JP2865753B2 - Chemical solution supply method and chemical solution supply device - Google Patents

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a technique for supplying a chemical solution onto an object to be processed, and more particularly to a technique effective for removing impurities from a chemical solution and supplying the same. is there.

[Conventional technology]

In the manufacture of semiconductors, processing using liquids such as pure water, organic solvents, and photoresists is frequently used. It is desired that such a processing liquid be kept at a high purity in order to prevent foreign substances from adhering to a semiconductor wafer or the like. For example, in a semiconductor device manufacturing process using a chemical solution processing process, the required processing dimension is 0.8 μm.
Micronization has progressed to m to 0.5 μm.

For this reason, shape defects and characteristic defects caused by minute foreign matters mixed in the chemical liquid occur frequently. Therefore, a high degree of cleaning of the chemical is required.

To cope with this, conventionally, a configuration has been adopted in which a filter is provided in the supply system of the chemical solution to remove foreign substances in the solution.

By the way, the present inventor studied the influence of the liquid pool in the supply system of the chemical liquid.

The following is a technique studied by the present inventors, and the outline is as follows.

FIG. 4 is a system diagram showing an example of a conventional chemical liquid supply apparatus (a resist liquid will be described as an example of a chemical liquid here).

The resist solution is accommodated in a container 1, and a pump 5 is connected through each of a pipe 2, an on-off valve 3, and a pipe 4 so that the resist liquid can be sucked from the container 1. The pump 5 is connected to a filter 7 for removing foreign substances in the chemical via a pipe 6, and the filter 7 is connected to an on-off valve 9 via a pipe 8.

Further, a suck-back valve is connected to the on-off valve 9 through a pipe 10.
A temperature controller 13 is connected to the suck back valve 11 via a pipe 12, and a nozzle 15 is connected to an output side of the suck back valve 11 via a pipe 14. Immediately below the nozzle 15,
A spin chuck 17 that rotates while holding the wafer 16 is provided. The spin chuck 17 and the nozzle 15 are provided in a coating device (not shown). The temperature controller 13
Is used for the purpose of forming a uniform film thickness on the wafer 16, but in order to increase the temperature control efficiency of the resist solution, a stainless steel material is used in a portion where the chemical solution contacts.

In the above configuration, when supplying the resist solution, the on-off valve 3 is opened, the on-off valve 9 is closed, and the pump 5 is operated.
The resist solution is sucked from the container 1. The sucked resist solution is pumped to the filter 7 by the pump 5. Foreign substances in the resist solution are removed in the process of passing through the filter member of the filter 7, and the cleaned resist solution is supplied to the temperature controller 13 via the on-off valve 9 and the suck-back valve 11.

The temperature adjuster 13 adjusts the supplied resist solution to a temperature required by the coating device, and sends the adjusted solution to the nozzle 15. Nozzle 15
From the resist solution, which has been cleaned and further subjected to temperature adjustment, is sprayed toward the center of the wafer 16 and is spread to a uniform thickness on the wafer 16 by centrifugal force due to the rotation of the wafer 16, and the resist A film is formed.

When the supply of the resist solution is stopped, the suck back valve 11 is operated to form a suck back at the discharge port of the nozzle 15.

[Problems to be solved by the invention]

However, in the above-mentioned chemical liquid supply device, since the filter and the temperature controller are independent, the two have to be connected by a pipe, so that the amount of liquid pool after the filter increases, There is a problem that the chemical solution is degraded due to stagnation and gel-like foreign matter is generated.

Further, the present inventor has found that the use of a stainless steel material for the temperature control section of the temperature controller causes a problem of mixing metal-eluting impurities into the chemical solution.

In pursuit of the problem of filtration of this type of equipment,
For example, Millipore Japan Limited (Industry Technology Sales Division), Electronics Technical Brief
There is No.6 “Filtering photoresist”.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention to provide a chemical solution supply method and apparatus capable of reducing a liquid pool in a chemical solution supply system and supplying an optimal chemical solution to a processing atmosphere.

The above objects and novel features of the present invention will become apparent from the description of the present specification and the accompanying drawings.

[Means for solving the problem]

The outline of a typical invention disclosed in the present application will be briefly described as follows.

The above object is a chemical solution supply method using a chemical solution supply device having a filter section including a filter member for filtering a chemical solution, and a temperature adjusting means for adjusting the temperature of the chemical solution, wherein the filter member is a first filter. Having a member and a second filtration member, wherein the temperature adjusting means has a temperature control medium, and the temperature control medium flows between the first filtration member and the second filtration member, The heat exchange is performed on the first and second filtration members, and the chemical solution is supplied onto the workpiece through the first and second filtration members that have undergone the heat exchange. A chemical liquid supply method, a filter part including a filter member for filtering the chemical liquid, and a chemical liquid supply device having a temperature adjusting means for adjusting the temperature of the chemical liquid, wherein there are a plurality of said filter members, said filtration Between the member and the filtration member, the filtration member Having a space through which a temperature control medium for heat exchange against can be achieved by chemical liquid supply apparatus according to claim.

[Action]

According to the above-described means, by providing the filter unit in which the filter and the temperature controller are integrated, the removal of foreign matter in the chemical solution and the temperature control can be performed in the same place. There is no liquid pool corresponding to the pipe volume between the filter and the vessel, and the amount of liquid pool after the filter section is extremely small. Therefore, the deterioration of the chemical solution and the generation of gel-like foreign matter due to the stagnation of the liquid caused by the large amount of the liquid pool are reduced, and the yield of the product can be improved.

〔Example〕

FIG. 1 is a front sectional view showing a configuration of a main part of a chemical solution supply device according to the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a sectional view taken along the line II-II of the embodiment of FIG. FIG. 3 is a system diagram showing the entire configuration of the chemical solution supply device according to the present invention.

In brief, the present invention integrates a filter and a temperature controller, which are conventionally provided separately, so that a path between the two is not required and the liquid pool in this portion can be reduced. Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in detail based on embodiments.

An entrance housing 19 and an exit housing 20 as lids are attached to both sides of the cylindrical housing 18 by screws or the like. The center portions of the inlet housing 19 and the outlet housing 20 are open, and a chemical solution supply port 28 and a chemical solution discharge port 29 are formed so that piping (not shown) can be connected. Each of the housings is processed using, for example, a fluororesin.

At both ends of the housing 18, disc-shaped holding members for holding a plurality of (five in this embodiment) filter members 21 arranged in the axial direction are provided. Further, in the housing 18, a cross-shaped partition wall 22 is provided,
Through holes 23 for holding each of the filter members 21 and allowing the temperature control medium to flow therethrough are formed at predetermined intervals in the wall surface.

The filter member 21 is made of a fluororesin (for example, PTFE = ethylene tetrafluoride resin, PFA; ethylene tetrafluoride; perfluoroalkoxyethylene copolymer resin) as its material.
Is used to prevent impurities from being mixed into the processing liquid 30 flowing through the inside. Further, the filter member 21
It is held by the partition wall 22 so that the surface area in contact with the temperature control medium is as large as possible.

Further, when processing the filter member 21, a plurality of members may be assembled by welding or may be formed by molding.

The temperature control medium circulation chamber 26 divided by the partition wall 22
The temperature control medium outlet 24 is formed so as to penetrate the disc-shaped holding member and the inlet side housing 19 in the same manner as the upper part of the temperature control medium circulation at the upper diagonal position. A temperature control medium inlet 25 is formed in the chamber 26 so as to penetrate the holding member and the outlet housing 20.

According to the above configuration, for example, hot water or the like at a temperature required by the atmosphere to be processed (for example, a spin coating atmosphere) is supplied from the temperature control medium inflow port 25 as the temperature control medium 27, and is supplied to the temperature control medium circulation chamber 26. Inflow. The temperature control medium 27 that has flowed in a dispersed manner in the first temperature control medium circulation chamber 26 exchanges heat with the filter member 21 exposed in the chamber, and further passes through each of the through holes 23 provided in the partition wall 22. Then, the heat flows into the adjacent temperature control medium circulation chamber 26, and the heat exchange of the filter member 21 similarly exposed inside the chamber is performed. Next, the temperature control medium 27 flows into the temperature control medium circulation chamber 26 communicating with the temperature control medium outlet 24, and is exposed to the filter member.
After performing heat exchange on 21, the fluid flows out of the temperature control medium outlet 24 and is collected by the temperature control device shown in FIG.

On the other hand, the chemical solution (resist solution) 30 supplied from the pump side
Is supplied through the opening of the inlet housing 19 and is pumped to each of the filter members 21. While passing through the filter member 21, foreign matter or the like is adsorbed to the filter medium, and the chemical solution 30 that has been cleaned and temperature-adjusted as described above is supplied to the inlet housing 19.
Is discharged to the opening.

As described above, since the temperature control is performed at the same time as the filtration of the chemical solution, the liquid pool amount is reduced to a fraction of the conventional amount (for example, the liquid pool amount which was 22 cc in the past is reduced to 3 cc in the present embodiment).
Was made possible).

Next, a description will be given of an embodiment shown in FIG. 3 including the filter unit having the above configuration. In FIG. 3, the same reference numerals are used for those having the same or the same functions as those used in the conventional configuration of FIG. 4, and duplicate description is omitted below.

The supply system is arranged in series with the container 1, the on-off valve 3, the pump 5, the filter unit 31, the on-off valve 9, the suck-back valve 11, and the nozzle 15 shown in FIGS. A temperature control device 32 is connected to the temperature control medium outlet 24 and the temperature control medium inlet 25 of the filter unit 31, and supplies the temperature-controlled temperature control medium 27 to the filter unit 31 and the temperature control after the completion of the heat exchange. The temperature of the medium 27 is adjusted again.

A control unit 33 is provided to control the operation / stop of each of the pump 5, the temperature control device 32, and the suck-back valve 11. The control unit 33 controls a control target based on the initial drop condition information 34 (for example, drop amount, drop speed, photoresist liquid temperature, etc.) provided from the outside.

Next, the operation of the chemical liquid supply device having the configuration shown in FIG. 3 will be described.

When the dropping initial condition information 34 is given to the control unit 33 and started, the control unit 33 controls the temperature control device 32 and
Is supplied with a temperature control medium 27 having a predetermined temperature. Filter section
At the stage when the chemical solution 30 in the 31 reaches a predetermined temperature, the control unit 33
Starts the pump 5 and sucks the chemical from the container 1.
The pump 5 sends the sucked chemical solution to the filter unit 31 under pressure.

In the filter section 31, as described in FIGS. 1 and 2, foreign substances and impurities in the chemical solution are removed and the temperature is set to a predetermined temperature, and this is supplied to the nozzle 15 via the on-off valve 9 and the suck-back valve 11. Then, the liquid is dropped onto the wafer 16 from the nozzle 15.
After the dropping, the control unit 33 operates the suck back valve 11 to suck back the chemical solution.

As described above, the invention made by the inventor has been specifically described based on the embodiment. However, it is needless to say that the present invention is not limited to the embodiment, and various changes can be made without departing from the gist of the invention. No.

For example, although water or the like is used as the temperature control medium, a high-temperature gas may be used.

〔The invention's effect〕

The effects obtained by typical aspects of the invention disclosed in the present application will be briefly described as follows.

That is, a chemical solution supply device that performs filtration and temperature adjustment on the way to a chemical solution pumped from a container or the like and supplies the filtered and temperature adjusted to the processing atmosphere, and includes a filter unit that simultaneously performs the filtration and the temperature adjustment in the same housing. Since it is arranged in the chemical liquid supply path, deterioration of the chemical liquid due to stagnation of the liquid and generation of gel-like foreign matter are reduced, and the yield of products can be improved.

Further, in the above description, the case where the invention made by the present inventor is mainly applied to the resist processing of a semiconductor wafer, which is the field of use, has been described. However, the present invention is not limited to this. Applicable to bio-related production, chemical production, etc. In the field of semiconductor manufacturing, it can be used for coating, developing, etching, cleaning, and plating.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a front sectional view showing a configuration of a main part of a chemical solution supply device according to the present invention, FIG. 2 is a sectional view taken along the line II-II of the embodiment of FIG. 1, and FIG. FIG. 4 is a system diagram showing an example of a conventional chemical solution supply device. 1 ... Container, 2,4,68,10,12,14 ... Piping, 3,9 ... On / off valve, 5 ... Pump, 7 ... Filter, 11 ... Suck back valve, 13 ... Temperature control , Nozzle, 15 Nozzle, 16 Wafer, 17 Spinchak, 18 Housing, 19 Inlet housing, 20 Outlet housing, 21 Filter member, 22 Partition wall, 23 ... through-hole, 24 ... temperature control medium outlet, 25 ... temperature control medium inlet, 26 ... temperature control medium circulation chamber, 27 ... temperature control medium, 28 ... chemical supply port, 29 ... chemical Discharge port, 30 ... Chemical liquid, 31 ... Filter part, 32 ... Temperature control device, 33 ... Control part, 34 ... Drip initial condition information.

Claims (5)

(57) [Claims] 1. A chemical liquid supply method using a chemical liquid supply device having a filter section including a filter member for filtering a chemical liquid, and a temperature adjusting means for adjusting the temperature of the chemical liquid, wherein the filter member is a first liquid A filter member and a second filter member, wherein the temperature adjusting means has a temperature control medium, and the temperature control medium flows between the first filter member and the second filter member. Heat exchange with the first and second filtration members, wherein the chemical solution is supplied to the workpiece through the first and second filtration members that have undergone the heat exchange. Characteristic chemical solution supply method. 2. The temperature control medium according to claim 1, wherein said temperature control medium flows surrounding said first and second filter members.
The method for supplying a chemical solution according to the above. 3. The method according to claim 1, wherein said chemical is a photoresist, and said workpiece is a semiconductor wafer. 4. A chemical solution supply device comprising: a filter section including a filter member for filtering a chemical solution; and a temperature adjusting means for adjusting a temperature of the chemical solution, wherein a plurality of the filter members are present, A chemical solution supply device having a space between the member and a member through which a temperature control medium for exchanging heat with the filtration member flows. 5. The chemical solution supply device according to claim 4, wherein said filter member is held by a partition plate.