JP2793412B2 - Photoresist coating equipment - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an apparatus for applying a photoresist to a substrate, and more particularly to an apparatus for uniformizing a photoresist surface on a substrate.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art As shown in FIG.
It has a roll coater 6 and a drying furnace 12. Roll coater 6
Is composed of a photoresist dripping nozzle 7, a coating roll 9, a backup roll 10 and a doctor roll 8. The coating roll 9 used for the roll coater has a large number of rolls on its surface in order to hold an appropriate amount of photoresist on its surface. What cut the narrow groove of the circumferential direction is applied. The substrate 1 coated with the photoresist by the roll coater 6 passes through the atmosphere, enters a drying furnace 12, and has an oven plate 1 maintained at a predetermined temperature.
3. Leave to dry for the time specified above.

[0003]

However, in this conventional coating apparatus, when the photoresist is held on the coating roll of the roll coater, the fine grooves cut in the coating roll cause the photoresist powder or dust generated by the apparatus to be retained. When such a substance is sandwiched, the photoresist powder and the dust generated from the apparatus are repelled by the photoresist. As shown in FIG. 3, when applied to the substrate in this state, bubbles 19 are generated on the application surface of the applied substrate surface. These bubbles 19 are repelled by the evaporation of the solvent in the photoresist after application, and are leveled uniformly with the surrounding photoresist, and as shown in FIG. 4, they are dried in a crater shape. There is. The crater-shaped photoresist 20 has a thinner photoresist film thickness than the surroundings, and even if a required pattern is baked and etched, only the portion of the crater-shaped photoresist 20 does not form a required pattern. There was a problem.

Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide an apparatus for applying a photoresist having a uniform film thickness in view of the above-mentioned drawbacks.

[0005]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION A coating apparatus according to the present invention is arranged such that a solvent coated with a photoresist passes through a vaporized atmosphere before the substrate coated with the photoresist by the roll coater enters a drying oven. A device for creating an atmosphere in which the photoresist solvent is vaporized is provided between the drying furnace and the drying furnace.

[0006]

The air bubbles generated on the surface of the substrate coated with the roll coater pass through a device that creates an atmosphere in which the solvent of the photoresist is vaporized, so that the drying of the surface is delayed. Without entering the furnace,
It is leveled evenly with the surrounding photoresist, resulting in a uniform coating surface.

[0007]

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

FIG. 1 is a front sectional view showing an embodiment of a coating apparatus for carrying out the present invention.

The substrate 1 on which the photoresist is applied by the roll coater 6 is dripped from the nozzle 5 into the tray 4 by the pump 3 from the bottle containing the photoresist solvent 2, and the dropped photoresist solvent 2 is vaporized. The wafer is moved on the transfer arm 11 in the apparatus in the atmosphere in which the photoresist solvent 14 has been turned, and enters the drying furnace 12 for drying.

FIG. 2 is a front view showing only an apparatus provided with a mechanism for creating an atmosphere in which a solvent of a photoresist is vaporized among embodiments of the second coating apparatus for carrying out the present invention. The N ₂ gas 16 is sent from the main N ₂ pipe 15 to the tank containing the photoresist solvent, the photoresist solvent 14 vaporized by the N ₂ gas 16 is transferred, and sprayed onto the substrate 1 coated with the photoresist. I do.

[0011]

As described above, according to the present invention, drying of the surface is achieved by passing bubbles generated when a photoresist is applied to a substrate by a roll coater through an apparatus in an atmosphere in which the photoresist solvent is vaporized. Be late. Accordingly, the number of bubbles remaining in the form of craters per 1 cm ^{2 of the} substrate is reduced from an average of 1 to 0, so that the level is uniformly leveled with the surrounding photoresist, resulting in a uniform coating surface. Therefore, even if the required pattern is baked and etched on the substrate, the required pattern can be obtained without chipping the pattern.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a front sectional view of a coating apparatus according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a front sectional view of a second embodiment of the coating apparatus according to the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram immediately after the application of a photoresist.

FIG. 4 is a schematic view showing a result of applying and drying a photoresist by a conventional coating apparatus.

FIG. 5 is a front sectional view of a conventional coating apparatus.

[Explanation of symbols]

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Substrate 2 Photoresist solvent 3 Pump 4 Receiving tray 5 Nozzle 6 Roll coater 7 Resist dripping nozzle 8 Doctor roll 9 Coating roll 10 Backup roll 11 Transfer arm 12 Drying oven 13 Oven plate 14 Evaporated photoresist solvent 15 Main N ₂ piping 16 N ₂ gas 17 Nozzle for spraying 18 Photoresist 19 Bubbles 20 Photoresist in crater shape

Claims (1)

(57) [Claims] 1. A roll coater for applying a photoresist on the surface of a substrate, a drying oven for drying the substrate applied by the roll coater, and a photoresist provided between the roll coater and the drying oven. Means for creating an atmosphere in which the solvent is vaporized.