JP2869835B2 - Processing equipment - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a processing apparatus for processing a workpiece such as a semiconductor wafer while rotating it.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art As a conventional processing apparatus of this type, an object to be processed, for example, a semiconductor wafer is horizontally held and rotated to supply a processing liquid (cleaning liquid) to the surface of the semiconductor wafer.
For example, there is known a processing apparatus for removing a particle contaminant on a surface of a semiconductor wafer by pressing a brush made of nylon, mohair, or the like against the surface of the semiconductor wafer.

Further, in this type of processing apparatus, a grip chuck system in which the outer peripheral edge of a semiconductor wafer is clamped by three or more clamping claws is adopted. As this grip chuck system, for example, Japanese Patent Publication No. 3-96007 The structure described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Publication No. H10-260,000 is known. This Tokuho 3-96
In the technique described in Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 07-107, a rotating shaft protruding into a processing chamber is formed by a cylindrical rotating shaft, and a claw driving shaft is penetrated into the cylindrical rotating shaft so as to be relatively rotatable or relatively movable. The movable pawl is connected to the protruding side of the pawl drive shaft via a movable pawl operation link. The urging means is locked between the cylindrical drive shaft and the claw drive shaft, and the semiconductor wafer is held and released via the claw drive shaft by a movable claw release means provided opposite to the urging means. It is configured to be.

[0004]

However, in this type of conventional processing apparatus, since a gripping chuck system is employed, a gas (for example, nitrogen (N2)) for preventing the processing liquid from entering the back surface of the held semiconductor wafer. Gas) can be supplied to enable double-sided processing, but it has a double shaft structure that penetrates the claw drive shaft inside the cylindrical drive shaft, and furthermore, between the cylindrical drive shaft and the claw drive shaft While latching the urging means,
Since the structure is such that the semiconductor wafer is clamped and released by the movable claw releasing means provided opposite to the urging means via the claw driving shaft, the structure becomes complicated and two driving sources are required. However, there is a problem that the entire apparatus becomes large.

The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and it is possible to prevent the processing liquid from entering the back surface of the processing object and to hold the processing object by utilizing the wind pressure of the processing liquid intrusion preventing gas. It is an object of the present invention to provide a processing apparatus as described above.

[0006]

In order to achieve the above object, a processing apparatus according to the present invention holds an object to be processed by a rotation holding means and supplies a processing liquid to the surface of the object to be processed. The rotation holding means is assumed to be
The object to be processed which is driven by the wind pressure of the body and holds the object to be processed
It has a body holding mechanism.

In the present invention, the structure for holding the object to be processed may be any structure as long as the mechanism for holding and releasing the object to be processed is controlled by the wind pressure of the gas. A rotating body that is rotated by the wind pressure of gas, a swingable object holding claw disposed at at least three places around a rotation holding unit, and a rotational movement of the rotating body caused by the object holding claw. , Or the object holding mechanism is swingably disposed at at least three places around a moving body that linearly moves by wind pressure of gas and around the rotation holding means. In addition, it is preferable that the processing object includes a processing object holding claw that can be switched to a holding or releasing position of the processing object by the moving body.

When the object-holding mechanism is constituted by a moving object and an object-holding claw, the moving object is formed by a piston slidably disposed in a cylinder, and the moving object is held by the cylinder. It is preferable that a gas discharge port that opens and closes with the movement of the piston is provided in a portion facing the back surface of the processing body.

[0009]

According to the processing apparatus of the present invention configured as described above, when gas is supplied, the processing object holding mechanism is driven by receiving the wind pressure of the gas, and the gas is directed toward the outer peripheral direction of the processing object. Flowing. Therefore, it is possible to prevent the processing liquid from entering the back surface of the processing object and, at the same time, hold the processing object.

A rotating body which rotates by receiving a wind pressure of gas; a swingable workpiece holding claw disposed at at least three places around a rotation holding means; By forming the processing object holding claw with the transmission link for transmitting the rotational motion of the rotating body, the structure can be simplified and the size of the entire apparatus can be reduced.

The object holding mechanism is provided so as to be swingable at at least three positions around a moving body which moves linearly by the wind pressure of the gas and the rotation holding means. The structure can be simplified by using the processing object holding claw that can be switched to the holding or releasing position of the object, the size of the entire apparatus can be reduced, and the processing object can be securely held by the wind pressure of gas. can do. In this case, the moving body is formed by a piston slidably disposed in the cylinder, and a gas discharge port that opens and closes with the movement of the piston is provided in a portion of the cylinder facing the back surface of the workpiece. In addition, it is possible to prevent the processing liquid from entering the back surface of the processing object while holding the processing object.

[0012]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the drawings. In this embodiment, a case where the processing apparatus of the present invention is applied to a semiconductor wafer cleaning processing apparatus will be described.

First Embodiment As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the above-described semiconductor wafer cleaning apparatus comprises a rotary holding means for holding a semiconductor wafer W (hereinafter, referred to as a wafer) as an object to be processed in a horizontal state. And a disk for cleaning and removing particle contaminants adhering to the surface of the wafer W using a processing liquid, ie, a cleaning liquid, supplied from a jet nozzle 7 to the upper surface of the wafer W held by the spin chuck 1 The main part is constituted by the brush 2.

The spin chuck 1 has a rotating plate 5 horizontally connected to an upper end of a hollow cylindrical rotating shaft 4 rotated by a drive motor (not shown), and a wafer W formed on the rotating plate 5 to keep the wafer W in a horizontal state. To be processed 10
(Hereinafter referred to as a holding mechanism), and a supply passage 3 for a gas (N2 gas) for preventing the invasion of the cleaning treatment liquid is provided in the hollow portion of the rotating shaft 4.

As shown in FIGS. 3 to 5, the holding mechanism 10 is connected to the upper end of the rotating shaft 4 and rotates by receiving the wind pressure of N2 gas.
The holding member 12 includes a swingable object holding claw 12 (hereinafter, referred to as a holding claw) disposed at a location, and a transmission link 13 that transmits the rotation of the rotating body 11 to each holding claw 12. In this case, as shown in FIG. 6, the rotating body 11 has six leg pieces 1 protruding in the radial direction from the cylindrical boss portion 14a.
And a rotary blade 1 having six inclined blade pieces 16a protruding from an outer peripheral surface of the rotary transmission unit 14 having a connection shaft 15 and a key 15a.
And a passage 5b communicating with the N2 gas supply passage 3 provided on the base 5a of the rotating plate 5 on the lower surface of each inclined blade piece 16a inclined at, for example, about 30 degrees with respect to the horizontal plane. The N2 gas injected upward can collide. Therefore, the rotating blades 16 are rotated by the wind pressure of the N2 gas supplied from the N2 gas supply source (not shown) into the N2 gas supply passage 3 of the rotating shaft 4 and injected from the passage 5b, and the rotation transmitting unit 14 is rotated. can do. Further, after the N2 gas collides with the lower surface of the rotary blade 16, the N2 gas flows in the outer peripheral direction to prevent the cleaning liquid from sneaking into the rear surface of the wafer W.

The holding claw 12 is a column-shaped base portion 12b which is erected with a fixing screw 12a at one end of a swinging link 17 which is pivotally attached to an outer peripheral portion of the rotating plate 5 in a horizontal direction with a fulcrum pin 17a. A wafer mounting flange 12c protruding above the columnar base portion 12b and mounting an edge of the wafer W; and a wafer guiding taper portion provided at the top of the wafer mounting flange 12c on the upper protruding side. 12d
It is composed of Holding claws 12 configured in this manner
In the non-holding state of the wafer W, the wafer W which is transferred from outside by the fork-shaped transfer arm (not shown) and dropped from above is tapered by the wafer guiding taper portion 12.
Guided by d, the wafer can be temporarily mounted on the wafer mounting flange 12c.

The other end of the swinging link 17 of the holding claw 12 constructed as described above and the tip of the leg 14b provided on the rotation transmitting section 14 of the rotating body 11 are each provided with a hinge pin 13a and a transmission link. 13 is pivotally attached to the rotating body 1
1 is transmitted to the swing link 17 of the holding claw 12, and the holding claw 12 can be moved toward and away from the rotation center of the spin chuck 1, that is, moved in the holding / release direction of the wafer W. Has become. The transmission link 13 is slidably provided along a guide groove 5c provided on the upper surface of the rotary plate 5 (see FIG. 3).

A large number of the disk brushes 2 are planted on the lower surface of a disk 2a rotatably (rotating and revolving) mounted on the lower surface of the distal end of an operation arm 6 disposed on the side of the spin chuck 1. For example, it is formed of nylon or mohair. The disk brush 2 is configured to rotate (θ) on the rotating plate 5 of the spin chuck 1 and to move in the vertical direction (Z) by the operation arm 6 driven by a driving unit (not shown), and to stand by. The inside is washed by a brush washer 8.

On the other hand, as shown in FIG. 1, the jet nozzle 7 is disposed on the side opposite to the disk brush 2 with respect to the spin chuck 1, and is operated by the operating mechanism 9 in the vertical direction (Z) and the horizontal direction (X). The arm 7a is mounted on the distal end of the arm 7a. The jet nozzle 7 moves to the upper surface of the wafer W when the disk brush 2 is used, and can spray a cleaning liquid supplied from a cleaning liquid supply source (not shown) to a position near the disk brush 2.

In the processing apparatus of the present invention configured as described above, when cleaning the wafer W, first, the wafer W transported by the fork-shaped wafer transport arm (not shown) is set in an open state. After the temporary holding of the holding claw 12 on the wafer mounting flange 12c, the wafer transfer arm is moved downward to retreat from the spin chuck 1. Next, when the N2 gas is supplied from the N2 gas supply source into the N2 gas supply passage 3 of the rotating shaft 4, the N2 gas is injected upward from the N2 gas supply passage 3 through the passage 5b, so that the rotating body 11 is inclined. It collides with the lower surface of the blade piece 16a. Since the inclined blade piece 16a is inclined about 30 degrees with respect to the horizontal plane, the rotating body 1 is driven by the horizontal component of the collision force of N2 gas.
1 rotates in the horizontal direction. The rotation of the rotating body 11 in the horizontal direction is transmitted to the swing link 17 of the holding claw 12 via the transmission link 13, and the holding claw 12 moves toward the center of the spin chuck 1, and the peripheral portion of the wafer W And hold it.

With the peripheral edge of the wafer W clamped and held as described above, a drive motor (not shown) is driven to rotate the rotary shaft 4 to horizontally rotate the wafer W. Then, the disc brush 2 and the jet nozzle 7 are moved above the wafer W, and the cleaning liquid is sprayed from the jet nozzle 7 onto the surface of the wafer W.
The surface is washed while rubbing to remove particle contaminants and the like adhering to the surface. This cleaning may be performed by jet cleaning alone in which the cleaning liquid is sprayed from the jet nozzle 7, may be performed by brush cleaning alone in which the cleaning liquid is supplied to the vicinity of the disk brush 2, and the cleaning may be performed alternately. For example, it may be performed at the same time as various changes and settings are performed according to the type of the object to be processed and the cleaning state. At this time, the wafer W
Since the N2 gas is supplied to the back surface of the wafer W and flows toward the outer periphery, there is no possibility that the cleaning liquid flows around the back surface of the wafer W.

In the above embodiment, the case where the holding claws 12 are provided at six positions has been described. However, the number of the holding claws 12 does not necessarily have to be six, and at least three positions are provided. Just do it. Further, in addition to the holding claws 12 that perform the holding / releasing operation, fixed holding claws that can only place the wafer W may be provided. For example, it is also possible to use the holding claws 12 for holding and releasing operations at three equally spaced positions in the above-described embodiment, and to use the fixed holding claws at the remaining three positions. In addition, it is preferable to provide a function of adjusting the clamping force of the holding claw 12.
2 Adjust the gas supply pressure, adjust the position of the fulcrum pin 17a of the oscillating link 17, provide a stopper on the oscillating link 17, attach a spring, or use the inclined blades of the rotating body 11. A method such as adjusting the inclination angle of the piece 16a can be adopted.

Second Embodiment FIG. 7 is a schematic plan view of a main part of a second embodiment of the processing apparatus of the present invention, and FIG. 8 is a sectional view of a main part in the second embodiment.

In the processing apparatus according to the second embodiment, the wafer W can be held more reliably by the pressure of the supplied N 2 gas.

That is, N supplied with the holding mechanism 10
2 Moving body 18 that moves linearly due to the gas pressure (pressure)
And a holding claw 12 that is swingably disposed at at least three places around the spin chuck 1 and that can be switched to a holding or releasing position of the wafer W by the moving body 18. In this case, the moving body 18 is
It is formed of a piston slidably disposed in each of a plurality (six in the drawing) of cylinders 18a disposed above. The cylinder 18a is connected to the passage 1
8c communicates with the N2 gas supply passage 3 through the cylinder 1
An N2 gas discharge port 18b, which is a gas discharge port that opens and closes in accordance with the movement of the moving body, that is, the piston 18, is formed in a portion of the wafer 8a facing the back surface of the wafer W.

The holding claw 12 is attached to the periphery of the rotating plate 5 with a fulcrum pin 12e so as to be able to swing (rotate) in the horizontal direction, and a spring is provided on the side opposite to the side engaged with the piston 18. 19a is always held by the urging force of 19a.
The pressing body 19 for pressing the second member 2 to the release position is in abutting engagement.

In the second embodiment, the other parts are the same as those in the first embodiment, and the same parts are denoted by the same reference numerals and description thereof will be omitted.

In the processing apparatus of the second embodiment configured as described above, when cleaning the wafer W, similarly to the first embodiment, first, a fork-shaped wafer transfer arm (not shown) is used. After the transferred wafer W is temporarily placed on the holding claws 12 in the released state, the wafer transfer arm is moved downward to retreat from the spin chuck 1.
Next, when N2 gas is supplied from the N2 gas supply source into the N2 gas supply passage 3 of the rotating shaft 4, the N2 gas flows from the N2 gas supply passage 3 through the passage 18c into the cylinder 18a, and moves the piston 18 in the outer circumferential direction. Press Piston 18
Causes the holding claws 12 to rotate toward the holding side against the urging force of the spring 19a, thereby holding and holding the peripheral portion of the wafer W.

With the peripheral portion of the wafer W clamped and held as described above, a drive motor (not shown) is driven to rotate the rotary shaft 4 to horizontally rotate the wafer W as in the first embodiment. . Then, the disk brush 2 and the jet nozzle 7 are moved above the wafer W, and the cleaning liquid is sprayed from the jet nozzle 7 onto the surface of the wafer W, and the surface of the wafer W is cleaned while being rubbed by the disk brush 2 and adheres to the surface. To remove particulate contaminants. At this time, since the N2 gas supplied into the cylinder 18a is supplied to the back side of the wafer W from the N2 gas discharge port 18b opened with the movement of the piston 18, the N2 gas flows toward the outer peripheral direction. There is no possibility that the cleaning liquid will flow around the back surface of the wafer W.

Therefore, according to the processing apparatus of the second embodiment, the wafer W can be held only by supplying the N 2 gas, so that the wafer W can be securely held without being influenced by the rotation state of the spin chuck 1. Can be held.

The processing apparatus of the present invention configured as described above is used not only as a single semiconductor wafer cleaning apparatus as shown in FIG. 1 but also incorporated in a semiconductor wafer coating and developing apparatus described later. Is done.

The semiconductor wafer coating and developing apparatus is shown in FIG.
As shown in (1), the main parts are a processing mechanism unit 30 in which a processing mechanism for performing various processes on the wafer W is disposed, and a loading / unloading mechanism 20 for automatically loading / unloading the wafer W into / from the processing mechanism unit 30. It is configured.

The loading / unloading mechanism 20 controls the wafer W before processing.
, A wafer carrier 22 for storing a processed wafer W, an arm 23 for holding the wafer W by suction, and an X, Y (horizontal), Z
Moving mechanism 24 for moving in (vertical) and θ (rotation) directions
And an alignment stage 25 on which the wafer W is aligned and the wafer W is transferred to and from the processing mechanism unit 30.

The processing mechanism unit 30 is provided with a transport mechanism 32 movably along a transport path 31 formed in the X direction from the alignment stage 25. The transport mechanism 32 is provided in the Y, Z, and θ directions. A main arm 33 is provided so as to be movable. On one side of the transport path 31,
Adhesion processing mechanism 34 for performing adhesion processing for improving the adhesion between wafer W and the resist liquid film
And a pre-bake mechanism 35 for heating and evaporating the solvent remaining in the resist applied to the wafer W, and a cooling mechanism 36 for cooling the overheated wafer W. On the other side of the transfer path 31, a processing liquid application mechanism 37 for applying a resist on the surface of the wafer W, and a cleaning apparatus 3 for cleaning particle contaminants and the like adhering to the surface of the wafer W
8 (the processing device of the present invention).

In the semiconductor wafer coating and developing apparatus configured as described above, first, the unprocessed wafer W is loaded and loaded.
The wafer carrier 21 is moved by the arm 23 of the unloading mechanism 20.
And placed on the alignment stage 25. Next, the wafer W on the alignment stage 25
Is held by the main arm 33 of the transport mechanism 32, transported to each of the processing mechanisms 34 to 38, and subjected to a cleaning process after appropriate processing. Then, the processed wafer W is returned to the alignment stage 25 by the main arm 33, further transported by the arm 23, and stored in the wafer carrier 22.

In the above embodiment, the case where the object to be processed is a semiconductor wafer has been described. However, the object to be processed is not necessarily limited to a semiconductor wafer. For example, an LCD substrate or a printed substrate, a photomask, a ceramic substrate, a compact disk, etc. Can also be applied to those subjected to a treatment such as washing.

[0037]

As described above, according to the processing apparatus of the present invention, since the configuration is as described above, the following effects can be obtained.

1) According to the processing device described in claim 1,
The rotation holding means for holding the object to be processed is driven by the wind pressure of the gas.
An object holding mechanism for driving and holding the object is provided.
Runode, while preventing the penetration of the treatment liquid to the rear surface of the object, it is possible to hold the object to be processed.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, the processing object holding mechanism is configured such that the object holding mechanism is rotated by the wind pressure of the gas, and the swinging means is disposed at at least three places around the rotation holding means. Since the processing object holding claw and the transmission link for transmitting the rotational movement of the rotating body to the processing object holding claw are configured, the structure can be simplified and the entire apparatus can be downsized.

According to the third aspect of the present invention, the processing object holding mechanism is swingably disposed at at least three places around the moving body which moves linearly by the wind pressure of the gas and the rotation holding means. Since it is provided with a processing object holding claw that can be switched to a holding or releasing position of the processing object by a moving body, the structure can be simplified, the entire apparatus can be downsized, and the gas can be reduced. The object to be processed can be reliably held by the wind pressure.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, the moving body is formed by the piston slidably disposed in the cylinder, and the piston is provided at a position of the cylinder opposed to the back surface of the object to be processed. Since the gas discharge port that opens and closes with the movement is provided, in addition to the above 3), it is possible to prevent the processing liquid from entering the back surface of the processing object while holding the processing object.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic perspective view showing a first embodiment of a processing apparatus of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a schematic perspective view showing a main part of the processing apparatus of the first embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a plan view showing a workpiece holding mechanism according to the first embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a sectional side view of an object holding mechanism according to the first embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view showing a rotating body, a workpiece holding claw, and a transmission link in the first embodiment.

FIG. 6 is an exploded perspective view showing a rotating body in the first embodiment.

FIG. 7 is a schematic plan view showing a main part of a second embodiment of the processing apparatus of the present invention.

FIG. 8 is a sectional view showing a main part of a processing apparatus according to a second embodiment.

FIG. 9 is a plan view showing the entire state in which the processing apparatus of the present invention is applied to a semiconductor wafer coating and developing apparatus.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Spin chuck (rotation holding means) 10 Workpiece holding mechanism 11 Rotary body 12 Workpiece holding claw 13 Transmission link 17 Swing link 18 Piston (moving body) 18a Cylinder 18b N gas discharge port (gas discharge port) W Semiconductor Wafer (workpiece)

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on the front page (58) Field surveyed (Int.Cl. ⁶ , DB name) H01L 21/304 B08B 3/00-3/14 H01L 21/68

Claims (4)

(57) [Claims] In a processing apparatus for holding an object to be processed by rotation holding means and supplying a processing liquid to a surface of the object to be processed, the rotation holding means is driven by wind pressure of gas to perform the processing. Suffered
A processing apparatus comprising a processing target holding mechanism for holding a processing target . 2. A rotating body which rotates a workpiece holding mechanism by wind pressure of a gas; a swingable workpiece holding claw disposed at at least three places around a rotation holding means; 2. The processing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a transmission link that transmits the rotational movement of the rotating body to the processing body holding claw. 3. An object-holding mechanism is provided so as to be swingable at at least three positions around a moving body that moves linearly by wind pressure of a gas and a rotation holding means, and the object-to-be-processed is moved by the moving body. 2. The processing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a processing object holding claw that can be switched to a body holding or releasing position. 4. A gas discharge port, wherein a moving body is formed by a piston slidably disposed in a cylinder, and a gas discharge port that opens and closes in accordance with the movement of the piston in a portion of the cylinder facing the back surface of the object to be processed. 4. The processing device according to claim 3, further comprising: