JPH07325279A - Pressure reducing device and method thereof - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To reduce the time necessary for evacuating a treating space up to a prescribed pressure in a close contact enhancing device for attaching a treating gas such as the vapor of a close contact enhancing agent on the surface of a substrate by supplying the treating gas in the evacuated treating space. CONSTITUTION:A treating vessel 25 is provided with the air tight treating space 27 in the inside and the substrate 26 is housed in the treating space 27. A buffer tank 50 is provided with an air tight buffer space 57 in the inside. And an ejector 60 previously sucks air in the buffer space 57 to reduce the pressure. A 1st evacuating air valve 71 can connect the buffer space 57 to the treating space 27. A gas in the treating space 27 relatively high in pressure is diffused at a stretch to the buffer space 57 by connecting the buffer space 57 to the treating space 27 with the 1st evacuating air valve opened. Then, the inside of the treating space 27 is evacuating up to the prescribed pressure for a short time.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a coating liquid, such as a rectangular glass substrate for liquid crystal, a semiconductor wafer, a substrate for a color filter, etc. Adhesion strengthening treatment apparatus and method for adhering a predetermined adhesion enhancer to the substrate surface in order to enhance the adhesion of the substrate, apparatus and method for drying the surface of various substrates under reduced pressure, or various substrates held under reduced pressure. An apparatus and method for supplying a processing gas such as an etching gas or a raw material gas for film formation to the surface to perform a dry process such as etching, cleaning, and ashing of the substrate surface, etc. The present invention relates to a reduced pressure processing apparatus and method for performing processing.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art As a conventional adhesion strengthening processing apparatus, there is an apparatus disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 346035/1992. In this device, when the vapor of the adhesion enhancer is introduced into the processing container accommodating the substrate to be processed, the atmosphere in the processing container is sucked and evacuated by the ejector type vacuum generator in advance to eliminate unnecessary gas. It was intended to reduce the mixture with the steam of.

FIG. 3 schematically shows the structure of a conventional adhesion strengthening processing apparatus. In this apparatus, a substrate 6 such as a semiconductor wafer or a glass rectangular substrate for liquid crystal is housed in a processing space 7 in a processing container (chamber) 5, and then communicated with an exhaust pipe 11 connected to the bottom of the processing container 5. The interior of the processing space 7 is decompressed by the ejector type vacuum generator 17. After that, the exhaust of the ejector type vacuum generator 17 is stopped and the nitrogen gas mixed with the adhesion strengthening agent (HMDS: hexamethyldisilazane) is pressure-fed to the processing space 7 to remove the substrate 6 contained in the processing space 7. Supply adhesion enhancer to the surface. As a result, it becomes possible to perform the adhesion strengthening treatment in which the adhesion enhancer is attached to the surface of the substrate 6.

[0004]

However, in the apparatus and method as described above, the ejector type vacuum generator 1 is used.
Since the volume of the processing space 7 is relatively large with respect to the suction capacity of 7, it takes a long time to reduce the processing space 7 to a predetermined pressure. If the time required for this decompression is long, the processing tact time required for performing the adhesion strengthening processing on one substrate becomes long, which causes a problem that the productivity of the apparatus is deteriorated.

When a vacuum pump is used instead of the ejector type vacuum generator 17 in order to reduce the pressure of the processing space 7 to a predetermined pressure, generally, the pressure of the treatment space 7 is reduced as compared with the ejector type vacuum generator 17. Although it is possible to increase the speed, another problem arises in that the particles in the processing space 7 are sucked by the vacuum pump and are contaminated.

Therefore, according to the present invention, in the depressurization processing apparatus and method for performing a predetermined process on the surface of a substrate in a depressurized space, it is possible to shorten the time required to depressurize the processing space to a predetermined pressure. An object of the present invention is to provide a reduced pressure treatment apparatus and method.

[0007]

In order to solve the above problems, a decompression processing apparatus according to claim 1 of the present invention is a decompression processing apparatus that performs a predetermined process on a surface of a substrate in a decompressed space, and is airtight. A processing container having a processing space therein and a substrate accommodated in the processing space, a buffer tank having a buffer space different from the processing space therein, and suction means for sucking air in the buffer space to reduce the pressure. And a first connecting means for connecting the decompressed buffer space and the processing space.

The depressurization processing apparatus according to claim 2 is further characterized by further comprising processing liquid vapor supply means for supplying a vapor of a predetermined processing liquid into the processing space.

Further, the reduced pressure processing apparatus according to claim 3 is characterized in that the processing liquid vapor supplying means is an adhesion enhancing agent vapor supplying means for supplying vapor of the adhesion enhancing agent into the processing space.

The decompression processing apparatus according to claim 4 is characterized in that the volume of the buffer space is equal to or larger than the volume of the processing space.

The depressurization processing apparatus according to claim 5 is characterized by further comprising second connecting means for connecting the suction means and the processing space.

Further, the reduced pressure processing apparatus of claim 6 is characterized by further comprising a third connecting means for connecting the suction means and the buffer space.

Further, in the decompression processing method of claim 7, in the decompression processing method for performing a predetermined processing on the surface of the substrate in the decompressed space, the step of accommodating the substrate in the airtight processing space, and the processing space A step of sucking air in a buffer space different from that to reduce the pressure, and a step of connecting the reduced pressure buffer space and the processing space to reduce the pressure of the processing space until the buffer space and the processing space reach an equilibrium state. It is characterized by including.

Further, in the depressurization processing method of claim 8, after the step of connecting the depressurized buffer space and the processing space and depressurizing the processing space until the buffer space and the processing space reach an equilibrium state, The method is characterized by including the step of sucking air in the processing space containing the substrate to further reduce the pressure.

Further, in the depressurization processing method of claim 9, before the step of connecting the depressurized buffer space and the processing space and depressurizing the processing space until the buffer space and the processing space reach an equilibrium state. The method is characterized by including the step of sucking air in the processing space containing the substrate to reduce the pressure in advance.

Further, the reduced pressure processing method of the tenth aspect is characterized by further comprising a step of supplying a vapor of a predetermined processing liquid into the processing space which accommodates the substrate.

[0017]

In the apparatus of claim 1, a processing container having an airtight processing space therein, a substrate containing the substrate in the processing space, a buffer tank having a buffer space different from the processing space therein, and a buffer are provided. Since the suction means for sucking and depressurizing the air in the space and the first connecting means for connecting the depressurized buffer space and the processing space are provided, the buffer space is sufficiently depressurized by the suction means in advance,
In this state, the buffer space whose pressure is reduced by the first connecting means is connected to the processing space, so that the gas in the relatively high-pressure processing space is diffused into the buffer space at once. That is, since the volume of the gas in the processing space is substantially increased to the volume of the sum of the processing space and the buffer space by the first connecting means, the gas in the processing space is processed until it reaches an equilibrium state. The pressure in the space is sharply reduced. Therefore, the pressure in the processing space can be reduced in a short time.

Further, in the apparatus according to the second aspect, it is possible to supply the vapor of the predetermined processing liquid into the processing space whose pressure has been reduced and to perform the processing with the processing liquid under the reduced pressure.

Further, in the apparatus of the third aspect, the adhesion enhancing agent can be applied to the surface of the substrate by supplying the vapor of the adhesion enhancing agent into the decompressed processing space.

Further, in the apparatus of claim 4, since the volume of the buffer space is equal to or larger than the volume of the processing space, the buffer space and the processing space are immediately connected to each other in the processing space by the first connecting means. It is possible to reduce the pressure of 2 to about 1/2 or less.

Further, in the apparatus of claim 5, further comprising the second connecting means for connecting the suction means and the processing space, the processing space can be directly decompressed by the suction means, and the processing can be carried out in a short time. The space can be accurately depressurized to a predetermined pressure.

Further, the apparatus of claim 6 further comprises third connecting means for connecting the suction means and the buffer space, so that the processing space and the buffer space are not connected by the first connecting means. , The third connecting means is selectively operated to operate the second connecting means to directly depressurize the processing space by the suction means. The buffer space can be constantly depressurized by the connecting means by the connecting means, and the pressure in the buffer tank can be constantly depressurized.

Further, in the decompression processing method of claim 7, in the decompression processing method of performing a predetermined treatment on the surface of the substrate in the decompressed space, the step of accommodating the substrate in the airtight processing space, and the processing space A step of sucking air in a buffer space different from that to reduce the pressure, and a step of connecting the reduced pressure buffer space and the processing space to reduce the pressure of the processing space until the buffer space and the processing space reach an equilibrium state. Since the buffer space is sufficiently decompressed in advance and the decompressed buffer space and the processing space are connected in that state, the gas in the relatively high-pressure processing space is diffused into the buffer space at once. Let That is, since the volume of the gas in the processing space is substantially increased to the volume of the sum of the processing space and the buffer space, the pressure in the processing space sharply decreases until the gas in the processing space reaches an equilibrium state. To be made. Therefore, the pressure in the processing space can be reduced in a short time.

Further, in the method of claim 8, after the step of connecting the depressurized buffer space and the processing space and depressurizing the processing space until the buffer space and the processing space reach an equilibrium state, the substrate is removed. Since it includes a step of sucking air in the processing space that is housed and further reducing the pressure, the processing space is rapidly depressurized until just before the processing space reaches a predetermined pressure,
After that, the processing space can be directly depressurized to accurately depressurize the processing space to a predetermined pressure in a short time.

In the method of claim 9, the substrate is further depressurized before the step of connecting the depressurized buffer space and the processing space and depressurizing the processing space until the buffer space and the processing space reach an equilibrium state. Since there is provided a step of sucking air in the processing space that accommodates and depressurizing it in advance, decompressing the processing space directly to some extent in advance and then rapidly depressurizing the processing space in a short time. The processing space can be accurately depressurized to a predetermined pressure.

Further, the method of claim 10 further comprises the step of supplying the vapor of a predetermined processing liquid into the processing space accommodating the substrate, so that the processing space depressurized to a predetermined pressure in a short time is provided. The substrate can be treated with the treatment liquid inside.

[0027]

FIG. 1 shows an embodiment in which the present invention is applied to an adhesion strengthening treatment apparatus for supplying the adhesion strengthening agent vapor to the surface of a substrate held under reduced pressure to apply the adhesion strengthening agent to the surface of the substrate. It is a figure which shows an apparatus. This airtight processing container 25 is
The substrate 2 to be subjected to the adhesion strengthening treatment in the processing space 27 inside thereof
Accommodates 6. The substrate 26 is loaded and unloaded in the processing container 2
This is performed by opening and closing a shutter (not shown) formed on the side portion of 5. The substrate 26 carried into the processing container 25 is
It is placed on the hot plate 36 and its temperature is controlled.

The air supply port 25a formed in the upper portion of the processing container 25 supplies a processing gas containing hexamethyldisilazane (hereinafter, HMDS) vapor (hereinafter, HMDS vapor), which is an adhesion enhancer, into the processing space 27. It is for supply and communicates with a bubbler 40 that stores HMDS. Bubbler 40 is supplied with nitrogen gas (N ₂ gas) to generate nitrogen gas (N ₂ gas) and the processing gas that is a mixture of HMDS vapor at an appropriate ratio. Supply of nitrogen gas (N ₂ gas) to the bubbler 40 is controlled by a nitrogen air valve 45.

A pair of exhaust ports 25c are formed at the bottom of the processing container 25, and can be connected to the buffer tank 50 via the first exhaust air valve 71. The buffer tank 50 is a simple hollow container kept in an airtight state, and the volume of the buffer space 57 therein is about twice the volume of the processing space 27 inside the processing container 25. Needless to say, the larger the volume of the buffer space 57 is, the shorter the time required to decompress the processing space 27 can be.

A pair of exhaust ports 25 at the bottom of the processing container 25
c can also be connected to the ejector type vacuum generator 60 via the second exhaust air valve 72. The ejector type vacuum generator 60 is for sucking and exhausting the space inside the processing container 25 and the buffer tank 50, respectively, and can be connected to the buffer tank 50 through the third exhaust air valve 73. ing.

The operations of the first, second and third exhaust air valves 71, 72 and 73 are controlled by the valve controller 80. The nitrogen air valve 45
The operation is controlled by the valve control device 80.

Hereinafter, a first operation example of the adhesion strengthening processing apparatus of the embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. The solid curve shows the internal pressure of the processing container 25 in the case of the first operation example, and the dotted curve shows the internal pressure of the processing container 25 when only the ejector is used to reduce the pressure as in the conventional case.

In advance, the first and second exhaust air valves 71 and 72 are closed and the third exhaust air valve 73 is opened by the control of the valve controller 80.
The buffer tank 50 is vacuum-sucked by the ejector 60 to start depressurizing the buffer space 57. Before the sufficient decompression of the buffer space 57 is completed, the valve controller 80
The nitrogen air valve 45 is closed by the control described above, and the substrate 26 is guided into the processing space 27 of the processing container 25 and placed on the hot plate 36.

Next, at time T0 when the buffer space 57 is sufficiently decompressed, the first exhaust air valve 71 is opened and the third exhaust air valve 73 is closed under the control of the valve controller 80. In this state, the processing space 27 of the processing container 25 and the buffer space 57 of the buffer tank 50.
And connect. As a result, the air in the processing space 27 at normal pressure can be sucked into the decompressed buffer space 57 at once. That is, since the volume V1 of the gas in the processing space 27 becomes the volume V2 corresponding to the total volume of the processing space 27 and the buffer space 57, according to Boyle's law,
In the equilibrium state, the pressure of the gas in the processing space 27 is P
2 = (V1 / V2) · P1. In the case of this embodiment, (V
Since 1 / V2) is about 1/3, the pressure in the processing space is 1
It suddenly decreases to about / 3 and reaches an almost equilibrium state (time T
1).

Next, the first and third exhaust air valves 71 and 73 are closed and the second exhaust air valve 72 is opened under the control of the valve controller 80.
The processing space 27 of the processing container 25 is vacuumed by the ejector 60 to start depressurizing the processing space 27. As a result,
The processing space 27 that has already been depressurized to the pressure P2 can be further depressurized, and at time T3, the processing space 2
The pressure of 7 can be used as the final target value P3.

In the conventional method shown by the dotted curve,
Since the ejector 60 only sucks uniformly, the time T
The final target pressure P3 is reached at time T6, which is much later than 3. That is, in the first operation example, the time required for depressurizing the processing space 27 can be shortened by (T6−T3).

Thereafter, the nitrogen air valve 45 is opened and the second exhaust air valve 72 is closed under the control of the valve control unit 80, and the processing gas containing the HMDS vapor is supplied to the processing space 27 of the processing container 25. Supply within
Further, this is supplied under pressure. At this time, in order to prepare for the processing of the substrate next to the substrate 26 currently being processed, the valve controller 8
The third exhaust air valve 73 may be opened by the control of 0, and the depressurization of the buffer space 57 may be started by the ejector 60.

When the substrate 26 is allowed to stand in the processing space 27 for a predetermined time while the pressurized supply of the processing gas containing the HMDS vapor is stopped, a uniform coating layer of HMDS is formed on the substrate 26.

Thereafter, the second exhaust air valve 72 is opened by the control of the valve controller 80, and the HM
The processing gas containing the DS vapor is exhausted sufficiently and replaced with normal air. Then, the substrate 26 is taken out of the processing container 25.

When a resist or the like as a coating solution is spin-coated on the substrate 25 on which the HMDS is uniformly attached as described above, the adhesion of the coating solution is enhanced.

As described above, according to the first operation example, since the processing space 27 is decompressed in advance by using the buffer tank 50, the equilibrium state is obtained by the opening operation of the first exhaust air valve 71. The pressure in the processing space decreases sharply. Therefore, the processing space 27 can be relatively easily and quickly processed.
The inside of the substrate 2 can be reduced to a desired pressure.
HMDS, which is a pre-process for adhesion strengthening treatment of 6
The processing tact time required to supply the processing gas containing vapor can be shortened, and the productivity of the apparatus can be improved.

A second operation example of the apparatus according to the embodiment will be described below with reference to FIG. 2 (b). The solid curve shows the internal pressure of the processing container 25 in the second operation example, and the dotted curve shows the processing container 2 when only the ejector is used to reduce the pressure.
The internal pressure of 5 is shown.

In advance, the first and second exhaust air valves 71 and 72 are closed and the third exhaust air valve 73 is opened by the control of the valve controller 80.
The buffer tank 50 is vacuum-sucked by the ejector 60 to start depressurizing the buffer space 57. Before the sufficient decompression of the buffer space 57 is completed, the valve controller 80
The nitrogen air valve 45 is closed by the control described above, and the substrate 26 is guided into the processing space 27 of the processing container 25 and placed on the hot plate 36.

Next, at time T0 when the buffer space 57 is sufficiently decompressed, the third exhaust air valve 73 is closed under the control of the valve controller 80, and the second air valve 73 is closed.
The exhaust air valve 72 is opened and the processing container 2
The processing space 27 of No. 5 is vacuum-sucked by the ejector 60,
The decompression of the processing space 27 is started. As a result, the processing space 2
7 can be gradually reduced, and the pressure can be reduced to a pre-target value P2 'larger than the final target value P3 (time T4).

Next, the first exhaust air valve 71 is opened and the second and third exhaust air valves 72 and 73 are closed under the control of the valve controller 80.
The processing space 27 of the processing container 25 and the buffer space 57 of the buffer tank 50 are connected. As a result, the pressure is P2 '
The air in the processing space 27 can be sucked into the depressurized buffer space 57. That is, since the volume V1 of the gas in the processing space 27 becomes the volume V2 corresponding to the sum of the processing space 27 and the buffer space 57, according to Boyle's law, the gas pressure in the processing space 27 is equal to that in the equilibrium state. P3 ′ = (V1 / V2) · P2 ′. In the case of this embodiment, since V1 / V2 is about 1/3, the pressure in the processing space 27 is rapidly reduced to about 1/3 to reach the equilibrium state, and becomes equal to or lower than the final target value P3 (time T5. ).

In the conventional method shown by the dotted curve,
Since the ejector 60 only sucks uniformly, the time T
The final target pressure P3 is reached at time T6, which is much later than 5. That is, in the second operation example, the time required for depressurizing the processing space 27 can be shortened by (T6−T5).

After that, the nitrogen air valve 45 is opened and the second exhaust air valve 72 is closed under the control of the valve controller 80, and the processing gas containing the HMDS vapor is supplied to the processing space 27 of the processing container 25. Supply within
Further, this is supplied under pressure.

When the substrate 26 is left in the processing space 27 for a predetermined time with the supply of the processing gas stopped, a uniform coating layer of HMDS is formed on the substrate 26.

Then, the second exhaust air valve 72 is opened under the control of the valve controller 80 to sufficiently exhaust the processing gas and replace it with normal air. Then, the substrate 26 is taken out of the processing container 25. When the resist or the like is spin-coated on the substrate 25 to which the HMDS is uniformly attached, the adhesion of the coating liquid is enhanced.

As described above, according to the second operation example, the processing space 2 is processed by using the buffer tank 50 at the time when the depressurizing speed of the processing space 27 by the ejector 60 decreases.
Since 7 is suddenly reduced to the target value, the pressure in the processing space 27 is rapidly reduced toward the equilibrium state. Therefore, it is possible to reduce the pressure in the processing space 27 to a desired pressure relatively easily and in a short time, shorten the processing tact time required to supply the processing gas when performing the adhesion strengthening processing on the substrate 26, and manufacture the apparatus. It is possible to improve the sex.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an apparatus according to the second embodiment of the present invention. The main difference between the second embodiment and the first embodiment of FIG. 1 is that instead of the buffer tank 50 forming the buffer space 57 of FIG.
Two buffer tanks 50 each forming 57b
a and 50b, and a vacuum pump 60a for decompressing the two buffer spaces 57a, 57b and the processing space 27 instead of the single ejector type vacuum generator 60 for decompressing the buffer space 57 and the processing space 27. , 60b,
There are two points, that is, 60c is provided separately. Therefore, in FIG. 4, the same components as those shown in FIG. 1 are designated by the same reference numerals.

In FIG. 4, two buffer tanks 50 are provided.
The valves a and 50b are connected to the processing container 25 via air valves 71 and 74 whose opening and closing are controlled by the valve controller 80, respectively. The two buffer tanks 50a and 50b have a buffer space 57 inside thereof.
In order to reduce the pressure of a and 57b respectively, an air valve 7
The vacuum pumps 60a and 60b are connected via 3,75, respectively. On the other hand, the processing container 25 is connected to a vacuum pump 60c via an air valve 76 in order to reduce the pressure of the processing space 27 inside thereof. Air valve 7
The opening and closing of valves 3, 75 and 76 are controlled by the valve controller 80.

To explain the operation of the second embodiment, first,
Close the exhaust air valve 76 to close the air valves 73, 7
5 is opened, the buffer tanks 50a, 5
The buffer spaces 57a and 57b in 0b are decompressed in advance to predetermined pressures. In this state, the processing space 27
In order to reduce the pressure, the air valves 73 and 75 are closed and the air valve 71 is opened to connect the buffer tank 50a and the processing container 25 to reduce the processing space 27 to a predetermined pressure. Next, the air valve 71
Is closed and the air valve 74 is opened to further reduce the pressure in the processing space 27. The pressure of the buffer space 57b in the buffer tank 50b in the subsequent stage needs to be set to be equal to or lower than the predetermined pressure in the processing space 27 when the buffer tank 50a in the previous stage and the processing container 25 are connected. As a result, the buffer tank 50b is replaced with the processing container 25.
When connected to, the processing space 27 can be depressurized more rapidly in a short time.

Further, by closing the air valve 74 and opening the air valve 76, the vacuum pump 60c can be directly connected to the processing space 27 to further reduce the pressure of the processing space 27. With this configuration, the processing space 27 in the processing container 25 can be quickly depressurized. In addition, the air valve 71 is closed, the air valve 73 is opened again to decompress the buffer tank 50a again, and the air valve 74 is closed and the air valve 75 is opened again to decompress the buffer tank 50b again. By providing the above, it is possible to further reduce the time required for depressurization when a plurality of substrates are continuously processed. The other operation is the same as that of the first embodiment shown in FIG. 1, and therefore its explanation is omitted.

In this embodiment, the air valves 73 and 75 for controlling the connection between the respective buffer tanks 50a and 50b and the respective vacuum pumps 60a and 60b are not always necessary, and the vacuum pumps 60a and 60b and the buffer tanks 50a and 50a, You may comprise so that it may be always connected with 50b. Further, although two buffer tanks are provided in this embodiment, the present invention is not limited to this, and three or more buffer tanks may be provided so as to be sequentially connected to the processing space.

Although the present invention has been described with reference to the embodiments, the present invention is not limited to the above embodiments.
For example, as a means for sucking the buffer tank 50, instead of the ejector-type vacuum generator 60 shown in FIG.
The illustrated vacuum pump can be used, and the ejector type vacuum generator of FIG. 1 can be used instead of the vacuum pumps 60a, 60b and 60c shown in FIG. However, the problem of contamination by HMDS is less likely to occur when the ejector 60 is used.

Further, in the first embodiment, the single ejector type vacuum generator 60 is used to process the processing vacuum 27 in the processing container 25 and the buffer space 5 in the buffer tank 50.
7 and 7 are configured to be decompressed together, but the present invention is not limited to this. For example, the processing container 2
An ejector type vacuum generator (or vacuum pump) for reducing the pressure of the processing space 27 in 5 and an ejector type vacuum generator (or vacuum pump) for reducing the pressure of the buffer space 57 in the buffer tank 50 may be separately provided. . By providing separate ejector-type vacuum generators (or vacuum pumps) in this way, both spaces 27 and 57 can be depressurized at the same time, so the time required for depressurization can be further shortened.

Further, the above-mentioned embodiment is one in which the present invention is applied to the adhesion strengthening treatment apparatus for supplying the adhesion strengthening agent vapor to the surface of the substrate held under the reduced pressure to apply the adhesion strengthening agent to the surface of the substrate. However, the present invention is not limited to the adhesion strengthening processing apparatus, a device for drying the substrate under reduced pressure, a sputtering device, and a substrate held under reduced pressure to supply the vapor of the processing liquid to etch the substrate surface. The present invention is also applicable to a device for performing a dry process such as ashing, a plasma processing device for performing a CVD process by generating plasma on a substrate held under reduced pressure to generate radicals of atoms or molecules.

Further, although the capacity of the buffer space 57 of the buffer tank 50 is about twice the capacity of the processing space 27 of the processing container 25, the capacity of the buffer space 27 is about the same as or less than the capacity of the processing space 27. Can also be However, the capacity of the buffer space 27 should be equal to the processing space 27.
If the capacity is equal to or more than the capacity of the above, the decompression rate of the processing space 27 can be increased.

In the above embodiment, the processing gas is introduced after the decompression of the processing space 27 is stopped. However, the decompression of the processing space 27 should be performed while the processing gas is being introduced into the processing space 27. You can also

[0061]

According to the first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a processing container having an airtight processing space therein and a substrate accommodated in the processing space, and a buffer tank having a buffer space different from the processing space therein. Suction means for sucking and depressurizing the air in the buffer space, and the buffer space is sufficiently depressurized by the suction means in advance, and in that state, the buffer space depressurized by the first connecting means and the processing space are connected. Thus, the gas in the relatively high-pressure processing space is diffused into the buffer space all at once, and the volume of the gas in the processing space reaches the total volume of the processing space and the buffer space by the operation of the first connecting means. The pressure in the processing space is sharply reduced until the gas in the processing space reaches an equilibrium state because the gas in the processing space is substantially increased, and the pressure in the processing space is reduced in a short time. It can be.

Further, in the apparatus according to the second aspect, it is possible to supply the vapor of the predetermined processing liquid into the reduced processing space and perform the processing with the processing liquid under a reduced pressure. Further, in the apparatus of the third aspect, the adhesion enhancing agent can be applied to the surface of the substrate by supplying the vapor of the adhesion enhancing agent into the depressurized processing space.

Further, in the apparatus of claim 4, since the volume of the buffer space is equal to or larger than the volume of the processing space, immediately after the buffer space and the processing space are connected by the first connecting means, It is possible to reduce the pressure of 2 to about 1/2 or less.

Further, the apparatus of claim 5 further comprises the second connecting means for connecting the suction means and the processing space, so that the processing space can be directly decompressed by the suction means, and the processing can be carried out in a short time. The space can be accurately depressurized to a predetermined pressure.

Further, the apparatus of claim 6 further comprises the third connecting means for connecting the suction means and the buffer space, so that the processing space and the buffer space are not connected by the first connecting means. , The third connecting means is selectively operated to operate the second connecting means to directly depressurize the processing space by the suction means. Since the buffer space can be constantly decompressed by the connection means by the connection means and the pressure can be constantly reduced in the buffer tank, the time required for decompressing each substrate is shortened when a plurality of substrates are continuously processed. can do.

Further, in the depressurization processing method of claim 7, in the depressurization processing method of performing a predetermined processing on the surface of the substrate in the depressurized space, the step of accommodating the substrate in the airtight processing space and the processing space A step of sucking air in a buffer space different from that to reduce the pressure, and a step of connecting the reduced pressure buffer space and the processing space to reduce the pressure of the processing space until the buffer space and the processing space reach an equilibrium state. Since the buffer space is sufficiently decompressed in advance and the decompressed buffer space and the processing space are connected in that state, the gas in the relatively high pressure processing space is diffused into the buffer space at once. Let That is, since the volume of the gas in the processing space is substantially rapidly increased to the volume of the sum of the processing space and the buffer space, the pressure in the processing space is reduced until the gas in the processing space reaches an equilibrium state. The pressure in the processing space can be reduced in a short time.

Further, in the method of claim 8, after the step of connecting the reduced buffer space and the processing space and reducing the pressure of the processing space until the buffer space and the processing space reach an equilibrium state, the substrate is removed. Since it includes a step of sucking air in the processing space that is housed and further reducing the pressure, the processing space is rapidly depressurized until just before the processing space reaches a predetermined pressure,
After that, the processing space can be directly depressurized to accurately depressurize the processing space to a predetermined pressure in a short time.

In the method of claim 9, the substrate is further depressurized before the step of connecting the depressurized buffer space and the processing space and depressurizing the processing space until the buffer space and the processing space reach an equilibrium state. Since there is provided a step of sucking air in the processing space that accommodates and depressurizing it in advance, decompressing the processing space directly to some extent in advance and then rapidly depressurizing the processing space in a short time. The processing space can be accurately depressurized to a predetermined pressure.

Further, the method of claim 10 further comprises the step of supplying the vapor of the predetermined processing liquid into the processing space accommodating the substrate, so that the processing space depressurized to the predetermined pressure in a short time is provided. The substrate can be treated with the treatment liquid inside.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a configuration of an adhesion strengthening processing apparatus of a first embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an operation example of the apparatus of FIG.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a configuration of a conventional adhesion strengthening processing device.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a configuration of an adhesion strengthening processing apparatus of a second embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

 25 Processing Container 25a HMDS Vapor Air Supply Port 26 Substrate 27 Processing Space 50 Buffer Tank 57 Buffer Space 60 Ejector 71 First Exhaust Air Valve 72 Second Exhaust Air Valve 73 Third Exhaust Air Valve

Claims (10)

[Claims] 1. A depressurization processing apparatus for performing a predetermined processing on a surface of a substrate in a depressurized space, which has an airtight processing space therein, and a processing container which accommodates a substrate in the processing space; A buffer tank having a buffer space different from the space therein; a suction means for sucking air in the buffer space to reduce the pressure; and a first connecting means for connecting the reduced pressure buffer space and the processing space. A decompression processing device characterized by the above. 2. The reduced pressure processing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a processing liquid vapor supply means for supplying a predetermined processing liquid vapor into the processing space. 3. The reduced pressure processing apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the processing liquid vapor supply means is an adhesion enhancer vapor supply means for supplying vapor of the adhesion enhancer into the processing space. 4. The reduced pressure processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the volume of the buffer space is equal to or larger than the volume of the processing space. 5. The depressurization processing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising second connecting means for connecting the suction means and the processing space. 6. The third connection means for connecting the suction means and the buffer space is further provided.
Decompression device. 7. A decompression processing method for performing a predetermined treatment on a surface of a substrate in a decompressed space, the step of accommodating the substrate in an airtight processing space, and the step of introducing air in a buffer space different from the processing space. Depressurization, comprising: a step of sucking and depressurizing; and a step of connecting the depressurized buffer space and the processing space to depressurize the processing space until the buffer space and the processing space reach an equilibrium state. Processing method. 8. A process space for accommodating a substrate after the step of connecting the depressurized buffer space and the process space and depressurizing the process space until the buffer space and the process space reach an equilibrium state. The method for reducing pressure according to claim 7, further comprising the step of sucking in the air to further reduce the pressure. 9. A processing space containing a substrate before the step of connecting the decompressed buffer space and the processing space and depressurizing the processing space until the buffer space and the processing space reach an equilibrium state. 8. The decompression treatment method according to claim 7, further comprising a step of sucking the air therein to decompress it in advance. 10. The reduced pressure processing method according to claim 7, further comprising the step of supplying a vapor of a predetermined processing liquid into the processing space containing the substrate.