JPH07176506A - Washing device and method of washing - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To decrease the quantity of a washing solution and to cut down cost of manufacture by reducing the cubic volume of the treatment solution with which the material to be treated is processed in the state wherein the material to be treated is dipped in a treatment vessel, and by providing a mechanism with which the surface of liquid can be raised. CONSTITUTION:When washing treatment solution is fed to an inner vessel 15a from a feeding hole 17, the washing treatment solution fed to the inner vessel 15a from the feeding hole 17 is diffused to left and right directions by a diffusion plate 24. The washing treatment solution is smoothed by the small hole 21 of a smoothing plate 22, and it is fed to the surface of a wafer. At this time, a part of the washing treatment solution passing through the gap 19 between the smoothing plate 22 and the inner vessel 15a is blocked by a stream blocking wall 23. Also, the total cubic volume of a treatment vessel 15 can be made small by the inclination of the treatment vessel 15 and the smoothing plate 22 and by the protruding part of a treatment solution level raising mechanism.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a cleaning treatment apparatus and a cleaning treatment method.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Generally, in a semiconductor manufacturing process, contamination of particles, organic contaminants, metal impurities, etc. attached to the surface of an object to be processed, for example, a semiconductor wafer (hereinafter referred to as a wafer) before each desired processing step. Alternatively, a cleaning treatment device is used to remove a natural oxide film or the like formed on the surface. In this type of cleaning processing apparatus, for example, a chemical treatment and a water cleaning treatment such as an ammonia treatment, a water washing treatment, a hydrofluoric acid treatment, a sulfuric acid treatment, a hydrochloric acid treatment, and a water washing treatment are alternately performed on a wafer.

Conventional cleaning treatment apparatuses for chemical liquid treatment and cleaning treatment apparatuses for water washing generally have the same structure.
A processing tank having a supply port for the cleaning processing liquid in the lower part, a wafer holder for holding the wafer W in the cleaning processing liquid L (pure water or chemical solution) contained in the processing tank, and the cleaning processing. It comprises a rectifying means arranged between the wafer W immersed in the liquid L and the supply port.

[0004]

However, in the conventional cleaning processing apparatus of this type, a method in which the filtered processing solution is circulated in the processing tank and the processing solution is exchanged at regular intervals is adopted. However, in this method, since the processing liquid is exchanged at regular intervals, the size of the processing tank affects the consumption amount of the processing liquid. Therefore, there is an improvement that the amount of the processing liquid used becomes enormous and the manufacturing cost of the semiconductor element increases.

The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and an object of the present invention is to provide a cleaning apparatus and a cleaning method that can reduce the amount of cleaning solution used and reduce the cost. It is a thing.

[0006]

In order to achieve the above object, the cleaning apparatus of the present invention is a cleaning apparatus for immersing an object in a processing tank to perform a cleaning process, wherein the object is It is characterized in that a mechanism for reducing the volume of the processing liquid for processing the object to be processed and raising the liquid level in the state of being immersed in the processing tank is provided. Further, in a cleaning processing apparatus for immersing an object to be processed in a processing tank to perform a cleaning process, a member capable of carrying in and out is provided in a region of the processing tank in which a processing liquid is stored. .

In the cleaning method of the present invention, the first step of immersing at least a part of the object to be processed in the processing solution in the processing tank, and containing the processing solution between the object to be processed and the inner wall of the processing tank. And a second step of carrying in a member for reducing the volume occupied by the processing liquid.

Further, the first step of immersing at least a part of the object to be processed in the processing liquid in the processing tank, and the volume occupied by the processing liquid in the processing liquid container between the object to be processed and the inner wall of the processing tank is reduced. The second step of carrying in the member for causing the liquid level of the processing liquid to rise and completely immersing the object to be processed is provided.

[0009]

According to the cleaning treatment apparatus and the cleaning treatment method of the present invention configured as described above, since the mechanism for raising the treatment liquid surface is provided, the treatment liquid can be removed when the object to be treated is immersed in the treatment liquid. The usage amount can be reduced and the cost can be reduced.

[0010]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the drawings. Here, a case where the cleaning processing apparatus and the cleaning processing method of the present invention are applied to a cleaning processing apparatus for an object to be processed such as a semiconductor wafer will be described.

As shown in FIG. 1, the semiconductor wafer cleaning apparatus is carried by a carry-in section 1 for accommodating an unprocessed object such as a semiconductor wafer W (hereinafter referred to as a wafer) and a wafer carrying apparatus 2. The cleaning processing unit 3 that performs a cleaning process such as a chemical solution process and a water cleaning process on the wafer W to be formed, and a carry-out unit 4 that accommodates the wafer W after the cleaning process constitute a main part.

The carry-in section 1 has one or a plurality of sheets, for example, 25 sheets.
Standby part 6 of carrier C for accommodating a number of wafers W, loader part 5 for taking out wafer W from carrier C, aligning the orientation flat, detecting single wafer W, and waiting for carrier C carried in from the outside. The carrier carrier arm 7 is provided for carrying the carrier C to the unit 6 and transferring the carrier C between the standby unit 6 and the loader unit 5.

Above the cleaning processing unit 3, a carrier cleaning / drying line 8 for cleaning and drying the empty carrier C after the wafer W is taken out by the wafer transfer device 2 is provided. Are arranged along. The carrier cleaning / drying line 8 has a lifting mechanism 9
The empty carrier C is configured to be lifted from the loader unit 5 and supplied via the. A similar lifting mechanism (not shown) is also provided on the unloading unit 4 side, and the carrier C after cleaning and drying is supplied to the unloading unit 4 via this lifting mechanism. A treatment liquid tank / pipe region 10 including a tank and a pipe group (not shown) for containing a treatment liquid such as a chemical liquid is provided on the back side of the cleaning treatment unit 3.

On the other hand, the cleaning processing section 3 includes a wafer transfer device 2, a chuck cleaning / drying processing tank 11 for cleaning and drying the wafer chuck 2a of the wafer transfer device 2, and a chuck cleaning / drying processing tank 11. A first chemical cleaning device 12a, which is sequentially arranged on the downstream side and processes unnecessary substances such as organic contaminants, metal impurities or particles on the surface of the wafer W by cleaning, and the wafer W after the chemical processing is washed with water, for example, with pure water. Two first and second washing / cleaning treatment devices 13a and 13b for washing treatment, and a second chemical washing treatment device 12b for performing chemical treatment different from the first chemical washing treatment device 12a, two third and Fourth water washing / cleaning processing devices 13c and 13d, a chuck cleaning / drying processing tank 11 for cleaning and drying the wafer chuck 2a, and a wafer W from which impurities have been removed are dried. Such as isopropyl alcohol (I
And a drying treatment tank 14 for performing steam drying with PA) or the like. And the above-mentioned first and second chemical cleaning processing apparatus 12
a, 12b and first to fourth washing and cleaning apparatus 13
Each of a to 13d is processed in a state where the cleaning processing liquid overflows. The above-mentioned apparatus for washing treatment flushes with water in an overflow state and discharges the washing treatment liquid. The above-mentioned chemical liquid processing device is a processing tank 15 in which the overflowed cleaning processing liquid is circulated to remove accumulated impurities and to be circulated for use.
Are configured.

The wafer transfer device 2 is, for example, 3 so as not to be affected by the chemical cleaning devices 12a and 12b.
It is provided as a base. Each of these wafer transfer devices 2 has a pair of left and right wafer chucks 2a that collectively hold, for example, 50 wafers W, and moves the wafer chucks 2a in the horizontal direction (X, Y directions) and the ascending / descending direction (Z direction). It has a drive mechanism 2d for driving and a transport path 2b arranged along the arrangement direction of the processing tanks 15 to 15, and is configured to reciprocate along the transport path 2b.

Next, a cleaning processing apparatus used in the cleaning processing apparatus for a semiconductor wafer configured as described above will be described in detail with reference to FIGS.

First Embodiment FIG. 2 is a sectional view and FIG. 3 is a schematic perspective view.

Cleaning processing devices 12a, 12b, 13a-1
3d (represented by 12 and 13 below), for example, the chemical cleaning device 12 is configured into a substantially rectangular shape for containing a cleaning liquid such as ammonia water heated to a high temperature, and is inclined upward on both sides of the bottom. A processing tank 15 provided with a bottom inclined portion 15d, a wafer holder 16 disposed in the processing tank 15 for vertically holding, for example, 50 wafers to be processed, for example, 50 semiconductor wafers W, and slightly below the wafer holder 16. And a horizontal rectifying section 22a corresponding to the central portion of the bottom of the processing tank 15 and the horizontal rectifying section 22a which is disposed between the cleaning processing liquid L supply port 17 provided at the bottom of the processing tank 15. Part 22
a rectifying means 20 having inclination rectifying portions 22b provided on both sides of a and inclined upward corresponding to the bottom inclined portion 15d.

The processing bath 15 is composed of an inner bath 15a for containing a cleaning treatment liquid L in which the wafer W is immersed, and an outer bath 15b for receiving the cleaning treatment liquid L overflowing from the upper end of the inner bath 15a. The circulation pipe 18 is connected to the supply port 17 provided at the bottom of the inner tank 15a and the discharge port 15c provided at the bottom of the outer tank 15b, and the circulation pump P and the filter are connected to the circulation pipe 18. F is interposed so that the overflowed cleaning treatment liquid L can be cleaned and circulated and supplied.

The rectifying means 20 is arranged so as to divide the processing tank 15 into upper and lower parts, and a rectifying plate 22 having small holes 21 through which a large number of cleaning processing liquids L are distributed, and above the supply port 17. And a circular diffuser plate 24 arranged at. In this case, the rectifying plate 22 is formed of a chemically resistant plate member such as a quartz plate or a fluororesin plate,
As shown in FIG. 4, small holes 21 are formed at appropriate intervals on four parallel rows along the longitudinal direction. Specifically, the small holes 21 of odd-numbered rows and even-numbered rows are provided at the same position, and all the small holes 21 are positioned between the wafers W held by the wafer holder 16. There is.
A baffle wall 23 for the cleaning treatment liquid that hangs downward from the edge is provided at the peripheral edge of the baffle plate 22 formed in this manner. A part of the cleaning treatment liquid L flowing toward the gap 19 between the cleaning treatment liquid L and the flow path of the cleaning treatment liquid L passing through the small holes 21 of the straightening plate 22 to reduce the difference. It is configured so that the flow of L can be made uniform.

The diffuser plate 24 is also formed of a chemically resistant plate member such as a quartz plate or a fluororesin plate similarly to the straightening plate 22, and the upper surface of the diffuser plate 24 and the straightening plate 22 are formed. It is supported below the rectifying plate 22 by a plurality of, for example, four support legs 27 interposed between the lower surface and the lower surface. The diffusion plate 24 may be a circular plate itself, but preferably, as shown by an imaginary line in FIG. 2, the diffusion plate 24 is preferably provided with a through hole for the cleaning treatment liquid L. The reason is that all of the cleaning treatment liquid L supplied from the supply port 17 is supplied to the diffusion plate 24.
This is because the flow of the cleaning treatment liquid into the tank can be made uniform by flowing a part of the cleaning treatment liquid above the diffusion plate 24 without distributing it to the left and right.

An openable lid 33 is attached to the upper opening of the processing bath 15. By closing the lid 33, the lid 33 drips from the wafer W or the wafer chuck 2a transported above the processing bath 15. The cleaning treatment liquid, dust and the like are prevented from falling into the treatment tank 15. As shown in FIG. 2 and FIG. 3, the lid 33 is fixed to a pair of open / close arms 35 projecting from two rotary shafts 34 pivotally mounted on both sides of the short side wall 15e of the processing tank 15. For example, polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE)
Made lid 36 and the outer tank 15b located outside the lid 36
And an inclined fixing lid 33a that covers the upper part of the. A closing member 37 is attached to the free end portion of one lid body 36 to cover the free end portion of the other lid body 36 so that the gap between the lid bodies 36 and 36 can be closed when closed. Has become. The free end of the lid 36 has a cutout 1
00 are provided at four places, for example. A processing liquid level raising mechanism 101 for raising the processing liquid level is provided above the lid 33.

The processing liquid level raising mechanism 101 has a convex portion 102 which is immersed in the processing liquid to raise the processing liquid surface, and holding members 103a, 10a for holding the convex portion 102.
A holding member 103 composed of 3b and the holding member 1
03a and 103b are connected, and the cutout portion 1 is also provided.
Connection member 104 for closing the inside of the processing tank between
a, 104b. Further, the convex portion and the holding member 103 are formed of, for example, polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE). Further, the shape of the convex portion may be any shape as long as it has a volume as large as possible in a state where it does not come into contact with the object to be processed when the object is immersed in the treatment liquid.

Further, in the processing liquid level raising mechanism 101,
An elevating mechanism 110 for moving up and down and a horizontal moving mechanism for moving back and forth are provided. The notch 1
00 indicates that the semiconductor wafer W is transferred from the wafer chuck 2a to the wafer holder 16 and then the processing liquid level raising mechanism 101 is lowered from above the processing bath to a predetermined position, for example, the processing liquid level. When the upper surface of the convex portion 102 of the raising mechanism 101 is moved to a position where the upper surface is soaked, the processing tank can be closed by the connecting members 104a and 104b and the cutout portion 100.
Further, the processing liquid level raising mechanism 101 is used for the semiconductor wafer W.
At the time of loading and unloading, the lifting mechanism 110 moves above the processing tank and the horizontal movement mechanism 1
11 moves to the rear of the processing tank. Further, when the processing liquid level rising mechanism 101 is moved to the retreat place in this way, it is always kept clean by the cleaning / drying mechanism (not shown).

The lid 33 is opened and closed by the rotation of each rotary shaft 34 driven by a drive motor (not shown), and when closed, the lids 33 are inclined in a mountain shape so that the abutting portions of the lids 36 project upward. The droplets dropped on the lid 33 can be made to flow to the outside of the processing tank 15. Therefore, it is possible to prevent the liquid dropped on the lid 33 from crystallizing and generating particles. Further, since the lid 36 is positioned vertically when opened, and the lid 36 is positioned inside the main frame 40 that houses the processing bath 15, the lid 33 holds the wafer W in the opened state. It does not interfere with transportation.

The broken line shown in FIG. 2 indicates the state when the processing liquid level raising mechanism 101 is raised, and the lid 36 is
The open state is shown. Further, FIG. 3 shows a state in which the processing liquid level raising mechanism 101 descends and the lid 36 is closed.

As shown in FIG. 2, a level adjusting mechanism 42 for stably mounting the processing tank 15 on the mounting table 41 of the main frame 40 is attached to the lower portion of the processing tank 15. . The level adjusting mechanism 42 is used in the processing tank 15
Of the bottom surface of the mounting leg 43 fixed to the lower surface of the bottom of the bottom surface of the mounting leg 43, the lower surface of which is chamfered, and the adjustment plate 4 having a flat surface.
5, a positioning block 46 fixed on the adjusting plate 45, a fixing bolt 47 for fixing the adjusting plate 45 on the mounting table 41 of the main frame 40, and an adjusting plate 45 on the mounting table 41 of the main frame 40. Adjustable bolt 48 that is adjustable
It consists of and.

The level adjusting mechanism 4 configured as described above
In order to mount the processing tank 15 using the No. 2, the adjustment plate 45 is first leveled with the adjustment bolt 48. At this time, the through hole 45a provided in the adjusting plate 45 is formed with a diameter larger than the diameter of the fixing bolt 47 so that the fixing bolt 47 can be loosely fitted, and the fixing bolt 47 is fixed to the mounting table 41 via the spacer 49. Therefore, the adjustment plate 41 can be easily adjusted horizontally. Next, the mounting plate 44 mounted on the mounting legs 43 of the processing tank 15 is brought into contact with the positioning block 46 and then fixed. In this case, the fine adjustment in the horizontal direction of the processing tank 15 is performed by moving the adjustment plate 41.
Pure water is put in the processing tank 15, and the adjustment plate 41 is horizontally finely adjusted so as to overflow from four circumferences.

Next, the operation of the semiconductor wafer cleaning processing apparatus incorporating the cleaning processing apparatuses 12 and 13 configured as described above will be described. First, carrier C in units of 25
When the wafers W stored in 1 are supplied to the loading section 1, the carrier transfer arm 7 is driven to transfer the supplied carriers C to the loader section 5 in units of two. Then, the carrier C supplied thereafter is transferred to the standby unit 6 by the carrier transfer arm 7, and the wafer W of the subsequent carrier C is temporarily stored in the standby unit 6.

When the two carriers C are supplied to the loader unit 5, the loader unit 5 is driven to align the orientation flats of the wafers W in the two carriers C in one direction to obtain 50 wafers W. While the wafer is being positioned, the wafer transfer device 2 moves to move the wafer chuck 2a into the chuck cleaning / drying processing bath 11 to receive the wafer W. Then, the loader unit 5 is driven to drive the two carriers C.
When the wafers W of each carrier C are brought close to each other while lifting the wafers W from above, the wafer transfer device 2 is driven to hold 50 wafers W by the wafer chuck 2a. The wafer chuck 2a holding the wafer W moves to the first chemical liquid cleaning processing device 12a along the transport path 2b by the drive of the wafer transport device 2 and then lowers the wafer chuck 2a at that position to move the first chemical liquid. Fifty wafers W are delivered to the wafer holder 16 in the processing tank 15 of the cleaning processing apparatus 12a and immersed in the cleaning processing liquid L. After that, the wafer chuck 2 a moves up and moves along the transfer path 26. The processing liquid level raising mechanism 101 moves above the processing tank 15 and then descends, and stops in a state where the convex portion 102 is immersed in the processing liquid surface. The convex portion 102 may be loaded into the processing tank in accordance with the loading of the wafer W. After that, the lid 33 is rotationally driven to close the processing tank.

After that, in the first chemical cleaning apparatus 12a, the circulation pump P is driven to supply the cleaning processing liquid L from a cleaning processing liquid supply source (not shown) from the supply port 17 to the inner tank 15a.
When supplied to the inside, the cleaning treatment liquid L supplied from the supply port 17 to the inner tank 15a is diffused to the left and right by the diffusion plate 24, then rectified by the small holes 21 of the rectification plate 22 and supplied to the surface of the wafer W. To be done. At this time, the current plate 22 and the inner tank 15
A part of the cleaning treatment liquid L passing through the gap 19 with the a
Is blocked by the cleaning treatment liquid L passing through the gap 19.
Of the cleaning treatment liquid L passing through the small holes 21 can be suppressed from being excessively high, and turbulent flow is prevented from occurring in the cleaning treatment liquid L supplied to the wafer surface. You can Therefore, the entire volume of the processing bath 15 can be reduced by the amount of inclination of the processing bath 15 and the straightening plate 22 and the convex portion of the processing liquid level raising mechanism 101, and the processing liquid for cleaning the wafer W can be reduced. The amount used or the amount of pure water used for cleaning can be significantly reduced.

When the cleaning process of the wafer W in the first chemical cleaning device 12a is completed, the lid 33 is opened by the operation reverse to the above case, and the processing liquid level raising mechanism 101 is raised.
After retreating, the wafer chuck 2a of the wafer transfer device 2
Collectively receives the wafers W from the wafer holder 16,
Next, the wafer holder 16 of the first washing / cleaning processing apparatus 13a
Transfer to and wash with water by the same operation as above,
Further, the same second water washing process is performed in the next second water washing process device 13b to complete the washing process. After that, the chemical solution treatment and the water washing treatment are repeatedly performed as needed, and the wafer W after the washing treatment is discharged to the next step via the carry-out section 4 in a carrier unit.

In the cleaning processing of the semiconductor wafer cleaning processing apparatus which carries out the cleaning processing steps as described above, the cleaning processing apparatus of the present invention was compared with the conventional cleaning processing apparatus. The amount of processing liquid used is about 4
It was possible to reduce the amount by 0%, and it was possible to improve the cleaning treatment efficiency and reduce the amount of the cleaning treatment liquid used.

Second Embodiment FIG. 4 is a schematic perspective view (partially sectional view) of a second embodiment of the cleaning processing apparatus of the present invention.

The cleaning processing apparatus in the second embodiment is a case in which a processing liquid level raising mechanism is provided inside the processing tank 15 so that the amount of processing liquid used can be reduced. That is, the bellows type processing liquid level raising mechanism 2 is provided inside the processing tank 15.
00, the bellows are contracted when the semiconductor wafer W is loaded and unloaded, and the semiconductor wafer W is held by the wafer holding mechanism 16
In this case, after the fluid is supplied to the treatment liquid level raising mechanism 200 after being held at 1, the bellows are expanded to raise the treatment liquid level. In this case, please tell us what other materials can be used for the processing liquid level raising mechanism 200, such as Teflon [Mr. Ueno]. ] The bellows body 201 formed by
a and 201b are provided. This bellows body 201a,
Plural, for example, three fluid supply ports 203 are provided between the inner space of 201b and the inner wall surface of the processing tank 15. The fluid supply port 203 is connected to fluid supply pipes 211a and 211b connected via a valve 212 from a fluid supply / discharge mechanism 210 configured to supply and discharge a fluid such as nitrogen. The bellows bodies 201a and 201b are formed such that the upper ends of the respective tips are long and the lower ends are short, and when the semiconductor wafer W is held by the wafer chuck 2a,
The semiconductor wafer W is configured so as not to come into contact with the semiconductor wafer W, and the volume for reducing the amount of the processing liquid is increased as much as possible.

Next, the operation of the case where a cleaning process is performed by the process liquid level raising mechanism 200 having the above-described structure will be described. After the semiconductor wafer W is transferred from the loader / unloader to the wafer chuck 2a as shown in the first embodiment, the wafer chuck 2 grips the semiconductor wafer W.
A is moved to the first chemical liquid cleaning processing device 12a along the transfer path 2b by the drive of the wafer transfer device 2. Thereafter, the wafer chuck 2a is lowered at that position, and 50 wafers W are handed over to the wafer holder 16 in the processing tank 15 of the first chemical cleaning processing apparatus 12a and immersed in the cleaning processing liquid L. At this point, the processing liquid level raising mechanism 200 is in a contracted state, and is in a state where it does not come into contact with the wafer chuck 2a when the semiconductor wafer W is loaded.

After this, the wafer chuck 2a is raised,
It moves along the transport path 26. After that, the lid 33 is rotationally driven to close the processing tank. Although the lid 33 was provided with the cutout portion 100 in the first embodiment, the cutout portion is not necessary in the second embodiment, and the lid 33 is configured to be able to close the entire processing tank. There is.

After that, the processing liquid level raising mechanism 200 is expanded by the fluid supplied from the fluid supply source, and the capacity of the processing liquid is reduced. After this, the first chemical cleaning processing device 12
In a, the circulation pump P is driven to supply the cleaning treatment liquid L from the cleaning treatment liquid supply source (not shown) through the supply port 17 to the inner tank 1.
When supplied to the inside of 5a, the cleaning treatment liquid L supplied from the supply port 17 to the inner tank 15a is diffused to the left and right by the diffusion plate 24, and then is rectified by the small holes 21 of the rectification plate 22 to be transferred to the surface of the wafer W. Supplied. At this time, since a part of the cleaning treatment liquid L passing through the gap 19 between the straightening plate 22 and the inner tank 15a is blocked by the baffle wall 23, the flow velocity of the cleaning treatment liquid L passing through the gap 19 passes through the small hole 21. It is possible to suppress the flow speed of the cleaning processing liquid L from being excessively high compared to the flow rate thereof, and it is possible to prevent turbulence from occurring in the cleaning processing liquid L supplied to the wafer surface. Therefore, the processing tank 15 and the straightening plate 22
And the bellows body 20 of the processing liquid level rising mechanism 200
1a and 201b can reduce the entire volume of the processing bath 15, and can significantly reduce the amount of processing liquid used for cleaning the wafer W.

As described above, the first chemical cleaning device 1
When the cleaning process of the wafer W in 2a is completed, the lid 33 is opened by the operation reverse to the above case, and the processing liquid level raising mechanism 2
00 contracts so that it does not come into contact with the wafer chuck 2a.
a collectively receives the wafers W from the wafer holder 16, transfers the wafers W to the wafer holder 16 of the next first water washing / cleaning processing apparatus 13a, performs the water washing processing by the same operation as described above, and further The same washing process is carried out in the second washing and cleaning device 13b to complete the washing process. After that, the chemical solution treatment and the water washing treatment are repeatedly performed as needed, and the wafer W after the washing treatment is discharged to the next step via the carry-out section 4 in a carrier unit.

The second embodiment is the same as the first embodiment except for the processing liquid level raising mechanism 200, the fluid supply port, the fluid supply pipe, and the fluid supply source.
The same reference numerals are given and the description thereof is omitted.

Further, in the above embodiment, the case where the processing liquid level raising mechanism 101 is provided separately from the lid 33 has been described, but the present invention is not limited to this, and the convex portion is integrally formed with the lid 33. Needless to say, the bellows body can be integrated with the lid 33.

In the second embodiment, the case where the bellows body is contracted and expanded has been described, but the present invention is not limited to this, and as shown in FIGS.
It may be spherical as long as it can be expanded, and may be in any shape such as a rectangular parallelepiped or an ellipse, and any shape can be used as long as it can reduce the volume of the treatment liquid. It goes without saying that it is good. Needless to say, it may be provided on the inner wall surface of the processing tank as shown in FIG. 5 (a) or may be provided on the lid as shown in FIG. 5 (b). In addition, FIG.
As shown in (a) and (b), a slide-type lid may be provided on the upper part of the treatment tank surrounding the object to be treated, and a mechanism capable of horizontally opening and closing the lid may be provided. Needless to say. In addition, FIG.
As shown in (b), the inner wall surface of the processing tank surrounding the object to be processed is configured to have a polygonal cross-section that is substantially concentric with the object to be processed.
It goes without saying that the processing tank may be configured to be provided with a mechanism that can be opened and closed horizontally by, for example, a slide method. Further, as shown in FIGS. 8A and 8B, the inner wall surface of the processing tank surrounding the object to be processed is configured to have a circular cross section that is substantially concentric with the object to be processed, and the processing tank is divided into two. It goes without saying that the upper part may be configured to be provided with a mechanism that can be opened and closed. Further, in the above embodiment, the case where the processing liquid level raising mechanism is used in the processing liquid tank has been described, but it is needless to say that the present invention is not limited to this and can be applied to a pure water cleaning tank.

In the above embodiments, the case where the cleaning processing apparatus of the present invention is applied to the cleaning processing apparatus for semiconductor wafers has been described, but it is also applicable to other cleaning processing apparatuses such as LCD glass substrates and etching apparatuses. Of course.

[0044]

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

1) According to the cleaning processing apparatus of the first aspect, the processing liquid can be reduced and the cost can be reduced.

2) According to the cleaning treatment apparatus of the second aspect, the treatment liquid can be reduced and the cost can be reduced.

3) According to the cleaning treatment method of the third aspect, the treatment liquid can be reduced and the cost can be reduced.

4) According to the cleaning treatment method of the fourth aspect, the treatment liquid can be reduced and the cost can be reduced.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing a semiconductor wafer cleaning processing apparatus to which a cleaning processing apparatus and a cleaning processing method according to the present invention are applied.

FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view showing a first embodiment of the cleaning treatment apparatus and the cleaning treatment method of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a schematic perspective view of the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a schematic perspective view showing a second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view showing another embodiment of the semiconductor wafer cleaning processing apparatus to which the cleaning processing apparatus and cleaning processing method of the present invention are applied.

FIG. 6 is a cross-sectional view showing another embodiment of the semiconductor wafer cleaning processing apparatus to which the cleaning processing apparatus and cleaning processing method of the present invention are applied.

FIG. 7 is a cross-sectional view showing another embodiment of the semiconductor wafer cleaning processing apparatus to which the cleaning processing apparatus and cleaning processing method of the present invention are applied.

FIG. 8 is a cross-sectional view showing another embodiment of the semiconductor wafer cleaning processing apparatus to which the cleaning processing apparatus and cleaning processing method of the present invention are applied.

[Explanation of symbols]

 15 processing tank 101 processing liquid level rising mechanism 102 convex part 200 processing liquid level rising mechanism W semiconductor wafer (object to be processed) L cleaning processing liquid

[Procedure amendment]

[Submission date] January 19, 1995

[Procedure Amendment 1]

[Document name to be amended] Statement

[Correction target item name] 0035

[Correction method] Change

[Correction content]

The cleaning processing apparatus in the second embodiment is a case in which a processing liquid level raising mechanism is provided inside the processing tank 15 so that the amount of processing liquid used can be reduced. That is, the bellows type processing liquid level raising mechanism 2 is provided inside the processing tank 15.
00, the bellows are contracted when the semiconductor wafer W is loaded and unloaded, and the semiconductor wafer W is held by the wafer holding mechanism 16
In this case, after the fluid is supplied to the treatment liquid level raising mechanism 200 after being held at 1, the bellows are expanded to raise the treatment liquid level. In this case, the processing liquid level raising mechanism 200 is provided with bellows bodies 201a and 201b made of, for example, Teflon. The inner space of the bellows bodies 201a and 201b and the processing tank 15
A plurality of, for example, three fluid supply ports 203 are provided between the inner wall surface and the inner wall surface. The fluid supply port 203 is connected to fluid supply pipes 211a and 211b connected via a valve 212 from a fluid supply / discharge mechanism 210 configured to supply and discharge a fluid such as nitrogen. Further, the bellows bodies 201a and 201b are formed such that the upper ends of the respective tips are long and the lower ends are short, and contact the semiconductor wafer W when the semiconductor wafer W is held by the wafer chuck 2a. It is configured not to. In addition, the bellows bodies 201a and 201b
Is configured so that the volume can be increased in order to reduce the amount of processing liquid in the processing tank 15.

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A cleaning processing apparatus for immersing an object to be processed in a processing tank to perform a cleaning process, wherein the object is processed while the object to be processed is immersed in the processing tank. A cleaning processing apparatus comprising a mechanism for decreasing the volume of the processing liquid and raising the liquid level. 2. A cleaning treatment apparatus for immersing an object to be treated in a treatment tank to perform a cleaning treatment, wherein a member capable of carrying in and out is provided in an area where a treatment liquid is stored in the treatment tank. Characterizing cleaning equipment. 3. A first step of immersing at least a part of an object to be treated in a treatment liquid in a treatment tank, and a treatment liquid occupying volume in a treatment liquid storage portion between the treatment object and an inner wall of the treatment tank is reduced. And a second step of carrying in the member to be cleaned. 4. A first step of immersing at least a part of an object to be processed in a processing liquid in a processing tank, and a processing liquid occupying volume in a processing liquid storage portion between the object to be processed and an inner wall of the processing tank is reduced. And a second step in which the liquid surface of the treatment liquid is raised to completely immerse the object to be treated by carrying in the member to be treated.