JP4437499B2 - Nozzle cleaning mechanism and substrate processing apparatus - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a nozzle cleaning mechanism for cleaning a processing liquid supply nozzle for supplying a processing liquid to the surface of a substrate, and a substrate processing apparatus including the nozzle cleaning mechanism.

  As a substrate processing apparatus for supplying a processing liquid to a substrate such as a semiconductor wafer, a glass substrate for a liquid crystal display panel, or a mask substrate for a semiconductor manufacturing apparatus and processing the substrate, while discharging the processing liquid from a slit-like discharge port, When the processing liquid supply nozzle that supplies the processing liquid to the surface of the substrate is used, the processing liquid remains in the vicinity of the slit-like discharge port in the processing liquid supply nozzle as the substrate is processed. This becomes a contaminant and causes contamination of the treatment liquid supply nozzle. Such contamination is particularly likely to occur when a resist, particularly a resist containing a pigment called a color resist or the like, is used as the processing solution. For this reason, it is necessary to periodically clean the processing liquid supply nozzle by the nozzle cleaning mechanism.

Such a nozzle cleaning mechanism is disclosed in Patent Document 1, for example. The nozzle cleaning mechanism disclosed in Patent Document 1 has a cleaning wiping member that contacts the entire longitudinal direction of the slit-like discharge port in the treatment liquid supply nozzle. In this nozzle cleaning mechanism, the tip of the processing liquid supply nozzle is cleaned by moving the wiping member in a direction perpendicular to the longitudinal direction of the slit-like discharge port while the wiping member contains a solvent. It has a configuration.
Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 7-80386

  In recent years, since the size of the substrate has increased, the overall length of the slit-like discharge port in the processing liquid supply nozzle tends to be longer. For this reason, the following problems occur in the conventional nozzle cleaning mechanism.

  That is, when the wiping member is brought into contact with the tip of the processing liquid supply nozzle, there is a possibility that a portion where the wiping member is properly in contact with the longitudinal direction of the processing liquid supply nozzle and a portion where it is not so. In this case, there is a possibility that contaminants attached to the treatment liquid supply nozzle cannot be completely removed.

  Moreover, since the wiping member must be brought into contact with the entire longitudinal direction of the slit-like discharge port, it is necessary to prepare a large wiping member. For this reason, the consumption of a wiping member increases and the problem that running cost increases is produced.

  The present invention has been made to solve the above problems, and uses a nozzle cleaning mechanism capable of reliably cleaning the processing liquid supply nozzle while reducing the consumption of the wiping member, and the nozzle cleaning mechanism. An object is to provide a substrate processing apparatus.

According to the first aspect of the present invention, the processing liquid supply nozzle for supplying the processing liquid to the surface of the substrate is cleaned by moving relative to the substrate while discharging the processing liquid from the slit-shaped discharge port. A nozzle cleaning mechanism for winding a long wiping member, a winding roll for winding the wiping member fed from the feeding roll, and a rotating mechanism for rotating the winding roll A wiping part having a dimension in the longitudinal direction of the ejection port of the wiping member that contacts the ejection port is smaller than a dimension in the longitudinal direction of the ejection port, and below the wiping member from the feed roll to the winding roll And a pressing member that presses the wiping member toward the discharge port, and a moving unit that reciprocates the wiping portion in the longitudinal direction of the discharge port, and the feed roll Leading to al the winding roll, the direction of the wiping member fed from the feed roll wound on the winding roll, characterized in that it is a direction along the reciprocating direction of the wiping part by said moving means .

  The invention according to claim 2 is the invention according to claim 1, wherein the pressing member includes a first pressing portion that presses the wiping member toward a lowermost end portion of the discharge port, and the wiping member includes the wiping member. It is comprised from the 2nd press part pressed toward a position above a lowermost end part.

  According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the first or second aspect of the present invention, the pressing member contacts the processing liquid supply nozzle via the wiping member.

  According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, in the first aspect of the present invention, the cleaning liquid is supplied to the wiping member or the discharge port.

  A fifth aspect of the present invention is a substrate processing apparatus having the nozzle cleaning mechanism according to any one of the first to fourth aspects, wherein the holding unit that holds the substrate and the nozzle relative to the substrate And a nozzle moving section for moving the nozzle.

  The invention described in claim 6 is the invention described in claim 5, wherein the treatment liquid is a resist.

  The invention described in claim 7 is the resist according to claim 6, wherein the resist includes a pigment.

  According to the first to third aspects of the present invention, the wiping portion of the wiping member that contacts the discharge port has a smaller size in the longitudinal direction of the discharge port than the longitudinal size of the discharge port, and the wiping portion is discharged. Since the moving means for reciprocating in the longitudinal direction of the outlet is provided, the processing liquid supply nozzle can be reliably cleaned while reducing the consumption of the wiping member.

  In addition, the wiping unit is necessary because it includes a feed roll around which a long wiping member is wound, a winding roll that winds up the wiping member fed out from the feeding roll, and a rotating mechanism that rotates the winding roll. Accordingly, the processing liquid supply nozzle can be cleaned with a new wiping member.

  Furthermore, since the pressing member that presses the wiping member toward the discharge port is provided, the discharge port can be reliably cleaned.

  According to the fourth aspect of the invention, since the cleaning liquid supply unit that supplies the cleaning liquid to the wiping member or the discharge port is provided, the discharge port can be reliably cleaned by the action of the cleaning liquid.

  According to the invention described in claims 5 to 7, it is possible to reliably clean the processing liquid supply nozzle while reducing the consumption of the wiping member.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

  First, the configuration of a substrate processing apparatus to which the nozzle cleaning mechanism 18 according to the present invention is applied will be described. FIG. 1 is a schematic view of a substrate processing apparatus to which a nozzle cleaning mechanism according to the present invention is applied.

  This substrate processing apparatus is for applying a resist containing a pigment called a color resist to a rectangular liquid crystal panel substrate W, and is driven by a motor 11 while the substrate W is sucked and held. 12, a spin chuck 13 that rotates about 12, a nozzle 14 for applying a resist to the substrate W held by the spin chuck 13, a nozzle moving mechanism 15 that moves the nozzle 14, and a resist for the nozzle 14. A resist supply mechanism 16 for supplying, a resist capturing cup 17 for capturing resist scattered from the edge of the substrate W when the substrate W after application of the resist by the spin chuck 13 is rotated, and a nozzle according to the present invention And a cleaning mechanism 18.

  The spin chuck 13, the shaft 12, and the motor 11 can be moved up and down by a chuck lifting mechanism (not shown). That is, in FIG. 1, the substrate W can be moved up and down to a rotation position indicated by a solid line and a coating position indicated by a two-dot chain line. The rotation position is a position where the substrate W is accommodated in the cup 17, and the application position is a position where the substrate W and a discharge port 34 (described later) of the nozzle 14 are set at a predetermined interval.

  The nozzle moving mechanism 15 includes a moving frame 22 that reciprocates along a horizontally extending moving guide 21. The nozzle 14 is supported by the moving frame 22 via a nozzle support arm 23 so as to be movable in the horizontal direction. Since the nozzle moving mechanism 15 does not include a mechanism that moves in the vertical direction, the distance between the nozzle 14 and the substrate W is prevented from changing when the nozzle 14 moves along the movement guide 21. Yes. For this reason, when the liquid is applied to the substrate W by moving the nozzle 14 horizontally, a coating film having a uniform thickness can be formed.

  The resist supply mechanism 16 includes a pressure tank 24 having a hermetically sealed configuration and a resist tank 25 accommodated in the pressure tank 24. The pressurized tank 24 is connected to a supply source of nitrogen gas or air (not shown) by a pressurized pipe 27. A three-way valve 28 for switching supply / exhaust of nitrogen gas and a regulator 29 are arranged in the pressurizing pipe 27. One end of a resist supply pipe 31 that connects the resist tank 25 and the nozzle 14 is inserted into the resist tank 25. An opening / closing valve 33 is disposed in the resist supply pipe 31.

  In the resist supply mechanism 15 having such a configuration, when the on-off valve 33 is opened, the resist in the resist tank 25 is transferred to the nozzle 14 via the resist supply pipe 31 by the pressure of nitrogen gas in the pressurization tank 24. Further, when the on-off valve 33 is closed, the resist pumping is stopped.

  FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram schematically showing the resist supply operation by the nozzle 14. The nozzle 14 has a slit-like discharge port 34 extending in the longitudinal direction (direction perpendicular to the paper surface in FIG. 2). The length of the discharge port 34 in the longitudinal direction is equal to or longer than the length of the short side of the rectangular element formation portion on the substrate W. Here, the length of the short side of the rectangular element formation portion is long. Is almost equal. The resist 35 supplied by the resist supply pipe 31 is supplied to the surface of the substrate W through the slit-like discharge port 34 as shown in FIG.

  Next, a coating operation for coating a resist on the substrate W by the above-described substrate processing apparatus will be described. FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram showing a coating operation for coating a resist on the substrate W by the substrate processing apparatus. In the following description, the movement of the nozzle 14 is executed by the nozzle movement mechanism 15 described above.

  In a state before the resist coating operation is performed, the nozzle 14 is disposed at a position facing the nozzle cleaning mechanism 18 according to the present invention. The state of the nozzle 14 and the like at this time will be described in detail later.

  In this state, when the resist coating operation is started, the nozzle 14 is moved from the state in which the nozzle 14 is waiting above the nozzle cleaning mechanism 18 to the end of the substrate W on the far side with respect to the nozzle cleaning mechanism 18 as indicated by an arrow 1). Move horizontally up. Next, the substrate W is placed at the coating position by the chuck lifting mechanism. At this time, the surface of the substrate W and the discharge port 34 of the nozzle 14 are at a predetermined interval.

  In this state, the resist is discharged from the slit-like discharge port 34 in the nozzle 14 and the nozzle 14 is horizontally moved along the surface of the substrate W as indicated by an arrow 2). In this state, as shown in FIG. 2, the resist 35 discharged from the slit-like discharge port 34 in the nozzle 14 is applied to the surface of the substrate W in a thin film shape.

  When the slit-like discharge port 34 in the nozzle 14 moves to a position facing the other end of the substrate W, the discharge of the resist from the slit-like discharge port 34 in the nozzle 14 is stopped and above the nozzle cleaning mechanism 18. To move.

  Next, the configuration of the nozzle cleaning mechanism 18 according to the present invention will be described. FIG. 4 is a side view showing the nozzle cleaning mechanism 18 according to the present invention together with the standby pot 36.

  The nozzle cleaning mechanism 18 reciprocally rotates a bracket 42 movable along a rail 41 arranged in parallel with the nozzle 14 described above and a synchronous belt 43 connected to the bracket 42 to thereby move the bracket 42 to the nozzle 42. 14 is provided with a motor 44 that reciprocates in parallel with 14, and a wiping unit 45 disposed above the bracket 42. As will be described later, the wiping portion 45 is for wiping the slit-like discharge port 34 in the nozzle 14. The wiping unit 45 reciprocates between a position indicated by a solid line and a position indicated by a two-dot chain line in FIG.

  On the other hand, the standby pot 36 is for preventing the resist in the vicinity of the slit-like discharge port 34 in the nozzle 14 from being dried and denatured in a state where no resist is applied. For example, a solvent for dissolving the resist is stored in the standby pot 36. The standby pot 36 is driven by an air cylinder 37, and the upper end opening portion indicated by a two-dot chain line in FIG. 4 has a rising position facing the slit-like discharge port 34 in the nozzle 14 and a lowering position indicated by a solid line. It can be moved up and down. For this reason, when the standby pot 36 takes the raised position while the nozzle 14 is waiting above the nozzle cleaning mechanism 18, the discharge port 34 of the nozzle 14 is exposed to the space closed by the standby pot 36. At this time, since the space is filled with the atmosphere containing the solvent vapor, the resist in the vicinity of the discharge port 34 is prevented from drying.

  Next, the structure of the wiping part 45 mentioned above is demonstrated. FIG. 5 is a front view showing the wiping portion 45 together with the standby pot 36, FIG. 6 is a side view of the wiping portion 45, and FIG. 7 is a plan view of the wiping portion 45. FIG. 8 is an explanatory view showing the swinging operation of the swinging member 65.

  The wiping unit 45 includes a casing 51, a feed roll 53 around which a long wiping member 52 is wound, a take-up roll 54 that winds up the wiping member 52 sent out from the feed roll 53, and a cleaning liquid on the wiping member 52. And four cleaning liquid supply nozzles 55 are provided. The wiping member 52 is made of a sheet-like porous material. Examples of the porous material include paper, cloth, and resin. Specifically, filter paper is used as paper and non-woven fabric is used as cloth.

  The shaft 61 of the feed roll 53 is connected to a tension generating member 62 connected to the casing 51, and rotates with a certain resistance. On the other hand, the shaft 63 of the take-up roll 54 is connected to the swing member 65 via a one-way clutch 64. When the cam followers 66 disposed at both ends of the swinging member 65 are not in contact with the cam 67 or the cam 68 due to the action of a spring (not shown), the swinging member 65 assumes an upright posture shown by a solid line in FIG. It is energized. In addition, the cam 67 and the cam 68 are arrange | positioned in the vicinity of the both ends of the reciprocating movement stroke of the wiping part 45, as shown in FIG.

  When the cam followers 66 disposed at both ends of the swing member 65 come into contact with the cam 67 or the cam 68 as the wiping unit 45 travels to the vicinity of both ends of the reciprocating movement stroke, the swing member 65 is 8 inclines from the standing posture shown by the solid line to the inclined posture shown by the two-dot chain line in FIG. As a result, the shaft 63 of the take-up roll 54 rotates, and the wiping member 52 is taken up by the take-up roll 54 against the resistance force by the shaft 61 of the feed roll 53. On the other hand, when the wiping unit 45 starts traveling in the reverse direction, the swinging member 65 returns from the inclined posture shown by the two-dot chain line in FIG. 8 to the standing posture shown by the solid line in FIG. The shaft 63 of the take-up roll 54 does not rotate by the action of the direction clutch 64.

  For this reason, due to the action of the swing member 65 and the cams 66 and 67, the winding roll 54 rotates by a predetermined angle at both ends of the reciprocating stroke of the wiping unit 45, and the winding roll 54 is fed out from the feeding roll 53. The wiping member 52 is wound up by a certain amount.

  At the lower position of the wiping member 52 from the feed roll 53 to the take-up roll 54, pressing members 56 and 57 for pressing the wiping member 52 toward the slit-like discharge port 34 in the nozzle 14 are disposed. Of these pressing members 56, 57, the pressing member 56 is for pressing the wiping member 52 toward the lowermost end portion of the slit-like discharge port 34 in the nozzle 14. Further, the pressing member 57 is for pressing the wiping member 52 toward a position above the lowermost end portion of the slit-like discharge port 34 in the nozzle 14, and as shown in FIG. It is comprised from a pair of member urged | biased by the direction which adjoins.

  That is, in a state where the slit-like discharge port 34 in the nozzle 14 is not disposed at a position facing the pressing members 56 and 57, as shown in FIG. It is arranged at the position where it touches. On the other hand, in a state where the slit-like discharge port 34 in the nozzle 14 is disposed at a position facing the pressing members 56 and 57, the pair of pressing members 57 are arranged at the tip end portions of the nozzles 14 as shown in FIG. By moving to a position separated from each other.

  In the state shown in FIG. 9B, the pressing member 56 comes into contact with the lowermost end portion of the slit-like discharge port 34 in the nozzle 14 via the wiping member 52, and the pressing member 57 passes through the wiping member 52. That is, the nozzle 14 is in contact with a position above the lowermost end of the slit-like discharge port 34. The longitudinal dimension of the ejection port 34 of the wiping member 52 that contacts the slit-shaped ejection port 34 in the nozzle 14 is sufficiently smaller than the longitudinal dimension of the ejection port 34.

  Next, the cleaning operation of the nozzle 14 by the nozzle cleaning mechanism 18 according to the present invention will be described.

  When performing the cleaning operation of the nozzle 14 using this nozzle cleaning mechanism, the standby pot 36 is moved from the rising position indicated by the two-dot chain line in FIG. 4 while the nozzle 14 is positioned above the cleaning mechanism 18. It descends to the lowered position indicated by the solid line. Thereafter, the motor 44 is driven to move the wiping portion 45 together with the bracket 42 in a direction parallel to the slit-like discharge port 34 in the nozzle 14. Further, along with the movement of the wiping unit 45 or prior to the movement of the wiping unit 45, the cleaning liquid is supplied from the four cleaning liquid supply nozzles 55 to the wiping member 52.

  In a state where the wiping portion 45 has moved to a position below the slit-like discharge port 34 in the nozzle 14, as shown in FIG. 9B, the pressure member 56 is connected to the nozzle 14 via the wiping member 52 supplied with the cleaning liquid. The pressing member 57 comes into contact with a position above the lowermost end portion of the slit-like discharge port 34 in the nozzle 14 through the wiping member 52 supplied with the cleaning liquid. . In this state, the wiping unit 45 continues to travel, whereby the slit-like discharge port 34 in the nozzle 14 is cleaned by the wiping member 52 supplied with the cleaning liquid.

  When the wiping portion 45 travels to the end of the travel stroke, the cam followers 66 disposed at both ends of the swing member 65 abut against the cam 67 or the cam 68 and the wiping member 52 is fixed to the take-up roll 54. The amount is wound up. For this reason, when the wiping member 45 next travels, the slit-like discharge port 34 in the nozzle 14 is cleaned by the new wiping member 52.

  According to the nozzle cleaning mechanism 18 having the above-described configuration, the dimension in the longitudinal direction of the ejection port 34 of the wiping member 52 that contacts the slit-shaped ejection port 34 in the nozzle 14 is larger than the dimension in the longitudinal direction of the ejection port 34. Therefore, when the wiping member 52 is brought into contact with the nozzle 14, there is no possibility that a portion where the wiping member 52 is properly in contact with the nozzle 14 in the longitudinal direction of the nozzle 14 and a portion where the wiping member 52 is not in contact are formed. For this reason, it is possible to surely remove the contaminants adhering to the nozzle 14. Moreover, since it is not necessary to contact the wiping member 52 over the entire longitudinal direction of the slit-like discharge port 34 in the nozzle 14 as in the prior art, it is not necessary to use a large wiping member, and the consumption of the wiping member 52 is reduced. There is no problem that the running cost increases due to the increase.

  In the above-described embodiment, the cleaning liquid is supplied from the four cleaning liquid supply nozzles 55 to the wiping member 52, but from the four cleaning liquid supply nozzles 55 toward the slit-like discharge port 34 in the nozzle 14, You may make it supply a washing | cleaning liquid directly.

  In the above-described embodiment, the wiping member 52 is moved in the longitudinal direction of the slit-like discharge port 34 in the nozzle 14 using the feed roll 53 and the take-up roll 54. 14 may be moved in a direction intersecting with the slit-like discharge port 34.

1 is a schematic view of a substrate processing apparatus to which a nozzle cleaning mechanism according to the present invention is applied. 5 is an explanatory diagram schematically showing a resist supply operation by a nozzle. FIG. It is explanatory drawing which shows the application | coating operation | movement which apply | coats a resist to the board | substrate W by a substrate processing apparatus. 3 is a side view showing the nozzle cleaning mechanism 18 according to the present invention together with a standby pot 36. FIG. 4 is a front view showing the wiping unit 45 together with the standby pot 36. FIG. 4 is a side view of the wiping unit 45. FIG. 3 is a plan view of a wiping unit 45. FIG. It is explanatory drawing which shows rocking | fluctuation operation | movement of the rocking | swiveling member 65. FIG. It is explanatory drawing which shows the relationship between the discharge outlet 34 and the press members 56 and 57. FIG.

Explanation of symbols

13 Spin chuck 14 Nozzle 18 Nozzle cleaning mechanism 34 Discharge port 36 Standby pot 41 Rail 42 Bracket 43 Synchronization belt 44 Motor 45 Wiping part 52 Wiping member 53 Feeding roll 54 Winding roll 55 Cleaning liquid supply nozzle 61 Shaft 62 Tension generating member 63 Shaft 64 One-way clutch 65 Oscillating member 66 Cam follower 67 Cam 68 Cam W Substrate

Claims (7)

A nozzle cleaning mechanism for cleaning a processing liquid supply nozzle for supplying a processing liquid to the surface of the substrate by moving relative to the substrate while discharging the processing liquid from a slit-like discharge port,
A wiping comprising a feed roll wound with a long wiping member, a take-up roll for taking up the wiping member sent out from the feed roll, and a rotating mechanism for rotating the take-up roll, and contacting the discharge port A wiping portion in which the dimension of the member in the longitudinal direction of the discharge port is smaller than the dimension of the discharge port in the longitudinal direction;
A pressing member disposed at a position below the wiping member from the feed roll to the take-up roll, and pressing the wiping member toward the discharge port;
Moving means for reciprocating the wiping portion in the longitudinal direction of the discharge port,
The direction in which the wiping member sent out from the feed roll from the feed roll to the take-up roll is wound around the take-up roll is a direction along the reciprocating direction of the wiping unit by the moving means. Characteristic nozzle cleaning mechanism. The nozzle cleaning mechanism according to claim 1,
The pressing member includes a first pressing portion that presses the wiping member toward the lowermost end portion of the discharge port, and a second pressing portion that presses the wiping member toward a position above the lowermost end portion. Configured nozzle cleaning mechanism. In the nozzle cleaning mechanism according to claim 1 or 2,
The pressing member is a nozzle cleaning mechanism that contacts the processing liquid supply nozzle via the wiping member. The nozzle cleaning mechanism according to any one of claims 1 to 3,
A nozzle cleaning mechanism comprising a cleaning liquid supply unit that supplies a cleaning liquid to the wiping member or the discharge port. A substrate processing apparatus having the nozzle cleaning mechanism according to any one of claims 1 to 4,
A holding unit for holding the substrate;
A substrate processing apparatus comprising: a nozzle moving unit that moves the nozzle relative to the substrate. 6. The substrate processing apparatus according to claim 5, wherein the processing liquid is a resist. 7. The substrate processing apparatus according to claim 6, wherein the resist is a resist containing a pigment.