JP2886396B2 - Rotary 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 rotation processing apparatus.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Generally, in the process of manufacturing semiconductor products and liquid crystal display products by applying various processes to a semiconductor wafer or a glass substrate, various chemicals act on the semiconductor wafer or the glass substrate. Water washing is performed later to remove the chemical solution remaining on the wafer, and thereafter,
2. Description of the Related Art Drying is performed by removing moisture adhering to a wafer or the like. In this case, since the production efficiency can be improved by performing quick drying, the wafer or the like is rotated so that water droplets are scattered by centrifugal force. For example, a rotation as disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 1-255227 is disclosed. A drying apparatus of the type is used.

As shown in FIGS. 14 and 15, this drying apparatus has a rotor 6 rotatably supported by a bearing 4 via a rotary shaft 3 in a box-shaped housing 2 having a rectangular cross section. In the rotor 6, a plurality of wafers W as processing objects held by a plurality of substrate holding rods 8 are provided at equal pitches. The upper holding rod 8 of the substrate holding rod 8 is swingable via an arm 12 by an air cylinder 10 provided on the side wall of the housing 2 so as to protrude inside. The wafer W is held and released by swinging.

A suction port 14 with a filter for introducing a clean gas into the inside is provided at an upper corner in the housing 2, and a wall opposite to the wall on which the suction port 14 is provided is provided. Is provided with an exhaust port 16 for discharging gas from the housing 2. Then, the cleaning gas is adhered to the wafer W by flowing the clean gas from the intake port 14 into the housing 2 in a state where the motor 6 of the drying processing apparatus thus configured is driven to rotate the rotor 6. The water is scattered by the centrifugal force due to the rotation, and the water remaining on the wafer surface is evaporated and removed by the flowing clean gas.

[0005]

In the process of processing a semiconductor wafer or the like as an object to be processed, it is necessary to remove as much as possible particles and the like that cause a reduction in the yield from the processing space. In this case, a clean gas such as clean air is always introduced into the housing 2 from the intake port 14 with a filter, and the internal air is discharged from the exhaust port 16 to the outside. However, in the above-described conventional apparatus, although the clean gas is always introduced into the housing, the air cylinder 10 that drives the upper holding rod 8 that holds the upper part of the wafer W projects into the housing 2. Because of this arrangement, there is an improvement in that gas remains in this portion or turbulence occurs in the clean gas due to this protruding portion, and particles in the housing cannot be efficiently discharged.

The upper substrate holding rod 8 for supporting and fixing the wafer W rotating at high speed is merely held by the elastic force of an elastic member such as a spring. There has been an improvement in that the above-described resilient member sometimes fails to support and fix the wafer. In particular,
In today's semiconductor wafer manufacturing process, where the diameter of the wafer is becoming larger and smaller, the solution of the above-mentioned problems is strongly desired. The present invention has been devised in view of the above problems and effectively solving them. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to provide a rotary processing apparatus capable of holding a processing target firmly and suppressing a disturbance of a flow of a clean gas.

[0007]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the present invention provides a rotating process for processing an object to be processed while rotating an object-holding mechanism holding an object to be processed within a housing. In the apparatus, the target object holding mechanism includes a lower support member that supports a lower part of the target object, an upper support member that supports an upper part of the target object, and an opening / closing arm that opens and closes the upper support member. The workpiece holding mechanism has
The opening / closing arm is connected to a hollow center shaft for opening / closing inserted into the hollow rotating shaft to drive the arm.

[0008]

According to the present invention, as described above, the lower support member of the processing object holding mechanism supports the lower part of the processing object,
The upper support member supports the upper part of the object to be processed. The opening and closing of the upper support member is performed by rotating the opening / closing center shaft connected via the opening / closing arm forward and backward by a predetermined angle. The opening / closing center shaft is accommodated in a hollow rotary shaft that supports the workpiece holding mechanism, and does not cause turbulence or stagnation of the flow of the clean gas flowing in the housing during the rotation process.

[0009]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the rotation processing apparatus according to the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. FIG. 1 is a front view showing an embodiment of the rotary processing apparatus according to the present invention, FIG. 2 is a side view of the apparatus shown in FIG. 1, and FIG. 3 shows a chemical processing mechanism incorporating the rotary processing apparatus according to the present invention. It is a perspective view. In the present embodiment, a case will be described in which the rotary processing apparatus according to the present invention is applied to a wafer drying apparatus for drying a semiconductor wafer as an object to be processed.

As shown in FIG. 3, the chemical processing mechanism includes an input buffer unit 22 for receiving a cassette 20 containing a plurality of semiconductor wafers as objects to be processed before processing from the outside.
A processing main unit 24 for actually performing various chemical processing and cleaning processing on the wafer, and an output buffer unit 26 for accommodating the processed wafer in the cassette 20 and awaiting delivery for subsequent processing. It is mainly composed of The input buffer unit 22 receives a cassette 20 from the outside and transfers the cassette 20 to the cassette storage unit 28.
And a rotatable loader unit 32 for mounting the cassette 20 conveyed by the RP-A to the processing main unit 24.

In the processing main body 24, a transfer path 34 is formed along the longitudinal direction, and a wafer transfer arm 36 is movably provided in the transfer path 34. Is configured to be transported. The processing body 24 includes a chuck cleaning and drying device 38 for cleaning the chuck of the wafer transfer arm 36, a chemical processing device 40 for performing various chemical processing on the wafer, and a cleaning device for cleaning the wafer after the chemical processing. An appropriate number of cleaning devices 42 and a wafer drying device 44 as a rotary processing device according to the present invention for finally drying a processed wafer are provided along the transfer path 34. Also,
A cassette liner 46 for transporting an empty or full cassette is provided in parallel with the transport path 34, and a rotatable unloader 48 having the same structure as the loader 32 is provided at an end of the processing main body 24. Is provided. The output buffer section 20 mainly includes a cassette storage section 44 in which cassettes accommodating processed wafers are loaded in multiple stages, and a cassette transfer arm 46 for transferring the cassette 14 in the storage section 44 to the outside. Have been.

As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, a wafer drying apparatus 44 according to the present invention, which is incorporated in the processing main body 24 constructed as described above, has a box-like shape made of, for example, stainless steel for accommodating an object to be dried. A housing 50 formed of a plurality of semiconductor wafers W, for example, 52 wafers to be processed are held in parallel at an equal pitch and rotated, and a gas inlet 54 formed in an upper portion of the housing is attached to the housing 50. The filter means 56 composed of, for example, an ULPA filter for further purifying the clean gas G, which is supplied to the inside of the housing, for example, air, and the rotating shaft 58 connected to the workpiece holding mechanism 52 are rotatably held. And a magnetic fluid sealing member 62 for sealing the inside of the housing.

The outer frame 64 of the filter means 56 is formed in a rectangular shape by, for example, stainless steel or the like.
A filter 66 is accommodated in the upper part of the inside of the filter 66, and inside the housing of the filter 66, there is provided a liquid-preventing means 68 for preventing a processing liquid scattered from the wafer W, for example, pure water after cleaning from adhering to the filter 66. Is provided. As shown in FIG. 8 and FIG.
6, a plurality of, for example, three stainless steel punching plates 70A, 70B, 70C arranged at equal intervals below the
A large number of ventilation holes 72 are formed in each punching plate. The uppermost punching plate 70A is arranged in contact with the lower surface of the filter 66 and is configured to support the weight of the filter 66. Each of the punching plates 70A, 70B, and 70C is arranged such that the ventilation holes 72 are staggered in the vertical direction, so that water droplets scattered upward from below do not directly contact the filter 66. It is configured as follows.

The ventilation holes 72 of the lowermost punching plate 70D are uniformly formed over the entire surface, and are configured to rectify the clean air flowing down therefrom.
Note that the number of punching plates is not limited to three, and may be increased as necessary. An auxiliary frame 74 having a predetermined height is continuously provided below the outer frame 64 of the filter means 56. The auxiliary frame 74 has a predetermined height, and a center portion of the wafer W accommodated in the housing 50 and a lowermost punching plate 70D. A predetermined interval H is provided between them. The interval H is, for example, a predetermined particle size scattered from a wafer having a predetermined rotation speed during drying,
For example, the maximum value to which a 5 mm water droplet can reach, for example, 300 mm in this embodiment is set. Further, the outer frame 64 is provided with an ionizer 76 which is detachable so as to face the inside, and generates positive and negative ions when the wafer is dried, thereby neutralizing electricity stored in the wafer. It is configured so that static electricity can be removed.

The entire filter means 56 including the outer frame 64 and the auxiliary frame 74 is configured as a lid 79 for opening and closing the gas inlet 54 of the housing 50. The cover 79 can be opened and closed by 90 ° or more by rotating the body arm 78 by a cylinder (not shown) or the like via a hinge 80 attached to the housing side. In the open state of the lid 79,
Considering the position of the center of gravity of the lid 79, the lid is configured not to fall down when the opening / closing mechanism fails. A seal member 82 made of, for example, silicone rubber is provided along the periphery of the gas inlet 54, and is configured so that the lid 79 can be brought into airtight contact with the housing. The hinge 80 has a cylinder (not shown) for driving it.
Is provided. FIG. 4 is a side view showing the processing target holding mechanism, and FIG. 5 is an enlarged view of a main part showing a main part of the processing target holding mechanism. The object holding mechanism 5 as a feature of the present invention.
2 includes a lower support member 82 for supporting the lower portion of the wafer W, an upper support member 84 for supporting the upper portion of the wafer W, and an opening / closing arm 86 for opening and closing the upper support member 84. It is mainly composed.

The lower support member 82 is formed of, for example, three rod-like members extending along the direction in which the wafers W are arranged. The lower support member 82 can support the lower portion of the vertically laid wafer W at three points. Both ends are fixed by screws 90 to a pair of flywheel plates 88 each having a central portion shaped like a drum. FIG. 5 shows only one flywheel plate, but the other flywheel plate is similarly configured. Each flywheel plate 88 is attached to the end of a rotating shaft 92 having a hollow center, and these rotating shafts 92 are mounted on a pair of mounting plates 94 erected on a substrate 93 by bearings of a bearing unit 95. It is rotatably mounted via 60. Each lower support member 82 is formed by press-fitting a round pipe 96 made of, for example, stainless steel into, for example, a Teflon pipe 98, and a Y-shaped cross section for inserting and fixing a lower portion of the wafer W around the Teflon pipe 98. Many, for example, 52 Y grooves 100 are formed at equal pitches or at different pitches. The width L1 of the opening of the Y groove 100 is set to about 4.3 mm, the width L2 of the base is set to about 0.85 mm, and a wafer W having a thickness of about 0.725 mm is inserted into the upper base and fixed. It is configured to be.

The upper support member 84 is formed of, for example, two rod-like members extending along the arrangement direction of the wafers W in the same manner as the lower support member 82. For example, an upper orientation flat (orientation flat) of the wafer W is provided. Cutout portion 102 can be supported at two points, and both end portions of the upper support member 84 are provided at the distal end portions of a total of four opening / closing arms 86 provided two at each end portion. Installed. Each opening / closing arm 86 is formed in an arc shape, and the base end thereof is attached to the flywheel plate 88 so as to be able to open and close or rotate in both directions via a bearing 104 and a fixed shaft 106 made of ceramic, for example. (See FIG. 4).

Inside the pair of opening / closing arms 86, it is attached and fixed to an end of an opening / closing center shaft 110 provided concentrically and rotatably via a bearing 108 at the center of the hollow rotary shaft 92. A small-diameter circular plate 112 is provided. The disk 112 and the pair of opening / closing arms 86, 8
6, a connecting arm 118 rotatably provided at both ends via, for example, ceramic bearings 114 and 116 is symmetrically wound around the center of rotation of the disk 112. As shown in FIG. 4, the pair of opening / closing arms 86 can be opened and closed as indicated by phantom lines by reciprocating the disc 112 about 90 °. Therefore, these open / close arms 86, 8
When the wafer 6 is in the open state, the loading / unloading of the wafer W is performed from above. Each open / close arm 8
An appropriate number of balance holes 120 are formed in the middle of 6, 86 in order to reduce the weight while maintaining the strength, and the mounting portion of one upper support member 84 has a minute size of the wafer W. A long hole 122 is provided to enable the upper support member 84 to move in the vertical direction corresponding to the difference in height, and the upper support member 84 can be slightly moved in the vertical direction by adjusting the bolt 124. Is configured.

Similarly to the lower support member 82, the two upper support members 84 are formed by press-fitting a round pipe 126 made of, for example, stainless steel into a Teflon pipe 128, for example. Are V-shaped sections, for example, 52 V-shaped grooves 13 formed in a V-shaped cross section for restricting the vertical inclination of the erected wafer W.
0 are formed at the same pitch as the Y groove 100 or at a different pitch. The width L3 of the opening of the V groove 130 is, for example, about 1.45 mm from the width L1 of the opening of the Y groove 100.
Widely set. On the other hand, clutch mechanisms 132 and 134 are provided at the ends of the rotary shafts 92 and the opening / closing center shafts 110 for connecting and disconnecting these two shafts as shown in FIGS. These two clutch mechanisms have substantially the same structure as shown in FIG. 1, but the rotation shaft 92 on the right clutch mechanism 132 side in FIG.
The pulley 136 is fixed to the
A belt 140 is interposed between the rotating shaft of the motor 138 and the rotating shaft of the motor 138 (see FIG. 2), so that the workpiece holding mechanism 52 can be rotated as necessary.

The other clutch mechanism 134 is different only in that the pulley is not provided.
34 is shown in FIG. Hereinafter, the clutch mechanism 134 will be described as an example. The rotating shaft 92 itself is rotatably supported by the bearing 60, and the clutch mechanism 134
It is slidably supported above and is slid horizontally by a clutch horizontal cylinder 142. A clutch disk 144 is provided at an end of the opening / closing center shaft 110, and an engagement plate 146 is provided at an end of the hollow rotary shaft 92 so as to face the clutch disk 144. A bearing 150 is interposed in the portion.

The clutch disk 144 has two through holes 156 projecting from both ends of the clutch arm 152 in the horizontal direction and penetrating two engagement pins 154 each having a tapered tip. Is done. The engagement plate 146 corresponding to the through hole 156 is formed with two tapered engagement holes 158 that engage with the distal end of the engagement pin 154. The engagement and disengagement of the clutch disk 144 and the engagement plate 146 is enabled by inserting and removing the portion into and out of the engagement hole 158. FIG. 6 shows a state in which the engagement pin 154 is advanced to the left, the two plates 144 and 146 are engaged, and they rotate integrally. The clutch arm 152
Is rotatably mounted via a bearing 162 and a shaft 164 on a mounting plate 160 formed in an inverted L-shape in the figure and mounted on the clutch horizontal cylinder 142.

An engaging arm 166 is rotatably mounted on the shaft 164 via a bush 168, for example, as a bearing so as to be substantially orthogonal to the clutch arm 152. Auxiliary arms 170 are provided at both ends of the engagement arms 166 and extend in the horizontal direction beyond the clutch disk 144. At the tip of each of the auxiliary arms 170, an engagement projecting toward the axis is provided. Piece 1
72 are provided. Then, the clutch disk 14
4 is provided with an engagement groove 17 for engaging with the engagement piece 172.
4 is provided, so that the engagement pin 154 is advanced to the left in FIG.
When the clutch disc 6 and the clutch disc 144 are integrally fixed, the engagement between the engagement piece 172 and the clutch disc 144 is released, and the engagement pin 154 is retracted rightward to conversely engage the clutch disc 144 with the engagement disc 146. When disengaged, the engagement piece 172 enters the engagement groove 174 of the clutch disk 144, and the clutch disk 144 and the engagement arm 166 are engaged. As shown in FIG. 7, one end of the engagement arm 166 has an engagement arm drive cylinder 176 fixed to the mounting plate 160 side.
Are connected to each other, and by driving the cylinder 176 in the vertical direction, the engagement arm 166 is moved by 90 °, for example.
It is configured to be rotatable. That is, in a state where the engagement piece 146 is engaged with the engagement groove 174 (the engagement pin 154 is separated from the engagement hole 158), the engagement arm 166 is turned by 90 °.
By rotating, only the opening / closing center shaft 110 is rotated by 90 ° via the clutch disk 144 to open and close the upper support member 84.

Note that, instead of the clutch mechanism 132 having the above-described structure, another structure, for example, an electromagnetic clutch mechanism may be provided. On the other hand, as shown in FIG. 10, a bearing mechanism as described below is configured to support the rotating shaft 92. That is, two bearings 60, 60, which are respectively separated from each other by an appropriate distance, for example, are fixed to the mounting plate 94. The inside of the housing 50 is sealed between the two bearings 60, 60, and the right side in FIG. A magnetic fluid seal member 176 using a magnetic fluid is provided in order to prevent dust generated in the bearing 60 from entering the housing 50. Further, a labyrinth seal 178 is provided inside the housing of the magnetic fluid seal member 176 and the bearing 60, and a narrow space portion, that is, a labyrinth space 180 is formed in this portion. The labyrinth space 180 is connected to a gas supply passage 182 for supplying a clean gas into the space, for example, a nitrogen gas containing almost no impurities, and for discharging a part of the supplied nitrogen gas. The gas discharge passage 184 is connected, and dust generated in the bearing 60 on the left side in the figure is purged to prevent the dust from entering the housing 50. Further, the gas exhaust passage 184 is connected to the housing 5 through an exhaust pipe 186.
0 is connected to the gas exhaust port side. In this case, an annular ring member 188 (see FIG. 1) is provided between the mounting plate 94 and the housing 50 instead of or together with the labyrinth seal 178 to form a narrow space inside. The section may be configured to supply and discharge nitrogen gas to purge dust and the like.

On the other hand, as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the box-shaped housing 50 for accommodating the object-to-be-processed holding mechanism 52 has a gas flow direction, that is, a direction perpendicular to the downward direction, that is, a horizontal direction. The cross-sectional area of the housing 50 in the direction is sequentially reduced along the flow direction of the gas, and the flow velocity gradually increases as the gas flows down.
In this case, a pair of wall surfaces 190 to which cleaning water scattered from the rotating wafer is directly attached are inclined downward so as to approach each other as shown in FIG. It promotes the drainage of water droplets adhering to the surface. The gas inlet 54 at the top of the housing 50 is
It is formed to be equal to or less than the area on the outlet side of the filter means 56, thereby improving drainage and eliminating corners to prevent gas from being retained.
In addition, a pair of optical sensors 218, 218 attached to the wafer in an inclined direction with respect to the wafer through, for example, an acrylic window (not shown) are provided on both wall surfaces 190, 190 of the housing 50.
Is provided to detect the presence or absence of a wafer.

The bottom 192 of the casing 50 is
90, a rectangular gas exhaust port 194 is formed at the center thereof as shown in FIG.
6 is connected. The gas exhaust container 196 is formed in a box shape, and the bottom portion 198 is formed to project downward and is inclined downward toward one side, and is configured to collect water droplets trapped at the lowermost end. ing. A drain port 200 is formed in this portion, so that collected water can be discharged.

A partition plate 202 is provided in the gas exhaust container 196 so as to hang down from the ceiling partway. The inside of the gas exhaust container 196 is divided into two parts, and a lower end of the partition plate 202 is provided with a vertically movable flow rate. An adjusting plate 204 is provided, and is configured to adjust the cross-sectional area of the flow path 206 formed below the adjusting plate 204. An exhaust hole 212 is formed in the side wall 210 of the downstream room 208 in the gas exhaust container 196, and the exhaust hole 212 has an exhaust casing 214.
An exhaust fan 216 (refer to FIG. 1) is connected via a, so that the gas in the housing 50 can be exhausted while trapping moisture contained therein.

Next, the operation of the present embodiment configured as described above will be described. First, as shown in FIG. 3, in the input buffer unit 22, a wafer W (not shown) before processing is performed.
Is accommodated from outside by the cassette carrying arm 30 and temporarily accommodated in the cassette storage unit 28. The cassette 20 in the storage unit 28 is transferred to the loader unit 32 by the arm 30 as the processing of the wafer progresses. The cassette 20 of the loader unit 32
The unprocessed wafer W in the inside is appropriately transferred by the wafer transfer arm 36, and the chuck cleaning and drying device 38, the chemical solution processing device 40, the cleaning device 42, and the wafer drying device 4 according to the present invention
In step 4, the processed wafers are processed, and the processed wafers are again stored in the cassette and then unloaded from the output buffer unit 26 to the outside. Examples of the chemical used in the chemical treatment include, for example, aqueous ammonia, aqueous hydrogen peroxide, hydrochloric acid,
Hydrofluoric acid, sulfuric acid and the like are used.

Here, the drying operation in the wafer drying apparatus 44 will be described. As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, a large number of washed wafers W, for example, 52 wafers W held on the wafer transfer arm 220 are filtered by the filter means 56. The cover 79 having the cover 79 is lowered in an open state as shown by a phantom line in FIG. 1, and is transferred to the processing object holding mechanism 52. In this case, the upper support member 8 of the workpiece holding mechanism 52
4 and 84 are opened to the left and right as shown by virtual lines in FIG. Thus, the upper support members 84, 84
Is opened, the clutch horizontal cylinder 142 is driven as shown by the phantom line in FIG. 6 to move the engagement arm 166 and the clutch arm 152 rightward as shown by the phantom line in the figure. Then, the engagement pin 154 is pulled out from the engagement hole 158 of the engagement plate 146 to disconnect the engagement, and at the same time, the engagement piece 146 of the engagement arm 166 is fitted into the engagement groove 174 of the clutch disk 144. These are engaged.

Then, in this state, the engagement arm drive cylinder 176 attached to the engagement arm 166 is driven from the position indicated by the imaginary line in FIG. Plate 144 is about 90
° Rotate in the opening direction. Then, only the opening / closing central shaft 110 (the rotating shaft 92 is stationary) connected to the clutch disk 144 rotates, and the disk 112 of the workpiece holding mechanism 52 is moved in the direction of arrow A as shown in FIG. Rotate about 90 °. By the rotation of the disk 112, the upper support members 84, 84 are opened as described above via the connecting arms 118, 118 and the opening / closing arms 86, 86.

When the transfer of the wafer W to the processing object holding mechanism 52 is completed as described above, the operation reverse to that described above is performed so that the upper support members 84 and 84 are closed and each wafer W is removed. It is firmly held between the upper support member 84 and the lower support member 82. That is, in order to close the upper support member 84, the engagement arm 1 attached to the engagement arm 166 is required.
By driving 66 from the position shown by the solid line in FIG. 7 to the position shown by the imaginary line, the clutch disk 144 is rotated through the engagement arm 166 in the closing direction by about 90 °. Then, only the opening / closing center shaft 110 rotates in the opposite direction to that described above, and rotates the disk 112 of the workpiece holding mechanism 52 by about 90 ° in the direction of arrow B. With this, the upper support members 84, 84 4 is closed as shown by the solid line, and the wafer W is clamped.

At this time, as shown in FIG. 5, the lower portion of the wafer W is indicated by three points and enters the base of the Y groove 100 formed on the surface of the lower support member 82, so that the lateral movement is ensured. Be regulated. Also, the upper orifice portion of the wafer W is supported at two points by V-grooves 130 formed on the surface of the upper support member 84, and when the wafer W is slightly inclined immediately before clamping, the groove surface of the V-groove 130 is formed. The wafer W is clamped in a substantially vertical state by controlling the inclination. As described above, the processing object holding mechanism 52
When the wafers W are securely clamped or supported and fixed, the lid 79 provided on the upper part of the housing 50 is closed as shown by a solid line in FIG.

For this purpose, first, the clutch arm 166 and the clutch arm 152 are slid to the left in FIG. 6 by driving the clutch horizontal cylinder 142, and the engagement pin 154 is inserted into the engagement hole 158 of the engagement plate 146. The engagement plate 146 and the clutch disk 144 are integrally connected via the engagement pin 154, and the engagement piece 172 of the engagement arm 166 is connected to the clutch disk 1 through the engagement pin 154.
The engagement between the engagement arm 166 and the clutch disk 144 is cut off by disengaging the engagement arm 166 from the engagement groove 174. Therefore, in this state, the hollow rotary shaft 92 and the opening / closing center shaft 110
Are the engagement plate 146, the engagement pin 154, and the clutch disk 1
It is made rotatable integrally via 44. At this time, the clutch arm 152 rotates around the shaft 164 via the bearing 162.

When the connection by the clutch mechanism 132 is completed in this manner, the hollow rotary shaft 92 is driven through the pulley 136 by driving the motor 138 shown in FIG.
And the opening / closing center shaft 110 is integrally rotated, whereby the entire workpiece holding mechanism 52 holding the wafer W is provided on the lid 79 by rotating at a predetermined rotation and driving the exhaust fan 216. A clean gas, for example, clean air G is introduced into the housing 50 through the filter means 56. Clean air G
Is, for example, the size of the housing 50 of 580 mm × 550.
while, for example, 17m ³ / min approximately relative mm Set pressure difference between inside and outside of the housing for example to 50 mm H ₂ O of about, 200Rp the rotational speed of the workpiece holding mechanism 52 from 0
m and then at 200 rpm for example 6
It is maintained for about 0 seconds, and thereby a large water drop adhering to the wafer W is shaken off. Thereafter, the processing object holding mechanism 52
Is increased to, for example, 1500 rpm, and maintained at this rotational speed for about 2 to 3 minutes, whereby small water droplets adhering to the wafer W are shaken off and, at the same time, the wafer surface is dried. Thereafter, the rotation of the motor 138 is stopped, for example, for about 20 seconds in order to stop the driving of the motor 138 and complete the drying of the wafer W.

As described above, the rotation speed at the initial rotation of the wafer W is set to a low value of, for example, about 200 rpm, and the maximum height at which the water droplet having a relatively large particle diameter (about 5 mm) at the rotation speed can scatter upward. Since the distance H between the liquid prevention unit 68 and the wafer W is set more than that, the filter unit 56
In addition, moisture hardly adheres to the liquid prevention means 68. Further, for example, three punching plates 70A, 70B, 70C, 70D
Since the liquid-preventing means 68 is provided (see FIGS. 8 and 9), even if large water droplets scattered from the rotating wafer W or small water droplets during high-speed rotation adhere to the liquid-preventing means 68. Since the ventilation holes 72 between the punching plates are alternately arranged, moisture cannot enter the inside, so that the function of the filter 66 can be reliably prevented from being impaired by the moisture. Further, since the large number of ventilation holes 72 of the lowermost punching plate 70D are uniformly provided in the plane, the clean gas G flowing down the ventilation holes 72 does not drift, but is rectified and laminar. Flow down. Further, an upper support member 84 for supporting the upper portion of the wafer W
Are securely fixed to the rotating shaft 92 through the opening / closing central shaft 110, so that the upper support
Even if a large load is applied to the wafer W, the wafer W can be reliably held and fixed.

The means for preventing liquid 68 is not limited to a plurality of perforated plates, but may be any material having a gas permeability and capable of preventing the filter 66 from being wet. On the other hand, the gas G, which has been particularly purified after passing through the filter means 56, flows downward from above in the housing 50, and at this time, comes into contact with the rotating wafer surface held by the processing object holding mechanism 52. This gas is dried, and the gas further flows down, passes through a gas exhaust port 194 provided in the lower part of the housing 50, and is further discharged out of the system after the contained water is removed or trapped in the gas exhaust container 196. become.

In this case, the area on the outlet side of the filter means 56 and the area of the gas inlet 54 on the upper part of the housing 50 are set to be substantially the same, so that any gas stagnation occurs at the upper corner of the housing. In addition, the clean gas flows in the housing 50 as it is in a laminar flow state without generating turbulence. At this time, the cross-sectional area of the housing 50 is
That is, since the flow rate of the gas is gradually reduced downward, the flow velocity of the gas gradually increases. The gas flow rate at this time is, for example, 1 m at the lower gas exhaust port 194.
/ Sec. Therefore, as shown in FIG.
Even if the water droplet 222 colliding with the 0 side wall surface 190 is miniaturized and rebounds from the wall surface 190, the repelled water droplet is efficiently discharged downward by the gas having the increased flow velocity and adheres to the wafer W again. Never.

Further, water droplets adhering to the inclined wall surface 190 also
As described above, the gas having the increased flow velocity causes the wall surface 19 to flow.
Downflow along zero is promoted. in this way,
Since the cross-sectional area of the housing 50 is sequentially reduced along the gas flow direction, the flow velocity of the gas is gradually increased, and fine water droplets scattered from the wafer W and fine water droplets rebounding from the wall surface 190 are formed. The water droplets existing inside can be quickly and quickly discharged. In particular, in this embodiment, since the flow direction of the clean gas G is directed downward instead of the horizontal direction as in the conventional apparatus, water droplets are efficiently discharged without resisting gravity, and the discharge is promoted. be able to.

Further, in the present embodiment, a projection, such as an air cylinder, provided in a conventional apparatus, for example, is not formed in the housing 50. That is, as described above, the opening and closing of the upper support member 84 holding the wafer W is performed by the opening / closing center shaft 110 coaxially supported in the hollow rotary shaft 92.
Since the rotation is performed by the rotation of FIG. 5 (see FIG. 5), there are no protrusions in the housing, so that turbulence does not occur in the gas flowing down in the housing 50, and the discharge of water droplets can be further promoted. Then, the water-containing gas discharged from the gas exhaust port 194 and flowing down collides with the bottom 198 of the gas exhaust container 196 as shown by an arrow D in FIG. After passing through the flow path 206 below the plate 204, it collides with the wall surface of the room 208, and the flow direction is further changed to the side, and then discharged out of the system through the exhaust hole 212. Accordingly, since the moisture contained in the gas is efficiently removed when the flow direction of the gas is changed, the gas exhaust container 196 has a two-stage trap structure of moisture, and the moisture contained in the gas is efficiently removed. It becomes possible to remove it.

The flow rate of the gas to be discharged can be adjusted by moving the flow rate adjusting plate 206 in the gas exhaust container 196 up and down as needed to change the cross-sectional area of the flow path 206. On the other hand, during the drying operation while rotating the processing object holding mechanism 52 as described above, nitrogen gas as a clean gas is supplied to the vicinity of the bearing supporting both ends. Specifically, as shown in FIG.
A magnetic fluid seal member 176 is provided between the bearings 60 that support the bearing 2, and seals the inside of the housing 50 and is generated by the bearing 60 that is located farther away from the housing 50 among the two bearings. It is possible to reliably prevent the generated dust from entering the housing 50 by the action of the magnetic fluid.

The labyrinth seal 178 is provided on the housing side of the magnetic fluid sealing member 176 and the bearing 60 on the housing side.
The labyrinth space 180 formed here is supplied with, for example, nitrogen gas via a gas supply passage 182 and is purged. This nitrogen gas is separated to the left and right in FIG. A part of the gas flows toward the housing 50 and is exhausted to the lower part of the housing 50 through the gas discharge passage 184. A part of the purge gas toward the bearing 60 is generated by the dust generated in the bearing 60 and the magnetic fluid sealing member 176.
Dust can be prevented from entering the housing 50, and the purge gas flowing into the housing 50 can prevent moisture from entering the magnetic fluid seal member 176 from the housing 50 side,
Therefore, the function of the magnetic fluid seal member 176 that is weak to moisture is not impaired. In particular, in order to prevent the bearing 60 from being wet, the outer periphery of the rotary shaft 92 and the housing 50
Is preferably set as small as possible.

As shown in FIG. 5, a large load is applied to the bearings 104, 114, 116, etc., which rotatably support the opening / closing arm 86 and the connecting arm of the workpiece holding mechanism 52 at the time of high speed rotation. These bearings are made of abrasion-resistant and water-resistant ceramics instead of stainless steel. The mechanism 52 can be stably rotated at a high speed. As described above, according to the present embodiment, the semiconductor wafer W to which the processing liquid such as water has adhered can be dried quickly and quickly without causing particles or the like to adhere to the wafer surface.

In addition, by driving the ionizer 76 provided on the lid 50 during the drying of the wafer W, the charging of the wafer W is prevented, and the adhesion of particles to the wafer surface can be more reliably prevented. In the above embodiment, the clutch mechanism 134 for engaging and disengaging the opening / closing center shaft 110 and the central rotating shaft 92 (see FIG. 6).
Is relatively large using the auxiliary arm 170 and the engagement arm 166, but may be relatively simple using an electromagnetic clutch or the like as shown in FIGS.

That is, in the previous embodiment also shown in FIG. 6, the disc-shaped clutch arm 1 having the engagement pin 154
The shaft 52 is provided rotatably with respect to the shaft 164 via a bearing 162. In this embodiment, the end of the opening / closing center shaft 110 is further extended to allow it to be inserted into the center hole 300 of the clutch arm 152. It is inserted so that it does not touch in the fitted state. A ring-shaped auxiliary ring 304 made of, for example, stainless steel is rotatably provided on the outer periphery of the clutch arm 152 via a ring-shaped bearing 302, and freely rotates with respect to the inner clutch arm 152. Is configured to obtain.

An arm tip of a clutch horizontal cylinder 142 as a moving means is attached and fixed to the side surface of the auxiliary ring 304 from the horizontal direction in the figure.
The auxiliary ring 304 and the clutch arm 152 rotatably connected thereto are configured to be movable in the axial length direction of the central shaft 110. Therefore, this horizontal cylinder 1
When the clutch 42 is extended and retracted, the engagement pin 154 provided on the clutch arm 152 moves left and right, and the engagement and disengagement between the clutch plate 144 of the opening / closing center shaft 110 and the engagement plate 146 of the hollow rotary shaft 92 is released. Can do it.

On the other hand, the extended central shaft 11 for opening and closing is provided.
An electromagnetic clutch 306 for connecting / disconnecting to / from a drive cylinder 176 for rotating the central shaft 110 for opening and closing by a predetermined angle, for example, 90 °, is provided at the leading end of the zero. Specifically, the electromagnetic clutch 306 includes an electromagnet 308 therein and is integrally fixed to the opening / closing central shaft 110, and is provided in parallel with the electromagnet plate 310 via a bearing 312. The electromagnet 308 is turned on and off so that the electromagnet plate 310 can be freely connected and disconnected to and from the attracted plate 314 by turning the electromagnet 308 on and off. Is configured. An engaging arm 166 extends from the attracted plate 314, and a tip of the arm 316 of a driving cylinder 176 as a driving source that expands and contracts in the vertical direction in the drawing is provided at a tip of the engaging arm 166. It is provided so as to be rotatable by the above.

According to such a configuration, the lower and upper supporting members 82 and 84 hold the wafer W accommodated in the processing object holding mechanism 52 (see FIG. 1), or When releasing the held wafer W,
First, the clutch arm 152 is driven by driving the clutch horizontal cylinder 142 to extend the arm to the right in the drawing.
Is moved rightward to disengage the engagement pin 154 from the engagement hole 158 of the engagement plate 146, thereby disconnecting the connection between the engagement plate 146 and the clutch plate 144. Therefore, in this state, the hollow rotary shaft 92 is free to rotate with respect to the opening / closing central shaft 110.

Next, the electromagnet 308 of the electromagnetic clutch 306 provided at the end of the opening / closing center shaft 110 is energized and driven to couple the electromagnet plate 310 and the plate 314 to be attracted by electromagnetic force. In this state, by extending or retracting the arm 316 of the drive cylinder 176, the driving force is transmitted to the opening / closing center shaft 110 via the electromagnetic clutch 306, and is rotated in a desired direction by, for example, about 90 °. The opening and closing arm 86 is opened and closed. As a result, the wafer W is held or released. On the other hand, in the case where the wafer W is rotated at a high speed for drying while being held, first, the drive cylinder 176 is operated to hold the wafer W as described above, and the electromagnet of the electromagnetic clutch 306 is held in this state. The power supply to 308 is cut off to separate the electromagnet plate 310 and the plate 314 to be attracted, and the arm of the clutch horizontal cylinder 142 is retracted leftward in the drawing to move the clutch arm 152 leftward in the drawing. As a result, the engagement pin 154 provided on the clutch arm 152 is inserted into the engagement hole 158 of the engagement plate 146,
The engagement between the engagement plate 146 and the clutch plate 144 is performed.

By rotating and driving the hollow rotary shaft 92 in this state, the central shaft 110 for opening and closing is integrally rotated in a locked state. At this time, the disc-shaped clutch arm 152 rotates similarly, but this rotation is permitted by the action of the bearing 302 provided between the clutch arm 152 and the auxiliary ring 304. The electromagnet plate 310 of the electromagnetic clutch 306 also rotates in the same manner, but the rotation of the opening / closing center shaft 110 is caused by the rotation of the bearing 3 provided between this and the plate 314 to be attracted.
12 will be allowed. According to this configuration, a relatively simple structure can be adopted with respect to the structure shown in FIG. 6, and the number of parts can be reduced.

In this embodiment, the case where two clutch horizontal cylinders 142 are provided is described, but the number is not limited to this. In the above embodiment, the case where the rotary processing apparatus is applied to the wafer drying apparatus has been described. However, the present invention is not limited to this. For example, the present invention can be applied to a case where an LCD substrate or a printed board is dried as a processing target. Can be. Furthermore, the present invention can of course be applied to other rotation processing apparatuses, for example, a resist coating apparatus, a developer coating apparatus, and the like.

[0050]

As described above, according to the rotation processing apparatus of the present invention, the following excellent functions and effects can be exhibited. Since the drive system of the upper support member that holds the object to be processed is accommodated in the hollow rotary shaft, there is no protrusion in the housing, and turbulence and stagnation in the flow of the clean gas are prevented. It is possible to discharge clean gas and particles smoothly and efficiently. Further, the object can be reliably held between the upper support member and the lower support member. Further, by using an electromagnetic clutch to connect the central shaft for opening and closing to this drive source, the entire device can be downsized.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic sectional view showing one embodiment of a rotation processing apparatus according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a schematic side sectional view showing a side surface of the apparatus shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing a chemical treatment mechanism incorporating the rotation processing device according to the present invention.

FIG. 4 is an enlarged side view showing a workpiece holding mechanism provided in the rotary processing apparatus.

FIG. 5 is an enlarged view of a main part showing the workpiece holding mechanism shown in FIG. 4;

FIG. 6 is an enlarged sectional view showing a clutch mechanism provided in the rotation processing device.

FIG. 7 is an enlarged side view of the clutch mechanism shown in FIG.

FIG. 8 is an explanatory diagram for explaining an assembled state of a filter unit provided in the rotation processing device.

FIG. 9 is a sectional view of the filter means shown in FIG.

FIG. 10 is an enlarged sectional view showing a bearing mechanism of the rotation processing device.

FIG. 11 is a partially cutaway perspective view showing a gas exhaust container provided in the rotation processing device.

FIG. 12 is a sectional view showing a modified example of the clutch mechanism used in the device of the present invention.

FIG. 13 is a schematic view showing a side surface of the clutch mechanism shown in FIG.

FIG. 14 is a cross-sectional view illustrating an example of a conventional rotation processing device.

15 is a side sectional view of the apparatus shown in FIG.

[Explanation of symbols]

 44 Wafer drying device (rotary processing device) 50 Housing 52 Workpiece holding mechanism 54 Gas inlet 56 Filter means 60 Bearing 62 Magnetic fluid seal member 66 Filter 68 Liquid receiving means 70A, 70B, 70C, 70D Punching plate 82 Lower support Member 84 Upper support member 86 Opening / closing arm 92 Rotating shaft 110 Opening / closing central shaft 132, 134 Clutch mechanism 142 Clutch horizontal cylinder (moving means) 176 Drive cylinder (drive source) 180 Labyrinth space (narrow space) 196 Gas exhaust container 304 Auxiliary Ring 306 Electromagnetic clutch 308 Electromagnet 310 Electromagnet plate 314 Plate to be attracted W Semiconductor wafer (object to be processed) G Clean air (clean gas)

Claims (4)

(57) [Claims] 1. A rotary processing apparatus for processing an object to be processed while rotating an object-to-be-processed holding mechanism holding an object to be processed within a housing, wherein the object-to-be-processed holding mechanism includes a lower portion of the object to be processed. A support member for supporting the upper portion of the object to be processed, and an opening / closing arm for opening and closing the upper support member. The mechanism for holding the object to be processed can rotate the object. A rotation processing device, wherein the rotation processing device is connected to a hollow rotation shaft, and the opening / closing arm is connected to an opening / closing center shaft inserted through the hollow rotation shaft to drive the opening / closing arm. 2. The rotation process according to claim 1, wherein a clutch mechanism for connecting and disconnecting the two shafts is provided at an end of the rotation shaft and the opening / closing center shaft. apparatus. 3. The clutch mechanism includes an engagement plate provided on the hollow rotary shaft, a clutch disk provided on the opening / closing central shaft, and an axially movable clutch plate and the clutch disk. 3. The rotation processing device according to claim 2, wherein the rotation processing device comprises an engagement pin for performing engagement and disengagement of the engagement pin, and moving means for moving the engagement pin in an axial direction. 4. The rotation processing device according to claim 1, wherein the central shaft for opening and closing is connected to a drive source via an electromagnetic clutch.