JP2880769B2 - Semiconductor substrate chemical coating device - Google Patents

Description

Description: BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a semiconductor substrate chemical liquid applying apparatus, and more particularly to a semiconductor substrate chemical liquid applying apparatus for automatically applying a chemical liquid around a semiconductor wafer.

[Related Art] In a semiconductor manufacturing process, a process of applying a chemical solution to a semiconductor substrate, that is, a periphery of a semiconductor wafer is performed. In this chemical solution coating step, conventionally, as shown in FIG. 4, after the wafer 1 is pinched with tweezers and placed on the mounting table 2, the chemical solution is injected around the wafer 1 by a syringe 3 or a dispenser containing the chemical solution. It is done by applying.

Further, as another chemical solution applying method, as shown in FIG. 5, a rotary head 4 having a vacuum suction function and a chemical solution tank 6 containing a chemical solution 5 are prepared, and the wafer 1 pinched by tweezers is prepared.
Is vertically adsorbed on the rotary head 4, and the rotary head 4 is rotated to apply the chemical 5 to the lower end of the wafer 1.

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] However, in the method using the above-described syringe 3, the operation of applying the chemical solution only to the periphery of the wafer 1 requires skill, and when the wafer 1 is transported using tweezers, 1 has a problem that it is easily scratched and lowers the yield.

Further, in the method using the rotary head 4, there is a problem that automation is difficult because the wafer 1 is vertically held, and the applied chemical liquid flows toward the center of the wafer 1 and the applied surface is likely to be uneven. Further, since the wafer 1 is manually attached to the rotary head 4, the wafer 1 tends to be mounted eccentrically to the rotary head 4, and the eccentric mounting changes the application width of the chemical solution in the circumferential direction, so that the applied amount is not constant. In addition, since the liquid level of the chemical in the chemical tank 6 directly affects the application width of the chemical, there is a problem that highly accurate control and management of the liquid level is required.

Therefore, an object of the present invention is to increase the yield of a semiconductor substrate,
It is an object of the present invention to provide an automated semiconductor substrate chemical liquid applying apparatus capable of applying a chemical liquid uniformly and uniformly around a semiconductor substrate.

Means for Solving the Problems In order to achieve this object, the present invention provides a transfer means for transferring a semiconductor substrate; a semiconductor substrate supply unit on which a tray containing a plurality of semiconductor substrates is placed; An alignment section having an XY stage on which the semiconductor substrate transported from the semiconductor substrate supply section by means is mounted, and positioning the semiconductor substrate mounted on the XY stage at a predetermined position; A rotating table that horizontally places the semiconductor substrate transported from the alignment unit by the transport unit and rotates the semiconductor substrate, and a chemical solution is disposed adjacent to the rotating table and around the semiconductor substrate rotated by the rotating table. A chemical liquid application section having an application head for applying the liquid; a drying section for heating and drying the semiconductor substrate transported from the chemical liquid application section by the transport means; And a semiconductor substrate collecting section for mounting a tray for accommodating the semiconductor substrates conveyed from the drying section, wherein the coating head has a rotating roller having a side surface with a cross section formed in a concave shape, and a concave side surface of the rotary roller. A liquid supply unit for supplying the liquid chemical to the rotary table, wherein the rotary roller is disposed adjacent to the rotary table so that a periphery of a semiconductor substrate mounted on the rotary table enters the side recess. It is assumed that.

Further, the transfer means is provided between the semiconductor substrate supply unit and the X substrate.
A first transfer arm that reciprocates between the X-Y stage and the semiconductor substrate supply unit to transfer the semiconductor substrate from the semiconductor substrate supply unit to the XY stage, and reciprocates between the XY stage and the turntable. A second transfer arm for transferring the semiconductor substrate from the XY stage to the turntable; and a second transfer arm for reciprocating between the turntable and the drying unit to transfer the semiconductor substrate from the turntable to the drying unit. It is preferable to have a third transfer arm and a fourth transfer arm that reciprocates between the drying section and the semiconductor substrate collection section and transfers the semiconductor substrate from the drying section to the semiconductor substrate collection section.

[Operation] The semiconductor substrate housed in the tray of the semiconductor substrate supply unit is transported to the XY stage by the transport unit, where it is positioned at a predetermined position, and then transported and mounted on the rotary table of the chemical liquid application unit by the transport unit. Is placed. The turntable rotates the horizontally mounted semiconductor substrate, and the application head applies the chemical around the rotating semiconductor substrate.

The semiconductor substrate coated with the chemical solution is conveyed to the drying unit by the conveying unit, dried by heating, and then stored in the tray conveyed to the semiconductor substrate collecting unit by the conveying unit.

Since the semiconductor substrate is transported from the semiconductor substrate supply unit to the semiconductor substrate recovery unit by the transport unit, the semiconductor substrate is not damaged by tweezers or the like, and the yield is improved. Further, since the semiconductor substrate is placed on the turntable after being pre-aligned on the XY stage, the placement on the turntable is performed with high accuracy, and the semiconductor substrate is applied in a horizontal state. It is performed uniformly around the semiconductor substrate with a predetermined width.

[Embodiment] Next, an embodiment of a semiconductor substrate chemical solution applying apparatus according to the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 to 3 in which the same parts as those in FIGS. Will be explained.

1 and 2, a clean unit 10 includes a semiconductor substrate supply unit 11, an alignment unit 12, and a chemical solution application unit 13.
, A drying unit 14 and a semiconductor substrate collecting unit 15 are arranged substantially in a line. The semiconductor substrate supply unit 11 places a tray 16 for accommodating a plurality of semiconductor substrates 1. The positioning unit 12 includes an XY stage 12a and an ITV camera 12b disposed above the XY stage 12a.

The chemical liquid application section 13 is shown in detail in FIG. 3, and includes a turntable 17 having a vacuum suction function connected to a motor not shown, and an application roller 18 similarly connected to the motor not shown. And a chemical supply container 19 for supplying a chemical to the application roller 18. Since the rotary table 17 has a semiconductor substrate mounting surface 17a having a smaller diameter than the semiconductor substrate 1, the semiconductor substrate 1 mounted on the semiconductor substrate mounting surface 17a Protruding from the edge. Further, a through hole 17b communicating with a vacuum part (not shown) is formed in the center of the turntable 17, and the mounted semiconductor substrate 1 is sucked by vacuum. The application roller 18
The cross section of the side surface 18a is formed in a concave shape, and is arranged adjacent to the turntable 17 so that the periphery of the semiconductor substrate 1 placed on the turntable 17 enters the concave portion of the side surface 18a. Chemical supply container 19
Is a side surface 18a of a roller 18 for applying a chemical solution through a chemical solution passage 20.
To the recess.

Referring again to FIG. 1, the first to fourth transfer arms 21, 22, 23, and 23 are located above the semiconductor substrate supply unit 11, the alignment unit 12, the chemical liquid application unit 13, the drying unit 14, and the semiconductor substrate collection unit 15. 24, each of the transfer arms 21 to 24 has one end capable of holding the semiconductor substrate 1 by suction and the other end connected to the reciprocating arm 25, respectively. The first transfer arm 21 holds the semiconductor substrate 1 of the semiconductor substrate supply unit 11 at one end thereof by suction and holds the alignment substrate.
The second transfer arm 22 sucks and holds the semiconductor substrate 1 on the XY stage 12a at one end thereof, and transfers and mounts the semiconductor substrate 1 on the rotary table 17 of the chemical liquid application unit 13. Place. The third transfer arm 23 sucks and holds the semiconductor substrate 1 on the rotary table 17 and transfers it to the drying unit 14, and the fourth transfer arm 24 sucks and holds the semiconductor substrate 1 on the drying unit 14. It is housed in a tray 16 placed on the semiconductor substrate collecting section 15. In addition, the third transfer arm 23 and the fourth transfer arm 24 are configured such that the end for sucking the semiconductor substrate is in contact with only the center of the semiconductor substrate 1 so as not to damage the application surface when the semiconductor substrate 1 is transferred. It is configured not to come into contact with the surroundings. Specifically, the semiconductor substrate suction ends of the third transfer arm 23 and the fourth transfer arm 24 are configured to have a sufficiently smaller diameter than the semiconductor substrate 1 or the outer peripheral portion of the semiconductor substrate 1 is A groove is formed in a portion to be formed so as not to contact the outer peripheral portion of the semiconductor substrate 1.

The clean unit 10 also has this clean unit
A monitor 26 for displaying various operations and a control unit 27 (FIG. 2) for controlling the entire operation are provided.

 Next, the operation of this embodiment will be described.

A tray 16 accommodating a plurality of semiconductor substrates 1 is placed on the semiconductor substrate supply unit 11. The first transfer arm 21 is driven by the reciprocating arm 25, sucks the semiconductor substrate 1 from the tray 16 of the semiconductor substrate supply unit 11, transfers the semiconductor substrate 1 to the XY stage 12 a of the positioning unit 12, and places it thereon. XY stage 1
The outer periphery or the center mark of the semiconductor substrate 1 placed on 2a is detected by the ITV camera 12b, and the control unit 27 calculates the amount of deviation of the semiconductor substrate 1 with respect to a predetermined position from the detected output, and calculates the calculated deviation. XY stage based on quantity
12a is moved in the X direction or the Y direction to position the semiconductor substrate 1 at a predetermined position with high precision. The semiconductor substrate 1 thus positioned with high precision is held by the second transfer arm 22 while holding the positioning state.
Placed with high accuracy.

After the mounted semiconductor substrate 1 is vacuum-sucked, the rotary table 17 is driven to rotate in the direction of arrow A by a motor (not shown) as shown in FIG. 3 to rotate the semiconductor substrate 1 in the same direction. . At the same time, the application roller 18 is also rotated in the direction of arrow B by a motor (not shown). The chemical liquid supply container 19 is provided with a chemical liquid applying roller 18 through a chemical liquid passage 20.
Is supplied to the concave portion of the side surface 18a, whereby the chemical solution is uniformly applied to the periphery of the semiconductor substrate 1 by a predetermined width.

The semiconductor substrate 1 on which the chemical solution has been applied is transported from the turntable 17 to the drying unit 14 by the third transport arm 23, and is heated and dried there, and then is dried from the drying unit 14 by the fourth transport arm 24 to the semiconductor substrate recovery unit. It is transported to 15 trays 16.
During this time, the first and second transfer arms 21 and 22 transfer the semiconductor substrate 1 from the semiconductor substrate supply unit 11 and the alignment unit 12 to the alignment unit 12 and the chemical liquid application unit 13, respectively, as described above. A series of operations described above are continuously performed.

[Effects of the Invention] As is apparent from the above description, according to the present invention, the semiconductor substrate is transported from the semiconductor substrate supply unit to the semiconductor substrate recovery unit by the transport unit, and the chemical solution is automatically applied,
In addition, there is no damage due to tweezers or the like, and the yield is improved. In addition, since the semiconductor substrate is placed on the turntable after being aligned on the XY stage, the placement on the turntable is performed with high precision, and the chemical solution is applied in a horizontal state. The coating width can be uniform and the coating width can be constant.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view schematically showing an embodiment of a semiconductor substrate chemical solution coating apparatus according to the present invention, FIG. 2 is a block diagram for explaining the operation of the above embodiment, and FIG. FIG. 4 is a perspective view showing a conventional semiconductor substrate chemical applying method, and FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view showing another conventional semiconductor substrate chemical applying method. DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Semiconductor substrate, 11 ... Semiconductor substrate supply part, 12 ... Positioning part, 12a ... XY stage, 13 ... Chemical liquid application part, 14 ... Drying part, 15 ... Semiconductor substrate collection part, 16 ... Tray, 17 ... Rotation Table,
18 ... Application roller.

Claims (2)

(57) [Claims] A transfer means for transferring a semiconductor substrate; a semiconductor substrate supply unit on which a tray containing a plurality of semiconductor substrates is placed; and a semiconductor substrate transferred from the semiconductor substrate supply unit by the transfer means. A positioning unit for positioning the semiconductor substrate mounted on the XY stage at a predetermined position; and horizontally moving the semiconductor substrate transferred from the positioning unit by the transfer unit. A chemical solution applying section having a rotating table for mounting and rotating the semiconductor substrate, and an application head disposed adjacent to the rotating table and applying a chemical solution around the semiconductor substrate rotated by the rotating table; A drying unit for heating and drying the semiconductor substrate transported from the chemical solution application unit; and a tray for housing the semiconductor substrate transported from the drying unit by the transport unit. The coating head includes: a rotating roller having a side surface having a cross section formed in a concave shape; and a chemical solution supply unit for supplying the chemical solution to the concave side surface of the rotary roller. 2. The semiconductor substrate chemical liquid coating apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the roller is arranged adjacent to the turntable such that a periphery of the semiconductor substrate mounted on the turntable enters the side recess. 3. 2. The first transport means reciprocates between the semiconductor substrate supply unit and the XY stage and transports a semiconductor substrate from the semiconductor substrate supply unit to the XY stage.
A transfer arm for reciprocating between the XY stage and the turntable to transfer a semiconductor substrate from the XY stage to the turntable; a turntable and the drying unit; And a third transfer arm for reciprocating between the rotating table and the semiconductor substrate from the rotary table to the drying section, and a reciprocating movement between the drying section and the semiconductor substrate recovery section to reciprocate the semiconductor substrate from the drying section. 2. The semiconductor substrate chemical liquid coating apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a fourth transfer arm for transferring the semiconductor substrate to the collection unit.