JPH0451246A - Exposing pattern forming device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To prevent the adhesion of the dust remaining after development to photoresist patterns by providing an air speed detector in the mid-way of an exhaust duct for exhausting the atmosphere in a processing chamber and further providing an exhaust pipe connected to a part of the processing chamber and a servo valve for regulating the exhaust capacity of the exhaust pipe and thereby maintaining the always specified exhaust capacity of the processing chamber atmosphere. CONSTITUTION:A wafer 1 is vacuum attracted to a chuck 3 in the processing chamber 2 and is processed with a liquid chemical. While the atmosphere in the processing chamber 2 is sucked toward (a) from the exhaust pipe 4 mounted in a part of the processing chamber 2, the exhaust duct 9 is mounted in the upper part of the processing chamber 2 and the atmosphere in the chamber is mainly exhausted from this exhaust duct 9. The wind velocity detector 5 mounted in the exhaust duct 9 at this time measures the air speed and sends the measurement signal to a controller 6 at all times. The controller compares the signal with a reference wind velocity and sends only the difference thereof as a pulse signal to a motor 8 which operates a damper 7 to open and close. The exhaust capacity of the exhaust device is kept monitored at all times and the damper which is a servo valve is operated to maintain the specified exhaust capacity.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention relates to an exposure pattern forming apparatus that coats and develops a photoresist to form a photoresist pattern on a semiconductor substrate.

[Conventional technology]

Conventionally, this type of exposure pattern forming apparatus has been used to form semiconductor substrates (
Apply photoresist on the wafer (hereinafter referred to as wafer),
- Form a photoresist film with different thickness and set it separately!
This is an apparatus that prints a pattern on a photoresist film using an exposure device, and develops it again using this pattern forming device to form a photoresist pattern on a wafer.

Although not shown in the drawings, this exposure pattern forming apparatus also includes a chuck that mounts a wafer and rotates at high speed, a nozzle that drops photoresist solution onto the wafer, nozzles that drop developer solution and cleaning solution, and other components during development. It consisted of an exhaust device that exhausts generated gas and photoresist dust.

In recent years, with the increase in the S density of semiconductor integrated circuit devices, the photoresist patterns have become finer, and preventing dust from adhering to the resist residue after development has become an important issue. As a countermeasure against these problems, conventional methods have been to increase the capacity of the exhaust system, and to regularly inspect the capacity of the exhaust system to maintain the capacity of the exhaust system and contribute to production.

[Problem to be solved by the invention]

In the conventional exposure pattern forming apparatus described above, the exhaust capacity of the exhaust device fluctuates in a relatively short period of time, so it is difficult to suppress this fluctuation only by conventional periodic inspections. However, the actual development time is short, and this variation in exhaust capacity often causes undeveloped dust to adhere to the photoresist pattern, causing serious problems in product quality.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In order to solve this problem, it is an object of the present invention to provide an exposure pattern forming apparatus in which dust left after development does not adhere to a photoresist pattern.

[Means to solve the problem]

The exposure pattern forming apparatus of the present invention includes a processing chamber formed by a cover, a chuck that carries a wafer stored in the processing chamber and rotates at high speed, a nozzle for dropping a resist solution, a cleaning solution, and a developer, and In an exposure pattern forming apparatus having an exhaust duct for exhausting the atmosphere in the room, a wind speed detector installed in the middle of the exhaust duct and connected to the processing chamber and in a direction opposite to the exhaust direction of the exhaust duct. The exhaust pipe is characterized in that it includes an exhaust pipe for exhausting air and a damper for adjusting the effective opening area of the exhaust pipe, and that the damper is controlled based on the wind speed value detected by the wind speed detector.

〔Example〕

Next, the present invention will be explained with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a schematic cross-sectional view of an exposure pattern forming apparatus showing an embodiment of the present invention. As shown in the figure, this exposure pattern forming apparatus includes a processing chamber 2 formed by a cover 10;
A chuck 3 that carries the wafer 1 stored in the processing chamber 2 and rotates at high speed, and nozzles (not shown) for dropping photoresist solution, developer solution, and cleaning solution onto the wafer 1, etc.
, an exhaust duct 9 and an exhaust pipe 4 connected to the processing chamber 2, a wind speed detector 5 installed in the middle of the exhaust duct 9 and measuring the wind speed in the exhaust duct 9, and a wind speed detector 5 installed in the middle of the route of the exhaust pipe 4. It is comprised of a damper 7 that changes the effective opening area of the exhaust pipe 4, a motor 8 that moves the damper 7, and a controller 6 that controls the rotation of the motor 8 based on the measurement signal from the wind speed detector 5. That is,
The exposure pattern forming apparatus of the present invention includes, in addition to the conventional apparatus, a damper driving motor 8 for driving exhaust to adjust the exhaust capacity, and a wind speed detector 5 provided in the middle of the path of the exhaust duct 9. , a controller 6 is provided which processes the output of the wind speed detector 5 and issues a drive command to the motor 8. This means that the exhaust capacity in the processing chamber 2 is
The wind speed is constantly detected by the wind speed detector 5, and the exhaust pipe 4 for adjustment is installed.
A constant capacity is maintained by adjusting the effective aperture area.

Next, the operation of this exposure pattern forming apparatus will be explained. First, the wafer 1 is vacuum-adsorbed onto the chuck 3 in the processing chamber 2 and subjected to chemical treatment.

At this time, the atmosphere inside the processing chamber 2 is drawn in the direction a from an exhaust pipe 4 attached to a part of the processing chamber 2, while an exhaust duct 9 is attached to the upper part of the processing chamber 2. Air is mainly exhausted from this exhaust duct 9. At this time, the wind speed detector attached to the exhaust duct 9 measures the wind speed at the exhaust capacity, and constantly sends a measurement signal to the controller 6.Next, the controller compares it with the standard wind speed, and only the difference is used as a pulse signal. is sent to the motor 8 to open and close the tamper 7 (in the direction of the arrow). In this way, the exhaust capacity of the exhaust system is constantly monitored and the damper, which is a servo valve, is operated to keep the exhaust capacity constant. I can do it.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As explained above, the present invention provides a wind speed detector in the middle of the exhaust duct that exhausts the atmosphere inside the processing chamber, and further includes an exhaust pipe that connects to a part of the processing chamber, and a servo that adjusts the exhaust capacity of this exhaust pipe. By providing a valve, the ability to exhaust the atmosphere into the processing chamber can be kept constant. Therefore, it is possible to obtain an exposure pattern forming apparatus in which dust left after development does not adhere to the photoresist pattern.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a schematic cross-sectional view of an exposure pattern forming apparatus showing an embodiment of the present invention. 1... Wafer, 2 Processing chamber, 3... Check, 4...
...Exhaust pipe, 5...Wind speed detector, 6...Controller, 7...Damper, 8...Motor, 9-...Exhaust duct, 10...Cover

Claims (1)

[Claims] A processing chamber formed by a cover, a chuck that carries the wafer stored in the processing chamber and rotates at high speed,
In an exposure pattern forming apparatus having a nozzle for dropping a resist solution, a cleaning solution, and a developing solution, and an exhaust duct for exhausting the atmosphere in the processing chamber, a wind speed detector installed in the middle of the exhaust duct, and a wind speed detector installed in the middle of the exhaust duct; an exhaust pipe that is connected to the exhaust pipe and that exhausts the air in a direction opposite to the exhaust direction of the exhaust duct; and a damper that adjusts the effective opening area of the exhaust pipe, and the damper is controlled by the wind speed value determined by the wind speed detector. An exposure pattern forming apparatus characterized by: