JPH04184913A - Spinning coater - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To make it possible to commonly install a resist coating mechanism and a wafer aligning mechanism, and reduce the installation area, by vertically elevating a rotary chuck with a spin shaft. CONSTITUTION:A wafer 10 is mounted on a rotary chuck 11; a slide plate 24 is advanced by a control equipment 14, via a moving apparatus; the center of the wafer 10 is made to coincide with the center of the chuck 11; after that, a hydraulic elevating equipment 17 is driven, and an elevating shaft 18 equipped with a table is made to vertically descend. When a spin motor 13 is rotated at a high speed, resist 16 dripped at the center part of the wafer 10 surface from a dripping nozzle 15 immediately before the shaft 18 descends is made to flow in the outer peripheral direction by the centrifugal force, and sticks uniformly on the whole surface of the wafer 10. The residual resist 16 is scattered by the centrifugal force, and the wafer 10 is coated with the resist 16.

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Summary] Regarding a spin coating device that horizontally rotates a substrate such as a wafer and applies a thin coating of a processing liquid such as a resist onto the surface of the substrate, the spin coating device can reduce the installation area. The purpose of the present invention is to provide a spin-type coating device that has a spin shaft that rotates horizontally around a rotary chuck that rotates around an axis and places a fixed wafer on the upper end, and the spin shaft is raised and lowered. A spin-type coating apparatus is comprised of an elevating means for raising and lowering the rotary chuck in the vertical direction, and an alignment means for aligning the position of the orientation flat of the wafer in a predetermined direction when the rotary chuck is raised.

[Industrial application field]

The present invention provides a spin coating device, particularly a spin coating device with a small footprint (
The present invention relates to a spin-type coating device that can perform the following steps.

It is well known that the cost of constructing a clean room for manufacturing semiconductor devices can be quite expensive.

Therefore, it is important to make the equipment and the like installed in the clean room as compact as possible and to reduce the installation area.

Therefore, it is essential that a spin coating apparatus used in a clean room be configured with such considerations in mind.

[Conventional technology]

Next, a conventional spin coating apparatus will be described with reference to FIG. 2.

FIG. 2 is a diagram for explaining a conventional spin coating device, in which (a) is a sectional side view of the main part of the spin coating device, and (b) is a spin coating device with a system configuration. FIG. 10C is a side sectional view of the main part of FIG.

Note that the same symbols are given to the same parts and materials throughout the design.

As shown in Figure (a), the conventional spin coating device
A rod-shaped spin shaft 12 whose upper end is fixed with its axis aligned with the center of the back surface of a disk-shaped rotary chuck 11 on which a substrate, for example, a wafer 1O is placed, is connected to the lower end of the spin shaft 12, and A spin motor 13 that rotates a spin shaft 12 around its axis; a control device 14 that controls starting, stopping, rotation time, rotation speed, etc. of the spin motor 13; A dripping nozzle 1 that drips a processing liquid, for example, a liquid resist 16 onto the surface.
5.

A wafer l is coated using a spin coating apparatus having such a configuration.
To apply the resist 16 on the surface of the wafer 16, first the wafer 16 is placed on the surface of the rotary chuck 11 equipped with a vacuum suction function.
After placing wafer 1, use this vacuum suction function to
0 is brought into close contact with the surface of the rotating chuck 11.

Next, the wafer l is placed in close contact with the surface of the rotating chuck 11.
An appropriate amount of resist 16 is dropped onto the center of the surface of the wafer 10 from the dropping nozzle 15.

Immediately after dropping the resist 16, the control device 14 causes the spin motor 13 to rotate with predetermined starting characteristics.

Naturally, the spin shaft 12 connected to the spin motor 13 and the rotary chuck 11 connected to the spin shaft 12 also rotate in the direction of arrow T in synchronization with the rotation of the spin motor 13.

In this way, the resists 6 dropped onto the center of the surface of the wafer 10 flow toward the outer circumference due to centrifugal force and are uniformly deposited on the entire surface of the wafer 10, and the remaining resists 16 are scattered due to the centrifugal force. The coating of the resist 16 onto the wafer IO is completed.

[Problem to be solved by the invention]

As mentioned above, conventional spin coating apparatuses pose no particular problem when used in a clean room as long as the apparatus is used alone.

However, as shown in Figure 2(b), an attempt was made to add a wafer aligner and a wafer transfer robot to the spin coating device and streamline the resist coating work using the spin coating device with a new system configuration. This poses the problem of being expensive and occupying a large amount of floor space in the lean room.

The present invention was made to solve these problems, and its purpose is to provide a spin-type coating device that can reduce the installation area.

The wafer aligner shown in FIG.
1 with the centers of each wafer l aligned.
It has the function of placing the wafer IO on the rotating chuck 11 and the function of setting the orientation flat (hereinafter referred to as orientation flat) of the wafer IO in a fixed direction.

The wafer aligner connects a rotating shaft 22 whose upper end is fixed with its axis aligned with the center of the back surface of a rotating mounting table 21 on which the wafer 10 is placed, and a lower end of the rotating shaft 22. A rotating motor 23, a pair of slide plates 24 facing each other on both sides of the rotating mounting table 21, each having a semicircular tip having a curvature of the outer periphery of the wafer 10, and moving the slide plates 24 forward and backward in the longitudinal direction. The generated beam-like light 26 travels from the front surface to the back surface of the wafer 10 while being slightly separated from each other on the outside of the orientation flat 10a of the wafer 10 placed on the rotating mounting table 21. A pair of light emitting elements 25 arranged as shown in FIG.
6, a pair of light receiving elements 27 that receive light and convert it into an electrical signal, a slide plate moving device, and a controller 28 that inputs electrical signals from each light receiving element 27 and controls the motor 23. be.

In order to detect the center of the wafer 1O and the orientation flat 10a using this wafer aligner, the wafer 10 is first placed on the rotating mounting table 21.

Note that the rotary mounting table 21 is equipped with a vacuum suction function,
At this point, the wafer 10 is in a state where it can freely slide on the rotary mounting table 21.

Thereafter, the slide plate moving device controlled by the controller 28 moves each slide plate 24 forward in the direction of arrow B.

After that, the slide plate 24 continues to move forward in the same manner (c).
), the center of the wafer 10 coincides with the center of the rotary mounting table 21 when the tips of the wafers are in contact with each other as shown in FIG.

Thereafter, the slide plate moving device retreats each slide plate 24 in the direction of arrow C to return it to its initial position.

The wafers 10 placed on the rotary mounting table 21 with their centers aligned in this way are placed on the orientation flat 10a.
It becomes possible to detect the direction of.

At this time, the wafer 10 is vacuum-adsorbed onto the rotary mounting table 21 and tightly adhered to the rotary mounting table 21 so as not to move thereon.

Next, a method for detecting the orientation flat 10a of the wafer IO will be explained.

First, the light emitting element 25 and the light receiving element 27 are activated,
A beam-shaped light 26 generated by the light emitting element 25 is transmitted to the light receiving element 2.
7 to enable light reception.

In this state, the controller 28 starts the motor 23 and rotates the rotating shaft 22, the rotating mounting table 21, and the wafer 10 at a low speed.

When the direction of the orientation flat 10a of the wafer 10 becomes parallel to the straight line connecting the optical axes of the beam-shaped lights 26, each beam-shaped light 26 passes outside the orientation flat 10a and is received by the light receiving element 27. It will be done.

The controller 28 receives electrical signals simultaneously from the pair of light receiving elements 27 that receive the beam-shaped light 26, and controls the motor 2.
Stop 3 instantly.

In this way, the orientation flat 10a generates a beam of light 26
are detected parallel to the straight line connecting their respective optical axes.

Further, the wafer transfer robot 31 is positioned in this way, supports the back surface of the wafer 10 with the plate-shaped arm 32, and places the wafer 10 on the rotary chuck 11 of the spin coating device.

[Means to solve the problem]

The purpose is to provide a spin coating apparatus having a spin shaft that horizontally rotates a rotary chuck that rotates around its axis and places a fixed wafer on its upper end, as shown in FIG. A spin method characterized by having an elevating means for vertically raising and lowering the rotary chuck 11 by raising and lowering the rotary chuck 12, and a positioning means for aligning the position of the orienting silane flat of the wafer in a predetermined direction when the rotary chuck 11 is raised. This is accomplished by a coating device.

[For production]

The slide plate moving device of the present invention is configured so that the spin shaft 12 can be raised and lowered to vertically move the rotary chuck 11 up and down.

Therefore, since the slide plate moving device of the present invention can move the rotary chuck 11 up and down in the vertical direction, it is possible to install a plurality of mechanisms in the vertical direction, for example, the original resist coating mechanism and the wafer aligner mechanism described above. It becomes possible.

〔Example〕

An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIG.

FIG. 1 is a sectional side view of a main part of an embodiment of a spin coating apparatus of the present invention.

As shown in FIG. 1, one embodiment of the pin-type coating apparatus according to the present invention has a hierarchical structure of the function of the wafer aligner described above and the function of coating a resist on a wafer.

The spin-type coating apparatus according to one embodiment of the present invention having such functions requires approximately the same floor space for installation as the conventional spin-type coating apparatus explained in FIG. 2(a). It has the following major characteristics.

Next, the configuration and functions of such a spin coating apparatus will be explained in accordance with the work order.

First, a wafer transfer robot (not shown) places, for example, a wafer 1O taken out from a wafer holder (not shown) on the rotating chuck 11 of a spin coating device.

Thereafter, the slide plate moving device (not shown) controlled by the control device 14 slowly moves the slide plates 24 forward in the direction of arrow B at the same speed until their tips abut, as shown in FIG. (b) The center of the wafer 10 is aligned with the center of the rotary chuck 11 by following the method using the wafer aligner explained in FIG. 3 and (c).

Thereafter, the slide plate moving device moves the slide plate 24 backward in the direction of arrow C to return it to its original position.

After that, the control device 14 drives the hydraulic lifting device 17,
The rotating chuck 1 is vertically lowered in the direction of the arrow by vertically lowering the table-equipped lifting shaft 18 equipped with the spin motor 13 and the like.
When No. 1 reaches the position indicated by the dashed line, its descent is temporarily stopped.

Next, when the control device 14 rotates the spin motor 13 at high speed in the direction of arrow T, the table-equipped lifting shaft 1
The resist 16 dropped from the dropping nozzle 15 onto the center of the surface of the wafer 10 immediately before the resist 16 is lowered in the direction of the arrow.
The resist 16 flows toward the outer circumference due to centrifugal force and is uniformly deposited on the entire surface of the wafer 10, and the remaining resist 16 is scattered due to centrifugal force.
A resist 16 will be applied to the wafer IO.

When the resist coating on the wafer is completed in this way, the control device 14 drives the hydraulic lifting device 17 again to vertically lift the table-equipped lifting shaft 18 in the direction of arrow U, so that the rotary chuck 11 returns to its original position. The ascent is temporarily stopped when it has risen to the height, that is, the position indicated by the solid line.

Then, in this state, the wafer 1O is transferred to the next process, but this transfer is carried out at the orientation flat 1 of the wafer 10.
It is common to align 0a.

Therefore, the control device 14 starts the spin motor 13 to rotate its rotating shaft at a low rotation speed, and also operates the two light emitting elements 25 arranged according to the conventional example explained with reference to FIG. A beam of light 26 is generated.

The light beams 26 that are parallel to each other and whose optical axes coincide with the vertical direction are generated by the light emitting elements 25, pass through a right-angle prism 19 arranged on the optical axis, are reflected on the surface of the wafer 10, and are reflected again at right angles. After entering the prism 19, the light changes its course in a direction perpendicular to the optical axis and outward, and enters the light receiving element 27.

However, the direction of the orientation flat 10a is beam-shaped light 2
6, the beam-shaped light 26 passes outside the orientation flat 10a, and no beam-shaped light 26 enters the two light-receiving elements 27. .

Therefore, by capturing such a state, that is, the moment when the electric signal from the light receiving element 27 disappears, the spin motor 1
When the rotation of the wafer 3 is stopped instantaneously, the wafer 10 stops rotating with the direction of the orientation flat 10a parallel to the straight line.

When the back side of the wafer 10 in this state is supported by the arm 32 or the like of the wafer transfer robot 31 as shown in FIG. 2(b) and sent to the next process, the orientation flat 10a of the wafer 10 is , it will be sent in one fixed direction.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As is clear from the above description, according to the present invention, it is possible to use a spin-type coating device that requires less space for installation and can simplify the system configuration.

Therefore, by adopting the spin-type coating device of the present invention, the increase in equipment costs can be avoided.
can be used effectively.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a sectional side view of a main part of an embodiment of a spin coating apparatus according to the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a diagram for explaining a conventional spin coating apparatus. In the figure, IO is a substrate (wafer), 10a is an orientation flat, 11 is a rotating chuck, 12 is a spin shaft, 13 is a spin motor, 14 is a control device, 15 is a dropping nozzle, 16 is a resist, 17 is a hydraulic lifting device, 1B is a lifting shaft with a table, 19 is a right-angle prism, 24 is a slide plate, 25 is a light emitting element, 26 is a beam-shaped light, 41 each e month ^ spin way 1 (RIL fuyonite) [^-phosphorus stop 4
Figure 1 of Zero 4's Liu Chumian

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] A spin-type coating apparatus having a spin shaft that horizontally rotates a rotary chuck that rotates around an axis and places a fixed wafer on its upper end, the spin shaft (12) comprising: Raise and lower the rotating chuck (
11) A spin-type coating apparatus characterized by having a lifting means for vertically raising and lowering the rotating chuck (11), and a positioning means for aligning the position of the orientation flat of the wafer in a predetermined direction when the rotary chuck (11) is raised.