JP2009246000A - Processing equipment and method of substrate - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide processing equipment which can use nano bubbles contained in processing liquid for cleaning and processing a substrate repeatedly. <P>SOLUTION: Processing equipment comprises a processing tank 1 into which a substrate is fed, a nano bubble generator 11 for supplying processing liquid containing nano bubbles for cleaning and processing a substrate in the processing tank, a liquid storage tank 7 for collecting the processing liquid which is supplied to the substrate in the processing tank by the nano bubble generator and containing fine particles having a potential reverse to that of nano bubbles which are removed from the substrate by the potential of the nano bubbles, and a filtering device 18 for separating the fine particles contained in the processing liquid used for cleaning the substrate and nano bubbles adhering to the surface of the fine particles and removing the fine particles, and then supplying the processing liquid containing only the nano bubbles to the processing tank. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2010,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a substrate processing apparatus and a processing method for cleaning a device surface on which a circuit pattern of a substrate such as a semiconductor wafer or a glass substrate of a liquid crystal display is formed.

  For example, in a manufacturing process of a liquid crystal display device or a semiconductor device, there is a process in which a device surface on which a circuit pattern of a substrate such as a semiconductor wafer or a glass substrate is formed is required to be cleaned with high cleanliness.

  As a method for cleaning the device surface of the substrate, there are a dip method in which the substrate is immersed in the cleaning solution, and a spin method in which the cleaning solution is sprayed from the nozzle toward the device surface of the substrate held by the rotary table. Each method is selectively employed as appropriate according to the substrate cleaning conditions and the like.

  A processing apparatus described in Patent Document 1 is known as one of dip systems. The processing apparatus described in Patent Document 1 has a processing tank for storing a liquid, and immerses the substrate in the processing liquid in the processing tank. The processing liquid stored in the processing tank contains microbubbles generated by the microbubble generator.

  Since the microbubbles contained in the treatment liquid have a large surface area as a whole and are usually charged at a negative potential, the microbubbles attached to the substrate, usually on the surface of the fine particles charged at a positive potential, Bubbles are adsorbed.

Thereby, the fine particles adhering to the substrate are encapsulated in microbubbles and peeled off from the substrate and removed. That is, the fine particles attached to the substrate can be removed from the substrate by the processing liquid containing microbubbles. The fine particles removed from the substrate by the microbubbles are contained in the cleaning liquid in a state where the microbubbles are attached to the entire surface and are discharged from the processing tank.
JP 2006-179664 A

  However, just by removing the microparticles attached to the substrate by microbubbles as in Patent Document 1, the microbubbles are attached to the microparticles removed from the substrate by electrostatic force in the cleaning liquid after the removal.

  For this reason, since the cleaning liquid for cleaning the substrate contains fine particles, the cleaning liquid cannot be reused. As a result, the cleaning liquid must be discarded every time it is used as described above, and cannot be used repeatedly, which is very uneconomical.

  It is conceivable that the cleaning liquid is passed through a filter, fine particles are removed from the cleaning liquid, and the cleaning liquid is reused. However, if the cleaning liquid is passed through a filter to remove the fine particles, the microbubbles attached to the fine particles are also removed, so that the cleaning effect of the cleaning liquid may not be maintained.

  On the other hand, recently, circuit patterns formed on the device surface of a substrate have a higher density and tend to be finer. When a circuit pattern is miniaturized, in order to improve the cleaning effect of the circuit pattern, it is required to clean the substrate with bubbles having a particle size smaller than that of microbubbles, that is, nanobubbles having a particle size of 1 μm or less.

  Even in such a case, it is required to reduce the running cost for cleaning the substrate by repeatedly using the cleaning liquid containing nanobubbles.

  The present invention provides a substrate processing apparatus and a processing method capable of improving cost and productivity by allowing the nanobubbles contained in the processing liquid and the processing liquid to be repeatedly used. is there.

The present invention is a substrate processing apparatus for cleaning and removing fine particles adhering to a substrate,
A treatment tank to which the substrate is supplied;
A treatment liquid supply means for supplying a treatment liquid containing nanobubbles to the substrate of the treatment tank;
A liquid storage tank for recovering a processing liquid containing the fine particles having a potential opposite to that of the nanobubbles supplied to the substrate of the processing tank by the processing liquid supply means and removed from the substrate by the potential of the nanobubbles;
Separating means for separating the fine particles contained in the treatment liquid that has washed the substrate and nanobubbles attached to the surface of the fine particles, removing the fine particles, and supplying a treatment liquid containing only the nanobubbles to the treatment tank. A substrate processing apparatus is provided.

  The processing liquid containing nanobubbles produced by the processing liquid supply means is stored in the liquid storage tank, and the processing liquid stored in the liquid storage tank is supplied to the processing tank through the separation means and stored in the storage tank. It is preferable to collect in a liquid tank.

  The treatment liquid supply means is supplied with a gas and a liquid for producing the treatment liquid containing nanobubbles, and the supply of the gas and the liquid to the treatment liquid supply means is controlled by a supply control means. It is preferred that

The present invention is a substrate processing apparatus for cleaning and removing fine particles adhering to a substrate,
A treatment tank in which the substrate is supplied;
A treatment liquid supply means for supplying a treatment liquid containing nanobubbles to the substrate of the treatment tank and removing the fine particles having a potential opposite to the nanobubbles from the substrate by the potential of the nanobubbles;
Separation means for separating the fine particles contained in the treatment liquid that has washed the substrate by the treatment liquid supply means and nanobubbles attached to the surface of the fine particles to remove the fine particles;
A substrate processing apparatus comprising: a storage tank for storing a processing liquid containing nanobubbles from which the fine particles have been removed by the separation means and supplying the processing liquid to the processing liquid supply means.

  Preferably, the separation means is a filter device having a filter member that repels the charged potential of the nanobubbles and is charged to a potential of a predetermined polarity that attracts the potential of the fine particles and prevents the fine particles from passing through. .

  It is preferable to have an ionizer that charges the filter member to the potential of the predetermined polarity.

The present invention is a substrate processing method for cleaning and removing fine particles adhering to a substrate,
Supplying the substrate to the treatment tank;
Supplying a treatment liquid containing nanobubbles to the substrate of the treatment tank;
Removing the fine particles having a potential opposite to that of the nanobubbles supplied to the substrate by the potential of the nanobubbles supplied to the substrate of the treatment tank from the substrate;
There is provided a substrate processing method comprising: a step of separating the fine particles and nano bubbles attached to the fine particles to remove the fine particles, and supplying a treatment liquid containing only the nano bubbles to the treatment tank.

  According to this invention, the fine particles contained in the treatment liquid collected from the treatment tank and the nanobubbles attached to the fine particles are separated, and the treatment liquid containing only the nanobubbles can be supplied by removing the fine particles. In addition, the nanobubbles can be reused, and the substrate can be cleaned efficiently.

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.
FIG. 1 shows a processing apparatus according to a first embodiment of the present invention. This processing apparatus includes a processing tank 1. A mounting table 2 is provided inside the processing tank 1, and the mounting table 2 is rotationally driven by a first drive source 3 provided below the processing tank 1. A substrate W such as a semiconductor wafer or glass substrate is supplied on the upper surface of the mounting table 2 with the device surface on which a circuit pattern (not shown) is formed facing upward, and is held by means such as vacuum suction.

  A treatment liquid L described later is supplied to the substrate W. The processing liquid L supplied to the substrate W and cleaning the device surface of the substrate W flows into the drainage pipe 5 having one end connected to the bottom of the processing tank 1. The processing liquid L that has flowed through the drain pipe 5 is collected in the liquid storage tank 7.

  The liquid storage tank 7 is supplied with nanobubble water that becomes the treatment liquid L from the nanobubble generator 11. A gas supply pump 12 and a liquid supply pump 13 are connected to the nanobubble generator 11 by pipes 12a and 13a, respectively. The pipes 12a and 13a are provided with first and second opening / closing control valves 14a and 14b, respectively.

The gas supply pump 12 supplies a gas such as nitrogen gas or carbon dioxide gas to the nanobubble generator 11 at a predetermined pressure, and the liquid supply pump 13 supplies isopropyl alcohol (IPA) or pure water to the nanobubble generator 11. Supply the liquid.
The gas and liquid may be pressurized to a predetermined pressure in advance without using the pumps 12 and 13, and the gas and liquid stored in a tank (not shown) may be supplied to the nanobubble generator 11.

  The gas supplied to the nanobubble generator 11 becomes a swirl flow, and the liquid flows as a swirl flow having a swirl speed faster than that of the gas and flows around the gas. As a result, when the gas is sheared by the liquid, fine-sized bubbles, that is, nanobubbles, are generated, and the nanobubbles are mixed into the liquid and become nanobubble water as the treatment liquid L.

  The particle size of the bubbles contained in the liquid can be set by the swirling speed of the gas and the liquid. In this embodiment, the nanobubbles having a diameter of 1 μm or less are generated by the gas sheared by the liquid. The turning speed of the gas and liquid supplied to the generator 11 is set. Thereby, the processing liquid L supplied to the liquid storage tank 7 from the nanobubble generator 11 and stored therein becomes nanobubble water containing nanobubbles as described above.

  The processing liquid L includes not only nanobubbles but also microbubbles. In that case, by supplying the treatment liquid L produced by the nanobubble generator 11 to the liquid storage tank 7 and leaving it for a predetermined time, the microbubbles contained in the treatment liquid L float on the liquid surface by buoyancy. Will be removed. On the other hand, since nanobubbles are fine and do not have buoyancy, they do not float in the liquid and are not diffused into the atmosphere from the surface of the processing liquid L like microbubbles.

  In this way, the processing liquid L containing nanobubbles stored in the liquid storage tank 7 is washed above the processing tank 1 through the liquid supply pipe 15 having one end connected to the liquid storage tank 7. 16 is supplied. The liquid supply pipe 15 is sequentially provided with a pressure pump 17 and a filter device 18 as a separating means.

The washing nozzle 16 is attached to the tip of the horizontal arm 19. The base end of the horizontal arm 19 is connected to the upper part of the rotating shaft 21 provided with the axis line vertical. The rotary shaft 21 is rotationally driven by a second drive source 22. Accordingly, the cleaning nozzle 16 moves in a circular arc above the substrate W that rotates together with the mounting table 2.
In this embodiment, the nanobubble generator 11 and the cleaning nozzle 16 constitute a processing liquid supply means.

  The filter device 18 is a mesh having a size that does not allow the dirt contained in the processing liquid L flowing through the liquid supply pipe 15, that is, the fine particles P (shown in FIG. 2) removed from the substrate W to pass as will be described later. The filter member 24 is provided.

  The filter member 24 can adsorb and capture the fine particles P with a material which is easily charged with negative static electricity, such as a fluorine-based or vinyl chloride-based resin. Further, the filter member 24 is charged with negative charges by an ionizer 25 shown by a chain line in FIG.

  As a result, the filter member 24 charged to a potential different from that of the fine particles P adsorbs and removes the fine particles P contained in the processing liquid L, and allows nanobubbles having the same potential as the filter member 24 to pass therethrough. Yes.

  If the filter member 24 is formed of a fluorine-based or vinyl chloride-based resin, static electricity is generated due to fluid flowing therethrough and generating frictional force. Therefore, even if the ionizer 25 is not used, the filter member 24 is negatively charged. Can be charged.

  As described above, it is known that the fine particles P, which are dirt adhered to the substrate W, are charged with a positive charge, and the nanobubbles b are charged with a negative charge. As a result, when the treatment liquid L containing nanobubbles b is supplied to the substrate W as shown in FIG. 2, the nanobubbles b are attracted to the surface of the fine particles P adhering to the substrate W and envelop the entire surface.

  The fine particles P wrapped in the nanobubbles b are peeled off from the substrate W as indicated by arrows in the figure, and float in the liquid together with the nanobubbles b. That is, since the fine particles P are removed from the substrate W by the nanobubbles b, the substrate W is cleaned.

  When the treatment liquid L containing the fine particles P wrapped in the nanobubbles b is collected from the treatment tank 1 to the liquid storage tank 7 and then supplied to the filter device 18 by the pressurizing pump 17 through the liquid supply pipe 15, this filter device. Fine particles P contained in the processing liquid L are captured by the 18 filter members 24.

  In addition, since the filter member 24 is charged to a negative potential, the fine particles P captured by the filter member 24 are adsorbed and held by the filter member 24. Thereby, the fine particles P are reliably removed from the processing liquid L by the filter member 24.

  The processing liquid L is supplied to the filter device 18 and the filter member 24 removes the fine particles P from the processing liquid L. At the same time, the negatively charged nanobubbles b attached to the surface of the fine particles P by electrostatic force and the filter member 24 are charged. The negative potential is repelled, and the nanobubbles b are separated from the fine particles P by the repulsive force. The nanobubbles b separated from the fine particles P pass through the filter member 24 together with the processing liquid L.

  As a result, the cleaning nozzle 16 connected to the liquid supply pipe 15 is supplied with the cleaning liquid L from which the fine particles P are removed and only the nanobubbles b are contained. Therefore, the nanobubbles b generated by the nanobubble generator 11 are supplied. Can be used repeatedly.

  Opening and closing of the first and second open / close control valves 14 a and 14 b provided in the pipes 12 a and 13 a for supplying gas and liquid to the nanobubble generator 11 is controlled by the control device 27. That is, the level of the processing liquid L stored in the liquid storage tank 7 is detected by the liquid level sensor 28, and the detection signal is output to the control device 27.

  When the liquid level sensor 28 detects that the liquid level of the liquid storage tank 7 has become equal to or lower than a predetermined level, the first and second open / close control valves that have been closed until then are detected by the detection signal. Gases and liquids pressurized to a predetermined pressure are supplied to the nanobubble generator 11 by opening 14a and 14b. When the liquid level in the liquid storage tank 7 is below a predetermined level, the first and second open / close control valves 14a and 14b are closed, and the supply of gas and liquid is stopped.

As a result, the liquid storage tank 7 always stores a certain amount or more of the processing liquid L. That is, the amount of nanobubbles b contained in the processing liquid L to be circulated is maintained at a predetermined amount or more by appropriately replenishing the processing liquid L by the nanobubble generator 11. It is possible to prevent the cleaning effect from deteriorating.
The first and second opening / closing control valves 14a and 14b and the control device 27 constitute supply control means for controlling the supply of liquid and gas to the nanobubble generator 11.

  According to the processing apparatus having such a configuration, the mounting table 2 on which the substrate W is mounted is rotated, the cleaning nozzle 16 is swung over the substrate W, and the processing including the nanobubble b from the cleaning nozzle 16 is performed. The liquid L is supplied to the substrate W.

  As a result, the nanobubble b charged with a negative potential contained in the processing liquid L is attracted to the surface of the charged fine particle P attached to the surface of the substrate W as shown in FIG. Since the surface is wrapped, the fine particles P are removed from the surface of the substrate W and float from the upper surface of the substrate W as indicated by arrows in FIG.

  The fine particles P removed from the substrate W are collected from the processing tank 1 to the liquid storage tank 7 in a state where the surface thereof is wrapped with the nanobubbles b. The treatment liquid L containing the fine particles P collected in the liquid storage tank 7 is sent to the filter device 18 by the pressure pump 17.

  The filter member 24 of the filter device 18 is negatively charged by the ionizer 25. Therefore, the fine particles P charged with a positive potential contained in the processing liquid L sent to the filter device 18 are adsorbed by the filter member 24 charged with a negative potential.

  At the same time, the nanobubble b having a negative potential attached to the surface of the fine particle P generates a repulsive force between the filter member 24 charged with the same negative potential, and thus is separated from the fine particle P by the repulsive force. L flows to the cleaning nozzle 16.

  As described above, the nanobubbles b contained in the treatment liquid L are separated from the fine particles P by the filter device 18, and the fine particles P are captured by the filter member 24, and the nanobubbles b are separated from the fine particles P.

  Therefore, the nanobubble b separated from the treatment liquid L and the fine particles P that do not contain the fine particles P can be reused, so that it is more economical than the case where the treatment liquid L is discarded as it is once used. .

  FIG. 3 shows a processing apparatus according to the second embodiment of the present invention. Note that the same parts as those in the first embodiment are denoted by the same reference numerals and description thereof is omitted. In the second embodiment, a filter device 18 is provided in the drain pipe 5 that collects the processing liquid L from the processing tank 1 into the liquid storage tank 7. The drainage pipe 5 is provided with a pressurizing pump 31 for supplying the processing liquid L collected in the liquid storage tank 7 to the filter device 18 at a predetermined pressure. A liquid to be the processing liquid L is supplied to the liquid storage tank 7 through a pipe 12 a by a liquid supply pump 12. The pipe 12a is provided with a first opening / closing control valve 14a.

  The processing liquid L stored in the liquid storage tank 7 is supplied to the nanobubble generator 11 by the pressurizing pump 17. A pipe 13 a provided with a second on-off valve 14 b is connected to the nanobubble generator 11, and gas is supplied by the gas supply pump 13 through the pipe 13 a.

  The nanobubble generator 11 is supplied with the processing liquid L collected in the processing tank 1 by a pressurizing pump 17 and supplied with gas by a gas supply pump 13. And in the nano bubble generator 11, the process liquid L is newly made with the said process liquid L and gas. That is, the new processing liquid L is further supplemented with new nanobubbles b generated by the nanobubble generator 11.

  In the second embodiment, of the first and second on / off control valves 14a and 14b, only the first on / off valve 14a detects a liquid level sensor 28 that detects the liquid level in the liquid storage tank 7. Is controlled to open and close. Thereby, the liquid storage tank 7 stores a predetermined amount or more of the processing liquid L.

  Even with such a configuration, as in the first embodiment, the fine bubbles P can be removed from the used processing liquid L by the filter device 18 and the nanobubbles b can be reused. That is, it is economical because the treatment liquid L and the nanobubble b can be used repeatedly.

  In addition, the nanobubble b is repeatedly used and the processing liquid L is replenished with the nanobubble b generated by the nanobubble generator 11 each time the processing liquid L is supplied to the cleaning nozzle 16. As a result, it is possible to prevent the nanobubbles b contained in the processing liquid L from decreasing, and thus the cleaning effect of the processing liquid L may be reliably maintained.

  In the first and second embodiments, the substrate W is supplied to the rotation-driven mounting table for cleaning, but the substrate is supplied to the processing tank while being transported horizontally by a roller or a conveyor. The present invention can be applied even when processing is performed by supplying a processing liquid containing nanobubbles to the upper surface of the substrate in the processing tank.

  In that case, the cleaning nozzle for supplying the processing liquid to the substrate has a configuration capable of supplying the processing liquid over the entire length in the width direction intersecting the substrate transport direction, for example, a plurality of nozzle chips are provided at predetermined intervals on the pipe. What is necessary is just to use the thing of the structure by which the elongate slit was formed along the width direction of a structure or a board | substrate.

  Furthermore, the present invention can also be applied to a so-called dip type processing apparatus in which a plurality of substrates are immersed in a processing tank supplied with a processing solution and the substrates are cleaned.

The schematic block diagram of the processing apparatus which shows 1st Embodiment of this invention. Explanatory drawing when removing microparticles | fine-particles with the nanobubble contained in a process liquid from a board | substrate. The schematic block diagram of the processing apparatus which shows 2nd Embodiment of this invention.

Explanation of symbols

  DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Processing tank, 2 ... Mounting table, 7 ... Liquid storage tank, 11 ... Nano bubble generator (processing liquid supply means), 14a, 14b ... Open / close control valve (supply control means), 16 ... Washing nozzle (processing liquid supply) Means), 18 ... filter device (separation means), 24 ... filter member, 25 ... ionizer, 27 ... control device (supply control means).

Claims (7)

A substrate processing apparatus for cleaning and removing fine particles adhering to a substrate,
A treatment tank to which the substrate is supplied;
A treatment liquid supply means for supplying a treatment liquid containing nanobubbles to the substrate of the treatment tank;
A liquid storage tank for recovering a processing liquid containing the fine particles having a potential opposite to that of the nanobubbles supplied to the substrate of the processing tank by the processing liquid supply means and removed from the substrate by the potential of the nanobubbles;
Separating means for separating the fine particles contained in the treatment liquid that has washed the substrate and nanobubbles attached to the surface of the fine particles, removing the fine particles, and supplying a treatment liquid containing only the nanobubbles to the treatment tank. A substrate processing apparatus comprising the substrate processing apparatus.   The processing liquid containing nanobubbles produced by the processing liquid supply means is stored in the liquid storage tank, and the processing liquid stored in the liquid storage tank is supplied to the processing tank through the separation means and stored in the storage tank. The substrate processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the substrate processing apparatus is collected in a liquid tank.   The treatment liquid supply means is supplied with a gas and a liquid for producing the treatment liquid containing nanobubbles, and the supply of the gas and the liquid to the treatment liquid supply means is controlled by a supply control means. The substrate processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein: A substrate processing apparatus for cleaning and removing fine particles adhering to a substrate,
A treatment tank in which the substrate is supplied;
A treatment liquid supply means for supplying a treatment liquid containing nanobubbles to the substrate of the treatment tank and removing the fine particles having a potential opposite to the nanobubbles from the substrate by the potential of the nanobubbles;
Separation means for separating the fine particles contained in the treatment liquid that has washed the substrate by the treatment liquid supply means and nanobubbles attached to the surface of the fine particles to remove the fine particles;
A substrate processing apparatus comprising: a storage tank for storing a processing liquid containing nanobubbles from which the fine particles have been removed by the separation means and supplying the processing liquid to the processing liquid supply means.   The separation means is a filter device having a filter member that is repelled from the charged potential of the nanobubbles and is charged to a potential of a predetermined polarity that attracts the potential of the fine particles and prevents the fine particles from passing through. The substrate processing apparatus according to claim 1 or 4.   6. The substrate processing apparatus according to claim 5, further comprising an ionizer that charges the filter member to a potential having the predetermined polarity. A substrate processing method for cleaning and removing fine particles adhering to a substrate,
Supplying the substrate to the treatment tank;
Supplying a treatment liquid containing nanobubbles to the substrate of the treatment tank;
Removing the fine particles having a potential opposite to that of the nanobubbles supplied to the substrate by the potential of the nanobubbles supplied to the substrate of the treatment tank from the substrate;
And separating the nanobubbles attached to the fine particles, removing the fine particles, and supplying a treatment liquid containing only the nanobubbles to the treatment tank.

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