JP5248284B2 - Substrate processing apparatus and substrate processing method - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a substrate processing apparatus for performing a rinsing process on a substrate such as a semiconductor wafer or a glass substrate for a liquid crystal display device (hereinafter simply referred to as a substrate) after performing a process such as cleaning or etching with a processing liquid, and The present invention relates to a substrate processing method.

  Conventionally, as this type of apparatus, a processing tank for storing the processing liquid and immersing the substrate, a jet pipe disposed at the bottom of the processing tank and supplying the processing liquid into the processing tank, and a processing tank A discharge port formed on the side wall for quickly draining the processing liquid stored in the processing tank, a valve body having a size for closing the discharge port, and the valve body is moved forward and backward to close or open the discharge port. Some have a quick drain valve having an air cylinder (see, for example, Patent Document 1).

In the apparatus having such a configuration, when the processing liquid in the processing tank is quickly drained, the air cylinder is operated so that the valve body of the quick drain valve is separated from the discharge port, and the processing liquid is quickly drained from the discharge port. Yes.
Japanese Patent No. 3515894 (paragraphs “0017” to “0019”, FIGS. 1 and 2)

However, the conventional example having such a configuration has the following problems.
That is, in the conventional apparatus, an O-ring is attached to the valve body in order to improve the adhesion between the valve body and the discharge port. Therefore, a gap is formed between the valve body and the discharge port in a state where the quick drain valve is closed, and the processing liquid may stay in this gap. Therefore, when a substrate is treated with a treatment liquid containing a chemical solution and then washed with pure water, the treatment liquid leaks into the pure water in the treatment tank from the gap, and the specific resistance of pure water is restored. May take a long time. As a result, it takes time to complete the substrate cleaning process, and the throughput may decrease.

  The present invention has been made in view of such circumstances, by washing and removing the liquid pool in the quick drain valve, to prevent liquid leakage to the treatment tank due to the structure of the quick drain valve, It is an object of the present invention to provide a substrate processing apparatus and a substrate processing method capable of improving the throughput of substrate processing.

In order to achieve such an object, the present invention has the following configuration.
That is, the invention described in claim 1 is a substrate processing apparatus that performs processing on a substrate by immersing the substrate in the processing liquid, and a processing tank for storing the processing liquid and performing the immersion processing on the substrate; A treatment liquid supply means for supplying a treatment liquid containing pure water or a chemical solution to the treatment tank; a discharge port provided in the treatment tank for discharging the treatment liquid stored in the treatment tank; A valve body having a size for closing the discharge port; a seal member attached to the valve body or the discharge port; drive means for moving the valve body forward and backward with respect to the discharge port; and compressed air to the drive means In the treatment tank, a first supply pipe that supplies compressed air to the driving means at a second flow rate that is smaller than the first flow rate, and a chemical solution in the processing tank. After treating the substrate with a treatment liquid containing, pure water is added to the treatment tank. While rinsing the substrate by supplying a physical solution, wherein by supplying compressed air to the drive means via the second supply pipe, by a minute distance by separating the valve body from the outlet, the processing Control means for causing the drive means to supply compressed air through the first supply pipe to discharge the pure water in the tank for a predetermined time and pressing the valve body against the discharge port . It is characterized by this.

[Operation / Effect] According to the invention described in claim 1, the control means supplies the treatment liquid containing the chemical liquid from the treatment liquid supply means to the treatment tank, and the substrate is processed by immersing the substrate in the treatment liquid. Thereafter, the substrate is rinsed by supplying pure water from the treatment liquid supply means to the treatment tank. At that time, since the treatment liquid containing the chemical liquid is discharged from the treatment tank, the chemical liquid is attached to the peripheral portion including the seal member. The control means supplies compressed air to the drive means via the second supply pipe during the rinsing process, and separates the valve element from the discharge port by a minute distance so that pure water is only a small amount from the treatment tank. Since it is made to discharge | emit, the chemical | medical solution adhering to the peripheral part containing a sealing member is washed away in that case. Accordingly, since the specific resistance of pure water is recovered in a short time in the rinsing process, the substrate cleaning process can be performed in a short time, and the throughput can be improved.

  In addition, the minute distance here is shorter than the distance at the time of full opening, and means the distance at which a small amount of pure water in the treatment tank can flow down from the discharge port.

  In the present invention, it is preferable that the control means operates the driving means for a predetermined time (claim 2). The predetermined time here refers to, for example, a short time of several seconds to several tens of seconds, thereby preventing the processing liquid level in the processing tank from being extremely lowered, and hindering the rinsing processing of the substrate. There is no.

Further, in the present invention, the control means is configured so that the flow rate of the processing liquid discharged from the discharge port is smaller than the pure water supply amount supplied from the processing liquid supply means to the processing tank. It is preferable to operate the driving means (claim 3). Since an amount smaller than the supply amount of pure water is discharged, it is possible to prevent a decrease in the processing liquid level in the rinsing process, and to prevent the substrate rinsing process from being hindered.

  In the present invention, it is preferable that the control means operates the driving means in three stages of a fully closing operation for closing, a fully opening operation for discharging, and a micro opening operation for slow leak. Item 4). By using the fully-closed operation, the fully-opened operation, and the micro-opening operation properly, storing the processing liquid in the processing tank, discharging the processing liquid stored in the processing tank, and discharging only a small amount of the processing liquid And can be done.

According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a substrate processing method for performing processing on a substrate by immersing the substrate in a processing solution, in a state where the discharge port of the processing tank is closed by a valve body of a quick drain valve. A process in which a substrate is immersed in a processing solution containing a chemical solution stored in a tank and the substrate is processed, and the valve body of the quick drain valve is separated from the discharge port to discharge the processing solution in the processing tank. And a process of supplying pure water to the treatment tank as a treatment liquid in a state where the discharge port of the treatment tank is closed by the valve body of the quick drain valve, and rinsing the substrate with the treatment liquid containing pure water During the process of rinsing and the rinsing process, the valve body of the quick drain valve is separated from the discharge port by a small distance, and a small amount of pure water is discharged for a predetermined time. a process of pressed, together with the finished rinsing, the quick drain valve valve A step of discharging the entire treatment liquid greatly spaced from the discharge port, and is characterized in that it comprises a.

[Operation / Effect] According to the invention described in claim 5, after the treatment liquid containing the chemical solution is supplied to the treatment tank and the substrate is immersed in the treatment liquid to treat the substrate, the treatment liquid is removed from the treatment tank. All are discharged, and pure water is supplied to the treatment tank to rinse the substrate. At this time, since the processing liquid containing the chemical liquid is discharged from the processing tank, the chemical liquid is attached to the gap between the valve body of the quick drain valve and the discharge port. Therefore, during the rinsing process, the valve body of the quick drain valve is opened a small distance from the discharge port to discharge only a small amount of pure water. At that time, the gap between the valve body of the quick drain valve and the discharge port The chemicals adhering to are washed away. Thereafter, the valve body of the quick drain valve is pressed against the discharge port to finish the rinsing process, and the quick drain valve is fully opened to discharge all the processing liquid in the processing tank. Accordingly, since the specific resistance of pure water is recovered in a short time in the rinsing process, the substrate cleaning process can be performed in a short time, and the throughput can be improved.

  In the present invention, it is preferable that the process of discharging only a small amount of the pure water is performed for a predetermined time.

  According to the substrate processing apparatus of the present invention, the control means supplies the processing liquid containing the chemical liquid from the processing liquid supply means to the processing tank, immerses the substrate in the processing liquid and processes the substrate, and then supplies the processing liquid. Pure water is supplied from the means to the treatment tank to rinse the substrate. At that time, since the processing liquid including the chemical liquid is discharged from the processing tank through the discharge port, the chemical liquid is attached to the peripheral portion including the seal member. During the rinsing process, the control means operates the drive means to separate the valve body from the discharge port by a minute distance and discharge only a small amount of pure water. The chemicals adhering to are washed away. Accordingly, since the specific resistance of pure water is recovered in a short time in the rinsing process, the substrate cleaning process can be performed in a short time, and the throughput can be improved.

An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.
FIG. 1 is a longitudinal sectional view illustrating a schematic configuration of a substrate processing apparatus according to an embodiment.

  This substrate processing apparatus is provided with a processing tank 1 for processing a substrate W with a processing liquid in the processing tank 1. The processing tank 1 includes an inner tank 3 and an outer tank 5 that surrounds the inner tank 3. The inner tank 3 is configured to store the processing liquid and to accommodate the substrate W. A pair of ejection pipes 7 for supplying the processing liquid is attached to the bottom of the inner tank 3 in the direction in which the plurality of substrates W are aligned. In FIG. 1, only one of the pair of ejection pipes 7 is shown for the purpose of illustration. The lifter 9 holds a plurality of substrates W in an upright posture. The lifter 9 includes a holding portion 11 that abuts and supports the lower edge of the substrate W, and a “processing position” (position illustrated in FIG. 1) that is inside the inner tank 3 and a “standby” that is above the inner tank 1. The position can be raised and lowered.

  The ejection pipe 7 corresponds to the “processing liquid supply means” in the present invention.

  A discharge port 13 is formed in one side wall (the right side wall in FIG. 1) of the inner tub 3, and the discharge port 13 includes a flange 15 on the outside thereof. A ring-shaped seal member 17 is attached to the flange 15. The seal member 17 is made of a material having resistance to the chemical liquid contained in the processing liquid.

  The outer tub 5 surrounds the entire lower surface and side surface of the inner tub 3, and includes a waste liquid port 19 at one part of the bottom. A QDR valve 21 is attached to a position on one side surface of the outer tub 5 that faces the discharge port 13.

  The QDR valve 21 includes a valve body 23, a bellows 25, a compression coil spring 27, a valve shaft 29, a housing 31, and an air cylinder 33. The valve body 23 has a size for closing the discharge port 13. A valve shaft 29 is attached to the center of the side surface of the valve body 23 via a compression coil spring 27. The compression coil spring 7 and the valve shaft 29 are surrounded by a bellows 25, and the valve shaft 29 passes through the side wall of the outer tub 5 and is surrounded by a housing 31. The valve shaft 29 is interlocked with the operating shaft of the air cylinder 33, and moves the valve body 23 forward and backward with respect to the discharge port 13 by operating the air cylinder 33.

  The QDR valve 21 corresponds to the “quick drain valve” in the present invention, and the air cylinder 33 corresponds to the “driving means” in the present invention.

  The air cylinder 33 includes two intake / exhaust ports 35 and 37. One end of an intake / exhaust pipe 39 is connected to each of the intake / exhaust ports 35 and 37, and the other end is connected to an electromagnetic valve 41. Compressed air is supplied to the supply port of the electromagnetic valve 41, and the compressed air is supplied only to one of the intake / exhaust pipes 39 in accordance with a given switching signal. An air release valve 43 is attached to each suction pipe 39. The atmosphere release valve 43 communicates the inside of the intake / exhaust pipe 39 to the atmosphere according to the given release signal.

  One end side of an air supply pipe 45 to which compressed air is supplied is connected to the supply port of the electromagnetic valve 41. A three-way valve 46 is attached to the air supply pipe 45, and a first supply pipe 47 and a second supply pipe 49 connected to a compressed air source are attached. A flow rate control valve 51 whose flow rate is set to a first flow rate is attached to the first supply pipe 47, and a flow rate control valve 53 whose flow rate is set to a second flow rate is set to the second supply pipe 49 in advance. Is attached. Note that the first flow rate causes the valve body 23 to advance to a position where the discharge port 13 is closed, and the second flow rate is smaller than the first flow rate, and the valve body 23 enters the discharge port 13 to be minute. The flow rate is set to advance to a position separated by a distance. In these cases, compressed air is supplied to the intake / exhaust port 37. In order to largely separate the valve body 23 from the discharge port 13, compressed air is supplied to the intake / discharge port 35 at the first flow rate.

  One end side of the supply pipe 55 is connected to the ejection pipe 7 described above, and the other end side thereof is connected to the processing liquid supply source 57. A flow rate control valve 59 for controlling the flow rate is attached to the supply pipe 55. The treatment liquid supply source 57 can supply, for example, hydrofluoric acid (HF) or pure water alone or in combination.

  The above-described lifter 9, QDR valve 21, electromagnetic valve 41, atmosphere release valve 43, flow control valves 51, 53, 59 and the like are controlled by the control unit 61. The control unit 61 includes a memory, a CPU, and the like (not shown), and a recipe that prescribes a procedure for processing the substrate W, a control program for each unit, and the like are stored in advance in the memory.

  The control unit 61 corresponds to the “control unit” in the present invention.

  The controller 61 operates the QDR valve 21 in three stages as follows. Reference is now made to FIG. 2A and 2B are diagrams for explaining the operation of the QDR valve. FIG. 2A shows a fully closed state, FIG. 2B shows a fully opened state, and FIG. 2C shows a minute opened state.

When fully closed (Fig. 2 (a))
The control unit 61 communicates the three-way valve 46 to the first supply pipe 47 side, opens the flow control valve 51 and supplies compressed air to the supply port of the electromagnetic valve 41 at a first flow rate. 41 is operated to send compressed air into the intake / exhaust port 37. As a result, the valve body 23 strongly presses the seal member 17 to close the discharge port 13. Therefore, the processing liquid stored in the inner tank 3 does not leak from the inner tank 3.

When fully open (Fig. 2 (b))
The control unit 61 communicates the three-way valve 46 to the first supply pipe 47 side, opens the flow control valve 51 and supplies compressed air to the supply port of the electromagnetic valve 41 at a first flow rate. 41 is operated to send compressed air into the intake / exhaust port 35. As a result, the valve body 23 is greatly separated from the seal member 17 to open the discharge port 13. Therefore, the processing liquid stored in the inner tank 3 is quickly drained from the inner tank 3.

When micro-open (Fig. 2 (c))
The control valve 61 communicates the three-way valve 46 to the second supply pipe 49 side, opens the flow control valve 53 and supplies compressed air to the supply port of the electromagnetic valve 41 at a second flow rate. 41 is operated to feed compressed air into the intake / exhaust pipe 37. Thereby, the valve body 23 is moved to a position separated by a minute distance d without coming into contact with the seal member 17, and the discharge port 13 is slightly opened. Therefore, the processing liquid stored in the inner tank 3 is drained from the discharge port 13 at a minute flow rate (slow leak). The minute distance d is set according to the volume of the inner tank 3 and the flow rate of pure water supplied from the ejection pipe 7, and for example, the flow rate discharged is smaller than the supply flow rate of pure water. Thus, the minute distance d is set. Thereby, the inconvenience that the substrate W immersed in the processing liquid of the inner tank 3 is exposed from the liquid surface can be prevented.

  Next, the operation of the above-described apparatus will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 3 is a time chart at the time of processing.

  First, the control unit 61 operates the flow rate control valve 59 in a state where the QDR valve 21 is fully closed (FIG. 2 (a)) and the discharge port 13 is closed, so that the chemical solution is contained at a predetermined flow rate. The liquid is supplied to the inner tank 3 (at time t0). When the inner tank 3 is filled with the processing liquid (at time t1), the processing liquid overflows the inner tank 3 and is discharged through the waste liquid port 19 of the outer tank 5. After the inner tub 3 is filled with the processing liquid in this way, the control unit 61 lowers the lifter 9 holding a plurality of unprocessed substrates W to the processing position in the inner tub 3. This state is maintained for a predetermined time, and the chemical solution processing is performed on the substrate W (until time t2). Next, the control unit 61 closes the flow rate control valve 59 to stop the supply of the processing liquid including the chemical liquid, and fully opens the QDR valve 21 (FIG. 2B) to fully open the discharge port 13. (At time t2). Then, the processing liquid containing the chemical liquid stored in the inner tank 3 is quickly drained through the discharge port 13 (at time t2 to t3). At this time, even if all of the processing liquid is discharged, the processing liquid adheres to the periphery including the seal member 17, so that droplets remain.

  The control unit 61 fully closes the QDR valve 21 (FIG. 2A), opens the flow rate control valve 59, and supplies pure water as a processing liquid at a predetermined flow rate (at time t3). After a predetermined time T1 has elapsed from time t4 when the inner tank 3 is filled with pure water and overflowing pure water begins to be discharged, the QDR valve 21 is slightly opened (FIG. 2 (c)), and the discharge port 13 The valve body 23 is opened with a minute interval d (at time t5). Then, although pure water flows out from the minute interval d, the treatment liquid adhering to the seal member 17 and its periphery is washed away. After this is continued for a predetermined time T2, the QDR valve 21 is fully closed at time t6 (FIG. 2 (a)). Then, the resistivity value of a resistivity meter (not shown) rises to a specified value, and the rinsing process with pure water is continued until time t7 when it is determined that the cleaning is completed, and then the control unit 61 fully opens the QDR valve 21. The operation (FIG. 2 (b)) is performed to rapidly drain the pure water in the inner tank 3 (at time t7 to t8).

  The predetermined time T2 takes into consideration the flow rate of pure water discharged at a minute interval d and the amount of pure water supplied from the ejection pipe 7, and the liquid level in the inner tank 3 is lowered so that the substrate W is not exposed. It is about time. Further, the timing of the minute opening may be performed from time t4 without a predetermined time T1 from time t4. The reason why the minute opening is made after a predetermined time T1 from the time point t4 is because priority is given to the entire substrate W being covered quickly with pure water, but it is full from the time point t3 when supplying pure water is started. A minute opening may be made until the time t4.

  The controller 61 raises the lifter 9 from the processing position to the standby position, and completes the chemical solution / rinsing process for the substrate W.

  As described above, according to the apparatus of the present embodiment, the control unit 61 supplies the processing liquid containing the chemical liquid from the ejection pipe 7 to the inner tank 3 and immerses the substrate W in the processing liquid to process the substrate W. Then, pure water is supplied from the ejection pipe 7 to the inner tank 3 to rinse the substrate W. At that time, since the processing liquid containing the chemical liquid is discharged from the inner tank 3, the chemical liquid is attached to the peripheral portion including the seal member 17. The control unit 61 operates the air cylinder 33 during the rinsing process to separate the valve body 23 from the discharge port 13 by a minute distance d and discharge a small amount of pure water. The chemical solution adhering to the peripheral portion including the member 17 is washed away with pure water. Accordingly, since the specific resistance of pure water is recovered in a short time in the rinsing process, the cleaning process of the substrate W can be performed in a short time, and the throughput can be improved.

  Here, with reference to FIG. 4, a comparison with a conventional example is performed. FIG. 4 is a graph showing a comparison between the conventional example and the present invention and showing a change in specific resistance.

  The sample is obtained by applying a photoresist to the substrate W. After the substrate W is immersed in hydrofluoric acid for 4120 seconds and subjected to a chemical treatment, a rinse treatment is performed with pure water. The change in specific resistance was investigated. The sample of the present invention was finely opened for 11 seconds, 13 seconds, 17 seconds, 19 seconds, and the like.

  As is apparent from the graph of FIG. 4, in the conventional example, the specific resistance increases only to about 6 to 12 [MΩ · cm] even after the rinsing process has elapsed for 1500 seconds. It turns out that it has risen to about 14 [MΩ · cm]. Thus, by performing the above-described micro-opening operation, the effect of washing away the treatment liquid adhering to the seal member 17 and its periphery is obvious.

  The present invention is not limited to the above embodiment, and can be modified as follows.

  (1) Although the processing tank 1 includes the inner tank 3 and the outer tank 5 in the above-described embodiment, the same effect can be obtained even when the processing tank is constituted by the inner tank 3 alone.

  (2) Although the flange 15 includes the seal member 17 in the above-described embodiment, the valve body 23 may include the seal member 17.

  (3) In the above-described embodiment, the minute distance d and the predetermined time T2 are set so that the flow rate discharged is less than the supply flow rate of pure water. When the distance from the upper edge of a certain substrate W to the liquid surface is long, the flow rate discharged may be larger than the pure water flow rate.

  (4) In the embodiment described above, the valve body 23 is driven by the air cylinder 33, but the valve body 23 may be driven by a driving means such as a linear motor.

It is a longitudinal cross-sectional view which shows schematic structure of the substrate processing apparatus which concerns on an Example. It is operation | movement explanatory drawing of a QDR valve, (a) at the time of a fully closed, (b) at the time of a full open, (c) represents the time at the time of a minute open. It is a time chart at the time of a process. It is a comparison with a prior art example and this invention, and is a graph which shows the change of a specific resistance.

Explanation of symbols

W ... Substrate 1 ... Processing tank 3 ... Inner tank 5 ... Outer tank 7 ... Jet pipe 9 ... Lifter 13 ... Discharge port 15 ... Flange 17 ... Seal member 19 ... Drain port 21 ... QDR valve 23 ... Valve body 25 ... Bellows 29 ... Valve shaft 33 ... Air cylinder 41 ... Solenoid valve 61 ... Control part d ... Minute distance

Claims (6)

In a substrate processing apparatus for processing a substrate by immersing the substrate in a processing solution,
A treatment tank for storing treatment liquid and performing immersion treatment on the substrate;
A treatment liquid supply means for supplying a treatment liquid containing pure water or a chemical solution to the treatment tank;
A discharge port provided in the treatment tank for discharging the treatment liquid stored in the treatment tank;
A valve body having a size for closing the discharge port;
A seal member attached to the valve body or the discharge port;
Drive means for advancing and retracting the valve body with respect to the discharge port;
A first supply pipe for supplying compressed air to the driving means at a first flow rate;
A second supply pipe that supplies compressed air to the drive means at a second flow rate that is smaller than the first flow rate;
After the substrate is processed with a processing liquid containing a chemical in the processing tank, the drive means is supplied via the second supply pipe while the substrate is rinsed by supplying pure water as the processing liquid to the processing tank. Compressed air is supplied to the valve body, the valve body is separated from the discharge port by a minute distance, and a small amount of pure water in the processing tank is discharged for a predetermined time. Control means for supplying compressed air to press the valve body against the outlet ;
A substrate processing apparatus comprising: The substrate processing apparatus according to claim 1,
The substrate processing apparatus, wherein the control means operates the driving means for a predetermined time. The substrate processing apparatus according to claim 1 or 2,
The control means operates the driving means so that a flow rate of the processing liquid discharged from the discharge port is smaller than a pure water supply amount supplied from the processing liquid supply means to the processing tank. A substrate processing apparatus. The substrate processing apparatus according to claim 1 or 2,
The substrate processing apparatus characterized in that the control means operates the driving means in three stages: a full closing operation for closing, a full opening operation for discharging, and a micro opening operation for slow leak. In a substrate processing method for processing a substrate by immersing the substrate in a processing solution,
In the state where the discharge port of the treatment tank is closed by the valve body of the quick drain valve, the process is performed on the substrate by immersing the substrate in the treatment liquid containing the chemical solution stored in the treatment tank;
The quick drain valve is separated from the discharge port to discharge the processing liquid in the treatment tank from the discharge port, and the pure water is treated with the discharge port of the treatment tank closed by the quick drain valve valve. Supplying the liquid to the treatment tank as a liquid;
A process of rinsing the substrate with a processing solution containing pure water;
During the rinsing process, the valve body of the quick drain valve is separated from the discharge port by a minute distance, and the pure water is discharged by a small amount for a predetermined time and then the valve body of the quick drain valve is pressed against the discharge port;
The process of rinsing and discharging the entire processing liquid by separating the quick drain valve body from the discharge port,
A substrate processing method characterized by comprising: The substrate processing method according to claim 5,
The substrate processing method according to claim 1, wherein the process of discharging a small amount of pure water is performed for a predetermined time.

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