JPH01958A - light processing equipment - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] This bulletin contains application data before electronic filing, so abstract data is not recorded.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention relates to a technique that is particularly effective when applied to a lamp processing apparatus that processes a workpiece with light of a predetermined wavelength, such as a low-pressure mercury lamp. The present invention relates to a technique that is effective when applied to a resist removal apparatus that removes a photoresist material on a semiconductor wafer by irradiating ultraviolet rays.

[Conventional technology]

Regarding the removal technique of the resist material deposited on the semiconductor wafer, for example, Japanese Patent Application No. 1173/1986 filed by the present applicant
It is described in the specification of No. 89.

The inventor studied the resist removal technique as described above. Although the following is not a publicly known technique, it is a technique studied by the present inventor, and its outline is as follows.

That is, after forming a predetermined circuit pattern on a semiconductor wafer (hereinafter simply referred to as "wafer"), a resist removal step is required to remove unnecessary resist material from the wafer surface.

As a means of removing such resist, the surface of the wafer coated with resist material and heated to a predetermined state is irradiated with ultraviolet rays using a low-pressure mercury lamp, etc., and the surface of the wafer is exposed to ozone and oxygen. Techniques for supplying a mixture of gases are known. In other words, chemically active oxygen radicals generated by the dissociation of oxygen and ozone excited by ultraviolet rays oxidize the resist material made of organic matter, converting it into carbon dioxide gas and water vapor, and removing it from the wafer surface. It is to be removed.

In the above-mentioned resist removing apparatus, a nozzle is opened vertically to the surface of the wafer placed on a heated stage, and the mixed gas is applied to the surface of the wafer from the opening at the tip of the nozzle. Those with a circulating structure are known.

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] However, in the resist removing apparatus having the above structure, since the mixed gas is supplied to the surface of the wafer from a single fixed position, it is difficult to remove the resist material within the surface of the wafer. The inventor has revealed that there are variations in speed and that the removal efficiency of the resist material is poor.

The present invention has been made focusing on the above problems,
The purpose is to use treatment technology using light irradiation such as ultraviolet rays.
The objective is to provide technology that can improve processing efficiency.

The above and other objects and novel features of the present invention will become apparent from the description of this specification and the accompanying drawings.

[Means for solving problems]

A brief overview of typical inventions disclosed in this application is as follows.

That is, a lamp chamber in which a light emitting source of a predetermined light is located, a processing chamber in which the object to be processed is located, and a plurality of supply ports that supply processing fluid in a shower to the object to be processed in the processing chamber. The optical processing device structure has a fluid supply section.

[Effect]

According to the above-mentioned means, since the processing fluid is supplied to the surface of the object to be processed in the form of a shower through the plurality of supply ports,
It is possible to uniformize the treatment by wiping it over the entire surface of the object to be treated, and it is possible to improve the treatment efficiency in light treatment.

〔Example〕

FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram showing a cross-sectional structure of a processing mechanism in a resist removing device which is an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is an external perspective view of this resist removing device, and FIG. 3 is a diagram showing the arrangement of each mechanism. It is an explanatory diagram.

The resist removal apparatus of this embodiment is for removing resist material applied to the surface of a wafer used, for example, in the manufacture of semiconductor devices.

As shown in FIG. 2, this resist removing device 1 has two processing mechanisms 2 and 3°, a loader 4, and an unloader 5. The right side of cartridge 7 and 8 are exposed.

Here, inside the main body 6 of the apparatus, a loader 4, an unloader 5, a processing mechanism 2 on the right, and a processing mechanism 3 are respectively arranged at the X-shaped end, as shown in FIG. The wafer 1 between each mechanism is located at the center of the plane between these mechanisms.
A transport unit 9 for transporting 0 is provided. The transfer unit 9 has an arm 11 that holds the wafer 10 by vacuum suction means or the like, and the wafer 10 held by the rotation of the arm 11 is transferred to the loader 4 and the processing mechanism 2.
Or 3, it has a structure in which it is transported between each mechanism of the unloader 5.

The front side of the main body 6 of the apparatus has an operation panel 12 on which various switches and a display section are arranged, and it is possible to control the start of operation and the like.

Note that the processing mechanisms 2 and 3 are provided on the back side of the device main body 6.
An ozone generator 14 for supplying ozone, which is one component of the processing fluid 13, is disposed in the chamber.

Here, the cross-sectional structure of the processing mechanism 2 will be explained in more detail as follows.

That is, as shown in FIG. 1, the processing mechanism 2 has a processing mechanism main body 15 having a housing structure, and the processing mechanism main body 15 has a transparent synthetic quartz plate 16 inside.
It has a structure partitioned into a light source chamber 17 and a processing chamber 18.

A low-pressure mercury lamp 20 for irradiating ultraviolet rays is disposed in the light source chamber 17.
2, the electrode part 22 is fixed to one side wall of the light source chamber 17, and the tube body 21 extends inside the light source chamber 17 in parallel with the horizontal direction of the light source chamber 17. ing.

An illuminance monitor 23 is disposed in the light source chamber 17 from above in FIG. 1, and is capable of monitoring the illumination state by the low-pressure mercury lamp 20. Cooling water flow passages 24 are provided in the upper and lower walls of the processing mechanism main body 15, and have a structure that absorbs heat released to the outside.

In the light source chamber 17, a fluid supply pipe 25 is vertically installed in the central part thereof, that is, from above the light source chamber 17 toward the processing chamber 18. A shower block 26 is connected thereto. As shown in FIG. 1, for example, the shower block 26 has a flat housing structure in which a flow path is formed inside, and a large number of supplies arranged in a planar matrix on the lower surface side. A port 27 is opened toward the lower processing chamber 18 . Therefore, the processing fluid 13 supplied to the fluid supply pipe 25' is supplied in the form of a shower into the processing chamber 18 from each supply port 27 through the flow path in the shower block 26. Note that the fluid supply pipe 25 described above
The shower block 26 and the like are all made of transparent synthetic quartz members, and have a structure that does not block ultraviolet rays irradiated by the low-pressure mercury lamp 20.

A processing stage 30 rotatable by a DC servo motor 28 is provided in the processing chamber 18 , and a block-shaped heater 31 is installed inside the processing stage 30 to control the surface of the processing stage 30 . is controlled to meet the required heating conditions. Note that a wafer 10 as an object to be processed is placed on the surface of the processing stage 300 with a thin quartz plate 32 interposed therebetween. This wafer
O is taken in and out of the processing chamber 18 through an openable and closable shutter 33 provided on a part of the side wall of the processing chamber 18.

Further, an exhaust port 34 is provided on the other side wall of the processing chamber 18, and the structure is such that the inside of the processing chamber 18 can be exhausted.

In the above explanation, the processing mechanism 2 has been explained as an example, but the structure of the processing mechanism 3 is also exactly the same.

Next, the operation of this embodiment will be explained.

When the etching process is completed and the wafer 10 with the resist material remaining on its surface is accommodated in the cartridge 7 and positioned on the loader 4, the transport unit 9 starts operating and the arm 11 is vacuumed. Due to the suction action, the wafers 10 are taken out one by one from the cartridge 7.

Next, the arm 11 of the transport unit 9 rotates by a predetermined amount, the shutter 33 of the processing mechanism 2 is opened, and the processing stage 3
When the wafer 10 is placed on the quartz plate 32 above the quartz plate 32, the shutter 33 is closed and the processing stage 30 starts rotating by the DC servo motor 28. At this time, the heater 31 provided inside the processing stage 30 also starts operating, and the processing stage 30 is heated.

Next, the low-pressure mercury lamp 20 in the light source chamber 17 is turned on, and irradiation of the surface of the wafer 10 in the processing chamber 18 with ultraviolet rays is started. In parallel with this, ozone from the ozone generator 14 is mixed with oxygen to form a mixed gas, forming a processing fluid 13, which is supplied into the fluid supply pipe 25.

The processing fluid 13 that has passed through the fluid supply pipe 25 as described above passes through a flow path in the shower block 26 and is then showered from a plurality of supply ports provided on the lower surface of the shower block 26 into the processing chamber 18, that is, to the wafer. 100 surfaces are supplied.

Processing fluid 13 thus supplied into processing chamber 18
is excited by ultraviolet ray irradiation from the low-pressure mercury lamp 20, and chemically active oxygen radicals are formed. Due to the action of this oxygen radical 0°, the wafer 10
The resist material on the 0 surface is oxidized and vaporized into carbon dioxide gas, water vapor, or the like. The outline of this reaction is shown by the following formula.

Cn Hm + (2+1 + %m) O°→n C
Oz + '4m H20 The above equation is a reaction equation when the structure of the resist material is mainly composed of methylstyrene units.

In this manner, the resist material is vaporized into carbon dioxide gas and water vapor, removed from the surface of the wafer 10, and then discharged to the outside through the exhaust port 34 of the processing chamber 18.

In supplying the processing fluid 13 as described above, according to the present embodiment, the processing fluid 13 made of a mixed gas such as oxygen and ozone is supplied to almost the entire surface of the wafer 10 through the numerous supply ports 27 of the shower block 26. Therefore, oxygen radicals caused by ultraviolet irradiation are 0°
The supply of is also made uniform over the entire surface of the wafer IO.

Therefore, the resist material can be efficiently removed without causing variations in the state of the resist material remaining on the surface of the wafer 10.

In this way, the wafer 1 from which the resist material has been removed
0 is adsorbed by the arm 11 of the wafer transport unit 9 through the shutter 33 and taken out of the processing mechanism 2, and then rotated again by a predetermined amount and stored in the cartridge 8 on the unloader 5 side.

In addition, although the resist material removal work using the processing mechanism 2 has been described above, the same processing is also performed in the other processing mechanism 3 during such processing work, and neither of the processing mechanisms 2 and 3 The wafers on which the resist material removal process has been completed are also sequentially accommodated in the cartridge 8 on the unloader 5 side by the wafer transport unit 9.

As described above, according to this embodiment, the following effects can be obtained.

(1) A shower block 26 is attached to the tip of the fluid supply pipe 25.
By providing a large number of supply ports 27 for supplying the processing fluid 13 to the surface of the wafer 10 on the lower surface of the shower block 26, the supply of oxygen radicals to the wafer 10 can be made uniform, and the supply of oxygen radicals to the wafer 10 can be made uniform. The removal efficiency of the resist material can be improved.

(2) According to (1) above, it is possible to prevent the resist material from remaining on the wafer 10, and it is possible to realize a highly reliable resist material removal process.

Although the invention made by the present inventor has been specifically explained above based on Examples, it goes without saying that the present invention is not limited to the Examples and can be modified in various ways without departing from the gist thereof. Nor. For example, the supply port 27 provided in the shower block 26 may have a slit-like opening shape. In addition, the resist removal bag W1 of this embodiment has two processing mechanisms 2 and 3.
Although the description has been given of a device equipped with a single processing mechanism, a device equipped with four processing mechanisms or three or more processing mechanisms may be used.

In the above explanation, the invention made by the present inventor was mainly applied to the field of application, which is a so-called resist removal device, but the present invention is not limited to this, and can also be applied to other optical excitation fluid treatment techniques. Applicable.

〔Effect of the invention〕

A brief explanation of the effects obtained by typical inventions disclosed in this application is as follows.

In other words, by adopting an optical processing device structure having a fluid supply section with a plurality of supply ports for supplying processing fluid to the processing object in the processing chamber, the processing fluid can flow through the plurality of supply ports in the form of a shower. Since it is supplied to the surface of the object to be treated, the treatment can be made uniform over the entire surface of the object to be treated, and the processing efficiency in optical processing can be improved.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram showing a cross-sectional structure of a processing chamber in a resist removal apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is an external perspective view of a resist removal apparatus according to an embodiment, and FIG. 3 is a processing system according to an embodiment. It is an explanatory diagram showing the arrangement state of. 1... Resist removal device iF, 2.3... Processing mechanism, 4... Loader, 5... Unloader, 6... Apparatus main body, 7.8... Cartridge, 9... Transport Unit, 10... Wafer, 11... Arm, 12...
Operation panel, 13... Processing fluid, 14... Ozone generator, 15... Processing mechanism main body, 16... Synthetic quartz plate, 17... Light source chamber, 18... Processing chamber, 20. ...Low pressure mercury lamp, 21...Tube body, 22...Electrode part, 2
3... Illuminance monitor, 24... Cooling water flow path, 25...
...Fluid supply pipe, 26...Shower block, 27.
... Supply port, 28... DC servo motor, 30...
Processing stage, 31... heater, 32... quartz plate,
33...Shutter, 34...Exhaust port. Figure 1 2rI! J Figure 3

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. An optical processing device that performs processing by irradiating a processing object located in a processing chamber with a predetermined light and supplying a processing fluid that is excited by the predetermined light. , a lamp chamber in which the light emitting source of the predetermined light is located, a processing chamber in which the object to be processed is located, and a plurality of supply ports that supply processing fluid in a shower form to the object to be processed in the processing chamber. an optical processing device having an established fluid supply section; 2. The optical processing device according to claim 1, wherein the fluid supply section is comprised of a shower block in the form of a flat housing having a large number of fluid supply holes. 3. The optical processing device according to claim 1, wherein the fluid supply section is made of a transparent material. 4. The optical processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the processing fluid is a gas mixture consisting of oxygen and ozone, and the object to be processed is a semiconductor wafer.