JPH04150028A - Cleaning apparatus of wafer - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To clean an uncleaned part which has been gripped by a method wherein a wafer in a gripped state is turned by a pressure obtained by spraying a liquid from a liquid jet means on a part near the outer circumference of the wafer. CONSTITUTION:Pure water 7 is poured into a cleaning tank 6; a wafer 1 which has been gripped near the outer circumferential edge 1a by using three gripping members 10 arranged at equal intervals on the circumference of a circle is immersed in it; the first-half cleaning operation of the wafer 1 is executed by the pure water 7. Then, the gripping members 10 are slid in such a way that the wafer 1 can be turned; the wafer 1 is turned by a pressure obtained by spraying the jetted pure water 33 in the tangential direction on a part near the outer circumference of the wafer 1 via a jet nozzle 31 from a jet pump 30; uncleaned parts which have been gripped can be cleaned. Thereby, the whole of the wafer 1 including the uncleaned parts which have been gripped can be cleaned effectively.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention relates to a wafer cleaning apparatus used in the manufacturing process of semiconductor devices, and particularly relates to a single-wafer type wafer cleaning apparatus that cleans wafers one by one. .

(Prior Art) As is well known, in the manufacturing process of semiconductor devices, it is necessary to clean the wafer many times with various cleaning fluids as pre-treatment and post-treatment for each process. There are two types of wafer cleaning equipment: a single wafer type that cleans wafers one by one, and a batch type that cleans multiple wafers by storing them in a cassette jig. This shows an example. By gripping three places near the outer circumference of the wafer 1 with the gripping tool 2 and immersing it in the cleaning liquid 4 of the cleaning tank 3, and immersing or swinging the wafer 1 in this state, Both the front and back surfaces of the wafer 1 are being cleaned.

[Problem to be solved by the invention]

However, in the conventional single-wafer type wafer cleaning apparatus as shown in FIG. There is a problem in that P inevitably remains as an uncleaned portion, and the cleaning condition of that portion P is significantly worse than that of other portions.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a wafer cleaning apparatus that, when cleaning a wafer while gripping it, can also clean the gripped portion of the wafer in the same manner as other portions.

[Means to solve the problem]

In order to achieve the above object, a wafer cleaning device according to the present invention includes: a cleaning tank into which a cleaning liquid is injected; a plurality of gripping members that can contact near the outer periphery of a wafer and rotatably grip the wafer; The wafer is provided with a liquid jetting means for spraying liquid near the outer periphery of the wafer rotatably gripped by the gripping member in the cleaning tank into which the cleaning liquid is injected to rotate the wafer.

Further, a means for supplying the cleaning liquid to the liquid ejecting means may be provided.

[For production]

According to the present invention configured as described above, when the liquid is sprayed near the outer periphery of the wafer by the liquid jetting means,
The wafer is rotated by the pressure of the liquid while being held by the holding member. This changes the position of the wafer relative to the gripping member, exposing the portion that was previously gripped by the gripping member. Therefore, when cleaning a wafer while gripping it, it is possible to clean the gripped uncleaned portion of the wafer.

Further, when the cleaning liquid is supplied to the liquid jetting means, the cleaning liquid itself can be used as a liquid to be sprayed onto the wafer.

[Example] Hereinafter, a first example of a wafer cleaning apparatus to which the present invention is applied will be described.
This will be explained with reference to FIGS.

First, as shown in FIG. 1, the cleaning tank 6 of this wafer cleaning apparatus is formed in the shape of a rectangular parallelepiped box, and its upper surface is open. Pure water 7 is poured into this cleaning tank 6 as a cleaning liquid. Then, the wafer 1 is immersed in this pure water 7.

As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the wafer 1 is gripped by three gripping members 10 arranged equidistantly on the circular side. These gripping members 10 are all the same, and the front end thereof has a gripping portion 11 consisting of an arcuate V-shaped groove.
is formed.

Each gripping member 10 is mounted on a circular main body substrate 20, and is configured to be movable in the radial directions of arrows a and a', respectively. Note that each gripping member 10 is moved by a drive mechanism not shown. In addition, the main board 2
0 is attached to the tip of a movable arm or the like (not shown) of a wafer cleaning device, and a circular opening 21 is provided in the center of the main substrate 20.

Then, when each gripping member 10 is moved in the direction of arrow a,
The grip portion 11 is engaged near the outer peripheral edge la of the wafer l, and the wafer l is gripped.

Furthermore, when each gripping member 10 is moved in the direction of arrow a',
The gripping portion 11 is removed from the vicinity of the outer peripheral edge 1a of the wafer 1. Note that each gripping member 10 can also be gripped by a linear orientation flat 1b provided on the wafer l. Furthermore, each gripping member 10 is configured to be able to stop after being moved by a certain stroke in the direction of arrow a' while gripping the wafer 1, so that it can rotatably grip the wafer I.

Next, as shown in FIG. 1, this wafer cleaning apparatus is equipped with liquid jetting means. That is, an injection pump 30 is arranged outside the cleaning tank 6, and an injection nozzle 31 connected to a discharge port of the injection pump 30 extends into the inside of the cleaning tank 6.

In addition, as shown in FIG. 2, the position of the injection nozzle 31 is
l is approximately tangential to the vicinity of the outer circumferential edge Ia of the wafer 1. Further, a supply vibrator 32 is connected between the suction port of the injection pump 30 and the cleaning tank 6 as means for supplying pure water 7.

Therefore, when the injection pump 30 is driven, the pure water 7 in the cleaning tank 6 is introduced into the injection pump 30 via the supply pipe 32, and the pure water 7 is jetted from the injection nozzle 31 as pure water 33. The wafer 1 is held at approximately the middle position between the two gripping members 10.
It is configured to be sprayed near the outer periphery of the

Note that FIG. 3 shows a modification of the liquid jetting means, in which one or two jetting nozzles 31 are arranged at an angle with respect to one or both surfaces near the outer periphery of the wafer 1.

With such a configuration, the jetted pure water 33 may be sprayed onto one or both surfaces of the wafer 1 near its outer periphery.

Next, the operation of the wafer cleaning apparatus configured as described above will be explained.

First, the wafer 1 is mounted outside the cleaning tank 6 shown in FIG. That is, each gripping member 10 moved in the direction of arrow a'
The wafer l is inserted between the two, and each gripping member lO is moved in the direction of the arrow a, so that the gripping part 11 grips the outer peripheral edge 1 of the wafer 1.
It is engaged near a.

In this gripped state, the wafer 1 is immersed into the cleaning tank 6, as shown in FIG. 4A, and the first half of the wafer 1 is cleaned with pure water 7. Note that, as shown in FIG. 2, the apertures 21 provided in the main substrate 20 allow the pure water 7 to flow sufficiently between the main substrate 20 and the wafer 1.

When the prescribed cleaning is completed, in FIGS. 1 and 2,
Each gripping member 10 is moved by a certain stroke in the direction of arrow a', and the wafer 1 becomes rotatable. Then, the injection pump 30 is driven, and the injection nozzle 31 sprays the pure water 33 onto the vicinity of the outer periphery of the wafer l. Due to the jetting pressure of the jetted pure water 33, the wafer 1 is rotated in the direction of the arrow mark while being gripped by each gripping member 10, as shown in FIG. 4B.

It is also possible to loosen the grip on the wafer 1 after spraying the deionized water 33 in advance, but in this case, there is a risk that the wafer 1 will be rubbed by each grip member 10 while the grip loosens. As described above, it is preferable to make the wafer 1 rotatable in advance and then spray the pure water 33 onto it.

The jetted pure water 33 is sprayed for a certain period of time, and the wafer 1 is
When the injection pump 30 is rotated by a certain angle, the drive of the injection pump 30 is stopped as shown in FIG. And each gripping member 10
is moved in the direction of the arrow a, and the gripping portion 11 is engaged again near the outer peripheral edge 1a of the wafer 1. In this gripping state,
As shown in FIG. 4C, the latter half of the wafer 1 is cleaned.

As described above, after the first half of the cleaning process shown in FIG. 4A is completed, when the wafer 1 is rotated as shown in FIG. 4B,
The position of the wafer 1 relative to each gripping member 10 changes, and the portion P that was previously gripped by each gripping member 10 is exposed. Therefore, the portion P that was gripped by each gripping member 10 during the first half of the cleaning and was in a poor cleaning state can be effectively cleaned during the second half of the cleaning shown in FIG. 4C. Note that the jetting time of the jetted pure water 33 is set in advance so that each portion P of the wafer 1 is not gripped by each gripping member 10 again when the wafer 1 is rotated.

By the way, in this embodiment, since the pure water 7 in the cleaning tank 6 is supplied to the injection pump 30, the pure water 7 itself can be used as the jetted pure water 33 to be sprayed onto the wafer 1, and the spraying is unnecessary. There is no need to prepare a special liquid.

Note that, after the first half cleaning, rotation of the wafer 1, and second half cleaning described above, the rotation and cleaning of the wafer 1 may be repeated any number of times. When the cleaning is finally completed, the wafer 1 is taken out from the cleaning tank 6, and each gripping member 10 is moved in the direction of the arrow a' to attach and detach the wafer 1.

Although the embodiments of the present invention have been described above, the present invention is not limited to the embodiments, and various effective changes and applications can be made based on the technical idea of the present invention.

For example, in the embodiment, the wafer is rotatably gripped by moving the gripping member by a certain stroke, but the gripping member may be any member that can substantially rotatably grip the wafer.
It may also be one that always holds the wafer in a rotatable manner. Also,
The configuration of the gripping member can be modified in various ways.

Further, as the cleaning liquid, a chemical solution, a rinsing liquid, or the like can be used in addition to pure water. Furthermore, the liquid sprayed onto the wafer does not necessarily have to be the same as the cleaning liquid.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As described above, according to the present invention, the wafer can be rotated by spraying liquid by the liquid jetting means while the wafer is gripped by the gripping member in the cleaning tank. Therefore, when cleaning a wafer while gripping it, by rotating the wafer, the uncleaned portion of the gripped wafer can be cleaned in the same way as other parts, making it possible to clean the entire wafer extremely effectively. Can be washed.

Furthermore, according to the present invention, the wafer can be rotated in a non-contact manner using liquid without mechanically contacting the wafer with a rotating member or the like, thereby preventing the generation of particles due to wafer wear. be able to.

Furthermore, when the cleaning liquid is supplied to the liquid jetting means, the cleaning liquid itself can be used as the liquid to be sprayed onto the wafer, so there is no need to prepare a special liquid for spraying, and the equipment can be simplified. can be achieved.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

1 to 4C show an embodiment of a wafer cleaning apparatus to which the present invention is applied, in which FIG. 1 is a front view of the joint cross-sectional state of the entire apparatus during cleaning, and FIG. FIG. 3 is a perspective view of a modified example of the liquid ejecting means, and FIGS. 4A to 4C are schematic views at the time of cleaning. FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram showing a conventional example of a wafer cleaning apparatus. In addition, in the symbols used in the drawings, 1...Wafer 6...
・・・・・・・・・Cleaning tank 7・・・・・・・・・・・・
...Pure water 10...Gripping member 11...Gripping part 30.
・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・Injection pump 31・・・・
......Injection nozzle 32...
......Supply pipe 33...
...This is pure water that is gushing out.

Claims (2)

[Claims] (1) A cleaning tank into which a cleaning liquid is injected; a plurality of gripping members capable of contacting near the outer periphery of a wafer and rotatably gripping the wafer; and within the cleaning tank into which the cleaning liquid is injected. A wafer cleaning apparatus comprising: a liquid jetting means for spraying a liquid near the outer periphery of the wafer rotatably gripped by the gripping member to rotate the wafer. (2) The wafer cleaning apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising means for supplying the cleaning liquid to the liquid jetting means.