JP3118739B2 - Cleaning 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 cleaning apparatus.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a cleaning apparatus has been used for removing contamination such as particles, organic contaminants, or metal impurities on the surface of an object to be processed (for example, a semiconductor wafer) in a semiconductor device manufacturing process. In particular, a wet cleaning apparatus is now widely used as an important cleaning means because it can effectively remove particles and can perform batch processing. Such cleaning devices are usually
A loading mechanism for loading a predetermined number of semiconductor wafers in cassette units, a wafer transport device for transporting a predetermined number of semiconductor wafers loaded by the loading mechanism, and a plurality of semiconductor wafers transported by the wafer transport device, respectively; And a plurality of types of cleaning processing tanks arranged so as to perform cleaning, and an unload mechanism for unloading the semiconductor wafer cleaned by each cleaning processing tank.

[0003] The cleaning tank usually holds a plurality of semiconductor wafers substantially vertically, and is made of a corrosion-resistant and dust-resistant material such as quartz or PEEK, and slightly below the wafer holder. A rectifying plate made of a corrosion-resistant and dust-resistant material such as quartz, which has a large number of circulation holes, and supplies the processing liquid to the semiconductor wafer side via the rectifying plate to hold the wafer. It is configured to clean a plurality of semiconductor wafers held by the tool. Generally, many of the above-mentioned flow holes are distributed over the entire surface of the current plate.

[0004]

However, in the case of a conventional cleaning apparatus, for example, a flow hole of a rectifying plate is provided in accordance with a dimension between semiconductor wafers in order to increase a cleaning efficiency of the semiconductor wafer. As the number of held wafers increases, the size of the flow holes of the flow straightening plate is limited, and since such a flow straightening plate is mostly made of quartz having poor workability as described above, the number of flow holes is reduced. When the number of holes increases, the flow holes approach each other, making it difficult to drill holes and increasing the manufacturing cost. Further, in the case of the conventional cleaning apparatus, as described above, substantially the same flow holes are dispersed over the entire surface of the current plate, and furthermore, as shown in FIG.
Is not present, that is, the gap between the side of the processing tank 1 and the semiconductor wafer W is significantly larger than the gap between the semiconductor wafers W. While flowing in a large amount, only a small amount flows in the gap between the semiconductor wafers W having a large pressure loss, and there is a problem that the cleaning efficiency of the semiconductor wafer W is reduced and the cleaning time becomes longer.

In view of the above, a washing tank has been proposed in which various measures are taken for the size of the flow hole in the current plate. For example, Japanese Patent Laying-Open No. 58-61632 proposes a cleaning tank having a flow straightening plate provided with a flow hole at a position far from a water supply port so as to increase a flow rate of a cleaning liquid. In Japanese Patent Publication No. 62-42374, the first portion corresponding to the center portion of the semiconductor wafer has a larger flow hole, and the second portion corresponding to the end portion of the semiconductor wafer has a smaller size than the first portion. A cleaning tank has been proposed in which a third portion corresponding to a portion where a semiconductor wafer does not exist is smaller than the second portion. However, the flow holes described in each of these publications have to process flow holes of different sizes in the supply port of the processing solution into the cleaning tank, below the semiconductor wafer and in the region where the semiconductor wafer does not exist. However, there is a problem in that the production management of the current plate is complicated, and that a large number of flow holes must be processed, thereby increasing the production cost of the current plate.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned problems, and it is possible to reduce the manufacturing cost of the current plate, to facilitate the production control thereof, and to shorten the cleaning time of the object to be processed. It is an object of the present invention to provide a cleaning device that can perform the cleaning.

[0007]

Means for Solving the Problems The inventors of the present invention have conducted various tests on the relationship between the flow holes of the current plate in the cleaning device and the cleaning efficiency as described below, and have found that the flow holes have a specific form. The above problem has been solved by distributing and arranging the rectifier plates.

[0008] That is, a cleaning apparatus according to a first aspect of the present invention comprises a processing tank for storing a predetermined processing liquid, and a processing object holding apparatus disposed in the processing tank and holding a plurality of processing objects. Tool and a rectifying plate having a large number of flow holes disposed below the object-to-be-processed holder, and the processing liquid supplied from the supply port on the bottom surface of the processing tank is supplied to a large number of the rectifying plates. In the cleaning device configured to be distributed and supplied to the processing object side through the flow holes, the plurality of flow holes of the rectifying plate may be straight lines directly below each of the plurality of processing objects every other sheet. The flow holes of a plurality of rows and adjacent straight rows are arranged so as to be shifted one by one in the arrangement direction of the object to be processed, and each diameter is larger than the thickness of the object to be processed. In addition, it is formed in a size that does not reach directly below the next workpiece It is one that is constructed by.

Further, a cleaning apparatus according to a second aspect of the present invention includes a processing tank for storing a predetermined processing liquid, and a processing object holding apparatus disposed in the processing tank and holding a plurality of processing objects. Tool and a rectifying plate having a large number of flow holes disposed below the object-to-be-processed holder, and the processing liquid supplied from the supply port on the bottom surface of the processing tank is supplied to a large number of the rectifying plates. In the cleaning device configured to be distributed and supplied to the processing object side through the flow holes, the plurality of flow holes of the rectifying plate are provided with a first flow hole arranged below the processing object and the flow object. A plurality of second through-holes arranged along the outside of the processing body and formed smaller than the first through-holes, wherein the first through-holes are provided every other one of the plurality of processing objects. Are arranged in a plurality of linear rows just below the first and the first flow holes of the adjacent linear rows Each of them is arranged so as to be shifted one by one in the arrangement direction of the object to be processed, and each diameter is formed to be larger than the thickness of the object to be processed and not to be directly below an adjacent object to be processed. It is configured.

In a third aspect of the present invention, in the cleaning apparatus according to the second aspect, the plurality of second flow holes are each formed to have the same size. .

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, in the cleaning apparatus according to any one of the first to third aspects, the treatment liquid is dispersed between the supply port and the rectifying plate. A baffle plate is provided.

According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, there is provided the cleaning apparatus according to any one of the first to fourth aspects, wherein the supply ports are provided at two positions.

[0013]

According to the first aspect of the present invention, a plurality of objects to be processed held in the processing tank are arranged in a straight line immediately below each other and straightened immediately below each other. Since the plate is formed, each flow hole can be enlarged by reducing the number of flow holes in the rectifying plate, and the flow holes in adjacent straight rows are arranged at positions shifted by one each. Adjacent flow holes of each straight line complement the flow of the processing liquid in all regions at all intervals between the processing objects, thereby increasing the flow rate of the processing liquid in the gaps between the processing objects, and further, increasing the flow rate of each processing object. The processing liquid is evenly spread over both surfaces of each body, so that the efficiency of cleaning the body to be processed can be increased.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, a first flow hole located below the object to be processed and a second flow hole located outside the object to be processed are provided in the current plate. Since the second flow hole is smaller than the first flow hole, the flow rate of the processing liquid in the area not contributing to the cleaning of the processing object is reduced, and the processing liquid is prevented from staying, and the processing in the area contributing to the cleaning of the processing object. Since the cleaning efficiency of the processing liquid can be increased by increasing the flow rate of the liquid, and the first flow holes are linearly arranged immediately below each of the plurality of objects to be processed, and the first flow holes are arranged. The number of the first flow holes can be increased by reducing the number of the first flow holes, and since the first flow holes of the adjacent straight rows are arranged at positions shifted by one each, the first flow holes of the respective straight rows are shifted. Complementary flow of processing solution in all areas at all intervals between workpieces with holes There is increased the flow rate of the processing liquid in the gaps between the object to be processed, moreover can increase the cleaning efficiency of the object spreads equally treatment liquid on the both surfaces entirely each of the target object.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the second aspect, the plurality of second
Since the flow holes are formed in the same size, the processing liquid flows out from the second flow holes at a uniform and small flow rate in almost the entire region where the object does not exist, and the processing liquid is stabilized. A flow is formed, and the processing liquid in this region can be smoothly replaced.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, in the first aspect of the present invention, the processing liquid is dispersed between the supply port and the rectifying plate. Since the baffle plate is provided, the processing liquid flowing from the supply port can be dispersed toward the rectifying plate, and the processing liquid can be distributed to all the circulation holes.

According to the invention described in claim 5 of the present invention, in the invention described in any one of claims 1 to 4, the supply ports are provided at two places, so that the current plate The processing liquid can be evenly distributed to all the circulation holes.

[0018]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The present invention will be described below with reference to the embodiments shown in FIGS. First Embodiment As shown in FIG. 1, a cleaning apparatus 10 of the present embodiment receives an unprocessed semiconductor wafer W in cassette units and stores a cassette C therein. A loader mechanism 30 for receiving the semiconductor wafers W in cassette units; a cleaning processing mechanism 40 for performing a cleaning process such as a chemical solution process and a water washing process on the semiconductor wafers W transferred from the loader mechanism 30 by the wafer transfer device 41; An unloader mechanism 50 for unloading the semiconductor wafer W processed by the processing mechanism 40, and an output buffer mechanism 60 for receiving and storing the semiconductor wafer W in cassette units from the unloader mechanism 50 are provided.

A cassette cleaning / drying line 70 for cleaning and drying the empty cassette C after the semiconductor wafer W has been taken out by the wafer transfer device 41 is provided above the cleaning processing mechanism 40. It is arranged along 40. Then, an empty cassette C is supplied to the cassette washing / drying line 70 via an elevating mechanism 80.
It is configured to lift and supply from the loader mechanism 30. A similar lifting mechanism (not shown) is also provided on the unloader mechanism 50 side, and the cassette C after cleaning and drying is supplied to the unloader mechanism 50 via the lifting mechanism.

The input buffer mechanism 20
Is a mounting unit 2 for mounting a cassette C supplied from outside.
1 and a cassette storage section 23 for transferring the cassette C of the mounting section 21 by the cassette transport mechanism 22 and temporarily storing the cassette C that cannot be processed immediately. Further, when processing the semiconductor wafer W in the cassette C mounted on the mounting portion 21, the cassette transport mechanism 22 transfers the cassette C from the mounting portion 21 to the loader mechanism 30. Is configured. The loader mechanism 30 includes a positioning mechanism (not shown) for aligning the orientation flat of the semiconductor wafer W with, for example, an upper side or a lower side.
The output buffer mechanism 60 has the same configuration as the input buffer mechanism 20.

The cleaning mechanism 40 is, for example,
A wafer cleaning device for cleaning and drying the wafer transfer device 41 and the wafer chuck 41A of the wafer transfer device 41.
The drying treatment tank 42 and the chuck cleaning / drying treatment tank 42
Chemical treatment tank 43 which is sequentially disposed on the downstream side of the semiconductor wafer W and removes unnecessary substances such as organic contaminants, metal impurities or particles on the surface of the semiconductor wafer W by washing, and two washing treatments for washing the semiconductor wafer W after the chemical solution treatment Tanks 44, 4
4, a chemical processing tank 45 for performing a chemical processing different from the chemical processing tank 43, two rinsing processing tanks 46, 46, a chuck cleaning and drying processing tank 47 for cleaning and drying the wafer chuck 41A, A drying processing tank 48 for steam-drying the removed semiconductor wafer W with, for example, isopropyl alcohol (IPA) or the like is provided. And the above-mentioned chemical processing tanks 43 and 45 and washing processing tanks 44 and 46
Each processing solution overflows, and the overflowed processing solution is discharged or circulated to remove accumulated impurities and to be circulated and used. Each processing tank is disposed in an outer tank described later.
Each of the outer tanks is provided with an open / closed door that covers each processing tank and that is controlled to open and close, so that the processing liquid does not evaporate from each processing tank during processing.

Then, the above-mentioned wafer transfer device 41
As shown in (3), three units are provided so as not to be affected by the respective chemical processing tanks 43 and 45. Each of these wafer transfer devices 41 includes, for example, a pair of left and right wafer chucks 41A that collectively hold 50 semiconductor wafers W, and a driving mechanism (not shown) that moves the wafer chuck 41A up and down and moves forward and backward. ) And the processing tanks 42 to 4
And a transport base 41B disposed along the transport base 8 so as to reciprocate along the transport base 41B.

As shown in FIG. 2, each of the processing tanks, for example, the chemical liquid processing tank 43 has a rectangular processing tank main body 43A for storing a processing liquid such as aqueous ammonia heated to a high temperature.
And a wafer holder 43B disposed in the processing tank main body 43A and vertically holding, for example, 50 semiconductor wafers W.
And a rectifying plate 43D provided slightly below the wafer holder 43B and having a large number of flow holes 43C, and a supply pipe 43E for supplying a processing liquid from below the rectifying plate 43D. . Further, the supply pipe 43E has two supply ports 43F on the bottom surface of the processing tank main body 43A,
The processing liquid is supplied from the supply port 43F, and the baffle plates 43G, 4F are provided slightly above the respective supply ports 43F, 43F.
3G is provided, and the baffle plates 43G, 43G are configured to disperse the processing liquid toward the entire surface of the rectifying plate 43D.

The flow holes 43C of the current plate 43D.
Is formed only below the semiconductor wafer W held by the wafer holder 43B, as shown in FIGS. 2 and 3 with the wafer holder omitted. In addition, as shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, each of the flow holes 43C is provided, for example, every 50 semiconductor wafers W, in the longitudinal direction of the processing tank main body 43A immediately below each semiconductor wafer W. Four rows are arranged in a straight line. Moreover, the adjacent rows are arranged at positions where the respective flow holes 43C are shifted by one each. In addition, as shown in FIG. 5, for example, when the number of semiconductor wafers W is 6 inches and 50 pieces, as shown in FIG.
The diameter of the semiconductor wafer W is larger than the thickness of the semiconductor wafer W and cannot reach the adjacent semiconductor wafers W, for example, the diameter is 5.6 mm, and the total number of the semiconductor wafers W is, for example, 130. And the above-mentioned current plate 43D is provided with each flow hole 43C.
The processing liquid supplied from the semiconductor wafer W is diverted to both surfaces of the semiconductor wafer W and flows through the gap between the semiconductor wafers W. In addition, the rectifying plates of the other processing tanks are configured similarly to the chemical solution processing tank 43.

Further, as shown in FIG.
An overflow tank 43H is attached to the outer periphery of the upper end of 3A, and is configured to receive the overflowed processing liquid from the processing tank body 43A. The overflowed processing liquid is configured to be discharged as it is, as described above, or to be recycled. As shown in FIG. 6, a cover 43I is provided in the overflow tank 43H of the chemical processing tank 43, and the cover 43I suppresses the evaporation of the processing liquid and the heat radiation from the processing liquid to prevent pure water or the like. It is configured to reduce replenishment of the water treatment liquid and suppress energy loss. The cover 43I is made of, for example, a corrosion-resistant inorganic material such as quartz, a fluorine-based resin such as polytetrafluoroethylene, or an organic material such as a polypropylene-based resin. Further, as shown in FIG.
At the left and right upper ends of the outer tank 100 for storing the
It is mounted so as to be freely openable and closable via the components 2 and 102, and is configured such that the processing liquid does not evaporate from the chemical processing tank 43 during processing as described above.

Further, although not shown in FIG. 1, the entire cleaning device 10 is isolated from the surroundings by a partition wall 90 shown in FIGS. A window 91 is formed at an important part of the partition wall 90 as shown in FIG. This window 91
A sliding door 93 is provided on the threshold 92 so as to be freely opened and closed. In addition, a tape 94 made of a fluororesin such as polytetrafluoroethylene, which hardly generates particles even when the sliding door 93 slides, and has excellent sliding properties, is provided on the threshold 92.
Is attached so as to prevent dust generation in a clean room. The tape 94 can be further prevented from generating particles by being attached to a portion other than the threshold 92 where the sliding door 92 slides. Also,
The tape 94 may be attached to the threshold 92 and / or the sliding door 93. The partition 90
Is formed of a resin such as a polyvinyl chloride resin, and the sliding door 93 is formed of a resin having excellent transparency, such as a vinyl chloride resin or an acrylic resin.

Next, the operation of the cleaning apparatus 10 of this embodiment will be described. First, when the semiconductor wafers W stored in the cassette C in units of 25 are supplied to the mounting portion 21 of the input buffer mechanism 20, the cassette transport mechanism 22 is driven to load the supplied cassettes C in units of two. Transfer to. Then, the cassette C supplied thereafter is transferred to the storage unit 23 by the cassette transport mechanism 22, and the semiconductor wafer W of the subsequent cassette C is stored in the storage unit 23.
Store temporarily.

When two cassettes C are supplied to the loader mechanism 30, the loader mechanism 30 is driven to align the orientation flats of the semiconductor wafers W in the two cassettes C in one direction and to load 50 semiconductor wafers. While positioning W, the wafer transfer device 41 is driven to move the wafer chuck 41A into the chuck cleaning / drying processing tank 42 to clean and dry the wafer chuck 41A and load the wafer chuck 41A.
To receive the semiconductor wafer W. Thereafter, when the loader mechanism 30 is driven to lift the semiconductor wafers W from the two cassettes C and bring the semiconductor wafers W of each cassette C closer together, the wafer transfer device 41 is driven to drive 50 wafers by the wafer chuck 41A. The semiconductor wafer W is gripped. Wafer chuck 41A holding semiconductor wafer W
The transfer base 41 is driven by the drive of the wafer transfer device 41.
After moving to the chemical solution processing tank 43 along B, the wafer chuck 41A is lowered at that position, and the 50 semiconductor wafers W are delivered to a wafer holder (not shown) in the chemical solution processing tank 43 and are transferred to the processing solution. Immerse.

In this chemical processing tank 43, the processing liquid is supplied from the supply pipe 43E, so that the supplied processing liquid is dispersed over the entire surface of the rectifying plate 43D by the baffle plates 43G, 43G of the two supply ports 43F, 43F. Then, the gas flows into the semiconductor wafer W from the flow holes 43C of the rectifying plate 43D substantially uniformly. At this time, since each flow hole 43C is disposed immediately below the semiconductor wafer W, every other flow hole 43C is disposed immediately below the semiconductor wafer W, for example, as shown in FIG.
C, the processing liquid flows along both surfaces of the semiconductor wafer W, and in the semiconductor wafer W at the right end, the processing liquid also flows along the two surfaces of the semiconductor wafer W from the flow hole 43C immediately below the processing liquid. In W, the processing liquid divided from the adjacent circulation holes 43C flows along both surfaces. As a result, the processing liquid flows into the narrow gaps between all the semiconductor wafers W, and the semiconductor wafers W can be reliably cleaned.

Further, since the straight rows of the flow holes 43C are formed in four rows in the width direction of the rectifying plate 43D as described above, the rows of the flow holes 43C are similarly arranged between the semiconductor wafers W. Since the flow of the processing liquid is created in the gap, a reliable flow of the processing liquid over the entire width of each semiconductor wafer W can be formed. However, since there is no flow hole in the current plate 43D corresponding to the region where the semiconductor wafer W does not exist, only the processing liquid guided by the peripheral end surface of the semiconductor wafer W flows in these regions, and the processing liquid in that region flows. The flow rate is limited, and the flow in the gap between the semiconductor wafers W is mainly performed, so that all the semiconductor wafers W can be processed reliably and efficiently.

When the processing of the semiconductor wafer W in the chemical processing tank 43 is completed, the wafer chuck 41A of the wafer transfer device 41 collectively receives the semiconductor wafers W from the wafer holder 43B by an operation reverse to the above. Then, the wafer is transferred to the wafer holder in the next washing tank 44, and the washing is performed by the same operation as described above.
The same washing process is performed in 4 to complete the first washing process. Thereafter, the chemical solution treatment tank 45 and the water washing treatment tanks 46, 46 are operated by the wafer chuck 41A of the intermediate wafer transfer device 41.
Then, the cleaning process is performed by the same operation as described above. And
The semiconductor wafers W are received from the rinsing processing tank 46 by the lowermost wafer transfer device 41 and subjected to steam drying by IPA in the drying processing tank 48 to perform load drying.
The dried semiconductor wafers W are stored in the two cassettes C waiting by the unloader mechanism 50 having the same configuration as described above. At this time, the cassette C waiting by the unloader mechanism 50 is cleaned and dried while passing through the cassette cleaning / drying line 70, and is in a clean state in which particles and the like are removed. The semiconductor wafer W after the cleaning process is discharged to the next step via the output buffer mechanism 60 in units of cassettes.

As described above, according to the present embodiment, the number of the flow holes 43C of the current plate 43D is small, and only one type of the flow holes 43C needs to be provided.
It is easy to perform the processing management of the circulation hole 43C at the time of manufacturing, and it is possible to manufacture the rectifying plate 43D at a low cost, thereby contributing to a reduction in the manufacturing cost of the cleaning device 10. Further, according to the present embodiment, every other semiconductor wafer W held in the processing tank has a size larger than the thickness of the semiconductor wafer W and a size smaller than the adjacent semiconductor wafers W on the other side. Since the holes 43C are provided, the processing liquid smoothly flows over the entire surface of each of the semiconductor wafers W in the gaps between the semiconductor wafers W, and the cleaning efficiency of the semiconductor wafers W can be increased.

Embodiment 2 The cleaning apparatus 10 of this embodiment is configured in the same manner as in Embodiment 1 except that the rectifying plate 43D is different from each processing tank in Embodiment 1. Therefore, the current plate 43D in the present embodiment.
Will be described with reference to FIG. As shown in the figure, the current plate 43D in this embodiment has a plurality of flow holes 43D.
C is arranged below each semiconductor wafer W held by the wafer holder in the chemical solution processing tank 43, for example, a first circulation hole 43 </ b> C having a diameter of 5.6 mm, and the outside of each semiconductor wafer W (semiconductor wafer W). (A region where W does not exist) and a second flow hole 43J having a diameter of 3.4 mm, for example, smaller than the first flow hole 43C. Then, as in the case of the first embodiment, the first flow holes 43C are disposed every other semiconductor wafer W for every 50 semiconductor wafers W, immediately below each semiconductor wafer W, and in the processing tank main body 43A.
Are arranged in four rows linearly in the longitudinal direction. Moreover, adjacent straight rows are arranged at positions where the respective first flow holes 43C are shifted by one. Also, the first circulation hole 43C
In the same manner as in the first embodiment, for example, when the number of semiconductor wafers W is 6 inches and 50 pieces, 130 pieces are formed and the second flow holes 43 are formed.
J are formed in a row of nine pieces along the left and right regions where the semiconductor wafer W does not exist.

Therefore, according to the present embodiment, the semiconductor wafer W
The second flow hole 43J smaller than the first flow hole 43C below the semiconductor wafer W is also provided in a region where no
As shown in FIG. 10, the main flow of the processing liquid is
3C is formed in the gap between the semiconductor wafers W to efficiently clean the semiconductor wafer W, and a small flow rate of the processing liquid is formed by the second flow holes 43J in the region where the semiconductor wafer W does not exist. The stagnation of the processing liquid in the region can be prevented, and the smooth replacement of the processing liquid can be promoted. Further, according to the present embodiment, similarly to the first embodiment, the number of the flow holes 43C and 43J of the current plate 43D is smaller than that of the related art, and two types of the flow holes can be used. Similarly, it can contribute to a reduction in the manufacturing cost of the cleaning device 10.

Next, the number and size of the flow holes in the flow straightening plate,
A test was conducted under the following conditions for the relationship with the cleaning effect of the processing liquid in the processing bath holding 50 6-inch semiconductor wafers. In this test, pure water to which hydrochloric acid was added was used as an initial treatment liquid, and pure water was supplied to this treatment liquid to obtain a specific resistance of 15 MΩ · cm which was close to the specific resistance of pure water.
The cleaning efficiency with the treatment liquid was evaluated based on the length of time required to recover to the specific resistance value. [Test conditions] 1. Treatment tank; width 320 mm, width 238 mm, depth 202
mm 2. Specific resistance value at supply port of pure water; 17.3 MΩ · cm 3. Supply rate of pure water; see Tables 1 and 2 below 4. Treatment liquid; 1 cc of hydrochloric acid of about 18% added to pure water Solution 5. Supply rate of pure water; see Tables 1 and 2 below 6. Number and diameter of first and second flow holes of current plate;
See Tables 1 and 2 below 7. Measurement conditions of specific resistance Measurement position: Near the upper end of semiconductor wafer Measurement interval: From 60 seconds after hydrochloric acid addition, 78 every 20 seconds thereafter
Until 0 seconds

Therefore, in this test, first, as shown in FIG. 11, the first flow holes 43C arranged in four rows below the semiconductor wafer W and one row are arranged along both outer sides of the semiconductor wafer W. Twelve types of rectifying plates 43D having the second flow holes 43J were produced. The twelve rectifying plates 43D are respectively provided with the first flow holes 43C and the second flow holes 4C.
The size and number of 3J are different. Then, the specific resistance value of the processing liquid in the processing tank when each rectifying plate 43D is used is intermittently measured, and the results are referred to as Test Examples 1 to 1.
2 is shown in Table 1 below. According to the results shown in Table 1 below, both the first circulation hole 43C and the second circulation hole 43J have a diameter of 5.6 mm, and the total number of both is 148.
In the case of Test Example 12 using 3D, it was found that the specific resistance reached 15 MΩ · cm in the shortest time among all the test examples, that is, the cleaning efficiency was the most excellent. Of the 148 flow holes of the current plate 43D used in Test Example 12, 130 of the 148 flow holes were the first flow holes 43C and 18 were the second flow holes 43.
It turned out to be J.

Next, based on the above test results, the number of flow holes was set to 148, the size of the first flow holes 43C was set to 130 at 5.6 mm, and the 18 second flow holes 43J were set. The three types of rectifying plates 43D were prepared by changing only the diameter of the rectifying plate as shown in Table 2 below, and the specific resistance value of the treatment liquid when each was used was measured intermittently. It was shown to. According to the results shown in Table 2 below, the current plate 4 having the second through hole 43J having a diameter of 3.4 m is provided.
In the case of Test Example 14 using 3D, it was found that the specific resistance value reached 15 MΩ · cm in the shortest time among all the test examples, that is, the cleaning efficiency was excellent. In addition, as a result of examining the amount of pure water used in Test Examples 12 and 14,
It was found that the current plate of Test Example 14, that is, the current plate used in Example 2 used less pure water than that of Test Example 12. From these results, it was found that the above-described cleaning apparatus 10 of Example 2 was excellent in cleaning efficiency.

[0038]

[Table 1]

[0039]

[Table 2] However, in this table, the size of only the second communication hole changes, and therefore, the current plate is indicated only by the diameter and the number of the second communication hole.

In each of the above embodiments, the rectifying plate 43D in which the size of the flow hole and the first flow hole 43C is 5.6 mm and the size of the second flow hole 43J is 3.4 mm has been described. As long as the flow hole has a flow rectifying plate having a diameter larger than the thickness of the semiconductor wafer W, effects similar to those of the above embodiments can be obtained. Further, in each of the embodiments described above, only the case where the semiconductor wafer W is cleaned has been described. However, the present invention is not limited to the above embodiments, and the present invention is also applicable to a cleaning process of a printed board and an LCD board. Can be similarly applied.

[0041]

As described above, according to the first aspect of the present invention, a processing tank for storing a predetermined processing liquid and a plurality of objects to be processed provided in the processing tank are provided. An object holder for holding, and a rectifying plate having a large number of circulation holes disposed below the object holder, and the processing solution supplied from a supply port on a bottom surface of the processing tank is provided. In the cleaning device configured to be distributed and supplied to the object to be processed through a large number of flow holes of the rectifying plate, a plurality of flow holes of the rectifying plate are provided one for each of the plurality of objects to be processed. A plurality of linear holes are arranged as straight lines directly below each other, and the flow holes of the adjacent linear lines are arranged one by one in the arrangement direction of the object to be processed, and the diameters of the respective holes are different from each other. Larger than the thickness of the body and just below the next object to be processed Because it is formed to have size,
The manufacturing cost of the current plate can be reduced and the manufacturing control thereof is easy, and the processing liquid from the adjacent flow holes of each straight line is diverted to both surfaces of the object to be processed just above it,
Complements the flow of the processing liquid to both surfaces of the processing object where there is no flow hole directly above, and not only the processing object just above each flow hole but also the processing object where there is no flow hole directly below Provided is a cleaning apparatus that can evenly distribute the processing liquid with the upward flow in a laminar flow state, can increase the cleaning efficiency of the object to be processed with fewer circulation holes, and can shorten the cleaning time of the object to be processed. can do.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, a processing tank for storing a predetermined processing liquid, and a processing object disposed in the processing tank and holding a plurality of processing objects. A holder, and a rectifying plate having a number of flow holes disposed below the object-to-be-processed holder, wherein the processing liquid supplied from a supply port on a bottom surface of the processing tank is supplied to the rectifying plate by a number of In the cleaning device configured to be distributed and supplied to the object side through the flow holes, the plurality of flow holes of the current plate,
A first flow hole arranged below the object to be processed and a plurality of second flow holes arranged along the outside of the object to be processed and formed smaller than the first flow hole; The flow holes are arranged in a plurality of linear rows immediately below each of the plurality of objects to be processed, and the first flow holes of the adjacent linear rows are respectively arranged in the arrangement direction of the objects. Since they are arranged to be shifted one by one and their diameters are larger than the thickness of the object to be processed and are not so large as to be directly below the adjacent object to be processed, the second
Provided is a cleaning device that prevents a processing liquid from remaining in a region where a processing object does not exist by a flow hole, and that can further reduce the cleaning time of the processing object as compared with the cleaning device according to claim 1. can do.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the second aspect, the plurality of second
Since the flow holes are formed to have the same size, a uniform and stable flow of the processing liquid having a small flow rate is formed by the second flow hole in the region where the object is not present, and the processing liquid in this region is formed. A cleaning device that can be replaced smoothly can be provided.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, in the first aspect of the present invention, the processing liquid is dispersed between the supply port and the rectifying plate. Since the baffle plate is provided, it is possible to provide a cleaning device that disperses the processing liquid flowing from the supply port toward the rectifying plate and distributes the processing liquid to all the flow holes.

According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, in the invention according to any one of the first to fourth aspects, the supply port is provided at two places, so that the flow regulating plate It is possible to provide a cleaning device capable of uniformly distributing the processing liquid to all the flow holes.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is an overall perspective view showing one embodiment of a cleaning apparatus of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a longitudinal sectional view showing a cleaning tank taken out of the cleaning apparatus shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing a relationship between a current plate and a semiconductor wafer of the cleaning tank shown in FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a partial plan view showing a relationship between a flow hole of a current plate of the cleaning tank shown in FIG. 3 and a semiconductor wafer.

FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram illustrating a flow of a processing solution in a cleaning tank illustrated in FIG. 3;

FIG. 6 is a cross-sectional view showing a relationship among a processing tank main body, an outer tank, and an auto cover of the cleaning tank of the cleaning apparatus shown in FIG.

7 is a perspective view showing a window portion formed in a partition that partitions the cleaning device shown in FIG. 1 from the surroundings.

8 is a cross-sectional view showing a vertical cross section of the window shown in FIG.

FIG. 9 is a perspective view showing a cleaning tank of another embodiment of the cleaning apparatus of the present invention.

10 is an explanatory diagram illustrating a flow of a processing solution in the cleaning tank illustrated in FIG.

FIG. 11 is a plan view showing a rectifying plate experimentally manufactured for checking the cleaning performance of the cleaning tank.

FIG. 12 is a diagram illustrating a cleaning tank of a conventional cleaning apparatus, and is an explanatory diagram illustrating a flow of a processing liquid in the cleaning tank.

[Explanation of symbols]

 Reference Signs List 10 cleaning device 43 chemical liquid processing tank 43A processing tank main body 43B wafer holder (target holder) 43C flow hole, first flow hole 43D rectifying plate 43I second flow hole W semiconductor wafer (process target)

────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (72) Inventor Yoshiyuki Honda 1375-1, Nishishinmachi, Tosu City, Saga Prefecture Inside Tokyo Electron Saga Co., Ltd. (56) References JP-A-1-184926 (JP, A) JP-A-64 −57624 (JP, A) Hira 4-103645 (JP, U) (58) Fields investigated (Int. Cl. ⁷ , DB name) H01L 21/304 642 B08B 11/02

Claims (5)

(57) [Claims] 1. A processing tank for storing a predetermined processing liquid, a processing object holder provided in the processing tank, and holding a plurality of processing objects, and a processing object holding tool disposed below the processing object holding tool. A rectifying plate having a large number of flow holes provided therein, wherein the processing liquid supplied from the supply port on the bottom surface of the processing tank is dispersedly supplied to the object side through the large number of flow holes of the rectifier plate. In the cleaning apparatus configured as described above, the plurality of flow holes of the rectifying plate are arranged in a plurality of linear rows immediately below each of the plurality of objects to be processed, and are adjacent to each other. Are arranged one by one in the arrangement direction of the object to be processed, and the diameter of each of the holes is larger than the thickness of the object to be processed and is smaller than immediately below the next object to be processed. A cleaning device characterized in that it is formed. 2. A processing tank for storing a predetermined processing liquid, a processing object holder provided in the processing tank and holding a plurality of processing objects, and a processing object holding tool disposed below the processing object holding tool. A rectifying plate having a large number of flow holes provided therein, wherein the processing liquid supplied from the supply port on the bottom surface of the processing tank is dispersedly supplied to the object side through the large number of flow holes of the rectifier plate. In the cleaning device configured as described above, the plurality of flow holes of the rectifying plate are provided with a first flow hole arranged below the object to be processed and a first flow hole arranged along the outside of the object to be processed. Consisting of a plurality of second flow holes formed smaller than the holes,
The first through-holes are arranged in a plurality of linear rows immediately below each of the plurality of objects to be processed, and the first through-holes in adjacent linear rows are respectively arranged in the adjacent straight lines. While being arranged one by one in the arrangement direction,
A cleaning apparatus wherein each diameter is formed to be larger than the thickness of the object to be processed and not to be directly below an adjacent object to be processed. 3. The plurality of second flow holes are each formed in the same size.
The cleaning device according to item 1. 4. The cleaning apparatus according to claim 1, wherein a baffle for dispersing the processing liquid is provided between the supply port and the rectifying plate. 5. The cleaning apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the supply ports are provided at two places.