JP2010050340A - Substrate processing apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To uniformly process the surface of a substrate even while reducing the consumption of a processing liquid. <P>SOLUTION: A substrate processing apparatus includes a support mechanism for supporting the substrate 10 so as to be carried to a predetermined direction A, a supply port for supplying the processing liquid to the surface of the substrate 10 opposed to and supported by the support mechanism, and a plurality of processing heads 20 having suction ports for suctioning the processing liquid from the surface of the substrate 10. The processing heads 20 not only carry out different processes to the substrate 10 but also are disposed along with the carrying direction A. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2010,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a substrate processing apparatus for processing, for example, a large glass substrate.

  In general, in the manufacturing process of a liquid crystal panel, an integrated circuit is formed on the surface of a large glass substrate by repeatedly performing film forming, resist coating, developing, etching, resist stripping, and other processes. . At this time, the above various processes are performed on the surface of the substrate while being transported in the horizontal direction in a horizontal posture or an inclined posture.

  For example, in the resist stripping process, the stripping solution is supplied to the surface of the substrate that is transported in the horizontal direction in a horizontal posture, and then the surface is rinsed with cleaning water. In the rinsing step, the substrate is transported in the horizontal direction in an inclined posture. As the stripping solution, amine stripping organic stripping solutions are frequently used. When the surface of the substrate treated with such a stripping solution is washed directly with water, a strong alkaline solution is generated, and the metal wiring on the substrate surface is eroded and damaged. For this reason, the substrate surface may be subjected to substitution cleaning with an organic solvent not containing an amine such as dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) called a substitution solution between the treatment with the stripping solution and the water washing treatment.

  After that, at the outlet of the chemical treatment area, the treatment liquid remaining on the surface of the substrate is removed to the extent that the surface of the substrate is not dried in order to prevent the chemical liquid such as the stripping solution or the replacement liquid from entering the next water washing treatment area. To be done. As this removal device, it is known to use an air knife type removal device using a slit nozzle that ejects air in a curtain shape.

  It is also known that cleaning water is supplied to the surface of the substrate in the form of a curtain to replace the residual treatment liquid on the substrate with water, and then the liquid knife is formed by ejecting the cleaning water. (See, for example, Patent Document 1).

On the other hand, there has been proposed a substrate cleaning apparatus that supplies and sucks high-pressure gas onto a substrate to dryly clean the surface of the substrate (see, for example, Patent Document 2).
JP 2006-205086 A Special table 2007-514528

  However, as disclosed in the above-mentioned Patent Document 1, in the method in which the processing liquid is caused to flow down on the surface of the substrate by setting the substrate in an inclined posture, the amount of the processing liquid used increases. This is inevitable, leading to increased costs and environmental problems. Furthermore, since the processing liquid tends to stay on the substrate surface and it is extremely difficult to flow the processing liquid uniformly over the entire substrate surface, it is difficult to increase the processing accuracy.

  On the other hand, the above Patent Document 2 does not disclose anything about uniform processing over the entire large-sized substrate.

  The present invention has been made in view of such points, and an object of the present invention is to treat the substrate surface as uniformly as possible while reducing the amount of treatment liquid used. .

  In order to achieve the above object, a substrate processing apparatus according to the present invention is disposed so as to face a support mechanism that supports a substrate to be processed so that the substrate can be transported in a predetermined transport direction. A plurality of processing heads each having a supply port for supplying a processing liquid to the surface of the substrate supported by the mechanism and a suction port for sucking the processing liquid from the surface of the substrate; The head performs different processing on the substrate and is arranged side by side in the transport direction.

  The plurality of processing heads are disposed on the lower side in the transport direction of the chemical liquid processing head with a chemical liquid processing head that performs chemical processing on the substrate with the chemical liquid as the processing liquid, and the substrate is replaced with the replacement liquid as the processing liquid. A replacement processing head for performing a replacement process, and a water washing processing head disposed on the lower side in the transport direction of the replacement processing head and performing a water cleaning process on the substrate with cleaning water as the processing liquid. .

  The processing head is preferably configured by a plurality of processing units arranged in a direction intersecting the transport direction and having the supply port and the suction port.

  It is preferable that at least one of the plurality of processing units is configured to blow out the processing liquid from the supply port in the transport direction as viewed from the normal direction of the substrate surface.

  The processing units disposed at both ends of the array may be configured to blow out the processing liquid toward the center in the array direction when viewed from the normal direction of the substrate surface.

  The processing units disposed at both ends of the array may be configured to blow out the processing liquid to the outside in the array direction as viewed from the normal direction of the substrate surface.

-Action-
Next, the operation of the present invention will be described.

  When a substrate is processed by the substrate processing apparatus, the substrate is transported while being supported by a support mechanism. The substrate is processed by a plurality of processing heads arranged in the transport direction. In each processing head, the substrate surface is processed by the processing liquid supplied from the supply port to the substrate surface. The processing liquid on the substrate surface is sucked from the suction port. Therefore, the substrate surface is processed with a small amount of processing liquid between the processing head and the substrate surface.

  When the processing head includes, for example, a chemical processing head, a replacement processing head, and a washing processing head, the substrate surface is first subjected to chemical processing with a chemical supplied from a supply port of the chemical processing head. The chemical solution on the substrate is sucked from the suction port. Next, in the replacement processing head, the substrate surface is subjected to replacement processing with the replacement liquid supplied from the supply port. The replacement liquid on the substrate is sucked from the suction port. Next, in the washing head, the substrate surface is washed with the washing water supplied from the supply port. The cleaning water on the substrate is sucked from the suction port.

  When the processing head is composed of a plurality of processing units arranged in a direction crossing the transport direction, the substrate surface is processed in each processing unit.

  In particular, when at least one of the processing units blows out the processing liquid in the transport direction as viewed from the normal direction of the substrate surface, external force (that is, transport force) in the transport direction is applied to the substrate by the blown processing liquid. Can do. Accordingly, the substrate can be transported without providing a separate transport means.

  In addition, if the processing units at both ends of the array blow the processing liquid toward the center side in the array direction when viewed from the normal direction of the substrate surface, an external force is applied to the center side in the array direction with respect to the substrate shifted outward in the array direction during transport. Since (restoring force) can be applied, it is possible to suppress the shift in the arrangement direction accompanying the conveyance of the substrate.

  In addition, if the processing units at both ends of the array spray the processing liquid to the outside in the array direction when viewed from the normal direction of the substrate surface, a tensile force can be applied to the substrate on both sides in the array direction, thereby stabilizing the substrate. And can be transported. In particular, when the substrate is a relatively soft flexible substrate, the substrate can be stably conveyed while maintaining flatness.

  According to the present invention, the processing liquid can be circulated in each processing head by processing the substrate surface with a plurality of processing heads arranged in the substrate transport direction, so that while using the processing liquid, The substrate surface can be processed uniformly. Furthermore, since the entire apparatus can be drastically reduced, the footprint of the apparatus can be reduced, and the substrate transport distance is shortened, so that the production speed can be greatly improved.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. The present invention is not limited to the following embodiment.

Embodiment 1 of the Invention
1 to 3 show Embodiment 1 of the present invention.

  FIG. 1 is a perspective view schematically showing a substrate processing apparatus 1 according to the first embodiment. FIG. 2 is a side view schematically showing the substrate processing apparatus 1. FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view schematically showing the structure of the processing head 20.

  The substrate processing apparatus 1 according to the present embodiment is configured to perform wet processing (wet etching, water washing, resist stripping, etc.) on a large-sized substrate 10 in the manufacturing process of the liquid crystal display panel.

  The substrate 10 is, for example, a large-sized substrate base material on which a plurality of TFT substrates constituting a liquid crystal display panel are integrally formed, and is composed of a flexible plastic substrate. Note that a plurality of TFTs (thin film transistors) are formed on the TFT substrate. Further, the substrate 10 is not limited to this.

  As shown in FIG. 2, the substrate processing apparatus 1 includes a support mechanism 12 that supports a substrate 10 to be processed so that the substrate 10 can be transported in a predetermined transport direction A (rightward in FIGS. 1 to 3), and a support mechanism 12. And a plurality of processing heads 20 arranged to face each other.

  The support mechanism 12 is constituted by a roller mechanism 12 including a plurality of rollers 11 whose axis centers are arranged in parallel. Thus, the substrate 10 is transported in the transport direction A on each rotating roller 11.

  As shown in FIG. 1, the processing head 20 is formed in a rectangular parallelepiped shape that extends long in a direction orthogonal to the transport direction A. As shown in FIG. 3, the processing head 20 is formed on the surface of the substrate 10 supported by the roller mechanism 12. A plurality of supply ports 14 and a plurality of suction ports 15 for sucking the processing liquid from the surface of the substrate 10 are provided.

  Each processing head 20 performs different processing on the substrate 10 and is arranged side by side in the transport direction A. That is, the plurality of processing heads 20 are disposed on the lower side of the chemical processing head 21, the replacement processing head 22 disposed on the lower side of the chemical processing head 21 in the transport direction A, and the lower side of the transporting direction A of the replacement processing head 22. It is comprised by the water-washing processing head 23 arrange | positioned.

  The chemical processing head 21 is configured to perform a chemical processing (for example, a resist stripping process) on the substrate with a chemical liquid (for example, a stripping liquid) as a processing liquid.

  The replacement processing head 22 is configured to perform a replacement process on the substrate 10 that has been subjected to the chemical solution processing using a replacement liquid (for example, an organic solvent such as dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO)) as a processing liquid.

  The rinsing head 23 is configured to perform a rinsing process on the substrate 10 that has been subjected to the replacement process with rinsing water as a processing liquid.

  Each processing head 20 is composed of a plurality of processing units 30 arranged in a direction intersecting the transport direction A. Each processing unit 30 has a plurality of supply ports 14 and suction ports 15.

  The chemical treatment head 21 is constituted by a plurality of chemical treatment units 31, the replacement treatment head 22 is constituted by a plurality of replacement treatment units 32, and the water washing treatment head 23 is constituted by a plurality of water washing treatment units 33.

  As shown in FIG. 3, each processing unit 30 has a similar structure, and a pressurizing passage 35 and a decompression passage 36 extending in the horizontal direction are formed therein. In the pressurizing passage 35, a plurality of supply passages 38 are branched from the substrate 10 side. The supply port 14 is formed at the tip of each supply passage 38. On the other hand, a plurality of suction passages 39 are formed in the decompression passage 36 so as to branch to the substrate 10 side. The suction port 15 is formed at the tip of each suction passage 39.

  Thus, each processing unit 30 applies an external force to the substrate 10 by discharging the processing liquid obliquely downward, and the component of the external force is generated in a predetermined direction B parallel to the substrate 10. In other words, each processing unit 30 blows out the processing liquid from the supply port 14 in the predetermined direction B when viewed from the normal direction of the surface of the substrate 10.

  At least one of the plurality of processing units 30 is configured to blow out the processing liquid from the supply port 14 in the transport direction A when viewed from the normal direction of the surface of the substrate 10. That is, as shown in FIG. 1, in each processing head 20, the processing units 30 arranged at the left and right centers in the arrangement direction of the processing units 30 respectively apply an external force in the transport direction A to the substrate 10. . The substrate 10 is transported on the roller mechanism 12 by the transport force received from these processing units 30.

  On the other hand, as shown in FIG. 1, the processing units 30 disposed at both ends of the array of the processing units 30 blow out the processing liquid to the outside in the array direction as viewed from the normal direction of the surface of the substrate 10. It is configured. Therefore, external forces directed toward the outside in the arrangement direction are applied to both end portions of the substrate 10.

-Substrate processing method-
Next, a substrate processing method by the substrate processing apparatus 1 will be described.

  First, in the area | region which opposes the chemical | medical solution processing head 21 in the board | substrate 10, the chemical | medical solution process of the board | substrate 10 is carried out with the chemical | medical solution supplied from the supply port 14 of each chemical | medical solution processing unit 31. The chemical solution on the substrate 10 is sucked from the suction port 15. In this way, since the chemical liquid pool is formed only in the vicinity of the area facing the chemical liquid processing head 21, chemical liquid processing with a very small amount of chemical liquid becomes possible. Then, the substrate 10 receives a transport force by the chemical liquid discharged from the chemical liquid processing head 21.

  Next, in the region of the substrate 10 facing the replacement processing head 22, the surface of the substrate 10 is subjected to replacement processing by the replacement liquid supplied from the supply port 14 of each replacement processing unit 32. The replacement liquid on the substrate 10 is sucked from the suction port 15. Thus, the replacement liquid pool is formed only in the vicinity of the region facing the replacement processing head 22, so that a replacement process with a very small amount of the replacement liquid becomes possible. Then, the substrate 10 receives a transport force by the replacement liquid discharged from the replacement processing head 22.

  Next, in the region of the substrate 10 facing the rinsing processing head 23, the surface of the substrate 10 is cleaned by the cleaning liquid supplied from the supply port 14 of each rinsing processing unit 33. The cleaning liquid on the substrate 10 is sucked from the suction port 15. In this way, the cleaning liquid pool is formed only in the vicinity of the area facing the water cleaning head 23, so that cleaning with a very small amount of cleaning liquid becomes possible. Then, the substrate 10 receives a conveyance force by the cleaning liquid discharged from the water washing processing head 23.

  In addition, since the processing units 30 at both ends of the array blow out the processing liquid to the outside in the array direction when viewed from the normal direction of the surface of the substrate 10, a tensile force is applied to the substrate 10 on both outer sides in the array direction. Therefore, the relatively soft flexible substrate 10 is stably conveyed while maintaining its flatness.

-Effect of Embodiment 1-
Therefore, according to the first embodiment, the surface of the substrate 10 is processed by the plurality of processing heads 20 arranged in the transport direction A of the substrate 10, so that the processing liquid (chemical solution, replacement liquid, and cleaning liquid) is processed in each processing head 20. Can be circulated, so that the amount of processing solution used can be greatly reduced. In addition, since the processing liquid can be reliably distributed to the entire surface of the substrate 10 for each processing unit 30, the entire surface of the substrate 10 can be uniformly processed. Furthermore, since the entire apparatus can be drastically reduced, the footprint of the substrate processing apparatus 1 can be reduced, and the transport distance of the substrate 10 is shortened, thereby greatly improving the production speed. be able to.

  Furthermore, since a tensile force can be applied to the substrate 10 on both outer sides in the arrangement direction, the substrate 10 can be stably conveyed. In particular, even if the substrate 10 is a relatively soft flexible substrate, the substrate 10 can be stably conveyed while preventing the meandering while maintaining the flatness of the substrate 10.

  Further, as shown in FIG. 1, the substrate processing apparatus 1 can be installed regardless of the length L1 of the substrate 10, and the interval between the processing heads 20 is set regardless of the length L1 of the substrate 10. Is possible.

  Furthermore, since a transport force can be applied to the substrate 10 by the processing liquid discharged from the supply port 14 of the processing unit 30 disposed on the center side in the arrangement direction, a separate transport force is generated in the roller mechanism 12. There is no need to provide a drive mechanism for this.

<< Embodiment 2 of the Invention >>
FIG. 4 shows a second embodiment of the present invention.

  FIG. 4 is a plan view schematically showing the substrate processing apparatus 1 according to the second embodiment. In the following embodiments, the same portions as those in FIGS. 1 to 3 are denoted by the same reference numerals, and detailed description thereof is omitted.

  In the first embodiment, the processing units 30 disposed at both ends of the array are configured to blow out the processing liquid to the outside in the array direction when viewed from the normal direction of the surface of the substrate 10, whereas in the second embodiment, Then, as shown in FIG. 4, it is comprised so that a process liquid may be blown off to the said arrangement direction center side.

  The substrate 10 applied to the second embodiment is preferably a relatively hard substrate such as a glass substrate.

  That is, as shown in FIG. 4, when the substrate 10 to be transported is biased in any of the above arrangement directions (in the vertical direction in the figure), the external force received from the processing unit 30 at one end is The external force received from the processing unit 30 at the other end is larger. As a result, the substrate 10 is pushed to the other side, and the substrate 10 is transported at a substantially central position in the arrangement direction due to the balance of external forces received by one and the other.

  For example, as indicated by a solid line in FIG. 4, when the substrate 10 is displaced upward in the drawing, the external force F received from the processing unit 30 on the upper end side is the external force S received from the processing unit 30 on the lower end side. As a result, the difference in the external force becomes a restoring force, and the substrate 10 is moved to the substantially central position in the arrangement direction and conveyed.

-Effect of Embodiment 2-
Therefore, according to the second embodiment, the same effect as in the first embodiment can be obtained, and the substrate 10 can be stably conveyed while preventing the meandering of the substrate 10.

<< Embodiment 3 of the Invention >>
FIG. 5 shows Embodiment 3 of the present invention.

  FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view showing the structure of the processing head 20 in the substrate processing apparatus 1 of the third embodiment.

  In the first and second embodiments, the example in which the external force received by the processing liquid discharged from the processing unit 30 is used as the transport force of the substrate 10 has been described. However, the transport force of the substrate 10 may be provided separately. For example, the roller mechanism 12 can be configured to have a conveyance force for the substrate 10.

  That is, as shown in FIG. 5, the supply passage 38 and the suction passage 39 of the third embodiment extend straight in the normal direction of the surface of the substrate 10. Therefore, the processing liquid is discharged perpendicularly to the surface of the substrate 10.

-Effect of Embodiment 3-
Therefore, according to the third embodiment, in addition to obtaining the same effect as in the first embodiment, since the discharge direction of the processing liquid is not limited, the processing liquid is discharged so that the processing on the surface of the substrate 10 becomes more uniform. It becomes possible to make it.

<< Other Embodiments >>
The present invention may be configured as follows with respect to the first embodiment.

  The type of the processing head is not limited to the chemical processing, the replacement processing, and the cleaning processing as described above, and other wet processing such as wet etching can be performed.

  Further, the support mechanism 12 is not limited to the roller mechanism 12, and other support mechanisms such as a belt system may be applied.

  As described above, the present invention is useful for a substrate processing apparatus that processes, for example, a large glass substrate.

FIG. 1 is a perspective view schematically showing the substrate processing apparatus according to the first embodiment. FIG. 2 is a side view schematically showing the substrate processing apparatus. FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view schematically showing the structure of the processing head. FIG. 4 is a plan view schematically showing the substrate processing apparatus of the second embodiment. FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view showing the structure of the processing head in the substrate processing apparatus of the third embodiment.

Explanation of symbols

A Transport direction 1 Substrate processing apparatus 10 Substrate 12 Roller mechanism (support mechanism)
14 Supply port 15 Suction port 20 Processing head 21 Chemical solution processing head 22 Replacement processing head 23 Flushing processing head 30 Processing unit 31 Chemical solution processing unit 32 Replacement processing unit 33 Flushing processing unit

Claims (6)

A support mechanism for supporting the substrate to be processed so as to be transportable in a predetermined transport direction;
A supply port for supplying the processing liquid to the surface of the substrate that is arranged facing the support mechanism and supported by the support mechanism, and a suction port for sucking the processing liquid from the surface of the substrate A plurality of processing heads,
Each of the processing heads performs different processing on the substrate and is arranged side by side in the transport direction. The substrate processing apparatus according to claim 1,
The plurality of processing heads are disposed on the lower side in the transport direction of the chemical liquid processing head with a chemical liquid processing head that performs chemical processing on the substrate with the chemical liquid as the processing liquid, and the substrate is replaced with the replacement liquid as the processing liquid. A replacement processing head for performing a replacement process on the substrate, and a rinsing processing head disposed on the lower side in the transport direction of the replacement processing head and performing a rinsing process on the substrate with cleaning water as the processing liquid. A substrate processing apparatus. In the substrate processing apparatus according to claim 1 or 2,
The substrate processing apparatus, wherein the processing head is configured by a plurality of processing units arranged in a direction intersecting the transport direction and having the supply port and the suction port. The substrate processing apparatus according to claim 3,
At least one of the plurality of processing units is configured to blow out the processing liquid from the supply port in the transport direction as viewed from the normal direction of the substrate surface. In the substrate processing apparatus according to claim 3 or 4,
The substrate processing apparatus, wherein the processing units disposed at both ends of the array are configured to blow out the processing liquid toward the center in the array direction when viewed from the normal direction of the substrate surface. . In the substrate processing apparatus according to claim 3 or 4,
The substrate processing apparatus, wherein the processing units disposed at both ends of the array are configured to blow out the processing liquid to the outside in the array direction when viewed from the normal direction of the substrate surface.

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