JPH0644097Y2 - Substrate cleaning equipment - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed description of the device]

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION This invention is, for example, a semiconductor wafer, a glass plate for a photomask, etc. (hereinafter simply referred to as a substrate).
The present invention relates to a substrate cleaning device for cleaning substrates.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art As a substrate cleaning apparatus of this type, a swing type vertical cleaning apparatus disclosed in, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 57-90941 has been conventionally known. It consists of a suction chuck that holds and rotates the substrate, a rotating brush that is in vertical contact with the cleaning surface of the substrate, a motor that rotates the rotating brush, and a rotating brush that moves the rotating brush forward and backward along the diametrical direction of the substrate. (Swing) drive mechanism,
While horizontally rotating the cleaning brush that is in vertical contact with the substrate surface, the forward / backward drive mechanism moves the rotating brush at the forward / backward speed that has the maximum value at the center of the substrate surface and the minimum value at the peripheral edge, and It is configured to clean the surface.

[0003]

With a cleaning brush that is in vertical contact with the substrate surface, the tips of the brush expand outward due to centrifugal force when the cleaning brush starts to rotate. At this time,
In the above conventional example, when the cleaning brush is started and rotated while the cleaning brush and the surface of the substrate are in contact with each other, fine scratches are formed on the surface of the substrate. The present invention has been made in view of such circumstances, and an object of the present invention is to prevent the occurrence of minute scratches during the above-described starting rotation.

[0004]

In order to solve the above problems, in the invention of claim 1, the cleaning liquid is supplied to the substrate surface while horizontally rotating the cleaning brush that vertically contacts the substrate surface, and the substrate is rotated. In a substrate cleaning apparatus for cleaning a substrate surface by moving a cleaning brush from the center of the surface to a peripheral direction, an elevating drive means for elevating the cleaning brush in a direction perpendicular to the substrate surface is provided, and the cleaning brush is rotated by the elevating drive means. It is characterized in that the cleaning brush is brought into contact with the substrate surface in a rotating state by being lowered to a position where the cleaning brush is brought into contact with the substrate surface. Also,
The invention of claim 2 is further characterized in that a sensor for detecting that the cleaning brush is lowered to a predetermined position is provided, and the cleaning brush is rotated by a signal from the sensor.

[0005]

In the present invention, the cleaning brush is lowered by the elevating drive means, the cleaning brush is horizontally rotated, the cleaning liquid is supplied to the substrate surface, and the cleaning brush is moved in the peripheral direction from the center of the rotating substrate surface to move the substrate. Clean the surface. At that time, by rotating the cleaning brush in advance before the cleaning brush comes into contact with the surface of the substrate, the generation of minute scratches on the substrate at the time of the above-described start rotation is prevented.

[0006]

The present invention is characterized in that the cleaning brush is rotated in advance before the cleaning brush comes into contact with the substrate surface.
Hereinafter, a detailed description will be given based on FIGS. 1 and 2. Here, FIG. 1 is a side view for explaining the function of a substrate cleaning apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a perspective view thereof.

In the apparatus of this embodiment, a cleaning brush 2 rotatably supported is suspended, and a swing arm 1 horizontally swingably supported, and the swing arm 1 is supported at its upper end portion to rotate and lift. Arm support shaft 5 and arm support shaft 5
A rotation drive means 11 for rotationally driving the arm support shaft 5, a lift drive means 17 for lifting and lowering the arm support shaft 5, and an arm load receiving plate 7 fixed to the arm support shaft 5 for receiving the load of the swing arm 1. , A weight placing plate 21 on which a weight 22 for decelerating and descending the arm 1 is placed and which can be moved up and down, and both arm levers 25 whose both ends are supported to be vertically swingable.
And a deceleration cylinder 3 for decelerating the rising speed of the weight mounting plate 21.
1 and a stopper 32 that regulates the rising position of the weight mounting plate 21 so that the lifting position of the weight mounting plate 21 can be finely adjusted. When the cleaning brush 2 is brought into contact with the substrate surface, the arm load receiving plate 7 is used as a lever for both arms. Two
5 is placed on one arm 25a and the weight mounting plate 2
By mounting 1 on the other arm 25b and reducing the descending speed of the arm support shaft 5, the cleaning brush 2 is gently contacted with the substrate 41 held on the upper surface of the spin chuck 42. There is. Reference numeral 43 in FIG. 1 is a cleaning liquid supply nozzle for pure water or the like.

The cleaning brush 2 is rotatably supported on the tip end side of the swing arm 1 and is rotationally driven by a drive motor 3 disposed on the base end side of the swing arm 1 via a transmission belt 4. The swing arm 1 has its base end fixed to the upper end of the arm support shaft 5, is horizontally rotatable about the arm support shaft 5, and is vertically movable by raising and lowering the arm support shaft 5. Has been.

The arm support shaft 5 is supported by a support shaft boss 6 fixed on a base 40 so as to be rotatable and movable up and down. The arm support shaft 5 has an arm load at a position above the boss 6. The receiving plate 7 is fixed, and the driven pulley 1 is provided below the penetrating base 40 via a spline sleeve 8.
0s are connected. That is, the lower part of the arm support shaft 5 is a spline shaft 5b. A spline sleeve 8 is fitted onto the spline shaft 5b, and the spline sleeve 8 is rotatably supported on a base 40 via a bearing 9, The driven pulley 10 is fixed to the pulley fixing shaft 8b of the sleeve 8.

The rotation driving means 11 of the arm support shaft 5 is driven by a driven pulley 10 via a driving pulley 13 and a transmission belt 14.
Is provided with a drive motor 12 for driving forward and backward, and sensors 15A, 15B, 15C for position control. Regarding the position of the cleaning brush 2 attached to the tip of the swing arm 1, the standby position A and the substrate 41 The center position B and the peripheral position C of the substrate 41 are detected and the position is controlled. Reference numerals 16A, 16B, and 16C are discs having slits at predetermined positions.

The lifting drive means 17 fixes the air cylinder 18 to the lower side of the base 40, and pushes the output rod 19 of the air cylinder 18 against the lower end (spline shaft 5b) of the arm support shaft 5 to move it forward and backward. The swing arm 1 is configured to be moved up and down. 20A and 20B
Is a sensor that detects the forward / backward position of the output rod 19, and is attached along the forward / backward stroke of the output rod 19.

At the standby position A, the swing arm 1 is stopped with the arm load receiving plate 7 resting on the upper surface of the spindle boss 6, and when cleaning the substrate 41, the swing arm 1 is first moved to the standby position A. The output rod 19 of the air cylinder 18 is advanced to push up the arm support shaft 5 to lift the swinging arm 1, and then the drive motor 12 is normally rotated to swing the swinging arm 1.
By moving the cleaning brush 2 attached to the tip of the base plate to the central position B of the substrate 41, retracting the output rod 19 of the air cylinder 18 and lowering the swing arm 1 at the central position B, the arm load is received. The plate 7 is adapted to rest on a roller 26 attached to one short arm 25a of the both arm levers 25.

The weight mounting plate 21 is for reducing the descending speed of the swing arm 1 via the both arm levers 25, and the base 4
No. 0 is provided so as to move up and down along an elevating guide rod 24 erected via a fixture 23, and is configured to rest on a roller 27 attached to the other long arm 25b of the both arm levers 25. ing. The weight 22 mounted on the weight mounting plate 21 is provided so that the weight can be adjusted as appropriate, and the couple moment due to the sum of at least the load of the swing arm 1 and the load of the arm support shaft 5 is the weight. It is set to be slightly larger than the couple moment due to the weight of the ball 22. Both ends of the both arm levers 25 are supported by the support shaft boss 6 so as to be swingable in the vertical direction within the heavy plane about the support shaft 28.

Further, the fixing metal fitting 30 provided upright on the base 40 is provided with a deceleration cylinder 31 for appropriately reducing the rising speed of the weight mounting plate 21 and a stopper 32 for defining the upper limit position of the weight mounting plate 21. By appropriately adjusting the orifice (not shown) of the deceleration cylinder 31, the descending speed of the cleaning brush 2 descending via the both arm levers 25 can be decelerated to a desired speed, and the micrometer 33 is also provided. Thus, the restriction position of the stopper 32 can be set appropriately, and thereby the impact when the cleaning brush 2 is brought into contact with the substrate 41 in the descending direction is eliminated.

A brush rotation start sensor 36 is provided on the support boss 6 of the arm support shaft 5 via a support 35, while a test plate 37 is erected on the weight mounting plate 21. , The weight mounting plate 21 rises to a certain height, and the sensor 36 detects the plate 37 to be inspected.
However, it is configured to start rotating before coming into contact with the substrate 41.

The operation of the apparatus of the above embodiment will be briefly described below. Before starting the substrate cleaning operation, the swing arm 1
Stands by at the standby position A, and at this position A, the arm load receiving plate 7 rests on the upper surface of the spindle boss 6. When the substrate 41 is cleaned, the arm support shaft 5 is first pushed up by the output rod 19 of the air cylinder 18 at the standby position A, and then the drive motor 12 rotates the arm support shaft 5 around its axis for cleaning. The brush 2 is moved to the center position B of the substrate 41.

Next, at that position B, the output rod 19 of the air cylinder 18 is retracted to lower the arm support shaft 5, thereby placing the arm load receiving plate 7 on one roller 26 of the lever 25. . At this time, the brush rotation start sensor 36 operates and the cleaning brush 2 starts to rotate.

On the other hand, the weight mounting plate 21 rests on the other roller 27 of the both arm levers 25 and is pushed up via the both arm levers 25 as the arm support shaft 5 descends. At this time, the weight 22 on the weight mounting plate 21 and the deceleration cylinder 31
Output rod 31a acts to reduce the ascending speed of the weight mounting plate 21, so that the descending speed of the arm load receiving plate 7 resting on the short arm 25a side is further reduced. Then, the cleaning brush 2 gently contacts the substrate 41 while rotating, and then or at the same time, the weight mounting plate 21 contacts the stopper 32 and stops descending. As a result, it is possible to prevent the cleaning brush from starting and rotating in contact with the surface of the substrate, and prevent generation of fine scratches on the surface of the substrate.

Next, by rotating the drive motor 12 of the swing arm 1 in the reverse direction, the cleaning brush 2 is moved from the central position B of the substrate 41 toward the peripheral position C, and at the same time, the cleaning liquid is discharged from the cleaning liquid supply nozzle 43. The entire surface of the substrate 41 is washed. While the cleaning brush 2 moves from the B position to the C position, the arm load receiving plate 7 is maintained on the roller 26. If necessary, for example, when the cleaning of the substrate is insufficient, the cleaning brush 2 is lifted, moved to the substrate center position B, and the cleaning brush 2 is softly attached.
A series of operations of moving to the substrate peripheral edge position C is repeated a necessary number of times.

[0020]

As is apparent from the above description, according to the substrate cleaning apparatus of the present invention, the cleaning brush is rotated before the cleaning brush comes into contact with the surface of the substrate. It is possible to avoid starting rotation in contact with the surface and prevent generation of fine scratches on the surface of the substrate.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a side view for explaining a function showing an embodiment of a substrate cleaning apparatus according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of a substrate cleaning apparatus according to the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 ... Swing arm, 2 ... Washing brush, 3 ... Washing brush drive motor, 17 ...
Elevating / driving means, 36 ... Sensor (brush rotation start sensor), 41 ... Substrate, 42 ... Spin chuck,
43 ... Cleaning liquid supply nozzle.

Claims (2)

[Scope of utility model registration request] 1. A substrate for cleaning a substrate surface by horizontally rotating a cleaning brush that is in vertical contact with the substrate surface, supplying a cleaning liquid to the substrate surface, and moving the cleaning brush from the center of the rotating substrate surface toward the peripheral direction. In the cleaning device, an elevating and lowering drive means for elevating and lowering the cleaning brush in a direction perpendicular to the substrate surface is provided, and the cleaning brush is rotated by lowering the cleaning brush to a position in contact with the substrate surface while rotating the cleaning brush. A substrate cleaning apparatus, wherein the substrate cleaning device is configured to come into contact with the substrate surface in a state. 2. The substrate cleaning apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a sensor for detecting that the cleaning brush is lowered to a predetermined position, and rotating the cleaning brush according to a signal from the sensor.