JP2018113481A - Wafer liquid treatment apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To reduce flow resistance of a gas flow path in a cup.SOLUTION: A wafer liquid treatment apparatus includes a cup (50) for receiving and collecting a supplied process liquid. The cup has a ring-shaped first exhaust space (530) which faces an upper opening (50A) of the cup and a second ring-shaped exhaust space (540) which faces an exhaust port (52) of the cup and is adjacent to the first exhaust space. The first exhaust space and the second exhaust space are continuously or intermittently connected across a whole circumference. An inner peripheral wall (580) which defines an inner peripheral end of the second exhaust space has a first wall part (581) which forms an upper side part of the inner peripheral wall and a second wall part (582) which forms an under side part of the inner peripheral wall and is located inside the first wall part in a radial direction.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 3

Description

  The present invention relates to an exhaust technique for a substrate liquid processing apparatus.

  In manufacturing a semiconductor device, a substrate such as a semiconductor wafer is subjected to various liquid processes such as a wet etching process and a chemical cleaning process. A single-wafer type substrate processing unit that performs such liquid processing is supplied to a substrate, a spin chuck that rotates the substrate around a vertical axis while holding the substrate in a horizontal posture, a nozzle that supplies a processing liquid to the rotating substrate, and the substrate. And a cup for receiving and recovering the processing liquid scattered from the substrate.

  An upper opening having a diameter slightly larger than the diameter of the substrate is provided at the center upper end of the cup, and an exhaust port is provided at the bottom of the cup. When the internal space of the cup is sucked from the exhaust port, the gas (usually clean air) in the space above the substrate is drawn into the internal space from the upper opening and exhausted to the exhaust port. The cup is provided with a wall for guiding the gas flow in the cup (see, for example, Patent Document 1). By flowing the gas in the cup at an appropriate direction and flow velocity, re-adhesion of the processing liquid scattered from the substrate to the substrate is prevented, and mist of the processing liquid is removed from the gas.

  Even if the suction force from the exhaust port is lowered and the internal space of the cup is sucked, it is desired that good exhaust can be performed. In the structure of the wall body of the cited reference 1, there was room for improvement in this respect.

JP 2014-86639 A

  An object of the present invention is to enable satisfactory exhaust even with a low suction force from an exhaust port.

According to one embodiment of the present invention, a substrate holding unit that horizontally holds a substrate, a rotation drive mechanism that rotates the substrate holding unit around a vertical axis, and a substrate that is held and rotated by the substrate holding unit is processed. A nozzle for supplying a liquid and a cup for receiving and collecting the processing liquid supplied to the substrate. The cup has an opening at the top and an exhaust port for sucking the inside of the cup. The cup has a ring-shaped first exhaust space facing the opening, and a ring-shaped second exhaust space facing the exhaust port and adjacent to the first exhaust space. The exhaust space and the second exhaust space communicate continuously or intermittently over the entire circumference in the circumferential direction, and the first exhaust space has a ring-shaped liquid reservoir at the bottom thereof for receiving the processing liquid supplied to the substrate. Said first A ring-shaped guide wall that separates the exhaust space and the second exhaust space and guides the processing liquid supplied to the substrate toward the liquid reservoir is provided, and the first exhaust space and the second exhaust space are separated from each other. A substrate liquid processing apparatus is provided that is provided with a ring-shaped isolation wall that isolates and prevents the processing liquid received in the liquid reservoir from flowing into the second exhaust space.
In the substrate liquid processing apparatus, an inner peripheral wall that defines an inner peripheral end of the second exhaust space forms a first wall portion that forms an upper portion of the inner peripheral wall and a lower portion of the inner peripheral wall, and the first portion. And a second wall portion located radially inward of the wall portion.

  According to the present invention, by reducing the flow resistance of the gas flow path in the cup, good exhaust can be performed even with a low suction force from the exhaust port.

It is a figure showing the schematic structure of the substrate processing system concerning one embodiment of the substrate processing device by the present invention. It is the schematic which shows the whole structure of the processing unit shown in FIG. It is principal part sectional drawing of the processing unit obtained by cut | disconnecting a processing unit in the perpendicular plane which passes along the central axis of the board | substrate holding part which does not contain an exhaust pipe. It is principal part sectional drawing of the processing unit obtained by cut | disconnecting a processing unit in the perpendicular plane which passes along the central axis of an exhaust pipe, and the central axis of a board | substrate holding part. It is sectional drawing similar to FIG. 3 for demonstrating the modification of a collection | recovery cup. It is sectional drawing similar to FIG. 3 for demonstrating the other modification of a collection | recovery cup.

  Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

  FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a schematic configuration of a substrate processing system according to the present embodiment. In the following, in order to clarify the positional relationship, the X axis, the Y axis, and the Z axis that are orthogonal to each other are defined, and the positive direction of the Z axis is the vertically upward direction.

  As shown in FIG. 1, the substrate processing system 1 includes a carry-in / out station 2 and a processing station 3. The carry-in / out station 2 and the processing station 3 are provided adjacent to each other.

  The carry-in / out station 2 includes a carrier placement unit 11 and a transport unit 12. A plurality of carriers C that accommodate a plurality of wafers W in a horizontal state are placed on the carrier placement unit 11.

  The transport unit 12 is provided adjacent to the carrier placement unit 11 and includes a substrate transport device 13 and a delivery unit 14 inside. The substrate transfer device 13 includes a substrate holding mechanism that holds the wafer W. Further, the substrate transfer device 13 can move in the horizontal direction and the vertical direction and turn around the vertical axis, and transfers the wafer W between the carrier C and the delivery unit 14 using the substrate holding mechanism. Do.

  The processing station 3 is provided adjacent to the transfer unit 12. The processing station 3 includes a transport unit 15 and a plurality of processing units 16. The plurality of processing units 16 are provided side by side on the transport unit 15.

  The transport unit 15 includes a substrate transport device 17 inside. The substrate transfer device 17 includes a substrate holding mechanism that holds the wafer W. Further, the substrate transfer device 17 can move in the horizontal direction and the vertical direction and can turn around the vertical axis, and transfers the wafer W between the delivery unit 14 and the processing unit 16 using the substrate holding mechanism. I do.

  The processing unit 16 performs predetermined substrate processing on the wafer W transferred by the substrate transfer device 17.

  Further, the substrate processing system 1 includes a control device 4. The control device 4 is a computer, for example, and includes a control unit 18 and a storage unit 19. The storage unit 19 stores a program for controlling various processes executed in the substrate processing system 1. The control unit 18 controls the operation of the substrate processing system 1 by reading and executing the program stored in the storage unit 19.

  Such a program may be recorded on a computer-readable storage medium, and may be installed in the storage unit 19 of the control device 4 from the storage medium. Examples of the computer-readable storage medium include a hard disk (HD), a flexible disk (FD), a compact disk (CD), a magnetic optical disk (MO), and a memory card.

  In the substrate processing system 1 configured as described above, first, the substrate transfer device 13 of the loading / unloading station 2 takes out the wafer W from the carrier C placed on the carrier placement unit 11 and receives the taken-out wafer W. Place on the transfer section 14. The wafer W placed on the delivery unit 14 is taken out from the delivery unit 14 by the substrate transfer device 17 of the processing station 3 and carried into the processing unit 16.

The wafer W loaded into the processing unit 16 is processed by the processing unit 16, then unloaded from the processing unit 16 by the substrate transfer device 17, and placed on the delivery unit 14.
Then, the processed wafer W placed on the delivery unit 14 is returned to the carrier C of the carrier platform 11 by the substrate transfer device 13.

  Next, a schematic configuration of the processing unit 16 will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a schematic configuration of the processing unit 16.

  As shown in FIG. 2, the processing unit 16 includes a chamber 20, a substrate holding mechanism 30, a processing fluid supply unit 40, and a recovery cup 50.

  The chamber 20 accommodates the substrate holding mechanism 30, the processing fluid supply unit 40, and the recovery cup 50. An FFU (Fan Filter Unit) 21 is provided on the ceiling of the chamber 20. The FFU 21 forms a down flow in the chamber 20.

  The substrate holding mechanism 30 includes a holding unit 31, a support unit 32, and a driving unit 33. The holding unit 31 holds the wafer W horizontally. The support | pillar part 32 is a member extended in a perpendicular direction, a base end part is rotatably supported by the drive part 33, and supports the holding | maintenance part 31 horizontally in a front-end | tip part. The drive unit 33 rotates the column unit 32 around the vertical axis. The substrate holding mechanism 30 rotates the support unit 32 by rotating the support unit 32 using the drive unit 33, thereby rotating the wafer W held by the support unit 31. .

  The processing fluid supply unit 40 supplies a processing fluid to the wafer W. The processing fluid supply unit 40 is connected to a processing fluid supply source 70.

  The collection cup 50 is disposed so as to surround the holding unit 31, and collects the processing liquid scattered from the wafer W by the rotation of the holding unit 31. A drain port 51 is formed at the bottom of the recovery cup 50, and the processing liquid collected by the recovery cup 50 is discharged from the drain port 51 to the outside of the processing unit 16. Further, an exhaust port 52 for discharging the gas supplied from the FFU 21 to the outside of the processing unit 16 is formed at the bottom of the recovery cup 50.

  Next, the recovery cup (hereinafter simply referred to as “cup”) 50 of the processing unit 16, the substrate holding mechanism 30, and peripheral components thereof will be described in detail with reference to FIGS. 3 and 4. FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view of the main part of the processing unit 16 obtained by cutting the processing unit 16 along a plane passing through the central axis Ax of the substrate holding unit 30 not including the exhaust port 51. FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view of a main part of the processing unit 16 obtained by cutting the processing unit 16 along a vertical plane passing through the central axis Ax of the substrate holding unit 30. FIG. Many of the members shown in FIGS. 3 and 4 are generally rotationally symmetric with respect to the central axis Ax.

  The holding unit 31 of the substrate holding mechanism 30 is formed as a vacuum chuck, and holds the wafer W in a horizontal posture by vacuum-sucking the central portion of the back surface (the surface on which no device is formed) of the wafer W. The drive part 33 consists of an electric motor, and the support | pillar part 32 consists of a rotating shaft of an electric motor (drive part 33). That is, in the illustrated embodiment, the vacuum chuck (holding portion 31) is directly connected to the rotating shaft (the column portion 32) of the electric motor (driving portion 33). 3 and 4, reference numeral 34 denotes a flange of the electric motor.

  In FIG. 3 and FIG. 4, the processing fluid supply unit 40 schematically shown in FIG. And a second nozzle 42 to be supplied. These nozzles 41 and 42 are supplied with processing liquids (chemical liquid, rinse liquid, etc.) necessary for processing from the respective processing fluid supply mechanisms 71 and 72. The first nozzle 41 is held, for example, at the tip of a swivel arm (not shown), and is positioned above the center of the wafer W when supplying the processing liquid to the wafer W, and outside the wafer W otherwise. Located in the direction.

  Around the holding unit 31, a heating unit 80 is provided that discharges a temperature control gas toward the wafer W to heat the wafer W. The heating unit 80 includes an annular plate-shaped main body 81 that surrounds the holding unit 31, and a heater 82 such as a resistance heater is embedded in the main body 81. A gas passage 83 is formed in the main body 81. An inert gas such as nitrogen gas is supplied to the gas passage 83 from the gas supply mechanism 84 via a pipe indicated by a one-dot chain line in the drawing. The gas passage 83 includes various portions 83a (uneven portions extending in the circumferential direction and close to the heater 82), 83b (portions extending in the radial direction and interconnecting the portions 83a), 83c (portions connected to both ends of the portion 83b). )have. The inert gas is supplied to the portion 83a of the gas passage 83, is heated by the heat of the heater 82 while passing through the portions 83a and 83b, reaches the portion 83c, and a plurality of discharge ports 85a provided at intervals in the circumferential direction. , 85b toward the wafer W.

  The disc-shaped main body 81 is supported by a support 86 fixed to the bottom wall 570 of the cup 50. A labyrinth seal 87 is formed between the radially inner end of the disc-shaped main body 81 and the radially outer end of the upper end of the support column 32. The labyrinth seal 87 prevents the temperature control gas discharged from the discharge ports 85a and 85b from leaking from the gap between the non-rotating main body 81 and the rotating support column 32.

  The cup 50 surrounds the substrate holding mechanism 30 and the heating unit 80. The cup 50 has a circular upper opening 50 </ b> A having a diameter slightly larger than the diameter of the wafer W at the center of the upper end thereof. As shown in FIG. 4, an exhaust port 52 schematically shown in FIG. 2 is provided at the bottom of the cup 50. In the present embodiment, only one exhaust port 52 is provided, but two or more exhaust ports 52 may be provided.

  The cup 50 and the heating unit 80 can be positioned at the lowered position by being lowered from the raised position shown in FIGS. 3 and 4 by a lifting mechanism (not shown). When the cup 50 and the heating unit 80 are in the lowered position, the upper surface of the holding unit 31 of the substrate holding mechanism 30 is positioned above the upper end of the cup 50, and the substrate transfer device 17 (see FIG. 2) enters the chamber 20 (see FIG. 2). The wafer W can be transferred between the holding unit 31 and the holding unit 31 (see FIG. 1). When processing is performed on the wafer W, the cup 50 and the heating unit 80 are located at the raised position.

  The cup 50 has a ring-shaped first exhaust space 530 facing the upper opening, and a ring-shaped second exhaust space 540 adjacent to the first exhaust space. As shown in FIG. 4, an exhaust port 52 is provided at a specific circumferential position of the second exhaust space 540, and an exhaust port 52 is provided at other circumferential positions as shown in FIG. It is not done.

  Except for the portion where the exhaust port 52 is provided, the cross-sectional shapes of the first exhaust space 530 and the second exhaust space 540 are as shown in FIG. 3 at any circumferential position. However, in the first exhaust space 530 and the second exhaust space 540, an auxiliary part (a cup cleaning nozzle and a pipe, a support body, etc. associated therewith) may be provided, and such parts are provided. In some places, the cross-sectional shape may be slightly different from other places. In the vicinity of the exhaust port 52, the cross-sectional shape of the second exhaust space 540 is deformed with the connection of the exhaust port 52.

  The first exhaust space 530 and the second exhaust space 540 are separated by a ring-shaped guide wall 550 and a ring-shaped isolation wall 560. In the embodiment shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, the lower end of the guide wall 550 and the upper end of the isolation wall 560 are connected to form an integrated partition wall. A plurality of communication passages 562 are intermittently formed in the isolation wall 560 at intervals in the circumferential direction. Gas can flow from the first exhaust space 530 to the second exhaust space 540 through the communication path 562.

  The communication path 562 can also be formed in the guide wall 550 by lowering the lower end of the guide wall 550 (the upper end of the isolation wall 560) downward from the illustrated position.

  A ring-shaped liquid reservoir 532 having a U-shaped cross section is formed at the lower end of the first exhaust space 530. As schematically shown in FIG. 3, a drainage port 51 schematically shown in FIG. 2 is provided at a specific circumferential position of the liquid reservoir 532. The bottom surface of the liquid pool 532 is inclined so as to become lower toward the position where the liquid discharge port 51 is provided, and the processing liquid that has fallen into the liquid pool 532 flows into the liquid discharge port 51.

  The cup 50 has guide surfaces 501 and 551 facing the first exhaust space 530. The guide surface 501 is formed by a part of the outer peripheral wall of the cup 50. The guide surface 501 is inclined obliquely downward so as to become lower toward the outer side in the radial direction, receives the processing liquid scattered from the rotating wafer W, and guides it to the liquid reservoir 532. The guide surface 551 is formed by the upper surface of the guide wall 550, and guides the processing liquid splashed from the wafer W that has fallen on the guide surface 551 to the liquid pool 532.

  The isolation wall 560 acts as a weir for preventing the processing liquid that has fallen into the liquid pool 532 from flowing into the second exhaust space 540 before flowing into the drain port 51.

  The second exhaust space 540 is surrounded by the aforementioned guide wall 550 and isolation wall 560, the bottom wall 570, and the ring-shaped inner peripheral wall 580. That is, the upper end of the second exhaust space 540 is defined by the guide wall 550, the outer peripheral end of the second exhaust space 540 is defined by the isolation wall 560, the lower end of the second exhaust space 540 is defined by the bottom wall 570, and The inner peripheral end of the two exhaust spaces 540 is defined by an inner peripheral wall 580.

  The second nozzle 42 described above is supported in the second exhaust space 540 by a support body 564 that protrudes radially inward from the isolation wall 560. The tip discharge port of the second nozzle 42 is positioned above the guide surface 551 through a through hole formed in the guide wall 550.

  The inner peripheral wall 580 includes a first wall portion 581 extending in the vertical direction that forms an upper portion of the inner peripheral wall 580 and a second wall portion 582 extending in the vertical direction that forms a lower portion of the inner peripheral wall 580. The inner peripheral wall 580 further includes an inclined wall portion 583 extending in the oblique direction and a horizontal wall portion 584 extending in the horizontal direction between the first wall portion 581 and the second wall portion 582. That is, the inner peripheral wall 580 has an inclined wall portion 583 as an intermediate wall portion formed such that the position from the rotation center of the surface approaches the second wall portion 582 from the first wall portion 581 as it goes downward. Yes. The intermediate wall portion is not limited to a flat one like the inclined wall portion 583 shown in FIGS. For example, the intermediate wall portion may be curved so as to be convex toward the second exhaust space 540, or may be curved so as to be concave toward the second exhaust space 540.

The first wall portion 581 has an outer peripheral surface corresponding to a cylindrical surface having a radius R1. The second wall portion 582 has an outer peripheral surface corresponding to a cylindrical surface having a radius R2 larger than R1. The first wall portion 581 is located at a position close to the outer peripheral edge of the heating unit 80 in the radial direction.
The second wall portion 582 is located below the heating unit 80. That is, the second exhaust space 540 protrudes below the heating unit 80. The second wall portion 582 is close to the support 86 that supports the heating unit 80 and close to the flange 34 of the motor (drive unit) 33 in the radial direction. In the present embodiment, the heating unit 80 is disposed inside the first wall portion 581. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and a nozzle, piping, or the like for back surface processing may be disposed. In addition to the back surface processing unit as described above, a member constituting the substrate holding unit, for example, a suction pipe for vacuum, or the like may be disposed inside the first wall portion 581.

  As shown in FIG. 4, the lower portion of the second exhaust space 540 is enlarged at the portion where the exhaust port 52 is provided. As a result, a large-diameter exhaust pipe 52 </ b> A can be connected to the exhaust port 52. In the embodiment shown in FIG. 4, the second exhaust space 540 is expanded to a position radially outward from the liquid pool 532. In FIG. 4, the diameter of the exhaust port 52 may be enlarged and the position of the inner end (right end in the figure) of the exhaust port 52 may be moved radially inward. That is, in FIG. 4, the position of the inner end of the exhaust port 52 is substantially the same as the position of the first wall portion 581, but it may be positioned at an intermediate position between the first wall portion 581 and the second wall portion 582, for example. Good.

Next, the flow of fluid in the cup 50 when the wafer W is rotating will be described.
Although the arrow indicating the fluid flow is attached only to FIG. 4, the fluid flow is the same in FIG.

  When the inside of the second exhaust space 540 is sucked from the exhaust port 52, a pressure gradient that tends to decrease as the exhaust port 52 is approached is generated in the internal space of the cup 50 (that is, the first exhaust space 530 and the second exhaust space 540). . According to this pressure gradient, the gas flows through the internal space of the cup 50 toward the exhaust port 52.

  First, the gas above the wafer W (clean air discharged from the FFU 21 in this case) passes through a gap between the inner peripheral edge of the outer peripheral wall 502 that defines the upper opening 50A of the cup 50 and the outer peripheral edge of the wafer W. It flows into the first exhaust space 530 (see arrow G1 in FIG. 4). The gas flowing into the first exhaust space 530 flows into the second exhaust space 540 through the communication path 562.

  At this time, if the processing liquid is supplied from the nozzles 41 and 42 to at least one of the front and back surfaces of the wafer W, the processing liquid scatters from the wafer by centrifugal force and is guided to the guide surface 501 or the guide surface 551. Falls into the liquid pool 532. A part of the processing liquid becomes a fine droplet when colliding with the front and back surfaces of the wafer W, when colliding with the guide surfaces 501 and 551, and flows along the gas flow G1. A substantial portion of the micro droplets riding on the gas flow G 1 is separated from the gas flow G 2 when the gas flow G 2 is suddenly turned when the gas flow G 2 enters the communication path 562, and falls into the liquid pool 532. The liquid droplets that do not leave the gas flow G2 are discharged from the exhaust port 52 together with the gas.

  The gas flowing into the second exhaust space 540 flows toward the exhaust port 52. At this time, the gas flowing into the second exhaust space 540 near the exhaust port 52 shown in FIG. 4 flows into the exhaust port 52 as it is. On the other hand, the gas that has flowed into the second exhaust space 540 at a position away from the exhaust port 52 flows into the exhaust port 52 after flowing in the second exhaust space 540 in the circumferential direction.

  It is desirable to make the flow path resistance in the cup as low as possible except in places where the flow path is restricted for the purpose of increasing the flow rate. Examples of the place where the flow path is narrowed for the purpose of increasing the flow velocity include, for example, a gas flow passage route indicated by an arrow G1 in FIG. 4 of the first exhaust space 530. For example, if the gas flow velocity in the vicinity of the outer peripheral edge of the wafer W is low, fine droplets of the processing liquid scattered from the wafer W may reattach to the wafer W and contaminate the wafer W.

  On the other hand, the gas flowing in the circumferential direction in the second exhaust space 540 is not related to prevention of contamination of the wafer W like the gas flow G1. For this reason, the lower the resistance to the circumferential gas flow in the second exhaust space 540, the better.

  In consideration of the above points, in the present embodiment, the second wall portion 582 that forms the lower portion of the inner peripheral wall 580 that defines the second exhaust space 540 of the cup 50 is radially inward of the first wall portion 581. By positioning the second exhaust space 540, the cross-sectional area of the second exhaust space 540 is expanded. Further, in the present embodiment, by providing the inclined wall portion 583 between the first wall portion 581 and the second wall portion 582, the second exhaust space 540 is compared with the case where the inclined wall portion 583 is not provided. The cross-sectional area is widened (that is, the cross-sectional area is widened by the triangular area 585 surrounded by the one-dot chain line in FIG. 3). As a result, resistance to the circumferential flow of gas in the second exhaust space 540 is reduced, so that the allowable range of negative pressure applied to the exhaust port 52 (allowable lower limit value of the absolute value of negative pressure) is widened. . That is, even when the suction force from the exhaust port is low and the absolute value of the negative pressure is relatively low, a problem does not easily occur in the gas flow in the cup 50. Further, for example, it is possible to increase the possibility that the substrate processing system 1 can be installed in a semiconductor manufacturing factory having a low suction capability of the factory exhaust system.

  In this embodiment, the lower end of the guide wall 550 and the upper end of the isolation wall 560 are connected and integrated to form a partition wall, and the first exhaust space 530 and the second exhaust space 540 are partitioned by this partition wall. ing. A communication passage 562 ′ that communicates the first exhaust space 530 ′ and the second exhaust space 540 ′ is formed by removing a part of the upper end portion of the isolation wall 560. For this reason, the cross-sectional area of the second exhaust space 540 can be increased. For example, as shown in FIG. 5, the lower end of the guide wall 550 ′ is positioned radially outward from the isolation wall 560 ′, and the lower end of the guide wall 550 ′ is positioned below the upper end of the isolation wall 560 ′. , A gap between the lower end of the guide wall 550 ′ and the upper end of the isolation wall 560 ′ (this gap extends continuously over the entire circumference in the circumferential direction), and the first exhaust space 530 ′ and the second exhaust space 540 ′. Is used as a communication path 562 ′ that communicates with the above (this configuration corresponds to the configuration of Patent Document 1 cited as the prior art document). In this way, the cross-sectional area of the second exhaust space 540 decreases by the amount that the isolation wall 560 ′ is moved inward in the radial direction. Therefore, from the viewpoint of increasing the cross-sectional area of the second exhaust space 540, the guide wall 550 and the isolation wall 560 are preferably configured as shown in FIGS. However, the configuration shown in FIG. 5 may be adopted.

  In the second exhaust space 540, in addition to the second nozzle 42, for example, in order to remove the treatment liquid or solid matter derived from the treatment liquid that can adhere to the wall surface facing the second exhaust space 540 from the surface, A nozzle 43 that discharges a cleaning liquid such as pure water toward the wall surface (and a pipe that supplies the liquid to the nozzle 43) may be disposed (see FIG. 6). Even when such a nozzle is provided, it is desirable that the volume occupied in the second exhaust space 540 by the support for fixing the nozzle to the cup 50 is as small as possible. When such a support is provided, for example, as shown in FIG. 6, a cantilever support 565 that projects radially inward from the isolation wall 560 or a support 571 that extends upward from the bottom wall 570 is used. Is preferable. For example, it is not preferable to provide a structure such as a support 590 extending horizontally between the isolation wall 560 and the inner peripheral wall 580 (shown by a one-dot chain line in FIG. 6). In particular, it is preferable to avoid such a configuration in which the support 590 extends in the circumferential direction.

31 Substrate holder (vacuum chuck)
33 Rotation drive mechanism (motor)
41, 42 Nozzle 50 Cup 52 Exhaust port 80 Heating unit 532 Liquid pool 550 Guide wall 560 Isolation wall 562 Communication port 580 Inner peripheral wall 581 First wall portion 582 Second wall portion 583 Intermediate wall portion (inclined wall portion)

Next, the recovery cup (hereinafter simply referred to as “cup”) 50 of the processing unit 16, the substrate holding mechanism 30, and peripheral components thereof will be described in detail with reference to FIGS. 3 and 4. Figure 3 is a fragmentary sectional view of the processing unit 16 obtained by cutting the processing unit 16 in a plane passing through the center axis Ax of the substrate holding mechanism 30 without the exhaust port 52, FIG. 4 is the central axis of the exhaust port 52 and 4 is a cross-sectional view of a main part of the processing unit 16 obtained by cutting the processing unit 16 along a vertical plane passing through the central axis Ax of the substrate holding mechanism 30. FIG. Many of the members shown in FIGS. 3 and 4 are generally rotationally symmetric with respect to the central axis Ax.

31 Substrate holder (vacuum chuck)
33 Rotation drive mechanism (motor)
41, 42 nozzles
82 Heater
83a, 83b, 83c Gas passage
85a, 85b Gas outlet
W substrate (wafer)

Claims (10)

A substrate holder for horizontally holding the substrate;
A rotation drive mechanism for rotating the substrate holding unit around a vertical axis;
A nozzle for supplying a processing liquid to a substrate held and rotated by the substrate holder;
A cup that receives and collects the processing liquid supplied to the substrate, and
The cup has an opening at the top and an exhaust port for sucking the inside of the cup,
The cup has a ring-shaped first exhaust space facing the opening, and a ring-shaped second exhaust space facing the exhaust port and adjacent to the first exhaust space,
The first exhaust space and the second exhaust space communicate continuously or intermittently over the entire circumference in the circumferential direction,
The first exhaust space has a ring-shaped liquid reservoir at the bottom for receiving the processing liquid supplied to the substrate,
A ring-shaped guide wall that separates the first exhaust space and the second exhaust space and guides the processing liquid supplied to the substrate toward the liquid reservoir is provided,
A ring-shaped isolation wall for separating the first exhaust space and the second exhaust space and preventing the processing liquid received in the liquid reservoir from flowing into the second exhaust space is provided,
The cup has an inner peripheral wall that defines an inner peripheral end of the second exhaust space, and the inner peripheral wall forms a first wall portion that forms an upper portion of the inner peripheral wall and a lower portion of the inner peripheral wall. And a second wall portion located radially inward of the first wall portion.   The inner peripheral wall is provided between the first wall portion and the second wall portion, and the intermediate wall is formed so that the position of the surface approaches the second wall portion from the first wall portion as it goes downward. The substrate liquid processing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a wall portion.   The substrate liquid processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the intermediate wall portion is an inclined portion having an inclined surface.   The outer peripheral end of the second exhaust space in a portion where the exhaust port is provided is located outside the outer peripheral end of the second exhaust space in a portion where the exhaust port is not provided. 4. The substrate liquid processing apparatus according to claim 1.   5. The substrate liquid processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein an inner peripheral end of the exhaust port is located radially inward of the first wall portion. 6. And further comprising a back surface processing unit that surrounds the periphery of the substrate holding unit and processes the back surface of the substrate located below the substrate held by the substrate holding unit,
The said 1st inner wall is located in the radial direction outer side of the said back surface process part, and the said 2nd inner wall is located under the said back surface process part, It is any one of Claim 1 to 5 characterized by the above-mentioned. Substrate liquid processing equipment.   The substrate back surface processing apparatus according to claim 6, wherein the back surface processing unit is a heating unit that heats the back surface of the substrate. The members constituting the substrate holding part are arranged up to the height of the inner peripheral wall,
The first inner wall is located on the radially outer side of the member constituting the substrate holding portion, and the second inner wall is located below the member constituting the substrate holding portion. The substrate liquid processing apparatus according to any one of the above.   The substrate liquid processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the first wall portion and the second inner wall portion of the inner peripheral wall extend in a vertical direction.   A lower end of the guide wall and an upper end of the isolation wall are connected, and a communication path that connects the first exhaust space and the second exhaust space to the isolation wall or the guide wall is provided in the entire circumferential direction. The substrate liquid processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the substrate liquid processing apparatus is formed intermittently over the circumference.

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