JP3202081B2 - Wafer surface resist remover - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an apparatus for removing unnecessary resist on the surface of a semiconductor wafer.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In a semiconductor manufacturing process, a resist pattern is formed on a semiconductor wafer, a thin film is etched using the resist pattern as a mask, or impurity ions are implanted into a specific region of a substrate to form circuit elements and wiring. Has formed. Then, after the etching step and the ion implantation step, the unnecessary resist pattern is removed. Such unnecessary resists are generally removed from the wafer by ashing (ashing), and ashing methods include those using oxygen plasma and those using ultraviolet light and ozone.

[0003]

However, in the conventional ashing technique, impurities such as sodium and heavy metal contained in the resist remain on the wafer after ashing, and these impurities diffuse into the wafer by a subsequent heat treatment. Therefore, there was a problem that the characteristics of the element were deteriorated. In addition, since this ashing process requires time and effort, it takes a lot of time to remove unnecessary resist many times during the wafer manufacturing process, which is one of the causes of a reduction in workability.

The present invention has been made in view of such circumstances, and an object thereof is to enable unnecessary resist on a wafer surface to be easily and quickly removed.

[0005]

The present invention is an apparatus for removing an unnecessary object on a wafer surface by sticking an adhesive tape on a wafer surface and peeling the adhesive tape. a table, placing a viscous adhesive Keru sticking a tape adhesive tape joining mechanism on the surface of the wafer on the first table, and a wafer conveying mechanism for conveying the wafer to the adhesive tape was affixed, the conveyed wafers A heating mechanism to soften the adhesive of the adhesive tape affixed to the wafer and to allow the adhesive to enter the unevenness of the unnecessary material on the surface of the wafer by the heat treatment; A second table that transports and suction-holds the transported wafer in a predetermined posture;
A peeling mechanism for sticking a continuous strong adhesive release tape on the back surface of the adhesive tape bonded to the surface of the wafer on the second table and then peeling off the adhesive tape on the wafer via the release tape And

[0006]

According to the configuration of the present invention, first, tacky adhesive tape to the surface of the wafer on the first table is adhered one by one, then the adhesive tape is sticking was wafer is placed on the heating mechanism, the heat treatment Is applied. At this time, the pressure-sensitive adhesive is softened and enters the unevenness of the unnecessary material on the wafer surface. Further, the wafer subjected to the heat treatment is transferred to the second table,
Here, a continuous adhesive tape is attached to the adhesive tape of the wafer, and the adhesive tape is peeled off from the wafer by turning over the tape. At this time, unnecessary substances on the wafer surface are peeled and removed by the adhesive tape.

[0007]

FIG. 1 is a plan view of one embodiment of a wafer resist stripping apparatus according to the present invention. In the figure, 1 is a wafer supply table, 2 is a recovery table for processed wafers, 3 and 4 are robot arms for transporting wafers, 5 and 6 are alignment stages for aligning wafers, and 7 is a stage used for attaching adhesive tape. 1 table, 8 is an adhesive tape attaching mechanism, 9 is a heating table, 10 is an ultraviolet irradiation mechanism, 11
Is a second table used for peeling the adhesive tape, and 12 is a peeling mechanism for the adhesive tape.

The detailed structure of each part and its operation will be described below. The wafers W to be processed are stacked and stored in the cassette C in a horizontal posture with the processing surface facing upward, and are loaded on the wafer supply table 1. The wafer supply table 1 is configured to be rotatable by a cylinder 13, and the attitude of the wafer removal port of the cassette C is changed in a direction facing the robot arm 3.

The robot arm 3 is configured to be rotatable about a fulcrum P and to be able to move back and forth in the longitudinal direction of the arm. The robot arm 3 sucks and holds one wafer W from the cassette C of the wafer supply table 1 in an opposed posture. Take out.

The taken-out wafer W is transferred onto the alignment stage 5 by the advance / retreat and rotation of the robot arm 3, where the position of the wafer W is adjusted based on the detection of the orientation flat of the wafer W.

The wafer W positioned at a predetermined position is again supported by the robot arm 3 and supplied onto the first table 7. As shown in FIG. 2, at the center of the first table 7, a suction pad 15 raised and lowered by a cylinder 14 is provided.
Is provided, and the supplied wafer W is
5 and is held on the table. The entire first table is configured to be rotatable around a horizontal axis X by a motor 16 and can be switched between a horizontal position and a vertical position.

As shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, the adhesive tape applying mechanism 8 includes a tape supply roll 17 for feeding out a continuous separator S on which an adhesive tape T punched into a substantially wafer shape is attached at a constant pitch. , A tape support 19 for adsorbing and holding the peeled adhesive tape T from its non-adhesive surface, a collecting roll 20 for the separator S, and the like.

The peeling mechanism 18 is constructed such that a movable table 23 equipped with a peeling piece 21 having a sharp tip and a pair of guide rollers 22 is moved back and forth by a motor 24 and a feed screw 25. Is advanced (moved to the right in FIGS. 3 and 4) to adsorb the adhesive tape T adhered on the separator S to the vacuum adsorbing portion 19a formed on the front surface of the tape support base 19, and then, as shown in FIG. As shown in a), the movable table 23 is moved backward (moves to the left in the figure).
By doing so, only the separator S is wound up and collected while the non-adhesive surface of the adhesive tape T stuck to the separator S is suction-held on the front surface of the tape support base 19.

The tape support 19 is provided on the first table 7.
In a hood 27 provided on a movable frame 26 that can move toward and away from the movable frame 26, a cylinder 28 is supported by a cylinder 28 so as to be able to advance and retreat in the movable frame moving direction. As shown in FIG. 8B, the tape support 1 is moved to the first table 7 switched to the vertical position.
9 are opposed in parallel. Thus the first
By configuring the table 7 to be switchable to the vertical position, it is possible to prevent dust from dropping and adhering onto the wafer W during the adhesive tape attaching process. In this regard, the second table 11 is similar.

Next, the tape support 19 and the movable frame 26 are moved closer to the first table 7 which has been switched to the vertical position while holding the wafer W, as shown in FIG. The adhesive tape T is adhered to the surface of the wafer W. At this time, the hood 27 is first brought into close contact with the first table 7, and in this state, the inside of the hood 27 is sucked and exhausted to a negative pressure, whereby the air between the adhesive tape T and the wafer W is evacuated. Next, the adhesive tape T can be attached to the wafer W without bubbles.

When the adhesion of the adhesive tape to the wafer W is completed, the tape support 19 and the movable frame 26 are retracted and returned, the first table 7 is returned to a horizontal position, and the wafer W having the adhesive tape T adhered to the upper surface is removed. It is transferred onto the heating table 9 via the robot arm 3.

As shown in FIG. 5, the heating table 9 is heated by a heater 29 provided therein, and above the heating table 9,
A wafer support member 30 having a lower surface formed on a suction surface is provided so as to be able to move up and down by a cylinder 31. The wafer W carried in via the robot arm 3 is held by the wafer support member 30 and lowered, and the heating table is lowered. 9 on top. As a result, the adhesive of the adhesive tape T is softened, enters the unevenness of the resist pattern of the wafer W, and the resist on the surface of the wafer W is securely adhered to the adhesive of the adhesive tape T.

The wafer W which has been subjected to the heating / pressing process is carried into the ultraviolet irradiation mechanism 10 via the robot arm 4 which is rotatable about the fulcrum Q and which can advance and retreat in the longitudinal direction of the arm, and receives the ultraviolet irradiation. As shown in FIG. 6, the ultraviolet irradiation mechanism 10 is provided with a suction pad 33 that is driven to rotate in association with a belt by a motor 32, a processing chamber 34 in which the suction pad 33 is installed, and a biased upper part of the processing chamber 34. Ultraviolet light generating device 35, and the like. As shown in FIG. 8D, the wafer W carried in from the opening 36 of the processing chamber 34 is irradiated with ultraviolet rays while being supported and rotated by the suction pad 33, and the adhesive strength between the resist and the adhesive of the adhesive tape T is measured. Increase. The opening 36 of the processing chamber 34 has a cylinder 3
A shutter 38 that is opened and closed at 7 is provided. In addition, the interior of the processing chamber 34 may be set to an inert atmosphere with nitrogen gas or the like during ultraviolet irradiation.

The wafer W which has been irradiated with the ultraviolet rays is sent to the second table 11 via the robot arm 4 and
The tape is peeled by the adhesive tape peeling mechanism 12. The second table 11 has the same configuration as that of the first table 7 and includes a suction pad 39 which can be moved up and down at the center, and rotates around a horizontal axis Y via a motor 40 so that a horizontal posture and a vertical posture are achieved. And it can be switched between.

As shown in FIG. 7, the adhesive tape peeling mechanism 12 is provided with a sticking unit 42 and a peeling unit 43 which can be driven and moved along a guide rail 41.
The small-width peel tape HT sent out from the tape roll 46 is wound around the sticking roller 44 provided in the sticking unit 42 and the peeling roller 45 provided in the peeling unit 43, and is wound around the collecting roll 47. It is configured as follows.

The sticking unit 42 and the peeling unit 43 are arranged so as to face in parallel with the second table 11 in the vertical position, and as shown in FIG. Wafer W held at 11
The peeling tape HT is pasted on the adhesive tape T pasted on the wafer W via the pasting roller 44 by the forward traveling of the pasting unit 42 in parallel with. Then, FIG.
As shown in (b), when the peeling unit 43 similarly moves forward, the peeling tape H passes through the peeling roller 45.
As the T is turned over, the adhesive tape T is peeled off from the wafer W, and the resist firmly bonded to the adhesive of the adhesive tape T is peeled off from the wafer W. The peel angle at this time is as shown in FIG.
It can be set arbitrarily, and optimum conditions can be set.

When the removal of the resist is completed, the second table 11 is returned to the horizontal position, the wafer W is transferred to the alignment stage 6 via the robot arm 4 to correct the position, and then the position is corrected via the robot arm 4. It is stored in the cassette C of the collection table 2. The collection table 2 is also rotatable by a cylinder 48, and receives the processed wafer W in a direction facing the robot arm 4.

In the above-described embodiment, the heating table 9 and the ultraviolet irradiator 10 are used in order to firmly adhere the adhesive tape T and the resist on the wafer surface. If the strength of the resist on the wafer surface is strong or the adhesive strength of the resist on the wafer surface is relatively weak, it is not necessary to use the heating table 9 or the mechanism 10 for irradiating the ultraviolet ray-sensitive adhesive tape T with ultraviolet rays.

[0024]

As is apparent from the above description, according to the invention, according to the present invention apparatus, Paste a viscous adhesive tape to the wafer, caused to enter the adhesive on the irregularities of unwanted matter on the wafer surface to soften by heating treatment . By doing so, it is possible to promote the adhesion between the pressure-sensitive adhesive and the unnecessary material. Furthermore, by applying a peeling tape on the adhesive tape and turning over the peeling tape sequentially, the resist on the wafer surface can be easily peeled and removed easily, and the processing time required for resist removal can be reduced. Therefore, workability can be improved.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is an overall plan view of an embodiment of a wafer resist stripping apparatus according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a vertical sectional front view of a first table.

FIG. 3 is a plan view of an adhesive tape attaching mechanism.

FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional plan view showing a main part of the adhesive tape attaching mechanism.

FIG. 5 is a partially cutaway side view of the heating table.

FIG. 6 is a vertical side view of an ultraviolet irradiation mechanism.

FIG. 7 is a plan view of an adhesive tape peeling mechanism.

FIG. 8 is a process chart of the apparatus according to the embodiment.

FIG. 9 is a process chart of the apparatus according to the embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

 7: First table 8: Adhesive tape attaching mechanism 11: Second table 12: Adhesive tape peeling mechanism S: Separator T: Adhesive tape HT: Peeling tape W: Wafer

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continuation of the front page (72) Inventor Masayuki Yamamoto 1-1-2 Shimohozumi, Ibaraki-shi, Osaka Nitto Denko Corporation (56) References JP-A 1-272129 (JP, A) JP Hei 5-275324 (JP, A) (58) Fields investigated (Int. Cl. ⁷ , DB name) H01L 21/027 G03F 7/42

Claims (1)

(57) [Claims] 1. An apparatus for removing an undesired object on a wafer surface by attaching an adhesive tape to a wafer surface and peeling the adhesive tape, comprising: a first table for sucking and holding a wafer in a predetermined posture; Keru sticking a viscous adhesive tape and the adhesive tape joining mechanism on the surface of the wafer on the first table, and a wafer conveying mechanism for conveying the wafer to the adhesive tape was affixed to heat treatment by placing the conveyed wafer Thereby, a heating mechanism for softening the adhesive of the adhesive tape affixed to the wafer and allowing the adhesive to enter the unevenness of the unnecessary material on the wafer surface, and transporting the heated wafer by the transport mechanism, A second table for sucking and holding the conveyed wafer in a predetermined posture; and a continuous strong adhesive on the back of the adhesive tape bonded to the surface of the wafer on the second table. A peeling mechanism for peeling off the adhesive tape on the wafer via the peeling tape after attaching the adhesive peeling tape, and a resist removing apparatus for removing the resist from the wafer surface.