JPH0547724A - Brush-cleaning apparatus for wafer - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To simultaneously and efficiently brush-clean both sides of a wafer standing vertically in a simple wafer type automatic wafer cleaning apparatus. CONSTITUTION:A brush cleaning apparatus 50 comprises a pair of rotary brushes 74, 75 horizontally and rotatably arranged, drive motors (brush driving means) 87, 88 for rotatably driving the brushes 74, 75, drive rollers 60, 61 for supporting a wafer W and for rotatably driving it, and a drive motor 65 (wafer driving means). The wafer W is held between the brushes 74 and 75, and its outer periphery is received by the rollers 60, 61. When the motor 65 is driven in this state to rotate the wafer W through he rollers 60, 61 and the motors 87, 88 are driven to rotatably drive the brushes 74, 75, both sides of the wafer W are cleaned with the brushes 74, 75.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a brush cleaning apparatus provided in an automatic leaf cleaning apparatus for automatically cleaning wafers one by one.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In the manufacture of semiconductor devices, impurities attached to the surface of a semiconductor wafer adversely affect the performance of semiconductor devices.

Therefore, the semiconductor wafer manufacturing process includes a cleaning process. In this cleaning process, the wafer is cleaned by various methods. The cleaning method of the wafer is roughly classified into a physical cleaning method. There is a chemical cleaning method.

As the former physical cleaning method, a method of directly removing impurities adhering to the surface of the wafer by using a cleaning brush or the like, a pressurized fluid is sprayed from a spray nozzle toward a part or the whole of the wafer, There are a method of removing impurities by this method, a method of immersing a wafer in a liquid and applying ultrasonic waves to this to remove impurities adhering to the wafer (ultrasonic cleaning method).

As the latter chemical cleaning method,
There is a method of chemically decomposing and removing impurities adhering to the surface of the wafer by various agents, enzymes and the like. The physical cleaning method and the chemical cleaning method may be used in combination.

[0006]

By the way, in the field of semiconductor manufacturing, a semiconductor wafer has a large diameter due to the recent trend of high integration of semiconductor devices, and a plurality of wafers are accommodated in a carrier for cleaning. According to the conventional method, much labor is required.

Further, if a method of accommodating the wafer in a carrier is adopted, there is a problem that particles are attached to the wafer due to contact between the wafer and the carrier to contaminate the wafer.

Further, if the polished wafers are temporarily stocked until the next cleaning step, there is a problem that the surface of the wafer is dried and impurities adhering to the surface are not removed.

Therefore, there is proposed a leaf-by-leaf type automatic cleaning device for cleaning the wafers one by one by vertically supporting the wafers one by one and immersing the wafers successively in the cleaning liquids of a plurality of cleaning tanks.

By the way, particles are attached to the wafer after the polishing process, and when removing the particles by brush cleaning, the leaf cleaning type automatic cleaning device cleans the wafer vertically with the brush cleaning. Will be required.

The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances. The object of the present invention is, in an automatic wafer washing apparatus of each leaf type, to stand on both sides of a vertically standing wafer at the same time.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a wafer brush cleaning device that can efficiently perform brush cleaning.

[0012]

To achieve the above object, the present invention provides a pair of rotating brushes that are horizontally and rotatably arranged, and a brush driving unit that drives the rotating brushes to rotate.
A feature of the present invention is that the brush cleaning device for a wafer is configured to include a wafer drive means for supporting the wafer and rotationally driving the wafer around a central axis perpendicular to the surface of the wafer.

[0013]

According to the present invention, the wafer is vertically fitted and sandwiched between the rotating brushes, and the outer peripheral portion thereof is received by the wafer driving means. In this state, the wafer driving means is driven to rotate the wafer at a predetermined speed, and the brush driving means is driven to rotate the pair of rotating brushes in opposite directions, so that the rotating brushes are sandwiched between the rotating brushes. Both sides of the wafer are cleaned with a rotating brush, and particles and the like adhering to the surface are mechanically removed.

[0014]

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

FIG. 6, FIG. 7 and FIG. 8 are a front view, a plan view and a side view of an automatic wafer cleaning device equipped with a brush cleaning device according to the present invention. The automatic cleaning device includes a loader section A and a wafer receiving tank B. , A preliminary cleaning tank C, a brush cleaning tank D, cleaning tanks E, F, G, H and I, two preliminary tanks J and K, a drying tank L and an unloader section M.

As shown in FIG. 7, the wafers W whose surfaces have been mirror-polished in the previous polishing step are continuously carried into the loader section A one by one, as shown in FIG.
It is sent into the wafer receiving tank B along with the flow of pure water.

By the way, the wafer receiving tank B is provided with a wafer standing device (not shown), and the wafer W carried into the wafer receiving tank B is vertically raised by the wafer standing device. The vertically standing wafer W is vertically supported by the transfer robot 20 and automatically transferred from the wafer receiving tank B to the pre-cleaning tank C. In the pre-cleaning tank C, the wafer W is immersed in the cleaning liquid and then placed on the back surface thereof. The adhered wax is removed.

Then, the wafer W from which the wax has been removed in the preliminary cleaning tank C is again handled by the transfer robot 20 and sent to the brush cleaning tank D, where both sides of the wafer W are simultaneously brushed. To be washed.

The structure of the brush cleaning device 50 provided in the brush cleaning tank D will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 to 5. 1 is a broken side view of the brush cleaning device 50, and FIG.
1 is a view in the direction of arrow d in FIG. 1, and FIG. 3 is the brush cleaning device 50.
4 is a sectional plan view of FIG. 4, FIG. 4 is a sectional view taken along the line ee of FIG. 3, and FIG. 5 is a view in the direction of arrow f of FIG.

In FIGS. 1 and 2, reference numeral 51 is a ball screw rotatably supported vertically, and a slider 53 which vertically moves along guides 52 and 52 is screwed onto the ball screw 51. A base member 54 is supported by the slider 53. A gear 55 is attached to the upper end of the ball screw 51, and the gear 55 meshes with a gear 57 attached to the output shaft end of the drive motor 56.

Further, as shown in FIG. 3, two rotary shafts 58 and 59 are horizontally and rotatably supported by the base member 54, and the rotary shafts 58 and 59 have front ends. Are connected to drive rollers 60 and 61. The plate 62 attached to the tip of the rotary shafts 58 and 59 has two
One guide roller 63, 64 is rotatably supported, and the guide roller 63, 64 and the drive roller 60, 61 are arcuate to support the outer peripheral portion of the wafer W, as shown in FIG. It is located in.

Further, a drive motor 65 is installed on the base member 54. As shown in FIG. 2, a pulley 66 connected to the output shaft end of the drive motor 65 and the rotary shaft 58 are connected to each other. A belt 68 is wound between the attached pulleys 67. Further, the other pulley 69 is bound to an intermediate portion of the rotary shaft 58, and a belt 71 is wound between the pulley 69 and the pulley 70 bound to the rotary shaft 59. As shown in FIG. 2, a predetermined tension is applied to the belt 71 by a tension pulley 73 that rotates around a shaft 72.

On the other hand, as shown in FIG.
Two rotary brushes 74, 75 are rotatably arranged in a direction orthogonal to the axial directions of 8, 59, and these rotary brushes 74, 75 are arranged in the axial direction of the rotary shafts 58, 59 (left and right in FIG. 3). Direction) is movably supported. That is, the rotary shafts 76, 77 supporting the rotary brushes 74, 75 are rotatably supported by the bearing members 79, 79, 80, 80 movable along the guide rails 78, 78 laid in parallel. ing. The rotating shafts 76 and 77 are urged in one direction by springs 81 and 82 that are compressed around their outer circumferences, and pulleys 83 and 84 are respectively attached to their one ends.

Further, on the base members 85 and 86 for supporting the bearing members 79 and 80, the drive motor 87 and
88 are installed respectively, and these drive motors 87,
Pulleys 89 and 90 are attached to the respective output shaft ends of 88. Belts 91 and 92 are wound between the pulley 89 and the pulley 83 and between the pulley 90 and the pulley 84, respectively.

Further, as shown in FIG. 5, the fixed base 93
An actuator 94 is installed on the upper side of the base member 8 via joints 96, 96, 97, 97 on rods 95 ... Which extend to the left and right of the actuator 94.
5, 86 are connected. In addition, each base member 85, 8
6 is urged in a direction in which they are separated from each other by springs 99, 99 interposed between the joints 96, 96 and retainers 98, 98 standing on the fixed base 93. Further, the stopper support member 10 is provided on the fixed base 93.
0 and 100 are provided upright, and stoppers 101 and 101 for restricting the movement amount of the base members 85 and 86 are screwed to the stopper support members 100 and 100 so as to be able to move forward and backward.

The operation of the brush cleaning device 50 will now be described with reference to FIG.
It will be described with reference to FIG.

In the brush cleaning device 50, before the wafer W is loaded, the rods 95 of the actuator 94 shown in FIG. 5 are extended by the elastic force of the springs 99, 99, and therefore the rotary brushes 74, 75 are separated from each other as shown by the chain line in FIG. 1, and a predetermined gap is formed between them.

The wafer W handled by the transfer robot 20 (see FIGS. 1 to 3) is fitted vertically into the gap between the rotating brushes 74 and 75, and the outer periphery of the lower half of the wafer W is the drive roller 60. , 61 and guide rollers 63, 64.

After that, when the actuator 94 is driven and the rods 95 are contracted, the rotating brushes 74 and 75 approach each other and hold the wafer W between them.

When the drive motor 65 is driven in the above state, the rotation of the drive motor 65 is transmitted to the rotary shaft 58 via the pulley 66, the belt 68 and the pulley 67, and further to the rotary shaft 58 via the pulley 69, the belt 71 and the pulley 70. Then, the rotary shafts 58, 59 are driven to rotate, and the wafer W supported thereby is driven to rotate at a predetermined speed. At this time, the cleaning liquid is supplied to the wafer W.

If the drive motors 87 and 88 are driven,
These rotations are transmitted to the rotary shafts 76, 77 via the pulleys 89, 90, the belts 91, 92 and the pulleys 83, 84, and the rotary shafts 76, 77 and the rotary brushes 74, 75 respectively supported by them are opposite to each other. Direction (the direction in which the wafer W is pressed against the drive rollers 60 and 61 and the guide rollers 63 and 64), and both sides of the wafer W are rotated by the rotating brush 7.
The particles are removed by cleaning with 4,75. During this brush cleaning, the drive motor 56 is periodically driven in the forward and reverse directions, and the rotation of the drive motor 56 causes the gear 5 to rotate.
7 and 55, the slider 53, which is transmitted to the ball screw 51 via the forward and reverse rotations of the ball screw 51 and is screwed into the ball screw 51, moves up and down together with the base member 54. The wafer W supported by the wafer W also moves up and down as a unit, and the central portion of the wafer W is uniformly cleaned by the rotating brushes 74 and 75.

The wafer W that has been brush-cleaned as described above is handled by the transfer robot 20 and sequentially transferred to the next cleaning tanks E, F, G, H, and I for cleaning processing.

The wafer W cleaned by the preliminary cleaning tank C to the cleaning tank I is transferred by the transfer robot 20 to the drying tank L for rapid drying, and finally transferred to the unloader section M for storage. ..

As described above, the automatic wafer cleaning apparatus according to the present embodiment is of the leaf type, and the wafers W are supported and transferred one by one by the transfer robot 20, and are continuously processed. The so-called carrierless can be realized by eliminating the need for the carrier that has been used in the past.
The problem of contamination of the wafer W due to the transportation by the carrier is solved, and labor saving is realized.

[0035]

As is apparent from the above description, according to the present invention, a pair of horizontal and rotatably disposed rotary brushes, brush drive means for rotationally driving the rotary brushes, and a wafer are supported. Since the brush cleaning device for the wafer is configured to include a wafer driving means for rotating the wafer about a central axis perpendicular to the surface of the wafer, in the automatic wafer cleaning device of the leaf type, both sides of the wafer standing vertically At the same time, the effect that brush cleaning can be efficiently performed is obtained.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a cutaway side view of a brush cleaning device according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a view in the direction of arrow d in FIG.

FIG. 3 is a cutaway plan view of the brush cleaning apparatus according to the present invention.

4 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line ee of FIG.

5 is a view in the direction of arrow f in FIG.

FIG. 6 is a front view of the automatic wafer cleaning apparatus.

FIG. 7 is a plan view of an automatic wafer cleaning device.

FIG. 8 is a side view of the automatic wafer cleaning apparatus.

[Explanation of symbols]

 50 brush cleaning device 51 ball screw (ball screw mechanism) 56 drive motor (ball screw mechanism) 60, 61 drive roller (wafer drive means) 65 drive motor (wafer drive means) 74, 75 rotary brush 87, 88 drive motor (brush drive means) 94 Actuator (Transportation) W Wafer

Front page continued (72) Inventor Takashi Tanakajima 762 Gunmon-cho, Gunma-gun Gunma-gun, Ashikaga Sanmitsu Semiconductor Co., Ltd. (72) Inventor, Morie Suzuki, Saigo-mura, Nishi-Shirakawa-gun, Fukushima, Odaira, Odaira, Ohira 150, Shin-Etsu Semiconductor Co., Ltd.

Claims (6)

[Claims] 1. A device for sandwiching a vertically standing wafer between a pair of rotating brushes and simultaneously cleaning the both surfaces of the pair of rotating brushes, the pair of rotating brushes being horizontally and rotatably arranged, and the rotating brushes. Brush cleaning of a wafer, characterized in that it comprises brush drive means for rotationally driving the brush, and wafer drive means for supporting the wafer and rotationally driving the wafer around a central axis perpendicular to the plane of the wafer. apparatus. 2. The rotating brushes and the brush driving means for driving the rotating brushes are integrally movably supported in a direction perpendicular to the axis of the rotating brushes, and these are moved in opposite directions by the moving means. The brush cleaning apparatus for a wafer according to claim 1, wherein the brush cleaning apparatus is configured to contact and separate. 3. The wafer according to claim 1, wherein the wafer driving means includes a driving roller that supports an outer peripheral portion of the wafer, and a driving motor that rotationally drives the driving roller. Brush cleaning equipment. 4. The wafer brush cleaning apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the wafer driving means is vertically moved by vertical movement means. 5. The vertical movement means is configured to include a ball screw mechanism for vertically moving the wafer drive means, and a drive motor for periodically rotating the ball screw mechanism forward and backward. Wafer brush cleaning equipment. 6. The rotating brushes and the brush driving means for driving the rotating brushes are installed on a base member, and the base member is connected to an actuator installed on a fixed base and separated from each other by a spring. A stopper support member is erected on the fixed base, and a stopper for restricting the movement amount of the base member is screwed so as to be able to move forward and backward. The brush cleaning device according to claim 1 or 2.