JP2009057593A - Substrate treatment apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To enhance processing capability as an apparatus by employing batch processing with high productivity and further to make it possible to form plated films with uniform thickness with good selectability when using the apparatus as an electroless plating apparatus. <P>SOLUTION: The substrate treatment apparatus has a processing tank 10 for holding a processing liquid, a substrate holder 16 for holding a plurality of substrates W and immersing the same in the processing liquid Q in the processing tank 10, a temperature control section 52 for controlling the temperature of the processing liquid Q in the processing tank 10, a processing liquid circulation system 40, 42, 44 for circulating the processing liquid Q in the processing tank 10, and rotating mechanisms 26, 28, 30, 32 for rotating the substrate holder 16 in the processing liquid Q in the processing tank 10 while holding the plurality of the substrates W. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2009,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a substrate processing apparatus, and in particular, an electroless plating apparatus and a pre-plating apparatus that can form a conductive film with a uniform film thickness on the surface of a substrate such as a semiconductor wafer while adopting batch processing with high productivity. The present invention relates to an optimum substrate processing apparatus used for a processing apparatus.

  Semiconductor devices are required to improve performance in various aspects such as miniaturization, high speed, low power consumption, and high functionality. To that end, semiconductor devices have been miniaturized, materials have been reviewed, and new element structures have been developed. The introduction and architecture changes are widely studied. For example, as a review of materials, a high-k gate insulating film, a change of wiring material from aluminum to copper, a low-k interlayer insulating film, and the like have been implemented. Furthermore, various measures are taken from both hardware and software aspects, such as adopting an SOI (Silicon On Insulator) structure, multi-core, parallel processing, switching to a low power consumption mode, and employing a non-silicon substrate.

  On the other hand, not only the internal structure of a semiconductor device but also a method for reducing the size and speeding up the system by combining a plurality of semiconductor devices has been studied. For example, improvement in performance at the package level, such as SIP (System In Package) and MCM (Multi Chip Module).

  When the technology for incorporating a plurality of semiconductor devices into one semiconductor package was put into practical use in the latter half of the 1990s for the purpose of expanding the capacity of DRAM, two semiconductor chips were stacked in the semiconductor package, This is a form in which the electrodes of the semiconductor chip are wire-bonded, and the structure is such that substantially two semiconductor chips are contained in one semiconductor package. However, since then, it has been developed into a surface mount type MCM in which different types of semiconductor chips are arranged on the same surface, and a stacked type MCM in which semiconductor chips are stacked in order to reduce the mounting area.

  When considering the electrical connection inside the semiconductor package, when a plurality of semiconductor chips are housed in one semiconductor package, the number of semiconductor chips increases between the semiconductor chips and between the semiconductor chips and the substrate (lead frame or interposer). The number of wirings for electrically connecting them increases dramatically. Wire bonding using gold wires has been used for wiring in semiconductor packages for a long time, but as the number of wires in semiconductor packages increases, it is difficult to secure a physical space through which gold wires can pass. It has become. Therefore, bumps are formed on the surface of the semiconductor chip by plating and surface-mounted on the interposer, or through holes are formed in the silicon substrate and wiring is formed in the silicon substrate by plating to connect the substrates to each other. Has been developed.

  Electrolytic plating and electroless plating are often used for these methods of connecting without using wire bonding. In the semiconductor field, electrolytic plating has already been widely used for bump formation and copper wiring formation, and various applications are expected in the future. On the other hand, the electroless plating method has been widely studied for the purpose of performing selective plating by utilizing the fact that the reactivity changes depending on the material of the base to be plated. For example, when a metal and an insulating film are mixed on the surface of a semiconductor substrate, it is possible to form a plating film by electroless plating only on the surface of the metal, eliminating the lithography process and etching process for pattern formation it can. However, so far, although electroless plating has been partly put into practical use for formation of a diffusion prevention film on a copper wiring and bump formation, many are in the development stage at present.

  Problems when performing electroless plating on a semiconductor substrate include uniformity of plating film thickness and selectivity. In addition, since electroless plating generally has a slower film formation rate than electrolytic plating, batch processing is more advantageous than single wafer processing in terms of manufacturing cost. Until now, the electroless plating method has been widely adopted in which a semiconductor wafer is put in a carrier jig and fixed, and the semiconductor wafer is immersed in a plating solution together with the carrier jig. On the other hand, the uniformity of plating film thickness is greatly affected by the distribution of plating solution concentration and plating solution temperature because electroless plating is a chemical reaction. Single wafer processing is performed. This is because it is difficult to uniformly suppress the flow of plating solution and the distribution of plating solution temperature with carrier jigs that have been used in the past. As a result, when manufacturing costs are emphasized, the plating film thickness and film quality are in-plane. Distribution had occurred.

  An electroless plating apparatus for manufacturing semiconductor devices includes a batch process in which a plurality of substrates are fixed to a substrate cassette holding a substrate such as a semiconductor wafer, and the substrate is immersed in a plating solution together with the substrate cassette, and a substrate is plated one by one. And single-wafer processing where the plating solution is circulated and stirred as necessary.

  In the conventional batch processing, the plating solution flows in a certain direction along the substrate surface fixed during plating. Therefore, the plating film formed on the substrate surface has a film thickness depending on the flow direction of the plating solution and Film quality distribution will occur. In addition, in the single wafer processing, since the appropriate plating solution can be stirred for each substrate, the film thickness and film quality distribution of the deposited film can be greatly improved, while the necessary plating film thickness is increased. Then, the processing time becomes long, and the processing capacity of the apparatus is limited.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances. When a highly productive batch process is adopted to increase the processing capability as an apparatus, and an electroless plating apparatus is also applied, a plating film having a uniform film thickness is obtained. An object of the present invention is to provide a substrate processing apparatus capable of forming the film with high selectivity.

  The invention according to claim 1 is a treatment tank that holds a treatment liquid, a substrate holder that holds a plurality of substrates and is immersed in the treatment liquid in the treatment tank, and the temperature of the treatment liquid in the treatment tank. A temperature control unit that controls the processing liquid, a processing liquid circulation system that circulates the processing liquid in the processing tank, and a rotation mechanism that rotates the substrate holder in the processing liquid in the processing tank while holding a plurality of substrates. It is a substrate processing apparatus characterized by having.

  In this way, a batch processing method is adopted in which a plurality of substrates are held by a substrate holder and immersed in a processing solution in a processing tank to perform processing, thereby increasing the processing capability as an apparatus. By rotating the substrate held by the holder together with the substrate holder, for example, when applied to an electroless plating apparatus, the substrate surface has excellent in-plane uniformity of film thickness and film quality independent of the direction of the plating solution flow. The plated film can be formed with high selectivity.

  According to a second aspect of the present invention, the processing liquid circulation system has a processing liquid ejection mechanism that ejects the processing liquid toward a substrate held by the substrate holder and immersed in the processing liquid in the processing tank. The substrate processing apparatus according to claim 1.

  In this way, the processing liquid is ejected toward the substrate held by the substrate holder and immersed in the processing liquid in the processing tank, so that the processing liquid flows parallel to each other along the substrate surface. When applied to an electroplating apparatus, the in-plane uniformity of the film thickness and film quality of the plated film to be formed can be further improved.

  The invention according to claim 3 is characterized in that a liquid flow of the processing liquid introduced into the processing tank by the processing liquid circulation system is used as a power source of the rotating mechanism. This is a substrate processing apparatus.

  Thereby, the rotation mechanism can be rotated without using a power source such as a motor. In this case, there is a problem that the rotation mechanism cannot be rotated at a high speed, and the rotation of the rotation mechanism is not stable at an early stage of processing, but for example, when applied to an electroless plating apparatus, the actual electroless plating is performed. In general, the growth rate of the plating film is relatively slow, such as about several tens of nm / min to several hundreds of nm / min, so that the influence on the film thickness and film quality of the plating film is small.

A fourth aspect of the present invention is the substrate processing apparatus according to any one of the first to third aspects, wherein the substrate processing apparatus is an electroless plating apparatus that uses a plating solution as a processing solution.
According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, the substrate processing apparatus is a plating pretreatment apparatus that applies a catalyst to the substrate surface prior to electroless plating. A substrate processing apparatus.

  According to the present invention, batch processing for simultaneously processing a plurality of substrates is adopted to increase the production capacity as an apparatus, and when applied to, for example, an electroless plating apparatus, the flow of the plating solution on the substrate surface A plating film with improved in-plane uniformity of film thickness and film quality can be formed without depending on the direction.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. In the following examples, the same or corresponding members are denoted by the same reference numerals, and redundant description is omitted.

  1 is a longitudinal front view showing a main part of a substrate processing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention applied to an electroless plating apparatus, and FIG. 2 is a longitudinal side view of FIG. In this example, a plating solution is used as a processing solution, and the plating solution is applied to an electroless plating apparatus that forms a plating film on the substrate surface by immersing the substrate in the plating solution (processing solution). As described above, a catalyst application liquid is used in place of the plating liquid, and the substrate is immersed in the catalyst application liquid (treatment liquid), thereby applying to a pretreatment apparatus for plating that performs a catalyst application process (pre-plating process) on the substrate surface. You can also.

  The electroless plating apparatus (substrate processing apparatus) includes a plating tank (processing tank) 10 that holds a plating solution Q as a processing solution therein, and a portal support frame 14 that is held and transferred by a transfer arm 12. A substrate holder 16 for holding a plurality of substrates W such as semiconductor wafers in a vertically standing state and simultaneously immersing the plurality of substrates W in the plating solution Q in the plating tank 10 is provided. The support frame 14 includes a case main body 18 extending in the lateral direction, and a pair of side cases 20 connected downward to both side ends of the case main body 18. The case main body 18 and the side case 20 include: Waterproof and sealed. The substrate holder 16 is rotatably supported at the lower end of the side case 20 via a bearing. Thereby, the support frame 14 and the substrate holder 16 are transported integrally with the transport arm 12 with the support frame 14 being held by the transport arm 12.

  The substrate holder 16 includes a pair of disk-shaped side plates 22 and three support rods 24 that connect the pair of side plates 22. A predetermined position along the length direction of the support rods 24 is provided at the substrate holder 16. A groove for holding the substrate W by inserting the outer periphery of the substrate W is formed. Of the three support rods 24, one support rod 24 is detachable. With the one support rod 24 removed, the substrates W are sequentially set at predetermined positions of the substrate holder 16, and accordingly. After that, the plurality of substrates W are fixed (held) to the substrate holder 16 by removing and attaching the support rods 24. In this example, eight substrates W are simultaneously held by the substrate holder 16. However, the number of substrates held is not limited to eight and may be increased or decreased as necessary. is there.

  A driven pulley 26 is fixed to one end of the substrate holder 16, and a driving pulley 30 is fixed to an output shaft of a rotary motor 28 housed in the case body 18 of the support frame 14. A drive belt 32 is stretched between the belt 30 and the belt 30. As a result, a rotation mechanism is configured in which power is transmitted through the drive belt 32 and the substrate holder 16 rotates as the rotation motor 28 is driven. The rotation motor 28 is controlled by adjusting the power supplied to the rotation motor 28 through the motor contacts 12a, 12a built in the transport arm 12.

  A rotating mechanism including the driven pulley 26, the driving pulley 30, and the driving belt 32 is accommodated in the one side case 20 of the support frame 14. Further, the rotary motor 28 is accommodated in the case body 18 of the support frame 14 as described above. In this way, the driven pulley 26, the drive pulley 30, and the drive belt 32 (rotation mechanism) are housed in the sealed and waterproof side case 20, and the rotary motor 28 is housed in the sealed and waterproof case body 18, respectively. When the substrate holder 16 is pulled up from the plating solution Q in the plating tank 10, it is possible to prevent crystals from being generated and the concentration of the plating solution Q in the plating tank 10 from fluctuating.

  Around the plating tank 10, a circulation tank 40 for storing the plating solution Q overflowing the peripheral wall of the plating tank 10 is disposed. The plating solution Q stored in the circulation tank 40 is driven by the circulation pump 42. Circulate back to the inside of the plating tank 10. This constitutes a plating solution circulation system.

  In this example, a plurality of plating solution ejection pipes 44 having a large number of plating solution ejection ports at predetermined positions along the length direction are arranged in parallel at the bottom of the plating tank 10. The plating solution ejection pipe 44 constitutes a plating solution ejection mechanism. Thereby, the plating solution discharged from the circulation pump 42 is ejected from the plating solution ejection pipe (plating solution ejection mechanism) 44 when the substrate holder 16 holding the plurality of substrates W is disposed in the plating tank 10. It is ejected into the plating tank 10 so as to generate a flow of the plating solution parallel to the surface of the substrate W from the outlet.

  Above the plating tank 10, a lid 46 that covers the upper part of the plating tank 10 and suppresses a change in the liquid composition due to a temperature drop and evaporation of the plating solution Q in the plating tank 10 is disposed. It is attached to the upper end of the circulation tank 40 through a hinge 48 so as to be freely opened and closed. The lid 46 opens and closes in conjunction with the operation of the transfer arm 12 when the substrate holder 16 is taken in and out of the plating tank 10 by the transfer arm 12.

  The plating tank 10 and the circulation tank 40 are provided with thermocouples 50a and 50b for measuring the temperature of the plating solution Q accumulated therein. The output signals from the thermocouples 50a and 50b are input to the temperature control unit 52, and the heater 54 installed in the circulation tank 40 is controlled by the output signal from the temperature control unit 52, whereby the plating solution temperature. Is held constant.

  As shown in FIG. 2, the plating tank 10 is provided with a plating solution analysis / replenishment device 56, and the plating solution Q in the plating tank 10 is sent to the plating solution analysis / replenishment device 56, where the plating solution Q After the concentration, pH and the like of each component are analyzed, necessary plating solution components are replenished and returned to the circulation tank 40.

  With the above configuration, the plurality of substrates W held by the substrate holder 16 are immersed in the plating solution Q in the plating tank 10 together with the substrate holder 16 to plate the surface of the substrate W. That is, after holding a plurality of substrates W inside the substrate holder 16, the support frame 14 that rotatably supports the substrate holder 16 is gripped by the transfer arm 12 and transferred to the position directly above the plating tank 10. Next, the transfer arm 12 is lowered, and the substrate W held by the substrate holder 16 is immersed in the plating solution Q in the plating tank 10. As the transfer arm 12 descends, the lid 46 opens and closes so as not to hinder the passage of the substrate holder 16.

  During the plating, the circulating pump 42 is driven to circulate the plating solution Q between the plating tank 10 and the circulation tank 40, and the temperature of the plating solution Q is kept constant by the temperature control unit 52. At the same time, the rotation motor 28 is driven to rotate the substrate holder 16 to rotate the plurality of substrates W held by the substrate holder 16 in the vertical direction in the plating solution Q in the plating tank 10. Accordingly, the batch processing method is adopted to increase the processing capability as an apparatus, and the substrate W held by the substrate holder 16 is rotated together with the substrate holder 16 during the plating process, so that the plating solution is applied to the substrate surface. A plating film excellent in in-plane uniformity of film thickness and film quality that does not depend on the flow direction can be formed with high selectivity.

  In particular, in this example, the plating solution is ejected from the plating solution outlet of the plating solution ejection pipe 44 disposed at the bottom of the plating vessel 10 into the plating vessel 10 to circulate the plating solution, thereby being parallel to the surface of the substrate W. It is possible to increase the in-plane uniformity of the film thickness and film quality of the plating film formed on the substrate surface by generating a proper flow of the plating solution.

  3 and 4 show a substrate processing apparatus according to another embodiment of the present invention applied to an electrolytic plating apparatus. This electroless plating apparatus (substrate processing apparatus) is different from the electroless plating apparatus shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 in that a link is used instead of a drive belt as power transmission means from the rotary motor to the substrate holder. It is in.

  In other words, the electroless plating apparatus of this example has a small-diameter drive gear 60 that is disposed on the side of the support frame 14 separately from the rotary motor 28 and fixed to the drive shaft of the rotary motor 28, and the support frame 14. A large-diameter driven gear 62 rotatably supported on the case body 18 is meshed with each other. Further, the rotating shaft 16a of the substrate holder 16 is extended to the side of the one side case 20, and the rotating plate 64 is fixed to the end of the rotating shaft 16a. Then, one end of the link 66 is rotatably connected to a position eccentric from the center of the driven gear 62 and the other end of the link 66 is rotatably connected to a position eccentric from the center of the rotating plate 64. The link 66 constitutes a rotation mechanism (parallel movement mechanism), and as the driven gear 62 rotates, the rotation shaft 16a of the substrate holder 16 rotates via the rotation mechanism (parallel movement mechanism). ing.

  In this example, since the rotary motor 28 can be fixed not to the substrate holder 16 side but to the plating tank 10 side, the substrate holder 16 can be reduced in weight and the load on the transfer arm 12 can be reduced. it can. Furthermore, since it is not necessary to seal the drive system, it is excellent in maintainability. Further, there is an advantage that it is possible to relatively easily prevent the plating solution Q in the plating tank 10 from being pulled up to the vicinity of the rotary motor 28 by the transmission of power by the link 66.

  5 and 6 show a substrate processing apparatus according to still another embodiment of the present invention applied to an electroless plating apparatus. The electroless plating apparatus (substrate processing apparatus) of this example is different from the electroless plating apparatus shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 in that the substrate holder 16 is provided by the flow of the plating solution Q without providing a rotary motor and its power transmission means. It is in the point which is trying to rotate.

  That is, the electroless plating apparatus of this example uses a substrate holder 16 in which an impeller 68 having a plurality of blades 68 a is attached to the side of the side plate 22, and a plating solution ejection pipe 44. The rotating mechanism is configured such that a part of the flow of the plating solution ejected from the plating solution ejection port directly contacts the blade 68 a of the impeller 68. As a result, when the plating solution is ejected from the plating solution ejection port of the plating solution ejection pipe 44 as the circulation pump 42 is driven, a part of the flow of this plating solution directly strikes the blade 68 a of the impeller 68. The substrate holder 16 rotates. In this example, the rotational speed of the substrate holder 16 can be adjusted by the flow rate and flow rate of the plating solution ejected from the plating solution ejection port of the plating solution ejection pipe 44.

  In this example, it is difficult to obtain a high rotation speed of the substrate holder 16 as compared with the electroless plating apparatus in the above-described examples, and there is a problem that the rotation of the substrate holder 16 is not stable at the initial stage of plating. However, in actual electroless plating, the growth rate of the plating film is relatively slow, on the order of several tens of nm / min to several hundreds of nm / min. Therefore, the influence on the film thickness and film quality of the plating film formed on the substrate surface is not affected. Relatively small.

  FIG. 7 is a plan layout view of a substrate processing system using, for example, the substrate processing apparatus (electroless plating apparatus) having the configuration shown in FIGS. 1 and 2. In this substrate processing system, for example, zincate processing (zinc catalyst conversion processing), electroless Ni plating, and electroless Au plating are sequentially performed on aluminum wiring of a substrate W such as a semiconductor wafer. Note that the substrate processing apparatus (electroless plating apparatus) shown in FIGS. 3 and 4 or FIGS. 5 and 6 may be applied instead of the substrate processing apparatus (electroless plating apparatus) shown in FIGS. Of course it is good.

  This substrate processing system has a load / unload port 70 and an apparatus frame 72 for setting the substrate W in a state of being placed in a substrate cassette. Inside the apparatus frame 72, a transfer unit 74 for transferring the substrate W in the substrate cassette to the substrate holder 16, a Zn treatment tank 76, a Ni plating tank 78, an Au plating tank 80, three rinse tanks 82a, 82b and 82c, a dry (drying) tank 84, and a buffer tank 86 for temporarily storing the substrate holder 16 are disposed. Further, a transfer robot 88 is disposed between the load / unload port 70 and the transfer unit 74 located in the apparatus frame 72.

  In FIG. 7, only the substrate holder 16 is illustrated, but as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the substrate holder 16 is rotatably supported by the support frame 14 and is transported by the transport arm 12. A zincate processing apparatus (pre-plating processing apparatus) as a substrate processing apparatus of the present invention between the processing tank 76 and an electroless Ni plating apparatus as a substrate processing apparatus of the present invention between the Ni plating tank 78 and Au An electroless Au plating apparatus as a substrate processing apparatus of the present invention is configured with the plating tank 80.

Next, substrate processing by this substrate processing system will be described.
The substrate W is set in the load / unload port 70 in the form of being placed in the substrate cassette. The transfer robot 88 receives the substrate W from the substrate cassette set in the load / unload port 70 and transfers the substrate W to the inside of the substrate holder 16 located in the transfer unit 74. Set to the position. This operation is repeated for the number of substrates W held by the substrate holder 16. At this time, in order to prevent the foreign matter from the back surface of the substrate from being transferred to the surface of the adjacent substrate in the plating solution, it is desirable to set the substrate W on the substrate holder 16 so that the directions of the front surface are alternated. Further, the substrates positioned at both ends of the substrate holder 16 are likely to have a difference in the distribution of the plating solution flow compared to other substrates. For this reason, it is preferable to set a dummy wafer whose surface is covered with SiO ₂ or SiN on the substrate holder 16 as necessary. When the substrate W is set on the substrate holder 16, the end of the substrate W is pressed to fix the substrate W, and then the substrate holder 16 is moved by the transfer arm 12 (see FIGS. 1 and 2).

  First, the substrate holder 16 is moved to the Zn treatment tank 76, and a plurality of substrates W held by the substrate holder 16 are immersed in a treatment liquid in the Zn treatment tank 76 for a predetermined time to perform a zincate treatment (zinc catalyst treatment). . In the Zn treatment tank 76, the rotation motor 28 (see FIGS. 1 and 2) is driven to rotate the substrate holder 16, and the substrate W held by the substrate holder 16 is simultaneously rotated. Stir. After the zincate treatment, the substrate holder 16 is moved to the rinsing tank 82a by the transfer arm 12, and the substrate W held by the substrate holder 16 is immersed in the rinsing liquid (pure water) in the rinsing tank 82a for a predetermined time to perform rinsing (water washing). Do. At this time, the substrate holder 16 is rotated in the rinse liquid as necessary.

  Further, the substrate holder 16 is moved to the Ni plating tank 78, and in substantially the same manner as described above, electroless Ni plating is performed on the surface of the substrate W held by the substrate holder 16 for a predetermined time while rotating the substrate holder 16. A Ni plating film is formed on the aluminum wiring. Then, the substrate holder 16 is moved to the rinse tank 80b to rinse the substrate W. Next, the substrate holder 16 is moved to the Au plating tank 80, and electroless Au plating is performed on the surface of the substrate W held by the substrate holder 16 for a predetermined time while rotating the substrate holder 16 in substantially the same manner as described above. Then, an Au plating film is formed on the Ni plating film. Then, the substrate holder 16 is moved to the rinse tank 80c to rinse the substrate W. Thereby, the board | substrate (semiconductor wafer) which processed the electroless Ni plating and the electroless Au plating on the aluminum wiring is obtained.

  After the completion of plating, the substrate holder 16 is moved to the dry bath 84. In the dry bath 84, the substrate W is immersed in IPA (Isopropyl Alcohol) heated together with the substrate holder 16 to replace moisture and IPA, and then the substrate W is pulled up from the IPA in a heated atmosphere to dry the substrate W. Then, the substrate holder 16 is transferred to the transfer unit 74, and the dried substrate W held by the substrate holder 16 is returned to the original position of the substrate cassette by the transfer robot 88.

  The buffer tank 86 is a tank that temporarily stocks the substrate holder 16 in order to absorb the difference in processing time of each tank, and the installation location and the installation position are determined according to the balance of the plating and cleaning processing time. The Furthermore, the processing capacity of the entire apparatus can be improved by increasing the number of plating tanks and processing a plurality of substrate holders simultaneously by balancing the thickness of each plating layer.

  A wafer holder capable of rotating the semiconductor wafer in the surface direction was prepared, and zincate treatment and electroless Ni plating were performed on the silicon wafer with PVD-AL-Cu (film thickness 800 nm). In this process, the processing liquid is ejected from the processing liquid jet port to create an upward flow of the processing liquid, and while rotating the wafer, a zincate process and then an electroless Ni plating are performed on the wafer pad. A Ni plating film was formed. Substar AZ manufactured by Okuno Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. is used for the zincate treatment, ICP Nicolon GM manufactured by Okuno Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. is used for the electroless Ni plating, the zincate treatment is performed at room temperature, and the electroless Ni plating is performed at 80 ° C. The plating time was adjusted so that the thickness of the plating film was 5 μm.

  As a comparative example, a nickel plating film was formed on a pad of the wafer by performing zincate treatment and electroless Ni plating without rotating the wafer under the same conditions as in the example.

  As a result of measuring the appearance and film thickness distribution of the Ni plating film formed on the pad surface according to the example and the comparative example, in the case of the comparative example in which the wafer was not rotated in the plating tank, the plating solution was applied to the surface of the plating film. In the case of the example in which the wafer was rotated in the plating tank, the vertical pattern due to the flow of the plating solution was not observed on the surface of the plating film. The effect of rotating the wafer during electroless plating was confirmed.

It is a vertical front view which shows the substrate processing apparatus of embodiment of this invention applied to the electroless-plating apparatus. It is a vertical side view which shows the substrate processing apparatus of embodiment of this invention applied to the electroless-plating apparatus. It is a vertical front view which shows the substrate processing apparatus of other embodiment of this invention applied to the electroless-plating apparatus. It is a vertical side view which shows the substrate processing apparatus of other embodiment of this invention applied to the electroless-plating apparatus. It is a vertical front view which shows the substrate processing apparatus of further another embodiment of this invention applied to the electroless-plating apparatus. It is a vertical side view which shows the substrate processing apparatus of further another embodiment of this invention applied to the electroless-plating apparatus. It is a plane arrangement view showing an example of a substrate processing system.

Explanation of symbols

10 Plating tank (treatment tank)
12 transport arm 14 support frame 16 substrate holder 18 case body 20 side case 22 side plate 24 support rod 26 driven pulley 28 rotation motor 30 drive pulley 32 drive belt (rotation mechanism)
40 Circulating tank 42 Circulating pump 44 Plating solution ejection pipe (Plating solution ejection mechanism)
46 Lids 50a, 50b Thermocouple 52 Temperature controller 54 Heater 56 Plating solution analysis / replenishment device 60 Drive gear 62 Driven gear 64 Rotating plate 66 Link 68 Impeller 70 Load / unload port 72 Device frame 74 Transfer unit 76 Zn treatment Tank 78 Ni plating tank 80 Au plating tank 84 Dry tank 86 Buffer tank

Claims (5)

A treatment tank for holding a treatment liquid;
A substrate holder for holding a plurality of substrates and immersing them in the processing liquid in the processing tank;
A temperature controller for controlling the temperature of the treatment liquid in the treatment tank;
A treatment liquid circulation system for circulating the treatment liquid in the treatment tank;
A substrate processing apparatus, comprising: a rotation mechanism for rotating the substrate holder in the processing liquid in the processing tank while holding a plurality of substrates.   2. The processing liquid circulation system according to claim 1, wherein the processing liquid circulation system includes a processing liquid ejection mechanism that ejects the processing liquid toward a substrate held by the substrate holder and immersed in the processing liquid in the processing tank. Substrate processing equipment.   3. The substrate processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein a liquid flow of a processing liquid introduced into the processing tank by the processing liquid circulation system is used as a power source for the rotation mechanism.   The substrate processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the substrate processing apparatus is an electroless plating apparatus that uses a plating solution as a processing solution.   The substrate processing apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the substrate processing apparatus is a plating pretreatment apparatus that applies a catalyst to the substrate surface prior to electroless plating.

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