JPH05267263A - Semiconductor-wafer cleaning apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To enhance the efficiency of a cleaning operation and to make a treatment tank small-sized in a semiconductor-wafer cleaning apparatus. CONSTITUTION:A plurality of jet ports 4 are formed in sidewalls and in the bottom part of a cleaning tank 1. Hollow semispherical connection parts 5 are attached so as to surround the individual jet ports 4; pipes 6 are connected to the connection parts 5. In addition, pumps 7 are installed in halfway parts of the pipes 6. A treatment liquid 2 is spouted as jet streams 2a at an angle of less than 120 deg. from the individual jet ports 4.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a semiconductor wafer cleaning apparatus for cleaning a semiconductor wafer in a semiconductor device manufacturing process.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In the manufacture of a semiconductor device, there is a cleaning process (so-called wet process) for cleaning a semiconductor wafer along various processing processes. For cleaning the semiconductor wafer, for example, NH ₄ OH + H ₂ O ₂ +
Cleaning of organic substances with H ₂ O chemical solution, for example, HC1 + H ₂
There are cleaning of metal contamination by a chemical solution of O ₂ + H ₂ O, removal of natural oxidation by light etching of a chemical solution of buffered hydrofluoric acid, and rinsing treatment (washing with chemical solution) between them. Therefore, a plurality of processing tanks of the cleaning device are appropriately selected and arranged according to the required processing process so that these cleanings can be performed.

Conventionally, as such a cleaning device, for example, those shown in FIGS. 6A and 6B are known. First,
In the apparatus shown in FIG. 6A, a member 31 having a large number of holes 30 is arranged at the bottom of a processing bath 32 for accommodating the semiconductor wafer P, and a rinse liquid such as a chemical liquid or pure water, that is, a processing liquid is passed through these holes 30. 33 is configured to squirt upward. On the other hand, in the apparatus shown in FIG. 6B, two tubes 41 having a large number of holes 40 are provided at the bottom of the processing tank 42, and the processing liquid 33 described above is jetted from these holes 40 at a predetermined angle. Is configured.

[0004]

However, the conventional example has the following problems. That is,
Since the processing liquid 33 is jetted from the bottoms of the processing baths 32 and 42 in any of the above-described devices, the liquid flows only in one direction from the bottom to the top, and the cleaning efficiency of the semiconductor wafer P is poor. Further, in the case of the apparatus shown in FIG. 6B, since the tube 41 is arranged in the processing tank 42, unnecessary vortex flow or the like occurs, which results in a reduction in cleaning efficiency. Further, in the above-mentioned conventional example, since the means for ejecting the liquid is provided in the processing tanks 32, 42, there is a drawback that the processing tanks 32, 42 become large.

The present invention has been made in view of the above points of the conventional example, and an object thereof is to provide a semiconductor wafer cleaning apparatus capable of improving cleaning efficiency and downsizing a processing tank. .

[0006]

The present invention relates to a semiconductor wafer cleaning apparatus for cleaning a semiconductor wafer 3 in a processing tank 1 arranged in the apparatus as shown in FIG. A plurality of processing liquid ejection ports 4 are provided, and the processing liquid 2 is ejected from the processing liquid ejection port 4 at a predetermined angle. In this case, it is also effective to eject the treatment liquid 2 at an angle of 120 ° or less.

[0007]

In the present invention having such a configuration, since the processing liquid 2 is jetted from the plurality of processing liquid jet ports 4 provided in the processing tank 1 at a predetermined angle, preferably within 120 °, Turbulent flow of the processing liquid 2 occurs in the processing tank 1, and the processing liquid 2 comes into contact with the semiconductor wafer 3 from various directions. In addition, the generation of swirl flow, which is a factor that reduces the cleaning efficiency, is suppressed. Further, since no means for ejecting the treatment liquid 2 is provided in the treatment tank 1, a vortex flow due to this means is not generated, and a space for arranging this means can be omitted. it can.

[0008]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 shows a schematic configuration of a first embodiment of a semiconductor wafer cleaning apparatus according to the present invention, in which a processing solution 2 is filled in a rectangular parallelepiped processing tank 1 and a semiconductor wafer 3 is arranged. There is. The semiconductor wafers 3 may be housed in a plurality of carriers and arranged in the processing tank 1 for each carrier, or may be arranged in the processing tank 1 in a carrierless manner.

As shown in FIG. 1, in this embodiment,
A plurality of jet ports 4 for jetting a treatment liquid 2 such as a chemical liquid or a rinse liquid such as pure water are provided at the side and bottom of the processing tank 1. A pipe 6 is attached to the outside of each ejection port 4 via a hollow hemispherical connecting portion 5. Each pipe 6 is connected via a pump 7 to a tank of chemical liquid or rinse liquid (not shown). When the processing tank 1 is a rinse tank, although not shown, the liquid overflowing from the tank is discharged from the discharge port. On the other hand, in the case of the chemical solution tank, the chemical solution is once collected, filtered by a filter, and then used again for cleaning.

FIG. 2 is an enlarged view showing the vicinity of the jet port 4. As shown in the figure, in the processing tank 1 of this embodiment, a hollow hemispherical connecting portion 5 is provided on the peripheral wall of the processing tank 1 so as to surround each jet port 4. With this configuration, the treatment liquid 2 is ejected from the ejection port 4 at a predetermined angle θ, as shown in FIG. In this case, the diameter of the jet port 4 and the shape and size of the connecting portion 5 are adjusted so that the angle θ of the jet 2a is within 120 °.

Each pump 7 can be independently turned on and off and the flow rate can be adjusted. Then, in the cleaning process, first, all the pumps 7 are driven to eject the processing liquid 2 from all the ejection ports 4 to generate a turbulent flow as shown in FIG. 3A. Then, after that, for example, the pump 7 on the left side in FIG. 1 is driven to eject the processing liquid 2 on only one side to generate a laminar flow as shown in FIG. 3B.

In this embodiment having such a configuration,
As shown in FIG. 1, the treatment liquid 2 is ejected at a predetermined angle from the ejection ports 4 provided on the inner side and the bottom of the treatment layer 1, so that a turbulent flow is generated in the bath and the semiconductor wafer 3 is The treatment liquid 2 comes into contact from various directions. For example, the treatment liquid 2 also enters the portion that is difficult to clean near the contact point between the semiconductor wafer 3 and the carrier (not shown). In addition, the generation of swirl flow, which is a factor that reduces the cleaning efficiency, is suppressed.

Therefore, according to this embodiment, the efficiency of the cleaning process can be improved, the cleaning process time can be shortened, and the processing liquid 2 can be saved. Further, in this embodiment, since the means for ejecting the treatment liquid 2 into the treatment tank 1 is not provided, the eddy current caused by this means is not generated and the cleaning efficiency can be further improved. In addition, the processing tank 1 can be downsized. Furthermore, there is an effect that the cleanliness inside the processing tank 1 can be improved. still,
The above effect is further achieved by controlling the flow of the treatment liquid 2 so as to switch from the turbulent flow to the laminar flow.

FIG. 4 shows a schematic configuration of the second embodiment of the present invention. Hereinafter, portions corresponding to those of the first embodiment will be described with the same reference numerals.

In the present embodiment, the lower portion of the processing bath 11 is formed in a rounded shape so as to follow the contour of the semiconductor wafer 3. In addition, two ejection ports 4 are arranged side by side, and these are surrounded by one connecting portion 5. The pump 7, the pipe 6 and the like may be the same as those in the first embodiment.

According to this embodiment, it is possible to further suppress the generation of eddy currents and to reduce the number of pipes and simplify the structure. The rest of the configuration and operation are the same as in the first embodiment, so a detailed description thereof will be omitted.

FIG. 5 shows a schematic configuration of a third embodiment of the present invention. Hereinafter, portions corresponding to those of the above embodiment will be described with the same reference numerals.

In this embodiment, three jet outlets 4 are provided side by side on the side wall of the processing tank 21, and these are surrounded by one connecting portion 22. Further, two jet nozzles 4 are provided side by side at the bottom of the processing tank 21, and these are surrounded by one connecting portion 23. The connecting portion 2
2 and 23 have a rectangular parallelepiped shape.

According to the present embodiment, the cleaning efficiency can be improved with almost the same structure as the first embodiment shown in FIG.
The rest of the configuration and operation are the same as in the above-mentioned embodiment, so a detailed description thereof is omitted.

The number of jet ports and the number of pipes in the present invention are not limited to those in the above-mentioned embodiment, and various configurations can be adopted depending on the manufacturing process, the purpose of the processing tank and the like.

[0021]

As described above, in the present invention, the processing liquid is jetted at a predetermined angle from the plurality of processing liquid jet ports provided in the processing tank, so that the efficiency of the cleaning process is improved. As a result, the cleaning processing time can be shortened and the processing liquid can be saved. Further, according to the present invention, since the means for ejecting the processing liquid is not provided in the processing tank, there is an effect that the processing tank can be downsized.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram of a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view showing the vicinity of a treatment liquid ejection port in the same embodiment.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram of processing steps in the example.

FIG. 4 is a schematic configuration diagram of a second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a schematic configuration diagram of a third embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a schematic configuration diagram of a conventional example.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Processing tank 2 Processing liquid 2a Jet flow 3 Semiconductor wafer 4 Jet outlet 5 Connection part 6 Pipe 7 Pump

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A semiconductor wafer cleaning apparatus for cleaning a semiconductor wafer in a processing tank disposed in the apparatus, wherein the processing tank is provided with a plurality of processing solution jets, and the processing solution jets are provided at predetermined angles. A semiconductor wafer cleaning device characterized in that a processing liquid is ejected. 2. The semiconductor wafer cleaning apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the processing liquid is ejected at an angle of 120 ° or less.