JPH06302585A - Method and apparatus for wet treatment of substrate - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To provided a technology of wet treatment which undergoes a large- scaled substrate in a cassetteless system of low contamination degree and in a batch system of high production efficiency. CONSTITUTION:In the case where a rectangular or square substrate SB transported in a carrier cassette from the previous step is taken out of the carrier cassette and transported cassettelessly, the substrate SB is tilted so that two adjacent orthogonal sides SBa, SBb may be tilted lower sides, and these two sides SBa, SBb are supported in a hanging form. This enables a cassetteless and batch treatment of a rectangular or square large-scaled substrate SB with a simple constitution.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a substrate wet processing technique, and more particularly, to a glass substrate for a liquid crystal display device,
The present invention relates to a technique for performing a wet process on a rectangular or square thin plate substrate such as a glass substrate for a reticle or a photomask.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art It is known that a liquid crystal display device is used for displaying an image on a home-use thin television or a laptop personal computer. Liquid crystal display devices have low power consumption, are thin and do not occupy a lot of space, and therefore demand for wall-mounted TVs and desktop personal computers is increasing, and accordingly, glass substrates for liquid crystal display devices are also becoming larger year by year. .

By the way, in the wet processing technique for these glass substrates (hereinafter, referred to as substrates) and semiconductor wafers (hereinafter, referred to as wafers), a plurality of substrates and the like are accommodated in a carrier cassette for transportation and collectively processed. There are a cassette type and a cassetteless type in which substrates are directly held and processed by a substrate transfer processing device, and the cassetteless type is a single-wafer type in which the number of substrates to be held is one. There are two types of batch type.

[0004]

Recently, in order to improve the cleaning efficiency, prevent the contamination of the cleaning liquid, and improve the production efficiency, a batchless wet process without a cassette is generally used for wafers. However, in the case of a substrate, on the other hand, the substrate is limited to a batch type using a carrier cassette or a cassette-less type single-wafer type, and a processing method such as a wafer has not been adopted.

That is, in the case of a wafer, the shape and size of the wafer are 8 inches in diameter at present and are circular with a diameter of about 200 mm, and it is still easy to directly chuck and hold them in the substrate transfer processing apparatus. On the other hand, in the case of a substrate, the shape and dimension thereof have been increasing year by year as described above, and have recently been increased to 400.
Since it is a large rectangle of × 500 mm, it is very difficult to be chucked and heavier than a wafer, so that it is impossible to perform a batch type wet process without a cassette.

However, in the wet processing using the above carrier cassette, the size of the carrier cassette is also increasing with the increase in size of the substrate, and during the wet processing after passing through many chemical solution tanks, the chemical solution remains in the carrier cassette. Since much of the drug solution remained attached, the drug solution was often taken out, and it was uneconomical to repeatedly replenish the drug solution.

If the carrier cassette is used to process the chemical solution many times for a long time, the chemical solution permeates the cassette over time, and this time the chemical solution permeates into the pure water for cleaning to contaminate it. It has an adverse effect. Furthermore, in order to prevent such adverse effects, the carrier cassette must be discarded / replaced in a relatively short cycle, but the carrier cassette is expensive, which greatly increases the running cost and greatly increases. It was uneconomical.

On the other hand, in the cassetteless type single-wafer wet processing, a method is used in which substrates are taken out one by one from a carrier cassette by a loader device, conveyed by a rubber belt in a horizontal state, and a chemical shower is applied during the process. As disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 64-37016, there is a system in which one substrate is held by an L-shaped or V-shaped substrate holder and the substrate holder is transported by a transport means. However, all of them had the following problems.

That is, in the former case, the contact between the rubber belt and the substrate causes contamination, and not only a sufficient wet treatment effect cannot be obtained, but also the substrate having a large plane area is horizontally moved, so that the size of the apparatus is increased. I was invited. Also, in the latter, as in the case of the above-mentioned carrier cassette,
Taking out the chemical solution with the substrate holder, soaking the chemical solution,
The problem of contamination due to exudation, L-shaped or V-shaped substrate
Since the substrate is supported by the letter-shaped substrate holder, the diagonal line of the substrate becomes nearly horizontal, and thus the holding jig becomes large, leading to an increase in the size of the apparatus, and there is a problem that the production efficiency is poor due to the single-wafer type.

The present invention has been made in view of such conventional problems, and an object of the present invention is to perform a wet process on a large-sized substrate in a batch type with low cassette degree and high production efficiency with low contamination level. To provide.

Further, it is an object of the present invention to realize downsizing of the entire apparatus by supporting and transporting the substrate with its lower surface slightly inclined from the horizontal when the surface to be processed is vertical. It is an object of the present invention to provide a substrate wet processing apparatus having a structure capable of achieving the above.

[0012]

In order to achieve this object, the substrate wet processing method of the present invention, when a rectangular or square substrate is taken out of a carrier cassette and is transferred without a cassette, the two adjacent substrates are processed. It is characterized in that the two sides are inclined so that they are inclined lower sides, and these two inclined lower sides are supported in a suspended manner. Preferably, two adjacent orthogonal sides of the substrate are close to horizontal. The two slanted lower sides are supported in a suspended manner by inclining the slanted lower sides so that the slanted lower sides are nearly vertical to the slanted lower sides.

The substrate wet processing apparatus of the present invention is
A substrate transfer processing apparatus for carrying out the above processing method is provided, wherein the substrate transfer processing apparatus comprises a pair of suspension arms that can be opened and closed, and an arm control unit that controls opening and closing of the suspension arms. A substrate holding section for holding a plurality of substrates by chucking is provided on each of the two holding arms, and these substrate holding sections are adjacent to each other when the two holding arms are closed. It is characterized in that it is configured to support the two lower inclined sides from the lower side in a suspended manner.

[0014]

In the present invention, the substrate is wet-processed without a cassette, and the substrate stored and loaded in the carrier cassette from the previous step is transferred to the substrate transfer processing device by the substrate transfer section. In order to perform wet processing, the two adjacent sides of the substrate are slanted lower sides, and the two slanted lower sides are supported in a suspending manner so that the two adjacent sides of the substrate become slanted lower sides. Thus, with a simple structure, a large rectangular or square substrate can be processed in a batch manner without using a cassette.

At this time, by supporting one of the two lower inclined sides at an angle close to horizontal, the size of the processing apparatus can be reduced.

[0016]

Embodiments of the present invention will now be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

Embodiment 1 A substrate wet processing apparatus according to the present invention is shown in FIGS. 1, 2 and 3, and this substrate wet processing apparatus comprises a plurality of (20 in this example) substrates SB, SB ,. Is a batch type in which all the steps are performed without a cassette, and as shown in the figure, a substrate loading section L, a loading side transfer section A, a wet processing section B, an unloading side transfer section C, and a substrate unloading section U. A cassette carrying section D and a control device (drive control section) E are provided as main parts.

The substrate carry-in section L is a section where the substrates SB, SB, ... Are carried in from the previous step, and is arranged on the carry-in side of the wet processing section B and has a tact feed mechanism (not shown). Substrate carrier cassette CC loaded from the previous process
Are tact-fed at predetermined intervals in the direction of the arrow (1) by the tact feeding mechanism. At this time, the substrate SB is held in a horizontal state (falling state).

The loading-side transfer section A includes a transfer robot 1 and a posture changing means 2, and the transfer robot 1 sequentially places the substrates SB one by one from the tact-fed carrier cassette CC. It is taken out as it is and transferred to the posture changing means 2 in the horizontal state (see arrow (2)). Substrate SB is 2
After all 0 sheets have been transferred, the posture changing means 2 is rotated by 90 ° in the standing direction to be in a standing state, and the posture is changed so that the surfaces to be processed of the substrates SB, SB, ... Are in a vertical state (standing state). It At this time, the lower sides of the substrates SB, SB, ... Are tilted slightly from the horizontal (5 ° in this example) to change the posture,
It is configured to stand by the substrate transfer processing device 5 of the wet processing unit B.

The wet processing section B is provided with a pair of processing tank rows 3 and 4 and substrate transfer processing apparatuses 5 and 7 arranged in parallel in two rows in a processing chamber maintained in a high cleanliness atmosphere. ,
One end of each of these processing tank rows 3 and 4 is arranged so as to face the operator zone O, and a substrate transfer processing device 6 is provided between the other ends of both processing tank rows 3 and 4. .

That is, the wet processing paths of the substrates SB, SB, ... Proceed from the end on the operator zone O side of the loading side processing bath row 3 to the end on the opposite side of the operator zone O, and at the same time, on the unloading side processing bath row 4. It is configured to proceed from the end on the opposite side of the zone O to the end on the operator zone O side.

The loading-side processing bath array 3 includes a plurality of processing baths, and the substrate transfer processing device 5 is arranged on the side of these processing baths.

In the illustrated example, the processing tank line 3 on the loading side is provided with six processing tanks 3a to 3f. Specifically, the processing tank 3a is the suspension arm 1 of the substrate transfer processing apparatus 5.
A cleaning tank for cleaning Nos. 4, 15 (described later), the processing tank 3b is a tank filled with an etching solution for etching using the photoresist film formed on the surface to be processed of the substrates SB, SB, ... As a mask. Treatment tank 3c is so-called QDR
A (quick dump rinse) tank is filled with pure water to pre-clean the etching liquid adhering to the surface to be processed of the substrate SB. The processing tank 3d is filled with pure water to perform a final rinse. The (final rinse) tank and the processing tank 3e are IPA (isopropyl alcohol) dryers in which the substrates SB, SB, ... Are immersed and then pulled up and dried at a low speed. The processing tank 3f actually belongs to the unloading side processing step described in detail below, and is a tank filled with the first stripping solution for stripping the photoresist film.

The substrate transfer processing device 5 is structured so as to transfer the substrates SB, SB, ... Mounted on the posture changing means 2 of the loading transfer section A without a cassette.

Specifically, as shown in FIG. 1, the substrate transfer processing apparatus 5 is provided in the inside 8a of the apparatus main body, and the arrangement direction of the processing tanks 3a to 3f (arrow (3) direction in FIG. 2). ), A carrier table 9 that can be reciprocally moved in parallel, a column 10 that can be vertically moved up and down on the carrier table 9, a support device platform 11 attached to the upper end of the column 10, A horizontal arm 1 extending from the equipment table 11 to the upper side of the processing tank
2 and a substrate suspension device 13 attached to the end of the horizontal arm 12, and the plurality of substrates SB, SB, ... The surfaces of these substrates SB, SB, ... Are treated by sequentially immersing them in the treatment liquid in 3f.

Further, in the structure of each processing tank described above, the processing tanks 3a, 3c, 3d are single tanks made of a material such as vinyl chloride resin, and the processing tanks 3b, 3e, 3f are made of a material such as quartz glass. It is an overflow tank.

The specific structure of these overflow tanks will be described with reference to the sectional view of the processing tank 3e shown in FIG. 3e ₁
Indicates an overflow tank main body having a typical basic structure, which is provided with a liquid supply port 3e ₂ , a liquid drainage port 3e ₃ and an overflow liquid drainage port 3e _4, and a substrate holding portion for holding a substrate SB at its lower portion. . This substrate holding part includes a base 3e ₅ and a pair of holding parts 3 fixedly mounted on the base 3e _5.
e ₆ and 3e ₇ . These holding portions 3e ₆ and 3e ₇
Each have a plurality of substrate holding grooves, and one holding portion 3e
_One of the corners of the substrate SB is held in each of the substrate holding grooves 6 and one side of the substrate SB is held in each of the substrate holding grooves of the other holding portion 3e ₇ .

The other processing tanks 3a, 3b, 3c, 3
Substrate holding units similar to those described above are provided in d and 3f, and the substrate SB transported by the substrate transport processing apparatus 5 is
The substrate is transferred to the substrate holding unit and subjected to a predetermined wet treatment in each treatment tank.

Although not shown, lids for preventing chemical liquid scattering are attached to the processing tanks 3b and 3f so as to be openable and closable.

The specific structure of the substrate suspension device 13 is shown in FIG.
~ As shown in FIG. 7, a pair of left and right suspension arms 14, 15
Also, an arm control unit 16 for controlling opening / closing of these is provided as a main part.

One of the suspension arms 14 is an elongated plate 1
7, 17 and a pair of upper and lower substrate holding bars 19, 19 provided in a bridge shape between the elongated plates 17, 17. The elongated plate 17 is made of stainless steel coated with fluororesin and has excellent chemical resistance. Further, the both substrate holding bars 19 and 19 are
Both ends of the elongated plates 17 and 17 are fixed nuts 18 and 1, respectively, near the tips, that is, the lower ends and the central portion in the vertical direction.
It is fixed horizontally by 8.

The substrate holding bar 19 is, as shown in FIG.
An outer cylinder 19b formed of fluororesin or the like and having a plurality of substrate holding grooves 19a, 19a, ...
And a stainless steel mandrel 19c enclosed inside the outer cylinder 19b.

The other suspension arm 15 is similar to the suspension arm 14 and includes elongated plates 20 and 20, and a single substrate holding bar 19 provided in a bridge shape between the elongated plates 20 and 20. Be equipped with. That is, the elongated plate 2
0 is set shorter than the elongated plate 17 of the suspension arm 14 (about half), and both elongated plates 2
Both ends of the substrate holding bar 19 are horizontally fixed by fixing nuts 18, 18 to the tips or lower ends of 0 and 20, respectively. The specific structure of the substrate holding bar 19 is as described above.

The relative positions of the three substrate holding bars 19, 19, 19 attached to both suspension arms 14, 15 are as follows.
When the suspension arms 14 and 15 are closed to chuck and hold the substrate SB, the lower side of the substrate SB is set to be held in a suspended state with the lower side inclined from the horizontal by about 5 °. That is, as shown in FIG. 5, both suspension arms 14, 1
5. Substrate holding bars (substrate holding portions) 19 and 19 at the lower end 5 support the upper ends of the inclined lower sides SBa and SBb of each substrate SB in a suspended manner, and the upper substrate holding bar (inclined holding portion) of the suspension arm 14 19 supports the upper end portion of the other side SBc of each substrate SB to prevent each substrate SB from rotating forward (to the right in FIG. 5).

The base ends, that is, the upper ends of the suspension arms 14 and 15 are respectively connected to the arm control section 16, whereby the suspension arms 14 and 15 are moved in parallel with each other, and in the closed position, the substrate SB is closed. Is held in a hanging state, and chucking of the substrate SB is released at the expanded position.

As shown in FIGS. 6 and 7, the controller 16 controls the carriage 2 that supports the suspension arm 14 or 15.
4 and the air cylinder 26, which is the driving means, are set as one set, and two are used to drive both suspension arms 14 and 15 separately.
It is installed as a set.

The carriage 24 is the linear rail 2
The linear rails 22 and 22 are mounted on the linear guides 23 and 23 that slide on the horizontal arms 1 and 2.
It is fixed on the frame 21 which is connected to 2. The air cylinder 26 is mounted on the frame 21 via a bracket 25, and the piston rod of the air cylinder 26 is connected to the carriage 24 via a connecting bracket 27. The upper ends of the suspension arms 14 and 15 are attached and fixed to both ends of each carriage 24 through connection blocks 29 extending through the windows 28a to 28d of the cover 28.

The substrate transfer processing device 6 following the loading-side processing bath array 3 is a device for transferring and processing the substrates SB, SB, ... From the loading-side processing bath array 3 to the unloading-side processing bath array 4.
As shown in FIG. 3, it is installed at a portion 8b of the apparatus body. The basic structure of the substrate transfer processing apparatus 6 is almost the same as that of the substrate transfer processing apparatus 5 described above, and substrates SB, SB,
The holding direction of ... has just changed from left to right. That is, the substrate suspension device 13 of the substrate transfer processing device 6
Is a substrate S that is transported by the substrate transport processing apparatus 5.
B, SB, ... Are attached to the column 10 so that the B, SB, ...

The carry-out side processing bath line 4 is provided with a plurality of processing baths as in the case of the loading side processing bath line 3 described above, and the substrate transfer processing device 7 is arranged on the side of these processing baths. In the illustrated example, four processing tanks 4a to 4d and IPA
A vapor dryer 4e is provided.

Specifically, the processing bath 4a is a second processing bath 3f containing a first stripping solution for stripping the photoresist film, which is installed on the carrying-in side, followed by a similar stripping process. It is a processing tank containing the stripper solution. The processing tank 4b is a rinse tank filled with a rinse liquid, the processing tank 4c is a QDR tank filled with pure water, and the processing tank 4c is also filled with pure water. Finally, the substrates SB, SB, ... The tank is a tank, and the IPA vapor dryer functions as a drying unit for drying the substrates SB, SB, ... With the vapor of IPA.

The structure of each processing tank is the same as the processing tanks 4a and 4b.
Is an overflow tank made of a material such as quartz glass, and the processing tanks 4c and 4d are single tanks made of a material having a vinyl chloride function or the like. Is provided.

Although not shown, a lid for preventing chemical liquid scattering is attached to the processing tank 4a so as to be openable and closable.

As shown in FIG. 1, the substrate transfer processing apparatus 7 is installed in a portion 8c of the apparatus main body and has a basic structure similar to that of the substrate transfer processing apparatus 5 described above. It is configured to perform a carrying process up to the attitude changing means 2 on the side.

The substrate transfer processing apparatus 7 is the same as the processing tank 4 described above.
a-4c and the IPA vapor dryer 4e are driven and controlled so as to move in parallel to the arrangement direction (arrow (5) direction), whereby the substrates SB, SB, ... Are sequentially immersed in the processing baths 4a-4d. After that, the substrates SB, SB, ... Are placed on the posture changing means 2 of the substrate unloading side transfer unit C.

Like the carry-in side transfer section A, the carry-out side transfer section C is composed of the posture changing means 2 and the transfer robot 1. Then, the posture changing means 2 is rotated 90 ° in the fall direction to be in a horizontal state, and the postures of the substrates SB, SB, ... Subsequently, the substrate S which is in a horizontal state by the transfer robot 1
B, SB, ... Are sequentially stored one by one in an empty cassette CC placed in the substrate unloading section U.

This empty cassette CC is, as will be described later,
The cleaning treatment has been carried through the cassette carrying section D through the path indicated by the arrow (7), and is the same as that in which the substrates SB, SB, ... Are stored at the time of loading.

When the transfer robot 1 stores the number of substrates SB, SB, ... In the cassette CC, the cassette CC is tact-fed by a tact feeding mechanism (not shown) and is unloaded to the next step.

The cassette carrying section D is a section for carrying an empty cassette CC from the substrate carry-in section A to the substrate carry-out section C, and connects the substrate carry-in section A and the substrate carry-out section C. Also,
The cassette carrying section D is provided with a cassette carrying device 30, and a cassette cleaning tank 31 is provided in the middle of the transfer path (7).

The cassette carrying device 30 is capable of reciprocating along the path of the arrow (7) in the portion 8d (see FIG. 3) of the device body and a pair of chucking arms for chucking the empty cassette CC. 30a, 30a and the like. These chucking arms 30a, 30a chuck the empty cassette CC from which the substrates SB, SB, ... Are taken out in the substrate loading section A, and are immersed in the cassette cleaning tank 31 for cleaning, pulling and drying, and then the above. It is transported to the substrate unloading section C.

The cycle time in this case is synchronized with the cycle time in the cleaning section B, and as described above, it is the same as that stored in the empty cassette (carrier cassette) CC at the time of loading from the previous process. Substrate SB, S
.. are controlled to be stored again in the substrate unloading section C.

The control unit E drives and controls the tact feed mechanism (not shown), the transfer robot 1, the posture changing unit 2, the substrate transfer processing units 5, 6, 7 and the cassette transfer unit 30 in synchronization with each other. Then, by the control device E, the following wet processing steps are automatically performed from the time of loading the substrates SB, SB, ...

A. Loading of substrates SB, SB, ...: The substrates SB, SB, ... Having finished the previous process are stored in the carrier cassette CC, and are manually loaded by an unmanned guided vehicle (AGV) or an operator (not shown). It is loaded into L. The carrier cassette CC carried in is tact-fed by the tact feed mechanism (not shown) along the path indicated by the arrow (1) as described above, and is placed at the transfer position.

The substrate S in this carrier cassette CC
B, SB, ... Are transferred one by one to the posture changing means 2 by the transfer robot 1. All substrates SB, SB, ... Are carrier cassettes CC
When the posture is changed to the posture changing means 2, the posture changing means 2 rotates 90 ° in the standing direction, and the posture of the substrates SB, SB, ... Is changed to the vertical state (standing state).

The substrate transfer processing device 5 of the cleaning section B approaches the posture changing means 2, and the suspension arms 14 and 15 collectively catch the plurality of substrates SB, SB, ... King and hold in a suspended state.

B. Wet processing of the substrates SB, SB, ...: The substrates SB, SB, ..
Immersion and transfer to 3d are sequentially repeated to carry out etching and cleaning treatment, followed by drying treatment by the IPA dryer 3e, and thereafter, holding by the substrate holding portion in the processing tank 3f.

The substrates SB, SB, ... Having been subjected to the first peeling processing in the processing tank 3f are held in a suspended state without a cassette by the substrate transfer processing device 6, and the substrates SB, SB, ... The substrate is transported to and held in the processing tank 4a. After the second peeling treatment is performed in this treatment tank 4a,
This time, the substrates are held in a suspended manner by the substrate transfer processing device 7 without a cassette, and the processing tanks 4b to 4d of the carry-out processing tank row 4 are processed.
Immersion and transfer are sequentially repeated to perform rinse treatment and pure water cleaning treatment, followed by drying treatment by the IPA vapor dryer 4e, and then conveyed to the unloading side transfer portion C (arrow mark).
(See (5)), and is stored in the posture changing means 2.

C. Conveyance of empty cassette CC: The carrier cassette CC emptied at the transfer section A is transferred by the cassette conveying device 30 in parallel with the cleaning process of the substrates SB, SB, ... Removed from the carrier cassette CC. ,
After being immersed in the cassette cleaning tank 31 for cleaning treatment, pulled up at a low speed and dried, the carrying-out side transfer section C
Transported to (see arrow (7)).

D. Carrying out the substrates SB, SB, ...: The substrates SB, SB, ... After the wet processing steps in both the cleaning tank rows 3 and 4 are transferred from the posture changing means 2 to the transfer robot 1 in the transfer side transfer section C. It is transferred to an empty cassette CC that has been cleaned (see arrow (6)). In this case, the empty cassette CC to be stored is the above-mentioned substrates SB, S.
.., which were stored at the time of loading, are previously transported to the substrate unloading unit U through the cassette transporting unit D as described above, and the cleaning process of the substrates SB, SB ,. Waiting for Carrier cassette C accommodating substrates SB, SB, ...
C is tact-fed by the tact feed mechanism (not shown) along the path indicated by the arrow (8), and is also transported to the next step by manual work by an AGU (not shown) and an operator.

Embodiment 2 This embodiment is a modification of the structure of the substrate lifting device 13 shown in FIGS. 8 to 11, which holds the substrates SB, SB, ...

That is, in the substrate suspension device 13 of this example, one suspension arm 14 has two elongated plates 1
7 and 17, and a pair of upper and lower substrate holding bars 19 and 19 horizontally attached to the lower ends thereof. Also,
The other suspending arm 15 is similar to the suspending arm 14 and includes the elongated plates 20 and 20 and the elongated plates 2.
One substrate holding bar 1 provided in a bridge shape between 0 and 20
9 and. That is, the elongated plate 20 is set to be shorter (about half) than the elongated plate 17 of the suspension arm 14, and the substrate holding bar 19 is horizontally attached to the lower ends of both elongated plates 20 and 20. .

The upper ends of the suspension arms 14 and 15 are pivotally attached to the frame 21 connected to the above-mentioned horizontal arm 12 so as to be swingable, and are also connected to the arm control section 16. As a result, the suspension arms 14 and 15 are swung with respect to each other to chuck and hold the substrate SB in a suspended state at the closed position, and at the expanded position, the substrate S is held.
Unchuck B.

The relative positions of the three substrate holding bars 19, 19, 19 attached to both suspension arms 14, 15 are as follows.
When the suspension arms 14 and 15 are closed to chuck and hold the substrate SB, the lower side of the substrate SB is set to be held in a suspended state with the lower side inclined from the horizontal by about 5 °. That is, as shown in FIG. 8, both suspension arms 14, 1
5. Substrate holding bars (substrate holding portions) 19 and 19 at the lower end 5 support the upper ends of the inclined lower sides SBa and SBb of each substrate SB in a suspended manner, and the upper substrate holding bar (inclined holding portion) of the suspension arm 14 19 supports the lower end of the other side SBc of each substrate SB to prevent the substrate SB from rotating forward (to the right in FIG. 8).

As shown in FIGS. 9 to 11, the control unit 16 includes a rocking shaft 33 for pivotally supporting the suspension arm 14 or 15 and an air cylinder 26 as a driving means as one set, and both suspensions. Two sets are mounted to drive the arms 14 and 15 separately.

The swing shaft 33 is used for the frame 2
1 is rotatably supported by bearings 32, 32. Both ends of this swing shaft 33 are covered with the cover 2
8 is projected to the outside through 8 and the connecting block 2
The upper end of the suspension arm 14 or 15 is attached and fixed via 9, 29.

The air cylinder 26 is of a double rod type and is mounted on the frame 21 via a bracket 35. One piston rod 26a of the air cylinder 26 is oscillated via a connecting rod 36. It is connected to a swing lever 34 fixed to the moving shaft 33. A stopper 37 for stopping the other piston rod 26b of the air cylinder 26 is fixed to the frame 21.

Therefore, in the substrate suspension device 13 configured as described above, the suspension arms 14 and 15 are swung by the air cylinders 26 and 26 of the arm control section 16 to be expanded and contracted. Substrate SB in its closed position
Is held in a suspended state by chucking, and the chucking of the substrate SB is released at the expanded position to remove the substrate SB,
SB, ... Are transported without a cassette. Other configurations and operations are similar to those of the first embodiment.

The first and second embodiments described above are merely specific examples of the present invention.
The present invention is not limited to this, and various design changes are possible.

For example, the suspension arm 1 of the substrate suspension device 13
The substrate holding bars 19 of Nos. 4 and 15 are indispensable under the condition that the two adjacent sides SBa and SBb of the substrate SB are inclined so that they are inclined lower sides.
If two board holding bars 19, 19 that support b in a suspended state are provided, in addition to the arrangement of three boards as shown in the figure, it is possible to appropriately add more boards depending on the shape and size of the board to be processed. ,
Further, the relative arrangement relationship of these substrate holding bars can be appropriately set without being limited to the first and second embodiments.

[0069]

As described in detail above, according to the present invention,
The board is arranged so that the two adjacent sides are inclined lower sides,
With a simple structure in which the two lower inclined sides are supported in a suspended manner, a large substrate can be processed in a batch method without using a cassette, and thus a wet processing with a low contamination level and a high production efficiency can be realized. .

Further, by supporting one of the two lower inclined sides at an angle close to horizontal, the size of the apparatus can be reduced.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a side cross-sectional view showing the inside of a substrate wet processing apparatus that is Embodiment 1 of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional plan view showing the inside of the substrate wet processing apparatus.

FIG. 3 is a front sectional view showing the inside of the substrate wet processing apparatus.

FIG. 4 is a side sectional view showing an internal structure of a processing bath in the substrate wet processing apparatus.

FIG. 5 is a side view showing a substrate suspension device of the substrate transfer processing device in the substrate wet processing device.

FIG. 6 is a front view showing the substrate suspension device in a partial cross section.

FIG. 7 is a plan cross-sectional view showing an arm control unit of the substrate suspension device.

FIG. 8 is a side view showing a substrate suspension device of a substrate transfer processing device in a substrate wet processing device which is Embodiment 2 of the present invention.

FIG. 9 is a front view showing the substrate suspension device in a partial cross section.

FIG. 10 is a plan cross-sectional view showing an arm control section of the substrate suspension device.

FIG. 11 is a side sectional view showing an arm control unit of the substrate suspension device.

[Explanation of symbols]

 L substrate carry-in section A carry-in side transfer section B wet processing section C carry-out side transfer section D cassette transfer section E controller (drive control section) U board carry-out section O operator zone SB board CC carrier cassette 1 transfer robot 2 posture Conversion means 3 Loading side processing tank row 3a to 3f Processing tank 4 Unloading side processing tank row 4a to 4e Processing tank 5, 6, 7 Substrate transfer processing device 9 Transfer stage 11 Support device stage 12 Horizontal arm 13 Substrate lifting device 14, 15 Lifting Arm 16 Arm Control Unit 19 Substrate Holding Bar 19a Substrate Holding Groove of Substrate Holding Bar 30 Cassette Transfer Device 31 Cassette Cleaning Tank

Claims (11)

[Claims] 1. When a rectangular or square substrate is taken out from a carrier cassette and is transferred without a cassette, the two adjacent lower sides of the substrate are inclined so that the two adjacent lower sides are inclined lower sides, and the two lower inclined sides are suspended. A method for wet-treating a substrate, characterized in that it is supported in a shape of a circle. 2. The two orthogonal sides adjacent to each other of the substrate are tilted so as to be a lower inclined side closer to horizontal and a lower inclined side closer to vertical, respectively, and the two inclined lower sides are supported in a suspended manner. The substrate wet processing method according to. 3. A plurality of rectangular or square substrates,
An apparatus for collectively performing wet processing without a cassette by a substrate transfer processing apparatus, wherein the substrate transfer processing apparatus includes a pair of suspending arms that can be opened and closed, and an arm control unit that controls opening and closing of these suspending arms. A substrate holding device is provided, and each of the two holding arms is provided with a substrate holding portion for chucking and holding a plurality of substrates, and these substrate holding portions are provided for each substrate when the both holding arms are closed. A substrate wet processing apparatus, which is configured to support two adjacent lower inclined sides in a suspended manner from below. 4. The substrate holding part is tilted so that two adjacent orthogonal sides of the substrate are an inclined lower side close to horizontal and an inclined lower side close to vertical, and these two inclined lower sides are from below. The substrate wet processing apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the substrate wet processing apparatus is arranged so as to be supported in a suspended manner. 5. At least one of the both suspension arms,
The tilt holding part for holding the tilted state of the substrate is provided in addition to the substrate holding part for supporting the substrate in a suspended state.
The substrate wet processing apparatus according to 1. 6. The substrate holder holds the upper end of the lower inclined side of each substrate in a suspended manner when the both suspension arms are closed, and the inclined retainer upper end of the other side of each substrate. The substrate wet processing apparatus according to claim 5, which supports the portion. 7. The substrate holder holds the upper end of the lower inclined side of each substrate in a suspended manner when both suspension arms are closed, and the inclined retainer lowers the other side of each substrate. The substrate wet processing apparatus according to claim 5, which supports the portion. 8. The substrate wet processing apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the suspension arms are moved in parallel with each other to perform expansion / contraction operations. 9. The substrate wet processing apparatus according to claim 3, wherein an upper end of the suspension arm is pivotally attached so as to be swingable to perform expansion / contraction operation. 10. The substrate holder and the tilt holder are
The substrate wet bar according to claim 5, which is a form of a substrate holding bar supported horizontally, and a plurality of substrate holding grooves for accommodating and holding an edge portion of the substrate are provided at predetermined intervals on an outer periphery of each substrate holding bar. Processing equipment. 11. The substrate transfer processing apparatus comprises: a transfer table that can reciprocate in a direction in which processing tanks are arranged; a support apparatus table that is vertically movable on the transfer table; and a support apparatus table. 11. The substrate wet processing apparatus according to claim 3, comprising a horizontal arm extending from above to the upper side of the processing tank, and the substrate suspension device mounted on the tip of the horizontal arm.