JP3916424B2 - Substrate processing equipment - Google Patents

Description

[0001]
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a substrate processing apparatus. More particularly, the present invention relates to a substrate processing apparatus using a processing solution such as a cleaning solution, a developing solution or an etching solution used in a wet process such as etching or cleaning in a display device or a semiconductor device manufacturing apparatus.
[0002]
[Prior art]
In a part of the manufacturing process of the liquid crystal display device, it is known that a series of processes from forming a metal thin film on a glass substrate to completing patterning of the metal thin film is performed by a wet process.
[0003]
An example of this wet process will be described with reference to formation of source / drain films formed on an array substrate of a liquid crystal display device.
[0004]
First, chromium metal is formed on a semiconductor film (a-Si film and n + a-Si film) by a sputtering method, and then a resist is coated on the entire surface of the chromium metal film, and this resist film is patterned by a photoengraving method. In this state, in order to pattern the chromium metal film using a wet etching method, the entire surface of the substrate is immersed in an acidic aqueous solution containing ceric ammonium nitrate. Next, in order to remove the etching solution, the entire surface of the substrate is immersed in pure water, and then the substrate is dried in a drying chamber using spin drying, air knife drying, or the like, thereby completing a series of wet processes.
[0005]
As described above, in the wet process of forming the source / drain film, there are at least a chromium metal film etching process and a substrate cleaning process as the process of immersing the entire surface of the substrate in the liquid. Methods for realizing these processes are roughly classified into a spray method in which a processing liquid is sprayed on the entire surface of the substrate and a dip method in which the substrate is submerged in the processing liquid in the processing tank. However, in recent years, the dip method cannot cope with the increase in size of the liquid crystal display device, and the spray method has become mainstream.
[0006]
Next, an outline of a wet apparatus using a spray method will be described with reference to FIG. The substrate is wet-etched in the processing chambers TR1 and TR2, and the substrate is cleaned in the cleaning chambers WR1 and WR2.
[0007]
After that, the substrate 51 is dried in the drying chamber DR and transferred to the next process.
[0008]
First, the substrate 51 is horizontally transported by the transport roller 52 and enters the processing chamber TR1. In the processing chamber TR1, a plurality of pipes 53 are arranged above the substrate 51, and an injection port 55 for injecting the processing liquid 54 is formed in the pipe 53. The processing liquid is stored in the tank 56, and after pumping up the processing liquid by the metering pump 57 and pumping the processing liquid onto the substrate 51 by the pipe 53, the processing liquid 54 flowing through the manifold 58 of the pipe 53 is pressurized by the metering pump 57. It ejects from the ejection port 55. Further, the amount and processing time of the processing liquid when the processing liquid 54 is pumped up by the metering pump 57 are managed by the control device 59. In the processing chamber TR2 and the cleaning chambers WR1 and WR2, the substrate is processed by the same operation.
[0009]
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
FIG. 11 is a side view of the substrate processing apparatus transport system and processing liquid injection system, and FIG. 12 is a plan view thereof. In the spray method used in the conventional wet process, as shown in FIG. 11, the processing liquid 54 is jetted vertically from the nozzle jet port 60 a of the pipe 60 toward the surface of the substrate 51. For this reason, as shown in FIG. 12, since the flow F of the processing liquid 54 is dispersed in various directions, the flows F of the processing liquid 54 ejected from the ejection ports collide with each other on the substrate 51. That is, the processing liquid loses its flow velocity suddenly at the collision part in the substrate surface, and the turbulent processing liquid stays and cannot circulate, so that uniform processing conditions cannot be ensured over the entire surface of the substrate, resulting in processing. It will cause unevenness. Specifically, the occurrence of a residue due to etching delay in the etching process or the cleaning unevenness due to insufficient cleaning in the cleaning process causes disconnection of the wiring. In order to eliminate this phenomenon, a method of extending the washing time or increasing the amount of liquid for washing can be considered. However, there arises a problem that the tact time becomes long and the processing cost becomes high.
[0010]
On the other hand, methods for preventing the treatment liquid from staying on the substrate are disclosed in, for example, JP-A-11-44877, JP-A-11-307434, JP-A-9-160006, and the like. In any of the methods, consideration is given to arranging the treatment liquid to be ejected from a nozzle (ejection port) installed in the pipe so that the treatment liquid is not perpendicular to the substrate and causing the treatment liquid to flow in a laminar flow.
[0011]
According to the description of Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 11-44877, as shown in FIG. 13, the spray direction of the processing liquid 54 is set to the substrate 51 with respect to the substrate 51 by using a shower nozzle 61 curved in a U shape. A treatment injection system inclined with respect to the conveyance direction 62 is employed. Since the processing liquid 54 sprayed from the shower nozzle 61 is dispersed and flows out to both sides of the substrate 51 and the rear side in the transport direction 62 of the substrate 51 by being curved in a U shape, the processing liquid ejection system There is an advantage that it can be made compact. However, since the ejection direction of the processing liquid 54 is one direction, the amount of the processing liquid 54 exchanged is small at the substrate end on the upstream side of the processing liquid 54, so that processing unevenness occurs and sufficient substrate processing cannot be performed. is there. Similarly, since the shower nozzle 61 is bent in a dogleg shape, sufficient substrate processing cannot be expected even near the bent portion. Since the flow direction of the processing liquid 54 is divided on both sides, the replacement of the processing liquid 54 at the center portion of the substrate 51 may be delayed, and processing unevenness is likely to occur.
[0012]
Further, according to the description of Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 11-307434, as shown in FIG. 14, the spraying direction of the treatment liquid 54 of the nozzle 71 is inclined in the direction from the center of the substrate 51 toward the edge of the substrate 51. ing. With such a structure, the processing liquid 54 on the surface of the substrate 51 can flow in a laminar flow from the center of the substrate 51 toward the edge of the substrate 51. However, since the injection direction of the processing liquid 54 from the nozzle 71 near the center of the substrate 51 is substantially perpendicular to the substrate surface, the same problem as that of the existing processing liquid injection system shown in FIGS. is doing.
[0013]
On the other hand, according to the description of Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 9-160006, as shown in FIG. 15, the injection direction 83 of the nozzle 82 of the nozzle pipe 81 is a direction 84 substantially orthogonal to the transport direction of the substrate 51. The direction of the nozzle 82 is devised so that the flow of the processing liquid is uniform. Further, the processing liquids sprayed in two directions from the nozzles 82 formed in each nozzle pipe 81 intersect without colliding. However, although there is no stagnation of the processing liquid near the center, a direction 84 that flows in a direction orthogonal to the transport direction of the substrate 51 is generated, and when the merging occurs on the substrate 51, the processing liquid rapidly loses the flow rate, Efficiency is impaired. Further, in order to generate such a flow over the entire surface of the substrate, the nozzle 82 and the nozzle pipe 81 must be formed to reach the outside of the substrate so that the processing liquid does not stay at the end of the substrate 51 as shown in FIG. Therefore, the processing cost is increased because the processing apparatus is enlarged and a large amount of processing liquid is required.
[0014]
In addition, the nozzles 82 installed in the pipes 81 are clogged due to the solidification of the components of the processing liquid over time, or the pipes 81 and the nozzles themselves corrode and locally have a non-uniform injection shape. Therefore, there arises a problem that the injection amount and the injection direction vary. As a result, there is a problem in that processing liquid cannot be maintained per unit time and unit area on the substrate and processing unevenness is caused.
[0015]
The present invention has been made in order to solve the above-described problems. In the processing such as cleaning, development, or etching, the substrate processing apparatus is configured so as not to retain the flow of the processing liquid, thereby providing a substrate on the substrate. An object of the present invention is to provide a substrate processing apparatus that makes the processing liquid supplied to the substrate uniform, eliminates a partial difference in the replacement speed of the processing liquid, and reduces processing unevenness.
[0016]
It is another object of the present invention to provide a substrate processing apparatus that detects in advance variations in the injection amount and injection time of the processing liquid due to changes in the injection port over time (piping or corrosion of the pipe) and prevents processing unevenness.
[0018]
[Means for Solving the Problems]
A substrate processing apparatus of the present invention is a substrate processing apparatus for a display device or a semiconductor device used in a wet process for injecting a processing liquid onto a substrate,
A plurality of cylindrical pipes arranged substantially parallel to each other with respect to the main surface of the substrate,
A plurality of injection ports for injecting treatment liquid along a plane perpendicular to the axial direction of the pipe toward the main surface of the substrate,
In a cross section perpendicular to the axial direction of the plurality of cylindrical pipes, when the central axis is the origin and the direction parallel to the substrate is taken as the X axis and the direction perpendicular to the X axis is taken as the Y axis, The first injection port arranged in the cylindrical pipe located and the second injection port arranged in the cylindrical pipe located in the third quadrant alternate along the axial direction of the cylindrical pipe. It is characterized by being arranged in.
[0019]
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
Hereinafter, embodiments of a substrate processing apparatus of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.
[0020]
Embodiment 1
1 is a side view showing a substrate processing apparatus according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a plan view of the substrate processing apparatus of FIG. 1, FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view of the pipe of FIG. FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view of the pipe of FIG. 2 along the line BB. The substrate processing apparatus shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 is a processing apparatus used for cleaning or etching of a wet-type apparatus using a spray method. In the processing chamber TR, a processing liquid such as a cleaning liquid, a developer or an etching liquid is added to the substrate 1. In order to inject 2 in the directions of arrows 3a and 3b, the first pipe 5 and the second pipe 6 (a plurality of cylindrical pipes) are substantially parallel to the main surface (surface of the substrate) 4 of the substrate. (Hereinafter simply referred to as “pipe”). A plurality of injection ports 7 and 8 are formed in the pipes 5 and 6. Further, the processing liquid 2 is circulated through the manifold 9 of the pipes 5 and 6. The diameter of the injection ports 7 and 8 is about 1 mm, and about 8 pipes 5 and 6 provided with 3 to 5 injection ports per pipe are arranged. In FIGS. 1-2, six pipes are shown. Reference numeral 10 denotes a transport roller for transporting the substrate 1 horizontally, and 11 denotes a substrate transport direction.
[0021]
The pipes 5 and 6 are connected to the storage tank 12, and the constant capacity pumps 13 and 14 are connected between the storage tank 12 and the pipes 5 and 6 in order to pump the processing liquid in the storage tank 12 through the pipes 5 and 6. It is installed between. Then, the operation of the pumps 13 and 14 injecting the processing liquid is repeatedly performed by the control device 15 to control the capacity and time of the processing liquid to be pumped to the pipes 5 and 6. In addition, by injecting all of the processing liquid discharged from the constant capacity pumps 13 and 14 from the pipe, the management amount of the processing liquid can be managed only by the discharge performance (discharge unevenness) of the constant capacity pumps 13 and 14. Therefore, a configuration is adopted in which one end of the manifold 9 is closed so that the processing liquid in the manifold 9 of the pipes 5 and 6 is not circulated.
[0022]
Next, a specific method of arranging the injection ports will be described with reference to FIGS. Considering a coordinate system in which the center axis of the pipe is the origin, the direction parallel to the substrate 1 is the X axis, and the direction perpendicular to the X axis is the Y axis, the injection port 7 of the pipe 5 is arranged in the fourth quadrant. The injection ports 8 of the pipes 6 on both sides excluding the end pipes are arranged in the third quadrant. The injection directions 3a and 3b of the processing liquid are directions inclined with respect to the main surface 4 of the substrate and are injected toward the main surface 4 of the substrate.
[0023]
Next, the direction in which the processing liquid flows will be described. As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the pipes 5 and 6 are substantially parallel to the main surface 4 of the substrate and are alternately arranged on the same plane. In addition, the treatment liquid 2 is sprayed along a plane perpendicular to the axial direction of the pipes 5 and 6, and the spray ports 7 and 8 are formed in the pipes 5 and 6 at regular intervals so as not to cause a collision between the spray liquids. Has been placed. By performing such an arrangement, the processing liquid sprayed from the pipe 5 flows toward the main surface 4 of the substrate in the F1 direction along a plane perpendicular to the axial direction of the pipe 5, and the processing liquid sprayed from the pipe 6 is It flows in the F2 direction along the plane perpendicular to the axial direction of the pipe 6 toward the main surface 4 of the substrate in the direction opposite to the F1 direction.
[0024]
Further, in the first embodiment, first, the processing liquid 2 is injected from the pipe 5 for a certain period of time so that the processing liquid does not collide and stay, and then the injection of the processing liquid 2 from the pipe 5 is stopped. Next, after the processing liquid 2 on the substrate 1 has flowed in the F1 direction, the processing liquid 2 is sprayed from the pipe 6 for a predetermined time, and the same operation is repeated. In addition, in order to perform treatment liquid injection management (management of injection timing and injection time) of the pipe 5 and the pipe 6, an on / off switching operation of the pump is executed by the control device 15. More specifically, the pump 13 for pumping the processing liquid to the pipe 5 is driven to inject the processing liquid for 5 seconds, the driving of the pump 13 is stopped, and then the processing liquid is pumped to the pipe 6. The operation of alternately switching the pipes 5 and 6 is repeated a total of 2 to 10 times so that the pump 14 is driven and the processing liquid is sprayed for 5 seconds. When the operation of switching the pipes 5 and 6 by spraying the processing liquid 2 was performed four times, about 20 liters of processing liquid was required for processing one substrate, and the pressure was about 0.1 MPa. This was about the same amount as that of the conventionally used processing solution. At this time, the treatment liquid was sprayed uniformly toward the main surface 4 of the substrate, and no phenomenon of staying was observed.
[0025]
Since the substrate processing apparatus is configured as described above, and the direction of the processing liquid to be sprayed is changed every predetermined time, the processing liquid sprayed onto the substrate does not collide and does not stay on the substrate. For this reason, there is no difference in the replacement speed of the processing liquid within the substrate surface, and processing unevenness is reduced.
[0026]
Embodiment 2
5 is a side view showing a substrate processing apparatus according to Embodiment 2 of the present invention, FIG. 6 is a plan view of the substrate processing apparatus of FIG. 5, and FIG. 7 is a cross-sectional view of the pipe of FIG. 5 to 6, in order to inject the processing liquid 2 onto the substrate 1 in the processing chamber TR, a plurality of cylindrical pipes 21 (hereinafter simply referred to as pipes) are substantially parallel to the main surface 4 of the substrate. The pipe 21 is formed with a plurality of injection ports 22a and 22b. A processing liquid is circulated through the manifold 23 of the pipe 21. The diameter of the injection ports 22a and 22b is around 1 mm, and about 8 pipes 21 having 6 to 8 injection ports per pipe are arranged. In addition, in FIG. 5-7, four pipes are shown.
[0027]
In order to pump the processing liquid in the storage tank 12 through the pipe 21, a constant capacity pump 24 is installed between the tank 25 and the pipe 21, and the capacity of the processing liquid pumped by the constant capacity pump 24 to the pipe 21 by the control device 25. And have control over time. Further, as in the first embodiment, all of the processing liquid discharged from the constant volume pump 24 is injected from the pipe 21 so that the injection amount of the processing liquid can be managed only by the discharge performance (discharge unevenness) of the constant volume pump 24. Therefore, a configuration is adopted in which one end of the manifold 23 is blocked so that the processing liquid in the manifold 23 of the pipe 21 is not circulated.
[0028]
Next, a specific arrangement method of the injection ports will be described with reference to FIG. Considering a coordinate system in which the central axis of the pipe is the origin, the direction parallel to the substrate 1 is the X axis, and the direction perpendicular to the X axis is the Y axis, when the injection port 22a is arranged in the fourth quadrant, The injection port 22b is disposed in the third quadrant. By forming such injection ports 22 a and 22 b in one pipe 21, the processing liquid is injected at a stroke toward the main surface 4 of the substrate in the injection directions 3 a and 3 b inclined to the main surface 4 of the substrate. Is done.
[0029]
Next, the direction in which the processing liquid flows will be described. As shown in FIGS. 5 to 6, the pipe 21 was arranged substantially parallel to the main surface 4 of the substrate and on the same plane. Further, the injection ports 22a and 22b are alternately and constantly provided in one pipe 21 so that the processing liquid 2 is sprayed along a plane perpendicular to the axial direction of the pipe 21 and collision between the processing liquids does not occur. Are arranged at intervals of. By performing such an arrangement, the processing liquid ejected from the ejection port 22a flows toward the main surface 4 of the substrate in the F1 direction along a plane perpendicular to the axial direction of the pipe 21, and is ejected from the ejection port 22b. The liquid flows in the F2 direction along the plane perpendicular to the axial direction of the pipe 21 toward the main surface 4 of the substrate, and in a direction opposite to the F1 direction.
[0030]
In the second embodiment, the spray time of the processing liquid required for processing one substrate is about 30 to 100 seconds. The amount of the processing liquid used at this time is about 20 to 50 liters. Desirably, a processing liquid for 30 seconds is sprayed to process one substrate. The amount of the treatment liquid used at this time was 20 liters, and the pressure was about 0.1 MPa, which was about the same amount as that of the conventionally used treatment liquid. In addition, the treatment liquid was sprayed uniformly on the substrate and no phenomenon of retention was observed.
[0031]
Since the substrate processing apparatus is configured as described above and the directions of the processing liquid sprayed at the same time are set to two opposing directions, the processing liquid sprayed onto the substrate does not collide and does not stay on the substrate. Further, there is no difference in the replacement speed of the processing liquid within the substrate surface, and processing unevenness is reduced.
[0032]
Embodiment 3
8 is a plan view showing a substrate processing apparatus according to Embodiment 3 of the present invention, and FIG. 9 is a cross-sectional view of the pipe of FIG. As shown in FIGS. 8 to 9, a plurality of cylindrical pipes (hereinafter simply referred to as pipes) 31 are arranged substantially parallel to the main surface 4 of the substrate in order to inject the processing liquid onto the substrate 1. Yes. In FIG. 8, six pipes are shown. Further, 12 is a storage tank, 13 and 14 are constant capacity pumps, and 15 is a control device. A plurality of injection holes 32 are formed in the pipe 31. A wire 34 provided with a flow meter 33 such as a hot wire is attached to the tip along the pipe 31. The flow meter 33 has a diameter of several millimeters or less, and is attached to a treatment liquid ejecting portion which is a part of the ejection port 32 so as not to cause resistance to the water flow of the treatment liquid. The flow meter 33 is connected to the flow meter control device 35 through a wire, and determines whether or not the processing liquid sprayed from the individual injection ports 32 is maintained at a fixed amount per unit time and unit area. Determine by temperature change. The processing liquid stays in the pipe 31 and the injection port 32 due to the clogging of the components of the processing liquid due to the passage of time, and the pipe 31 and the injection port 32 itself corrode, so that the flow rate of the processing liquid changes. In order to detect this, a current is passed through a hot wire installed in the vicinity of the injection port 32 to heat the wire, and a temperature change caused by the flow of the processing liquid is detected as a resistance change. For example, when the temperature of the hot wire is lowered by the treatment liquid, the resistance of the hot wire is lowered. By detecting the potential difference due to this resistance change with a flow meter, the change in the flow rate of the processing liquid can be grasped. By adopting such a configuration, a variation in the injection amount of the processing liquid due to a change with time (clogging or corrosion of the pipe) of the injection port 32 is detected in advance. In addition, although the hot wire is installed at the injection port, it may be installed on a pipe or the like if the structure does not cause resistance to water flow. Since the substrate processing apparatus according to the third embodiment has the above-described configuration, it is possible to prevent processing unevenness due to clogging or corrosion of the injection port.
[0033]
As mentioned above, although this invention was demonstrated based on Embodiment 1-3, this invention is not limited to these Embodiment, In the range which does not deviate from the summary, various changes are possible. For example, in the third embodiment, the flow meter is arranged in the substrate processing apparatus having the configuration in the first embodiment. However, the same effect can be obtained even if the flow meter is arranged in the substrate processing apparatus having the configuration in the second embodiment. It is done. Further, although the present invention has been described with respect to the substrate processing apparatus installed in the processing chamber, the present invention is not limited to this and can be applied to a substrate processing apparatus installed in the cleaning chamber.
[0034]
【The invention's effect】
As described above, according to the present invention, pipes in which injection ports are respectively arranged in the third quadrant and the fourth quadrant are alternately arranged so that the flow of processing liquid such as cleaning liquid, developer, or etching liquid is not retained. Alternatively, by arranging pipes in which the injection ports arranged in the third and fourth quadrants are arranged in the axial direction, the processing liquid supplied onto the substrate is made uniform, and the difference in the processing liquid replacement speed is eliminated. Processing unevenness can be reduced. In addition, it is possible to detect in advance the variation in the amount and time of spraying of the processing liquid due to the change in the ejection port with time, and to prevent processing unevenness.
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 is a side view showing a substrate processing apparatus according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention.
FIG. 2 is a plan view of the substrate processing apparatus of FIG.
3 is a cross-sectional view of the pipe of FIG. 2 along the line AA.
4 is a cross-sectional view of the pipe of FIG. 2 along the line BB.
FIG. 5 is a side view showing a substrate processing apparatus according to Embodiment 2 of the present invention.
6 is a plan view of the substrate processing apparatus of FIG.
7 is a cross-sectional view of the pipe of FIG. 6 along the line CC.
FIG. 8 is a plan view showing a substrate processing apparatus according to Embodiment 3 of the present invention.
9 is a cross-sectional view of the pipe of FIG. 8 along the line DD.
FIG. 10 is a schematic view for explaining a wet-type apparatus using a spray method.
FIG. 11 is a side view showing an example of a conventional transport system and processing liquid injection system of a substrate processing apparatus.
12 is a plan view of the substrate processing apparatus of FIG. 11. FIG.
FIG. 13 is a plan view showing an example of a nozzle arranged in a conventional processing chamber.
FIG. 14 is a side view showing another example of a nozzle arranged in a conventional processing chamber.
FIG. 15 is a partial plan view showing still another example of a nozzle disposed in a conventional processing chamber.
[Explanation of symbols]
TR Processing chamber 1 Substrate 2 Processing liquid 3a, 3b Injection direction 4 Substrate main surface 5, 6, 21, 31 Pipe 7, 8, 22a, 22b, 32 Injection port 9, 23 Manifold 10 Conveying roller 11 Substrate conveying direction 12 Storage Tank 13, 14 Constant capacity pump 15 Control device 33 Flow meter 34 Wire 35 Flow meter control device

Claims (2)

A substrate processing apparatus for a display device or a semiconductor device used in a wet process for injecting a processing liquid onto a substrate,
A plurality of cylindrical pipes arranged substantially parallel to each other with respect to the main surface of the substrate,
A plurality of injection ports for injecting treatment liquid along a plane perpendicular to the axial direction of the pipe toward the main surface of the substrate,
In a cross section perpendicular to the axial direction of the plurality of cylindrical pipes, when the central axis is the origin and the direction parallel to the substrate is taken as the X axis and the direction perpendicular to the X axis is taken as the Y axis, The first injection port arranged in the cylindrical pipe located and the second injection port arranged in the cylindrical pipe located in the third quadrant alternate along the axial direction of the cylindrical pipe. A substrate processing apparatus, which is arranged in a row. The flow meter in the treatment liquid injection portion of the injection port is installed claim 1 Symbol mounting substrate processing apparatus.

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