JPH0637077A - Treating apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To prevent invasion of treating fluid to a rear surface of an element to be treated and to hold the element to be treated by utilizing a wind pressure of gas. CONSTITUTION:An element-to-be-treated holding mechanism 10 is formed on a spinning chuck 1 for holding a wafer W. The mechanism 10 is composed of a rotor 11 rotating upon receiving of a wind pressure of N2 gas, a plurality of element-to-be-treated holding pawls 12 arranged on a periphery of the chuck 1, and a transmission link 13 for transmitting a rotary motion of the rotor 11 to the pawls 12. Thus, the rotor 11 is rotated by the wind pressure of the gas to be supplied to the rear surface of the wafer W placed on the chuck 1, the rotary motion of the rotor 11 is transmitted to the pawls 12 through the link 13, and a peripheral edge of the wafer W is held by the pawls 12. Further, roundabout introduction of treating fluid to the rear surface of the wafer W can be prevented by the gas.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a processing apparatus for processing an object such as a semiconductor wafer while rotating it.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art As a conventional processing apparatus of this type, an object to be processed, for example, a semiconductor wafer is horizontally held and rotated to supply a processing liquid (cleaning liquid) to the surface of the semiconductor wafer.
For example, a processing device is known in which a brush made of nylon or mohair is pressed against the surface of a semiconductor wafer to remove particle contaminants on the surface.

Further, a processing apparatus of this type employs a grip chuck method in which the outer peripheral edge of a semiconductor wafer is held by three or more holding claws. As this grip chuck method, for example, Japanese Patent Publication No. 9607/1990. The structure described in the publication is known. This special fair 3-96
According to the technique described in Japanese Patent Publication No. 07, the rotary shaft protruding in the processing chamber is formed of a tubular rotary shaft, and the pawl drive shaft is rotatably or movably penetrated into the tubular rotary shaft. A movable claw is connected to the protruding side of the claw drive shaft via a movable claw operation link. The biasing means is hooked between the tubular drive shaft and the pawl drive shaft, and the movable wafer releasing means provided opposite the biasing means holds and releases the semiconductor wafer via the pawl drive shaft. Is configured to.

[0004]

However, in the conventional processing apparatus of this type, since the grip chuck system is adopted, a gas (for example, nitrogen (N2)) for preventing the processing liquid from entering the back surface of the semiconductor wafer to be held. Gas) can be supplied to enable double-sided processing, but it has a double shaft structure in which the pawl drive shaft penetrates into the tubular drive shaft, and moreover, between the tubular drive shaft and the pawl drive shaft. While locking the biasing means,
Since the structure is such that the semiconductor wafer is held and released via the pawl drive shaft by the movable pawl releasing means provided so as to face the biasing means, the structure is complicated and two drive sources are required. However, there is a problem that the entire device becomes large.

The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and it is possible to prevent the processing liquid from entering the back surface of the object to be processed and to hold the object to be processed by utilizing the wind pressure of the gas for preventing the invasion of the processing liquid. It is an object of the present invention to provide such a processing device.

[0006]

In order to achieve the above object, the processing apparatus of the present invention holds the object to be processed by the rotation holding means and supplies the processing liquid to the surface of the object to be processed. On the premise of the processing device, the rotation holding means is supplied with a gas toward the back surface of the object to be processed, and a processing object holding mechanism for holding the object to be processed is driven by wind pressure of the gas. It will be done.

In the present invention, the structure for holding the object to be processed may have any structure as long as it can hold and release the object to be processed by the wind pressure of the gas, but preferably the mechanism for holding the object to be processed is used. , A rotating body that is rotated by the wind pressure of the gas, a swingable object-holding claw disposed at at least three locations around the rotation holding means, and a rotating motion of the rotating body on the object-holding claw. Or a transmission link for transmitting the object, or the target object holding mechanism is swingably arranged in at least three positions of a moving member that linearly moves by the wind pressure of the gas and a peripheral portion of the rotation holding unit. At the same time, it is preferable that the movable body is constituted by a processing object holding claw that can be switched to a holding or releasing position of the processing object.

When the processing object holding mechanism is composed of a moving object and a processing object holding claw, the moving object is formed by a piston slidably arranged in the cylinder, and the object to be processed in the cylinder is It is preferable that a gas discharge port that opens and closes as the piston moves is provided at a portion facing the back surface of the processing body.

[0009]

According to the processing apparatus of the present invention configured as described above, when the gas is supplied toward the back surface of the object to be processed in the rotation holding means for holding the object, the wind pressure of the gas is received and the object to be processed is received. The treatment object holding mechanism is driven, and the gas flows toward the outer peripheral direction of the treatment object. Therefore, it is possible to prevent the processing liquid from entering the back surface of the object to be processed and to hold the object to be processed at the same time.

Further, the object-holding mechanism has a rotating body which is rotated by receiving a wind pressure of gas, and a swingable object-holding claw disposed at least at three positions around the rotation holding means. By configuring the processing object holding claw with the transmission link that transmits the rotational movement of the rotating body, the structure can be simplified and the size of the entire apparatus can be reduced.

Further, the object-holding mechanism is swingably arranged at least at three positions around the moving body which moves linearly by the wind pressure of the gas and around the rotation holding means, and the moving body holds the object to be treated. The object to be processed can be switched to the holding or releasing position, and the structure can be simplified, the overall size of the device can be reduced, and the object to be processed can be held securely by the wind pressure of the gas. can do. In this case, the moving body is formed by a piston slidably arranged in the cylinder, and a gas discharge port that opens and closes as the piston moves is provided in a portion of the cylinder that faces the back surface of the object to be processed. At the same time as holding the object to be processed, it is possible to prevent the processing liquid from entering the back surface of the object to be processed.

[0012]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the drawings. In this embodiment, a case where the processing apparatus of the present invention is applied to a semiconductor wafer cleaning processing apparatus will be described.

First Embodiment As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the semiconductor wafer cleaning apparatus described above has a rotation holding means for holding a semiconductor wafer W (hereinafter referred to as a wafer), which is an object to be processed, in a horizontal state. And a disk for cleaning and removing particle contaminants adhering to the surface of the wafer W using a processing liquid, that is, a cleaning liquid supplied from a jet nozzle 7 on the upper surface of the wafer W held by the spin chuck 1. The main part is constituted by the brush 2.

The spin chuck 1 includes a rotary plate 5 horizontally connected to an upper end of a hollow cylindrical rotary shaft 4 rotated by a drive motor (not shown), and a wafer W formed on the rotary plate 5 in a horizontal state. To be processed object holding mechanism 10
(Hereinafter referred to as a holding mechanism), and a supply passage 3 for a cleaning treatment liquid intrusion prevention gas (N2 gas) is provided in the hollow portion of the rotary shaft 4.

As shown in FIGS. 3 to 5, the holding mechanism 10 is connected to the upper end of the rotary shaft 4 and is rotated by the wind pressure of N 2 gas, and the rotary member 11 and the peripheral portion of the rotary plate 5.
It is composed of a swingable object holding claw 12 (hereinafter referred to as a holding claw) disposed at a position, and a transmission link 13 for transmitting the rotational movement of the rotating body 11 to each holding claw 12. In this case, as shown in FIG. 6, the rotary body 11 includes the six leg pieces 1 protruding from the cylindrical boss portion 14a in the radial direction.
4b, and a rotary blade 1 having six inclined blade pieces 16a projectingly provided on an outer peripheral surface connected to the rotation transmitting portion 14 with a connecting shaft 15 and a key 15a above the rotation transmitting portion 14.
6 and the lower surface of each inclined blade piece 16a inclined at about 30 degrees with respect to the horizontal plane, from the passage 5b communicating with the N2 gas supply passage 3 provided in the base 5a of the rotary plate 5. The N2 gas injected upward can collide. Therefore, the rotary blade 16 is rotated by the wind pressure of the N2 gas supplied from the N2 gas supply source (not shown) into the N2 gas supply passage 3 of the rotary shaft 4 and injected from the passage 5b, and the rotation transmission portion 14 is rotated. can do. Further, the N2 gas collides with the lower surface of the rotary blade 16 and then flows in the outer peripheral direction to prevent the cleaning liquid from wrapping around and entering the back surface of the wafer W.

The holding claw 12 is a cylindrical base 12b which is erected at one end of a swinging link 17 pivotally mounted on the outer peripheral piece of the rotary plate 5 so as to swing horizontally by a fulcrum pin 17a with a fixing screw 12a. A wafer mounting flange 12c protruding from the top of the cylindrical base 12b for mounting the edge of the wafer W, and a wafer guiding taper provided on the top of the wafer mounting flange 12c on the upward protruding side. 12d
It consists of and. The holding claw 12 configured in this way
In the non-holding state of the wafer W, the wafer guiding taper portion 12 holds the wafer W which is transferred from the outside by a fork-shaped transfer arm (not shown) and dropped from above.
It can be temporarily mounted on the wafer mounting flange 12c by being guided by d.

A hinge pin 13a is provided between the other end of the swinging link 17 of the holding claw 12 and the tip of the leg piece 14b provided on the rotation transmitting section 14 of the rotating body 11 with the hinge pin 13a. 13 is pivotally attached to the rotating body 1.
1 is transmitted to the swing link 17 of the holding claw 12, and the holding claw 12 can be moved toward and away from the rotation center of the spin chuck 1, that is, in the holding and releasing directions of the wafer W. Has become. The transmission link 13 is slidably arranged along a guide groove 5c provided on the upper surface of the rotary plate 5 (see FIG. 3).

A large number of disk brushes 2 are planted on the lower surface of a disk 2a which is rotatably (rotated and revolved) mounted on the lower surface of the distal end portion of an operation arm 6 disposed on the side of the spin chuck 1. For example, it is made of nylon or mohair. The disc brush 2 is configured to rotate (θ) on the rotary plate 5 of the spin chuck 1 by an operation arm 6 driven by a driving unit (not shown) and move in the vertical direction (Z), and is in a standby state. It is adapted to be cleaned by the brush cleaner 8.

On the other hand, as shown in FIG. 1, the jet nozzle 7 is arranged on the side facing the disk brush 2 with respect to the spin chuck 1, and is operated by the operating mechanism 9 in the vertical direction (Z) and the horizontal direction (X). It is attached to the tip of the movable arm 7a. The jet nozzle 7 is adapted to move to the upper surface of the wafer W when the disc brush 2 is used and to spray a cleaning liquid supplied from a cleaning liquid supply source (not shown) to a position near the disk brush 2.

In the processing apparatus of the present invention configured as described above, when cleaning the wafer W, first,
After the wafer W transferred by a not-shown fork-shaped wafer transfer arm is temporarily mounted on the wafer mounting flange 12c of the holding claw 12 in the released state, the wafer transfer arm is moved downward to perform spin chucking. Retreat from 1.
Next, when N2 gas is supplied from the N2 gas supply source into the N2 gas supply passage 3 of the rotating shaft 4, the N2 gas is injected upward from the N2 gas supply passage 3 through the passage 5b to incline the rotor 11. It collides with the lower surface of the blade 16a. Since the inclined blade piece 16a is inclined about 30 degrees with respect to the horizontal plane, the rotor 1 is rotated by the horizontal component force of the collision force of N2 gas.
1 rotates horizontally. The horizontal rotation of the rotating body 11 is transmitted to the swing link 17 of the holding claw 12 via the transmission link 13, the holding claw 12 moves toward the center of the spin chuck 1, and the peripheral portion of the wafer W is moved. To hold.

While the peripheral portion of the wafer W is held and held as described above, the drive motor (not shown) drives the rotary shaft 4 to rotate the wafer W horizontally. Then, the disc brush 2 and the jet nozzle 7 are moved above the wafer W, the cleaning liquid is sprayed from the jet nozzle 7 onto the surface of the wafer W, and the disc brush 2 causes the wafer W to move.
The surface of is cleaned while rubbing to remove particle contaminants and the like adhering to the surface. This cleaning may be performed only by jet cleaning in which the cleaning liquid is sprayed from the jet nozzle 7, or by brush cleaning alone in which the cleaning liquid is supplied to the vicinity of the disc brush 2, and both are alternately performed. Depending on the type and cleaning state of the object to be processed, such as simultaneous execution, various changes may be set. At this time, the wafer W
Since the N2 gas is supplied to the back surface of the wafer W and flows toward the outer peripheral direction, there is no possibility that the cleaning liquid will go around to the back surface of the wafer W.

In the above-described embodiment, the case where the holding claws 12 are arranged at six positions has been described, but the number of the holding claws 12 does not necessarily have to be six, and the holding claws 12 are arranged at at least three positions. Just do it. Further, in addition to the holding claw 12 that holds and releases, a fixed holding claw that can only mount the wafer W may be provided. For example, it is possible to use the holding claws 12 for holding / releasing operation at three equally spaced positions in the above-described embodiment, and the holding claws arranged at the remaining three positions as fixed holding claws. Further, it is preferable to provide a function of adjusting the clamping force of the holding claw 12, and as the adjusting means, for example, N
2 Adjust the gas supply pressure, adjust the position of the fulcrum pin 17a of the swing link 17, provide the swing link 17 with a stopper, attach a spring, or the slanted blade of the rotating body 11. A method such as adjusting the inclination angle of the piece 16a can be adopted.

Second Embodiment FIG. 7 is a schematic plan view of the essential parts of a second embodiment of the processing apparatus of the present invention, and FIG. 8 is a sectional view of the essential parts of the second embodiment.

The processing apparatus in the second embodiment is a case in which the wafer W can be held more reliably by the atmospheric pressure (pressure) of the supplied N 2 gas.

That is, N2 supplied to the holding mechanism 10
A movable body 18 that linearly moves by the wind pressure of the gas, and a holding claw that is swingably arranged at least at three locations around the spin chuck 1 and that can be switched to a holding or releasing position of the wafer W by the moving body 18. This is the case when it is configured with 12. In this case, the moving body 18 includes a plurality of cylinders 18 a (six cases are shown in the drawing) arranged on the rotary plate 5.
Each of them is formed of a piston that is slidably disposed therein. Further, the cylinder 18a communicates with the N2 gas supply passage 3 through the passage 18c, and a portion of the cylinder 18a facing the back surface of the wafer W is a gas discharge port that opens and closes as the moving body, that is, the piston 18 moves. N
2 Gas discharge port 18b is provided.

Further, the holding claw 12 is attached to the peripheral portion of the rotary plate 5 so as to be capable of swinging (rotating) in the horizontal direction with a fulcrum pin 12e, and a spring is provided on the side opposite to the side engaging with the piston 18. Always holding claw 1 by the urging force of 19a
A pressing body 19 for pressing 2 to the release position is in abutting engagement.

Since the other parts of the second embodiment are the same as those of the first embodiment, the same parts are designated by the same reference numerals and the description thereof will be omitted.

In the processing apparatus of the second embodiment configured as described above, when cleaning the wafer W, first, as in the first embodiment, first, a fork-shaped wafer transfer arm (not shown) is used. After the wafer W to be transferred is temporarily placed on the holding claw 12 in the released state, the wafer transfer arm is moved downward and retracted from the spin chuck 1.
Next, when N2 gas is supplied from the N2 gas supply source into the N2 gas supply passage 3 of the rotating shaft 4, the N2 gas flows from the N2 gas supply passage 3 through the passage 18c into the cylinder 18a, and the piston 18 is rotated in the outer peripheral direction. Press to. Piston 18
The holding claw 12 rotates to the holding side against the biasing force of the spring 19a by holding the wafer W, and holds and holds the peripheral edge of the wafer W.

With the peripheral portion of the wafer W held as described above, the drive motor (not shown) drives the rotary shaft 4 to rotate the wafer W horizontally as in the first embodiment. . Then, the disc brush 2 and the jet nozzle 7 are moved above the wafer W, the cleaning liquid is sprayed from the jet nozzle 7 onto the surface of the wafer W, and the disc brush 2 cleans the surface of the wafer W while rubbing the surface of the wafer W to adhere to the surface. Remove particulate contaminants. At this time, since the N2 gas supplied into the cylinder 18a is supplied to the back surface side of the wafer W from the N2 gas discharge port 18b opened as the piston 18 moves, it flows toward the outer peripheral direction. There is no possibility that the cleaning liquid will flow around the back surface of the wafer W.

Therefore, according to the processing apparatus of the second embodiment, the wafer W can be held only by supplying the N 2 gas, so that the wafer W can be reliably held without being influenced by the rotation state of the spin chuck 1. Can be held.

The processing apparatus of the present invention configured as described above is used as a single semiconductor wafer cleaning apparatus as shown in FIG. 1 and is also used by being incorporated in a semiconductor wafer coating / developing apparatus described later. To be done.

The semiconductor wafer coating and developing apparatus is shown in FIG.
As shown in FIG. 2, the main parts are a processing mechanism unit 30 in which a processing mechanism for performing various processes on the wafer W is arranged, and a loading / unloading mechanism 20 for automatically loading / unloading the wafer W into / from the processing mechanism unit 30. It is configured.

The loading / unloading mechanism 20 is used for the wafer W before processing.
, A wafer carrier 22 for storing the processed wafer W, an arm 23 for adsorbing and holding the wafer W, and the arm 23 for X, Y (horizontal), Z.
Moving mechanism 24 for moving in the (vertical) and θ (rotation) directions
And an alignment stage 25 for aligning the wafer W and transferring the wafer W to and from the processing mechanism unit 30.

The processing mechanism unit 30 is provided with a transfer mechanism 32 that is movable along a transfer path 31 formed in the X direction from the alignment stage 25. The transfer mechanism 32 has Y, Z and θ directions. A main arm 33 is provided so as to be freely movable. On one side of the transport path 31,
An adhesion processing mechanism 34 for performing an adhesion processing for improving the adhesion between the wafer W and the resist liquid film.
A pre-baking mechanism 35 for heating and evaporating the solvent remaining in the resist applied to the wafer W, and a cooling mechanism 36 for cooling the overheated wafer W are arranged. On the other side of the transfer path 31, a processing liquid coating mechanism 37 for coating a resist on the surface of the wafer W, and a cleaning processing device 3 for cleaning particle contaminants and the like adhering to the surface of the wafer W.
8 (processing device of the present invention).

In the semiconductor wafer coating / developing apparatus constructed as described above, first, the unprocessed wafer W is loaded and unloaded.
The wafer carrier 21 is moved by the arm 23 of the carry-out mechanism 20.
And is placed on the alignment stage 25. Next, the wafer W on the alignment stage 25
Is held by the main arm 33 of the transport mechanism 32, transported to each of the processing mechanisms 34 to 38, and appropriately subjected to a cleaning process. Then, the processed wafer W is returned to the alignment stage 25 by the main arm 33, further transported by the arm 23, and stored in the wafer carrier 22.

In the above embodiment, the case where the object to be processed is a semiconductor wafer has been described, but the object to be processed is not necessarily limited to the semiconductor wafer, and may be, for example, an LCD substrate or a printed circuit board, a photomask, a ceramic substrate, a compact disc, or the like. Similarly, the present invention can also be applied to those that are subjected to processing such as cleaning.

[0037]

As described above, since the processing apparatus of the present invention is configured as described above, the following effects can be obtained.

1) According to the processing apparatus of the first aspect, the gas is supplied to the rotation holding means for holding the object to be processed toward the back surface of the object to be processed and driven by the wind pressure of the gas to be processed. Since the target object holding mechanism for holding the target object is formed, it is possible to prevent the processing liquid from entering the back surface of the target object and simultaneously hold the target object.

2) According to the processing apparatus of the second aspect, the object holding mechanism has a rotating body which is rotated by the wind pressure of the gas and a swing which is arranged at least at three positions around the rotating holding means. Since it is composed of a possible treatment object holding claw and a transmission link for transmitting the rotational movement of the rotating body to the treatment object holding claw, the structure can be simplified and the overall size of the apparatus can be reduced.

3) According to the processing apparatus of the third aspect, the object holding mechanism is swingably arranged at least at three positions, namely, the moving object which moves linearly by the wind pressure of the gas and the peripheral portion of the rotation holding means. Since it is provided with a processing object holding claw that can be switched to a holding or releasing position of the processing object by a moving object, the structure can be simplified and the size of the entire device can be reduced, and the gas can be reduced. The object to be processed can be reliably held by the wind pressure.

4) According to the processing apparatus of the fourth aspect, the movable body is formed by a piston slidably arranged in the cylinder, and the piston is provided at a portion of the cylinder facing the rear surface of the workpiece. Since the gas discharge port that opens and closes in accordance with the movement is provided, in addition to the above 3), at the same time as holding the object to be processed, it is possible to prevent the processing liquid from entering the back surface of the object to be processed.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic perspective view showing a first embodiment of a processing apparatus of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a schematic perspective view showing a main part of the processing apparatus of the first embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a plan view showing a target object holding mechanism in the first embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a sectional side view of a target object holding mechanism in the first embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view showing a rotating body, an object-to-be-processed holding claw, and a transmission link in the first embodiment.

FIG. 6 is an exploded perspective view showing a rotating body in the first embodiment.

FIG. 7 is a schematic plan view showing a main part of a second embodiment of the processing apparatus of the present invention.

FIG. 8 is a cross-sectional view showing the main parts of the processing apparatus of the second embodiment.

FIG. 9 is a plan view showing an overall state in which the processing apparatus of the present invention is applied to a semiconductor wafer coating / developing apparatus.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 spin chuck (rotation holding means) 10 processing object holding mechanism 11 rotating body 12 processing object holding claw 13 transmission link 17 swing link 18 piston (moving body) 18a cylinder 18b N gas discharge port (gas discharge port) W semiconductor Wafer (object to be processed)

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[Procedure amendment]

[Submission date] August 21, 1992

[Procedure Amendment 1]

[Document name to be amended] Statement

[Name of item to be corrected] 0024

[Correction method] Change

[Correction content]

The processing apparatus in the second embodiment is a case in which the wafer W can be held more reliably by the atmospheric pressure of the supplied N 2 gas.

[Procedure Amendment 2]

[Document name to be amended] Statement

[Name of item to be corrected] 0025

[Correction method] Change

[Correction content]

That is, N supplied to the holding mechanism 10
2 Moving body 18 that moves linearly by the wind pressure (pressure) of gas
And a holding claw 12 that is swingably disposed at at least three locations around the spin chuck 1 and that can be switched to a holding or releasing position of the wafer W by the moving body 18. In this case, the moving body 18 is the rotating plate 5
It is formed of pistons slidably arranged in a plurality of cylinders 18a (six cases are shown in the drawing) arranged above. Further, the cylinder 18a has a passage 1
The cylinder 1 communicates with the N2 gas supply passage 3 via 8c.
An N2 gas discharge port 18b, which is a gas discharge port that opens and closes in accordance with the movement of the moving body, that is, the piston 18, is formed in a portion of 8a that faces the back surface of the wafer W.

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A processing apparatus for holding an object to be processed by a rotation holding means and supplying a processing liquid to the surface of the object to be processed, wherein the rotation holding means faces the back surface of the object to be processed. And a gas is supplied to the object to be processed, and the object to be processed holding mechanism is formed to hold the object to be processed by being driven by the wind pressure of the gas. 2. An object-to-be-processed holding mechanism is rotated by a wind pressure of a gas, an object-to-be-processed holding claw disposed at at least three locations around a rotation holding means, and the object to be processed. The processing device according to claim 1, wherein the processing device holding claw comprises a transmission link for transmitting the rotational movement of the rotating body. 3. The object-to-be-processed holding mechanism is swingably arranged at least at three locations around a moving body that linearly moves by the wind pressure of a gas and around a rotation holding means, and the object to be treated is treated by the moving body. The processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the processing object holding claw is capable of switching to a body holding or releasing position. 4. A gas discharge port which is formed by a piston slidably disposed in a cylinder, and which is opened and closed in accordance with the movement of the piston at a portion of the cylinder facing the rear surface of the object to be treated. The processing apparatus according to claim 3, further comprising: