JP2023182121A - Cleaning time calculation method - Google Patents

Abstract

To calculate an appropriate cleaning time of a pipe or the like.SOLUTION: A cleaning time calculation method comprises: a step of satisfying a pipe line for supplying a processing liquid of a processing unit for processing a substrate with a cleaning liquid; a step of measuring a first content amount change as a time change of an impurity content amount in the cleaning liquid generated until a first time in the pipe line and a second content amount change as a time change of an impurity content amount in the cleaning liquid generated until a second time after the first time in the pipe line; and a step of calculating the cleaning time for the pipe line on the basis of a difference between the first content amount change and the second content amount change.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 9

Description

The technology disclosed herein relates to calculation of cleaning time associated with substrate processing. Substrates to be processed include, for example, semiconductor wafers, glass substrates for liquid crystal display devices, substrates for flat panel displays (FPDs) such as organic EL (electroluminescence) display devices, substrates for optical disks, substrates for magnetic disks, and magneto-optical disks. substrates for photomasks, glass substrates for photomasks, ceramic substrates, field emission display (FED) substrates, solar cell substrates, and the like.

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, resin members have been used in structures such as piping of substrate processing apparatuses (for example, see Patent Document 1).

When starting up or replacing parts of the substrate processing apparatus as described above, substrate processing is started after each component is cleaned.

Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2009-222189

Even after cleaning is performed as described above, impurities remaining inside the resin member may leak into the processing liquid, so it is important that cleaning is performed appropriately.

However, it is difficult to predict the presence or absence of impurities that will flow out over time by simply measuring the impurity content immediately after cleaning, and on the other hand, excessively long cleaning times will reduce the efficiency of substrate processing.

The technology disclosed in this specification was developed in view of the problems described above, and is a technology for calculating an appropriate cleaning time for piping, etc. in substrate processing.

The cleaning time calculation method, which is the first aspect of the technology disclosed in this specification, includes the steps of: filling a piping line for supplying a processing liquid of a processing unit that processes a substrate with a cleaning liquid; A first content change that is a time change in impurity content in the cleaning liquid that has occurred up to a first time, and a second content change that is a time later than the first time in the piping line. a step of measuring a second content change that is a time change in the impurity content in the cleaning liquid that occurred in the cleaning solution, and based on the difference between the first content change and the second content change, and calculating a cleaning time for the piping line.

A cleaning time calculation method that is a second aspect of the technology disclosed in the present specification is related to the cleaning time calculation method that is the first aspect, in that the step of filling the piping line with the cleaning liquid has already been performed on the piping line. This is a step of filling the piping line with the cleaning liquid after draining the cleaning liquid that filled the pipe line.

A cleaning time calculation method that is a third aspect of the technology disclosed herein is related to the cleaning time calculation method that is the first or second aspect, and is related to the first content change and the second content change. The amount change is a change in the content of particles contained in the cleaning liquid.

A cleaning time calculation method that is a fourth aspect of the technology disclosed in the present specification is related to the cleaning time calculation method that is any one of the first to third aspects, wherein the cleaning liquid cleans the substrate. It is a chemical solution for treatment.

A cleaning time calculation method that is a fifth aspect of the technology disclosed in the present specification is related to the cleaning time calculation method that is any one of the first to fourth aspects, and the cleaning liquid is isopropyl alcohol. be.

A cleaning time calculation method that is a sixth aspect of the technology disclosed in the present specification is related to the cleaning time calculation method that is any one of the first to fifth aspects, and is related to the cleaning time calculation method that is any one of the first to fifth aspects, and is related to the first content change. The steps of measuring the second content change are repeated until the cleaning time is calculated.

A cleaning time calculation method that is a seventh aspect of the technology disclosed herein relates to the cleaning time calculation method that is any one of the first to sixth aspects, and is related to the cleaning time calculation method that is the cleaning time calculation method that is any one of the first to sixth aspects. The method further includes a step of later starting processing of the substrate in the processing unit.

A cleaning time calculation method that is an eighth aspect of the technology disclosed in the present specification is related to the cleaning time calculation method that is any one of the first to seventh aspects, and the piping line is a resin tube. including.

A cleaning time calculation method that is a ninth aspect of the technology disclosed in the present specification is related to the cleaning time calculation method that is any one of the first to eighth aspects, and in which the piping line is connected to the cleaning The step of measuring the first content change and the second content change includes the measurement line for which the time is to be calculated, and the step of measuring the first content change and the second content change includes the measurement line in the piping line located downstream of the measurement line. After draining the cleaning liquid, a step of discharging the cleaning liquid in the measurement line onto the substrate, a step of drying the substrate onto which the cleaning liquid has been discharged, and a step of removing impurities on the dried substrate. and a step of detecting.

According to at least the first aspect of the technology disclosed in this specification, it is possible to calculate an appropriate cleaning time for a measurement line based on a change in impurity content over time.

In addition, objects, features, aspects, and advantages related to the technology disclosed herein will become more apparent from the detailed description and accompanying drawings set forth below.

1 is a plan view schematically showing an example of the configuration of a substrate processing apparatus according to an embodiment. FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating an example of a configuration of a control section whose example is illustrated in FIG. 1; FIG. 2 is a side view schematically showing an example of a processing unit and its related configuration in a substrate processing apparatus according to an embodiment. 3 is a flowchart showing operations in a processing unit among operations of the substrate processing apparatus. FIG. 3 is a diagram conceptually showing an example of how impurities mixed in a resin member used for a piping line are mixed into a processing liquid. FIG. 3 is a diagram conceptually showing an example of how impurities mixed in a resin member used for a piping line are mixed into a processing liquid. FIG. 6 is a diagram showing an example of the timing of measuring the impurity content of the cleaning liquid in the measurement line in order to calculate the cleaning time of the measurement line. It is a figure which shows the experimental result which evaluated the change of impurity content in a cleaning liquid. It is a figure which plotted the slope of each dotted line shown in the figure. FIG. 2 is a side view schematically showing an example of a processing unit and its related configuration according to the present embodiment.

Embodiments will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings. In the following embodiments, detailed features and the like are shown for technical explanation, but these are merely examples, and not all of them are necessarily essential features for the embodiments to be implemented.

Note that the drawings are schematically illustrated, and for convenience of explanation, structures may be omitted or simplified as appropriate in the drawings. Further, the mutual relationship between the sizes and positions of the structures shown in different drawings is not necessarily described accurately and may be changed as appropriate. Further, even in drawings such as plan views that are not cross-sectional views, hatching may be added to facilitate understanding of the content of the embodiments.

In addition, in the following description, similar components are shown with the same reference numerals, and their names and functions are also the same. Therefore, detailed descriptions thereof may be omitted to avoid duplication.

In addition, in the description provided in the specification of this application, when a component is described as "comprising," "includes," or "has," unless otherwise specified, exclusions that exclude the presence of other components are also used. It's not an expression.

Furthermore, even if ordinal numbers such as "first" or "second" are sometimes used in the description of the present specification, these terms will not be used to facilitate understanding of the content of the embodiments. These ordinal numbers are used for convenience and the content of the embodiments is not limited to the order that can occur based on these ordinal numbers.

In addition, in the description provided herein, specific positions or directions such as "top", "bottom", "left", "right", "side", "bottom", "front" or "back" Even if terms that mean It is independent of the position or direction of the

In addition, in the description provided in the specification of this application, when "...upper surface" or "...lower surface" etc. are described, in addition to the upper surface itself or the lower surface itself of the target component, This also includes a state in which other components are formed on the upper or lower surface of the. That is, for example, when it is described as "B provided on the upper surface of A", it does not prevent another component "C" from being interposed between A and B.

<Embodiment>
The configuration of the substrate processing apparatus and the cleaning time calculation method according to this embodiment will be described below.

<About the configuration of the substrate processing equipment>
FIG. 1 is a plan view schematically showing an example of the configuration of a substrate processing apparatus 1 according to the present embodiment. The substrate processing apparatus 1 includes a load port 601, an indexer robot 602, a center robot 603, a control section 90, and at least one processing unit 600 (four processing units in FIG. 1).

The processing unit 600 is a single-wafer type device that can be used for substrate processing, and specifically, it is a device that performs processing to remove organic matter adhering to the substrate W. The organic matter adhering to the substrate W is, for example, a used resist film. The resist film is used, for example, as an implantation mask for an ion implantation process.

Note that the processing unit 600 can include a chamber 180. In that case, by controlling the atmosphere within the chamber 180 by the control unit 90, the processing unit 600 can perform substrate processing in a desired atmosphere.

The control unit 90 can control the operation of each component in the substrate processing apparatus 1 (spin motor 10D, actuator 22C, valve 25, etc., which will be described later). The carrier C is a container that accommodates the substrate W. Further, the load port 601 is a container holding mechanism that holds a plurality of carriers C. The indexer robot 602 can transport the substrate W between the load port 601 and the substrate platform 604. The center robot 603 can transport the substrate W between the substrate platform 604 and the processing unit 600.

With the above configuration, the indexer robot 602, the substrate platform 604, and the center robot 603 function as a transport mechanism that transports the substrate W between the respective processing units 600 and the load port 601.

The unprocessed substrate W is taken out from the carrier C by the indexer robot 602. The unprocessed substrate W is then delivered to the center robot 603 via the substrate platform 604.

The center robot 603 carries the unprocessed substrate W into the processing unit 600. The processing unit 600 then processes the substrate W.

The substrate W that has been processed in the processing unit 600 is taken out from the processing unit 600 by the central robot 603 . Then, the processed substrate W passes through another processing unit 600 as necessary, and then is delivered to the indexer robot 602 via the substrate platform 604. The indexer robot 602 carries the processed substrate W into the carrier C. Through the above steps, the substrate W is processed.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an example of the configuration of the control section 90 shown in FIG. 1. As shown in FIG. The control unit 90 may be configured by a general computer having an electric circuit. Specifically, the control unit 90 includes a central processing unit (CPU) 91, a read only memory (ROM) 92, and a random access memory (RAM). ) 93, a recording device 94, an input section 96, a display section 97, a communication section 98, and a bus line 95 interconnecting these.

The ROM 92 stores basic programs. The RAM 93 is used as a work area when the CPU 91 performs predetermined processing. The recording device 94 is configured by a nonvolatile recording device such as a flash memory or a hard disk device. The input unit 96 is configured with various switches or a touch panel, and receives input setting instructions such as processing recipes from the user. The display section 97 is composed of, for example, a liquid crystal display device and a lamp, and displays various information under the control of the CPU 91. The communication unit 98 has a data communication function via a local area network (LAN) or the like.

A plurality of modes for controlling each configuration in the substrate processing apparatus 1 of FIG. 1 are preset in the recording device 94. When the CPU 91 executes the processing program 94P, one of the plurality of modes described above is selected, and each configuration is controlled in the selected mode. Note that the processing program 94P may be recorded on an external recording medium. Using this recording medium, the processing program 94P can be installed in the control unit 90. Further, some or all of the functions executed by the control unit 90 do not necessarily need to be realized by software, and may be realized by hardware such as a dedicated logic circuit.

<About the processing unit>
FIG. 3 is a side view schematically showing an example of the processing unit 600 and its related configuration in the substrate processing apparatus 1 according to the present embodiment.

The processing unit 600 includes a spin chuck 10 that holds one substrate W in a substantially horizontal position and rotates the substrate W around a vertical rotation axis Z1 passing through the center of the substrate W, and a processing liquid on the upper surface of the substrate W. 120, a processing liquid supply source 29 for supplying the processing liquid 120 to the processing liquid nozzle 20, and a pipe 28 for supplying the processing liquid 120 from the processing liquid supply source 29 to the processing liquid nozzle 20. , a valve 25 and a valve 26 that are provided in the pipe 28 and adjust the supply amount of the processing liquid 120 flowing inside the pipe 28, a nozzle arm 22 with a processing liquid nozzle 20 attached to the end, and the upper surface of the substrate W. The spin chuck 10 is provided with a particle detector 702 directed toward the substrate W, and a cylindrical processing cup 12 surrounding the spin chuck 10 around the rotation axis Z1 of the substrate W.

The processing liquid 120 includes a chemical solution used for substrate processing and a cleaning solution for cleaning the substrate, and includes, for example, sulfuric acid, acetic acid, nitric acid, hydrochloric acid, hydrofluoric acid, ammonia water, pure water (DIW), hydrogen peroxide solution, and organic acid (DIW). A liquid containing at least one of the following: citric acid, oxalic acid, etc.), an organic alkali (such as tetramethylammonium hydroxide (TMAH), etc.), IPA (isopropyl alcohol), a surfactant, and a corrosion inhibitor. There may be. Examples of chemical solutions that are a mixture of these are a mixed solution of sulfuric acid and hydrogen peroxide (SPM), a mixed solution of ammonia and hydrogen peroxide (SC1), and hydrofluoric acid (HF) diluted with pure water. Examples include dilute hydrofluoric acid (DHF).

A portion of the piping 28 corresponds to the measurement line 28A. Valve 25 is located upstream of measurement line 28A. Further, the valve 26 is located downstream of the measurement line 28A. That is, the measurement line 28A is the pipe 28 in the range sandwiched between the valve 25 and the valve 26. The measurement line 28A is a part to be measured for calculating cleaning time, which will be described later, and may be a part to be replaced by parts replacement, for example.

The processing liquid supply source 29, the piping 28 (including the measurement line 28A), the valve 25, the valve 26, and the processing liquid nozzle 20 described above are referred to as a piping line through which the processing liquid 120 is supplied to the substrate W.

For example, a fluororesin such as polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) or perfluoroalkoxyalkane (PFA) is used in a portion of the piping line that comes into contact with the processing liquid 120. Piping 28 is, for example, a resin tube.

The particle detector 702 includes an imaging section such as a camera directed toward the top surface of the substrate W, and captures an image of the top surface of the substrate W under the control of the control section 90 . The particle detector 702 includes, for example, a time delay integration (TDI) camera. The obtained image data is then output to the control unit 90, and it is detected whether any impurities such as particles remain on the upper surface of the substrate W by image analysis. A machine learning algorithm may be applied to the image analysis.

The spin chuck 10 includes a disk-shaped spin base 10A facing the lower surface of the substrate W in a substantially horizontal position, a plurality of chuck pins 10E that clamp the substrate W from the outer periphery of the spin base 10A, and a central portion of the spin base 10A. A spin motor 10D is provided, which rotates the substrate W held on the spin base 10A by rotating the rotation shaft 10C. The plurality of chuck pins 10E are arranged along the circumference of the circular substrate W at equal intervals. Note that instead of the spin chuck 10, a suction type chuck that vacuum-chucks the lower surface of the substrate W may be used.

The nozzle arm 22 includes an arm portion 22A, a shaft body 22B, and an actuator 22C. The actuator 22C adjusts the angle of the shaft body 22B around the axis. One end of the arm portion 22A is fixed to the shaft body 22B, and the other end of the arm portion 22A is arranged away from the axis of the shaft body 22B. Furthermore, a processing liquid nozzle 20 is attached to the other end of the arm portion 22A. The processing liquid nozzle 20 is configured to be swingable in the radial direction of the substrate W by adjusting the angle of the shaft body 22B by the actuator 22C. Note that the moving direction of the processing liquid nozzle 20 due to rocking only needs to have a component in the radial direction of the substrate W, and does not need to be strictly parallel to the radial direction of the substrate W.

Further, in the above example, the number of nozzles in the processing unit 600 is one, but the nozzle for discharging the processing liquid onto the substrate W may be further provided.

<About the operation of the substrate processing equipment>
Next, an example of the operation of the substrate processing apparatus 1 will be described with reference to FIG. 4. Note that FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing the operation of the processing unit 600 among the operations of the substrate processing apparatus 1.

The indexer robot 602 transports the substrate W from the carrier C at the load port 601 to the substrate platform 604. The center robot 603 transports the substrate W from the substrate platform 604 to one processing unit 600. The processing unit 600 processes the substrate W. The center robot 603 transports the substrate W from the processing unit 600 to the substrate platform 604. The indexer robot 602 transports the substrate W from the substrate platform 604 to the carrier C at the load port 601.

As for the substrate processing in the processing unit 600, first, a predetermined chemical processing is performed by supplying a chemical liquid to the upper surface of the substrate W from the processing liquid nozzle 20 (step ST01 in FIG. 4). Thereafter, a rinsing process is performed by supplying pure water (DIW) or the like from the processing liquid nozzle 20 to the upper surface of the substrate W (step ST02 in FIG. 4). Furthermore, after replacing the pure water with IPA (isopropyl alcohol) supplied from the processing liquid nozzle 20, the substrate W is rotated at high speed with the spin chuck 10 to shake off the IPA. Thereby, the substrate W is dried (step ST03 in FIG. 4).

Among the above-described substrate treatments, in the chemical liquid treatment, a predetermined treatment liquid is discharged from the treatment liquid nozzle 20 onto the upper surface of the substrate W which is being rotated and held by the spin chuck 10 . The type, ejection amount, concentration, temperature, ejection timing, etc. of the processing liquid ejected from the processing liquid nozzle 20 are controlled by the control unit 90 based on a processing recipe recorded on a recording device 94 or the like.

<About impurities in piping lines>
As mentioned above, fluororesin is used in the portion of the piping line that comes into contact with the processing liquid 120. Since the resin member contains impurities (particles including metal dust, etc.) mixed in during the manufacturing process, it is important to remove the impurities prior to substrate processing.

5 and 6 are diagrams conceptually showing an example of how impurities mixed in a resin member used for a piping line are mixed into the processing liquid 120.

As an example is shown in FIG. 5, the resin member 101 is made up of a plurality of lumped resins 102. The bulk resin 102 is composed of a single polymer molecule or a plurality of polymer molecules. Impurities 103 are attached to the surface of the resin member 101. Impurities 103 exist not only on the surface of resin member 101 but also inside resin member 101 .

In the following, the impurity 103 attached to the surface of the resin member 101 will be referred to as an impurity 103A, and the impurity 103 existing inside the resin member 101 will be referred to as an impurity 103B. The impurity 103B mainly exists between the lumpy resins 102.

The impurities 103 enter the inside of the resin member 101, for example, when the resin member 101 is formed by injection molding. The impurity 103 is also called a particle, and is, for example, an organic substance.

When the resin member 101 is cleaned with the cleaning liquid 120A at room temperature, as shown in an example in FIG. It can be removed by draining it.

However, as an example shown in FIG. 6, at least part of the impurity 103B existing inside the resin member 101 remains inside the resin member 101 without being removed. These remaining impurities 103B gradually elute or flow out into the cleaning liquid 120A or into the chemical solution used for substrate processing over time.

In order to prevent impurities from being mixed into the processing liquid 120, sufficient cleaning of the piping lines is required. However, it is difficult to specify how long cleaning is required, and cleaning may take a longer time than necessary.

In this embodiment, a method for effectively calculating the cleaning time of a piping line will be described.

<About cleaning time calculation>
In the present embodiment, a case will be described with reference to FIG. 3 about calculating the cleaning time of the measurement line 28A shown in FIG. 3 among the piping lines.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing an example of the timing of measuring the impurity content of the cleaning liquid in the measurement line 28A in order to calculate the cleaning time of the measurement line 28A. In FIG. 7, the horizontal axis indicates the length of time that the measurement line 28A is immersed in the cleaning liquid. Moreover, the immersion time is not limited to the case where the measurement line 28A is immersed continuously, but may be interrupted midway.

First, the valve 25 and the valve 26 are opened to allow the cleaning liquid to flow from the processing liquid supply source 29 to fill the inside of the pipe 28 including the measurement line 28A with the cleaning liquid.

Next, the valve 25 and the valve 26 are closed, and the cleaning liquid in the pipe 28 and the processing liquid nozzle 20 located downstream of the valve 26 is drained to a standby pod (not shown) or the like. Note that the timing of the discharge may be any timing before the timing of discharging the cleaning liquid in the measurement line 28A, which will be described later.

Next, when the inside of the measurement line 28A is filled with the cleaning liquid and the immersion time reaches a predetermined time, the valve 26 is opened, and the cleaning liquid that filled the inside of the measurement line 28A is applied to the upper surface of the substrate W. Exhale. Note that the substrate W onto which the cleaning liquid is discharged may be a test substrate used for calculating the cleaning time of the measurement line 28A.

Here, as the immersion time in the measurement line 28A, at least two types of immersion time (for example, x time and y time) are set in addition to 0 time (that is, when the cleaning liquid is discharged immediately after the start of immersion). It is necessary to

In this embodiment, after flushing (preliminary discharge) of the processing liquid 120 in the pipe 28, the immersion time is set in the order of 0 time, x time, and y time, and then the pipe 28 is flushed again. After that, the immersion time is set in the order of 0 hour, x time, y time, and so on, and the flushing and immersion are repeated. Even when setting the immersion times of x hours and y hours, the cleaning liquid in the measurement line 28A is discharged each time. Note that if it is possible to detect the impurity content of the cleaning liquid in the measurement line 28A, it is not essential to perform flushing and draining, but by performing flushing and draining, it is easier to manage the immersion time for each. becomes.

The impurity content of each of the above cleaning liquids discharged onto the upper surface of the substrate W at a predetermined time point is detected. Detection of the impurity content is repeatedly performed until the cleaning time described below is calculated.

Specifically, the substrate W onto which the cleaning liquid has been discharged is rotated at high speed by the spin chuck 10 and subjected to a drying process. Then, impurities (particles) remaining on the upper surface of the substrate W after the drying process are detected by a particle detector 702. From the viewpoint of performing the above-mentioned drying process, IPA (isopropyl alcohol) can be used as the cleaning liquid.

FIG. 8 is a diagram showing the results of an experiment in which changes in impurity content in the cleaning liquid were evaluated. In FIG. 8, the vertical axis indicates the impurity content (relative value) in the cleaning liquid, and the horizontal axis indicates the immersion time [h] of the measurement line 28A.

In addition, in FIG. 8, one set is the impurity content measured in the order of 0 hours, x hours, and y hours after flushing the processing liquid 120, and the measurement results of the same set of impurity contents (specifically, The measurement results after 0 hours and the measurement results after y hours) are connected by a dotted line. The slope of the dotted line corresponds to the change in impurity content (change in content) over time in the cleaning liquid.

The white circles in FIG. 8 indicate the measurement results 0 hours after draining and the measurement results 3a hours after draining when the immersion time was about 8 hours. Moreover, the white triangular points in FIG. 8 indicate the measurement results 0 hours after draining and the measurement results 3a hours after draining when the immersion time was about 30 hours. Further, the black circles in FIG. 8 indicate the measurement results 0 hours after draining and the measurement results 3a hours after draining when the immersion time was about 50 hours. Moreover, the black triangular points in FIG. 8 indicate the measurement results 0 hours after draining and the measurement results 3a hours after draining when the immersion time was about 180 hours. In FIG. 8, four sets of impurity content changes up to different times are shown.

As shown in FIG. 8, as the immersion time becomes longer, the slope of the dotted line connecting the measurement results of the same set becomes smaller. That is, as the immersion time becomes longer, the change in the impurity content becomes smaller.

FIG. 9 is a diagram in which the slopes of the respective dotted lines shown in FIG. 8 are plotted. In FIG. 9, the vertical axis indicates the slope (relative value) of the dotted line in FIG. 8, and the horizontal axis indicates the immersion time [h].

If the slopes of the four dotted lines shown in FIG. 8 are plotted, the arrangement will be as shown in FIG. 9, and an approximate straight line 300 of these plots can be shown. Note that the approximate line indicating the relationship between plots is not limited to a straight line, and may be an approximate curve obtained by fitting, for example.

As shown in FIG. 9, the slope value of the approximate straight line 300 decreases over time. That is, the change in the content of impurities in the cleaning liquid slows down over time. Here, if a slope threshold is set at which it is considered that there is almost no change in the content of impurities in the cleaning liquid (the slope is set to 1 in FIG. 9), the point at which the approximate straight line 300 becomes equal to or lower than the threshold is determined by the measurement. The line 28A can be cleaned at an appropriate time. That is, an appropriate cleaning time for the measurement line 28A can be calculated based on the change in impurity content over time.

Note that the detection of the impurity content of the cleaning liquid is repeated until the above plot shows an appropriate approximate straight line 300 (that is, until a sufficient number of plots are collected to calculate the cleaning time with the required accuracy). . In other words, after the cleaning time has been calculated with sufficient accuracy, there is no need to detect the impurity content of the cleaning liquid. Therefore, excessive discharge of the cleaning liquid and detection of impurity content in the cleaning liquid can be prevented.

According to the above method, the approximate straight line 300 is calculated based on the temporal change in the impurity content of the cleaning liquid at a plurality of points in time, and the time point at which the value of the approximate straight line 300 becomes equal to or lower than the threshold value is calculated. , the cleaning time of the measurement line 28A can be estimated. Therefore, it is no longer necessary to set an excessively long cleaning time to deal with the problem peculiar to resin members, such as impurities mixed into the resin member during the manufacturing process flowing out, and the efficiency of substrate processing is increased.

Further, since the cleaning time for the measurement line 28A can be estimated, it is also possible to automatically perform substrate processing including the cleaning time for the measurement line 28A, thereby increasing work efficiency.

For example, first, a location in the entire substrate processing apparatus 1 where parts are to be replaced or the like is identified as the measurement line 28A. Then, under the control of the control unit 90, the cleaning liquid is supplied from the processing liquid supply source 29 to the measurement line 28A.

Next, under the control of the control unit 90, the cleaning liquid is discharged from the measurement line 28A at different immersion times, and further, the impurity content in the discharged cleaning liquid is measured by the particle detector 702. Then, information on the impurity content in the cleaning liquid output from the particle detector 702 and the corresponding immersion time obtained from control information of valves and the like is input to the control unit 90.

The control unit 90 calculates temporal changes in the impurity content at a plurality of time points based on the input information on the impurity content and the corresponding immersion time. Then, the control unit 90 creates a graph as shown in FIG. 9 and calculates the time during which the approximate straight line falls below a predetermined threshold, that is, the cleaning time of the measurement line 28A.

Then, the control unit 90 determines whether the calculated cleaning time is longer than the cumulative time during which the measurement line 28A is immersed in the cleaning liquid at the current time. If the calculated cleaning time is longer than the cumulative time during which the measurement line 28A has been immersed, the control unit 90 continues dipping the measurement line 28A until the calculated cleaning time is reached. On the other hand, if the calculated cleaning time is shorter than the cumulative time during which the measurement line 28A was immersed, the control unit 90 ends the immersion of the measurement line 28A and automatically moves to substrate processing.

<About impurity detection>
In the above, particles were detected by the particle detector 702 from the cleaning liquid discharged onto the substrate W, but particles may also be detected within the measurement line 28A.

FIG. 10 is a side view schematically showing an example of a processing unit 600A and its related configuration according to the present embodiment. The configuration shown in FIG. 10 is similar to the configuration in FIG. 3 except that the particle detector 702 in FIG. 3 is replaced with a particle counter 704.

As an example shown in FIG. 10, the particle counter 704 is an optical particle measuring device and is connected to the measurement line 28A. Then, the particle counter 704 samples the cleaning liquid in the measurement line 28A and detects particles present in the sampled cleaning liquid based on the response wavelength obtained by measuring the cleaning liquid.

According to such a configuration, the impurity content can be continuously detected within the measurement line 28A without discharging the cleaning liquid from the processing liquid nozzle 20. In this case, the measurement line 28A can be immersed continuously, and the start time of the immersion may be the same, and the corresponding impurity content may be detected each time the set immersion time is reached.

In addition, when a part of the configuration of the substrate processing apparatus 1 is newly replaced, the cleaning time for the newly replaced configuration is determined based on the cleaning time already calculated for a similar configuration that was replaced in the past. can be calculated. In this way, the impurity content can be measured at an effective timing for calculating the cleaning time. Therefore, the number of measurements required to calculate the cleaning time can be reduced.

<About the effects produced by the embodiments described above>
Next, examples of effects produced by the embodiment described above will be shown. Note that in the following explanation, the effects will be described based on the specific configurations shown in the embodiments described above, but examples will not be included in the present specification to the extent that similar effects are produced. may be replaced with other specific configurations shown. That is, for convenience, only one of the concrete configurations that are associated may be described below as a representative, but other specific configurations that are described as a representative may also be described. It may be replaced with a similar configuration.

According to the embodiment described above, in the cleaning time calculation method, the piping line for supplying the processing liquid to the processing unit 600 that processes the substrate W is filled with the cleaning liquid. Then, the first content change is the time change in the impurity content in the cleaning liquid that has occurred up to the first time in the piping line (for example, the time change in the content connecting the white circle points in FIG. 8). , the second content change, which is the time change in the impurity content in the cleaning liquid, that occurs in the piping line up to the second time that is later than the first time (for example, the black circle point in FIG. (time change in the content that connects the two). Then, based on the difference between the first content change and the second content change (for example, the time course of the content change decreasing from the white circle plot to the black circle plot in FIG. 9), the piping line is Calculate the cleaning time.

According to such a configuration, an appropriate cleaning time for the measurement line 28A can be calculated based on the change in impurity content over time.

In addition, in the case where other configurations illustrated in the present specification are appropriately added to the above configuration, that is, when other configurations in the present specification that are not mentioned as the above configurations are appropriately added. Even if there is, the same effect can be produced.

Further, according to the embodiment described above, the step of filling the piping line with the cleaning liquid may include draining the cleaning liquid that has already filled the piping line (i.e., flushing, which is the standard for the immersion time, or This is the process of filling the piping line with cleaning liquid after draining the liquid at the timing of switching. According to such a configuration, each immersion time can be easily managed.

Moreover, according to the embodiment described above, the first content change and the second content change are the content changes of particles contained in the cleaning liquid. According to such a configuration, an appropriate cleaning time for the measurement line 28A can be calculated based on the change in particle content over time.

Further, according to the embodiment described above, the cleaning liquid is a chemical liquid for treating the substrate W. According to such a configuration, the chemical solution used for substrate processing can also be used for dipping the piping line.

Further, according to the embodiment described above, the cleaning liquid is isopropyl alcohol. According to such a configuration, even if a drying process is performed as a pretreatment for detecting the impurity content, the impurity content can be detected while suppressing damage to the substrate W.

Moreover, according to the embodiment described above, the step of measuring the first content change and the second content change is repeatedly performed until the cleaning time is calculated. According to such a configuration, after the cleaning time is calculated with sufficient accuracy, it is not necessary to detect the impurity content of the cleaning liquid, so it is possible to prevent excessive discharge of the cleaning liquid and detection of the impurity content in the cleaning liquid. Can be done.

Further, according to the embodiment described above, in the cleaning time calculation method, processing of the substrate W is started in the processing unit 600 after the calculated cleaning time has elapsed. According to such a configuration, substrate processing can be automatically executed using the calculated cleaning time lapse of the measurement line 28A as a trigger, so that work efficiency can be improved.

Moreover, according to the embodiment described above, the piping line includes a resin tube. According to such a configuration, the cleaning time can be appropriately set even in response to the problem peculiar to resin members that impurities mixed into the resin members during the manufacturing process flow out.

Further, according to the embodiment described above, the piping line partially includes the measurement line 28A, which is the object of calculating the cleaning time. Then, in the step of measuring the first content change and the second content change, after draining the cleaning liquid in the piping line located downstream of the measurement line 28A, the cleaning liquid in the measurement line 28A is transferred to the substrate W. The method includes a step of discharging the cleaning liquid upward, a step of drying the substrate W onto which the cleaning liquid has been discharged, and a step of detecting impurities on the substrate W that has been dried. According to such a configuration, it is possible to calculate an appropriate cleaning time limited to an arbitrary location in the piping line. Further, since impurities can be detected after drying the upper surface of the substrate W, impurities can be detected with higher accuracy than in a state where cleaning liquid remains.

<About modifications of the embodiment described above>
In the above embodiment, the measurement line 28A, which is a part of the piping line, is the target of cleaning time calculation, but the location of the measurement line 28A is not limited to the case shown in FIG. The target may be the entire piping line through which a certain processing liquid flows. Note that when calculating the cleaning time for the entire piping line, it is not necessary to drain the cleaning liquid downstream of the measurement line 28A in advance.

Further, in the above embodiment, immersion was performed by keeping the cleaning liquid in the measurement line 28A, but it is sufficient that the resin member inside the measurement line 28A is in contact with the cleaning liquid. It may also be possible to immerse it by flowing a cleaning liquid.

Furthermore, in the above embodiments, the materials, materials, dimensions, shapes, relative arrangement relationships, implementation conditions, etc. of each component may be described, but these are only one example in all aspects. However, it is not limited.

Accordingly, countless variations and equivalents, not illustrated, are envisioned within the scope of the technology disclosed herein. For example, this includes cases in which at least one component is modified, added, or omitted.

In at least one of the embodiments described above, if a material name is listed without being specified, unless a contradiction arises, the material may contain other additives, such as This includes alloys, etc.

28 Piping 28A Measurement line 103 Impurity 103A Impurity 103B Impurity 120 Processing liquid 120A Cleaning liquid 600 Processing unit 600A Processing unit W Substrate

Claims (9)

a step of filling a piping line for supplying processing liquid to a processing unit that processes the substrate with cleaning liquid;
a first content change that is a time change in impurity content in the cleaning liquid that has occurred up to a first time in the piping line; and a time that is later than the first time in the piping line. a second content change that is a time change in the impurity content in the cleaning liquid that has occurred up to a second time;
calculating a cleaning time for the piping line based on a difference between the first content change and the second content change;
How to calculate cleaning time. The cleaning time calculation method according to claim 1,
The step of filling the piping line with the cleaning liquid is a step of filling the piping line with the cleaning liquid after draining the cleaning liquid that has already filled the piping line,
How to calculate cleaning time. The cleaning time calculation method according to claim 1 or 2,
The first content change and the second content change are changes in the content of particles contained in the cleaning liquid,
How to calculate cleaning time. The cleaning time calculation method according to claim 1 or 2,
the cleaning liquid is a chemical liquid for treating the substrate;
How to calculate cleaning time. The cleaning time calculation method according to claim 1 or 2,
the cleaning liquid is isopropyl alcohol;
How to calculate cleaning time. The cleaning time calculation method according to claim 1 or 2,
The step of measuring the first content change and the second content change is repeatedly performed until the cleaning time is calculated.
How to calculate cleaning time. The cleaning time calculation method according to claim 1 or 2,
further comprising the step of starting processing of the substrate in the processing unit after the calculated cleaning time has elapsed;
How to calculate cleaning time. The cleaning time calculation method according to claim 1 or 2,
the piping line includes a resin tube;
How to calculate cleaning time. The cleaning time calculation method according to claim 1 or 2,
The piping line partially includes a measurement line for which the cleaning time is calculated,
The step of measuring the first content change and the second content change,
After draining the cleaning liquid in the piping line located downstream of the measurement line, discharging the cleaning liquid in the measurement line onto the substrate;
drying the substrate onto which the cleaning liquid has been discharged;
a step of detecting impurities on the dry-treated substrate;
How to calculate cleaning time.

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