JP4986634B2 - Gas ejection mechanism and substrate processing apparatus incorporating the same - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a gas ejection mechanism capable of ejecting gas uniformly, and a substrate processing apparatus incorporating the same and capable of processing a substrate surface evenly.

  It is extremely difficult to uniformly inject a gas onto a plane having a certain size. For example, when trying to inject hexamethyldisilazane (HMDS) gas onto a semiconductor wafer or glass substrate for the purpose of improving the adhesion to the resist material, if the HMDS gas is not uniformly injected, the resist will be resisted in subsequent steps. The material partially floats or peels off, affecting the precision of etching and development.

  In order to solve this problem, in the “adhesion strengthening treatment apparatus and the adhesion strengthening treatment method” of Patent Document 1, the supplied HMDS vapor is rectified by a current plate, and then flows into the HMDS treatment space from a plurality of holes. The substrate is uniformly supplied to the surface of the substrate from above to below. That is, by providing the current plate, it is possible to uniformly supply HMDS vapor to the substrate, and to apply HMDS to the substrate more uniformly.

  Patent Document 2 discloses an adhesion strengthening processing apparatus. In this adhesion strengthening processing apparatus, a vortex flow of HMDS vapor is formed, and the diffused HMDS vapor is uniformly supplied onto the substrate.

JP 07-31329 A Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 07-307265

  In the apparatus of Patent Document 1, since the supply of HMDS vapor is one place in the space, there is already a difference in the supply amount between this place and the peripheral part. Therefore, even if the current plate is subsequently passed, it is difficult to uniformly supply the substrate. Furthermore, since the current plate is installed, the processing space becomes wide, and there is a problem that it takes time to fill the HMDS vapor.

  Further, in the apparatus of Patent Document 2, particularly when a large substrate is to be processed, the concentration of the HMDS vapor is not uniform at the outer peripheral portion and the central portion of the substrate.

  In order to solve the above problems, the gas ejection mechanism according to the present invention is a flow path formed by joining a corrugated plate having a plurality of minute holes formed in the corrugated portion and another corrugated plate or a flat plate. It was set as the structure which consists of.

  Examples of the cross-sectional shape of the corrugated part include a trapezoid and a semicircle. In addition, it is desirable that the cross-sectional shape of the corrugated portion is a trapezoid protruding downward or a semicircular shape because gas can be uniformly injected onto the processing plate surface. Furthermore, it is preferable to drill the plurality of minute holes at a position other than the lowest end of the corrugated portion, that is, at a side surface where the lowest end is removed.

  In the substrate processing apparatus according to the present invention, the gas jetting mechanism is provided in a case having a processing space inside and capable of being decompressed and having an exhaust part. In this apparatus, the gas ejection mechanism can meander by connecting end portions of adjacent flow paths to form a series of flow paths. Furthermore, it is also possible to process a large substrate by providing a plurality of the series of flow paths.

  Further, the exhaust part is preferably provided in the vicinity of the gas ejection part, and it is also desirable that the exhaust part is formed by a large number of holes. An example of gas supplied to the gas ejection mechanism is hexamethyldisilazane mixed gas.

The gas ejection mechanism of the present invention has a flow path formed by joining a corrugated plate having a plurality of minute holes perforated in the corrugated portion and another corrugated plate or a flat plate. Eruption is easy. When the cross-sectional shape of the corrugated portion is trapezoidal or semicircular and the cross-sectional shape is directed downward, it becomes easy to inject a uniform gas onto the upper surface portion of the processing plate. Further, when a plurality of minute holes are drilled at a position other than the lowest end of the corrugated part, a gas having a high specific gravity such as HMDS gas, for example, is injected from the minute holes until the whole flow path is filled. Since this does not start, it is very advantageous to perform uniform gas injection over the entire processing system.
In particular, since the flow path is in a substantially sealed state, it is possible to eject gas uniformly with only micropores.

  Since the substrate processing apparatus of the present invention includes the gas ejection mechanism, a gas such as HMDS gas can be uniformly ejected onto the substrate to be processed. This processing apparatus can stably eject gas by sealing the inside and making it possible to reduce the pressure.

  By making the flow path of the gas ejection mechanism a series of meandering types, the gas supply part and the exhaust part can be reduced to one place each. Further, if a plurality of the series of flow paths are provided, a large substrate can be processed advantageously. Furthermore, if an exhaust part is provided in the vicinity of the said gas ejection part, or if it forms with many holes, exhaust of gas, such as HMDS gas, will become easy.

  Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings. The processing apparatus will be described by taking a substrate processing apparatus such as a semiconductor wafer or a glass substrate as an example. FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view showing an example of a substrate processing apparatus incorporating the gas ejection mechanism of the present invention. The substrate processing apparatus 1 has a case 2 fixed on a base, and a gas ejection mechanism 3 for surface-treating a substrate W to be processed such as a semiconductor wafer or a glass substrate with a gas containing HMDS is disposed in a substantially central portion of the case 2. ing. In addition, a cylinder unit 4 with the vertical direction as an axis is provided at the bottom of the case 2, and lifting pins 6 as lifting means are attached to the cylinder units 4 via support plates 5. The elevating pins 6 extend upward and support the lower surface of the substrate W to be processed at the upper ends thereof.

  On the other hand, a transfer robot 7 is disposed on the side of the base, and an opening 8 for carrying in / out the substrate W to / from the transfer robot 7 is provided on the side surface of the case 2. The transfer robot 7 has a rail member 10 attached to a support column 9 so as to be rotatable by a predetermined angle within a horizontal plane, a transfer arm 11 is engaged with the rail member 10, and the transfer arm 11 is reciprocated along the rail member 10 by driving a motor 12. By moving the substrate, the unprocessed substrate W is carried into the case 2 and processed with the HMDS mixed gas. Thereafter, the processed substrate W is unloaded from the case 2 and sent to a resist agent coating process (not shown).

  In order to perform the contact processing with the HMDS mixed gas on the substrate to be processed W using the substrate processing apparatus 1, first, the unprocessed substrate W is placed on the transfer arm 11 of the transfer robot 7 and inserted into the case 2. Then, the cylinder unit 4 is operated to raise the elevating pins 6 to receive the substrate W to be processed from the transfer arm 11. Thereafter, when the transfer arm 11 is moved backward, the support plate 5 is raised to bring the substrate W to be processed closer to the gas ejection mechanism 3. Details of this content will be further described with reference to FIG.

  FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view showing a detailed example of a substrate processing apparatus incorporating the gas ejection mechanism of the present invention. 2A shows a state when the gas ejection mechanism 3 and the substrate to be processed W are separated from each other, and FIG. 2B shows a state where the gas ejection mechanism 3 and the substrate to be processed W are close to each other and the sealed space s1. The state in which is formed is shown.

  In this figure, when the support plate 5 is raised, the substrate W to be processed is transferred onto the support plate 5 from the lift pins 6 and close to the gas ejection mechanism 3 to form a sealed space s1 that can be decompressed.

  The gas ejection mechanism 3 has a gas ejection portion 3a composed of a flow path formed by joining a corrugated plate and a flat plate, and a plurality of micro holes (not shown) are formed in the corrugated portion of the corrugated plate. ing. The gas ejection mechanism 3 further includes a gas supply unit 14 and an exhaust unit 15. Here, the gas supply unit 14 supplies HMDS mixed gas using nitrogen gas as a carrier. Moreover, the exhaust part 15 consists of many exhaust holes which are not shown in figure, and is provided in the vicinity of the gas ejection part 3a so that exhaust of the HMDS mixed gas may be easy.

  If the sealed space S1 is decompressed and the HMDS mixed gas is introduced while exhausting from the exhaust part 15, the gas can be easily supplied. Then, after the sealed space s <b> 1 is filled with HMDS, the substrate W is processed while only exhausting from the exhaust unit 15. When the processing is completed, the HMDS mixed gas in the sealed space S1 is exhausted, and the next substrate to be processed W is prepared again.

Fig.3 (a) is sectional drawing which shows an example of the gas ejection part of the gas ejection mechanism which concerns on this invention. The gas ejection portion 3a is formed in the flow path S2 formed by joining the corrugated plate 16 and the flat plate 17 (a corrugated plate may be used instead), and the corrugated portion of the corrugated plate 16. It is characterized by a plurality of micropores h. The corrugated plate 16 may have any shape, but for example, a trapezoid protruding downward as shown in the figure is preferable. In addition, a semicircle may be sufficient. And it is desirable to make the minute hole h at a position other than the lowermost end of the corrugated portion of the corrugated plate 16, that is, on the slope of the corrugated portion as shown in the figure. The reason is to prevent the injection from the minute holes h from starting until the gas is spread over the entire flow path S2 and is filled.
In addition, as shown in FIG. 3A, a minute hole h may be formed in the flat surface portion at the lowermost end.

  FIG. 4 is a plan view showing an example of the gas ejection mechanism of the present invention. The gas ejection mechanism 3 includes a gas supply unit 14 that supplies gas and a flow path S2 for flowing gas. The flow path S2 is a series of meandering flow paths, that is, a series of lines starting from a position A in the vicinity of the gas supply unit 14 and ending at a position B (A-B series) by connecting the ends of adjacent flow paths. ). By using such a meandering flow path, a large substrate can be processed more advantageously. Further, when processing a larger substrate, a plurality of the series of flow paths can be provided. In this figure, since a flow path consisting of a total of three series of CD and EF is secured along with the AB series, gas can be uniformly injected regardless of the central part or the peripheral part. It becomes possible.

  Further, since the corrugated plate and the flat plate are joined, the flow path can be freely formed. For example, it is possible to cope with a plurality of substrate sizes by forming a spiral shape and dividing the sections.

  The gas ejection mechanism of the present invention can be incorporated in a substrate processing apparatus such as a semiconductor wafer or a glass substrate.

Sectional drawing which shows an example of the substrate processing apparatus incorporating the gas ejection mechanism of this invention. Sectional drawing which shows the detailed example of the substrate processing apparatus incorporating the gas ejection mechanism of this invention. (A) And (b) is sectional drawing which shows an example of the gas ejection part of the gas ejection mechanism which concerns on this invention. The top view which shows an example of the gas ejection mechanism of this invention.

Explanation of symbols

  DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Substrate processing apparatus, 2 ... Case, 3 ... Gas ejection mechanism, 3a ... Gas ejection part, 4 ... Cylinder unit, 5 ... Support plate, 6 ... Lifting pin, 7 ... Transfer robot, 8 ... Opening, 9 ... Strut, DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 ... Rail member, 11 ... Transfer arm, 12 ... Motor, 13 ... Guide pin, 14 ... Gas supply part, 15 ... Exhaust part, 16 ... Corrugated plate, 17 ... Flat plate, s1 ... Sealed space, S2 ... Flow path, h ... Micropores, W ... Substrate to be processed,

Claims (5)

A gas ejection mechanism for uniformly injecting gas into a predetermined space, the gas ejection mechanism comprising: a corrugated plate having a plurality of minute holes drilled in a corrugated portion; another corrugated plate or a flat plate possess a gas ejection portion consisting of a flow path formed by joining, and a gas supply unit which communicates with the flow path,
The cross-sectional shape of the corrugated part is a connected trapezoid protruding in a downward direction or a semicircular shape, and the plurality of minute holes are formed at positions where the bottom end of the corrugated part is removed. gas ejection mechanism, characterized in that there. The gas ejection mechanism according to claim 1 , wherein the gas supplied to the flow path is a hexamethyldisilazane mixed gas. A gas jetting mechanism according to any one of claims 1 to 2 and a case that houses the gas jetting mechanism and that has a processing space inside the gas jetting mechanism. The case can be decompressed and has an exhaust part. A substrate processing apparatus. The substrate processing apparatus according to claim 3 , wherein the gas ejection mechanism is formed as a series of flow paths by communicating ends of adjacent flow paths. 5. The substrate processing apparatus according to claim 4 , wherein a plurality of the series of flow paths are provided side by side.

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