JP2893159B2 - Processing method and processing apparatus - 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 method and a processing apparatus for performing a process such as a development process on an object to be processed such as a semiconductor wafer.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In general, in a semiconductor device manufacturing process, a series of processes are performed in which a photoresist is applied to a semiconductor wafer, a circuit pattern is reduced and transferred to the photoresist by using a photolithography technique, and the photoresist is developed. Is applied.

In performing such processing, a processing system shown in FIG. 7 is used. The processing system includes a loader unit 40 for loading / unloading a semiconductor wafer (hereinafter, simply referred to as a wafer) W as a workpiece, a brush cleaning device 42 for brush cleaning the wafer W, and a jet for cleaning the wafer W with high-pressure jet water. A water cleaning device 44, an adhesion processing device 46 for hydrophobizing the surface of the wafer W, a cooling processing device 48 for cooling the wafer W to a predetermined temperature, a wafer W
Resist coating apparatus 50 having a function of applying a resist on the surface of the wafer and removing excess resist on the periphery of the wafer by side rinsing, and a wafer W before and after resist coating.
And a development processing apparatus 54 having a function of developing the exposed wafer W and rinsing the developed resist pattern, and the like. We are improving.

A wafer transfer path 56 is provided along the longitudinal direction at the center of the processing system configured as described above, and the devices 42 to 54 are arranged on the wafer transfer path 56 so as to face the front. A wafer transfer mechanism 58 provided with a wafer transfer arm 59 for transferring the wafer W to and from each of the devices 42 to 54 is provided movably along the wafer transfer path 56. Then, for example, one unprocessed wafer W stored in a wafer cassette (not shown) of the loader 40 is taken out and transported, and sequentially washed, adhered, cooled, resist-coated, pre-baked, and an exposure device (not shown) Exposure, development, and post-baking are performed, and the processed wafer W is transported and stored in a wafer cassette (not shown) of the loader unit 40.

[0005]

By the way, as the degree of integration of a semiconductor integrated circuit increases, a resist pattern of a submicron level having a high aspect ratio has been required. Along with such a high aspect ratio and miniaturization of the resist pattern, a fatal phenomenon that the resist pattern finally formed on the wafer W by the above series of steps collapses occurs. .

The causes of such pattern collapse include (a) a flow pressure caused by a rinsing liquid flow generated by a centrifugal force generated when the rinsing liquid is shaken off after development, and (b) a centrifugal force acting directly on the resist pattern. Was initially considered to be promising, but as a result of observing the state of pattern collapse using a micrograph or the like, as shown in FIG.
It has been found that the two are lying close to each other, and rather than the above (a) and (b), the strength of the surface tension when the rinse liquid filled between the adjacent resist patterns dries is reduced. It turned out to be the cause of the pattern collapse.
That is, when the rinsing liquid is filled between the adjacent resist patterns, as shown in FIG. 8, a force F expressed by the following equation (1) acts on each of the patterns 1 and 2 in a direction to attract the patterns. . Therefore, as the resist pattern has a higher aspect ratio, a larger moment due to the force F acts during the drying of the rinsing liquid, and the resist pattern is more likely to fall.

F = σ × L × sin θ (1) Here, σ is a surface tension, L is a pattern length, and θ is a contact angle.

As a countermeasure for avoiding such a problem, there is a method of removing a rinse liquid remaining between patterns in a very short time. This method can be realized by instantaneously evaporating the rinsing liquid before the pattern collapses due to surface tension.However, in order to increase the evaporation rate to a sufficient level, the above-described processing system such as a decompression chamber method must be used. A major mechanism change is required. As another countermeasure, resist-adhesion treatment
Although it is conceivable to enhance the adhesion between the wafers, a method of optimizing and controlling the heating temperature for that purpose has not been established at present.

The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and an object of the present invention is to supply a processing liquid to an object on which a resist pattern has been formed to prevent the resist pattern from collapsing. It is an object of the present invention to provide a processing method and a processing apparatus capable of performing processing while performing processing.

[0010]

In order to achieve the above object, a processing method according to the present invention is directed to a processing method in which a processing liquid is supplied to a processing target on which a resist pattern is formed to perform processing .
And a table of the treatment liquid and the treatment liquid stored separately.
Mixing a liquid with a surface tension reducing liquid;
Removing air bubbles from the liquid, and removing the liquid from which the air bubbles have been removed.
And supplying to the object to be processed (claim 1) .

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a processing apparatus for supplying a processing liquid to an object on which a resist pattern is formed and performing processing, wherein a tank containing the processing liquid is provided.
And a container for containing a liquid for reducing the surface tension of the treatment liquid.
And the above treatment liquid, and the surface tension of this treatment liquid is reduced.
A liquid mixer for mixing the liquid to be mixed
And bubble removing means for removing Luo bubbles, the bubbles have been removed
Liquid supply means for supplying a mixed liquid to the object to be processed.
(Claim 2).

The processing apparatus according to claim 2, wherein
A tank for storing the processing liquid and reducing the surface tension of the processing liquid
Pumping the working gas into the tank containing the liquid
Thus, it is preferable to send out both of the above solutions (claim 3). This
In the case of
These liquid supply amount adjusting means are connected to a supply pipe for the mixed liquid.
Can be controlled based on the detection signal from the concentration sensor
It is more preferable to form it (claim 4). Also,
A hollow cylindrical device having an inlet for the mixture is provided in the foam removing means.
The main body and the shaft
And a possible cylindrical filter.
When the rotating shaft is formed hollow to form an exhaust passage,
And one-way or forward / reverse rotation by rotary drive mechanism
It is preferable to form them (claim 5). In this case,
Connect gas exhaust piping to the eccentric part of the
Both are possible (claim 6). Further, the second aspect of the present invention
The processing equipment is used to process the object on which the resist pattern has been formed.
Separation in processing equipment that supplies processing liquid and performs processing
Processing solution supply system composed of
And each of the above-mentioned supply systems.
The continuous processing solution supply means and the surface tension of the processing solution are reduced.
And a liquid supply means for lowering the liquid.
To reduce the surface tension of the processing liquid and the processing liquid on the object to be processed
When spraying the solution, reduce the surface tension of the processing solution and the processing solution.
After mixing the liquids, spread them on the object.
(Claim 7).

In the present invention, pure water is used as the treatment liquid and the surface tension of the treatment liquid is reduced.
As a liquid, for example, isopropyl alcohol (isopropyl
It is desirable to use a solvent such as alcohol (hereinafter abbreviated as IPA). In that case, the IPA of the IPA aqueous solution obtained by mixing IPA as a solvent in pure water, which is the original processing liquid, is used.
The A concentration is desirably about 10 to 15% by volume.

[0014]

According to the processing method and the manufacturing apparatus of the present invention by the above technical means, the processing solution is supplied to the object after being modified so that the surface tension is reduced. The surface tension σ of the treatment liquid filled between the resist patterns formed on the body, and thus the force F (see the above formula (1)) acting on each pattern can be reduced, and the collapse of the resist pattern can be prevented. It is also supplied to the workpiece
Removing bubbles in the mixed solution
Can be more reliably prevented from collapsing.

In that case, by using an IPA aqueous solution,
The value of the surface tension σ can be greatly reduced. IP
The aqueous solution A can reduce the surface tension to 2/3 even if the volume concentration is only 5%, and it can be reduced to 1/2 or less at 20%.

It has been found that the contact angle θ of the IPA aqueous solution with respect to the resist solution decreases as the IPA concentration increases, and this characteristic contributes to suppressing the collapse of the pattern during rinsing. That is, the driving force of the pattern collapse is considered to be proportional to the sine (sin θ) of the contact angle θ, and the force F decreases as the contact angle decreases.

The following table is obtained by estimating the effect of the treatment liquid reforming in consideration of the characteristics of the IPA aqueous solution.

[0018]

[Table 1] The adhesion of the resist pattern to the object to be processed is
Since it is considered to be approximately proportional to the pattern width, if the criticality of pattern collapse is about half that of the conventional process, the IPA concentration at which the synergistic effect is 0.5% or less is a measure of pattern collapse. That is, the IPA concentration of the rinsing liquid necessary for preventing pattern collapse is about 10 to 15% by volume.

It has been confirmed that the dissolution of the resist film by the IPA aqueous solution causes only a change within the measurement error, and no special request for the adhesion treatment occurs when the IPA aqueous solution is used.

[0020]

Next, an embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. In this embodiment, a case where the processing apparatus of the present invention is applied to the developing device 54 of FIG. 7 will be described with reference to FIGS.

The processing apparatus (developing apparatus) 54 of the present invention
As shown in FIG. 1, a processing unit 19 for performing a developing process on a wafer W on which a resist pattern is formed, and a developing solution supply nozzle 20 which is moved above the processing unit 19 and supplies a developing solution to the surface of the wafer W The main part is composed of a nozzle transfer arm 21 for moving the developing solution supply nozzle 20 to the processing section 19 and the standby position 20A and a moving mechanism 22 thereof, and a rinsing processing device 23 disposed near the processing section 19. Have been.

As shown in FIG. 2, the processing unit 19 holds the wafer W by suction and horizontally rotates the wafer W.
4 and a processing cup 26 for accommodating the wafer holding portion 24a of the spin chuck 24. The lower end of the spin chuck 24 is fixed to a rotating shaft of a motor (not shown) for rotating the spin chuck 24 and the wafer W at a predetermined rotation speed at a high speed. The processing cup 26 has an annular inner cup 27 concentrically disposed so as to surround the wafer holding portion 24 a of the spin chuck 24, and forms the processing space 25 by accommodating the spin chuck 24 and the inner cup 27. And an outer cup 28. The processing cup 26 is driven by a lifting mechanism (not shown) to be able to move up and down as shown in FIG. 3. By lowering the processing cup 26, the wafer between the spin chuck 24 and the transport mechanism 58 is moved. Enables delivery of W.

The outer cup 28 comprises an upper cup 31 and a lower cup 32. The upper cup 31 has an opening 33 having a diameter slightly larger than that of the wafer W at the center, and a side wall from the vicinity of the opening 33 to the vicinity of the joint with the lower cup 32 is formed to be conically inclined. The inside of the lower cup 32 is partitioned into an inside and an outside by an annular wall 34, and an exhaust port 35 is provided on an inner bottom portion, and a drain port 36 is provided on an outer bottom portion. An exhaust device (not shown) is connected to the exhaust port 35, and the developer flowing down when performing the developing process on the wafer W and the processing liquid during the rinsing process are exhausted from the exhaust port 35 together with the atmosphere in the developing device 54. You can do it. A drainage storage tank (not shown) is connected to the drainage port 36. The drainage tank 36 descends along the inner surfaces 31 a and 32 a of the outer cup and the outer surface 27 b of the inner cup, and the developing solution and the rinsing liquid accumulated on the bottom of the lower cup 32. The processing liquid can be discharged and stored through the drain port 36.

As shown in FIGS. 1 and 4, the rinsing device 23 has an arm 39 fixed at one end to a tip end of a rotating shaft 38 projecting vertically upward from the inside of the processing device body 37 and horizontally supported. A processing liquid nozzle 41 serving as a liquid supply means provided at a lower portion of the distal end of the arm 39;
A processing liquid supply system 43 that supplies a processing liquid to the processing liquid nozzle 41 through a pipe 42 provided therein constitutes a main part. The lower end of the rotating shaft 38 supporting the arm 39 is
The drive mechanism is connected to a drive mechanism (not shown), and the arm 39 can be rotated from the standby position 41A to a predetermined position on the wafer W by driving the drive mechanism.

As shown in FIG. 4, the processing liquid supply system 43 includes a processing liquid tank 45 storing pure water 44, which is an original processing liquid, and a substance for reducing the surface tension of the processing liquid, for example, a solvent. A solvent tank 47 storing an IPA 46 is provided. The processing liquid tank 45 and the solvent tank 47 are connected with working gas supply pipes 69 and 70 for pumping N2 (nitrogen) gas as a working gas into the tank, respectively. By applying pressure, the pure water 44 and the IPA 46, which are the respective storage liquids, are sent out. In the middle of each of the working gas supply pipe 69, 70, respectively feeding amount adjusting means such as <br/> feed volume adjustment device 65, 66 and the filter 71 and 72 via
Has been established. The filters 71 and 72 are for removing mist and the like in the working gas. The liquid feed rate adjusting devices 65 and 66 adjust the pressure feed rate of the working gas to adjust the pure water 44 and the IPA 4 from the processing liquid tank 45 and the solvent tank 47.
6 is adjusted to control the amount of delivery, and is driven and controlled based on a detection signal from a solvent concentration sensor 61 described later.

Also, the arm 3
A liquid mixer 60, a solvent concentration sensor 61, a bubble removing unit, for example, a bubble removing device 62, and a valve 63 are provided in the middle of a liquid sending pipe 48 for transferring the processing liquid 44 to the pipe 42 in the pipe 9. I have.

The liquid mixer 60 mixes the pure water 44, which is the processing liquid sent from the processing liquid tank 45, with the IP, which is the solvent,
A46 for mixing the solvent tank 4
7. A solvent supply system 89 is configured together with the liquid feed amount adjusting device 66 and the filter 72. The liquid mixer 60 has one liquid inlet 60a connected to the liquid feed pipe 48 of the processing liquid tank 45, and the other liquid inlet 60b connected to the liquid feed pipe 64 of the solvent tank 47. IPA mixed inside
It is configured to send out the aqueous solution from the liquid sending port 60c. This IPA aqueous solution becomes an actual processing liquid.

The solvent concentration sensor 61 is a device for detecting the IPA concentration of the IPA aqueous solution sent from the liquid mixer 60, and its detection signal output section is provided at the processing liquid tank 45.
And a control section of a liquid sending amount adjusting device 65, 66 provided in a working gas supply pipe 69, 70 of the solvent tank 47, respectively, and is connected via signal lines 67, 68. And
Based on the detection signal from the solvent concentration sensor 61, IP
The liquid sending amount control devices 65 and 66 are used to adjust the pure water 44 from the processing liquid tank 45 and the solvent tank 47 so that the IPA concentration value of the aqueous solution A is in an appropriate value range, for example, about 10 to 15% by volume concentration. And the amount of transmission of the IPA 46 is adjusted.

The bubble removing device 62 is a device for removing bubbles in the IPA aqueous solution mixed by the liquid mixer 60, and as shown in FIG. A main part is constituted by providing a cylindrical filter 75 rotatably in a hollow cylindrical device main body 74 into which the 73 is introduced.

The filter 75 is attached to the lower end of a hollow rotary shaft 77 provided to penetrate the ceiling of the apparatus main body 74, and is provided with a predetermined rotational drive mechanism (not shown) connected to the rotary shaft 77. It is designed to be driven at a rotational speed. Then, the bubble removing device 62 causes the liquid heavier than the bubbles to flow outward by centrifugal force due to the rotation of the filter 75, and collects the bubbles lighter than the liquid at the center side in the filter 75, whereby the rotating shaft 77 and the valve The gas is exhausted through 84, and one end is connected to the rotating shaft 77 so that only the liquid can be sent out to the liquid sending pipe 48 via the valve 63. The lower end of the rotating shaft 77 is formed in an umbrella shape so that the air bubbles collected in the filter 75 can be effectively collected.

The bubble removing device 62 is connected to the liquid sending pipe 48 near the upstream side of the liquid inlet 74a of the device main body 74.
A bubble sensor 86 such as an optical sensor for detecting the amount of bubbles in the IPA aqueous solution 73 sent from the liquid mixer 60 is attached, and when the detected value becomes a predetermined value or more, the rotation shaft 77 The rotation driving device (not shown) connected thereto is set to operate automatically and the filter 75 is driven to rotate in one direction or forward or reverse. In addition to the rotating shaft 77, a gas discharge dedicated pipe 78 to which a gas-liquid separation valve 79 and a valve 84A are attached is connected to the ceiling of the device body 74, and gas is discharged even when the filter 75 is stopped. I can do it. The gas discharge sides of the valves 84 and 84A are connected to a common gas discharge pipe 85. Further, the apparatus main body 74 is divided and formed into an upper member 80 and a lower member 81, and the flange portions 80a and 81a, which are joint portions thereof, are integrated by fixing with a jig 82. Therefore, by removing the jig 82, the upper member 80 and the lower member 81 can be separated, and the filter 75 can be replaced.

When developing the wafer W with the processing apparatus 54 of the present invention configured as described above, first, as shown in FIG. 3, the processing cup 26 is lowered to transfer the exposed wafer W. The wafer is received on the spin chuck 24 from the wafer transfer arm 59 of the mechanism 58, and then the processing cup 2
6 is raised to accommodate the wafer W. Thereafter, the nozzle transport arm 21 is driven by the moving mechanism 22 shown in FIG. 1 to move the developer supply nozzle 20 to a position above the center of the wafer W in the processing unit 19, and the developer is sprayed on the surface of the wafer W. When the developer is sprayed for a predetermined time or a predetermined amount, the nozzle transfer arm 21 is returned to the standby position 20A,
Perform development processing. Subsequently, the arm 39 of the rinsing device 23 is rotated, and as shown in FIG.
Is moved above the center of the wafer W in the processing unit 19. Thereafter, the valves 63 and 84 of the processing liquid supply system 43 are opened,
The liquid supply amount adjusting devices 65 and 66 are operated. This allows
The working gas is pumped into the processing liquid tank 45 and the solvent tank 47, and the supply of the pure water 44 and the IPA 46 is started.

The pure water 44 and the IPA 46 sent from the processing liquid tank 45 and the solvent tank 47 are first introduced into the liquid mixer 60, mixed, and sent out as an IPA aqueous solution 73. Then, the IPA aqueous solution 73 from the liquid mixer 60 passes through the solvent concentration sensor 61 and passes through the bubble removing device 6.
Sent to 2.

The solvent concentration sensor 61 constantly detects the IPA concentration of the passing IPA aqueous solution 73, and outputs a detection signal to each of the liquid feeding amount adjusting devices 65 and 66. Then, based on the detection signal from the solvent concentration sensor 61, each of the liquid sending amount adjusting devices 65 and 66 adjusts the pure water from the processing liquid tank 45 and the solvent tank 47 so that the IPA concentration of the IPA aqueous solution 73 becomes an appropriate value. Adjust the water 44 and IPA 46 delivery rates. Thus, the IPA aqueous solution 73 having an appropriate IPA concentration is always introduced into the bubble removing device 62.

The IPA aqueous solution 73 introduced into the bubble removing device 62 removes air bubbles in the IPA aqueous solution 73 by the filter 75 in a stationary state or by the centrifugal force action due to the rotation of the filter 75 and the gas-liquid separation valve 79. Only the liquid is supplied to the processing liquid nozzle 41 through the pipe 42 of the nozzle arm 39, and the IPA aqueous solution 73 is spray-sprayed on the surface of the wafer W to perform a rinsing process. When the application of the IPA aqueous solution 73 for a predetermined time or a predetermined amount is completed, the nozzle arm 39 is returned to the standby position 41A. Thereafter, the spin chuck 24 is rotationally driven to shake off the processing liquid on the wafer W.

As described above, the pure water 4
4 is mixed with IPA 46 to reform the pure water 44 into an IPA aqueous solution having a small surface tension, and then subjected to a rinsing process on the wafer W after development, thereby filling between the resist patterns formed on the wafer W. Surface tension σ of the processing solution
Consequently, the force F acting on each pattern can be significantly reduced. Therefore, according to the processing apparatus 54 of the present invention, the rinsing process can be performed while preventing the fine resist pattern having a high aspect ratio from collapsing. During the rinsing process, the supplied IPA aqueous solution 73
If bubbles such as fine bubbles that can enter between the resist patterns 1 and 2 are contained therein, these fine bubbles gather and become large, and the diameter grows to about the distance between the resist patterns 1 and 2. The effect of the force F becomes significant. The force F at this time has been remarkably reduced due to the reforming of the IPA aqueous solution 73 itself, but it is desirable to prevent the generation in advance. Since the resist patterns 1 and 2 are further miniaturized and a pattern having a high aspect ratio is formed, the above-described bubble removal is very effective.

After the rinsing process, the processing cup 26 is lowered again to transfer the wafer W on the spin chuck 24 to the wafer transfer arm 59 of the transfer mechanism 58. Thereafter, the wafer W is transferred to the heat treatment device 52, and after the post-baking process, is stored in a wafer cassette (not shown) of the loader unit 40.

In the above embodiment, the pure water 44 sent from the processing liquid tank 44 and the IP
A46 is mixed in the middle of the liquid supply pipe 48, and the processing liquid that has become the IPA aqueous solution is supplied from one processing liquid nozzle 41 to the wafer W.
The above description has been given of the case of spraying and supplying, however, the configuration of the supply system of the pure water 44 and the IPA 46 is not limited to this. For example, the supply system of the pure water 44 and the supply system of the IPA 46 are separated from each other. and, as shown in FIG. 6, each feed system
The pure water 44 and the IPA 46 may be sprayed on the wafer W by using different liquid supply means such as nozzles 87 and 88 to be connected. However, in this case, it is necessary to take care that the pure water 44 from the nozzle 87 and the IPA 46 from the nozzle 88 are uniformly mixed in the air above the wafer W.

In the above embodiment, the case where the processing apparatus is applied to the developing apparatus of the resist coating and developing processing system has been described. However, the processing apparatus may be applied to the surface of the wafer W on which the circuit pattern is not formed. The present invention can also be applied to a double-sided scrubber device for supplying a treatment liquid and performing brush cleaning. In a scrubber device, pure water is generally used as a processing liquid, but during brush cleaning, the processing liquid wraps around the surface of the wafer W on which the circuit pattern is formed, and the fineness is caused by the surface tension of the processing liquid. Pattern collapses. Therefore, as in the above embodiment, by mixing IPA as a solvent with pure water as a processing liquid to lower the surface tension,
It prevents the pattern from collapsing.

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. Is also applicable.

Further, in the above-described embodiment, the description has been given of the case where the bubble removing device 62 removes bubbles in the IPA aqueous solution 73. However, the present invention can be applied to removing bubbles in other processing liquids. For example, removing bubbles in the resist solution of the resist coating device 50 is effective for improving the uniformity of the coating film. In addition, by removing bubbles in the side rinse treatment liquid of the apparatus 50, scattering and reattachment of the dissolved resist and the like due to bursting of bubbles are prevented, which is also effective in uniformity of the coating film. Furthermore, by removing bubbles in the developing solution of the developing device 54, it is possible to prevent the occurrence of uneven development due to bubbles, which is effective for uniform development processing.

Also, an example has been described in which a solvent such as IPA is used as a substance having a property of lowering the surface tension of the treatment liquid, but other substances can be used as long as the surface tension can be reduced. For example, a gas (ammonia, carbon dioxide) may be used by dissolving it in a processing liquid.

[0043]

According to the present invention, the following effects can be obtained.

1) Reduce the surface tension of the processing solution with the processing solution
By mixing a liquid having the property described above, the processing liquid is modified so that its surface tension is reduced and then supplied to the object to be processed. The collapse of the resist pattern caused by the tension can be prevented.

2) In the mixed liquid supplied to the object to be processed,
By removing air bubbles from the
Breakage can be more reliably prevented.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a plan view showing one embodiment of a processing apparatus of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a side sectional view showing a processing unit of the processing apparatus shown in FIG.

FIG. 3 is a side sectional view showing an operation mode of a processing unit shown in FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a system diagram showing one embodiment of a processing liquid supply system and a solvent supply system of the processing apparatus of the present invention.

5 is a side sectional view showing a main part of the processing liquid supply system shown in FIG.

FIG. 6 is a side sectional view showing another embodiment of the processing liquid supply system and the solvent supply system of the processing apparatus of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a perspective view showing a resist coating and developing apparatus.

FIG. 8 is an explanatory diagram of a collapse mechanism of a resist pattern.

FIG. 9 is a diagram showing a state of collapse of a resist pattern.

[Explanation of symbols]

Reference Signs List 1 resist pattern 2 resist pattern 23 rinse processing device 41 processing liquid nozzle (liquid supply means) 43 processing liquid supply system 44 pure water (processing liquid) 45 processing liquid tank 46 IPA (solvent) 47 solvent tank 60 liquid mixer 61 solvent concentration Sensor 62 Bubble removal device (bubble removal device) 65, 66 Liquid supply amount adjustment device (liquid supply amount adjustment device) 69, 70 Working gas supply pipe 73 IPA aqueous solution 74 Device body 74a Liquid introduction port 75 Filter 77 Hollow rotating shaft 78 Gas Ash type dedicated pipe 87, 88 Nozzle (liquid supply means) 89 Solvent supply system W Wafer (workpiece)

Continued on the front page (72) Inventor Shigeki Aoki 2655 Tsukure, Kikuyo-cho, Kikuchi-gun, Kumamoto Prefecture Tokyo Electron Kyushu Co., Ltd. Kyushu Corporation Kumamoto Office (56) References JP-A-3-215867 (JP, A) JP-A-6-163391 (JP, A) JP-A-5-326392 (JP, A) JP-A-6-338451 (JP, A) JP-A-7-140674 (JP, A) JP-A-6-222570 (JP, A) IEICE Technical Report, Vol. 93, NO. 300 (SDM93 110-117) PAGE. 33-99 1993 (Consideration on practical resolution limit in monolayer chemically amplified excimer resist) (58) Fields investigated (Int.Cl. ⁶ , DB name) H01L 21/027 G03F 7/30 G03F 7/32 JICST File (JOIS) Patent file (PATOLIS)

Claims (7)

(57) [Claims] In a processing method of supplying a processing liquid to a processing target object on which a resist pattern is formed and performing processing, the surface tension of the processing liquid and the surface tension of the processing liquid stored separately are reduced.
A processing method comprising: a step of mixing a liquid to be reduced; a step of removing bubbles from the mixed liquid ; and a step of supplying a liquid from which bubbles have been removed to the object . 2. A processing apparatus for supplying a processing liquid to a processing target on which a resist pattern is formed and performing processing by storing a tank for storing the processing liquid and a liquid for reducing the surface tension of the processing liquid. tank
When the above treatment liquid, a liquid to reduce the surface tension of the treatment liquid
A liquid mixer for mixing the liquid, a bubble removing means for removing bubbles from the mixed liquid, and a liquid supply for supplying the mixed liquid from which bubbles have been removed to the object to be processed.
And a supply unit . 3. The processing apparatus according to claim 2, wherein a tank for storing the processing liquid and a surface tension of the processing liquid are reduced.
The working gas is pressurized in the tanks containing the
And the two liquids are sent out.
Processing equipment. 4. A processing apparatus according to claim 3 , wherein a liquid supply amount adjusting means is provided in said working gas supply pipe,
These liquid supply amount adjusting means are connected to the supply pipe of the mixed liquid.
Controllable based on detection signal from installed concentration sensor
A processing device characterized by being formed. 5. A processing apparatus according to claim 2, wherein said air bubble removing means is a hollow cylinder having a mixed liquid inlet.
-Shaped device body, and housed in the device body,
A cylindrical filter rotatable about the axis, and the rotating shaft of the filter is hollow to form an exhaust passage.
And one-way or rotary drive mechanism
A processing device characterized by being formed so as to be capable of rotating forward and backward. 6. A processing apparatus according to claim 5 , wherein a gas exhaust pipe is further connected to the eccentric portion of said apparatus main body.
A processing device, comprising: 7. An object on which a resist pattern is formed.
In a processing apparatus for supplying a processing liquid to a processing apparatus, a processing liquid supply system configured separately and a surface of the processing liquid
The supply system for the liquid that reduces the tension
Supply means for the processing liquid to be connected and connected, and the surface tension of the processing liquid
Means for supplying a liquid for reducing the processing liquid and the surface of the processing liquid from the liquid supply means to the object to be processed.
When spraying the solution that lowers the tension,
After mixing the liquid that reduces the surface tension,
A processing apparatus characterized in that the processing apparatus is sprayed.