JP3338804B2 - Resist coating apparatus and method - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a resist coating apparatus and a method thereof, and more particularly to a resist coating apparatus and a method suitable for applying a resist on a rectangular substrate.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art For example, when a resist is uniformly coated to a thickness of 1 to 2 microns on a large and square glass substrate for a liquid crystal display (LCD), the amount of resist used is reduced as much as possible; Reducing the processing time is an important factor for cost reduction. The resist coating technology for large and square glass substrates by spin coating is superior in uniform coating performance compared to other spraying and roll coater methods, but requires a large amount of resist. It is an issue to reduce the amount of used.

As one proposal for solving the above-mentioned problem, a "resist coating method and coating apparatus" has been proposed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 5-55131.

In this apparatus, a plurality of nozzles are arranged from the rotation center on the wafer to the outer periphery side, and the viscosity of the resist liquid is increased as the distance from the rotation center increases, and the resist is discharged while rotating the wafer. is there. This method is effective for a circular object such as a semiconductor wafer, but has a drawback that a rectangular substrate has poor resist coating properties at an end portion in the longitudinal direction of the substrate.

In the "resist coating method and resist coating apparatus" described in JP-A-63-151021, a large number of discharge nozzles are provided, and the resist is discharged from the large number of nozzles onto the entire surface of the wafer. The prime is improving. Further, a coating process is performed by a spin coating operation in a state where the resist is satisfactorily applied on the entire surface of the wafer, thereby improving the film thickness uniformity. This apparatus is effective in that the resist is uniformly applied, but has the disadvantage of using a large amount of resist.

Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. H11-57582 discloses a "coating film forming apparatus" in which a plurality of resist discharge nozzles are provided and the amount of resist discharge is controlled for each discharge nozzle. However, in the case of this apparatus, since the position of the discharge nozzle cannot be adjusted, there is a case where it is necessary to apply more resist than necessary in the amount of used resist, and it is not possible to sufficiently reduce the used amount. There were drawbacks.

[0007]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention to improve the above-mentioned disadvantages of the prior art, and in particular, to optimize the amount of resist applied to a rectangular substrate, thereby reducing the cost of resist. The present invention provides a novel resist coating apparatus and a method for coating the same without waste.

[0008]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention basically employs the following technical configuration to achieve the above object.

That is, a first aspect of the resist coating apparatus according to the present invention is a method for fixing a rectangular substrate on a chuck and rotating the substrate to uniformly apply the resist on the substrate. In the coating apparatus, the substrate circuit
A resist discharge nozzle is fixedly arranged at the center of the turning point, and the substrate
One concentric orbit around the center of rotation
Four resist discharge nozzles are arranged for each concentric orbit,
The position of the resist discharge nozzle on the concentric orbit is square
Can be moved in the direction of the angle, and centered on the substrate center
Ru der which is characterized in that a positioning means which can be moved along the circular arc track of.

In addition, the resist coating method according to the present invention
According to a first aspect, in a resist coating method of fixing a rectangular substrate having a long side and a short side on a chuck and rotating the substrate, a resist is uniformly coated on the substrate. Multiple resist discharge nozzles are arranged in the upper position
And a first discharge nozzle is provided at the center of rotation of the substrate,
A second discharge nozzle is provided at each corner of the substrate,
A third discharge nozzle is provided at an intermediate portion between the first discharge nozzle and the second discharge nozzle.
The output nozzles are arranged, the center of the substrate portion, a first step of allowed to optimize the resist discharge amount of the first region portion within circle the substrate shorter sides diameter, before Symbol first region portion And a second step of optimizing the discharge amount of the resist in the second region portion of the substrate except for the step of arranging the resist on the substrate based on the discharge amounts determined in the first and second steps. Characterized by being applied, and in a second mode.
The first discharge system, the second discharge system, and the third discharge system
And the first discharge nozzle is provided with the first discharge system.
In particular, the second discharge nozzle is connected to the second discharge system,
The third discharge nozzle is provided in the third discharge system.
The discharge amount is adjusted independently for each discharge system.
The third aspect is the above-described resist discharge.
The feature is to adjust the discharge amount of each nozzle of each nozzle
Is what you do.

[0011]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS A resist coating method according to the present invention is characterized in that a rectangular substrate having a long side and a short side is fixed on a chuck and the substrate is rotated so that a resist is uniformly formed on the substrate. A first step of optimizing a discharge amount of a resist in a first region portion in a circle having a diameter on the short side at a center portion of the substrate, wherein the first step includes: And a second step of optimizing the discharge amount of the resist in the second region portion excluding the region portion. The resist is deposited on the substrate based on the discharge amounts determined in the first and second steps. It is characterized by being applied.

[0012]

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a resist coating apparatus according to the present invention.

(First Specific Example) FIGS. 1 to 7 show the structure of a first specific example of the present invention. These figures have a long side 1b and a short side 1a. In a resist coating method for fixing a rectangular substrate 1 on a chuck 2 and uniformly applying a resist on the substrate 1 by rotating the substrate 1, the short side 1a at the center of the substrate 1 A first step of optimizing a discharge amount of resist in a first region portion 42 in a circle 41 having a diameter of
A second step of optimizing the resist discharge amount of the second region portions 43, 43 excluding the region portion 42 of FIG.
There is shown a resist coating method in which a resist is coated on the substrate 1 based on the ejection amount determined in the first and second steps.

Hereinafter, the first specific example will be described in more detail.

In the first specific example, the substrate size is 550 mm
An example adapted to × 660 mm will be described.

FIG. 1A is a side view of a resist coating apparatus cup according to the present invention.

A glass substrate 1 is placed on an apparatus chuck 2, and a plurality of discharge nozzles C, D, and E are arranged at a position 30 mm above the substrate. As shown in the nozzle arrangement plan view of FIG. 2, one arrangement method (nozzle C) is provided at the center of the substrate.
And four points (nozzle E) at the corners of the substrate and the nozzle C
And four nozzles (nozzle D) in the middle part of the nozzle E and each of the systems 11, 12, and 13 of the discharge nozzles are independent, and the nozzle C is provided in the system (group) 11, and the nozzle D ( The four nozzles are provided in a system (group) 12, and the nozzles E (four nozzles) are provided in a system (group) 13. By performing the discharge pressure adjustment separately for the three systems 11, 12, and 13, the discharge amount can be adjusted for each discharge system.

When the solenoid valves 11a, 12a, and 13a are opened by the discharge on signal of the resist discharge system, each nozzle C,
The resist is discharged simultaneously from D and E.
Since the resist discharge pressure and the pipe nozzle diameter are individually set for 1, 12, and 13, respectively, the same discharge time, FIG.
As shown in the plan view of the resist embossed state, it is possible to discharge a required amount of resist for each substrate area. Then, by performing a high-speed rotation process, the entire surface of the substrate 1 is covered with the resist, and the coating is uniformly performed.

According to the present invention, by optimizing the arrangement of the discharge nozzles and the resist discharge amount for each area, the amount of resist to be processed can be reduced and the time required for the resist coating process can be reduced. The details will be described below. .

In the spin coating method of one point discharge at the center of the glass substrate, when the resist discharge amount is small or due to a step in the wiring pattern of the substrate, the entire surface of the substrate is covered with the resist as shown in the plan view of the resist coating state in FIG. A resist repelling phenomenon that cannot be exhausted occurs. FIG. 5 shows a correlation graph of the resist repelling phenomenon occurrence frequency with respect to the resist discharge amount. The resist repelling phenomenon does not occur at all above a certain amount, but at a certain amount or less, the occurrence frequency tends to increase at an accelerated rate. In the manufacturing process, it is indispensable to set conditions that allow for a sufficient ejection amount margin. This resist repelling phenomenon is caused by the fact that the resist is spread by centrifugal force. Therefore, the hatched portion (the area outside the perfect circle 41 whose diameter is the substrate short side dimension 1a from the substrate center) 43 shown in FIG. Poor applicability is mentioned. Conversely, the blank area in FIG. 6 (the area inside the perfect circle 41)
42 has good coatability. FIG. 7 shows a correlation graph of the ratio of the area covered by the resist in the inner area 42 of the perfect circle 41 to the resist discharge amount. It can be confirmed that the coating can be performed substantially at the discharge amount of 10 cc.

As shown in FIG. 5, while the required amount of resist applied to the entire surface of the substrate is at the level of 30 cc (occurrence rate of repelling phenomenon: 0%), as shown in FIG.
The required amount of resist for applying the inner area 42 of 1 is 10c
From the data that the level is the c level, in the present invention, the minimum resist amount enough to cover the inner area 42 of the perfect circle 41 at the center of the substrate is first discharged, and then the hatched portion (outer area of the perfect circle 41) 43 is discharged. By discharging the necessary resist amount for covering, the amount of processed resist is reduced and the amount of used resist is minimized. Further, by setting the discharge amounts of the plurality of resist discharge systems based on the above, an effect of shortening the resist discharge time, that is, the processing time of the resist coating apparatus process can be obtained.

In the above configuration, the discharge systems 11, 1
Although the resist discharge pressure and the pipe nozzle diameter are set individually for each of 2 and 13, if the discharge amount can be adjusted,
Any configuration may be used.

FIG. 1B is a diagram showing another configuration.
Each of the systems 11, 12, and 13 has a discharge amount adjusting means 11 respectively.
b, 12b, and 13b are provided.

Further, a discharge amount adjusting means for each nozzle may be provided so as to adjust the discharge amount of each of the plurality of resist discharge nozzles.

(Second Embodiment) FIGS. 8 to 10 show the structure of a second embodiment according to the present invention. In these figures, a rectangular substrate is fixed on a chuck. Then, by rotating the substrate, in a resist coating apparatus for uniformly applying a resist on the substrate, a plurality of resist discharge nozzles for applying the resist on the substrate are provided, and a coating position of the nozzle is provided. 1 shows a resist coating apparatus provided with position adjusting means 51a and 51b for adjusting the distance.

Hereinafter, the second example will be described in more detail.

Although the first specific example described above is applied only to a square substrate size of 550 mm × 660 mm, it can be applied to a square substrate of any size. The multipoint nozzle arrangement structure and the position adjustment mechanism shown in the plan view of FIG. 8 will be described.

One nozzle A is arranged at the center of the substrate, and four nozzles B1. B2. B3. B4, and four nozzles C1. C2. C3. C4 was arranged, and 3 times more. . . , Four nozzles X1. X2. X
3. X4 is arranged.

Although the nozzle A at the center of the substrate is fixed, the positions of the nozzles located at the first to n-th positions on the outer periphery can be moved in the diagonal direction of the square (the direction of arrow X). AB. AC. . . The structure is such that it can move (along arrow Y) along an arc trajectory AX. With this nozzle position adjusting mechanism, the movable range of the nozzle becomes the area shown in FIG. 9, and it is possible to cope with an arbitrary size including the case where the substrate aspect ratio is reversed.

In addition to the central part, the discharge system is individually set up to the nth outer periphery, that is, it has (1 + n) discharge systems, and uses or does not use the outer peripheral nozzle according to the substrate size. By properly using, the optimal amount is discharged onto the substrate in the required area, and a resist-saving effect can be obtained for glass substrates of all sizes.

As the position adjusting means, as shown in FIG. 10, a plurality of holes 51a for fixing the nozzle may be continuously provided in an arc shape, and any one of the holes may be selected (arrow). Y direction). Moreover, you may comprise so that a slit may be formed.

Similarly, as shown in FIG. 10, a plurality of holes 51b for fixing the nozzle may be continuously provided in the direction of the arrow X in a plurality of arcs, and any one of the holes may be selected.

[0033]

Since the resist coating apparatus and method according to the present invention are constructed as described above, the amount of resist to be coated on a rectangular substrate is optimized, and an expensive resist is wasted. You can do it.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a configuration of a resist coating apparatus of a first specific example according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a layout diagram of a discharge nozzle according to a first specific example.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a resist discharge state of each discharge nozzle of the first specific example.

FIG. 4 is a view showing a state in which a resist is repelled.

FIG. 5 is a graph showing a relationship between a resist discharge amount and a repelling phenomenon occurrence rate.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a region on the substrate where resist application is good and a region where resist application is not good.

FIG. 7 is a graph showing the relationship between the resist ejection amount and the ratio of the area covered by the resist in the in-circle region.

FIG. 8 is a diagram illustrating a resist coating apparatus according to a second specific example of the present invention.

FIG. 9 is a diagram illustrating a second specific example of the present invention.

FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating a specific example of a position adjusting unit.

[Explanation of symbols]

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Glass substrate 1a Short side of glass substrate 1b Long side of glass substrate 2 Chuck 11-13 Nozzle system 11a-11c Solenoid valve 12a-12c Discharge rate adjusting means C, D, E Nozzle 41 Short side 1a of glass substrate as diameter Circle drawn in the center of substrate 42 Area in circle (blank area) 43 Area outside circle (hatched area) 51a, 51b Position adjusting means

Claims (4)

(57) [Claims] 1. A resist coating apparatus for fixing a rectangular substrate on a chuck and rotating the substrate to uniformly apply a resist on the substrate. The fixed arrangement
And a plurality of concentric orbits centered on the substrate rotation center.
Above, four resist discharge nozzles per concentric orbit
And position of the resist discharge nozzle on the concentric orbit.
Position can be moved in the diagonal direction of the square, and
A resist coating apparatus, comprising: a position adjusting means capable of moving along an arc trajectory centered on a core . 2. A rectangular substrate having a long side and a short side.
This substrate is fixed on a rack and the substrate is rotated.
Resist coating method to apply resist evenly on board
A plurality of resist discharge nozzles are arranged at positions on the substrate.
A first ejection nozzle is provided at the center of rotation of the substrate,
A second discharge nozzle is provided at each corner of
A third discharge nozzle is provided between the discharge nozzle and the second discharge nozzle.
A chisel is arranged, and the center of the substrate, the diameter of which is the short side of the substrate, within the circle
1st to optimize the resist discharge amount in the area of 1
And a second region portion of the substrate excluding the first region portion.
The second step is to optimize the resist discharge amount.
In accordance with the discharge amount determined in the first and second steps,
A resist is applied on the substrate.
G application method. 3. The first discharge system, the second discharge system, and the third discharge system.
And the first discharge nozzle is provided with the first discharge nozzle.
In the discharge system, the second discharge nozzle is provided with the second discharge nozzle.
System, the third discharge nozzle is connected to the third discharge system.
And independently adjusting the discharge amount for each discharge system.
3. The method for coating a resist according to claim 2, wherein: 4. The discharge of each of the resist discharge nozzles.
3. The method according to claim 2, wherein the output is adjusted respectively.
How to apply resist.