JP2016072324A - Substrate processing apparatus and substrate processing method - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To perform a processing using a chemical on a substrate with excellent in-plane uniformity while preventing deterioration in throughput and an increase in running cost.SOLUTION: A substrate processing apparatus comprises: substrate holding and rotating means of holding a substrate in a substantially horizontal attitude and rotating the substrate in a state where a surface of the substrate faces upward in a perpendicular direction and atmosphere blocking means having a substrate opposite member opposite to a surface of the substrate held by the substrate holding and rotating means. The atmosphere blocking means has a chemical supply part of supplying a chemical to a surface of a rotating substrate at a portion near a rotational center, a chemical vapor supply part of supplying chemical vapor to the surface of the substrate and a heating part of heating the substrate opposite member, in which the substrate opposite member has a substrate opposite surface having an area substantially equal to or more than an area of the substrate.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

  The present invention includes a semiconductor substrate, a glass substrate for photomask, a glass substrate for liquid crystal display, a glass substrate for plasma display, a substrate for FED (Field Emission Display), an optical disk substrate, a magnetic disk substrate, a magneto-optical disk substrate, etc. The present invention relates to a substrate processing apparatus and a substrate processing method for supplying a chemical solution to the surface of various substrates (hereinafter simply referred to as “substrate”) to perform processing such as etching processing.

  A manufacturing process of an electronic component such as a semiconductor device or a liquid crystal display device includes a process step of etching a layer to be processed such as a polysilicon layer, an insulating layer, or a metal layer formed on the surface of a substrate. In this etching process, a chemical solution is supplied to the surface of the substrate that rotates in a substantially horizontal posture, and the chemical solution is distributed to the peripheral portion of the substrate surface using centrifugal force. Etching is performed. When the chemical solution is supplied while rotating the substrate in this way, a temperature drop occurs on the peripheral side of the substrate surface, and the temperature may be different between the central portion and the peripheral portion of the substrate surface. This temperature difference is one of the main factors that reduce the in-plane uniformity in the etching process.

  Therefore, for example, in the apparatus described in Patent Document 1, after a liquid film of pure water is formed on the surface of the substrate, corrosive gas or vapor that corrodes the substrate is supplied into the processing chamber in which the substrate is accommodated. The liquid film of pure water is changed to a liquid film of hydrofluoric acid, thereby making the etching process uniform.

JP 2010-118498 A

  However, the apparatus described in Patent Document 1 performs the etching process by supplying a corrosive gas or vapor into the processing chamber, and has the following problems. First, in order to prevent the flow of corrosive gas or vapor from being disturbed in the processing chamber, the substrate and the processing chamber must be stationary before supplying gas or the like. In addition, after the etching process, it is necessary to perform a rinsing process after supplying nitrogen gas into the processing chamber and replacing the entire atmosphere in the processing chamber with nitrogen gas. In this way, the entire atmosphere in the processing chamber is switched to an air atmosphere (before the etching process), a corrosive atmosphere (during the etching process), and a nitrogen gas atmosphere (after the etching process), which are the main causes of throughput reduction and running cost increase. It has become one.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and provides a substrate processing technique capable of performing processing on the surface of a substrate using a chemical solution with excellent in-plane uniformity while preventing a decrease in throughput and an increase in running cost. The purpose is to provide.

  1st aspect of this invention is a substrate processing apparatus, Comprising: It hold | maintains at the board | substrate holding | maintenance rotation means which hold | maintains and rotates a board | substrate with a substantially horizontal attitude | position in the state which turned the surface of the board | substrate vertically upward. Atmosphere blocking means having a substrate facing member facing the surface of the substrate, and the atmosphere blocking means is configured to supply a chemical solution near the rotation center of the surface of the rotating substrate, and to supply a chemical solution to the surface of the substrate. It has a chemical vapor supply section for supplying vapor and a heating section for heating the substrate facing member, and the substrate facing member has a substrate facing surface having an area substantially equal to or larger than the area of the surface of the substrate. .

  According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided a substrate processing method, the first step of holding the substrate in a substantially horizontal position with the surface of the substrate facing vertically upward, and a substrate facing member facing the surface of the substrate. The second step of forming the processing space between the substrate and the substrate facing member by covering the entire surface of the substrate from above, the third step of rotating the substrate while forming the processing space, and the rotating substrate And a fourth step of processing the surface of the substrate by supplying a chemical near the center of rotation of the surface of the substrate, wherein the fourth step includes a step of supplying a vapor of the chemical into the processing space, and a step of heating the substrate facing member. It is characterized by having.

  When the chemical solution is supplied to the vicinity of the rotation center in the surface of the substrate while rotating the substrate in a substantially horizontal posture, the chemical solution spreads over the entire surface by the centrifugal force accompanying the rotation of the substrate, and the entire surface of the substrate can be processed. At this time, as will be described later with reference to FIG. 4, when the atmosphere around the chemical solution supplied to the surface of the substrate is not controlled (see the black rhombus marks in FIG. 4), the chemical solution is partially vaporized. As a result, the substrate temperature is partially lowered to cause non-uniform processing within the substrate surface. On the other hand, according to the present invention, by supplying the chemical vapor, the chemical vapor density around the chemical supplied to the surface of the substrate is increased, and the vaporization of the chemical is suppressed. Moreover, since the processing space is formed between the substrate facing member and the substrate by the substrate facing member facing the surface of the substrate, the chemical vapor stays effectively in the processing space, and the chemical vapor stays in the entire processing space. The density can be kept high. Here, the use of the substrate facing member may cause condensation of the vapor of the chemical solution in contact with the substrate facing member. However, in the present invention, the condensation of the chemical solution is prevented by heating the substrate facing member. As a result, it is possible to satisfactorily perform the processing on the surface of the substrate with a small amount of chemical vapor and with excellent in-plane uniformity.

It is a figure which shows one Embodiment of the substrate processing apparatus concerning this invention. It is a block diagram which shows the control structure of the substrate processing apparatus of FIG. It is a flowchart which shows the etching process operation | movement in the substrate processing apparatus shown in FIG. It is a graph which shows a simulation result. It is the graph which expanded the result of FIG. 4 partially.

  FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an embodiment of a substrate processing apparatus according to the present invention. FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a control configuration of the substrate processing apparatus of FIG. The substrate processing apparatus 1 is a substrate processing apparatus that performs an etching process by supplying a chemical solution such as a phosphoric acid solution, a hydrofluoric acid solution, a nitric acid solution, or a dilute sulfuric acid solution to a substrate W such as a semiconductor wafer. More specifically, a chemical solution is supplied to the surface Wf of the substrate W having a processed layer (not shown) to etch the processed layer, and the surface Wf of the substrate W is further purified water or DIW (deionized water; This is an apparatus for spin drying the substrate W after rinsing with a rinsing liquid such as deionized water.

  In this substrate processing apparatus 1, in a processing chamber (not shown), a spin chuck 2 that rotates while holding the substrate W in a substantially horizontal position with the surface Wf of the substrate W facing upward, and a process for performing an etching process An atmosphere blocking mechanism 3 that blocks the space from the surrounding atmosphere is provided. The spin chuck 2 has a rotation support shaft 21 connected to a rotation shaft of a chuck rotation unit 22 including a motor, and can rotate about a rotation center axis AX by driving the chuck rotation unit 22. A disc-shaped spin base 23 is integrally connected to the upper end portion of the rotation spindle 21 by a fastening component such as a screw. Therefore, the spin base 23 rotates around the rotation center axis AX by driving the chuck rotating unit 22 in accordance with an operation command from the control unit 4 (FIG. 2) that controls the entire apparatus.

  Near the periphery of the spin base 23, a plurality of chuck pins 24 for holding the periphery of the substrate W are provided upright. Three or more chuck pins 24 may be provided to securely hold the circular substrate W, and are arranged at equiangular intervals along the peripheral edge of the spin base 23. Each of the chuck pins 24 includes a substrate support portion that supports the peripheral portion of the substrate W from below, and a substrate holding portion that holds the substrate W by pressing the outer peripheral end surface of the substrate W supported by the substrate support portion. Yes. Each chuck pin 24 is configured to be switchable between a pressing state in which the substrate holding portion presses the outer peripheral end surface of the substrate W and a released state in which the substrate holding portion is separated from the outer peripheral end surface of the substrate W.

  When the substrate W is delivered to the spin base 23, the plurality of chuck pins 24 are released, and a series of processes (etching process-rinse process-spin drying process) are performed on the substrate W. At this time, the plurality of chuck pins 24 are brought into a pressed state. By making the pressed state, the plurality of chuck pins 24 grip the peripheral edge of the substrate W, separate the substrate W from the spin base 23, and the vertical axis passing through the center of rotation of the substrate W is the spin base 23. Can be held in a substantially horizontal posture in a state of being coincident with the rotation center axis AX. As a result, the substrate W is held with the front surface (surface to be etched) Wf facing upward and the back surface facing downward.

  An atmosphere blocking mechanism 3 is disposed above the spin chuck 2. The atmosphere blocking mechanism 3 includes a disk-shaped blocking member 31 having an opening at the center. The blocking member 31 has a lower surface (bottom surface) that is a substrate facing surface 311 that faces the surface Wf of the substrate W substantially in parallel, and the planar size of the blocking member 31 is equal to or larger than the diameter of the substrate W. Yes. For this reason, when the blocking member 31 is positioned at a position immediately above the surface Wf of the substrate W held by the spin chuck 2 as described later, the substrate facing surface 311 covers the entire surface Wf of the substrate W.

  The blocking member 31 is attached substantially horizontally to the lower end of a cylindrical outer tube 32 extending along the rotation center axis AX. The outer tube 32 rotates the spin base 23 by an arm (not shown) extending in the horizontal direction. It is held rotatably around the central axis AX. The arm is connected to a blocking member rotating part 51 and a blocking member lifting / lowering part 52.

  The blocking member rotating unit 51 rotates the outer tube 32 around the vertical axis AX passing through the rotation center of the substrate W in accordance with an operation command from the control unit 4. Further, the blocking member rotating unit 51 is configured to rotate the blocking member 31 in the same rotation direction as the substrate W and at substantially the same rotation speed in accordance with the rotation of the substrate W held by the spin chuck 2.

  Further, the blocking member elevating part 52 can cause the blocking member 31 to be close to and opposed to the spin base 23 or to be separated from each other in accordance with an operation command from the control unit 4. Specifically, the control unit 4 operates the blocking member lifting / lowering unit 52 so that when the substrate W is carried into and out of the substrate processing apparatus 1, the blocking member 31 is placed at a separation position above the spin chuck 2. Raise. On the other hand, when the etching process is performed on the substrate W, the blocking member 31 is lowered to a facing position set very close to the surface Wf of the substrate W held by the spin chuck 2 (shown in FIG. 1). position). Thus, the processing space SP that is blocked from the surrounding atmosphere is formed by disposing the blocking member 31 close to the surface Wf of the substrate W.

  The outer tube 32 is finished to be hollow and its lower end communicates with the opening of the blocking member 31. An inner tube 33 is inserted into the outer tube 32. The inner pipe 33 functions as a liquid supply pipe for supplying a chemical liquid or a rinse liquid. That is, the end of the inner tube 33 on the substrate side, that is, the vertically lower side, communicates with the opening of the blocking member 31. On the other hand, the upper end portion of the inner pipe 33 is connected to a chemical solution generating unit 71 that generates a chemical solution having a component suitable for the etching process through an on-off valve 61 and connected to a DIW supply mechanism 72 through an on-off valve 62. Has been. When the on / off valve 61 is opened in response to an open command from the control unit 4 among the two on / off valves 61 and 62, the chemical solution is pumped to the inner tube 33 and the nozzle provided at the end of the inner tube 33 on the substrate side. It is supplied from the opening 331 toward the center of the surface Wf of the substrate W. The chemical solution supplied in this way is uniformly spread outward in the radial direction of the substrate W by the centrifugal force accompanying the rotation of the substrate W, and a liquid film EF of the chemical solution is formed. Conversely, when the opening / closing valve 62 is opened in response to an opening command from the control unit 4, DIW is pumped to the inner tube 33 and supplied from the nozzle opening 331 to the central portion of the surface Wf of the substrate W as a rinse liquid.

  A gap between the inner wall surface of the outer tube 32 and the outer wall surface of the inner tube 33 forms a cylindrical gas supply path 34. This gas supply path 34 functions as a gas supply pipe for supplying dry gas or chemical vapor. That is, the lower end of the gas supply path 34 communicates with the opening of the blocking member 31. Further, the upper end of the gas supply path 34 is connected to the nitrogen gas supply unit 73 via the on-off valve 63 and is connected to the chemical vapor supply unit 74 via the on-off valve 64. The nitrogen gas supply unit 73 has a function of generating and pumping nitrogen gas suitable for the dry gas. On the other hand, the chemical vapor supply unit 74 has a function of generating and pumping chemical vapor (hereinafter referred to as “chemical vapor”) sent from the chemical generation unit 71. For example, when performing an etching process using a phosphoric acid solution as the “chemical solution” of the present invention, the chemical vapor supply unit 74 generates water vapor as chemical vapor. When water is used as the solvent for the chemical solution as described above, the chemical vapor supply unit 74 may be configured to receive the DIW from the DIW supply mechanism 72 to generate and supply the chemical vapor, that is, water vapor. Good.

  When the on / off valve 63 is opened in response to an open command from the control unit 4 among the two on / off valves 61 and 62, nitrogen gas supplied from the nitrogen gas supply unit 73 is supplied as dry gas via the gas supply path 34. A processing space that is supplied from the nozzle opening 321 provided at the substrate side end of the outer tube 32 toward the periphery of the rotation center of the substrate W and is formed between the blocking member 31 and the surface Wf of the substrate W as described above. It spreads throughout the SP. On the contrary, when the on-off valve 64 is opened in response to the opening command from the control unit 4, the chemical liquid vapor supplied from the chemical liquid vapor supply unit 74 passes through the gas supply path 34 from the nozzle opening 321 of the outer tube 32 to the substrate W. It is supplied toward the periphery of the rotation center and further spreads over the entire processing space SP to increase the vapor density around the liquid film EF and suppress the vaporization of the chemical liquid from the liquid film EF.

  Further, in the present embodiment, the blocking member 31 has a built-in heater 35, and the blocking member 31 can be heated by receiving power from the control unit 4. As described above, the heater 35 corresponds to an example of the “heating unit” of the present invention, but the means for heating the blocking member 31 is not limited to this. For example, a heating lamp is provided above the blocking member 31. And the blocking member 31 may be heated by the heating lamp.

  As shown in FIG. 1, a gas supply path 211 is provided inside the rotation support shaft 21 of the spin chuck 2 so as to coincide with the rotation center axis AX of the substrate W. The upper end of the gas supply path 211 opens toward the center of the back surface of the substrate W. Further, the lower end of the gas supply path 211 is connected to the nitrogen gas supply unit 73 via the on-off valve 65. For this reason, when the on-off valve 65 is opened in response to the opening command from the control unit 4, the nitrogen gas supplied from the nitrogen gas supply unit 73 is dried gas and the nitrogen gas is directed from the upper end of the gas supply path 211 toward the back of the substrate. Supply.

The control unit 4 is a well-known CPU (Central Processing Unit) that performs logical operations, a ROM (Read Only Memory) that stores a program for executing an etching process, which will be described below, initial settings, and the like. RAM (Random) that temporarily stores various data
Access Memory). Then, the CPU controls the chemical vapor supply section 74 according to the above program to adjust the density of chemical vapor supplied from the nozzle opening 321 (hereinafter referred to as “chemical vapor density”) and also controls the heater 35 to control the blocking member 31. Adjust the temperature. Thus, in this embodiment, the control unit 4 functions as the “vapor density adjusting means” and “temperature adjusting means” of the present invention.

  Next, the etching processing operation by the substrate processing apparatus 1 configured as described above will be described. FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing an etching processing operation in the substrate processing apparatus shown in FIG. In the substrate processing apparatus 1, an unprocessed substrate W is carried into the apparatus (step S1). In this embodiment, a processing target layer to be etched is formed on the surface Wf of the substrate W, and the substrate W is carried into the apparatus with the surface Wf of the substrate W facing upward, It is held by the spin chuck 2. Note that when the substrate is carried in (and when the substrate is carried out later), the blocking member 31 is positioned at the separated position to prevent interference with the substrate W. At this stage, all of the on-off valves 61 to 65 are closed.

  When the unprocessed substrate W is held on the spin chuck 2, the blocking member lifting / lowering unit 52 lowers the blocking member 31 to the facing position and arranges it close to the surface Wf of the substrate W (step S2). As a result, the surface Wf of the substrate W is covered in a state of being close to the substrate facing surface 311 of the blocking member 31, and a processing space SP sandwiched between the substrate W and the blocking member 31 is formed and blocked from the ambient atmosphere of the substrate W. Is done. Subsequently, in step S3, the rotation of the substrate W is started by the rotation of the spin chuck 2 by the chuck rotating unit 22. In step S3, the blocking member rotating unit 51 is operated to rotate the blocking member 31 in the same rotation direction as the substrate W and at substantially the same rotation speed according to the rotation of the substrate W held by the spin chuck 2. Let

  Then, when the rotation speed of the substrate W reaches a value suitable for the etching process, the supply of the chemical solution is started and the etching process is performed. Before that, the processing space SP is adjusted to a humidified environment suitable for the etching process. (Step S4). In parallel with the humidity adjustment, the blocking member 31 is heated by the heater 35 to adjust the temperature of the blocking member 31 to a temperature equal to or higher than the dew point of the chemical solution. Here, the energization timing may be appropriately changed according to the content of the etching process, and the monitoring result is fed back to the control unit 4 while monitoring the temperature of the blocking member 31 continuously or intermittently, and the temperature of the blocking member 31 is adjusted. Stabilization may be achieved.

  In parallel with the heating of the blocking member 31, the on-off valve 64 is opened to supply the chemical vapor supplied from the chemical vapor supply unit 74 from the nozzle opening 321 of the outer tube 32 toward the periphery of the rotation center of the substrate W. The chemical vapor spreads over the entire processing space SP, and the vapor density of the chemical in the space SP increases. When the chemical vapor is supplied to the processing space SP in this way, a part of the vapor contacts with the blocking member 31, but since the blocking member 31 is heated, dew condensation occurs at the position where the chemical vapor in contact with the blocking member 31 contacts. Can be prevented. Here, in order to reliably prevent dew condensation, for example, heating of the blocking member 31 may be started and supply of the chemical vapor may be started at a timing when the temperature of the blocking member 31 becomes equal to or higher than the dew point of the chemical. In order to acquire this timing, the temperature of the blocking member 31 may be monitored continuously or intermittently. Alternatively, the temperature rise characteristic of the blocking member 31 with respect to the heating time may be measured in advance, and the heating time for raising the temperature above the dew point may be set as the above timing.

  In the next step S5, the supply of the chemical solution from the nozzle opening 331 is started by opening the on-off valve 61 in a state where the vapor density of the chemical solution in the processing space SP is adjusted while preventing condensation of the chemical solution to the blocking member 31. (Step S5). The chemical solution discharged from the nozzle opening 331 is supplied to the central portion of the surface Wf of the substrate W. Then, the centrifugal force accompanying the rotation of the substrate W acts on the chemical solution supplied to the surface Wf of the substrate W, and is spread uniformly outward in the radial direction of the substrate W. Thereby, a liquid film EF of a chemical solution having a predetermined thickness is formed over the entire surface Wf of the substrate W, and etching of the layer to be processed proceeds. Note that the rotation of the substrate W is continued during the etching process.

  When the etching of the layer to be processed is completed in this manner (“YES” in step S6), the on-off valves 61 and 64 are closed to stop the supply of the chemical solution and the chemical solution vapor, and the heating of the blocking member 31 by the heater 35 is stopped. (Step S7). Subsequently, the on-off valve 62 is opened, and DIW is supplied as a rinsing liquid to the central portion of the surface Wf of the rotating substrate W to perform a rinsing process (step S8). This DIW is expanded in the radial direction by centrifugal force, and the chemicals and etching products on the surface Wf of the substrate W are washed away. Following this, the on-off valve 62 is closed to stop the supply of DIW to the surface Wf of the substrate W, and the substrate is dried. That is, the on-off valve 63 is opened to supply nitrogen gas as dry gas to the processing space SP from the nozzle opening 321 of the outer tube 32, and the on-off valve 65 is opened to supply nitrogen gas to the back surface of the substrate W as dry gas. Further, the substrate W is rotated at a high speed in parallel with the supply of the dry gas. Thus, the DIW (rinsing liquid) remaining on the front surface Wf of the substrate W and the DIW (rinsing liquid) that has circulated around the back surface of the substrate are shaken off and the substrate W is dried (step S9). When the drying process is completed in this manner, the blocking member lifting / lowering unit 52 positions the blocking member 31 at the separated position to prevent interference with the substrate W (step S10).

  Finally, the processed substrate W is unloaded (step S11), whereby the processing for one substrate W is completed.

  As described above, according to the present embodiment, the chemical liquid vapor is supplied around the liquid film EF of the chemical liquid formed on the surface Wf of the substrate W. Thereby, the vaporization of the chemical solution constituting the liquid film EF can be suppressed. However, if the chemical vapor is simply supplied in parallel with the supply of the chemical liquid to the surface Wf of the substrate W, the supplied chemical vapor is diffused to the periphery, and the effect of suppressing the vaporization of the chemical liquid is small. In the same manner as the invention described in Patent Document 1, it is necessary to supply a large amount of chemical vapor into the processing chamber. On the other hand, in this embodiment, the blocking member 31 is disposed close to the surface Wf of the substrate W to form the processing space SP, and the chemical vapor supplied toward the surface Wf of the substrate W stays in the processing space SP. It is configured as follows. As a result, the chemical vapor density is maintained at a high level throughout the processing space SP, and the etching process for the surface Wf of the substrate W can be satisfactorily performed with excellent in-plane uniformity with a small chemical vapor amount and in a short time. It has become. As a result, an excellent quality etching process can be performed with high throughput and low running cost.

In order to verify such effects, the following analysis conditions, that is,
(A) Diameter of the substrate W: 300 [mm],
(B) Diameter of the blocking member 31: 310 [mm],
(C) Temperature of the blocking member 31: 280 [° C],
(D) Formation of the processing space SP: presence or absence,
(E) Distance GP between the substrate W and the blocking member 31 (see FIG. 1): 3 [mm],
(F) Chemical solution: phosphoric acid solution,
(G) Chemical liquid discharge flow rate from nozzle opening 331: 1 [liter / min],
(H) Chemical temperature: 160 [° C],
(I) Chemical vapor density: presence or absence of humidification,
The effect of supplying the chemical vapor to the processing space SP under the nine analysis conditions is simulated, and the results are summarized in FIGS.

FIG. 4 is a graph showing a simulation result, and FIG. 5 is a graph obtained by partially expanding the result of FIG. In these drawings, the horizontal axis indicates the distance [m] from the rotation center axis AX, and the vertical axis indicates the temperature [° C.] of the substrate W. Here, the analysis conditions (d) and (i) are changed while fixing the analysis conditions (d) and (i) except for the analysis conditions (d) and (i).
・ First pattern (black triangle mark in FIGS. 4 and 5)
Analysis condition (d): forming the processing space SP Analysis condition (i): supplying water vapor with 65% of the saturated vapor density of phosphoric acid to humidify the second pattern (white triangles in FIGS. 4 and 5)
Analysis condition (d): forming treatment space SP Analysis condition (i): supplying water vapor with 40% of saturated vapor density of phosphoric acid to humidify Third pattern (white circles in FIGS. 4 and 5)
Analysis condition (d): processing space SP is formed Analysis condition (i): no humidification • Fourth pattern (black rhombus mark in FIG. 4)
Analysis condition (d): The processing space SP was not formed. Analysis condition (i): A simulation was performed without humidification.

  As is clear from these simulation results, when the etching process using the chemical solution is simply performed without supplying the chemical solution vapor (fourth pattern), the temperature of the substrate W is relatively high near the rotation center, and a good etching process is obtained. However, the temperature of the substrate W decreases as it goes to the peripheral portion of the substrate W, and the peripheral portion is lowered by about 25 [° C.] from the central portion, so that an insufficient amount of etching processing is unavoidable. Here, when the blocking member 31 is disposed close to the surface Wf of the substrate W to form the processing space SP (third pattern), the temperature unevenness of the substrate W can be improved, but the temperature unevenness is still 4 [°. C], and good results are not always obtained.

  On the other hand, when the chemical vapor is supplied in addition to the formation of the processing space SP (first pattern and second pattern), temperature unevenness of the substrate W can be suppressed. For example, as is clear from the comparison between the second pattern and the third pattern, the vapor of 40% of the saturated vapor density of the chemical solution is supplied (when the phosphoric acid solution is used as the chemical solution, the chemical vapor is water vapor). By humidifying, the temperature unevenness can be halved from 4 [° C] to 2 [° C]. Furthermore, by increasing the chemical vapor density, temperature unevenness can be further suppressed and the in-plane uniformity of the etching process can be further improved.

  Further, in the above-described embodiment, since the blocking member 31 is heated to a temperature higher than the dew point of the chemical solution by the heater 35 during the etching process, dew condensation on the blocking member 31 is prevented and adverse effects are etched by the condensation. It is possible to reliably prevent the processing from reaching.

  Thus, according to the present embodiment, the etching process for the surface Wf of the substrate W can be favorably performed with excellent in-plane uniformity with a small amount of chemical vapor and in a short time.

  Moreover, in the said embodiment, as shown in FIG. 1, the chemical | medical solution vapor | steam is supplied into the inside of the outer tube | pipe 32 using the coaxial nozzle formed by the inner tube | pipe 33 being penetrated. That is, the outer tube 32 is provided coaxially with the inner tube 33 and outside the inner tube 33, and the chemical solution is supplied from nozzle openings 331 and 321 provided at the ends of the inner tube 33 and the outer tube 32 on the substrate side (vertically below), respectively. And it is comprised so that a chemical | medical solution vapor | steam may be discharged. Therefore, the use of the coaxial nozzle greatly contributes to improving the uniformity of the etching process by supplying the chemical solution and the chemical solution vapor uniformly to the surface Wf of the substrate W. As described above, in the present embodiment, the inner tube 33 and the nozzle opening 331 correspond to examples of the “chemical solution supply unit” and the “first nozzle opening” of the present invention, respectively, and the outer tube 32 and the nozzle opening 321 each include the main tube 33 and the nozzle opening 321. This corresponds to an example of the “chemical vapor supply unit” and “second nozzle opening” of the invention.

  Further, in the above embodiment, the spin chuck 2 corresponds to an example of the “substrate holding / rotating unit” of the present invention. The atmosphere blocking mechanism 3 corresponds to an example of “atmosphere blocking means” of the present invention. The blocking member 31 corresponds to an example of the “substrate facing member” in the present invention. Steps S1, S2, and S3 correspond to examples of the “first step”, “second step”, and “third step” of the present invention, respectively. Steps S4 to S7 correspond to an example of the “fourth step” of the present invention.

  The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, and various modifications other than those described above can be made without departing from the spirit of the present invention. For example, in the above-described embodiment, the chemical liquid and the chemical liquid vapor are supplied to the surface Wf of the substrate W by a so-called coaxial nozzle, but the chemical liquid vapor supply section that supplies the chemical liquid and the chemical liquid vapor supply section that supplies the chemical liquid vapor are separated. It is also possible to provide a chemical solution and a chemical solution vapor.

  Further, in the above embodiment, the substrate W is held by the chuck pins 24, but the holding method of the substrate W is not limited to this and is arbitrary.

  The present invention can be applied to a substrate processing apparatus and a substrate processing method for supplying a chemical solution such as an etching solution to the surface of a substrate such as a semiconductor wafer and performing a predetermined process.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Substrate processing apparatus 2 ... Spin chuck (substrate holding | maintenance rotation means)
3 ... Atmosphere blocking mechanism (atmosphere blocking means)
31 ... Shut-off member (substrate facing member)
311 ... Substrate facing surface 32 ... Outer pipe 321 ... (second) nozzle opening 33 ... Inner pipe 331 ... (first) nozzle opening 35 ... Heater (heating unit)
4. Control unit (vapor density adjusting means, temperature adjusting means)
AX ... Center axis of rotation EF ... Liquid film SP ... Processing space W ... Substrate Wf ... (Substrate) surface

Claims (6)

Substrate holding and rotating means for holding and rotating the substrate in a substantially horizontal posture with the surface of the substrate facing vertically upward;
An atmosphere blocking means having a substrate facing member facing the surface of the substrate held by the substrate holding rotation means;
With
The atmosphere blocking means includes a chemical solution supply unit that supplies a chemical solution near the rotation center of the surface of the rotating substrate, a chemical solution supply unit that supplies the chemical solution vapor to the surface of the substrate, and the substrate facing member. And a heating part for heating
The substrate processing apparatus, wherein the substrate facing member has a substrate facing surface having an area substantially equal to or larger than an area of the surface of the substrate. The substrate processing apparatus according to claim 1,
Substrate processing comprising temperature adjusting means for controlling the temperature of the substrate facing surface of the substrate facing member to be equal to or higher than the dew point of the chemical solution while controlling the heating unit and supplying the vapor by the chemical solution vapor supply unit. apparatus. The substrate processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein:
A substrate processing apparatus comprising: a vapor density adjusting unit configured to adjust a density of the vapor around the chemical solution supplied to the substrate while the chemical solution is supplied by the chemical solution supply unit. The substrate processing apparatus according to claim 3, wherein
The said vapor density adjustment means is a substrate processing apparatus which adjusts the density of the chemical | medical solution vapor | steam supplied from the said chemical | medical solution vapor | steam supply part to 40% or more of the saturated vapor density of the said chemical | medical solution. A substrate processing apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein
The chemical solution supply unit includes an inner tube extending along a rotation center axis of the rotating substrate, and the rotation center of the substrate from a first nozzle opening provided at an end of the inner tube on the substrate side. Discharging the chemical toward the
The chemical vapor supply unit has an outer tube that is coaxial with the inner tube and is provided outside the inner tube, and a center of rotation of the substrate from a second nozzle opening provided at an end of the outer tube on the substrate side A substrate processing apparatus for discharging the vapor of the chemical solution toward the periphery of the substrate. A first step of holding the substrate in a substantially horizontal position with the surface of the substrate facing vertically upward;
A second step of forming a processing space between the substrate and the substrate facing member by causing a substrate facing member to face the surface of the substrate and covering the entire surface of the substrate from above;
A third step of rotating the substrate while forming the processing space;
A fourth step of processing the surface of the substrate by supplying a chemical solution near the rotation center of the surface of the substrate that rotates,
The fourth step includes a step of supplying the chemical vapor to the processing space and a step of heating the substrate facing member.

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