JPH07254584A - Dryer - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To prevent waterdrops and the like from re-sticking to workpieces and accelerate drying operation. CONSTITUTION:Wafers W are held on both ends of the workpiece holding section 7 of a rotary holding mechanism 3, and dummy wafers DW are placed outside the wafers W. Airflow toward the surfaces of the workpieces W on both sides of the workpiece holding section 7, is thereby blocked. Rotational disks 77, larger in diameter than the through hole 9a in the end plates of an inner case 2, are installed on the rotational shaft 20 of the workpiece holding section 7 in proximity to the end plates 9. Airflow passing through the through hole 9a is thereby blocked. An intake port 10 and an exhaust port 11 are formed at the upper and lower parts of the circumferential wall of the inner case 2, respectively. The case 2 is thereby forcedly evacuated. Further, a liquid interrupt plate is projected on the inside surface of the circumferential wall in the downstream position from the exhaust port 11 with respect to the direction of the rotary holding mechanism 3 rotation. An airflow going from the intake port 10 to the exhaust port 11 is thereby generated within the case 2. Thus waterdrops are carried on the airflow and discharged from the case 2; scattered liquid, which is hard to put on the airflow, is interrupted by the liquid interrupt plate and guided to the exhaust port 11.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a drying apparatus for rotating a holding mechanism that holds a plurality of objects to be processed to dry the objects.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Generally, in the process of manufacturing semiconductor products, liquid crystal display products, etc. by subjecting semiconductor wafers, glass substrates, etc. to various kinds of treatments, various chemicals etc. From the action
For example, cleaning with pure water or the like is performed for the purpose of removing the chemical liquid remaining on the object to be treated after the chemical solution treatment, and then a drying process for removing the moisture adhering to the object to be treated is performed.

In this case, since rapid drying is required in order to improve production efficiency, an object to be processed such as a wafer is rotated at a high speed so that water droplets are scattered by centrifugal force (spin dryer). ) Has been widely adopted, and in particular, there is an increasing demand for a so-called batch type carrierless drying processing apparatus that simultaneously conveys a plurality of objects to be processed, holds them in a rotation holding mechanism without a carrier, and performs a drying process.

As a drying apparatus of this type, for example, FIG.
2, the device shown in FIG. 13 is known. This apparatus is provided with a rotation holding mechanism (rotor) 111 for holding a wafer W, which is an object to be processed, in a housing (chamber) 110 having a rectangular cross section. The upper part of the housing 110 is for loading and unloading the wafer W. The lid 112 is openable and closable. The rotating shaft 113 at both ends of the rotating holding mechanism 111 is rotatably supported by a bearing mechanism 114, and by transmitting the driving force of a motor 116 to one rotating shaft 113 via a belt 115, the rotating holding mechanism 111. The whole 111 can rotate at high speed (rotation). The rotation holding mechanism 111 includes a pair of disk-shaped rotating members 117 that are supported by the rotating shafts 113 at both ends and are arranged to face each other, and both rotating members 1 that are horizontally extended in parallel below the rotating members 117.
It comprises a pair of lower holding members 118 that connect 17 and an upper holding member 119 that is provided so as to straddle the upper portions of both rotating members 117. This rotation holding mechanism 1
The lower holding member 118 and the upper holding member 119 of 11 are rod-shaped members, and in order to hold a large number of wafers W at equal intervals in the portions facing the center of the rotation holding mechanism of each member 118, 119, FIG. As shown in FIG.
Zeros are formed at equal pitches in the axial direction. The rotary holding mechanism 111 holds the plurality of wafers W vertically and horizontally at equal intervals between the lower holding member 118 and the upper holding member 119, and holds the wafer W.
It can rotate at high speed around 3.

The upper holding member 119 is swingably supported by both rotary shafts 113 via a rotary arm 121, and an air cylinder 122 provided on a side portion of the housing 110.
Are connected to each other via a connecting rod 123, and in a normal state, the wafer W is held in a closed state so as to straddle the upper portions of both rotating members 117 by an urging force of a spring (not shown), and the wafer W is inserted and removed. At times, the air cylinder 122 is driven to be pushed by the connecting rod 123 to move to one side to release the holding of the wafer W.

The housing 110 is provided with an intake port 124 with a filter for introducing clean gas into the inside of the case at an upper corner portion, and a wall surface on the side opposite to the side where the intake port 124 is provided. An exhaust port 125 is provided in the. Then, this drying processing apparatus centrifuges the water droplets adhering to the wafer W by rotating the rotation holding mechanism 111 holding the wafer W by driving the motor 116 while circulating clean gas in the housing 110. The wafer W is scattered by force.
The water remaining on the surface can be removed by evaporation with a circulating clean gas.

[0007]

However, in the above-described conventional drying processing apparatus, water droplets scattered by centrifugal force are generated in the casing 110.
There is a problem in that the water bounces off the inner wall of the wafer and reattaches the water and contamination to the wafer W. This is the case 11
Since the peripheral wall of No. 0 is formed in a rectangular shape, water droplets scattered toward the upper wall of the housing bounce off, and the rotation holding mechanism 11
Water droplets on the airflow generated by the rotation of 1
It is considered that this is because it goes around 0 and is not easily discharged to the outside.

Therefore, the peripheral wall of the chamber that surrounds the rotation holding mechanism is formed into a cylindrical shape, and the intake port is opened at one upper part of the peripheral wall and the exhaust port is opened at the lower part of the other side to perform forced exhaustion, thereby maintaining the rotation. A device has been proposed in which a downward airflow is generated around one side of the mechanism along the rotational direction, and water droplets are placed on the airflow and discharged (for example, actual Kaihei 4-486).
22).

However, even in this newly proposed apparatus, it is difficult to generate a good air flow as described above around the wafers located at both ends of the wafers held side by side in the rotation holding mechanism. Since the air currents wrap around the surfaces of the two wafers, reattachment of water droplets to this portion cannot be avoided. Also, since the water droplets scattered near the bottom of the rotation holding mechanism are difficult to ride on the downward airflow due to forced exhaust, the water droplets are not discharged from the exhaust port and ride on the rising airflow accompanying the rotation of the rotation holding mechanism and circulate inside the chamber. become. This becomes more remarkable as the rotation speed of the rotation holding mechanism is increased, which is an obstacle to increasing the processing speed.

An object of the present invention is to solve the above-mentioned drawbacks of the prior art, and to perform a rapid drying process on all the objects to be processed held by the rotation holding mechanism while preventing reattachment of moisture and contamination. An object of the present invention is to provide a drying processing device capable of performing the above.

[0011]

In order to achieve the above object, a first drying processing apparatus of the present invention holds a plurality of objects to be processed in parallel and rotates around an axis along the parallel direction. Assuming a dry processing apparatus in which a target object holding portion of a rotary holding mechanism that drains water drops and the like attached to the target object is surrounded by a cylindrical housing, the target object holding member of the rotary holding mechanism is held. And a windbreak plate is disposed near the outside of the object to be processed which is held at both ends of the object holding part.

The second drying apparatus of the present invention is
A rotation for holding a plurality of objects to be processed side by side, and rotating around an axis along the direction of arrangement and draining water droplets and the like adhering to the objects to be processed, as in the first drying apparatus. Assuming a dry processing device in which the object holding part of the holding mechanism is surrounded by a cylindrical housing, a rotating device having a diameter larger than the through hole of the housing is provided near the housing penetrating part of the rotating holding mechanism. A rotating plate is provided.

The third drying processing apparatus of the present invention is
Similar to the first and second drying apparatuses, a plurality of objects to be processed are arranged and held in parallel, and water droplets or the like attached to the object to be processed are rotated by rotation around an axis along the arrangement direction. Assuming a dry processing device in which the object-to-be-processed holding part of the rotating holding mechanism for cutting is surrounded by a cylindrical housing, an intake port is provided on one side of the peripheral wall of the housing and an exhaust port is provided on the other side. The opening is made so as to forcibly exhaust the inside of the housing, and a liquid blocking plate is provided so as to project on the inner surface of the peripheral wall on the downstream side of the exhaust port in the rotation direction of the rotation holding mechanism.

In the first, second, and third drying apparatuses, an outer casing for accommodating the outer casing is further provided outside the casing, and an intake port is provided at one side of the outer casing and the other side is provided. It is desirable to open an exhaust port in the part to forcibly exhaust the entire inside of the outer casing. In that case, the intake port of the outer casing is divided into an intake portion for introducing air into the inner casing and an intake portion for introducing air between the inner and outer casings, and a filter is provided for each intake portion. However, it is desirable that the exhaust port is common and the forced exhaust means, the recovery system, and the like can be shared.

[0015]

According to the first drying processing apparatus of the present invention configured as described above, the object to be processed held by the object holding part of the rotation holding mechanism is held at both ends of the object holding part. By arranging the windbreak plate near the outside of the object, the airflow toward the surface of the object to be processed held at both ends of the object to be processed holding portion of the rotation holding mechanism is blocked by the windbreak plate to this portion. Prevents redeposition of water droplets and contamination.

According to the second drying apparatus, since the rotating plate having a diameter larger than the through holes at both ends of the housing is provided near the housing penetrating portion of the rotation holding mechanism, the air flow passing through the through hole is rotated. Since it is blocked by the plate, particles and contamination generated outside the case are less likely to enter the case.

According to the third drying processing apparatus, an airflow flowing from the intake port to the exhaust port is generated in the housing, and the water droplets are carried on the airflow and discharged outside the housing. In this configuration, since the liquid shield plate is provided on the inner surface of the peripheral wall on the downstream side of the exhaust port with respect to the rotation direction of the rotation holding mechanism, the liquid spray that is difficult to ride in the forced exhaust flow scattered to the downstream side is liquid shielded. Since it is blocked by the plate, the splashed liquid is quickly discharged by riding on the airflow without traveling inside the housing.

[0018]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. In this embodiment, a case where the present invention is applied to a semiconductor wafer drying processing apparatus will be described.

FIG. 1 is a side sectional view of a drying apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a horizontal sectional view thereof, and FIG. 3 is a schematic sectional view thereof.

This drying processing apparatus comprises an outer casing 1 having a substantially rectangular cross section, an inner casing 2 provided in a central portion of the outer casing 1, and an object to be treated held in the inner casing 2. The main part is constituted by the rotation holding mechanism 3 in which the part 7 is arranged and which holds and rotates the wafer W as the object to be processed.

The outer casing 1 is provided with a lid 4 that can be opened and closed so that the wafer W can be loaded and unloaded from above by a wafer transfer device 36 incorporated in a wafer cleaning processing system described later. The lid 4 is opened and closed by extending and retracting the cylinder 6 of the lid opening / closing mechanism 5 connected to the lid 4. The inside of the lid body 4 has an inner housing intake flow path 14a for introducing air into the inner housing 2, and an outer housing for introducing air between the outer housing 1 and the inner housing 2. A partition wall 13 is provided in the body intake passage 14b.
It is divided by. Filters 16 for cleaning and passing air are provided at the intake ports 12a, 12b of the respective flow paths 14a, 14b (see FIG. 4). As shown in FIG. 10, the wafer transfer device 36 is provided with a wafer holding member 81 having a large number of wafer holding grooves below a pair of arm members 80 that hang freely so as to open and close legs, and a wafer holding portion ( The wafer chuck 82 is configured to hold a predetermined number of wafers W, for example, 50 wafers W in parallel with the wafer holder 82 closed, and to move in the horizontal and vertical directions.

The inner casing 2 has a cylindrical peripheral wall 8 surrounding the object holding portion 7 of the rotation holding mechanism 3 and a pair of end plates 9 having through holes 9a provided around the peripheral wall 8.
The peripheral wall 8 has an intake port 10 at its upper end and an exhaust port 11 at its lower end. This inner housing 2
The intake port 10 of the inside is the intake passage 1 for the inner casing inside the lid 4.
It communicates with the intake port 12a for the inner casing via 4a.

On the other hand, the exhaust port 11 of the inner casing 2 is formed so as to face the exhaust port 74 common to the inner and outer casings opened at the bottom of the outer casing 1, as shown in FIG. 1 or 5. There is. The exhaust duct 17 is connected to the exhaust port 74 of the outer housing 1. As shown in FIG. 3, the exhaust duct 17 is connected to an intake fan 19 via a waste liquid recovery tank (gas-liquid separation tank) 18, and by driving the intake fan 19, the outer casing 1
The inside can be forcibly exhausted. A liquid shield plate 76 is provided on the inner surface of the peripheral wall of the inner housing 2 so as to extend from the downstream side of the exhaust port 11 in the rotation direction of the rotation holding mechanism 3 to the vicinity of the object-to-be-processed holding portion 7. This liquid shield plate 76
Is for shielding the water droplets shaken off from the wafer W held by the rotation holding mechanism 3 which is rotated at a high speed and guiding it to the exhaust port 11 as will be described later. In this case, It is provided over the entire length.

A cleaning nozzle 75 is disposed near the separation portion of the peripheral wall 2 of the inner casing 2 so as to face the object-to-be-processed holding portion 7 of the rotation holding mechanism 3. This cleaning nozzle 75 is connected to a cleaning liquid supply system (not shown), and while rotating the rotary holding mechanism 3 (empty state) at a high speed, the cleaning liquid supplied from the cleaning liquid supply system, for example, pure water, is held on the target object. Part 7
It can be washed by spraying to.

The inner casing 2 has a structure in which its upper end portion 2a is separable so that the wafer W can be taken in and out. This upper end portion 2a is a lid 4 of the outer casing 1.
It is supported by the inner partition wall 13 and is opened and closed together with the lid 4.

The rotation holding mechanism 3 is rotatably supported by a pair of bearing mechanisms 22 provided on the opposite side walls 21 of the outer casing 1 with the rotary shafts 20 at both ends thereof. One rotation shaft 22 of the rotation holding mechanism 3 is connected to a rotation shaft 25 of a motor 24 via a coupling 26, and by driving the motor 24, the rotation holding mechanism 3 as a whole can rotate at high speed. . To both rotary shafts 20 of the rotation holding mechanism 3, a rotary plate 77 is fixed so as to be located near the end plate 9 of the inner housing 2. The pair of rotary plates 77 have both the function of blocking the airflow that flows into the inner housing 2 through the through holes 9a of the end plate 9 and the function of a flywheel. The diameter is set larger than the through hole 9a of the end plate 9.

The rotation holding mechanism 3 holds, for example, 50 wafers W which are objects to be processed, and holds them in parallel while maintaining them in a vertically standing state at a constant pitch. Lower holding part 3 fixed to the rotary shaft 20 at both ends
0, and an upper holding portion 31 which is provided so as to be able to rise and fall with respect to the lower holding portion 30 as shown in FIG.

The lower holding portion 30 is horizontally installed in parallel with each other below the rotary plates 77 to connect the rotary plates 77 with each other.
The book is composed of lower holding members 28 and 29 (see FIG. 7). Each lower holding member 28, 29 is a rod-shaped member, and a large number of, for example, 50 wafers W transferred by the wafer transfer device 36 are provided in the portions of the members 28, 29 facing the center of the rotation holding mechanism 3. A number of wafer holding grooves 37 corresponding to the number of wafers are formed in parallel in the longitudinal direction at equal pitches.

Then, these three lower holding members 28,
Of the two left and right lower holding members 28, dummy holding grooves 38 are formed further outside the wafer holding grooves 37a formed at both ends of the left and right lower holding members 28, respectively. One dummy wafer (a windbreak plate) DW is held in each pair of corresponding dummy holding grooves 38, and a pair of dummy wafers DW is provided at both ends of the lower holding portion 30. That is, the lower holding unit 30 is provided with the dummy wafer DW located near the outside of the wafer W held at both ends thereof (for example, when holding 50 wafers, the first wafer and the 50th wafer). ing. These pair of dummy wafers DW are for blocking the air flow toward the surface of the wafer W held at both ends, and have dimensions that do not interfere with the loading and unloading of the wafer W by the wafer transfer device 36.
It is formed in a shape and is fixed to the left and right lower holding members 28 by fixing means such as screwing or welding.

On the other hand, the upper holding portion 31 has a pair of plate-shaped members 33 arranged to face each other, and three upper holding members which are horizontally stretched in parallel between the plate-shaped members 33 to connect both plate-shaped members 33. The main part is composed of 34 and 35. The upper holding member 35 at the center of these three has a lower holding member 2
A large number of wafer holding grooves 37 are formed corresponding to Nos. 8 and 29, and the two upper holding members 34 on both sides are formed by rod-shaped members. Outside the both plate-shaped members 33, a plate-shaped support member 39 is projected in the extension direction of the upper holding member 35.
a and 39b are vertically fixed, respectively, and a pivot 40 is provided on both sides in the vicinity of the tip of one support member 39a so as to project in the horizontal direction. An engaging hole 41 is formed in the vicinity of the tip of the other support member 39b so as to penetrate therethrough in the horizontal direction. Axis 40 of the upper holding part 31
Is rotatably inserted into the through hole 45 at the tip of the pair of left and right fixed blocks 44 fixed to the rotary shaft 20 connected to the motor 24 of the rotation holding mechanism 3. As a result, the entire upper holding part 31 is pivotally supported in the up-down direction and is driven to open and close as shown in FIG.
The upper part of the wafer W above 0 can be held.

A holding portion opening / closing mechanism 46 for driving the upper holding portion 31 to open / close with respect to the lower holding portion 30 includes, as shown in FIG. 2, a pivot 40 and a rotating rod 47 whose tip portions are connected to each other. , A cylinder 50 attached to the side wall of the outer casing 1 for moving the rotating rod 47 forward and backward with respect to the pivot 40, and a rotating mechanism 5 for rotating the rotating rod 47.
3 and 3. A concave portion 48 is formed at the tip of the rotating rod 47, and a convex portion 42 is formed at the tip of the pivot 40, so that the tip portions are meshed with each other (see FIG. 8). The rotating rod 47 is provided coaxially by penetrating one side wall 49 of the outer casing 1, and the base end portion of the rotating rod 47 is connected to the rod 51 of the cylinder 50.
It is attached to 2 so as to be rotatable about its axis. Rotating mechanism 53
Are housed inside a sealing bracket 59 provided inside the penetrating portion of the rotation rod 47 of the housing side wall 49. The holding portion opening / closing mechanism 46 is configured to rotate the rotation holding mechanism 7 during normal times.
The cylinder 50 is extended and the rotating rod 47 is retracted so as not to interfere with the rotation of the cylinder 1. When the upper holding portion 31 is rotated, the cylinder 5
After contracting 0, the rotating rod 47 is advanced toward the pivot 40 side, the convex portion 42 and the concave portion 48 are engaged with each other, and then the rotating mechanism 53 is driven to rotate the upper holding portion 31.

On the other end side of the upper holding portion 31 in which one support member 38 is pivotally supported and is configured to be rotatable in this manner,
A lock mechanism 54 is provided for fixing the upper holding part 31 to the lower holding part 30 by engaging and disengaging with the engaging hole 41 of the other supporting member 39 when the upper holding part 31 is in a fall state. The lock mechanism 54 is provided on the rotary shaft 20 so as to extend outward in the radial direction, and is fixed to the side surface of the tip portion of the support block 55 so as to support the support member when the upper holding portion 31 falls. The pair of left and right fixed blocks 56 that receive the front end of 39 and through holes 57 that are formed in horizontal communication with both fixed blocks 56 are inserted into support member 3
The lock pin 58 locks the engagement hole 41 of the reference numeral 9 and the guide pin 60 inserted into the through hole 59 formed at the tip of the support block 55 in parallel with the lock pin 58. The lock pin 58 is a fixed block 56 on one side.
The guide pin 60 is formed to have such a length that the tip end portion is inserted through the through hole 57 of the other fixed block 56 and the guide pin 60 can completely penetrate the support block 55. The base ends of the two are connected by a connecting member 61 and fixed in parallel with each other. As shown in FIG. 9, a spring 62 is provided in the through hole 58 of the support block 55, and this spring 62 engages with the enlarged diameter portion 60 a formed in the middle of the guide pin 60 to urge it. Therefore, the lock pin 58 is constantly urged in the lock direction.

A lock releasing mechanism 63 is provided on the tip side of the guide pin 60 of the lock mechanism 54. The lock release mechanism 63 includes a push rod 64 penetrating the side wall 49 of the outer casing 1 and provided coaxially with the guide pin 60, and an outer casing for moving the push rod 64 forward and backward with respect to the guide pin 60. The side wall 21 of the body 1 includes a push rod 64 and a cylinder 65 attached in parallel. The push rod 64 has a base end portion via a connecting member 66 and a rod 67 of the cylinder 65.
It is fixed to the tip of the cylinder and can be moved back and forth by driving the cylinder 65 to expand and contract. The lock release mechanism 63 stands by in a state where the cylinder 65 is extended and the push rod 64 is retracted during normal times. At the time of unlocking, the cylinder 65 is contracted to move the push rod 64 forward so that the tip of the push rod 64 contacts the tip of the guide pin 60, and the tip of the lock pin 58 retreats from between the fixed blocks 56. By pushing the guide pin 60 up to, the locked state of the lock pin 58 with respect to the support member 39 is released. When the push rod 64 is retracted after the unlocking operation, the lock pin 58 moves by the urging force of the spring 62 and becomes the locked state again.

A lock operation assisting mechanism 69 is provided on the connecting member 61 side of the lock mechanism 54. The lock operation assisting mechanism 69 is for ensuring the lock operation of the lock mechanism 54. The lock operation assisting mechanism 69 penetrates the side wall 49 opposite to the side wall 49 provided with the push rod 64 of the lock release mechanism 63 to form the guide pin 60. A push rod 70 provided coaxially and a connecting member 6 for connecting the push rod 70.
A cylinder 7 mounted parallel to the push rod 70 on the side wall 21 of the outer housing 1 so as to move forward and backward with respect to 1.
1 and are configured. The push rod 70 is
The base end is fixed to the tip of the rod 73 of the cylinder 71 via the connecting member 72, and is moved forward and backward by driving the cylinder 71. An abutting member 73 that abuts the connecting member 61 of the lock mechanism 54 is provided at the tip of the push rod 70, and the abutting member 73 is moved by moving the push rod 70 forward by contracting the cylinder 71. The mechanism is such that it abuts against and pushes it in the urging direction of the spring 62. By providing the lock operation assisting mechanism 69, the lock pin 70 by the biasing force of the spring 62 is provided.
Even if the movement of the lock mechanism is incomplete, the lock operation of the lock mechanism 54 can be ensured.

Next, the operation of the drying processing apparatus of the present invention constructed as above will be described.

This drying processing device is provided with a wafer transfer device 36.
Until the wafer W is transferred by the outer casing 1
The lid 4 and the upper holding part 31 of the object holding part 7 are in a standby state with the upper part rotated. Wafer transfer device 3
6 is a predetermined number of sheets that have been washed with pure water, for example, 5
After holding 0 wafers W side by side and moving them onto the drying processing apparatus, the wafer W is lowered to mount the wafer W on the lower holding unit 30 of the object-to-be-processed holding unit 7, and then lifted again to move from above the drying processing apparatus. Move out.

When the wafer W is mounted on the lower holding part 30, the holding part opening / closing mechanism 46 rotates the upper holding part 31 downward. At this time, the push rod 64 of the lock release mechanism 63 is in the forward position, and the lock pin 58 of the lock mechanism 54 is in a standby state with the lock pin 58 retracted from between the left and right fixed blocks 56. Then, after the upper holding portion 31 has completely fallen down and the support member 39 at the tip thereof is received between the left and right fixed blocks 56, the lock release mechanism 63 moves the push rod 64 backward. This allows
The lock pin 58 of the lock mechanism 54 moves by the biasing force of the spring 62 provided on the guide rod 60 side, and the support member 39
Through the engaging hole 41 and is locked. After that, the lock operation assisting mechanism 69 is further operated, and the push rod 7
The abutting member 73 at the tip of 0 is connected to the connecting member 6 of the lock mechanism 54.
1, and pushes it in the biasing direction of the spring 62. As a result, the lower holding part 30 and the upper holding part 31 are completely fixed, and the wafer W is fixed and held between them.

Next, the drying processing apparatus operates the lid opening / closing mechanism 5 to close the lid 4 of the outer casing 1, and the intake fan 19
Is driven to start forced exhaust, and at the same time, the motor 24 is driven to rotate the object-to-be-processed holding portion 7 at a high speed. As a result, the water droplets attached to the wafer W are scattered and removed by the centrifugal force, and the water remaining on the surface of the wafer W is evaporated and removed by the clean air flowing therethrough.

After the drying process, the drive of the intake fan 19 and the motor 24 is stopped, and the rotation of the object holder 7 is completely stopped. Then, the lid opening / closing mechanism 5 is operated to cover the outer casing 1. After the body 4 is closed and the lock release mechanism 63 is operated to release the locked state of the support member 39 by the lock mechanism 54, the holding portion opening / closing mechanism 46 is further operated and the upper holding portion of the object holding portion 7 is held. 31 is rotated upward. After that, the wafer transfer device 36 moves to the drying processing device and descends to grip the wafer W on the lower holding part 30 of the object-to-be-processed holding part 7, and then rises again to leave the drying processing device.

After that, the drying treatment apparatus holds the object to be treated holder 7.
The upper holding part 31 and the lid 4 of the outer casing 1 are closed, the motor 24 is driven to rotate the object-to-be-processed holding part 7 at a low speed, and pure water is sprayed from the cleaning nozzle 75 to hold the object-to-be-processed. The part 7 is washed. After that, the motor 24 is rotated at a high speed to dry the rotor. The intake fan 19 is driven and forced exhaust is performed even while the inside of the apparatus is being cleaned. This cleaning process is a cleaning process for removing foreign matters accumulated on the rotor, and is performed while the wafer W is processed (between lots, every 1 to 20 lots).

The gas-liquid mixed exhaust gas discharged to the exhaust duct 17 during the above-mentioned drying process and cleaning process is gas-liquid separated by the gas-liquid separation layer 18 provided in the middle of the exhaust duct 17, and the gas is taken in. The waste liquid discharged through the fan 19 and remaining in the gas-liquid separation layer 18 is collected and disposed.

When performing the drying treatment by the above operation,
An air flow A passing through the inside of the inner casing 2 is provided in the drying processing device.
(A black arrow in FIGS. 3 and 5) and an air flow B passing between the inner casing 2 and the outer casing 1 (white arrows in FIGS. 3 and 5).
The two main flows are formed. In the former case, the air flows from the inner housing intake port 12a of the lid body 4 into the inner housing 2 through the inner housing intake flow passage 14a, and then flows into the inner housing 2 through the air inlet 10 of the inner housing 2. The flow is forcedly exhausted to the duct 17 through the exhaust port 11 of the inner housing 2 and the exhaust port 74 of the outer housing 1 by descending around one side of the object-to-be-processed holding portion 7 along the rotation direction thereof. , The latter flows into the outer housing 1 from the outer housing intake port 12b of the lid body 4 through the outer housing intake flow path 14b, and between the inner housing 2 and the outer housing 1. This is a flow that is forced to be exhausted to the duct 17 from the exhaust port 74 of the outer casing 1.

The object to be processed holding portion 7 is placed inside the inner housing 2.
By forming a forced exhaust flow that passes unidirectionally along the rotation direction of, the water droplets scattered by the centrifugal force ride on the air flow and are quickly discharged to the outside of the inner housing 2, and are transferred to the surface of the wafer W. Prevents redeposition of water droplets and contamination. Further, in this case, of the wafers W held side by side in the processing object holder 7, two wafers W located at both ends (first wafer Wa and 50th wafer Wb).
Since the air flow that circulates to the surface of the wafer is blocked by the dummy wafers DW provided at both ends of the processing object holder 7,
It is possible to prevent water droplets and contamination from reattaching to this portion. Further, since the splash liquid that does not easily get into the forced exhaust flow scattered near the lowermost portion of the treatment object holding portion 7 is blocked by the liquid blocking plate 76, the splash liquid is quickly discharged without traveling inside the inner housing 2. It Therefore, the processing speed can be efficiently increased in proportion to the increase in the rotation speed of the object holder 7.

Further, on both rotary shafts 20 of the rotation holding mechanism 3,
Since the rotary plate 77 having a diameter larger than that of the through hole 9a is arranged near the end plate 9 of the inner housing 2, the through hole 9a is formed.
Since the airflow passing through the rotary plate 77 is blocked by the rotating plate 77, particles and contamination generated by the rotating shaft 20 arranged between the outer casing 1 and the inner casing 2 and the lock mechanism 54 and other mechanisms are generated in the inner casing. 2 can be prevented from entering.

Furthermore, not only inside the inner casing 2 but also outside casing 1
Since the entire inside is forcibly exhausted, the moisture brought into the outer casing 1 and the particles generated at each of the above locations are discharged to the outside of the outer casing 1, and a drying process is performed in an extremely clean atmosphere. .

The drying apparatus of the present invention described above is
For example, it is used by being incorporated in the semiconductor wafer cleaning processing system shown in FIG. This cleaning system
A carry-in section 91 for accommodating a wafer W which is an unprocessed object.
The cleaning processing unit 92 for cleaning the wafer W and the unloading unit 93 for storing the cleaned wafer W constitute a main part.

The carry-in section 11 waits for a carrier 94 containing a predetermined number of wafers W before cleaning, for example, 25 wafers, and a removal of the wafer W from the carrier 94, alignment flat alignment, and detection of the number of wafers W. And the like, and a carrier transfer arm for transferring a carrier 94 carried in by a transfer robot or the like from the outside to a standby part 95 and transferring the carrier 94 between the standby part 95 and the loader part 96. And 97.

In the cleaning processing section 92, a first chuck cleaning / drying processing chamber 98 for cleaning / drying the wafer chuck 82 in a straight line in order from the loading section 91 to the unloading section 93.
a, the first chemical solution processing chamber 98b for cleaning the disordered substances such as organic contaminants, metal impurities, and particles on the surface of the wafer W with the chemical solution, and the wafer W cleaned in the first chemical solution processing chamber 8b with, for example, pure water. For example, the wafers W cleaned in the second chemical solution processing chamber 98e and the second chemical solution processing chamber 98e that are cleaned with a chemical solution different from the chemical solutions in the two water washing processing chambers 98c and 98d to be cleaned and the first chemical solution processing chamber 98b are, for example, Two water cleaning processing chambers 98f and 98g for cleaning with pure water, a second chuck cleaning / drying processing chamber 98h for cleaning and drying the wafer chuck 82, and a drying process for drying the wafer W cleaned in the water cleaning processing chambers 98f and 98g. A processing chamber (drying processing device of this invention) 98i is provided. A processing tank 99 is arranged in each of the processing chambers 8a to 8i.

On the side of the cleaning processing section 92, a guide section 100 is provided along each processing chamber 98a to 98i,
Three wafer transfer blocks 10 mounted on the guide unit 100 and movable horizontally (X direction) and vertically (Z direction).
A wafer transfer device 36, which is a transfer unit composed of 1 and 1, is provided. The wafer transfer block 101 is provided with a wafer chuck 82 that holds a plurality of wafers W in a row at appropriate intervals.
The wafer W held at is transferred to each of the processing chambers 98a to 98i, and is transferred from the wafer chuck 82 to the wafer holding mechanism in each of the processing chambers 98a to 98i. In addition, above the cleaning processing unit 92, the carrier transport unit 10 that transports empty carriers and full carriers.
Two are provided.

In the above embodiment, the case where the drying processing apparatus of the present invention is applied to wafer drying has been described, but the present invention is not limited to this, and for example, an LCD substrate or a printed circuit board as a processing target is dried. It can also be applied to the case.

[0051]

As described above, according to the present invention, since it is configured as described above, the following effects can be obtained.

1) According to the dry processing apparatus of the first aspect, the object to be processed holding portion of the rotation holding mechanism is positioned near the outside of the object to be processed held at both ends of the object to be processed holding portion. Since the windbreak plate is provided, the airflow toward the surface of the object to be processed held at both ends of the object holding part of the rotation holding mechanism can be blocked by the windbreak plate to prevent reattachment of water droplets and contamination. it can.

2) According to the drying treatment apparatus of the second aspect, since the rotating plate having the diameter larger than the through holes at both ends of the housing is provided in the vicinity of the housing penetrating portion of the rotation holding mechanism, it passes through the through hole. The rotating plate can block the generated airflow to prevent particles and contamination generated outside the housing from entering the housing.

3) According to the drying treatment apparatus of the third aspect, the inside of the casing is forcibly exhausted by opening the intake port on one side of the peripheral wall of the casing and the exhaust port on the other side. Because I did
An airflow flowing from the intake port to the exhaust port can be generated in the housing, and water droplets can be carried on the airflow and discharged outside the housing. In this configuration, the liquid shield plate is provided on the inner surface of the peripheral wall on the downstream side of the exhaust port with respect to the rotation direction of the rotation holding mechanism, so that the liquid shield that does not easily flow into the forced exhaust flow scattered to the downstream side is covered by the liquid shield plate. It is possible to block and disperse the splashed liquid on the above-mentioned air stream and quickly discharge it.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a vertical sectional view showing an embodiment of a drying treatment apparatus of the present invention.

2 is a horizontal cross-sectional view of the device of FIG.

3 is a schematic cross-sectional view of the device of FIG.

FIG. 4 is a horizontal cross-sectional view of a lid body that is a part of the apparatus of FIG.

5 is a cutaway perspective view of a portion of the apparatus of FIG.

FIG. 6 is a side view of a main part of a rotation holding mechanism according to the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a partial perspective view of a lower holding portion of the rotation holding mechanism.

FIG. 8 is a perspective view of an upper holding portion of the rotation holding mechanism.

FIG. 9 is a partially cutaway plan view of an upper holding portion locking mechanism according to the present invention.

FIG. 10 is a schematic front view of a wafer transfer device.

FIG. 11 is a schematic perspective view of a cleaning processing system incorporating the drying processing apparatus of the present invention.

FIG. 12 is a vertical cross-sectional view showing a conventional drying apparatus.

13 is a cross-sectional view of the device of FIG.

14 is a partial cross-sectional view of a holding member with a holding groove that is a part of the device of FIG.

[Explanation of reference numerals] 1 outer casing 2 inner casing (cylindrical casing) 3 rotation holding mechanism 7 object-to-be-processed holding portion 8 peripheral wall 9a through hole 10 intake port 11 exhaust port 20 rotating shaft 77 rotating plate 76 liquid barrier Plate DW Dummy wafer (Windproof plate) W Wafer (Processing object)

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. An object to be processed having a rotation holding mechanism, which holds a plurality of objects to be processed in parallel and rotates around an axis along the parallel direction to drain water drops and the like adhering to the object to be processed. In a dry processing apparatus in which a holding unit is surrounded by a cylindrical housing, the processing target holding unit of the rotation holding mechanism is positioned near the outside of the processing target held at both ends of the processing target holding unit. And a windproof plate is provided. 2. An object to be processed of a rotary holding mechanism, which holds a plurality of objects to be processed in parallel and rotates around an axis along the parallel direction to drain water drops and the like adhering to the object to be processed. In a drying treatment device in which a holding portion is surrounded by a cylindrical casing, a rotating plate having a diameter larger than a diameter of a through hole of the casing is provided in the vicinity of the casing penetrating portion of the rotation holding mechanism. Drying processing device. 3. An object to be processed of a rotary holding mechanism, which holds a plurality of objects to be processed in parallel and rotates around an axis along the parallel direction to drain water drops and the like adhering to the object to be processed. In a drying treatment device in which a holding portion is surrounded by a cylindrical casing, an intake port is opened on one side of the peripheral wall of the casing and an exhaust port is opened on the other side so that the inside of the casing is forcibly exhausted. In addition to the above, the drying treatment apparatus is characterized in that a liquid barrier plate is provided in a protruding manner on the inner surface of the peripheral wall on the downstream side of the exhaust port in the rotation direction of the rotation holding mechanism.