JP2016064357A - Substrate cleaning device and substrate cleaning method - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a device and a method for cleaning substrate capable of favorably cleaning a substrate even in such a state that feeding of a processing liquid or the rotation of a brush is not performed.SOLUTION: A substrate cleaning device comprises: a plurality of conveyance shafts 4 having plural conveyance rollers 5 for conveying a substrate W; the brushes 11 cleaning the surface of the substrate W by contacting while rotating; a cleaning liquid nozzle 13 capable of feeding a cleaning liquid L to the brushes 11; and a control part 20 controlling the rotation speed of the brush 11 to become lower than that when performing a cleaning treatment while feeding the cleaning liquid L from the cleaning liquid nozzle 13 before the substrate W reaches the cleaning position by the brushes 11.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 2

Description

  The present invention relates to a substrate cleaning apparatus and a substrate cleaning method.

  For example, in a manufacturing process of a liquid crystal display device or a semiconductor device, there is a process that requires cleaning a substrate such as a glass plate or a semiconductor wafer with high cleanliness. As a method for cleaning the substrate, there are a dip method in which the substrate is immersed in a cleaning liquid and a single wafer method in which the substrates are cleaned one by one. Recently, a single wafer method that can be cleaned with high cleanliness is adopted. A lot is happening.

  As one of the single wafer systems, a cleaning apparatus that performs cleaning using a rotationally driven cleaning brush is known (for example, Patent Document 1). In this cleaning apparatus, the substrate is transported in a predetermined direction by a transport roller, and cleaning brushes are arranged oppositely above and below the transport path of the substrate, and the bristle material constituting the brush is rotated on the surface of the substrate while rotating the cleaning brush. The substrate is cleaned by contacting with a predetermined pressure and supplying a cleaning liquid to the contact location.

JP 2010-115587 A

  In a conventional substrate cleaning apparatus, a cleaning brush is rotationally driven at a constant speed from turning on the apparatus to turning it off. Further, when the apparatus is turned on, supply of the cleaning liquid toward the brush is also started. For this reason, when processing a substrate carried in immediately after the power is turned on, cleaning is performed with a brush that does not have a cleaning solution. Here, the state in which the treatment liquid is distributed to the brush means that the cleaning liquid is uniformly supplied to all the hair bundles of the brush.

  However, the brush immediately after the power is turned on is dry, and when the cleaning liquid starts to be supplied, it begins to get wet from the place where the cleaning liquid is supplied. Further, due to the degree of hydrophilicity of the material of the hair bundle itself, the cleaning liquid does not easily reach the entire brush unless the brush contacts the surface of the substrate. If the cleaning liquid does not spread evenly over the entire brush and is biased, the brush will be eccentric and rotate, which causes vibrations at the beginning of the rotation of the brush. When the surface of the substrate is cleaned using a brush in which such vibration is generated, the brush does not uniformly contact the surface of the substrate, resulting in unevenness in the cleaning process.

  Such a problem is not only when the power supply is turned on and off, but also, for example, a substrate detection sensor is arranged in the middle of the substrate transport path, and this sensor detects that the substrate has reached the cleaning position. As a condition, the rotation of the brush and the supply of the cleaning liquid toward the brush may be started or restarted. In addition, when the brush is continuously rotating but the supply of the cleaning liquid is stopped except when the brush is in contact with the substrate, the supply of the cleaning liquid is continued but the rotation of the brush is stopped. It can also happen.

  It is an object of the present invention to provide a substrate cleaning apparatus and a substrate cleaning method capable of performing a cleaning process satisfactorily even when at least one of supply of a processing liquid and rotation of a brush has not been performed.

The substrate cleaning apparatus according to the present invention includes:
A substrate cleaning apparatus for cleaning while transporting a substrate in a processing tank,
A plurality of transport rollers for transporting the substrate, and a plurality of transport shafts rotatable;
A brush that performs cleaning by contacting the surface of the substrate while rotating;
A cleaning liquid supply unit capable of supplying a cleaning liquid to the brush;
Before the substrate reaches the cleaning position by the brush, while supplying the cleaning liquid from the cleaning liquid supply unit, the rotation speed of the brush is higher than the rotation speed at the time of cleaning the substrate by the brush for a predetermined time. A control unit for controlling the rotation at a low speed and a low speed,
It is provided with.

The substrate cleaning method according to the present invention includes:
A substrate cleaning method for performing a cleaning process by bringing a rotating brush into contact with the substrate surface while supplying a cleaning liquid while transporting a substrate by a transport roller provided on a transport shaft in a processing tank,
A low-speed rotation step of rotating the brush at a low speed for a predetermined time while supplying the cleaning liquid before the substrate reaches the cleaning position by the brush;
After the low-speed rotation step, a substrate transfer step for bringing the substrate into the processing tank,
After the substrate transport step, a brush rotation speed changing step that makes the rotation speed at the time of cleaning faster than the rotation speed of the brush in the low speed rotation step,
It is characterized by having.

  According to the present invention, it is possible to satisfactorily clean the substrate even in a state where at least one of the supply of the processing liquid and the rotation of the brush has not been performed.

The figure which shows the outline | summary of a structure of the board | substrate cleaning apparatus 100 which concerns on embodiment of this invention. The flowchart which shows the process process of the board | substrate cleaning apparatus 100 which concerns on embodiment of this invention.

  Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

  As shown in FIG. 1, the substrate cleaning apparatus 100 according to the embodiment has finished the processing tank 1 for cleaning the substrate W, the inlet 2 for loading the substrate W into the processing tank 1, and the processing. And a carry-out port 3 for carrying out the substrate W. In the processing tank 1, a plurality of transport shafts 4 extending in a direction orthogonal to the substrate transport direction (the direction of arrow A shown in FIG. 1) are arranged to be rotatable at predetermined intervals along the substrate transport direction. A plurality of conveying rollers 5 are provided at predetermined intervals on each conveying shaft 4. Each transport shaft 4 is driven to rotate by a driving device (not shown). Further, in the processing tank 1, two upper and lower brushes 11 (upper brush 11A and lower brush 11B) intersect the axis with respect to the transport direction of substrate W (the direction of arrow A shown in FIG. 1). Are arranged. The pair of brushes 11 are rotationally driven in synchronization by a drive motor M connected to one end side in the axial direction.

  A cleaning nozzle 13 (cleaning liquid supply nozzle) for supplying the cleaning liquid L is provided in the vicinity of the upper brush 11A so that the cleaning liquid L can be supplied to the brush 11 and the substrate W.

  The drive device for the transport shaft 4 and the drive motor M for the brush 11 are controlled by the control unit 20 as described later. The supply timing and supply amount of the cleaning liquid L from the cleaning nozzle 13 are also controlled by the control unit 20. Details will be described later.

  Next, a cleaning process by the substrate cleaning apparatus 100 will be described with reference to FIGS.

  First, when the substrate cleaning apparatus 100 is turned on, the upper brush 11A is rotated in the direction opposite to the substrate W transport direction, and the lower brush 11B is rotated in the same direction as the substrate W transport direction. This rotational direction may be the reverse direction. Further, the rotation speed at this time is lower than the rotation speed at the time of substrate cleaning (low-speed rotation step: S1). Here, the rotation speed of the brush in the low-speed rotation process refers to a rotation speed at which the cleaning liquid L can travel evenly over the entire rotating brush in a short time. This rotation speed is set to be lower than the rotation speed when the brush 11 is in contact with the surface of the substrate and the substrate is cleaned (rotation speed most suitable for cleaning processing). For example, the rotational speed at the time of cleaning is about 1/10. Note that, since the optimum rotation speed varies depending on the diameter of the brush 11 and the supply amount of the cleaning liquid L, a preferable speed determined in advance through experiments is set according to the processing to be performed.

  Further, when the substrate cleaning apparatus 100 is turned on, the supply of the cleaning liquid L from the cleaning nozzle 13 is also started. The supply of the cleaning liquid L may be started simultaneously with the start of the low-speed rotation of the brush 11, immediately after the start of the low-speed rotation of the brush 11, or just before the start of the low-speed rotation of the brush 11. Before the transfer of the substrate W is started, the brush 11 is rotated at a low speed and the cleaning liquid L is supplied for a predetermined time. Here, the “predetermined time” refers to a time in which the cleaning liquid L travels uniformly over the entire brush when the brush 11 is rotated at the low speed described above, and this time is adopted. The optimum predetermined time for spreading the cleaning liquid L over the entire brush 11 varies depending on the diameter of the brush 11 and the supply amount of the cleaning liquid L, and therefore a time determined in advance by experiments is set according to the processing to be performed.

  Therefore, it is determined whether or not a predetermined time (for example, 1 minute) has elapsed since the start of low-speed rotation. If the predetermined time has not elapsed (N in S2), the low-speed rotation process is continued. When it is determined that the predetermined time has elapsed (Y in S2), the transport shaft 4 starts to rotate, the substrate W is loaded from the carry-in entrance 2, and the substrate W transport is started (substrate transport process: S3). Then, before the substrate W reaches the brush 11, the rotation speed of the brush 11 is set to the cleaning rotation speed (brush rotation speed changing step: S4). When the processing of the substrate W is completed, the power is turned off, and the rotation of the brush 11, the rotation of the transport shaft 4, and the supply of the cleaning liquid L from the cleaning nozzle 13 are stopped.

  By performing the low-speed rotation process for a predetermined time in this way, the cleaning liquid L is distributed evenly over the entire brush including between the hair bundles of the brush 11 and vibration due to the rotation of the brush is also suppressed. Therefore, after that, the brush uniformly contacts the surface of the substrate W being transferred, and a good cleaning process without unevenness is performed.

  As described above, in the substrate cleaning apparatus 100 according to the above-described embodiment, the supply of the cleaning liquid L and the rotation of the brush 11 have not been performed for a while because the power of the substrate cleaning apparatus 100 is turned off. However, the substrate cleaning process can be performed satisfactorily.

  In addition, in the application of the present invention, the rotation of the brush and the supply of the cleaning liquid toward the brush are started not only when the power is turned on and off, but on the condition that it is detected by the substrate detection sensor as described above. Alternatively, in the case of restarting, when the brush is continuously rotating but the supply of the cleaning liquid is stopped except when the brush is in contact with the substrate, the supply of the cleaning liquid continues, but the brush It can also be applied when rotation is stopped. In short, it is only necessary that the low-speed rotation process is performed and terminated before the substrate to be cleaned reaches the cleaning position by the brush.

  In the above-described embodiment, an example in which the brush is a pair of the upper brush and the lower brush has been described.

  Furthermore, in the above embodiment, the example in which the cleaning nozzle 13 is located on the upper brush 11A side has been described. However, the present invention is not limited thereto, and the cleaning nozzle 13 may be provided on both the upper brush 11A side and the lower brush 11B side. good. When both are provided, the cleaning liquid L easily spreads between the hair bundles of the brush in a shorter time.

  Further, the amount of the cleaning liquid supplied from the cleaning liquid supply unit such as the cleaning nozzle 13 may be the same in both the brush low-speed rotation process and the brush rotation speed changing process, and either one is made larger than the other. May be. In particular, it is preferable to reduce the brush low-speed rotation process before reaching the cleaning position, rather than the brush rotation speed changing process in which the substrate reaches the cleaning position with the brush. In the brush low-speed rotation process, as described above, the purpose is to suppress the vibration of the brush. Therefore, it is desirable to supply a small amount of cleaning liquid uniformly rather than supplying a large amount of cleaning liquid at a time.

  As mentioned above, although some embodiment of this invention was described, these embodiment is shown as an example and is not intending limiting the range of invention. These novel embodiments can be implemented in various other forms, and ovarium can be omitted, replaced, or changed without departing from the gist of the invention. These embodiments and modifications thereof are included in the scope and gist of the invention, and are included in the invention described in the claims and the equivalents thereof.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Processing tank 2 Carry-in port 3 Carry-out port 4 Carrying shaft 5 Carrying roller 11 Brush 11A Upper brush 11B Lower brush 13 Cleaning nozzle (cleaning liquid supply part)
100 Substrate cleaning device A Substrate transport direction L Cleaning liquid W Substrate

Claims (4)

A substrate cleaning apparatus for cleaning while transporting a substrate in a processing tank,
A plurality of transport rollers for transporting the substrate, and a plurality of transport shafts rotatable;
A brush that performs cleaning by contacting the surface of the substrate while rotating;
A cleaning liquid supply unit capable of supplying a cleaning liquid to the brush;
Before the substrate reaches the cleaning position by the brush, while supplying the cleaning liquid from the cleaning liquid supply unit, the rotation speed of the brush is higher than the rotation speed at the time of cleaning the substrate by the brush for a predetermined time. A control unit for controlling the rotation at a low speed and a low speed,
A substrate cleaning apparatus comprising:   The cleaning amount of the cleaning liquid supplied from the cleaning liquid supply unit is smaller before the substrate reaches the cleaning position by the brush than after the substrate reaches the cleaning position by the brush. apparatus. A substrate cleaning method for performing a cleaning process by bringing a rotating brush into contact with the substrate surface while supplying a cleaning liquid while transporting a substrate by a transport roller provided on a transport shaft in a processing tank,
A low-speed rotation step of rotating the brush at a low speed for a predetermined time while supplying the cleaning liquid before the substrate reaches the cleaning position by the brush;
After the low-speed rotation step, a substrate transfer step for bringing the substrate into the processing tank,
After the substrate transport step, a brush rotation speed changing step that makes the rotation speed at the time of cleaning faster than the rotation speed of the brush in the low speed rotation step,
A substrate cleaning method characterized by comprising:   The substrate cleaning method according to claim 1, wherein a supply amount of the cleaning liquid in the low-speed rotation step is smaller than a supply amount of the cleaning liquid in the brush speed changing step.

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