JPH07183267A - Automatic treating equipment - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To automatically process under a condition of full dryness and at a low cost while holding a clean environment by a method wherein a carry speed when pulling out holding means from treatment liquid is set so that the treatment liquid is separated from the holding means by its surface tension to be left within a treatment bath. CONSTITUTION:Even when only holding means 24 is pulled out from treatment liquid under a condition that it does not hold a substrate 22, the pullout can be performed at an extreme low speed in the same manner as when the substrate 22 is pilled out when it is dry. This pullout speed is set to be 1 to 20mm/ sec, favorably 1 to 2mm/sec, in the same manner as when the substrate 22 is held. Thus, the holding means 24 is pulled out at a low speed, whereby the treatment liquid is separated from the holding means 24 by its surface tension to be left within a treatment bath, and at the same when it is pulled out, the holding means 24 is completed drying. Thus, it is possible to dry the holding means sufficiently and also at a low cost.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an automatic processing apparatus for collectively cleaning a plurality of substrates such as silicon wafers and glass substrates by immersing them in a processing solution in a processing tank.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, as this type of automatic processing apparatus, there is one shown in FIGS.

As shown in FIG. 12, in this automatic processing apparatus, a receiving table 102 and a taking-out table 103 are provided at the front end and the rear end of the frame 101, respectively. Then, the receiving table 102 and the taking-out table 103
For example, five processing tanks 105 to 109 are sequentially arranged, and required processing liquids such as a cleaning liquid, an etching liquid and pure water are stored in these processing tanks, respectively.
Pure water as the post-cleaning treatment liquid is stored in the treatment tank 109.

A movable pole 112 is arranged on one side of the gantry 101, and as shown in FIG. 13, a holding means 115 capable of holding a plurality of substrates 114 is provided at the upper end of the movable pole 112. ing. The movable pole 112 is
This holding means 115, together with the substrate 114 holding it,
It constitutes a part of a transfer unit (other than the movable pole 112, not shown) that transfers along a predetermined path that sequentially goes through each of the processing tanks. Further, the holding means 115 holds a plurality of substrates 114 aligned so that their principal surfaces are parallel to each other and each is upright.

The holding means 115 is the movable pole 1
A base 117 fixed to the upper end of the base 12, and the base 11
2 attached at one end to 7 and extend parallel to each other
It has a columnar longitudinal support member 118 and 119. Both longitudinal support members 118, 119 are
A bearing mechanism provided inside is rotatably supported about the center of the shaft, and is rotationally driven by a driving means (not shown).

Hanger members 121 and 122 are attached to the other ends of the longitudinal support members 118 and 119 together with attachment blocks 123 and 124, respectively. Further, at the lower end portions of the hanger members 121 and 122, two holding members 126 each having a substantially columnar shape are attached in parallel to each other. These holding members 126 hold the substrate 114 in a direction parallel to the main surface of the substrate, and holding grooves (not shown) with which the outer peripheral portion of the substrate 114 engages at equal pitches in the longitudinal direction. Are installed side by side.

Next, the operation of the above automatic processing apparatus will be briefly described.

First, the movable pole 112 receives the receiving table 102.
Of the receiving table 1
The substrate 114 supplied in an aligned state on the 02 is held by the holding means 115. In addition, at the time of this holding, by the driving means provided in the base 117,
As shown by an arrow R in FIG. 13, the longitudinal support member 11
8 and 119 are rotationally driven, whereby the holding members 126 relatively move to hold the substrate 114, as shown by the two-dot chain line and the solid line in the figure.

Thereafter, the movable pole 112 rises to lift the substrate 114 from the receiving table 102,
Further, the movable pole 112 moves to the left in FIG. 12 and is brought onto the first processing tank 105. Then, the movable pole 112 moves down, the substrate 114 is immersed in the processing liquid, and the holding means 115 then performs a holding release operation, whereby each substrate is placed on the substrate pedestal ( (Not shown). In this state, the cleaning process of the substrate is performed.

Thereafter, the substrate 11 is operated by the same operation as described above.
4 is the take-out stand 1 after going around the other processing tanks 106 to 109.
03, and is collected.

By the way, in the above-mentioned automatic processing apparatus, the holding means 11 is used when each substrate 114 is immersed in the processing liquid.
Also with respect to No. 5, the treatment liquid is immersed in the treatment liquid, and a relatively large amount of the treatment liquid adheres to the surface of the holding means 115. Therefore, if the work is continued as it is, the adhering treatment liquid will be mixed with another treatment liquid. Therefore, the holding means 115 is once dried. Specifically, as shown in FIG. 13, a nozzle 130 is provided so as to correspond to the holding means 115 carried out of the processing tank, and the holding means 11 holds compressed air or a gas such as nitrogen gas through the nozzle 130.
Injecting into 5 is taking place. That is, the treatment liquid adhering to the holding means 115 is blown off by this gas to be dried.

[0012]

In the above-mentioned conventional apparatus, the holding means 115 is dried by jetting gas, but the present situation is that a sufficient dry state is not obtained.

Further, there is a drawback that a facility for injecting a gas is required and the gas itself used is relatively expensive, resulting in an increase in cost.

Further, when the above-mentioned drying is carried out under the condition that the atmosphere should be kept clean, such as a so-called clean room, there is also a drawback that the atmosphere is disturbed by the diffusion of the jetted gas and the cleanliness may be lowered. .

The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned drawbacks of the prior art, and provides an automatic processing apparatus capable of performing drying sufficiently, at low cost, and while maintaining a clean environment. Is intended.

[0016]

The present invention has a transfer means for holding a plurality of substrates by a holding means and transferring them along a predetermined path, and storing the substrates in a processing tank within the predetermined path. In the automatic processing apparatus for performing the dipping treatment with the treated liquid, the conveying speed at the time of pulling out the holding means from the treating liquid is such that the treating liquid is separated from the holding means by the surface tension and remains in the treating tank. It has been set.

[0017]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Next, an automatic processing apparatus as an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the automatic processing apparatus comprises a frame 1 made of shaped steel or the like, and a panel (not provided with a reference numeral) provided over the frame 1.
The housing 3 has a rectangular parallelepiped shape as a whole.

As shown in FIG. 1, a substrate supply means 8 and four processing tanks 9 to 12 are sequentially arranged in the housing 3.

A treatment liquid 9a, which is a mixture of ammonia water, hydrogen peroxide water and pure water and is heated to a predetermined temperature, is stored in the treatment tank 9. Also, the processing tanks 10 and 12
Hot deionized water (hot deionized water) 10a and 12a which are heated pure water are stored therein, respectively, and the treatment tank 11 is heated by mixing sulfuric acid and hydrogen peroxide water. Treated liquid 11
a is stored. Further, vibrators 15 and 16 are attached to the bottoms of the processing tanks 9 and 10. Each of the vibrators 15 and 16 is driven by an ultrasonic oscillator (not shown) arranged at a predetermined position in the housing 3 to excite both processing tanks 9 and 10.

As shown in FIG. 1, a drainage means 18 for rapidly draining the treatment liquid 10a in the treatment tank 10 is provided below the treatment tank 10. The drainage from the other treatment tanks 9, 11 and 12 is performed through a drainage tube (not shown) connected to each treatment tank. Further, a stock tank 20 for stocking the respective processing liquids to be supplied to the respective processing tanks 9 to 12 is arranged below the processing tank 11.
Various processing liquids are supplied from the stock tank 20 to each processing tank through a supply tube (not shown).

Now, the automatic processing apparatus automatically cleans and dries substrates 22 such as silicon wafers or glass substrates. For example, 50 substrates 22 are processed at a time in a series of steps described later. Washing and drying can be completed. The substrate 22 in this embodiment is, for example, a substantially circular silicon wafer, and its diameter is about 200 m / m. These 50 substrates 22 are shown in FIG.
2 is held by the holding means 24 shown in FIG. 2, and the holding means 24 is carried along a predetermined path by the carrying means 25 shown in FIG. The holding means 24 holds the substrates 22 at regular intervals such that the principal surfaces of the substrates are parallel to each other and the substrates are upright.

As shown in FIG. 2, the carrying means 25 is
A rail 27 extending along the direction in which the processing tanks 9 to 12 are arranged, that is, in the horizontal direction, and a movable base 29 slidably attached to the rail 27 via a bracket 28a and a slider 28b. And have. As shown in FIG. 3, the rail 27 is
It is mounted on a support plate 30 fixed to the housing 3 (see FIGS. 1 and 2).

The movable base 29 is mounted in a state of being suspended and supported by the rail 27 near the upper end portion thereof, and as shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, a bracket 32 is attached to the lower end portion of the movable base 29. A pair of rollers 33 are provided via the. Then, these rollers 33 sandwich a guide plate 34, which is arranged in parallel with the rail 27, in the lower part of the housing 3 from the left and right. With this configuration,
The movable base 29 can move smoothly.

As is apparent from FIG. 3, a long rack 36 is fixedly provided in parallel with the rail 27 on the lower surface of the support plate 30 carrying the rail 27. On the other hand, on the movable base 29, a reduction mechanism 37 including a final stage gear 37a that meshes with the rack 36 (see FIG. 2).
And a motor 38 that applies torque to the speed reduction mechanism 37. That is, the movable base 29 reciprocates along the rail 27 by rotating the motor 38 forward and backward.

As shown in FIG. 3, rails 40 are attached to the side portions of the movable base 29 so as to extend in the vertical direction. Then, on this rail 40, the slider 4
1 is slidably provided, and an elevating plate 42 is fixed to the slider 41. In this lifting plate 42,
A movable pole 45 is attached via a fixed block 43 so as to extend in the vertical direction. A long feed screw 46 is arranged in parallel with the movable pole 45, and is rotatably attached to the movable base 29 via a pair of upper and lower bearings 47a and 47b. A nut 49 that is screwed onto the feed screw 46 is provided, and the nut 49 is fixed to the elevating plate 42.

The lower end of the feed screw 46 projects downward from the bearing 47b, and the pulley 50 is fitted to this projecting portion. A pulse motor 52 is provided on the movable base 29 and on the side of the bearing 47b,
A pulley 53 is also fitted to the output shaft of the pulse motor 52, and a belt 54 is wound around both pulleys 50 and 53. That is, when the pulse motor 52 rotates forward and backward, the feed screw 46 rotates forward and backward, and the movable pole 45 moves up and down together with the lifting plate 42 carrying the movable pole 45.

The above-mentioned rail 27 and slider 28b
A movable base 29, a roller 33, a guide plate 34, a rack 36, a reduction mechanism 37, and a motor 38.
, Rail 40, slider 41, and elevating plate 42
By the fixed block 43, the movable pole 45, the feed screw 46, the nut 49, the pulleys 50 and 53, the pulse motor 52, the belt 54, and related members around them, the above-mentioned holding means 24 is provided. Conveying means 25 is configured to convey, along with the substrate 22 thus held, along a predetermined path (described later) from the dipping position of the processing liquid in each of the processing baths 9 to 12 to the outside of the processing bath.

Next, the substrate 22 is held and the carrier means 2 is held.
The holding means 24 conveyed by 5 will be described in detail.

As is particularly apparent from FIGS. 1 to 6, the holding means 24 has a rectangular parallelepiped base portion 58 fixed to the upper end portion of the movable pole 45, and one end portion of the base portion 58. It has two columnar arm members 59 and 60 attached in a cantilever shape and extending linearly and parallel to the side of the base 58. Both arm members 59 and 60 are supported by bearings provided in the substrate portion 58 so as to be rotatable about their axial centers.

As shown in FIGS. 5 and 6, hanger members 63 and 64 are attached to the free ends of the arm members 59 and 60, respectively, via attachment blocks 65 in a suspended state. There is. The hanger member 63 includes a rectangular plate-shaped intermediate member 67 and a frame member 68 formed in a U shape and fixed to the lower end of the intermediate member 67.
The other hanger member 64 is a rectangular plate-shaped intermediate member 67.
And a U-shaped frame member 69. The mounting block 65 includes two divided bodies 65b and 65c formed so as to sandwich the arm members 59 and 60 from each other, and fastening members (not shown) such as bolts and nuts that fasten the two divided bodies. Consists of.

At the other end of each of the arm members 59 and 60, that is, at the tip end portion, there is provided a connecting means 70 which is pivotally attached to the both end portions and connects the tip end portions to each other. By providing the connecting means 70, it is possible to prevent the tips of the two arm members 59 and 60 from being separated or too close to each other.

As shown in FIGS. 5 and 6, the frame member 68, which is a constituent member of the above-mentioned hanger members 63 and 64,
At the lower end of 69, 4 for each of the frame members 68, 69
A total of eight gripping members 72 to 75 each having a substantially cylindrical shape
(However, the same reference numerals are attached to each two of these eight holding members) are attached by bolts (not shown). These holding members 72 to 75 are
In cooperation with each other, the substrate 22 is sandwiched in a direction parallel to the main surface of the substrate. However, as is clear from FIG. 5, each of the two holding members 72 to 75 indicated by the same reference numeral is arranged so that their central axes coincide with each other, and thus the concentric members are concentrically arranged. The two holding members arranged side by side are the plate-like brackets 6 provided on the frame member 68 (69).
They are joined together at their ends via 8a.

Although not shown, a driving means is provided for driving the above-mentioned holding members 72 to 75 so as to hold and release each substrate 22. The driving means applies torque to the arm members 59 and 69 which suspend and hold the holding members 72 to 75 and the like to rotate them.

Here, the construction of each of the holding members 72 to 75 will be described in detail. Since the holding members 72 to 75 have the same shape, the holding member 72 will be described in detail as a representative.

As shown in FIGS. 7 and 8, the holding member 72
Is formed in a substantially columnar shape as a whole, as described above. The holding member 72 is provided with holding grooves 72a which can be engaged with the outer peripheral portion of the substrate 22 and are arranged in parallel at, for example, 25 rows at equal pitches. Each of these holding grooves 7
The cross-sectional shape of 2a is V-shaped. The holding member 72 has a circular cross-sectional shape perpendicular to the direction in which the holding grooves 72a are arranged. Also, each holding groove 72a
Is formed by cutting out a part of the holding member 72, and the bottom surface of each holding groove 72a has a radius of curvature equal to the radius (about 100 m / m) of the substrate 22 that engages with the holding groove 72a. There is.

Here, each processing tank 9 shown in FIG. 1 and FIG.
Nos. 12 to 12 are provided at the bottoms of the substrates, and the substrates 22 are transferred from the above-mentioned holding means 24 and are supported at regular intervals such that their principal surfaces are parallel to each other and each is upright. The substrate pedestal 85 to be used will be described.

As shown in FIGS. 5 and 6, the substrate pedestal 85
Is a bottom plate 86, three side plates 87 fixed on the bottom plate 86 in parallel with each other, and six support members 88 each having a substantially columnar shape and having both ends supported by the side plates 87. ~
90 (however, the same reference numeral is given to every two of these six support members). These supporting members 88 to 90 respectively extend in the alignment direction of the substrates 22 held by the holding means 24 described above,
They support the substrate 22 in cooperation with each other. As is apparent from FIG. 5, each of the supporting members 88 to 90 is arranged such that two of the supporting members having the same reference numerals have the same central axes.

Regarding the details of the supporting members 88 to 90, the holding members 72 included in the above-mentioned holding means 24 will be described.
Although the detailed description thereof will be omitted because they are formed in substantially the same manner as the first to 75th, each of the supporting members 88 to 90 has 25 receiving grooves with which the outer peripheral portion of the substrate 22 can be engaged with each other at the same pitch. Are installed side by side.

Next, the operation of the automatic processing apparatus having the above configuration will be described. The following operation is performed under the control of a control unit including a microcomputer (not shown).

First, each of the substrates 2 is placed on the substrate supply means 8 shown in FIG. 1 by a robot (not shown) or manually.
Two boxes, ie, carriers (not shown) accommodating 25 sheets of 2 are respectively placed. The substrates 22 in the carrier are aligned at regular intervals such that their principal surfaces are parallel to each other and each is upright.

When the carrier is placed on the substrate supply means 8, the substrate supply means 8 operates. As a result, a total of 50 substrates 22 accommodated in the two carriers are provided.
Are pushed out of the carrier as they are lifted and brought to a position where they can be held by the holding means 24. At this time, the holding means 24 stands by immediately above the carrier.

In this state, the holding means 24 is operated,
Each substrate 22 is held by the holding members 72 to 75 included in the holding means 24.

Following this, the motor 3 shown in FIGS.
8 and a pulse motor (not shown) are appropriately rotated to horizontally move the movable base 29 and move the movable pole 45 up and down, and each substrate 22 is shown in FIG. It is conveyed along the path Z ₃ → X ₆ → Z ₄ , is placed on the substrate pedestal 85 in the processing tank 9, and is immersed in the processing liquid 9 a stored in the processing tank 9. Then, the holding state of each substrate 22 by the holding means 24 is released, and each substrate 22 is treated with the treatment liquid 9a, in this case, washed. In addition, at the time of this cleaning, the vibrator 15 attached to the lower portion of the processing tank 9 is operated and
At the same time, the processing liquid 9a inside is excited, and the cleaning is effectively performed.

When the cleaning operation in the processing bath 9 is completed, the holding means 24 holds each substrate 22 again. Then, each substrate 22 is processed by the route Z shown in FIG.
It is conveyed along ₃ → X ₇ → Z ₄ and placed on the substrate pedestal 85 in the processing bath 10 and washed with the processing liquid 10a. During this cleaning, the vibrator 16 attached to the processing tank 10 operates.

After that, each substrate 22 is connected to the path Z shown in FIG.
₃ → X ₈ → Z ₄ and the following path Z ₃ → X ₉ → Z ₄ are sequentially conveyed, and the processing liquid 1 in each processing tank 11 and 12 is transferred.
Washed with 1a and 12a. Thus, each substrate 22
The cleaning is completed and the substrate 22 is recovered. After that, the holding means 24 is returned to the standby position immediately above the substrate supply means 8 again via the path Z ₃ → X ₁₀ → Z ₄ shown in FIG.

Thereafter, the above series of operations are repeated,
A large number of substrates sequentially supplied by the substrate supply means 8 are cleaned.

Here, the operation when the substrate 22 held by the holding means 24 is carried in and out of the processing baths 9 to 12 will be described in detail with reference to FIGS. 9 to 11. However, the operation described here is performed in each processing tank 9-12.
Therefore, the operation in the processing tank 12 will be described as an example.

First, when the substrate 22 is carried into the processing tank 12, the substrate 22 is lowered along the path Z ₄ shown in FIGS. 1 and 9. As described above, the raising / lowering operation of the substrate 22 is due to the vertical movement of the movable pole 45 by the operation of the pulse motor 52 (shown in FIG. 3). In FIG. 9, this path Z ₄ is divided into two, one is indicated by α and the other is indicated by β. This α indicates a path from the uppermost position of the substrate 22 directly above the processing tank 12 to the vicinity of the substrate pedestal 85, and β indicates that the substrate 22 is placed on the substrate pedestal 85 from the vicinity. It shows the route to. As is clear from the figure, the upper end of the substrate 22 placed on the substrate pedestal 85 is e from the liquid surface of the processing liquid 12a.
It is designed so that it will only sink.

The descending speed of the substrate 22 along the path α is relatively high, and is set to 250 to 400 mm / sec, for example. Then, it is decelerated along the path β and is lowered at, for example, 2 to 20 mm / sec. In this way, by lowering the speed at which the substrate 22 is transferred to the substrate pedestal 85, the substrate 22 is gently placed on the substrate pedestal 85, and damage to the substrate 22 or the like is prevented. In addition, since it is lowered at a relatively high speed until just before the placement, that is, in the path α, the shortening of the transportation time is achieved.

Subsequently, the substrate 22 is carried out as follows.

That is, when carrying out, the substrate 22 is raised along the path Z ₃ shown in FIGS. Figure 10
In this case, the path Z ₃ is divided into two, one of which is indicated by γ and the other by δ. As for γ, the substrate 22 placed on the substrate pedestal 85 is held by the holding means 24 (see FIGS. 1 to 6).
Is held by the processing liquid 12 at the lower end.
The path from the liquid surface of a is shown, and δ is the path from the position where the substrate 22 is further raised to the uppermost position directly above the processing tank 12.

In the path γ, the substrate 22 moves at an extremely slow speed due to the rise of the movable pole 45, for example, 1 to 20 mm / sec, preferably 1 to 2 mm / sec.
It is pulled up at. By slowly pulling up the substrate 22 in this way, as shown in FIG. 11, the processing liquid 12a is separated from the substrate 22 due to its surface tension and remains in the processing tank 12, and the substrate 22 is dried at the same time as being pulled up. Complete.

When the drying of the substrate 22 is completed as described above, the substrate 22 is, for example, 250 along the path δ in the subsequent stage.
It is raised at ~ 400 mm / sec and reaches the uppermost position. After this, it is recovered.

It should be noted that, in the above-described raising / lowering operation of the substrate 22, it is confirmed that the substrate 22 has reached each position by the following configuration.

That is, the board 22 is raised and lowered by the operation of the pulse motor 52 shown in FIG. 3. For example, the encoder (not shown) that the pulse motor 52 issues a pulse signal according to the rotation amount thereof. Is equipped with.
The control unit receives the pulse signals emitted from the encoder, counts the pulse signals, and calculates the feed amount by the feed screw 46 (see FIGS. 2 and 3) based on the number of pulses, thereby holding the holding unit 24, and thus the holding unit 24. , Know the moving position of the substrate 22. However, in addition to this, the movable base 29 shown in FIGS.
A plurality of optical sensors and the like are provided on the side of the substrate at a predetermined distance in the vertical direction, and the components of the holding means 24 and the like are detected by these optical sensors and the like, and the signals emitted from the respective sensors cause the substrate 22 to move. The position of may be known.

The operation for drying the substrate 22 as described above is not performed if it is unnecessary in the processing baths 9 to 11 in the preceding stage, and the substrate 22 is removed from the processing bath 12 arranged at the end. It may be performed only when taking out.

By the way, in the drying of the substrate 22 utilizing the surface tension of the treatment liquid as described above, the substrate 2 of the treatment liquid is used.
The maximum pulling speed that can maintain the smooth peeling state from the No. 2 depends on various conditions. Specifically, it is the peelability of the processing liquid of the substrate 22 itself, the change in the surface tension due to the heating temperature of the processing liquid, and the like. Therefore, the maximum pulling rate is appropriately set according to the material of the substrate to be treated, the type of treatment liquid, and the heating temperature thereof. In this setting, a certain substrate (which may be a dummy substrate of the same material) is used as a test piece prior to the above-described cleaning work, and the apparatus is operated to clean the sample, and the treatment liquid is sufficiently peeled from the substrate. Check the speed, and keep it below this speed.

Incidentally, in the above-mentioned embodiment, the treatment liquid 12a stored in the treatment tank 12 is Hot pure water, which is 60 ^° C. or lower (because steam is generated when heated to 60 ^° C. or higher). The substrate 22 which is heated to and is a silicon wafer is a wafer, but under these conditions, a pulling speed of about 2 mm / sec at the maximum is possible.

In the above-described automatic processing apparatus, when the substrates 22 are immersed in the processing liquid, the holding means 24 is necessarily immersed in the processing liquid. Therefore, as in the conventional case, this holding means 24
When a treatment liquid is drawn out from the treatment liquid, a relatively large amount of treatment liquid adheres to the surface of the holding means 24, and if the work is continued as it is, the treatment liquid adhered to the holding means 24 may be mixed with another treatment liquid. Become. Therefore, even when only the holding means 24 not holding the substrate 22 is pulled out from the processing liquid,
Similar to the pulling and drying of the substrate 22 described above, the pulling up is performed at an extremely low speed. This pulling speed is 1 to 20 mm / s, as in the case where the substrate 22 is held.
ec, preferably 1 to 2 mm / sec. By pulling up the holding means 24 at such a low speed, the processing liquid is separated from the holding means 24 due to its surface tension and remains in the processing tank, and the drying of the holding means 24 is completed at the same time as the pulling.

As described above, in the automatic processing apparatus according to the present invention, the drying of the holding means 24 is completed by simply removing the holding means 24 from the processing liquid at a low speed.
The equipment for injecting the drying gas, which is conventionally provided, is completely unnecessary, and there is nothing to consume, so the cost is low.

The holding means 24 can be completely dried by setting the pulling speed of the holding means 24.

Further, even if the automatic processing apparatus is installed in an environment such as a clean room where the cleanliness of the atmosphere should be maintained, there is no possibility of disturbing the atmosphere by the drying operation of the holding means 24, so the atmosphere is clean. Kept in.

The holding means 24 is used in the above embodiment.
Shows a case where each substrate 22 is directly held, but the present invention can be applied to an automatic processing apparatus of a type in which each substrate 22 is housed in a cassette (not shown) and immersion cleaning is performed together with the cassette. it can.

Further, regarding the processing tank used when the above-mentioned holding means 24 alone is pulled and dried, among the processing tanks 9 to 12 provided in this embodiment, the processing tank 12 storing pure water or 10 can be used, and in addition to the processing tanks 9 to 12, a processing tank (not shown) for cleaning and drying the holding means 24 may be provided exclusively.

[0066]

As described above, in the automatic processing apparatus according to the present invention, by pulling the holding means very slowly, the processing liquid is separated from the holding means by the surface tension and remains in the processing tank. I made it dry. Due to such a constitution, it is possible to obtain an effect that the holding means can be dried sufficiently and at low cost, and the clean environment is not disturbed in a clean room or the like.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a vertical cross-sectional view of the entire automatic processing apparatus as an embodiment of the present invention.

2 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line AA of FIG.

FIG. 3 is a front view of a carrying unit included in the automatic processing apparatus shown in FIG.

FIG. 4 is a plan view of a holding means included in the automatic processing device shown in FIG.

5 is a BB arrow view of FIG. 4;

FIG. 6 is a view taken along the line CC of FIG.

7 is a front view of a holding member included in the holding means shown in FIGS. 4 to 6. FIG.

8 is a cross-sectional view taken along line DD of FIG. 7.

9 is an operation explanatory diagram of the automatic processing apparatus shown in FIG. 1. FIG.

10 is an operation explanatory diagram of the automatic processing apparatus shown in FIG. 1. FIG.

11 is an operation explanatory diagram of the automatic processing apparatus shown in FIG. 1. FIG.

FIG. 12 is a plan view of a conventional automatic processing device.

13 is a vertical cross-sectional view of a holding means included in the conventional device shown in FIG.

[Explanation of symbols]

 9, 10, 11, 12 Treatment tank 9a, 10a, 11a, 12a Treatment liquid 22 Substrate 24 Holding means 25 Conveying means 58 Base portion 59, 60 Arm member 63, 64 Hanger member 72, 73, 74, 75 Holding member 85 Substrate Cradle

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A carrying means for holding a plurality of substrates by a holding means and carrying the substrates along a predetermined path, wherein the substrate is immersed in a processing liquid stored in a processing bath within the predetermined path. The automatic processing apparatus is characterized in that the carrying speed when the holding means is pulled out from the processing liquid is set so that the processing liquid is separated from the holding means by the surface tension and remains in the processing tank. .