JPH0362476B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a wet processing apparatus, and more particularly to a photoresist developing apparatus.

Conventionally, as a wet processing method for a substrate surface, there is a dip method in which a cassette 2 containing a substrate 1 is immersed in a processing tank 4 filled with a chemical solution 3 as shown in FIG. 1, and a dip method as shown in FIGS. As shown in the figure, while the substrate 1 is held by suction on the vacuum chuck 5 and rotated, the chemical solution 3 in the form of mist is sprayed by the injection valve 6 as shown in Fig. 2. There is a single-hole nozzle method in which the nozzle 7 is placed in the center of the substrate and drops the chemical solution 3 onto the substrate 1, and a nozzle 8, which is a hollow pipe with one end 8a closed as shown in FIG. 4, is placed almost parallel to the substrate 1. A shower method is known in which a chemical solution 3 is dripped from a number of small holes provided on the bottom surface.

However, all of these methods have advantages and disadvantages. That is, the dip method shown in FIG. 1 is a wet process when a film of a substance with low mechanical strength is formed on the surface of the substrate 1, for example, when developing a positive type photoresist, it is difficult to avoid mechanical damage to the surface of the photoresist. It has the advantage of being able to develop with high quality without adding any additional material. On the other hand, it has drawbacks such as difficulty in continuous production and automation.

On the other hand, the spray method shown in Fig. 2,
The shower method shown in the figure can easily realize continuous production, but when developing a film with weak mechanical strength, such as positive photoresist, it mechanically destroys the photoresist surface and deteriorates the quality. It has the following drawbacks. The single-hole nozzle method shown in Fig. 3 has the same advantages as the spray method and shower method, but since new chemical solution is always supplied only to the center of the substrate surface, there is no need to worry about the wetness at the center and periphery of the substrate. The disadvantage is that the processing conditions are different.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to provide a wet treatment method that eliminates the drawbacks of conventional wet treatment methods.

An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIG. As shown in the figure, the substrate 1 is connected to a vacuum chuck 5.
The substrate 1 is held by suction and held above the substrate 1.
The point that the hollow pipe nozzle 9 is arranged parallel to is the same as in the conventional case.

In this embodiment, the nozzle 9 is closed at both ends, and the rotation axis 1 of the hollow pipe is provided on the upper extension coaxial with the rotation axis of the vacuum chuck 5.
It is attached to 0. The rotating shaft 10 is rotatably supported by a fixed block 11, and is rotated by a drive means (not shown). Further, a chemical liquid supply pipe 12 is connected to the fixed block 11, and a hole (not shown) is provided in each of the rotating shaft 10 and the fixed block 11 so that the chemical liquid supply pipe 12 communicates with the hollow part of the rotating shaft 10. It is being Further, a large number of holes 9a are provided on the lower surface of the nozzle 9 at a certain angle to the substrate 1 or perpendicularly thereto.

Next, a method for supplying a chemical solution to the surface of the substrate 1 using the apparatus having the above configuration will be described. The substrate 1 is held by suction on the vacuum chuck 5, and a nozzle 9 is placed above the substrate 1 in parallel with the substrate 1 and close to it by several millimeters. Then, the vacuum chuck 5, that is, the substrate 1, is not rotated, but the rotating shaft 10, that is, the nozzle 9 is rotated at about 10 to 60 rpm, and the fixed block 11 and the rotating shaft 1 are rotated through the chemical supply pipe 12.
The chemical solution 3 is supplied to the nozzle 9 through the nozzle 9. Thereby, the chemical solution 3 is uniformly supplied over the entire surface of the substrate 1 through the hole 9a of the nozzle 9.

Now, in the case of the conventional spray method and shower method shown in FIG. 3 and FIG. This mechanically destroys the surface of the film to be treated. However, in the method of the present invention, no shearing force due to the flow of the chemical solution acts between the surface of the film to be treated on the substrate 1 and the dropping chemical solution 3, so that the process film formed on the substrate 1 has a weak mechanical strength. The membrane is not destroyed.

Although the above embodiment describes the case where the substrate 1 is not rotated, the vacuum chuck 5 is rotated and the old chemical solution 3 is discharged to the outside of the substrate 1 by centrifugal force, so that new chemical solution 3 is constantly placed on the substrate 1. Even if it is supplied, the method of the present invention can prevent destruction of the film to be treated. That is, in the present invention, since the nozzle 9 is rotated, the rotation speed of the substrate 1 can be set to be smaller than the relative rotation speed of the nozzle 9 and the rotation speed of the substrate 1. Mechanical destruction of the film to be treated due to the supply of the chemical solution 3 can be prevented.
Further, although the above embodiments have been described in the case of photoresist development, the present invention can be similarly applied to other wet treatments such as etching, dyeing, washing, etc.

As is clear from the above description, according to the present invention, since the liquid is supplied while rotating the nozzle,
The substrate can be fixed or rotated at a small rotational speed, and the mechanical force acting between the liquid and the surface of the film to be processed on the substrate is significantly reduced, making it possible to perform high-quality wet processing.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

Figures 1, 2, 3 and 4 show conventional wet treatment methods, with Figure 1 being a sectional view of the dip method, Figure 2 being a perspective view of the spray method, and Figure 3 being a single hole nozzle. FIG. 4 is a perspective view of the shower method, FIG. 5 shows an embodiment of the wet treatment method according to the present invention, a is a front view, and b is an A of a.
- It is an enlarged cross-sectional view taken along the A line. 1... Substrate, 3... Chemical liquid, 5... Vacuum chuck, 9... Nozzle, 10... Rotating shaft.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A workpiece installation stand for mounting the workpiece above the workpiece and rotating the workpiece; and a developer supply porous nozzle for dripping a developer onto the workpiece from above the installation stand. A photoresist developing apparatus comprising: a nozzle rotation mechanism capable of supplying the developer while rotating the porous nozzle above the object to be processed.