JP2528111Y2 - Wafer holding holder - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed description of the invention]

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a holder for holding a wafer in order, particularly a thin substrate such as a semiconductor substrate or a glass substrate for a liquid crystal or a photomask (hereinafter simply referred to as "wafer"). The present invention relates to a wafer holding holder for vertically holding a wafer in a processing tank of a wafer processing apparatus for chemically treating a wafer.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In a carrier-less type wafer processing apparatus in which a wafer is directly held by a chuck without being accommodated in a carrier, and immersed in each processing tank to perform chemical processing, a carrier is not required. The processing tank can be downsized. Therefore, there is an advantage that the amount of the chemical solution or the cleaning solution can be reduced, and the processing time can be shortened.

Recently, the diameter of wafers has tended to increase from 6 inches to 8 inches, and the carrier-less type wafer processing apparatus has the disadvantages of the conventional carrier type in terms of maintenance cost and processing capacity as described above. It is expected to become the mainstream of wafer processing in the future because it is much better than that of wafer processing.

In such a carrierless type wafer processing apparatus, first, a wafer is directly held by a chuck and transported above a predetermined processing tank. Next, the chuck is lowered, and the wafer is stably held on a wafer holding holder installed in the processing tank. The processing tank is filled with chemicals and cleaning liquids necessary for wafer processing. After performing the necessary surface processing, the wafer is again held by the chuck and pulled up, and then transferred to the next processing tank or dryer. The wafers are conveyed to perform wafer processing one after another.

[0005] In this case, in order to efficiently perform chemical treatment and cleaning in the processing tank, bubbling for ejecting a gas such as nitrogen gas from below the wafer, or ejecting a necessary chemical or cleaning solution upward from the bottom of the wafer has conventionally been performed. A method such as an upflow was adopted.

Conventionally, a wafer holding holder for arranging and holding a wafer in a processing tank has been conventionally provided with a structure shown in FIGS.
There was a shape as shown in FIG.

In the wafer holding holder shown in FIG. 7, a plurality of guide grooves 1a having the same shape as the outer edge of the wafer 2 are formed on the upper surface of a wide base 1 at equal pitches in a direction perpendicular to the paper. is there. The pedestal 1 is placed, for example, on the bottom surface of the processing tank 3, and the lower outer edge of the wafer 2 is inserted into the guide groove 1 a to arrange a plurality of wafers 2 almost vertically in the processing tank 3 filled with the wafer processing liquid 4. Hold upright.

Further, the wafer holding holder shown in FIG. 8 is provided with three guide rods 5 each having a plurality of guide grooves 5a formed therein, and the three guide rods 5 are arranged such that the bottom surfaces of the guide grooves 5a are formed. In the processing tank, the wafer 2 is held at three points so as to equally contact the outer edge of the wafer 2.

In the wafer holding holder shown in FIG. 9, only two guide rods 6 each having a plurality of guide grooves 6a formed inside are installed in the processing tank 3, and the wafer 2 is held almost vertically at two points. Is what you do.

Conventionally, in the processing tank having the above-described wafer holding holder, when performing bubbling or upflow processing, a pipe dedicated to bubbling or upflow is provided below the wafer holding holder, and a dedicated pipe is provided. Nitrogen gas and necessary chemicals or cleaning liquids were supplied via pipes.

FIG. 10 shows an example in which bubbling and upflow functions are added to a processing tank using the wafer holding holder shown in FIG.

Referring to FIG.
A bubbling pipe 8 and three upflow pipes 9 are arranged in parallel with the guide rod 5, and these pipes 8 and 9 are shown in a longitudinal section for convenience of explanation.

A plurality of spouts 8a, 9a are formed in the upper surface of each of the pipes 8, 9, and each of the pipes 8, 9 is provided with a suffocating gas supply device and a chemical solution supply device (via a connection tube). (Not shown), whereby the nitrogen gas 10 is jetted and bubbled from the jet port 8a as necessary, and the chemical or cleaning liquid 11 is jetted from the jet port 9a to perform an upflow process. It has become.

[0014]

However, the conventional method as described above has the following problems.

First, there is a problem that the inner volume of the processing tank becomes large.

That is, if the bubbling pipe 8 and the upflow pipe 9 are further disposed below the holding member of the wafer holding holder as described above, the processing tank 3
Volume becomes large. For this reason, the amount of the chemical solution or the cleaning solution to be consumed increases, so that the maintenance cost is deteriorated, and the processing is time-consuming and very inefficient. This reduces maintenance costs and processing time by minimizing the internal volume of the processing bath and minimizing the amount of chemicals and the like consumed in a carrierless wafer processing apparatus. Contrary to the purpose of achieving.

Second, there is a problem in the uniformity of wafer processing.

That is, since the bubbling pipe 8 and the upflow pipe 9 are disposed below the wafer holding holder, the guide rod 5 becomes an obstacle to bubbling and upflow, and the shaded portion (see FIG. Since the bubbling bubbles and the flow of the chemical solution due to the upflow do not reach the area indicated by the oblique line 12 in FIG. 11 (hereinafter, the area indicated by the oblique line 12 is referred to as “dead water area” for convenience), sufficient wafer processing is performed. And the wafer processing becomes non-uniform only in that part. This results in variations in the product accuracy of the wafer.

Further, in the shape of the wafer holding holder as shown in FIG. 7, since the bottom area of the pedestal 1 is large, it is almost impossible to perform bubbling or upflow processing by a conventional method. Further, as shown in FIG. 9, when there are two guide rods, the holding of the wafer 2 becomes extremely unstable during bubbling or the like, and the wafer 2 may fall off. In addition, the dead water area has two guide rods. Since the bars 6 are still present, the problem of non-uniform wafer processing cannot be completely eliminated.

Thirdly, the cleaning effect of the guide groove of the guide rod is obtained.

That is, dust easily accumulates in the guide groove, and the dust adversely affects wafer processing accuracy.
Conventionally, after removing a wafer from a processing tank, a method such as bubbling or upflow processing from below, or rapidly draining the processing liquid 4 in the processing tank and spraying a cleaning liquid onto a guide rod as described above. However, since the width of the guide groove itself was narrow, a sufficient cleaning effect could not be obtained.

The present invention has been made in order to solve the above-mentioned problems. The first object of the present invention is to reduce the internal volume of a processing tank even when bubbling or upflow processing is performed. The second purpose is to prevent the dead water area from being generated in the bubbling and the upflow processing, and to perform a uniform processing on the entire wafer. The purpose is to ensure that the guide grooves of the guide rods can be cleaned and to remove any debris that has accumulated in the guide grooves from affecting the wafer processing.

[0023]

In order to achieve the above object, a wafer holding holder according to the present invention has a horizontally arranged holding member having a guide groove formed on an upper surface, and a lower outer edge of a wafer is inserted into the guide groove. A wafer holding holder that holds the wafer substantially vertically by providing a hollow portion inside the holding member and a fluid ejection port communicating with the hollow portion at least in a guide groove of the holding member. It is characterized by.

[0024]

A hollow portion is provided inside the holding member, and a fluid ejection port communicating with the hollow portion is provided at least in the guide groove portion of the holding member, and a fluid ejection port is provided from the ejection hole of the guide groove portion through the hollow portion of the holding member. Nitrogen gas and fluids such as chemicals are ejected, so there is no need to separately pipe a dedicated bubbling or upflow pipe.Also, the required fluid is ejected from the guide groove, eliminating dead water areas due to the holding member. The groove can be effectively cleaned.

[0025]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The embodiments of the wafer holding holder according to the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the drawings, but it is needless to say that the technical scope of the present invention is not limited thereby.

FIG. 1 is a schematic view showing an embodiment of a wafer holding holder according to the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a partial longitudinal sectional view thereof. Note that FIG. 1 shows a cross-sectional view along a guide groove for convenience of explanation.

Three guide rods 13 serving as holding members are held by a holding plate 16 so as to be substantially symmetrical with respect to the center line of the wafer 2.

The shape of the guide rod 13 is hollow inside as shown in a partial longitudinal sectional view of FIG. 2, and a plurality of guide grooves 14 are provided at an equal pitch on the upper surface. The guide groove 14 has a tapered portion 14 for introducing the outer edge of the wafer 2.
a and a holding groove 14b for holding the wafer 2 vertically, and the cross-sectional shape of the bottom surface portion 14c is formed in a straight line. The portion close to the end of each bottom surface portion 14c has a fluid outlet 15 communicating with the internal hollow portion 13a.
Are provided two by two.

The guide rod 13 is made of silicon carbide. In the manufacturing method, first, the core of the guide rod 13 is formed with coke, and silicon carbide is crystallized around the core so as to cover the core. Thereafter, the coke alone is burned and removed. Thereby, the guide bar 13 having the hollow portion 13a is formed.

However, the material of the guide rod 13 is not limited to the above-described silicon carbide, and may be formed of another material having chemical resistance, for example, quartz, stainless steel, or fluorine-based resin.

Further, in this embodiment, the through hole in the guide rod 13 is formed by a hollow portion similar to the outer shape of the guide rod 13 as described above, but a simple through hole having a single cross-sectional shape is formed. You may.

A communication hole 16a is provided inside the holding plate 16 (FIG. 1), whereby the tube connection port 16b provided on the holding plate 16 and the hollow portion 13a of each guide rod 13 are connected inside. You.

FIG. 3 is a view showing a state in which the wafer holding holder of FIG.

The upper portion of the holding plate 16 is formed in an L-shape to form a mounting portion 16d.
A mounting hole 16e is provided in d.

The holding plate 16 is firmly fixed to the processing tank 17 by inserting a bolt 18 into the mounting hole 16e and screwing it into a screw hole 17a provided in the upper outer edge of the processing tank 17. The guide rod 13 is held at an optimal position in the processing tank 17.

The holding plate 16 is not limited to the shape as in this embodiment, but may be any type as long as the guide rod 13 can be installed at a predetermined position in the processing tank 17. It may be shaped.

If it is possible to easily remove the bolts 18 as in this embodiment, the holding holder and the processing tank 17 can be removed.
Maintenance such as cleaning of the wafer is extremely easy, and when wafers having different diameters are to be processed in the same processing tank, the wafer can be easily replaced with a predetermined wafer holding holder, which is very convenient.

Further, it is also possible to transfer the wafer 2 to another processing while keeping the wafer 2 aligned (boat transfer).

The tube connection port 16b above the holding plate 16
Is connected to an electromagnetic switching valve 20 via a connecting tube 19, and the electromagnetic switching valve 20 has a connecting tube 21,
22 are connected to a nitrogen gas supply device 23 and a chemical solution supply device 24, respectively. In this case, the supplied gas is not limited to nitrogen gas, and may be any gas that does not adversely affect wafer processing.

By appropriately switching the electromagnetic switching valve 20 by a control device (not shown), nitrogen gas is ejected from the guide groove 14 of the guide rod 13 to perform bubbling and gas purging processing, or a predetermined chemical solution or cleaning liquid is ejected. Upflow processing.

FIG. 4 is an enlarged sectional view showing a state in which the nitrogen gas 10 is jetted from the fluid jet port 15 of the guide groove 14 and bubbled.

The fluid ejection port 15 is provided at the bottom 1 of the guide groove 14.
Since it is provided near the end of 4c, the nitrogen gas 10 can be spouted vigorously without being blocked by the end of the wafer 2. The same applies to the case where the electromagnetic switching valve 20 is switched to eject a liquid such as a chemical solution.

Therefore, as in the prior art, the guide rod 13
Is no longer an obstacle and bubbling and the occurrence of dead water areas during upflow are eliminated.

Further, since the fluid is ejected from the guide groove 14 itself, dust hardly accumulates in this portion. Even if dust adheres, the wafer can be removed and bubbling or upflow can be carried out effectively. . Conventionally, it has been difficult to clean the guide groove 14, but this can be solved all at once.

The position where the fluid ejection port 15 is provided is not limited to the bottom surface portion 14c of the guide groove 14, but the tapered portion 14a (15a) of the guide groove 14 and the holding groove 14 as shown in FIG.
b (15b) or between the guide grooves (15
By providing a large number as necessary in c) and around the guide rod 13 (15d), it is possible to achieve more uniform bubbling and upflow processing.

A drain hole 25 is provided at the lowest position of the hollow portion 13a (FIG. 4), and the chemical solution remaining in the guide rod 13 when the chemical solution in the processing tank 17 is drained can be promptly removed. It can be removed.

In some cases, in addition to bubbling and upflow by the guide rod 13, a conventional bubbling pipe 8 and upflow pipe 9 may be provided. In this case, either one of the bubbling pipe 8 and the upflow pipe 9 is used so that the internal volume of the processing tank 17 is not increased as much as possible.
The pipe may be arranged in parallel between the three guide rods 13.

FIG. 12 shows an embodiment in such a case, in which two pipes 26 are disposed between three guide rods 13 below the holding plate 16 and an upper portion of the pipe 26 is provided. Is provided with a fluid ejection port 26a and its internal space 2
6b and the communication hole 16a are communicated by the communication hole 16f. The diameter and number of the pipes 26 can be reduced as compared with a conventional case in which nitrogen gas or a chemical solution is spouted alone, and the pipe 26 does not take up much space.

In this embodiment, as shown in FIG. 1, the wafer 2 is held with its orientation flat 2a located directly below. The guide rods 13 at both ends are symmetrical with respect to the center line of the wafer 2, and each bottom surface portion 14 c of the guide groove 14 is
Is in contact with the lower outer edge of Also, the center guide rod 13
A small gap is provided between the bottom surface 14c of the guide groove 14a and the linear portion of the orientation flat 2a, so that the wafer 2 does not support the wafer 2 from below, but does not tilt the wafer 2 back and forth. It is formed so as to perform only an action.

Accordingly, even if various movements occur in the chemical solution or the cleaning solution in the processing tank 17 due to a special process such as an upflow process or a bubbling process, the wafer 2 is affected by the flow and the tilted wafers are mutually moved. There is no interference.

When the wafer 2 attempts to rotate, the linear portion of the orientation flat 2a comes into contact with the guide groove bottom surface portion 14c of the central guide rod 13, so that further rotation is prevented. Therefore, the center guide rod 13 has two functions of assisting the wafer 2 from tilting back and forth and preventing the wafer 2 from rotating due to an external force, so that the wafer 2 can be stably held. You can do it.

In this embodiment, a communication hole 16a is provided inside the holding plate 16 to supply a nitrogen gas or a necessary chemical solution to the guide rod through the communication hole 16a. It may be extended and directly connected to the guide rod 13, or the holding plate 16 may be ejected, and the three guide rods 13 may protrude from the mounting holes formed in the inner wall of the processing tank 17, and the portions may be sealed. Alternatively, the connection tube 19 may be connected to the protruding portion from outside the processing tank 17.

The hollow portion 13a does not need to penetrate the guide rod 13 in the axial direction.
You only have to communicate with Even in this case, by inserting the connection tube 19 into the processing tank and connecting the connection tube 19 to the hollow portion 13a, the fluid can be ejected from a necessary portion of the guide rod 13.

According to the present invention, bubbling and upflow processing can be performed regardless of the shape and type of the wafer holding holder. For example, a wafer holding holder using a pedestal 1 as shown in FIG. Also in the above, by providing a hollow portion inside the pedestal 1 and providing a fluid ejection port communicating with the hollow portion in the guide groove 1a, bubbling and upflow processing can be easily realized.

The number of the guide grooves 14 formed on the upper surface of the guide rod 13 is generally equal to the number of wafers to be held, but may be only one in some cases.

[0056]

According to the present invention, a wafer holding holder is provided with a hollow portion inside a holding member, and a fluid ejection port communicating with the hollow portion at least in a guide groove of the holding member.
Fluids such as nitrogen and chemicals are ejected from the ejection port of the guide groove through the hollow portion of the holding member, so there is no need to separately pipe a dedicated pipe for bubbling or upflow, minimizing the volume of the processing tank. And the amount of the chemical solution and the cleaning solution to be used can be reduced. Thereby, the maintenance cost can be reduced and the processing time can be shortened (corresponding to the first object).

Further, since nitrogen gas and necessary chemicals are ejected from the guide rod itself, the guide rod does not become an obstacle and a dead water area does not occur as in the prior art, and uniform processing is performed over the entire wafer. This makes it possible to eliminate variations in the accuracy of wafer products. Also,
Bubbling and upflow processing can be performed on a wafer holding holder of any shape. (Corresponding to the second purpose).

Further, in the present invention, since the required fluid is ejected from at least the guide groove, the dust in the guide groove which causes the wafer contamination is hardly collected, and even if it is collected, the wafer is removed. By ejecting a suitable fluid later, dust can be easily removed and a sufficient cleaning effect can be obtained (corresponding to the third object).

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an outline of a wafer holding holder according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a partial longitudinal sectional view of a mounting portion of a guide bar of a wafer holding holder and a holding plate in the embodiment of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an entire configuration when the wafer holding holder according to the embodiment of FIG. 1 is attached to a processing tank.

FIG. 4 is a view showing a state in which nitrogen gas is jetted from a guide groove of a guide rod.

FIG. 5 is a view showing another embodiment of the fluid ejection port provided on the guide rod.

FIG. 6 is a view showing another embodiment of the wafer holding holder according to the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a view showing a structure of a conventional wafer holding holder.

FIG. 8 is a view showing the structure of another conventional wafer holding holder.

FIG. 9 is a view showing the structure of still another conventional wafer holding holder.

FIG. 10 is a diagram showing a state in which bubbling and upflow functions are added to a processing tank using a conventional wafer holding holder.

FIG. 11 is a diagram illustrating a dead water area in a conventional wafer holding holder.

[Explanation of symbols]

 2 Wafer 13 Guide rod 13a Hollow part 14 Guide groove 15 Fluid outlet 16 Holding plate 16a, 16f Communication hole 16b Tube connection port 17 Processing tank 19 Connection tube 20 Electromagnetic switching valve 23 Nitrogen gas supply device 24 Chemical solution supply device

Claims (1)

(57) [Scope of request for utility model registration] 1. A wafer holding holder for horizontally holding a holding member having a guide groove formed on an upper surface thereof and holding the wafer substantially vertically by inserting a lower outer edge of the wafer into the guide groove. A wafer holding holder, wherein a hollow portion is provided inside the member, and a fluid ejection port communicating with the hollow portion is provided at least in a guide groove of the holding member.