JPH06120132A - Resist coater - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To prevent crystal of resist solution re-attaching to a nozzle. CONSTITUTION:A resist coater spreads resist solution on a wafer W to be processed which is sucked and retained by a spin chuck 50, from a solution feeding nozzle 60. In the resist coater the following are installed; a nozzle awaiting part 62 which makes a nozzle wait, and a dummy spouting part 64 which performs dummy spouting (dummy dispensing). A solvent discharging part 108 which makes the solvent flow down along the whole periphery of the inner wall of the dummy spouting part 64 is formed, thereby discharging crystal or the like of the resist solution scattered at the time of dummy dispensing.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a resist coating device.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Generally, in a semiconductor manufacturing process, a predetermined circuit pattern is transferred onto a substrate to be processed, for example, a semiconductor wafer or a glass substrate for LCD by using a photolithography technique. In that case, a resist coating apparatus for coating a photoresist liquid, which is a photosensitive agent, on a substrate is used. In such a coating apparatus, the resist solution stored in the resist solution storage section is pressure-fed using, for example, a bellows pump or the like, and a predetermined resist solution is ejected from the nozzle onto the surface of the semiconductor wafer. The chuck rotates the wafer at a high speed to diffuse the resist solution over the entire surface of the wafer to obtain a uniform coating film. In this case, the nozzle used for coating is in a standby state when not in use, for example, in a standby section having a solvent bath provided on the side of the spin chuck, and the resist liquid is dissolved in a volatile solvent so that it does not solidify. To prevent it, the nozzle tip is immersed in a solvent or solvent vapor. And
At the time of coating, a so-called dummy dispense for discarding the dry resist solution remaining in the nozzle is performed immediately before, and the coating process is subsequently performed.

[0003]

In response to the diversification of products as a resist solution, for example, a PIQ (polyimide-based) resist solution which has a high viscosity and is difficult to dissolve in a solvent or a low viscosity but easy to crystallize In some cases, SOG (Spin on glass) resist solution or the like that is difficult to dissolve when crystallized is used. However, even though these resist solutions have their nozzle tips immersed in a solvent or solvent vapor in a solvent bath, once they are crystallized, they become very difficult to remove, and moreover, they are blown off when performing dummy dispensing. In addition, the crystals rebound in the standby portion and adhere to the nozzle again, which causes the generation of particles. Further, there is an improvement that crystals of the resist solution blown off in the solvent bath of the standby section are accumulated and must be frequently washed with, for example, hydrofluoric acid.

Further, when a bellows pump is adopted as the method for discharging the resist solution, the resist solution remaining therein tends to solidify, which has an adverse effect on the coating film. Therefore, instead of this bellows pump method, a resist discharge method by pressurizing N ₂ gas is being studied. This N ₂ gas resist discharge method is configured as shown in FIG. That is, the resist solution containing section for containing the supplied resist solution is provided with a sealing member 6 made of, for example, a Teflon O-ring or the like in the opening 4 of the glass resist containing container 2 and the lid body 8 is screwed. The resist solution 10 is housed inside, and the resist solution 10 is pressure-fed to the nozzle side by the pressurized N ₂ gas. However, in this case, if a leak occurs in a part of the seal member 6, the pressurized gas (N
₂ ) Not only the solvent vapor 12 leaked out, but as a result, the viscosity of the resist solution increased and the thickness of the resist film coated on the wafer changed over time. . The present invention focuses on the above problems,
It was created to solve this effectively. An object of the present invention is to provide a resist coating apparatus capable of preventing the crystal of the resist liquid from reattaching to the nozzle and preventing the resist film thickness from continuously changing due to the change of the viscosity of the resist liquid. To provide.

[0005]

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, a first aspect of the present invention provides a liquid supply nozzle for supplying a resist liquid supplied from a resist liquid storage portion which stores a resist liquid dissolved in a volatile solvent. In a resist coating apparatus for supplying and coating on a substrate to be processed, a nozzle standby part for immersing the liquid supply nozzle in a solvent or solvent vapor to stand by, and before coating a resist liquid on the substrate to be processed. And a dummy discharge part for performing dummy discharge of the resist liquid from the nozzle, and a solvent discharge part for causing the solvent to flow down along the inner wall of the dummy discharge part.

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, a second aspect of the present invention provides a resist solution supplied from a resist solution storage part for storing a resist solution dissolved in a volatile solvent from a solution supply nozzle onto a substrate to be processed. In a resist coating apparatus for supplying and coating, a lid is provided via a plurality of seal members provided at predetermined intervals in the opening of the resist liquid storage section,
A pressurized gas supply passage for supplying a pressurized gas to the space formed between the seal members is formed, and a communication passage for connecting the space and the resist liquid storage portion is formed, and the pressurized gas supply passage is formed. The resist solution is pressure-fed by a pressurized gas supplied from.

[0007]

According to the first aspect of the invention, when the liquid supply nozzle is not used, the nozzle is made to stand by in the nozzle standby portion, and when coating is performed, this nozzle is brought to the dummy ejection portion immediately before, and here, first, Dummy discharge of the resist solution is performed to blow off the volatile resist solution in the nozzle together with the crystals adhering to it, and then the resist solution is subsequently discharged onto the substrate to be processed for coating. Therefore, the crystals of the resist solution blown off are received by the dummy discharge part, and are removed by the solvent flowing down from the solvent discharge part provided on the entire inner wall of the dummy discharge part, and the crystals are prevented from rebounding and adhering to the nozzle again. be able to.

According to the second aspect of the invention, the pressurized gas supply passage is provided in the space defined by a plurality of, for example, two sealing members provided when the lid is attached to the opening of the resist solution containing portion. By supplying the pressurized gas through the, the pressurized gas is introduced into the accommodation portion side through the communication passage. Due to the pressure of the introduced pressurized gas, the resist liquid is pumped to the nozzle side, and even if a part of the seal member leaks, only the pressurized gas leaks to the atmosphere. It is possible to prevent the solvent vapor from leaking into the atmosphere.

[0009]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the resist coating apparatus according to the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings. FIG. 1 is a schematic overall configuration diagram showing an embodiment of a resist coating apparatus according to the present invention, FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a configuration of a substrate processing system in which the coating apparatus of the present invention is arranged, and FIG. 3 is a coating shown in FIG. FIG. 4 is a plan view of a coating unit of the apparatus, FIG. 4 is a sectional view of a principal portion of the resist coating unit, and FIG. 5 is a sectional view of a resist solution container used in the apparatus of the present invention.

First, the resist coating apparatus 14 according to the present invention.
The substrate processing system 16 in which is arranged will be described.
The substrate processing system 16 includes a plurality of cassettes 1 on one side thereof, for example, semiconductor wafers W as substrates to be processed.
8 has a carrier station 20 configured to be mounted, and an auxiliary arm 24 for carrying in / out a substrate and positioning the substrate while holding the carrier station 20 and delivering the substrate 8 to / from the main arm 22. Is provided. Two main arms 22 are provided in the central portion of the substrate processing system 16 so as to be movable in the length direction, and various processing devices are arranged on both sides of this transfer path. Specifically, the carrier station 20 is used as this processing device.
A brush scrubber 26 for brush-cleaning the semiconductor wafer, a high-pressure jet cleaner 28 for cleaning with high-pressure jet water, and the like are provided in parallel on the side.
Two developing devices 30 are arranged side by side on the opposite side of the transfer path of the main arm, and two heating devices 32 are stacked next to each other.

Further, on the side of this device, an adhesion device 36 for hydrophobizing the semiconductor wafer through a connecting unit 34 before applying the photoresist to the semiconductor wafer.
Is provided, and the cooling device 38 is disposed below this. A heating device 32 is provided on the side of the device 36, 38.
Are arranged so that two of them are stacked in two rows. In addition, these heating devices 32 are sandwiched across the transfer path of the main arm.
On the opposite side of the adhesion device 36 and the like, two resist coating devices 14 according to the present invention for coating a photoresist liquid on a semiconductor wafer are provided in parallel. Although not shown, an exposure device or the like for exposing a predetermined fine pattern on the resist film is provided on the side of the resist coating device 14.

The substrate processing system 1 thus configured
As shown in FIG. 1, the resist coating apparatus 14 of the present invention incorporated in the semiconductor device 6 is, for example, a semiconductor wafer W as a substrate to be processed.
A resist coating unit 42 that actually coats the resist solution 40 and a resist supply unit 46 that supplies the resist solution 40 to the unit 42 from the resist solution container 44. The resist coating unit 42 has a spin chuck 50 that holds a semiconductor wafer W so that it can be adsorbed by a vacuum chuck and that is rotatable by a drive motor 48. The spin chuck 50 can move up and down. Is provided with a cup 52 for receiving the resist solution that is scattered when the resist solution is applied and the rinse solution that is scattered when the side rinse is performed.

The bottom of the cup 52 is inclined to collect the waste liquid on one side, and a drainage pipe 54 for discharging the waste liquid is connected to the inclined end and the other end is cupped. Exhaust pipe 56 for exhausting the atmosphere in 52
Are connected, and the atmosphere is discharged through a mist trap (not shown). A side rinse portion 58 for dissolving and removing the resist on the peripheral portion of the wafer after applying the resist liquid is provided on the side portion of the cup 52, and a liquid supply nozzle 60 for discharging the resist liquid on the opposite side with the spin chuck 50 sandwiched therebetween. A nozzle standby unit 62 for waiting for the liquid and a dummy discharge unit 64 for performing dummy discharge of the resist liquid are arranged in parallel.

In this embodiment, the nozzle standby unit 62 is
Two of them are adjacent to each other and are configured so as to be able to move integrally on the guide rail 66 by using, for example, an air cylinder (not shown) as a drive source. The liquid supply nozzles 60 for ejecting different types of resist liquids are on standby in the respective nozzle standby portions 62. Incidentally, FIG.
In that case, only one nozzle is described. On the other hand, the dummy discharge part 64 is fixedly provided outside the cup 50. Then, the liquid supply nozzle 60 is provided with a carrier rail 68.
It is gripped by a gripping arm 70 that is movable along the direction, and can be reciprocally moved toward the dummy ejection unit 64 and the spin chuck 50. Also, this gripping arm 70
Is movable in the vertical direction to grip the nozzle.

On the other hand, the nozzle stand-by portion 62 contains a solvent 72 for dissolving the resist solution halfway, and a solvent bath 74 made of, for example, stainless steel or polypropylene.
The bus 74 is detachably attached to the standby portion base 76 with bolts 78. An introduction passage 80 for introducing the solvent 72 is provided to penetrate through the bottoms of the bath 74 and the base 76, and the introduction passage 8 is provided.
A flexible solvent introduction tube 82 connected to a solvent source (not shown) is connected to 0. A discharge passage 84 for discharging the overflowed solvent by penetrating the base 74 and the base 76 is provided at the center of the bus 74 in the height direction, and a flexible solvent discharge pipe 86 is connected to the discharge passage 84. ing.

The upper end opening of this solvent bath 74 is
The lower end portion of the nozzle body 88 of the liquid supply nozzle 60 covers the nozzle body 90. At this time, the nozzle portion 90 is immersed in the vapor of the solvent 72 or the tip thereof is covered with the solvent 7.
Immerse in 2. Whether to immerse in the solvent 72,
Depending on the resist solution used, for example, when PIQ is used as the resist solution, the lower end of the nozzle is immersed in the solvent, and in the case of SOG, the lower end is not immersed in the solvent and the whole is a solvent vapor. Position it inside. The nozzle body 88 is connected with a flexible resist liquid transfer pipe 92 from the resist supply unit 46 and is formed with a gripping projection 94 that is gripped by the gripping arm 70. Further, one end of the nozzle main body 88 has a nozzle portion 9
A cleaning liquid flow passage 91 is formed which is connected to the outer periphery of 0 and has a cleaning liquid tube 89 connected to the other end.

The dummy discharge part 64 has a thick hollow dummy discharge unit 96 having an opening at the upper end which can accommodate at least the nozzle part 90, and this unit 96 has a discharge part base. It is detachably attached to the base 100 with bolts 102. The unit 96 is made of, for example, stainless steel or polypropylene,
At the lower end, the base 100 is penetrated and the discharge port 104 is provided.
The liquid discharge pipe 10 is formed in the discharge port 104.
6 is connected. A solvent discharge portion 108 for flowing the solvent down is formed on the inner wall of the lower portion of the hollow portion of the dummy discharge unit 96 along the entire circumferential direction. Specifically, the solvent discharge part 108 is composed of a solvent storage groove 110 formed along the circumferential direction on the inner wall of the hollow dummy discharge unit 96, and an annular weir 112 is provided on the unit center side of the groove 110. It is provided so that the solvent 114 stored in the groove overflows from the weir 112 as necessary to allow the solvent to flow down from the entire circumference of the inner wall of the discharge unit 96. In this storage groove 110,
An introduction passage 116 provided so as to penetrate the dummy discharge unit 96 and the discharge part base 100 is connected, and a flexible solvent introduction pipe 118 connected to a solvent source (not shown) is connected to the introduction passage 116.

On the other hand, in the inner wall portion of the dummy discharge unit 96 corresponding to the nozzle portion 90 of the liquid supply nozzle 60, a gas ejection port 120 for ejecting a dry gas such as nitrogen gas to dry the nozzle portion 90 is formed. In addition, a gas introduction passage 124, to which a flexible gas supply pipe 122 is connected to the other end from the gas ejection port 120, is provided so as to penetrate the unit and the like. In addition, the gas outlet 124 is provided on the opposite side of the gas outlet 120 with the nozzle portion 90 interposed therebetween.
Is formed, to which a gas discharge passage 126 and a flexible gas discharge pipe 128 are sequentially connected,
The eject pipe 128 is configured to perform forced exhaust by an ejector (pneumatic vacuum device) not shown. On the other hand, the resist supply unit 46 includes a glass container 130 having an upper end opened as the resist liquid storage portion 44.
The resist liquid 40 dissolved in a solvent is contained in the inside.

As shown in FIG. 5, a lid 132 made of a material having a high corrosion resistance to a solvent, for example, Teflon is screwed and attached to the opening of the container 130. In this case, the upper edge of the peripheral edge of the opening, the lower surface of the lid 8 (the surface facing the upper edge of the peripheral edge), the inner surface of the peripheral edge of the opening, and the side surface of the inner convex portion 134 of the lid 8 (the surface opposing the inner surface of the peripheral edge). ) And a seal member 136, 138 made of, for example, a Teflon O-ring at a predetermined interval.
And a space 140 is formed between the seal members 136 and 138. No problem arises unless the solvent vapor leaks out of the container by completely sealing the openings by these seal members 136 and 138. However, in reality, there is a possibility that the solvent vapor leaks due to a defective seal member or the like. Must exist. Therefore, in the present embodiment, a pressurized gas supply passage 142 using, for example, a pipe that penetrates the lid 132 and communicates with the ring-shaped space 140 is formed. A pressurized gas having a predetermined pressure, for example, about 1.5 atm is supplied from a nitrogen gas source (not shown).

Further, the convex portion 134 of the lid body 132 is formed with a communication passage 144 for communicating the space portion 140 with the resist solution storage portion, that is, the upper portion in the glass container 130, and the space portion 140. The pressurized gas G introduced into the container 130 is introduced into the container 130, and this pressure causes the resist solution 4 to pass through the resist solution transfer pipe 92 inserted to the bottom of the container.
It is configured so that 0 can be pumped. Therefore, the solvent vapor does not flow into the space 140, which is the upstream side of the flow of the pressurized gas G, and the only gas leaking from the upper sealing member 136 into the atmosphere is nitrogen gas, and the solvent vapor into the atmosphere. There is no leakage. An on-off valve 146 is provided in the middle of the resist liquid transfer pipe 92, and a suck back portion 148 for returning the liquid to the supply side is branched and connected. In addition, in the pressurized gas supply passage 142, the filter 1
50 and an on-off valve 152 are sequentially interposed and connected to the N ₂ gas source.

Next, the operation of this embodiment configured as described above will be described. First, the semiconductor wafer W as the substrate to be processed is stored in the cassette 18 of the carrier station 20.
From the main arm 2 via the auxiliary arm 24.
2 is delivered to the brush scrubber 26. Wafer W brush-cleaned in this scrubber 26
Are subsequently dried. Instead of brush cleaning, cleaning is performed with high-pressure jet water in the high-pressure jet cleaning machine 28 as needed. After that, the wafer W is subjected to a hydrophobic treatment by the adhesion treatment device 36 and cooled by the cooling device 38, and then the resist coating device 1 of the present invention.
At 4, a resist solution, that is, a photosensitive film is applied and formed. Then, after the photoresist is heated by the heating device 32 to be subjected to a baking process, a predetermined pattern is exposed by an exposure device (not shown). Then, the photoresist is housed in the photoresist developing device 30 after exposure, where it is developed with a developing solution and then rinsed with a rinse solution to complete the developing process.

Thereafter, the processed wafer W is stored in the cassette 18 of the carrier station 20 and then carried out to be transferred to the next processing step. Here, the coating operation of the resist liquid 40 in the resist coating device 14 will be described in detail. First, the semiconductor wafer W is placed on the spin chuck 50 by the main arm 22 and held by suction. When the coating operation is not performed, the liquid supply nozzle 60 is connected to the nozzle standby unit 62.
And the nozzle portion 90 is immersed in the solvent 72 or the solvent vapor in the solvent bath 74 to prevent the resist liquid from crystallizing and adhering to the nozzle portion 90 as much as possible.

Next, when performing a coating operation,
First, by operating the gripping arm 70 (see FIG. 3), the liquid supply nozzle 60 positioned in the nozzle standby portion 62 is placed on the upper end portion of the dummy discharge unit 96 of the dummy discharge portion 64 as shown by the solid line in FIG. Install. In this state, the resist solution 40 is temporarily supplied from the resist supply unit 46 side through the resist solution transfer pipe 92, the dry resist solution existing in the solution supply nozzle 60 is discharged, and dummy dispensing is performed. At this time, at the same time, a cleaning liquid composed of a solvent is supplied through the cleaning liquid tube 89 to clean the outer surface of the nozzle portion 90, and the resist adhering to this and crystallized is removed. In this case, the solvent 114 filled in the solvent storage groove 110 of the solvent discharge part 108 is overflowed to wash away the resist liquid and the crystals adhered to the inner wall of the liquid discharge pipe 106.

In this embodiment, since the solvent 114 is made to flow down over the entire circumference of the inner wall, the resist solution and the like can be reliably washed off even in the case of resist solution having high or low viscosity. Also, the crystals blown off by the dummy dispense do not adhere to the nozzle portion 90 again. Further, for the above-mentioned reason, the resist liquid adhering to the inner wall of the liquid discharge pipe 106 is washed away along the entire circumference, so that it is possible to prevent the residual liquid crystallizing and blocking the pipe. Cleaning by such solvent overflow may be performed not only during dummy dispensing but also periodically or irregularly.

When the cleaning of the nozzle portion 90 is completed during this dummy dispensing, nitrogen gas or the like is sprayed from the gas ejection port 120 onto the outer periphery of the nozzle portion 90 to dry the solvent in this portion, and then the coating is performed. To do. This makes it possible to prevent the solvent from dropping on the wafer. Further, since the exhaust at this time is forcibly performed by the gas exhaust pipe 128 having an ejector or the like, scattered particles can be efficiently removed. In particular, when PIQ is used as the resist liquid, the tip of the nozzle portion of about 5 mm is immersed in a solvent during standby, and the nitrogen blowing has a great effect when the solvent is dried.

When the dummy dispensing operation is completed in this way, the liquid supply nozzle 60 is positioned above the central portion of the wafer W, and a predetermined amount of resist liquid is supplied onto the liquid supply nozzle 60, and the wafer W is, for example, 2000 rpm. By rotating at high speed, the resist solution is dispersed by centrifugal force to apply the coating. If you finish coating like this,
The liquid supply nozzle 60 is returned to the nozzle standby portion 62, but preferably the outer periphery of the nozzle portion 90 is cleaned by the dummy ejection portion 64 before that, and then returned to the nozzle standby portion 62.
According to this, the nozzle part 90 can be always kept in a clean state,
It is possible to more reliably prevent the particles from adhering due to the crystallization of the resist solution. In addition, when crystals of the resist liquid adhere to the dummy discharge unit 96 and the solvent bath 74, the bolts 78 and 1 to which they are attached respectively.
By loosening 02, it can be easily removed and washed, and the maintainability becomes good.

On the other hand, when the resist solution is supplied to the resist coating unit 42 (including during the dummy dispensing), the pressurized gas supply passage 142 of the resist supply unit 46 is used to supply pressurized gas of, for example, about 1.5 atm. For example, nitrogen gas is supplied, and the supplied nitrogen gas first flows into the space 140 formed between the two seal members 136 and 138, and from this, the inside of the glass container 130 via the communication passage 144. Then, the resist liquid 40 is pressure-fed by this gas pressure. In this case, even if the sealability of both the seal members 136 and 138 is incomplete, the seal member 136 on the side in contact with the atmosphere outside the glass container 130.
Is upstream of the nitrogen gas flow with respect to the seal member 138, only nitrogen gas mainly leaks from the seal member 136 to the atmosphere side.
The solvent vapor therein does not leak into the space 140. Therefore, it is possible to prevent the solvent vapor from leaking into the atmosphere, and it is possible to reliably prevent the viscosity of the resist solution in the container from changing with time. In particular, bring the inlet of the supply passage 142 closer to the seal member 136 on the atmosphere side,
By bringing the gas flow port of the communication passage 144 close to the seal member 138 on the inner side of the container, the effect of preventing the solvent vapor from leaking into the outside air can be further improved.

In the above embodiment, the lid 132
Although the communication path 144 is provided in the convex portion 134, the first pressurized gas supply path 154 that penetrates the lid 132 and extends into the gas container 130 is formed without providing the communication path 144 as shown in FIG. 6. You may do it. In this embodiment, the pressurized gas supply passage 142 shown in FIG. 5 is the first pressurized gas supply passage 1 described above.
54. In addition, the gas supply to the space 140 is the second
Of the pressurized gas supply passage 155. In such a case, the resist liquid 40 is pressure-fed toward the coating unit 42 by the gas pressure of the pressurized gas supplied from the first pressurized gas supply passage 154, for example, nitrogen gas of 1.5 atm. become. In this case, the second pressurized gas supply passage 1
If the pressure of the pressurized gas supplied to 55 is excessively higher than the pressure of the pressurized gas supplied to the first pressurized gas supply passage 154, the glass is used when the sealing property of the seal member 138 inside the container is insufficient. Nitrogen gas leaks into the container 130 and the solvent vapor flows backward through the first pressurized gas supply passage 154. Therefore, the pressures of these pressurized gases are made equal to each other, or the pressure of the pressurized gas to the second pressurized gas supply passage 155 is set to be slightly higher. As a result, when the sealing property of the atmosphere side seal member 136 is inadequate, the only gas that leaks to the atmosphere is nitrogen gas, and it is possible to reliably prevent solvent vapor from leaking to the atmosphere as described above. be able to. In the above embodiments, the semiconductor wafer was described as an example of the substrate to be processed, but the present invention is not limited to this.
Of course, the present invention can be applied to a coating device for a glass substrate for LCD, for example.

[0029]

As described above, according to the present invention, the following excellent operational effects can be exhibited. A dummy discharge part is provided separately from the nozzle standby part to allow the solvent to flow down the entire circumference on this inner wall, so it is possible not only to prevent re-adhesion of resist liquid crystals to the nozzle during dummy dispensing, but also to It can keep itself clean at all times. Further, since the pressurized gas is supplied to the space formed between the seal members of the resist liquid storage unit and the pressure is guided into the storage unit to pump the resist liquid, even if a seal defect occurs, the seal member can be used. It is possible to prevent the solvent vapor from leaking into the atmosphere by using only the pressurized gas to leak into the atmosphere, and thus prevent the viscosity of the resist solution from changing with time.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic overall configuration diagram showing an embodiment of a resist coating apparatus according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a configuration of a substrate processing system in which a coating apparatus of the present invention is arranged.

3 is a plan view of a coating unit of the coating apparatus shown in FIG.

FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view of a main part showing a main part of a resist coating unit.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a resist liquid storage unit used in the apparatus of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a cross-sectional view showing a modified example of the resist liquid storage section used in the apparatus of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a cross-sectional view showing a conventional resist solution storage portion of a resist coating apparatus.

[Explanation of symbols]

 14 resist coating device 40 resist liquid 42 resist coating unit 44 resist liquid storage unit 46 resist supply unit 50 spin chuck 52 cup 60 liquid supply nozzle 62 nozzle standby unit 64 dummy discharge unit 72, 114 solvent 74 solvent bath 90 nozzle unit 96 dummy discharge Unit 108 Solvent release part 110 Solvent storage groove 112 Weir 132 Lid body 136, 138 Seal member 140 Space part 142 Pressurized gas supply passage 144 Communication passage 154 First pressurized gas supply passage 155 Second pressurized gas supply passage W Semiconductor wafer (substrate to be processed)

 ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (72) Inventor Akihiro Fujimoto 2655 Tsukyu, Kikuyo-cho, Kikuchi-gun, Kumamoto Prefecture Tokyo Electron Kyushu Co., Ltd.

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A resist coating apparatus for supplying a resist solution supplied from a resist solution container storing a resist solution dissolved in a volatile solvent onto a substrate to be processed from a solution supply nozzle to apply the solution. Provided is a nozzle standby part for immersing the nozzle in a solvent or solvent vapor to stand by, and a dummy discharge part for performing dummy discharge of the resist liquid from the nozzle before applying the resist liquid on the substrate to be processed. The resist coating device is characterized in that a solvent discharge part is formed along the inner wall of the dummy discharge part for allowing the solvent to flow down. 2. A resist coating apparatus for supplying a resist solution supplied from a resist solution container storing a resist solution dissolved in a volatile solvent onto a substrate to be processed from a solution supply nozzle to apply the resist solution. A lid is provided through a plurality of seal members provided at a predetermined interval in the opening of the accommodating portion, and a pressurized gas supply passage for supplying pressurized gas to a space formed between the seal members is formed. In addition, a communication passage that connects the space portion and the inside of the resist liquid storage portion is formed, and the resist liquid is pressure-fed by the pressurized gas supplied from the pressurized gas supply passage. Coating device. 3. A resist coating apparatus for supplying a resist solution supplied from a resist solution storage section for storing a resist solution dissolved in a volatile solvent onto a substrate to be processed from a solution supply nozzle to apply the resist solution. A lid is provided through a plurality of sealing members provided at a predetermined interval in the opening of the accommodating portion, and is connected to the accommodating portion to supply a first pressurized gas having a predetermined pressure. Forming a pressurized gas supply passage,
A second pressurized gas supply passage communicating with a space formed between the seal members and supplying a second pressurized gas having a pressure equal to or slightly higher than the pressure of the first pressurized gas. And the resist liquid is pressure-fed by the pressurized gas supplied from the first pressurized gas supply passage.