JPH07130698A - Apparatus for wafer surface treatment - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To provide a space-saving wafer surface treatment system, in which rinsed wafers are kept out of dust particles or gas until they are completely dray, so as to improve system throughput and yield. CONSTITUTION:An integrated dryer-cleaner tank 10 comprises a cleaning tank 12 confined enclosure chamber 16. Wafers W washed in the cleaning tank are rinsed with pure wafer, and they are dried in the enclosure chamber 16, which contains vaporized organic solvent at reduced pressure.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention is a semiconductor device manufacturing process, a liquid crystal display manufacturing process, an electronic part-related manufacturing process, etc., in which various substrates such as silicon wafers, glass substrates and electronic parts are washed with a chemical solution and pure water. , A substrate surface treatment apparatus which is subsequently used to dry the substrate surface.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art As a device for cleaning a substrate, for example, a silicon wafer with a chemical solution and pure water, and then drying the surface of the wafer, there has conventionally been used a device having a structure shown in a schematic plan layout diagram in FIG. 4, for example. It is used. This apparatus accommodates a required cleaning chemical solution and immerses the substrate in the chemical solution to perform the required cleaning treatment on the substrate.
One or more, the illustrated example has three chemical cleaning tanks 1, 2,
3. One or a plurality of pure water is stored in the pure water, and the substrate is immersed in the pure water to wash the substrate with pure water. A final rinsing tank for finally rinsing the substrate by using it and a drying processing section for drying the surface of the substrate after the final rinsing treatment are connected in series, and a plurality of substrates before cleaning are provided adjacent to the chemical solution cleaning tank 1. A loader is provided for loading the cassettes that have been loaded and loaded, and a cassette that contains the cleaned and dried substrates is placed adjacent to the drying processing unit and the cassette is unloaded. Equipped with an unloader, a loader, a chemical cleaning tank,
It is provided with a deionized water cleaning tank, a final rinse tank, a substrate transfer robot for transferring a substrate between each of the drying processing section and the unloader, and a cassette truck for transferring an empty cassette from the loader to the unloader. ing. In the respective chemical cleaning tanks, for example, the chemical cleaning tank 1 contains a mixed solution of ammonia water and hydrogen peroxide water, the chemical cleaning tank 2 contains hydrofluoric acid, and the chemical cleaning tank 3 contains hydrochloric acid and hydrogen peroxide solution. Contains a mixed solution of. Further, as a substrate drying apparatus installed in the drying processing unit, a spin dryer for shaking off pure water from the surface of the substrate by centrifugal force to dry it, or an organic solvent such as isopropyl alcohol for deionized water attached to the surface of the substrate An organic solvent vapor dryer is used which dries by substituting the vapor of

FIG. 5 is a schematic sectional view showing a part of a cleaning apparatus in which an organic solvent vapor drying processing section is arranged adjacent to a final rinsing processing section. The final rinse processing section 1 is provided with a rinse tank 3, a pure water supply port is formed at the bottom of the rinse tank 3, and an overflow water receiving section 4 is provided on the outer periphery of the upper portion of the rinse tank 3. Then, pure water 5 is continuously supplied into the rinse tank 3 through the pure water supply port so that the pure water 5 overflows from the overflow portion of the upper portion of the rinse tank 3, so that the pure water is rinsed inside the rinse tank 3. 5 is formed, and the substrate W is rinsed by placing the substrate W in the rising water flow of the pure water 5. The substrate W that has undergone the final rinsing process is transported to the drying processing unit 2. The drying processing section 2 is provided with a drying processing tank 6, and an organic solvent such as isopropyl alcohol 7 is contained in the drying processing tank 6. Then, the drying treatment tank 6 is filled with alcohol vapor, and the substrate W is placed in the alcohol vapor and the substrate W is moved up and down by a lifter (not shown), so that the pure water attached to the surface of the substrate W becomes alcohol. And the alcohol is quickly evaporated from the surface of the substrate W to dry the substrate W.

[0004]

In the conventional substrate surface treatment apparatus described above, the substrate is conveyed from the final rinse treatment section to the drying treatment section through the atmosphere. Further, the drying process itself of the substrate in the drying process section is also performed under atmospheric pressure. As described above, in the conventional cleaning apparatus, until the substrate after the final rinsing process is dried,
The substrate will be exposed to the atmosphere.

However, when the surface of the substrate subjected to the final rinsing treatment is exposed to the atmosphere in a wet state, particles are easily attached to the surface of the substrate, and gases such as carbon dioxide gas and oxygen are easily adsorbed. Further, even during the drying process, the conventional cleaning apparatus cannot completely shut off the atmosphere and the substrate is exposed to the atmosphere, so that similar particle adhesion and gas adsorption occur. As a result, there is a problem that film contamination by carbon, heavy metals, etc. occurs and the yield of semiconductor devices, etc. decreases.

The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and prevents the substrate from being exposed to the atmosphere from the end of the final rinsing process to the end of the drying process, so that the substrate surface is not exposed. It is an object of the present invention to provide a surface treatment apparatus for a substrate, which can eliminate the particle adhesion and the gas adsorption, and can prevent the yield decrease due to the film contamination.

[0007]

According to the present invention, there is provided at least one chemical cleaning tank for containing a required cleaning chemical and performing a required cleaning treatment by immersing a substrate in the chemical, and this chemical cleaning. The final rinsing unit that supplies pure water to the surface of the substrate that has been cleaned in a bath and, if necessary, cleaned with pure water, and finally rinses the substrate. In a substrate surface processing apparatus comprising a drying processing section for drying the surface of a processed substrate and a substrate transfer robot for transferring the substrate in the apparatus, the final rinse processing section and the drying processing section are provided. The gist is that it is configured with an integrated rinsing / drying processing device. The rinsing / drying treatment apparatus has a pure water supply port for supplying pure water at the bottom and an overflow portion for overflowing the pure water at the top, and stores the pure water inside. A rinse tank for immersing the substrate in water, pure water supply means for constantly supplying pure water into the rinse tank through the pure water supply port, and overflow from the overflow portion of the rinse tank. An overflow water receiving part into which pure water flows, a drainage means for discharging pure water from the overflow water receiving part, and a substrate elevating means for moving the substrate up and down between a position above the rinse tank and an inside position of the rinse tank. Further, in the first configuration, a sealed chamber that has a steam supply port for supplying the steam of the organic solvent, and surrounds the upper space of the rinse tank and the overflow water receiving part in a closed manner, and the sealed chamber. Exhaust means for exhausting the inside of the chamber to reduce the pressure, and the above-mentioned sealing And a steam supply means for supplying a vapor of the organic solvent through a steam supply port into the Yanba,
In the second configuration, the superheated steam is uniformly dispersed and blown horizontally into the space above the rinse tank, and the superheated steam blower is provided on the opposite side of the rinse tank through the space above the rinse tank. It has an overheated steam suction unit that is disposed and sucks in the overheated steam blown out from the overheated steam blowing unit,
It comprises a closed chamber that encloses the space above the rinse tank and the overflow water receiving part in a closed manner, and superheated steam supply means for supplying superheated steam to the superheated steam blowing part of the closed chamber. In the second configuration, the rinsing / drying processing apparatus may include a vacuum evacuation unit that evacuates the inside of the closed chamber through the superheated vapor suction unit to reduce the pressure.

[0008]

The substrate surface treatment apparatus having the above-described structure is provided with a final rinsing unit for finally rinsing the substrate after chemical cleaning (after further cleaning with pure water as necessary) and a final rinse-treated substrate. The drying processing unit for drying the surface of the rinsing / drying processing device is configured integrally, and the rinsing / drying processing device is configured by enveloping the upper space of the rinsing tank in a closed chamber in a closed manner, In the rinsing / drying processing device, the substrate that has been finally rinsed by being immersed in the pure water stored in the rinse tank is lifted from the pure water in the rinse tank, and then sealed in the sealed chamber as it is. The organic solvent vapor is supplied into the chamber to reduce the pressure inside the closed chamber, or the superheated vapor is supplied into the closed chamber to perform the drying process. Therefore, from the end of the final rinsing process to the end of the drying process, the substrate does not come into contact with the atmosphere at all, and particle adhesion and gas adsorption do not occur on the substrate surface.

[0009]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT A preferred embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a front sectional view showing a schematic structure of a substrate cleaning apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG.
It is a schematic plan layout view of a configuration of this cleaning device. This cleaning apparatus comprises a loader 10, a cleaning / drying processing unit 12, an unloader 14, a substrate transfer robot 16 and a cassette track (not shown in FIG. 1). The cleaning / drying processing unit 12 includes three chemical cleaning tanks 18, 20, 22 and three pure water cleaning tanks 24, 26, 28 and a rinsing / drying processing device 30 behind each chemical cleaning tank 18, 20, 22. Adjacent to each pure water cleaning tank 24,
26 and 28 are arranged respectively, and a rinse / drying treatment device 30 is arranged adjacent to the third deionized water cleaning tank 28 so as to be arranged in series. Then, for example, the first chemical cleaning tank 18 stores a mixed solution of ammonia water and hydrogen peroxide water, the second chemical cleaning tank 20 stores hydrofluoric acid, and the third chemical cleaning tank The tank 22 stores a mixed solution of hydrochloric acid and hydrogen peroxide water, and the pure water cleaning tanks 24, 26, and 28 store pure water, respectively.
In addition, the loader 10 is provided with a substrate transfer device 32 that transfers a plurality of pre-cleaned substrates W, which are accommodated and loaded in the cassette C, from the cassette C mounted on the loader 10 to the substrate transfer robot 16. The unloader 14 is provided with a substrate transfer device 34 that transfers a plurality of substrates W that have been processed by the cleaning / drying processing unit 12 from the substrate transfer robot 16 to an empty cassette C.

The rinsing / drying processing apparatus 30 comprises a rinse tank 36 and an overflow water receiving portion provided on the outer periphery of the upper portion of the rinse tank 36.
It has a closed chamber 40 having an openable and closable lid 42 so as to surround the upper space thereof in a closed manner. The rinse tank 36 has a pure water supply port formed at the bottom thereof, and pure water 44 is constantly supplied from the pure water supply source into the rinse tank 36 through the pure water supply port. The upper part is an overflow part, and the pure water overflowing from the overflow part is constantly allowed to flow into the overflow water receiving part 38, and a rising water flow of pure water 44 is formed inside the rinse tank 36. It The pure water flowing into the overflow water receiving portion 38 is drained through a pure water discharge port formed in the overflow water receiving portion 38.
Further, in the closed chamber 40, a vapor supply port for supplying the vapor of an organic solvent, for example, isopropyl alcohol vapor into the closed chamber 40 is formed, and the vapor supply port is provided through a vapor supply pipeline. A flow path is connected to the alcohol vapor supply source. Although not shown, the vapor supply pipeline is connected to a nitrogen supply source in a flow path, and alcohol vapor is fed into the closed chamber 40 using nitrogen gas as a carrier gas, and the flow path is switched. Only the nitrogen gas can be sent into the closed chamber 40 through the vapor supply pipe to purge the inside of the closed chamber 40. Further, an exhaust port is formed in the closed chamber 40, and the exhaust port is connected to an exhaust means, for example, a water-sealed vacuum pump in a flow path, and the closed chamber 40 is exhausted by a vacuum pump through the exhaust port. By doing so, the pressure inside the closed chamber 40 can be reduced. Although not shown, a substrate elevating mechanism for elevating and lowering the substrate W is provided inside the closed chamber 40. The substrate elevating mechanism raises the substrate to a position above the rinse tank 36 and the rinse tank 36. It can be moved up and down with respect to the internal position.

Next, a series of steps for cleaning and drying the substrate using the substrate cleaning apparatus having the above-mentioned structure will be described.

When a cassette C accommodating a plurality of substrates W before cleaning is carried into the loader 10 and placed thereon, a plurality of substrates W are collectively transferred from the cassette C to the substrate transfer robot 16 by the substrate transfer device 32. Then, the substrate transfer robot 16 collectively feeds the plurality of substrates W into the first chemical cleaning tank 18 and holds them in the substrate holder inside the chemical cleaning tank 18. A required chemical solution is continuously supplied into the chemical solution cleaning tank 18, and the chemical solution overflowing from the chemical solution cleaning tank 18 is circulated and used, and the substrate W is contained in the chemical solution in the chemical solution cleaning tank 18. The substrate W is subjected to a required cleaning process by being immersed. The plurality of substrates W cleaned in the chemical cleaning tank 18 are transferred to the substrate transfer robot 16 again, and the plurality of substrates W are collectively transferred by the substrate transfer robot 16 in the first pure water cleaning tank 24. And is held by the substrate holder inside the pure water cleaning tank 24. Pure water is continuously supplied to the pure water cleaning tank 24, and the pure water overflows from the upper portion of the pure water cleaning tank 24. When W is placed, the surface of the substrate W is washed with water. Similarly, the substrate transfer robot 16 collectively collects a plurality of substrates W into a second chemical cleaning tank 20 and a second pure water cleaning tank.
26, third chemical cleaning tank 22, third pure water cleaning tank 28
The cleaning with the chemical solution and the rinsing with pure water are repeated while sequentially transferring to. Then, the plurality of substrates W that have been washed with water in the third deionized water washing tank 28 are transferred to the substrate transfer robot 16
Are collectively transported to the rinsing / drying processing device 30.

A closed chamber 40 of the rinse / drying processing apparatus 30.
When a plurality of substrates W are collectively loaded into the substrate W, and the plurality of substrates W are collectively delivered to the substrate holder that is supported by the substrate elevating / lowering mechanism, the opening / closing lid 42 is closed and hermetically sealed. The inside of the chamber 40 is sealed. At this time, rinse tank 36
Pure water 44 is continuously supplied from the pure water supply source through the pure water supply port at the bottom thereof, and the pure water 44 filling the inside of the rinse tank 36 overflows from the overflow portion at the upper part thereof. Running water receiver
It flows into the inside 38 and is drained from the overflow water receiving part 38 through the pure water discharge port, and the rising water flow of the pure water 44 is formed inside the rinse tank 36. When the plurality of substrates W are collectively held by the substrate holder, the substrate elevating mechanism is operated to operate the substrates W.
The substrate W is finally rinsed by immersing the substrate W in the pure water 44 in the rinse tank 36 and placing the substrate W in the rising water flow of the pure water 44 for a predetermined time. As a result, the surface of the substrate W is completely cleaned. When the final rinsing process of the substrate W is completed, the substrate elevating mechanism is operated to raise the substrate W held by the substrate holder, and the substrate W is rinsed.
Pull up from pure water 44 in 36. Then, at the same time when the substrate W is pulled up from the pure water 44, alcohol vapor is fed from the vapor supply port into the closed chamber 40 through the vapor supply pipe line, and the substrate W being pulled up from the pure water 44 is in process. Supply alcohol vapor to the surroundings. The alcohol vapor is supplied at least from the substrate W from pure water 44.
Until the complete lifting of. When the pulling up of the substrate W from the pure water 44 is completed, the supply of pure water to the rinse tank 36 is stopped, and at the same time, the pure water in the rinse tank 36 is discharged. Further, at the same time when the deionized water is started to be discharged from the rinse tank 36, the water-sealed vacuum pump is operated to evacuate the closed chamber 40 to reduce the pressure in the closed chamber 40. The substrate W is dried by evaporating the alcohol which has been condensed and replaced with pure water.

When the drying process of the substrate W is completed, the inside of the closed chamber 40 is purged with nitrogen gas, the vacuum pump is stopped, and the inside of the closed chamber 40 is returned from the reduced pressure to the atmospheric pressure. The substrates W that have been released and have been subjected to the final rinsing process and the drying process are collectively passed again from the substrate holder to the substrate transfer robot 16, and the substrate transfer robot 16
It is taken out of the closed chamber 40 by 16. Then, the plurality of substrates W that have undergone the cleaning / drying process are transferred from the substrate transfer robot 16 to the empty cassette C by the substrate transfer device 34, housed in the cassette C, and unloaded from the unloader 14.

As described above, in the substrate cleaning apparatus shown in FIG. 1, the substrate W that has been rinsed with the chemical solution and water is finally rinsed until the drying process is completed.
Is processed in the closed chamber 40, which is closed, and does not come into contact with the atmosphere at all, so that particles are not attached to the surface of the substrate W or gases such as carbon dioxide gas and oxygen are not adsorbed during that time.

Instead of the rinsing / drying processing apparatus 30 having the structure shown in FIG. 1, a rinsing / drying processing apparatus having the structure shown in FIG. 3 may be installed to form a substrate cleaning apparatus. The rinsing / drying processing apparatus 46 shown in FIG. 3 is, like the rinsing / drying processing apparatus 30 shown in FIG. 1, a rinsing tank 48, an overflow water receiving section 50, and a closed chamber 52 having an openable / closable lid 54. And a substrate elevating mechanism (not shown) for elevating the substrate W. And this rinsing and drying equipment
In 46, on one side of the closed chamber 52, a superheated steam blowing section 56 for uniformly dispersing the superheated steam 60 and horizontally blowing it to the upper space of the rinse tank 48 is provided, and the overheated steam of the closed chamber 52 is overheated. On the side surface facing the steam outlet 56,
An overheated steam suction unit 58 for sucking the overheated steam 60 blown out from the overheated steam blowing unit 56 is provided. The superheated steam blowing unit 56 is connected to the superheated steam supply source by a flow path, the superheated steam is fed from the superheated steam supply source to the superheated steam blowing unit 56, and from the superheated steam blowing unit 56, for example, 135 to 150 ° C.
The superheated steam 60 of about the temperature is blown out.
A vacuum pump may be connected to the exhaust port of the superheated vapor suction unit 58 so that the closed chamber 52 can be evacuated to reduce the pressure through the superheated vapor suction unit 58.

Rinsing / drying apparatus as shown in FIG.
In 46, when the superheated steam 60 is supplied to the substrate W pulled up from the pure water 44 in the rinse tank 48, the surface temperature of the substrate W gradually rises and the superheated steam 60 is generated on the surface of the substrate W. It is cooled and condensed, and the entire surface of the substrate W is covered with water. Then, when the surface temperature of the substrate W rises to the vicinity of the temperature of the superheated steam 60 and rises to such an extent that water condensation on the surface of the substrate W is reduced, the supply of the superheated steam 60 to the surface of the substrate W is stopped Since the surface of the substrate W is heated to a high temperature, the attached water quickly evaporates from the entire surface of the substrate W. Thus, the substrate W
The surface of the substrate W is dried by raising the temperature of the substrate W in a state where the entire surface of the substrate W remains wet, and evaporating the attached water all at once when the surface temperature of the substrate W becomes high. . In the substrate cleaning apparatus including the rinsing / drying processing apparatus 46 shown in FIG. 3, the substrate W that has been chemically and water rinsed is hermetically sealed from the final rinse processing to the completion of drying. Closed chamber
Since it is processed in 52 and is not exposed to the atmosphere at all, there is no particle adhesion or gas adsorption to the surface of the substrate W in the meantime.

[0019]

Since the present invention is constructed and operates as described above, when the substrate surface treatment apparatus according to the present invention is used, the time from the end of the final rinsing treatment to the end of the drying treatment. Since the substrate does not come into contact with the atmosphere and particles do not adhere to the surface of the substrate or gas adsorption does not occur, it is possible to prevent the yield from decreasing due to film contamination. Further, in the substrate cleaning apparatus according to the present invention, the final rinsing processing section and the drying processing section are constituted by an integrated rinsing / drying processing apparatus, so that the space can be saved.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a front sectional view showing a schematic configuration of a substrate cleaning apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a schematic plan layout diagram of the configuration of the substrate cleaning apparatus shown in FIG.

FIG. 3 is a front sectional view showing another configuration example of the rinse / drying processing apparatus installed in the substrate cleaning apparatus according to the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a schematic plan layout diagram showing an example of a configuration of a conventional substrate cleaning apparatus.

FIG. 5 is a schematic cross-sectional view showing a part of a conventional cleaning device in which an organic solvent vapor drying treatment unit is disposed adjacent to a final rinsing treatment unit.

[Explanation of symbols]

 10 Loader 12 Cleaning / drying processing unit 14 Unloader 16 Substrate transfer robot 18, 20, 22 Chemical cleaning tank 24, 26, 28 Pure water cleaning tank 30, 46 Rinse / drying processing device 36, 48 Rinse tank 38, 50 Overflow water receiver Part 40, 52 Closed chamber 42, 54 Open / close lid 44 Pure water

 ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continued front page (72) Inventor Yusuke Muraoka 322, Fukumi-ku, Fushimi-ku, Kyoto, Furukawa-cho, Dainichi Screen Manufacturing Co., Ltd. Rakusai Factory

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. At least one chemical cleaning tank for containing a required cleaning chemical solution and performing a required cleaning treatment by immersing a substrate in the chemical solution, and a cleaning treatment in this chemical cleaning tank if necessary. Water is supplied to the surface of the substrate that has been washed with pure water to finally rinse the substrate, and the surface of the substrate that has been finally rinsed in this final rinse processing unit is dried. In a substrate surface treatment apparatus comprising a drying treatment section for performing the treatment and a substrate conveyance robot for conveying the substrate in the apparatus, the final rinsing treatment section and the drying treatment section are provided for supplying pure water. A rinse tank having a pure water supply port at the bottom and an overflow part at the top for overflowing the pure water, and containing pure water inside so that the substrate is immersed in the pure water. , The pure water into the rinse tank Pure water supply means for constantly supplying pure water through the supply port, overflow water receiving portion into which pure water overflowing from the overflow portion of the rinse tank flows, and drainage means for discharging pure water from the overflow water receiving portion A substrate elevating means for elevating and lowering the substrate between an upper position of the rinse tank and an inner position of the rinse tank, and a vapor supply port for supplying vapor of an organic solvent, the rinse tank and the overflow water. A closed chamber that close-closes the space above the receiving portion, an exhaust unit that exhausts the inside of the closed chamber to reduce the pressure, and a vapor supply unit that supplies the vapor of the organic solvent through the vapor supply port into the closed chamber. A substrate surface treatment apparatus comprising an integrated rinse / drying treatment apparatus. 2. At least one chemical cleaning tank for containing a required cleaning chemical and performing a required cleaning treatment by immersing a substrate in the chemical, and a cleaning treatment in this chemical cleaning tank as needed. Water is supplied to the surface of the substrate that has been washed with pure water to finally rinse the substrate, and the surface of the substrate that has been finally rinsed in this final rinse processing unit is dried. In a substrate surface treatment apparatus comprising a drying treatment section for performing the treatment and a substrate conveyance robot for conveying the substrate in the apparatus, the final rinsing treatment section and the drying treatment section are provided for supplying pure water. A rinse tank having a pure water supply port at the bottom and an overflow part at the top for overflowing the pure water, and containing pure water inside so that the substrate is immersed in the pure water. , The pure water into the rinse tank Pure water supply means for constantly supplying pure water through the supply port, overflow water receiving portion into which pure water overflowing from the overflow portion of the rinse tank flows, and drainage means for discharging pure water from the overflow water receiving portion A substrate elevating means for elevating and lowering the substrate between an upper position of the rinse tank and an inner position of the rinse tank; and an overheated steam blowing section for uniformly dispersing the overheated steam and blowing it horizontally to a space above the rinse tank. , And, having a superheated steam suction unit for interposing an upper space of the rinse tank and sucking the superheated steam blown out from the superheated steam blowout unit, which is arranged on the opposite side of the superheated steam blowout unit, the rinse tank and the above An integrated rinsing / drying treatment apparatus including a closed chamber that encloses the space above the overflow water receiving part in a closed manner, and superheated steam supply means for supplying superheated steam to the superheated steam blowing part of the closed chamber. Surface treatment apparatus of the substrate, characterized in that a more configurations.