JPH0143870Y2 - - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Industrial Application Field] The present invention relates to a holder for holding glass substrates, semiconductor substrates, etc., and particularly relates to various processes for manufacturing photomasks from photomask blanks (e.g. , development processing, etching processing, cleaning processing, etc.).

[Conventional technology]

Conventionally, this type of substrate holder is known, for example, as disclosed in Japanese Utility Model Application Publication No. 59-192836. This will be briefly explained based on FIG. 6. 1 is a solid mounting table body made of a hexagonal pyramid; 2
is a rotating shaft provided at the center of the bottom of the mounting table main body 1,
3 is a rectangular wafer; 4 is a support surface that is recessed in each slope 1a of the mounting table main body 1 and supports the wafer 3;
A vacuum suction hole 5 is opened in each support surface 4, and the vacuum suction hole 5 is communicated with a passage 6 provided in the rotating shaft 2.

When cleaning the wafer 3, the passage 6 is evacuated to bring the support surfaces 4 into close contact with each other, and the wafer 3 is then rotated together with the rotating shaft 2 by the driving means, and the wafer 3 is cleaned by a nozzle (not shown). This is done by spraying the cleaning liquid toward the wafer 3 at a substantially right angle.

[The problem that the idea attempts to solve]

However, in such a conventional substrate holder, the mounting table main body 1 has a large inertia because it is a solid body, and the passage 6 is evacuated to vacuum-adsorb the wafer 3 to the support surface 4. The process becomes complicated and the equipment itself becomes large-scale, the support surface 4 must be processed with high precision, the wafer 3 cannot be attached or detached individually due to vacuum suction, and both the front and back sides of the wafer 3 must be cleaned at the same time. If double-sided cleaning is required, it has many drawbacks, such as being inefficient and unsuitable for immersion cleaning in a processing solution.

Therefore, the present invention was devised in view of the above-mentioned drawbacks of the conventional technology, and its purpose is to have a relatively simple structure and simultaneously process the front and back surfaces of a substrate as an object to be processed. It is an object of the present invention to provide a substrate holder that allows substrates to be attached and detached individually, and that can be processed by a spray method, a spin dry method, a dip method, or the like.

[Means to solve the problem]

In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, the present invention has a hollow frame-shaped structure that includes a rotating shaft, a plurality of blocks equidistributed around the rotating shaft, and a connecting portion connecting each block to the rotating shaft. a cassette holder formed in a body and having a cassette mounting window formed between adjacent blocks;
The cassette is composed of a plurality of cassettes each having a holding portion for holding both side edges of the substrate, and a locking means for locking the cassette in the closed position by tilting the cassette to the back side at a predetermined angle to the cassette holder. .

[Effect]

In the present invention, since the cassette holder is a hollow frame-like body, the front and back surfaces of the substrate can be processed simultaneously. The substrate is held on both edges by cassettes. Since the board is tilted toward the back side with respect to the rotation axis,
While the holder is being transferred, the processing liquid adhering to the substrate surface flows down at a slow rate, reducing the amount of processing liquid that collects at the bottom of the substrate.

〔Example〕

Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in detail based on embodiments shown in the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing an embodiment of a substrate holder according to the present invention, FIG. 2 is a plan view, and FIG. 3 is a front view. In these figures, the substrate holder 10 includes a rotating shaft 11, a cassette holder 12 disposed on the rotating shaft 11, and a plurality of cassettes 13 disposed on the cassette holder 12 so as to be openable and closable. Generally configured.

The rotating shaft 11 has a rectangular cross-sectional shape, for example, and has a clamped portion 15 at its upper end that is held by a robot arm 14 (see FIG. 3) during transportation, and a hollow frame-like body at its lower end. A formed cassette holder 12 is provided.

In this embodiment, the cassette holder 12 holds four cassettes 13, 13a, 13b, 13c, 13.
d, and therefore four blocks 16, 16a, 1 equally spaced around the rotation axis 11 are shown.
6b, 16c, 16d, and four substantially horizontal connecting portions 1 that connect each block 16 to the rotating shaft 11.
7, 17a, 17b, 17c, and 17d. Each block 16 is formed into a substantially triangular prism-like body having a substantially right triangular bottom and two mutually orthogonal vertical surfaces A and B, and is arranged around the rotation axis 11 at an angle of 90 degrees. It forms a cassette installation window. One end of each connecting part 17 is connected to the lower part of the rotating shaft 11, and the corresponding block part 17 at the other end is connected to the top of the block 16 so as to intersect with the vertical planes A and B at an angle of 45 degrees. It is provided.

Each of the cassettes 13, 13a, 13b, 13
13c and 13d are each formed into a substantially H-shape to form cassette mounting windows of the cassette holder 12, that is, between adjacent blocks 16, 16a and 16b, and 16b and 1.
6c, 16c and 16d, and 16a and 16d so that they can be opened and closed, respectively, and their lower ends are pivotally supported by shaft pins (not shown).
The upper end of the cassette 13 is rotated in the direction of arrow 20 in FIG. Also, a pair of left and right frame members 21 and 22 forming each cassette 13
Grooves 23 and 24 serving as holding portions for holding both side edge portions of the photomask blank 3, which is a substrate, are formed on the mutually opposing inner surfaces of the photomask blank 3 over substantially the entire length in the height direction.

In this case, in this embodiment, the photomask blank 3 has a Cr film formed on one main surface of a glass substrate, and a resist film coated on the Cr film. Further, bent portions 25 and 2 bent toward the center of the cassette 13 are provided at the lower ends of each of the frame members 21 and 22.
6 are provided integrally, respectively, and these bent portions 25, 2
Also on the upper surface of 6 is a groove 2 that communicates with the grooves 23 and 24.
7 and 28 (see FIG. 1) to more securely hold both sides of the lower end of the photomask blank 3.
If the bent portions 25 and 26 are formed from the upper end to the vicinity of the lower end, the bent portions 25 and 26 are not necessarily required.

As shown in FIG. 2, engagement protrusions 30 and 31 are protruded from the upper ends of the outer surfaces of each frame member 21 and 22, and corresponding to these engagement protrusions 30 and 31, the vertical Engagement recesses 32 and 33 are formed at the upper ends of surfaces A and B, respectively (see FIG. 2). The engagement protrusions 30, 31 and the engagement recess 32,
33 connects the upper end of the cassette 13 to the cassette holder 1.
When the cassette 13a is raised and inserted between the blocks 16a and 16b, the engaging protrusion 30 engages with the block 16d.
At the same time as the engaging protrusion 31 is fitted into the engaging recess 33 formed on the vertical surface B of the block 16a, the engaging protrusion 31 is fitted into the engaging recess 32 formed on the vertical surface A of the block 16a,
This causes the cassette 13a to be transferred to the block 16.
It is configured to be locked between a and 16b.
In this state, the photomask blank 3 is set so as to be inclined at a predetermined angle Θ (for example, Θ=30°) toward the back surface as shown in FIG. 3 with respect to the rotating shaft 11.

Note that the other cassettes 13b, 13c, and 13d are also locked between blocks in exactly the same way as the cassette 13a. In addition, each member constituting the substrate holder 10, that is, the rotating shaft 11, the cassette holder 1,
2. The cassette 13 and the like are each made of a material with excellent corrosion resistance and chemical resistance, such as Teflon (trade name).

Next, a method of development using the substrate holder 10 according to this embodiment will be described.

First, each cassette 13 is tilted in a direction away from the rotating shaft 11, and the photomask blank 3 is inserted into the grooves 23 and 24 with the resist film side facing outward.
Next, each cassette 13 is returned to its normal position and is locked between the blocks of the cassette holder 12 by engagement between the engagement protrusions 30 and 31 and the engagement recesses 32 and 33. After the four photomask blanks 3 are set, the robot arm 14 with a built-in rotation mechanism rotates the rotation axis 1.
1, the substrate holder 10 is carried onto a developing solution, immersed in the liquid, and the rotation is transmitted to the rotating shaft 11 via the clamped section 15 to hold the substrate holder 10 in a predetermined position. Rotate at the speed of rotation. Then, each photomask blank 3 rotates integrally with the substrate holder 10 while being inclined at a predetermined angle Θ with respect to the rotation axis 11, and as a result, a natural liquid flow occurs on the surface of the photomask blank 3. , the resist film applied to each photomask blank 3 is uniformly developed. Furthermore, since the photomask blank 3 is tilted, the time difference between the top and bottom of the blank 3 can be reduced when submerged in or removed from the developer, compared to when it is held vertically. Therefore, in-plane dimensional variations (variations in pattern dimensions formed by developing and etching the photomask blank 3) can be reduced. Furthermore, since the photomask blank 3 is held at an angle, in-plane dimensional variation during movement to the next tank is reduced compared to when it is held vertically.

That is, in vertically held transfer, the liquid adhering to the photomask blank 3 moves downward along the blank surface at a high speed, and a large amount of liquid inevitably collects at the bottom, resulting in dimensional variations within the plane. However, when transferring by holding at an angle as in the present invention, the speed at which the liquid at the top moves to the bottom is slow;
Therefore, the amount of liquid that collects in the lower part is small, and in-plane dimensional variations can be further reduced. In this case, it will be understood from this example that the larger the angle Θ formed between the photomask blank 3 and the rotating shaft 11, the greater the effect.

In the above embodiment, the photomask blank 3 is processed by immersing the substrate holder 10 in a processing chemical solution, but as shown in FIG. It is also possible to perform the treatment by spraying a chemical solution from the spray nozzle 41 onto the photomask blank 3. In other words, in conventional resist developing and etching equipment, a photomask blank with resist is set perpendicularly to a rotating shaft, and a processing solution for developing and etching is sprayed from above the resist film. However, with the substrate holder 1 according to the present invention, it was not possible to process multiple substrates at the same time.
0, multiple photomask blanks 3
can be processed simultaneously.

In addition, since the cassette holder 12 is a hollow frame-shaped body, both sides can be cleaned simultaneously during cleaning, regardless of whether it is immersion cleaning or spray cleaning, which is efficient.

Furthermore, heat treatment (for example, post-bake, pre-bake) is also possible by placing the substrate holder 10 on a rotary table 51 disposed within an oven 50, as shown in FIG. In this case, since the processing takes several minutes, the robot arm is used only for transporting the substrate holder 10, and the robot arm is used only for transporting the substrate holder 10.
It is better to rotate it by

As is clear from the above description, it will be understood that the substrate holder 10 of the present invention has the rotation axis 11 and can automate the entire processing process by using the robot arm 14. Dew.

Although the above embodiment has been described for the case where the photomask blank 3 is used as a substrate, the present invention is not limited to this. It can also be used when creating patterns.

Further, although the engaging protrusions 30, 31 and the engaging recesses 32, 33 are used as the means for locking the cassette 13, various modifications can be made without being limited thereto.

[Effect of idea]

As mentioned above, the substrate holder according to the present invention is
A cassette holder made of a hollow frame-like body is provided with a plurality of cassettes made of frame-like bodies, and the cassettes are configured to hold both side edges of the substrate.
The structure of the holder is simple, the substrates can be attached and detached individually, and both sides of the substrate can be processed simultaneously, improving work efficiency. Furthermore, it can be used as it is not only in the dip method but also in the spray method and spin dry method, improving its versatility as a holder, and is suitable for use in various treatments of substrates such as photomask blanks.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing an embodiment of the substrate holder according to the present invention, FIG. 2 is a plan view, and FIG. 3 is a front view.
FIG. 4 is a state diagram when processing is performed by disposing it in a chamber with a spray nozzle, FIG. 5 is a state diagram when heat treatment is performed, and FIG. 6 is a sectional view showing a conventional example of a substrate holder. 3...Photomask blank, 10...Substrate holder, 11...Rotating shaft, 12...Cassette holder, 13...Cassette, 17...Connection part, 30,
31... Engaging protrusion, 32, 33... Engaging recess.

Claims (1)

[Claims for Utility Model Registration] Formed into a hollow frame-like body by a rotating shaft, a plurality of blocks equidistributed around the rotating shaft, and connecting portions connecting each block to the rotating shaft. a cassette holder, each of which has a cassette mounting window formed between adjacent blocks, and a plurality of holder parts each formed in a frame shape and arranged between adjacent blocks so as to be openable and closable, and which hold both side edges of the board. 1. A substrate holder comprising: a cassette; and locking means for locking the cassette in a closed position by tilting the cassette to the back side at a predetermined angle to the cassette holder.