper surface of the bottom wall 12 at the inner bottom of the housing 10. The hot plate 16 has a built-in heat source such as a heater, and is provided with a plurality of support pins 17 that are moved forward and backward by receiving a driving force from the elevating drive unit 18. In this embodiment, the hot plate 16 and the support pins 17 correspond to the base of the present invention.

  A heated gas, for example, heated clean air (hereinafter referred to as heated air) is discharged into a space in the casing 10 inside the ceiling wall 14 of the casing 10 and in the vicinity of the door body 15. The discharge nozzle 20 (corresponding to the discharge means according to the present invention) is integrally incorporated. That is, as shown in FIG. 3, the discharge nozzle 20 is partitioned by a partition wall 14a to form a hollow portion 21 (corresponding to the introduction flow path according to the present invention) formed inside the ceiling wall 14, and the ceiling wall. 14 has a discharge port 22 that is formed on the lower surface (ceiling surface) and communicates the hollow portion 21 with the space in the housing 10, and is introduced into the hollow portion 21 from the outside of the housing 10. The heated air is discharged into the space of the housing 10 through the discharge port 22.

  As shown in FIG. 2, the hollow portion 21 is elongated along the door body 15 in the width direction (left-right direction in FIG. 2), and a plurality of the discharge ports 22 are formed along the longitudinal direction. It is provided at regular intervals. Thus, the discharge nozzle 20 is configured so that heated air can be discharged over the entire width direction of the space in the housing 10. A heating air introduction port 21a is formed at a position corresponding to one end in the longitudinal direction of the hollow portion 21 in the side surface portion of the ceiling wall 14, and the heating air passes through the introduction port 21a. It is comprised so that it may introduce in 21.

  In addition, inside the hollow part 21 of the discharge nozzle 20, as shown in FIG. 3, the section between the introduction port 21 a and the discharge port 22 has a rectangular cross section extending over the longitudinal direction of the hollow part 21. A cylindrical body 24 is provided. Slit-like openings 24a and 24b are formed in the cylindrical body 24 at the lower portion of the side surface on the inlet 21a side and the upper portion of the side surface on the discharge port 22 side facing the side surface, respectively, via the inlet port 21a. Then, the heated air introduced into the hollow portion 21 is guided to the discharge port 22 through the inside of the cylindrical body 24 as indicated by a broken line arrow in FIG. That is, the cylindrical body 24 is guided to the discharge port 22 side while being filled with heated air, so that the flow rate in the hollow portion 21 is guided to the discharge port 22 side while being uniform in the longitudinal direction. It becomes the structure which equalizes the discharge amount of the heating air from. In this embodiment, the cylindrical body 24 corresponds to the uniformizing means according to the present invention.

  In the vicinity of the discharge nozzle 20 and on the ceiling surface, a guide plate 26 for guiding the heated air discharged from the discharge port 22 along the ceiling surface is further provided. The guide plate 26 is fixed between the discharge port 22 and the door body 15 and hangs down from the ceiling surface and faces the discharge port 22 and is parallel to the ceiling surface as shown in FIG. It has an inverted L-shaped cross section with a guide surface extending in the direction (inverted L shape in FIG. 3), and the heated air discharged from each discharge port 22 is directed to the opposite side of the door body 15 along the guide surface. It is configured to guide.

  Further, a slit-like exhaust port 28 is provided at an upper end portion of the side wall 13 that faces the door body 15, and an exhaust nozzle 29 that exhausts the atmosphere in the housing 10 through the exhaust port 28 is provided on the side wall. 13 on the outer surface. That is, while heating air is discharged from the discharge nozzle 20 and guided along the ceiling surface, the exhaust nozzle 29 exhausts the atmosphere in the housing 10 to cause the heating air to flow along the ceiling surface. In this way, the air is exhausted from the exhaust port 28.

  Although not shown in detail, an air supply pipe 30 that guides the air supplied from the clean air supply source to the housing 10 is provided below the housing 10. The air supply pipe 30 is connected to the discharge nozzle 20 (hollow part 21) through the introduction port 21a, and a heater 32 is interposed in the middle of the air supply pipe 30. By heating, the heated air is generated and supplied to the discharge nozzle 20.

  In the processing apparatus 1, the heat treatment of the substrate S proceeds as follows. First, the door body 15 is set at an open position (a position indicated by a two-dot chain line in FIG. 1), and as shown in FIG. 1, the substrate S is supported together with the arm 10 in a state where the substrate S is horizontally supported by the transfer arm 2. Inserted inside. At this time, the support pin 17 is retracted to a predetermined retracted position. When the substrate S is inserted into the housing 10, the support pins 17 are raised, and the substrate S is supported by the support pins 17 and lifted from the transport arm. In this state, the transport arm is retracted out of the housing 10. The door body 15 is closed. Thereafter, the support pins 17 are retracted to a predetermined position, so that the substrate S is placed on the hot plate 16 or is placed close to the hot plate 16 with a small distance. Thus, the substrate S receives heat from the hot plate 16 and is subjected to heat treatment.

  When the substrate S is placed on or placed close to the hot plate 16, the supply of heated air to the discharge nozzle 20 provided in the ceiling wall 14 is started and the housing by the exhaust nozzle 29 is started. Exhaust in the body 10 is started. Thereby, heated air is discharged from the ceiling wall 14, and this heated air is exhausted through the exhaust port 28 while flowing from the door body 15 side toward the opposite side along the ceiling surface. Therefore, for example, when a heat treatment is performed on the substrate S coated with the resist solution, the sublimate of the resist solution and the like are discharged to the outside of the housing 10 together with the overheated air, and thereby the sublimation to the ceiling surface or the like. This prevents adhesion and accumulation of objects and the like.

  When the heat treatment is completed in this manner, the support pins 17 are raised to carry out the substrate S, the substrate S is lifted above the hot plate 16, the door body 15 is opened, and the transfer arm 2 is moved into the housing 10. Inserted. Then, the substrate S is transferred onto the transfer arm 2 in the reverse procedure to that at the time of carrying in, and then the substrate S is pulled out of the housing 10 together with the transfer arm 2. The supply of heated air to the discharge nozzle 20 is stopped at a predetermined timing after the end of the heat treatment.

  As described above, in this processing apparatus 1, in order to prevent the sublimate of the resist solution from adhering to and depositing on the ceiling surface or the like, the heating air flows along the ceiling surface of the housing 10 while flowing the heating air. In the processing apparatus 1, as described above, the discharge nozzle 20 for discharging the heated air into the housing 10 is integrated into the interior of the ceiling wall 14, and the heating air is formed on the ceiling surface. The guide plate 26 for guiding the guide along the ceiling surface, specifically, a flat inverted L-shaped guide plate 26 having a guide surface parallel to the ceiling surface is provided. Therefore, compared to the conventional processing apparatus in which the nozzle member itself for injecting the heated gas is arranged in the space in the housing, there are few obstacles when the substrate S is loaded and unloaded in the space in the housing 10, The space in the housing 10 can be effectively reduced in the height direction. Therefore, there is an effect that the processing apparatus 1 can be made compact in the height direction.

  In particular, in the processing apparatus 1, the ceiling wall 14 of the housing 10 has a double wall structure in order to enhance the heat insulation during the heat treatment, so that the interior space (hollow portion 21) of the ceiling wall 14 is used. Since the discharge nozzle 20 is configured so as to discharge the heated air from the discharge port 22 formed on the ceiling surface, the wall of the ceiling wall 14 is provided while the discharge nozzle 20 is integrally provided inside the ceiling wall 14. Does not increase the thickness. Therefore, there is an advantage that the processing apparatus 1 can be made compact in the height direction with a rational configuration.

  Further, in this processing apparatus 1, heated air is discharged from a plurality of discharge ports 22 provided along the longitudinal direction. As described above, in this processing apparatus 1, a slit is formed in the hollow portion 21 of the discharge nozzle 20. The cylindrical body 24 provided with the shape-like opening parts 24a and 24b is provided, and thereby the discharge amount of the heated air from each discharge port 22 is made uniform. Therefore, it is possible to effectively avoid inconvenience due to the discharge amount of the heated air being biased toward the specific discharge port 22, for example, the inconvenience that the effect of preventing the adhesion and accumulation of the sublimate and the like on the ceiling surface is partially reduced. There is also.

  In addition, the processing apparatus 1 of the said embodiment is illustration of preferable embodiment of the board | substrate heat processing which concerns on this invention, The concrete structure can be suitably changed in the range which does not deviate from the summary of this invention. For example, the following configuration may be employed.

  In the above-described embodiment, the heated air discharged from the discharge nozzle 20 (discharge port 22) is guided along the ceiling surface by the guide plate 26 provided on the lower surface (ceiling surface) of the ceiling wall 14. However, as shown in FIG. 4, for example, the discharge nozzle 20 is provided so that the discharge port 22 is located at the upper portion of the door body 15, while the step portion having a guide surface 15 a parallel to the ceiling surface at the upper end portion of the door body 15. As shown by the arrows in the figure, the heated air discharged from the discharge port 22 may be guided along the guide surface 15a so that the heated air flows along the ceiling surface. That is, it is good also as a structure which gives the door body 15 the function of the guide plate 26 of embodiment. According to this configuration, the guide plate 26 becomes unnecessary, and the space in the housing 10 can be further reduced in the height direction accordingly.

  Further, in the embodiment, the discharge nozzle 20 and the exhaust nozzle 29 are provided so that the heated air flows from the door 15 side toward the side wall 13 on the opposite side, but the direction in which the heated air flows is It is not necessarily limited to this. For example, the heated air may flow in a direction opposite to the embodiment, or in a direction orthogonal to the direction of the embodiment (the left-right direction in FIG. 2). In this case, for example, the discharge nozzle 20 may be integrated into the side wall 13. Specifically, as shown in FIG. 5, the discharge nozzle 20 is provided inside the side wall 13, and the groove portion that extends along the ceiling wall 14 on the inner side surface of the housing 10 and opens toward the inside of the housing 10. 34 and the discharge port 22 is provided on the inner bottom surface of the groove 34. That is, the heated air is caused to flow along the ceiling surface by discharging heated air from the discharge port 22 along the inner surface of the groove portion 34. Also in this configuration, the space in the housing 10 can be reduced in the height direction as in the embodiment, and the guide plate 26 is not necessary as in the example of FIG. This is effective in reducing the space in the housing 10. Such a configuration can also be applied to the door body 15. In the example of FIG. 5, a step portion is formed at the upper end portion of the side wall 13, and the groove portion 34 is formed on the inner surface of the housing 10 by the cooperation of the step portion and the lower surface of the ceiling wall 14. Of course, the groove portion 34 may be provided on the side wall 13 itself. In the figure, the discharge nozzle 20 is not provided with the cylindrical body 24 for making the discharge amount uniform, but it may be provided as in the embodiment.

  In the embodiment, the side wall 13 and the like of the housing 10 have a double wall structure, but may of course have a multiple wall structure of a triple wall or more.

  Further, in the embodiment, the air is heated by the heater 32 disposed outside the housing 10 and the heated air is introduced into the housing 10 by the air supply pipe 30. For example, a configuration in which the heating air is directly supplied to the discharge nozzle 20 through the inside of the partition wall may be provided. According to this configuration, it is possible to suppress a decrease in temperature of the heated air, and there is an advantage that a compact device configuration in which a heating air supply system such as the heater 32 is integrally incorporated in the housing 10 is obtained.

  In the embodiment, the tubular body 24 is incorporated in the discharge nozzle 20 (hollow portion 21), and the discharge amount of the heated air discharged from each discharge port 22 is made uniform, so that the width of the ceiling surface is increased. A uniform heated air flow is formed, but instead of providing the cylindrical body 24, for example, a groove or the like is formed on the guide surface of the heated air in the guide plate 26, or the size of the discharge port 22 is different. For example, a uniform heated air flow may be formed in the width direction of the ceiling surface.

1 is a schematic cross-sectional view showing a substrate heat treatment apparatus according to the present invention. It is II-II sectional drawing of FIG. 1 which shows a substrate heat processing apparatus. It is a principal part expanded sectional view of the ceiling wall (part of a discharge nozzle) which comprises a housing | casing. It is a principal part expanded sectional view of the housing | casing which shows the modification of a substrate heat processing apparatus. It is a principal part expanded sectional view of the housing | casing which shows the modification of a substrate heat processing apparatus.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Substrate heat processing apparatus 10 Case 12 Bottom wall 13 Side wall 14 Top wall 15 Door body 16 Hot plate 20 Discharge nozzle 26 Guide plate 29 Exhaust nozzle 30 Air supply piping 32 Heater 34 Air flow path S Substrate

Claims (5)

In a substrate heat treatment apparatus that has a casing on the bottom side of a base for performing heat treatment on a substrate, and performs the heat treatment while forming a heated gas flow along a ceiling wall in the casing,
A discharge unit that is integrated into the ceiling wall or the side wall of the casing and discharges the heated gas into a space in the casing, and a guide that causes the heated gas discharged from the discharge unit to flow along the ceiling wall. And a substrate heat treatment apparatus. The substrate heat treatment apparatus according to claim 1,
The discharge means has a discharge port on the wall surface of the ceiling wall or side wall, and is configured to discharge the heated gas introduced into the heated gas introduction channel provided inside the wall from the discharge port. A substrate heat treatment apparatus. The substrate heat treatment apparatus according to claim 2,
The discharge port is provided on a ceiling wall of the housing, and the guide means is provided on a ceiling wall or a side wall, and has a guide surface substantially parallel to the ceiling wall facing the discharge port. A substrate heat treatment apparatus. The substrate heat treatment apparatus according to claim 2,
The discharge port is provided on a side wall of the housing, and the guide means includes a groove portion formed on an inner surface of the housing, and the discharge port is formed on an inner bottom surface of the groove portion. A substrate heat treatment apparatus. The substrate heat treatment apparatus according to any one of claims 2 to 3,
The substrate heat treatment apparatus characterized in that the discharge means has a plurality of the discharge openings arranged in a predetermined direction, and further includes an equalization means for equalizing the discharge amount of the heated air at each discharge opening.

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