JPH02164477A - Base treatment device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To prevent chemical liquid from adhering to the rear surface of a base and also particles from generating thereon by treating the base in the state of levitation by gas flow. CONSTITUTION:A number of gas exhaust outlets 5 and gas suction inlets 6 are communicated with the inside of a rotating shaft 7 on a recessed section 4 of a base retaining section 3, and a base 2 is levitated by air flow formed between said outlets and inlets to retain and treat the base 2 in the state not to be in contact with the base retaining section. Chemical liquid fed from a chemical liquid feeding source 8 is prevented from adhering to the rear surface of the base 2 and also particles are prevented from generating thereon because of the friction between the base retaining section and the base 2.

Description

[Detailed description of the invention] [Purpose of the invention] (Industrial application field) The present invention relates to a substrate processing apparatus.

(Prior Art) Generally, a substrate processing apparatus is configured to hold a substrate, for example, a semiconductor wafer, in a substrate holder and perform a predetermined process on the substrate.

For example, in a spin coating apparatus that coats a semiconductor wafer with a photoresist, a substrate holding section is configured to hold the semiconductor wafer using, for example, a vacuum chuck and rotate the semiconductor wafer 1 at high speed. The resist is applied uniformly by centrifugal force by rotating the semiconductor wafer at high speed. Note that some substrate processing apparatuses, such as developing devices, scrubbers, and ashers, similarly hold the semiconductor wafer 1 in a substrate holder having a mechanism such as a vacuum chuck, and perform processing while rotating the semiconductor wafer. .

(Problems to be Solved by the Invention) However, in the conventional substrate processing apparatus described above, for example, a photoresist rotation coating apparatus, the photoresist, which is a chemical liquid, adheres to the substrate holding part of the support, and the chemical liquid such as the photoresist adheres to the substrate holding part of the support. It attaches to the back side of the semiconductor wafer undergoing processing,
The problem is that contaminants are carried into other processes as contaminants, and for example, in substrate processing equipment that rotates substrates such as semiconductor wafers at high speed, there is a strong inertia between the substrate holder and the semiconductor wafer due to the large inertia when starting and stopping the rotation. There is a problem in that positional deviation occurs and particles are generated due to friction at this time.

The present invention has been made in response to such conventional circumstances, and includes problems such as chemical liquid adhering to the substrate due to contact between the substrate holder and the substrate, and particles being generated due to friction between the substrate holder and the substrate. It is an object of the present invention to provide a substrate processing apparatus that can prevent such problems.

[Structure of the Invention] (Means for Solving the Problems) That is, the present invention provides a substrate processing apparatus that processes a substrate with a substrate holder, forming a gas flow between the substrate holder and the substrate, The method is characterized in that the processing is performed while the substrate is held on the substrate holder in a non-contact state by this gas flow.

(Function) In the substrate processing apparatus of the present invention, a gas flow is formed between the substrate holder and the substrate, and processing is performed while holding the substrate on the substrate holder in a non-contact state using this gas flow. It is configured.

Therefore, it is possible to prevent chemical liquid such as photoresist from adhering to the substrate due to contact between the substrate holder and the substrate, and generation of particles due to friction between the substrate holder and the substrate.

(Example) Hereinafter, an example in which the present invention is applied to a spin coating apparatus will be described with reference to the drawings.

The spin coating apparatus 1 includes a wafer holding section 3 that holds a substrate, for example, a semiconductor wafer 2 formed in an approximately disk shape.
is provided.

The wafer holding section 3 is formed into a circular disk shape,
A circular concave portion 4 is formed on the upper surface of the wafer holding portion 3 and has a diameter slightly larger than the diameter of the semiconductor wafer 2 in accordance with the shape of the semiconductor wafer 2 .

Further, this concave portion 4 is provided with a large number of gas blow-off ports 5 and gas suction ports 6, and these gas blow-off ports 5 and gas suction ports 6 are connected to a gas delivery device and a gas discharge device (not shown), respectively. It is connected. That is, the gas outlet 5 and the gas inlet 6 form a gas flow in the wafer holder 3 as shown by the arrow in the figure, and the gas flow is formed above the concave portion 4 at an interval of, for example, 0.1 to 5 nm.
The semiconductor wafer 2 is configured to be able to be held in a non-contact manner by providing an un. Furthermore, a rotating shaft 7 connected to a drive mechanism (not shown) is provided at the lower central part of the wafer holder 3, and rotates the wafer holder 3 at a speed of, for example, 1,000 to 50 per minute.
It is configured to be rotatable at a rotation speed of approximately 0.00 rotations.

Further, a nozzle 9 for supplying photoresist from a resist supply source 8 to approximately the center of the upper surface of the semiconductor wafer 2 is provided on the upper part of the wafer holding part 3, and around the wafer holding part 3, A coater cup 10 is provided and configured to prevent resist from scattering during spin coating.

In the spin coating apparatus 1 of this embodiment having the above configuration, the semiconductor wafer 2 is transported above the concave portion 4 of the wafer holder 3 by, for example, a transport arm (not shown). Thereafter, as described above, the wafer holding unit 3 pumps a gas, such as air, from the gas outlet 5 at a flow rate of, for example, 0.01 to 0.1+.
By ejecting the air at a speed of n/S and exhausting a part of this air from the gas suction port 6 at a flow rate of, for example, 0 to 0.01 m/S, an air flow is formed as shown by the arrow in the figure, and the semiconductor wafer 2 is depressed. For example, there is a gap of 2 to 5 ff1 above part 4.
m to hold it in a non-contact manner. In other words, semiconductor sea urchin/
Do not let X2 come into contact with the wafer holder 3. Then, in this state, the above-mentioned transport arm or the like is pulled out, and then the airflow is adjusted to adjust the distance between the semiconductor wafer 2 and the concave portion 4 to, for example, 0.1 to 1. Reduce to about OI.

Thereafter, a predetermined amount of photoresist from the resist supply source 8 is dropped onto the approximate center of the upper surface of the semiconductor wafer 2 by the nozzle 9, and the wafer holding section 3 is moved by a drive mechanism (not shown).
For example, the rotation speed is about 1000 to 5000 revolutions per minute. On the way, the wafer holder 3 is further dried in the sun at high speed, for example 1.
If the speed is set to 0,000 revolutions/second, more uniform coating becomes possible. Then, the semiconductor wafer 2 is rotated together with the wafer holder 3 due to the viscosity of the air, and the rotation of the semiconductor wafer 2 uniformly coats the entire upper surface of the semiconductor wafer 2 with photoresist.

Then, when the photoresist coating is completed, the distance between the semiconductor urchin /\2 and the recessed portion 4 is adjusted to a distance of, for example, 2 to
5I is provided to form a space for inserting a transport arm, etc., and the semiconductor wafer \2 is unloaded.

That is, the spin coating apparatus 1 of this embodiment described above forms a gas flow by a large number of gas blow-off ports 5 and a gas suction port 6 formed in the recessed part 4 of the wafer holding part 3, and this gas flow is The semiconductor wafer 2 is held above the substrate holder 3 in a non-contact manner. Therefore, it is possible to prevent chemicals such as photoresist from adhering to the semiconductor wafer 2 due to contact between the substrate holder 3 and the semiconductor wafer 2, and to prevent particles from being generated due to friction between the substrate holder 3 and the semiconductor wafer \2. can do.

In the above embodiments, the present invention is applied to a spin coating apparatus, but the present invention is not limited to such an embodiment and can be applied to any substrate processing apparatus.

In particular, it is suitable for substrate processing apparatuses that process substrates by rotating them, such as developer scrubbers and ashers. Particularly, it exhibits a remarkable effect when applied to the baking step after the above-mentioned spin coating. That is, when baking the wafer using the baking heating plate, the wafer should not come into contact with the baking plate. Specifically, baking is performed while the wafer is raised above the heating plate by the above-mentioned air blowing action.

As a result, the number of dust particles on the wafer when they come into contact has been reduced from hundreds to just a few pieces, and the effect is outstanding.

[Effects of the Invention] As described above, the substrate processing apparatus of the present invention can prevent particles from adhering to the substrate.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing the configuration of an embodiment in which the present invention is applied to a spin coating apparatus. 1... Spin coating device, 2...
・Semiconductor wafer, 3...Wafer holding part, 4...
...Concave portion, 5... Gas outlet, 6.
...Gas suction port, 7...Rotation shaft, 8
...Resist supply source, 9...Nozzle,
10... Cota cup. Applicant Chill Kyushu Co., Ltd. Agent Patent Attorney Sasa Suyama - (1 other person) Figure 1

Claims (1)

[Claims] (1) In a substrate processing apparatus that processes a substrate with a substrate holder, a gas flow is formed between the substrate holder and the substrate, and the gas flow allows the substrate to be placed on the substrate holder in a non-contact manner. A substrate processing apparatus characterized in that the substrate processing apparatus performs the processing while holding the substrate in a fixed state.