JPH06120195A - Chemical reaction apparatus, reaction controlling therefor discarding method chemical and supplying method for chemical - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To provide a reaction apparatus in which interruption of production does not occur even at the time of discarding and replacing chemicals while preventing a decrease in an etching accuracy. CONSTITUTION:Chemicals circulation tanks 10-1, 10-2 are connected to two reaction chambers 1-1, 1-2 for etching through three-way valves 33-1, 33-2, and connecting states of the tanks 10-1, 10-2 to the chambers 1-1, 1-2 can be suitably switched by the valves 33-1, 33-2. Two sets of the tanks 10-1, 10-2 and the chambers 1-1, 1-2 are prepared, and the connecting states of the tanks 10-1, 10-2 and the chambers 1-1, 1-2 can be switched, thereby reducing a decreasing width of reaction velocity in reaction liquid replacing life period. In the case of, for example, etching reaction, an etching accuracy can be largely improved.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a chemical reaction apparatus used for forming a thin film pattern selectively formed on one main surface of a semiconductor integrated circuit, a liquid crystal device, a printed circuit board or the like.

[0002]

As is well known, it is necessary to form a thin film pattern many times in a semiconductor integrated circuit, a liquid crystal device, a high density printed circuit board and the like. As a means for forming a thin film pattern, a thin film having a predetermined film thickness is deposited and formed on one main surface of a substrate constituting the device by using a thin film deposition apparatus such as sputtering, atmospheric pressure CVD, and plasma CVD. After that, a desired photosensitive resin pattern is selectively formed on the thin film by photo-etching using a photosensitive resin and a suitable exposure machine, and the photosensitive resin pattern is used as a mask for etching and an appropriate etching solution. Alternatively, a series of microfabrication processes in which an unnecessary thin film is selectively removed by an etching gas and the photosensitive resin pattern is further removed by an appropriate means are general.

Among the above-mentioned fine processing processes, in the development process and the etching process at the time of photo-etching, there is a manufacturing apparatus for continuously treating the reaction liquid one by one by showering or spraying the reaction liquid on the substrate. It is common in mass production plants.

FIG. 4 shows a schematic block diagram of such a chemical reaction apparatus. In the configuration as an etching device, the reaction (treatment) chamber 1, the water washing chamber 2 and the drying chamber 3 are the minimum constituent elements, and when the treatment time becomes long, the reaction chamber is divided into two stages or the treatment liquid It is known that a designing method such as providing a draining chamber between the reaction chamber and the washing chamber is added to reduce the amount taken out to the washing chamber.

To briefly explain the constitutional contents of the apparatus, a chemical liquid circulation pump 4, a filter 5 for removing dust or particles in the chemical liquid, and a piping system 7 including a valve 6 for flow rate adjustment, and a liquid Nozzle 8 to spray
The reaction chamber 1, the liquid recovery pipe 9 provided at the bottom of the reaction chamber, and the chemical liquid circulation tank 10 constitute a closed loop to form the chemical liquid 11.
A typical configuration is one in which the is used in a circulating manner.

A piping system 13 having a stop valve 12
Is a chemical liquid supply pipe for supplying the chemical liquid 11 to the circulation tank 10. For example, although not shown, a new chemical liquid is supplied to the circulation tank 10 by pressure feeding with N ₂ pressurization from a separately installed supply tank. Similarly, the pipe system 15 having the stop valve 14 is a chemical liquid waste pipe for discarding the used chemical liquid 11 to the outside, and although not shown, it is transferred to a separately installed waste liquid tank or the like and treated as industrial waste. Etc. are performed.

In the washing chamber 2, pure water of an appropriate purity is generally required to wash away the chemical liquid adhering to the substrate, so a pure water supply pipe 17 having a flow rate adjusting valve 16 is provided and A nozzle 18 for injecting pure water is arranged at the tip. Reference numeral 19 denotes a drainage pipe for the treated water obtained by washing the substrate. Since the drainage contains a chemical liquid in the drainage, the drainage pipe 19 is usually treated for pollution control and then discarded as factory drainage.

In the drying chamber 3, a dry air or nitrogen gas supply pipe 22 having a pressure gauge 20 and a flow rate adjusting valve 21 is provided in order to dry the wet substrate after washing with water, and the dry gas is provided at the tip of the pipe. A nozzle 23 that ejects in a sheet shape is arranged on the substrate. Reference numeral 24 is a drain pipe for discarding the water condensed by the nozzle 23 in the drying chamber 3. The method of blowing the dried gas onto the substrate to dry the substrate is also called as an air knife. Other than the air knife, there are substitution type drying and spin drying using an organic solvent such as IPA, but the description is omitted here. In addition, it is efficient and common to eject the nozzles 18 and 23 not only from above the substrate but also from below the substrate.

FIG. 5 is a detailed schematic sectional view of the reaction chamber 1. The substrate 50, which is the object to be cleaned, enters the reaction chamber 1 through the opening slit 26 provided on the side wall on the inlet side of the reaction chamber 1 on the rotating roller 25 arranged in the direction perpendicular to the paper surface, and ejects the chemical solution. In general, the transport mode is such that it passes under the nozzle 8 at a constant speed, passes through an opening slit 27 provided on the side wall on the outlet side of the reaction chamber 1, and enters the washing chamber 2.
28 is an exhaust pipe for exhausting the chemical liquid mist in the reaction chamber 1, and 29 is a filter or trap for preventing a large amount of the chemical liquid mist from being taken out of the apparatus. The gate valve 30 is for preventing the chemical mist from diffusing out of the apparatus and for avoiding the loss of inhaling a large amount of air (usually expensive air conditioning cost in a clean room) near the reaction device. It is designed to open and close only.

[0010]

In the above-mentioned reaction apparatus, the processing of the substrate is usually carried out by controlling the time for which the transport speed of the substrate is constant. However, as is well known, as the number of processed substrates increases, whether the photo etching or the normal etching is performed, the reaction speed decreases as shown in FIG. It will cause unetched residue.
Therefore, in general, it will be slightly over-etched at the beginning of the life of the chemical solution, but conditions are set so that no unetched residue will occur at the end of the life of the chemical solution. It is a safe choice to do, and there is a problem that there is a lot of waste from the viewpoint of efficient use of chemicals.

When strict etching accuracy is required, the processing time may be reset in some form for each processing unit, for example, one substrate is extracted from the lot and preprocessed. Is the substance of operation in a mass production factory to review the condition setting every day or every work. However, resetting and reviewing the processing conditions must of course interrupt production until the prescribed evaluation work is completed, and from the viewpoint of cost reduction, if the chemical life is too long, the processing time will become longer and longer. From the viewpoint of production control, the lead time fluctuates, which is not preferable.

In addition, as a matter of course, in the structure as shown in FIG. 4, the chemical solution cannot be used as a reaction device at the time of discarding or supplying, and the operation rate of production is lowered. When a large amount of chemicals are used, it takes a long time to dispose and supply the chemicals, and the decrease in operating rate cannot be ignored.

The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide a reactor which prevents the deterioration of the etching accuracy and does not interrupt the production even when the chemicals are discarded or replaced. .

[0014]

In order to achieve the above object, in the present invention, the reaction chamber is divided into two, and a chemical liquid supply pipe, a chemical liquid waste pipe, a chemical liquid circulation tank, and a chemical liquid circulation pipe are provided for each reaction chamber. In addition to the above, a switching valve is provided in the chemical liquid circulation pipe, and the chemical liquid from the circulation tank containing the old chemical liquid of the two circulation tanks comes first, and the chemical liquid from the circulation tank containing the new chemical liquid comes later. It is configured to be used for processing substrates.

[0015]

According to the present invention, when the reaction of the first reaction chamber (old solution) and the reaction of the second reaction chamber (new solution) are combined, as shown for the reaction using two kinds of chemical liquids, new and old. The reduction rate of the reaction rate during the chemical liquid exchange life period is halved, and as a result, the etching accuracy can be improved. For this purpose, it is necessary to double the frequency of chemical exchange, but by appropriately switching the piping system, it is possible to supply chemicals to two reaction chambers simultaneously, although temporarily in one circulation tank. Continuous production is easily realized without interrupting production.

[0016]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS FIG. 1 shows a schematic block diagram of an apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. The difference from the conventional example of FIG. 4 is that 1) the reaction chamber is divided into 2 parts, and 2) the stop valve 31 is provided in the chemical liquid circulation piping system so that the chemical liquid can be independently supplied to the reaction chamber 1-1 and the reaction chamber 1-2. ,
32 is added, and 3) a three-way valve 33 is added as a switching valve to the chemical liquid recovery piping system.

In the following description, the parts having the same functions as those in the conventional example are referred to by the same numbers, and the reaction chambers 1-1 and 1-2 are distinguished by hyphens 1 and 2.

A circulation tank 10 is provided in each of the two reaction chambers,
Chemical liquid circulation pipe 7, chemical liquid supply pipe 13, and chemical liquid waste pipe 1
5 is provided, the two operation modes of the piping system in the apparatus of this embodiment can be two modes shown in FIGS. 2 and 3 by operating the setting of the valve 33. The parallel mode is defined as the cross mode.

In the parallel mode, the circulation tank 10-1
The chemical solution 11-1 in the reaction chamber 1-1 and the circulation tank 1
The stop valves 31-1 and 31-2 of the chemical circulation system are opened so that the chemical 11-2 in 0-2 is supplied to the reaction chamber 1-2, and the stop valves 32-1 and 32-2 are closed, At the same time, the changeover valves 33-1 and 33-2 of the chemical liquid recovery piping system respectively collect the liquid recovered from the reaction chamber 1-1 into the circulation tank 10-1.
In addition, the recovery liquid from the reaction chamber 1-2 is switched so as to flow to the tank 10-2.

Similarly, in the cross mode, the circulation tank 10
-1 in the chemical liquid circulation system so that the chemical liquid 11-1 in -1 is supplied to the reaction chamber 1-2 and the chemical liquid 11-2 in the circulation tank 10-2 is supplied to the reaction chamber 1-1. 31-
2 is closed, and likewise, 32-1 and 32-2 are opened, and at the same time, the switching liquids 33-1 and 33-2 of the chemical liquid recovery piping system respectively collect the liquid recovered from the reaction chamber 1-1 into the circulation tank 10-.
2, the recovered liquid from the reaction chamber 1-2 is the circulation tank 10-1.
It switches to flow to.

At the start of the operation of the apparatus of the present embodiment, as a matter of course, as a special case, a new liquid is supplied to the two chemical liquid circulation tanks to start the operation. To simplify the story, it is assumed that the operation was initially started in the parallel mode shown in FIG. Circulation tank 10-1 at the half-life of conventional chemicals
After discarding the chemical solution inside and supplying a new solution, the operation is restarted in the cross mode shown in FIG.

As a result, the old processing liquid 11-2 in the chemical liquid tank 10-2 is supplied to the reaction chamber 1-1, and the circulation tank 1
The new processing liquid 11-1 in 0-1 is supplied to the reaction chamber 1-2. Then, at the time of the next chemical solution exchange, the circulation tank 10-2
After discarding the chemical solution inside and supplying a new solution, the operation is restarted in the parallel mode shown in FIG.

As a result, the old processing liquid 11-1 in the circulation tank 10-1 is supplied to the reaction chamber 1-1 and the circulation tank 10-1.
-2, the new processing liquid 11-1 is supplied to the reaction chamber 1-2.

By repeatedly performing such an operation mode, as shown in FIG. 6, the old chemical solution is always used to react with the old chemical solution and the old chemical solution is always reacted. Halve. That is, it is equivalent to the improvement of the etching accuracy in the time management operation.

When exchanging the chemical liquid, for example, the circulation tank 10-
If the chemical solution in 1 is to be discarded and a new solution is to be supplied, the stop valves 31-2 and 32-2 of the circulation system are opened to the reaction chamber 1-1 and the reaction chamber 1-2 from the circulation tank 10-2. Switching valve 33-1 for supplying chemicals at the same time and for collecting chemicals
If the chemical solution recovered from the reaction chamber 1-1 is made to flow to the circulation tank 10-2 by switching the above, the circulation tank 10-1 is independent of the piping system that contributes to the reaction, so the chemical solution disposal valve 14-1 is opened. After discharging the chemical liquid in the circulation tank 10-1, the chemical liquid disposal valve 14-1 is closed, the chemical liquid supply valve 12-1 is opened to supply a new liquid, and a predetermined amount is filled in the circulation tank 10-1. It will be easily understood that the chemical liquid supply valve 12-1 may be closed after the operation. After replenishing the chemical liquid, the valves of the circulation system and the chemical liquid recovery system pipe may be switched again to return to the operation mode before the chemical liquid replenishment.

Summarizing the chemical solution exchange method of the present invention, the amount of the chemical solution used is the same as that of the conventional one, and the half of the conventional chemical solution is alternately supplied to the two circulation tanks every six months of the conventional chemical solution life. That is, the frequency of exchanging chemicals doubles,
As described above, since the production stop of the reaction device due to the chemical solution exchange is avoided, there is no problem.

[0027]

As described above, in the chemical reaction apparatus according to the present invention, the decrease rate of the reaction rate within the exchange life of the reaction solution is reduced by half as compared with the conventional chemical reaction apparatus. There is a remarkable improvement in the etching accuracy. In addition, it is possible to obtain an excellent effect that the reaction device can be continuously operated even when the reaction liquid is discarded or supplied. Also, from the viewpoint of effective use of the chemical liquid, it is not necessary to replace the liquid as early as in the past due to the improvement of the etching accuracy, and the promotion of resource saving has been achieved.

As an example, the single-wafer processing reaction apparatus for spraying the reaction liquid onto the substrates in the form of a shower or a spray was taken up. However, the reaction tank with a plurality of substrates stored in an appropriate storage container such as a cassette is used. It should be added that the effectiveness of the present invention is not impaired even in the batch processing mode in which the processing is performed simultaneously in the inside.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram of an embodiment of a chemical reaction device of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a configuration diagram when the apparatus of the embodiment is operated in parallel mode.

FIG. 3 is a schematic configuration diagram when the apparatus of the embodiment is operated in a cross mode.

FIG. 4 is a schematic configuration diagram of a conventional chemical reaction device.

FIG. 5: Detailed configuration diagram of the reaction chamber

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing the relationship between the reaction rate and processing time of the apparatus of this embodiment.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing the relationship between the reaction rate and the processing time of the conventional chemical reaction device.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Reaction Chamber 2 Rinsing Room 3 Drying Room 4 Circulation Pump 5 Filters 6, 16, 21 Flow Control Valves 8, 18, 23 Nozzles for Chemicals, Pure Water, Air 9 Chemicals Recovery Pipe 10 Chemicals Supply Pipe 13 Chemicals Supply Pipe 15 Chemicals Waste Pipe 17 Pure water supply pipe 22 Dry gas supply pipe 25 Conveyor rollers 31, 32 Stop valve for switching chemical liquid 33 Recovery chemical liquid switching valve

─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁵ Identification code Office reference number FI technical display location H01L 21/027 21/31 C

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A first and a second reaction chamber each having a pump and a tank for circulating a chemical solution, a chemical solution supply pipe and a chemical liquid discarding pipe in each chemical circulation tank, and two types of old and new in the tank. A chemical reaction device having a switching valve in the chemical liquid circulation system so that the old chemical liquid of the chemical liquid of 1 is used in the first reaction chamber and the new chemical liquid is used in the second reaction chamber. 2. A chemical reaction device comprising first and second reaction chambers each having a pump and a tank for circulating a chemical liquid, and a chemical liquid supply pipe and a chemical liquid waste pipe in the chemical liquid circulation tank. Discontinue and newly replenish the chemical in one chemical circulation tank every six months, and switch the chemical circulation valve so that the old chemical is used in the first reaction chamber and the new chemical is used in the second reaction chamber. Reaction control method. 3. The second circulation tank while discharging the chemical in the first chemical circulation tank while supplying the chemical from the second circulation tank to the second reaction chamber and collecting the chemical in the second circulation tank. To the first reaction chamber, and collects the reacted chemical liquid in the first reaction chamber into the second circulation tank. 4. When supplying a new chemical solution into the first chemical solution circulation tank, while supplying the chemical solution from the second circulation tank to the second reaction chamber and collecting the second chemical solution into the second circulation tank, A chemical solution supply method characterized in that the chemical solution is supplied from the circulation tank also to the first reaction chamber, and the chemical solution after the reaction in the first reaction chamber is recovered in the second circulation tank.