JPH0660437A - Developing device and its developing method - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To improve the uniformity of development by decreasing the difference in development between the outer periphery and inner periphery in a spin system. CONSTITUTION:The developer supplied from the outside is discharged in an arrow F2 direction by having the speed component in a circumferential direction by the effect of gates 34 and guides 36 of a nozzle 30. On the other hand, the rotating direction of a glass master disk to be developed coincides with the discharge direction of the developer. Then, the developer progresses spirally on the surface of the glass master disk and eventually the developer flows uniformly to the outer peripheral side of the glass master disk. The rotation of a turn table is stopped at one end at the point of the time the developer spreads to the entire area of the glass original disk. As a result, the state approximate to the state of a batch treatment is created and the progression of the development of the resist film is additionally uniformalized.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a spin type developing apparatus and a developing method therefor, more specifically, a CD.
The present invention relates to an improvement in a developing device and a developing method for developing a relatively large area such as a glass master for manufacturing a disc medium such as (compact disc).

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art CD has rapidly spread as a music medium
In the manufacture of, first, a resist master disk in which a pit train as an information signal is engraved is manufactured. That is, apply a photoresist on the main surface of a well-polished glass plate,
Exposure recording of a pit train is performed by an optical disk master recording apparatus using a laser beam on this resist master.
Then, after that, the pit train is developed by the developing device, and a metal master (stamper) for replica molding the disk is completed through a plating process.

By the way, as a developing device after the above-mentioned glass master is exposed, for example, there is one shown in FIG. 5 (A). This developing device is of a so-called spin developing system in which a developing solution is discharged onto a glass master disk that rotates in the direction of arrow FA. In the figure, the glass master 10 is provided with a turntable 14 in the cleaning tank 12 above the developing device at substantially the center thereof. In the vicinity of the turntable 14, a pure water / nitrogen arm 16 having an ultrapure water nozzle and a nitrogen nozzle, and a developing solution arm 18 having a developing solution nozzle.
Are provided respectively, and can be rotated and moved in the directions of arrows FB and FC, respectively. Furthermore, on the side of the developing device,
A control panel 20 for controlling the sequence is provided.

Next, a schematic sequence of development processing by such a developing device will be described. First, the glass master 10 on which exposure recording has been performed is set on the turntable 14. Then, when a start switch (not shown) on the control panel 20 is turned ON, the turntable 14 rotates and the pure water / nitrogen arm 16 pivots to the inner peripheral position of the glass master 10. In this state, jetting of ultrapure water from the nozzle is started, and at the same time, the pure water / nitrogen arm 16
Gradually turns toward the outer peripheral side of the glass master 10. By this operation, pure water is ejected onto the glass master 10 or more,
The main surface on which the resist is applied is washed.
Then, when the pure water / nitrogen arm 16 reaches the outer peripheral position, the ejection of pure water is stopped.

Next, the developer arm 18 starts to rotate,
Similarly, the ejection of the developing solution is started at the time when the inner peripheral position of the glass master 10 is reached. FIG. 5B shows the state of the apparatus during this development. The center pin 22 of the turntable 14 is fitted in a hole in the center of the glass master disk 10. This prevents the glass master disk 10 from slipping off the turntable 14 due to the rotation of the turntable 14. The developing solution LA discharged from the nozzle of the developing solution arm 18 onto the glass master disk 10 is spread to the outer peripheral portion of the glass master disk 10 by the centrifugal force due to the rotation, and is further crushed and blown off. By applying the developer LA as described above, the development on the resist on the glass master 10 progresses, and a pit row pattern is formed.

When the preset developing time elapses, the supply of the developing solution LA is stopped and the developing solution arm 18 pivots to the outer peripheral side of the glass master 10.
On the other hand, when the pure water / nitrogen arm 16 swivels again to reach the inner circumferential position of the glass master 10, nitrogen is jetted this time. The pure / nitrogen arm 16 swirls toward the outer peripheral side of the glass master 10 while ejecting nitrogen, and the glass master 10 is gradually dried. Then, when the pure / nitrogen arm 16 turns to the outer peripheral position, the jetting of nitrogen is stopped, the rotation of the turntable 14 is stopped, and the developing operation is completed.

[0007]

However, in the conventional developing device as described above, although the developer LA flows from the inner peripheral side to the outer peripheral side of the glass master 10 as shown in FIG. 5 (B), Due to the large area of the glass master 10,
The degree of development progress is not always uniform over the entire glass master 10. That is, the progress of development is the fastest at the position where the developing solution LA is discharged. Then, the liquid layer of the developing solution LA becomes thinner as it goes to the outer peripheral side, and the developing solution LA which has finished development on the inner peripheral side flows to the outer peripheral side. Due to such a relationship, the progress of the development is inevitably slower toward the outer peripheral side of the glass master 10. As a result, a difference in inner and outer circumferences occurs in the resist development on the glass master 10. An example is shown in the graph GA of FIG.
The degree of development progress differs greatly between the inner peripheral side and the outer peripheral side of the glass master 10.

The difference between the inner and outer circumferences of such development is preserved as it is in the subsequent plating step, and the reproduced signal characteristics of the finally molded disc also have the inner and outer circumference differences. The present invention focuses on these points, and a simple developing device and a developing method thereof which can improve the uniformity of development by reducing the difference between the inner and outer circumferences of development even when the area to be developed is large. It is intended to provide.

[0009]

In a developing device according to the present invention, a nozzle for discharging a developing solution onto a surface to be developed on a turntable has a weir for discharging the developing solution along the surface to be developed, and a developing solution. Is provided at a peripheral speed along the rotation direction of the surface to be developed. The developing method according to the present invention is characterized by including the step of temporarily stopping the rotation of the turntable during the developing process by the developing device.

[0010]

According to the present invention, the nozzle for discharging the developing solution is provided with the weir and the guide, and the developing solution is discharged at the peripheral speed corresponding to the rotation direction of the developing object. For this reason,
It spreads uniformly with rotation, and the difference between the inner and outer circumferences of development is reduced. Further, according to the present invention, the rotation of the development target is temporarily stopped during the development process, and the development is performed in a so-called batch process. This also reduces the difference between the inner and outer circumferences of development.

[0011]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the developing device and the developing method according to the present invention will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings. The same reference numerals are used for the same components as those of the above-described conventional example or components corresponding to those of the conventional example.
FIG. 1 shows the main part of the developing device of this embodiment. In the developing device of this embodiment, the nozzle shown in FIG. 1 is attached to the tip of the developer arm 18 of the device shown in FIG. In FIG. 1, (A) is a plan view, (B) is a side view, and (C) is a partially enlarged perspective view.

In these drawings, the nozzle 30 has a shaft portion 32, a disc-shaped weir 34 provided on one side thereof, and a guide 36 connecting them. A recess 38 is provided on the arm side of the shaft 32, and the nozzle 30 is mounted by fitting the recess 38 into the developer arm 18. Further, the developing solution LA from the developing solution arm 18 is also supplied through the concave portion 38. The weir 34 is for sending the developing solution in the direction of arrow F2, and the weir 34 and the shaft portion 32 are provided.
A plurality of guides 36 formed by spirally deforming a substantially triangular partition are provided between and. The diameter of the weir 34 is
The setting is slightly larger than the center diameter of the glass master 10. Such a nozzle 30 is used for the developer arm 18
(See FIG. 5).

Next, the developing method according to this embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS. FIG. 2 shows a state at the time of discharging the developing solution, and the flowchart of FIG. 3 shows the procedure of the developing method. The operation from setting the glass master 10 to cleaning is the same as in the conventional example described above. That is, the glass master 10 on which the exposure recording is performed is installed on the turntable 14, and the control board 20 is operated to start the rotation of the turntable 14 (step S1). At this time,
The center pin 22 of the turntable 14 is fitted into the central hole of the glass master 10 to prevent the glass master 10 from slipping off due to the rotation of the turntable 14. Next, the pure water / nitrogen arm 16 is rotated to wash the glass master 10 with ultrapure water (step S2).

Next, the developer arm 18 is attached to the glass master 1.
It turns to the center position of 0 (step S3). In the above-described embodiment, the inner peripheral position of the glass master 10 is set, but in the present embodiment, the developing solution arm 18 is swung to the center position to start discharging the developing solution LA (step S3). As described above, in this embodiment, the nozzle 30 shown in FIG. 1 is attached to the tip of the developer arm 18. Therefore, the developing solution LA spirally advances along the guide 36, spreads in a fan shape as shown by an arrow F2, and spreads on the glass master 10.
It comes to discharge on top.

Next, the developer LA spreads to the outer peripheral portion of the glass master 10 by centrifugal force due to rotation as shown in FIG.
At this time, the developing solution LA has a circumferential velocity component due to the action of the guide 36 of the nozzle 30. And
The rotation direction of the glass master 10 coincides with the discharge direction of the developing solution LA. Therefore, the developing solution LA comes to spirally advance on the surface of the glass master 10, and as a result, the developing solution LA
Will flow evenly to the outer peripheral side of the glass master 10.
Therefore, compared with the prior art, the inconvenience that the development extremely progresses only at the dropping position of the developing solution LA is improved. The developing solution LA that has reached the outer peripheral position of the glass master 10 is further smashed and is ejected.

Next, when the developing solution LA reaches the entire area of the glass master 10 (step S4), the rotation of the turntable 14 is once stopped by the operation of the control board 20 in this embodiment (step S5). The ejection of the developing solution LA is continued. As a result, a state close to what is called batch processing is created, and the progress of development of the resist film is made more uniform. Predetermined time (eg 2
After the stop for 0 to 25 seconds), the rotation of the turntable 14 is started again (step S6). Then, after a further predetermined time, that is, when the preset development time from the beginning of development has elapsed, the development is completed (step S
7). The total developing time is, for example, 25 to 30 seconds including the rotation stop time. At the end of development, the developer LA
Is stopped, and the developing solution arm 18 is swung to the outer peripheral side of the glass master 10.

As described above, the nozzle 30 is used, the rotation of the turntable 14 is once stopped, the developing solution LA is applied, the development on the resist on the glass master 10 proceeds, and the pit row pattern is formed. Will be done. Next, when the pure water / nitrogen arm 16 swivels again to reach the inner circumferential position of the glass master disk 10, nitrogen is jetted out to dry the glass master disk 10 (step S8). This operation is similar to the above-mentioned conventional technique.
After the drying is completed, the rotation of the turntable 14 is also stopped and the developing work is completed (step S9).

Next, the effect of the developing process according to the present embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. In the figure, the value of the radial position from the center of the glass master 10 (unit is mm),
The relationship with the degree of development progress is shown. Graph GA
Shows the characteristics when the development processing is performed by the conventional apparatus. The development progress is higher on the inner circumference side where the radius value is smaller, and decreases toward the outer circumference. In particular, the degree of development progress in the area on the inner peripheral side smaller than about 36 mm is considerably larger than that on the outer peripheral side.

Graph GB shows the characteristics when the developing process is performed without temporarily stopping the turntable 14 using the nozzle 30 shown in FIG. The progress of development on the inner peripheral side having a radius value of about 36 mm or less is lower than in the case of the graph GA, and the degree of development is uniform. The graph GC shows the characteristics in the above-mentioned embodiment, and the nozzle 30 is used and
This is the case of temporarily stopping the turntable. As shown in the figure, the progress of development on the inner peripheral side having a radius value of about 36 mm or less is more effectively equalized. In addition, 36
Good uniformity of development progress is obtained even on the outer peripheral side of mm or more.

As described above, according to this embodiment, since the nozzle for ejecting the developing solution in a fan shape onto the glass master is used and the turntable is temporarily stopped during the development, the constitution is simple. However, the difference between the inner and outer circumferences of the development is greatly reduced. As a result, it is possible to realize a disk having a high uniformity in the inner and outer peripheries even in the characteristics of the molded disk. Further, during development, the center of the glass plate 10 is covered with the nozzle 30. Therefore, there is no fear that the developing solution LA leaking from the hole in the center portion will go to the back surface of the glass plate 10 to attach dirt or the like to the glass plate 10.

The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments, and includes the following, for example. (1) The structure and shape of the nozzle 30 can be variously changed so that the developing solution can be discharged with a velocity component in the circumferential direction.
For example, the number of guides 36 may be increased or decreased, or the guides 36 may be formed in an oblique direction rather than in a spiral shape as shown by a dotted line GD in FIG.

(2) Also, the mounting structure of the nozzle 30 to the developing solution arm 18 is arbitrary, and may be appropriately designed as necessary by fitting concave and convex portions, screw type, or integrally forming both. However, by making it detachable, the present invention can be easily applied to a conventional device. (3) As a target to which the present invention is applied, a glass master for CD production is a suitable example, but when developing with a spin method for a relatively large area, it can be applied to any object. Applicable.

[0023]

As described above, the developing device and the developing method according to the present invention have the following effects. (1) Since the nozzle for ejecting the developing solution so as to have a circumferential velocity component is used and the rotation direction of the development target is made to coincide with the ejecting direction of the developing solution, the developing solution L
A will flow evenly over the surface to be developed, and the difference between the inner and outer circumferences of development will be reduced. (2) After the development by the nozzle is started, the rotation of the development target is temporarily stopped and the development is performed, so that the difference between the inner and outer circumferences of the development is further reduced.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram showing a nozzle in an embodiment of a developing device according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory view showing a state at the time of development in the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing a procedure of a developing method according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a graph showing developing characteristics of an example of the present invention and a prior art.

FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of a conventional developing device.

[Explanation of symbols]

10 ... Glass master (development target), 12 ... Cleaning tank, 14 ...
Turntable, 16 ... Pure water / nitrogen arm, 18 ... Developer arm, 20 ... Control panel, 22 ... Center pin, 30
... Nozzle, 32 ... Shaft, 34 ... Weir, 36 ... Guide, 38
... Recesses, FA-FC, F1-F2 ... Arrows, LA ... Developer.

Front page continuation (72) Inventor Shinichi Ando, 3-12 Moriya-cho, Kanagawa-ku, Yokohama, Japan Victor Company of Japan, Ltd. (72) Inventor Katsukazu Yamazaki 3-12 Moriya-cho, Kanagawa-ku, Yokohama Local Victor Company of Japan, Ltd.

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A developing device for developing recording information by ejecting a developing solution from a nozzle onto a surface to be developed on a turntable, wherein the nozzle is a weir for ejecting the developing solution along the surface to be developed. And a guide for ejecting the developing solution at a peripheral velocity along the direction of rotation of the surface to be developed, the developing device. 2. The developing method using the developing device according to claim 1, further comprising a step of temporarily stopping rotation of a turntable during a developing process using the nozzle.