JPH07328513A - Treating liquid coating apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To decrease fluctuation of a gap between a nozzle and a base panel and to decrease fluctuation of a film thickness after a coating liq. is applied in a treating liq. coating apparatus. CONSTITUTION:A resist liq. coating apparatus 1 is an apparatus for coating the surface of a square base panel W with a resist liq. and is provided with a base panel holding part, a nozzle 20, a gap sensor 27 and a gap adjusting mechanism 33. The base panel holding part has a holding panel 5 for holding the square base panel W. The nozzle 20 feeds a resist liq. on the surface of the base panel while it is relatively moved along the surface of the square base panel. The gap sensor 27 detects the gap between the relatively moving nozzle 20 and the surface of the square base panel W. The gap adjusting mechanism 33 adjusts the gap by moving the nozzle relatively close to or apart from the surface of the square base panel based on the detected result by means of the gap sensor 27.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a processing liquid coating apparatus for coating a surface of a substrate with a predetermined processing liquid.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Rectangular substrates such as glass rectangular substrates for liquid crystals, substrates for color filters, substrates for photomasks, ceramic substrates for thermal heads, circular substrates such as semiconductor wafers, and substrate surfaces such as semiconductor wafers with orientation flat are processed. As a device for applying a liquid, spin coaters disclosed in JP-A-4-61955 and JP-A-1-135565 are known. In the spin coater, the substrate is held on a rotatable spin chuck, and the processing liquid is dropped from the nozzle onto the center of the substrate. After that, the substrate is rotated together with the spin chuck to diffuse the processing liquid in the central portion of the substrate surface by the centrifugal force over the entire substrate surface. As a result, the treatment liquid is uniformly applied to the substrate surface.

On the other hand, in order to solve the problem of large consumption of processing liquid in a spin coater, for example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 56-1.
As disclosed in Japanese Patent No. 59646, a nozzle coater using a slit nozzle having a slit-shaped ejection portion is used. In the nozzle coater, the slit nozzle moves with respect to the substrate held horizontally on the holding surface to apply the treatment liquid onto the substrate. At that time, the lower end of the nozzle presses the coating liquid to form a pressure portion, and the film thickness after coating is kept constant. Since such a nozzle coater can reliably supply the necessary processing liquid to the substrate, it is possible to avoid a large consumption of the processing liquid.

[0004]

In the above-mentioned conventional nozzle coater, the nozzle is provided so as to extend in the direction orthogonal to the moving direction, and the gap between the lower end of the nozzle and the substrate surface is formed in the longitudinal direction. Variability is likely to occur. In particular, when the substrate is warped or the thickness is changed, the variation in the gap becomes large. When the gap varies, the pressure applied to the coating liquid changes, and the film thickness after coating changes.

An object of the present invention is to reduce the variation in the gap between the nozzle and the substrate in the processing liquid coating apparatus that supplies the processing liquid while the nozzle having the processing liquid supply port extending in one direction moves relative to the substrate. The purpose is to reduce fluctuations in film thickness after application of the treatment liquid.

[0006]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a treatment liquid application device for applying a predetermined treatment liquid onto a surface of a substrate, which comprises a substrate holder and a treatment liquid. It is provided with a supply means, a gap detection means, and a gap control means. The substrate holding unit holds the substrate. The processing liquid supply unit has a processing liquid supply unit that supplies the processing liquid to the surface of the substrate while relatively moving in the direction along the surface of the substrate. The gap detection means detects the distance between the processing liquid supply unit that moves relatively and the substrate surface. The gap control unit adjusts the gap by moving the processing liquid supply unit relatively closer to and away from the substrate surface according to the detection result of the gap detection unit.

According to a second aspect of the invention, in the apparatus according to the first aspect, the substrate holding part has a holding surface for holding the substrate. The gap control unit moves both the processing liquid supply unit and the holding surface to each other according to the detection result of the gap detection unit. According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the apparatus according to the first or second aspect, the treatment liquid supply section includes a nozzle body having a treatment liquid supply port extending in a direction intersecting a direction in which the treatment liquid supply means relatively moves. And an elastically deformable gap adjusting member which is arranged on the upstream side of the processing liquid supply port in the relative movement direction and extends parallel to the processing liquid supply port. A plurality of gap control means are arranged in a direction intersecting the relative movement direction and have a drive element for elastically deforming the gap adjusting member.

According to a fourth aspect of the invention, in the processing liquid coating apparatus according to any one of the first to third aspects, the substrate holding section has a holding surface on which the substrate is placed, and
It has a holding surface deforming mechanism for locally elastically deforming the holding surface. According to a fifth aspect of the invention, in the treatment liquid application apparatus according to the fourth aspect, the gap control means performs rough adjustment by the holding surface deformation mechanism based on the detection result of the gap detection means, and the gap adjustment member. Fine-tune the spacing.

According to a sixth aspect of the present invention, in the apparatus according to any one of the first to fifth aspects, the gap control means moves the processing liquid supply section relative to the substrate,
According to the detection result of the gap detection unit, the processing liquid supply unit is relatively moved toward and away from the substrate surface.

[0010]

In the treatment liquid coating apparatus according to the first aspect, the substrate is first held by the substrate holding portion. Then, the gap detection unit detects the distance between the processing liquid supply unit that moves relatively and the substrate surface. The gap control means approaches the processing liquid supply part to the substrate surface according to the detection result of the gap detection means,
Adjust the distance by separating them. The processing liquid supply means supplies the processing liquid to the surface of the substrate while relatively moving along the surface of the substrate.

In the treatment liquid coating apparatus according to the second aspect, the gap control means moves both the treatment liquid supply section and the holding surface to each other to adjust the gap. In the treatment liquid application apparatus according to the third aspect, the treatment liquid is supplied from the nozzle body in the form of a curtain onto the surface of the substrate. The gap adjusting member is elastically deformed along the longitudinal direction of the nozzle by driving the plurality of driving elements according to the detection result from the gap detecting means, and the gap is adjusted.

In the treatment liquid coating apparatus according to the fourth aspect, the holding surface deforming mechanism locally elastically deforms the holding surface to adjust the distance between the holding surface and the processing supply unit. In the treatment liquid application device according to claim 5, the holding surface deformation mechanism roughly adjusts the interval,
The gap adjusting member finely adjusts the interval. In the treatment liquid application apparatus according to the sixth aspect, the substrate is held on the holding surface of the substrate holding unit. The gap detecting means detects the distance between the processing liquid supply unit that moves relatively and the substrate surface. The gap control means relatively moves the processing liquid supply means along the surface of the substrate, and adjusts the interval by moving the processing liquid supply part toward or away from the substrate surface according to the detection result of the gap detection means.

[0013]

EXAMPLE FIG. 1 shows a resist solution coating apparatus 1 as one example of the present invention. The resist liquid coating device 1 is a device for coating the resist liquid on the surface of the rectangular substrate W, and mainly includes a substrate holding part 2, a coating part 3 and a cleaning part 4. The substrate holding unit 2 mainly includes a holding plate 5 on which the rectangular substrate W is placed, nine actuators 6 arranged below the holding plate 5, and a guide mechanism 7.

The holding plate 5 is a rectangle long in the X direction in FIG. 1 and is elastically deformable in the vertical direction. A large number of vacuum suction holes (not shown) are formed on the surface of the holding plate 5. This vacuum suction hole is connected to an intake system 66 (described later) such as a vacuum pump (not shown). The nine actuators 6 support the holding plate 5 from below. The actuator 6 elastically deforms the local portion of the holding plate 5 by expanding and contracting.

As shown in detail in FIG. 2, the guide mechanism 7 is composed of a pair of dispenser guides 9 and a link mechanism 10 for driving the dispenser guides 9. As is clear from the figure, the dispenser guide 9 is an elongated plate-shaped member extending along the short side of the holding plate 5. The upper surface of the dispenser guide 9 is flush with the upper surface of the rectangular substrate W when the rectangular substrate W is held on the holding plate 5. The link mechanism 10 is disposed below the holding plate 5, and has two support rods 11 fixed to each dispenser guide 9, a pair of plate members 12 to which the support rods 11 are fixed, and each plate member 12. Adjusting rod 13
A rotating member 15 rotatably connected to both adjusting rods 13, a return spring 16 for urging the plate member 12 inward (in a direction toward each other), and a rotating member 15 for rotating the rotating member 15. And a cylinder 17. In the state shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the cylinder 17 is in the off state, and the cylinder rod projects to rotate the rotating member 15 counterclockwise. Thereby, the dispenser guide 9
It is separated from the short side end edge of the holding plate 5 by a predetermined distance against the biasing force of the return spring 16. When the cylinder 17 is turned on, the rod of the cylinder 17 separates from the rotating member 15 and the biasing force of the return spring 16 moves the dispenser guide 9 toward the holding plate 5. At this time, when the rectangular substrate W is held by the holding plate 5, the dispenser guide 9 comes into contact with the short side edge of the rectangular substrate W. The dispenser guide 9 and the support rod 11 are connected by a coil spring 18.

The coating section 3 is composed of a nozzle 20 and a drive mechanism 21 for driving the nozzle 20. The nozzle 20 is movable by the drive mechanism 21 in the X direction of FIG. The nozzle 20 extends long in the Y direction orthogonal to the X direction. As shown in FIG. 3, the nozzle 20 is an inverted cross-section member. Further, the nozzle 20 has a slit 20a extending in the longitudinal direction at the lower end. Inside the nozzle 20, a liquid reservoir 20b wider than the slit 20a is formed in the middle of the slit 20a. The liquid reservoir 20b is connected to a resist liquid supply device 67 (described later). The liquid reservoir 20b serves to uniformly diffuse the resist liquid supplied from the resist liquid supply device in the longitudinal direction of the nozzle 20.

The rear side in the moving direction of the nozzle 20 (X _{2 in} FIG. 3)
The side) inclined surface is provided with a gap adjusting mechanism 33. The gap adjusting mechanism 33 mainly includes a die member 34, a support block 35, a piezoelectric element 36, and a capacitance displacement meter 37. The die member 34 is obliquely arranged in the recess 20c formed along the rearward inclined surface of the nozzle 20. The recess 20c and the die member 34 extend in the direction orthogonal to the paper surface of FIG. 3 (Y direction in FIG. 1). Die member 34
Is a thin plate member and is elastically deformable in the thickness direction.
The lower end of the die member 34 is arranged in the vicinity of the exit of the slit 20a of the nozzle 20 and forms a gap with the rectangular substrate W. A predetermined gap is formed between the die member 34 and the recess 20c. In this gap, two pairs of cone springs 38, which are superposed in opposite directions, are arranged, and the die member 34 is placed on the rectangular substrate W diagonally below.
It is biased to the side. The gap between the die member 34 and the recess 20c communicates with the suction hole 20d formed in the nozzle 20. The suction hole 20d is connected to an intake system 66 (described later) including a vacuum pump or the like (not shown). In this way, since the resist liquid discharged from the slit 20a of the nozzle 20 is sucked, the rectangular substrate W
The amount of resist solution supplied to the can be adjusted.

The support block 35 extends in the longitudinal direction of the nozzle and is fixed to the rearward inclined surface of the nozzle 20. The support block 35 has a plurality of holes 35 a formed in the side wall on the side that abuts the die member 34 and arranged in the nozzle longitudinal direction.
have. The die member 3 is provided in each hole 35a.
Each of the plurality of protrusions 34a formed on the No. 4 is inserted. Inside the support block 35, the die member 3
4, the support block 35 is provided at a position corresponding to the protrusion 34 of FIG.
A plurality of link parts 35b formed integrally with the above are arranged. Each link part 35b and the support block 35 are connected by a thin connecting part 35c, and the lower part of the link part 35b is in contact with the protrusion 34a of the die member 34. The link portion 35b is elastically deformable so as to rotate about the connecting portion 35c as a fulcrum. A plurality of piezoelectric elements 36 are arranged at a pitch of 20 mm, for example, in a direction orthogonal to the paper surface of FIG. 3, corresponding to the plurality of link portions 35b. The piezoelectric element 36 is shown in FIG.
When it extends downward from the state shown in (1), the link portion 35b is deformed so as to rotate, and a part of the die member 34 corresponding thereto is locally deformed. As a result, the distance between the lower end of the die member 34 and the rectangular substrate W is variously changed in the longitudinal direction of the nozzle 20. A capacitance displacement meter 37 is arranged near the piezoelectric element 36. The capacitance displacement meter 37 is for correcting the displacement amount displacement caused by the relationship between the voltage and the displacement amount in the piezoelectric element 36.

The front side (X
_The gap sensor 27 is provided on the _first side. The gap sensor 27 is an optical sensor, and has a rectangular substrate W.
Is arranged at a predetermined distance from the upper surface of the rectangular substrate W and detects the distance between the lower end of the nozzle 20 and the rectangular substrate W. Gap sensor 2
As shown in FIG. 4, 7 is movable in the longitudinal direction of the nozzle 20 by a ball screw 54 fixed to the nozzle 20 and a motor 55.

As shown in FIG. 1, the drive mechanism 21 is mainly composed of a block 22 that supports both ends of the nozzle 20 and a U-shaped support stay 23 that supports the blocks 22 at both ends from below. . The support stay 23 includes the nozzle 20.
Is connected to a ball screw 24 extending in the moving direction of.
The ball screw 24 is connected to a motor (not shown). When this motor is driven, the support stay 23 and the nozzle 20 move in the X direction of FIG. 1 with respect to the rectangular substrate W.

A motor 25 is provided in the block 22. The motor 25, as shown in FIG.
And the belt 26 is connected to the ball screw 27. The ball screw 27 is a nut 28 attached to the shaft 29.
It is screwed to. The shaft 29 is connected to the nozzle 20. With the above configuration, when the motor 25 rotates,
The nozzle 20 moves in the Y direction in FIG. Further, the motor 20 (FIG. 1) provided in the block 22 allows the nozzle 20 to tilt.

In both blocks 22, as shown in FIG.
A ball screw 31 extending in the vertical direction is connected. The ball screw 31 is connected to the motor 32. As a result, the nozzle 20 can be moved up and down. As shown in FIG. 1, the cleaning units 4 are arranged on both sides of the substrate holding unit 2 in the X direction. Each cleaning unit 4 includes a cleaning device 39 and a moving mechanism 40 that moves the cleaning device 39 in the Y direction. The cleaning device 39 has a block shape, and as shown in FIGS. 7 and 8, when the dispenser guide 9 is separated from the holding plate 5 by a predetermined distance (see FIG. 1), the short side edge of the rectangular substrate W and the dispenser are disposed. It has an opening 41 opened on both sides in the X direction for cleaning the edge of the guide 9. As shown in FIG. 8, a plurality of needle-like rinse nozzles 43 arranged in the direction orthogonal to the paper surface are arranged above and below each opening 41. Further, a plurality of needle-shaped gas nozzles 44 arranged in a direction orthogonal to the plane of the drawing are arranged obliquely above each opening 41. The gas nozzle 44 is arranged on the edge of the rectangular substrate W and outside the dispenser guide 9, and allows the cleaning liquid and the dissolved material to be exposed through the opening 4.
It is arranged so that it will be blown away within 1. Both openings 4
1 is continuous with the exhaust hole 42, and the exhaust hole 42 is continuous with the exhaust passage 45 shown in FIG. Furthermore, the cleaning device 3
9 has a cleaning groove 46 on the upper surface for cleaning the lower end of the nozzle 20. In the vicinity of the cleaning groove 46, a plurality of rinse nozzles 47 arranged in the direction orthogonal to the paper surface are arranged. The cleaning groove 46 is connected to a discharge passage 48 (FIG. 6) formed in the cleaning device 39. Discharge passage 45, 48
Are connected to one exhaust system.

As shown in FIG. 7, the moving mechanism 40 includes a roller chain 50 extending in the Y direction and a roller chain 50.
The main components are a sprocket 51 arranged at both ends of the sprocket, a speed reducer 52 connected to the sprocket 51, and a motor 53 connected to the speed reducer 52. The roller chain 50 is connected to the cleaning device 39. Motor 53
When is rotated, the cleaning device 39 moves in the Y direction.

The resist liquid coating apparatus 1 further has a control unit 57 shown in FIG. The control unit 57 includes a CPU,
It includes a microcomputer consisting of RAM, ROM and other components. The control unit 57 has, as an input device,
The operation panel 58, the gap sensor 27, the nozzle position sensor 59, and the substrate detection sensor 60 are connected. From the operation panel 58, the operator gives various instructions to the device 1
Can be given to. For example, it is set how many rectangular substrates W the nozzle 20 is cleaned. The nozzle position sensor 59 detects the position of the nozzle 20 in the X direction. The substrate detection sensor 60 detects whether or not the rectangular substrate W is placed on the holding plate 5.

Further, the control section 57 includes an actuator drive section 62, a die drive section 63, a sensor drive section 64, a nozzle drive section 65, an intake system 66, a resist solution supply apparatus 67, and a cleaning solution supply apparatus 68 as output devices. The N ₂ gas supply device 69, the cleaning device drive unit 70, and the cylinder 17 are connected. The actuator drive unit 62 expands and contracts each actuator 6. The die driving unit 63 drives the piezoelectric element 36, and is connected to the capacitance displacement meter 37. The sensor driving unit 64 is connected to the motor 55 and moves the gap sensor 27 in the Y direction. The nozzle drive unit 65 includes the ball screw 24, the motor 25, the motors 30, 3
2, the nozzle 20 is moved with respect to the rectangular substrate W,
Lift, swing, tilt. The intake system 66 includes a holding plate 5, a nozzle 20, and a vacuum pump that performs suction in the cleaning device 39. The cleaning liquid supply device 68 includes a rinse nozzle 43,
The cleaning liquid is supplied to 47, and the N ₂ gas supply device 69 supplies N ₂ gas to the gas nozzle 44. Cleaning device drive 7
0 is connected to the motor 53 and moves the cleaning device 39 in the Y direction.

Next, the control operation by the control unit 57 will be described with reference to the control flowcharts of FIGS. 10 to 14 and the graph of FIG. In the overall flowchart shown in FIG. 10, the entire resist solution coating apparatus 1 is initialized in step S1. Here, the nozzle 20 is arranged at the initial position on the front upper side in FIG. 1, and the variable n indicating the number of processed square substrates W is set to zero. Further, at this time, the operator inputs how many rectangular substrates W are to be cleaned, and the value becomes the value of the variable p. In step S2, it waits for the rectangular substrate W to be loaded into the resist liquid coating apparatus 1 by a transport device (not shown). When the substrate W is loaded and unloaded, the dispenser guide 9 is separated from both short sides of the holding plate 5, so that the rectangular substrate W can be loaded and unloaded easily.
When the rectangular substrate W is loaded, the process proceeds to step S3 and displacement measurement processing is performed. In step S4, a resist solution coating process is performed. In step S5, a drying process is performed. Next, in step S6, an edge cleaning process for the rectangular substrate W is performed. In step S7, the rectangular substrate W is waited to be carried out of the resist solution coating apparatus 1, and the process returns to step S2.

The displacement measuring process in step S3 is shown in FIG. In this process, the variable n is incremented in step S10. In step S11, the intake system 66
The vacuum pump is turned on to vacuum-hold the rectangular substrate W on the holding plate 5. In step S12, the cylinder 17 is turned on. Then, the dispenser guide 9 returns to the holding plate 5 side by the urging force of the return spring 16. When the dispenser guide 9 comes into contact with the short side edge of the rectangular substrate W, the shock at the time of collision is relieved by the return spring 16, and the rectangular substrate W is less likely to be damaged. Also,
Since the dispenser guide 9 is connected to the support rod 11 via the coil spring 18, the shock when contacting the rectangular substrate W is absorbed. Further, when the rectangular substrate W is arranged so as to be displaced with respect to the holding plate 5, the posture of the dispenser guide 9 is freely changed by the coil spring 18 and the whole of the rectangular substrate W comes into close contact with each short side edge. .

Next, in step S13, the nozzle 20 is reciprocated on the surface of the rectangular substrate W, and the gap between the lower end of the nozzle 20 and the surface of the rectangular substrate W is measured by the gap sensor 27.
Detect by. Here, for example, when the rectangular substrate W is divided into 6 × 6 cells in the X and Y directions, the gaps at the intersections (7 × 7) of the cells are detected. In step S14, with respect to the nine points (hereinafter referred to as large displacement points) where the actuators 6 are arranged, the actuator 6 is set so that the nine points of the rectangular substrate W are on the same plane based on the gap detection data in step S13. To drive. In step S15, correction calculation is performed on points other than the large displacement point (hereinafter referred to as the small displacement point). It is considered that the small displacement point measured in step S13 is further displaced by crosstalk because the large displacement point is driven in step S14. Therefore, the initial displacement amount is corrected in consideration of the influence from the large displacement point to obtain the correct displacement amount. The corrected displacement amounts are stored in the memory. Step S15
Then, the process returns to the main routine of FIG.

FIG. 1 shows the resist solution coating process in step S4.
2 and FIG. In this process, in step S20, the nozzle 20 starts moving in the X direction (FIG. 15).
Of 0). In step S21, waiting for the nozzle 20 to come on the dispenser guide 9 is started, and in step S22, the descent of the nozzle 20 is started. Subsequently, in step S23, the discharge of the resist liquid is started from the slit 20a of the nozzle 20. In step S24, until the distance between the lower end of the nozzle 20 and the surface of the dispenser guide 9 reaches 20 microns, the movement and lowering of the nozzle 20 in the X direction are stopped in step S25. In step S26, the nozzle 20 is moved to
Reciprocate in the Y direction. Thereby, the slit 20
The resist liquid discharged from a adheres to the dispenser guide 9 uniformly over the entire longitudinal direction of the slit 20a. That is, the slit 20a and the dispenser guide 9
And the resist solution continues like a curtain. Here, since the nozzle 20 is close to the rectangular substrate W, the consumption of the resist liquid is small. As a modification, the nozzle 2
0 may be moved up and down or tilted.

In step S27, the movement of the nozzle 20 in the X direction is started. At this time, the resist liquid is discharged onto the dispenser guide 9. A large amount of resist liquid is supplied to the nozzle 20 in order to uniformly discharge the resist liquid in the longitudinal direction of the nozzle 20 at the start of the discharge of the resist liquid. However, since the initial resist liquid is applied on the dispenser guide 9, a thick resist film generated at the start of resist discharge is formed on the dispenser guide 9. Therefore, the resist film formed on the surface of the rectangular substrate W becomes uniform.

Next, in step S28, the nozzle 20 waits until it reaches the edge of the rectangular substrate W on the coating start side, and in step S29, suction of the suction holes 20d of the nozzle 20 is started. (Suction on the left side of FIG. 15) Here, a part of the resist liquid discharged from the slit 20a of the nozzle 20 is discharged to the suction hole 20d side through the gap between the die member 34 and the recess 20c of the nozzle 20. . That is, in the processing liquid application start side portion of the rectangular substrate W, the amount of the resist liquid supplied from the nozzle 20 is equal to the amount supplied to the other portions of the rectangular substrate W. As a result, it is possible to prevent the resist liquid from adhering to the processing liquid application start side portion of the rectangular substrate W from rising. The resist liquid that has flowed out from the slit 20a flows along the wall at the lower end of the nozzle 20 (Coanda effect), and is smoothly sucked into the gap between the die member 34 and the recess 20c. Furthermore, the gap for suction is the slit 20.
Since it is arranged behind a in the advancing direction and is sucked in front of the die member 34 in the advancing direction, the resist liquid can be sucked efficiently. Further, since the gap is inclined with respect to the surface of the rectangular substrate W, the resist liquid is unlikely to flow back.

In step S30, the rise of the nozzle 20 is started. In step S31, the distance between the lower end of the nozzle 20 and the surface of the rectangular substrate W (GAP in FIG. 15) is, for example, 30.
Waiting until the particle size reaches ~ 50 microns, the suction of the suction hole 20d is stopped in step S32, and the nozzle 20 is sucked in step S33.
Stop rising. After that, the nozzle 20 moves in the X direction and applies the resist solution onto the rectangular substrate W. Since the length and positioning of the slit 20a of the nozzle 20 with respect to the long side edge of the square substrate W are accurately determined, the resist liquid is not applied to the back side of the long side edge of the square substrate W. It is hard to get around.

In step S34, it is determined whether or not the nozzle has reached the position where the small displacement point is measured in the X direction. When the position where the small displacement point is measured is reached, step S
The die member 34 of the nozzle 20 is deformed at 35 to finely adjust the distance between the nozzle 20 and the rectangular substrate W. In particular,
When the nozzle 20 reaches a predetermined position on the X axis, each piezoelectric element 36 is driven according to the displacement amount at the small deformation point stored in the displacement measurement process. As a result, the die member 34 is locally deformed in the longitudinal direction, and the distance between the die member 34 and the rectangular substrate W is kept constant. As described above, the gap adjustment by the deformation of the nozzle 20 is performed during the resist liquid coating process by the nozzle 20. In addition, since the flatness of the rectangular substrate W is roughly adjusted on the holding plate 5 side in advance during the displacement measurement process, the final adjustment of the spacing becomes finer and more accurate. Furthermore, since the die member 34 is deformed in the direction of less rigidity, the acting force of the piezoelectric element 36 can be small, and the deformation point is less likely to affect the surrounding points.

In step S36, the nozzle 20 moves to the rectangular substrate W.
It is determined whether or not it has reached the vicinity of the end edge on the coating end side.
If it has not arrived, the process returns to step S34. In step S37, suction from the suction hole 20d is started (suction on the right side in FIG. 15). Then, in step S38,
The descent of the nozzle 20 is started. That is, the nozzle 20 descends while suppressing the amount of resist liquid discharged. For this reason, the amount of the resist liquid in the coating end side portion of the rectangular substrate W becomes equal to the amount in the other portions, and the resist liquid is prevented from rising at the short side edges of the rectangular substrate W. Waiting until the distance between the nozzle 20 and the rectangular substrate W reaches 20 microns in step S39, the suction from the suction hole 20d is stopped in step S40 of FIG. 13, and the resist solution supply to the slit 20a is stopped in step S41. . In step S42, the rise of the nozzle 20 is started. At this time, the nozzle 2
The resist liquid remaining in the 0 slit 20a is discharged onto the dispenser guide 9. In this way, since the resist liquid is continuously applied from the rectangular substrate W to the dispenser guide 9, the film thickness of the portion of the rectangular substrate W on the side where the processing liquid supply ends is not increased, and the entire film thickness is constant. become.
In step S43, the nozzle 20 waits until it reaches a certain height, and in step S44, the rise of the nozzle 20 is stopped. In step S45, the process waits until the nozzle 20 is placed in the gutter (not shown), and in step S46, the nozzle 20 is placed.
Stop moving in the X direction. In step S47, the nozzle 2
0 is swung in the Y direction and the vertical direction at a high speed to shake off the resist liquid adhering to the nozzle 20, and the process returns to the main routine of FIG. By swinging the nozzle 20, the resist liquid near the slit 20a of the nozzle 20 is shaken off. Therefore, it is possible to prevent the resist solution from dropping to an unnecessary portion of the rectangular substrate W.

In the edge cleaning process shown in FIG. 14, the cylinder 17 is turned off in step S50. Then, the rotating member 1
5, the dispenser guide 9 overcomes the biasing force of the return spring 16 and separates from the short side edge of the rectangular substrate W. In step S51, it is determined whether n is a multiple of p. nozzle 20 if n is a multiple of p
Since it is necessary to perform the cleaning of No. 20, the process proceeds to step S52 and the nozzle 20 is lowered to the cleaning position. At this time, the nozzle 20 may be arranged on either side of the cleaning unit 4. n
If is not a multiple of p, it is not necessary to wash the nozzle 20, so step S52 is skipped and the process moves to step S53. In step S53, suction of the discharge passages 45 and 48 of the cleaning device 40 is started. In step S54,
N ₂ gas is discharged from the gas nozzle 44. Step S5
In 5, the cleaning liquid is discharged from the rinse nozzles 43 and 47. In step S56, the cleaning device 39 is moved back and forth several times in the Y direction. At this time, the short side edge of the rectangular substrate W and the dispenser guide 9 are simultaneously cleaned. In particular, the dissolved material and the cleaning liquid on the upper surfaces of the rectangular substrate W and the dispenser guide 9 are blown off by the N ₂ gas, and the exhaust holes 4 are removed.
2 is sucked and further discharged to the discharge passage 45. When the nozzle 20 is arranged at the cleaning position shown in FIG. 8, the rinse nozzle 4 is located near the slit 20a of the nozzle 20.
Washed by 7. The deposit and the cleaning liquid flow into the discharge passage 45 and are discharged. As a modified example, when the suction hole 20d is sucked at this time, the cleaning liquid is discharged from the die member 34.
And a concave portion 20c of the nozzle 20 and flow into the suction hole 20d. As a result, the gap, the suction hole 20d and the suction mechanism are cleaned.

In step S57, the discharge of the cleaning liquid is stopped. In step S58, the discharge of N ₂ gas is stopped. In step S59, the exhaust of the cleaning device 39 is stopped. In step S60, the nozzle 20 is arranged at the initial position on the front upper side in FIG. 1, and the process returns to the main routine in FIG. In the above-described embodiment, the both ends of the rectangular substrate W are cleaned for each substrate, the pair of dispenser guides 9 are also cleaned at the same time, and only the nozzle 20 is cleaned for every p substrates. Here, both end edges of the rectangular substrate W need to be cleaned for each substrate, but for example, the pair of dispenser guides 9 may be configured to be cleaned for every p substrates, or conversely. The nozzle 20 may also be configured to be cleaned for each substrate.

As described above, in this resist liquid coating apparatus 1, the edge cleaning of the rectangular substrate W and the cleaning of the dispenser guide 9 are simultaneously performed by a single drive mechanism, and the nozzle 20 is also used when necessary. Also, the cleaning can be performed simultaneously by a single drive mechanism. The nozzle 20 is also cleaned at the same time. As a result, the structure for cleaning is simple and the cost is reduced. Furthermore, the number of steps is reduced. [Other Modifications] The present invention is not limited to the resist liquid coating device, and may be used in other processing liquid coating devices. Further, the type of the substrate is not limited to the rectangular type, and other types such as a circular semiconductor wafer and a semiconductor wafer having an orientation flat may be used.

Although the nozzle 20 is swung on the dispenser guide 9 to form a curtain-shaped film, it may be swung at the edge of the rectangular substrate W on the resist liquid supply start side.

[0039]

According to the treatment liquid coating apparatus of the first aspect,
Since the gap control means adjusts the distance between the processing liquid supply unit and the surface of the substrate, variations in the distance are reduced, and fluctuations in film thickness after the processing liquid is applied are reduced. In the treatment liquid application device according to the second aspect, the gap can be adjusted more finely by driving both the treatment liquid supply unit and the holding surface.

In the treatment liquid application apparatus according to the third aspect, the gap adjusting member is elastically deformed along the longitudinal direction of the nozzle to adjust the gap, so that the nozzle and the substrate surface are extended along the longitudinal direction of the nozzle body. Adjustment of the interval between and becomes finer.
In the treatment liquid application apparatus according to claim 4, since the holding surface deforming mechanism locally elastically deforms the holding surface to adjust the distance between the holding surface and the processing supply unit, variation in the distance is reduced and the processing liquid is reduced. Variation in film thickness after coating is reduced.

In the treatment liquid application apparatus according to the fifth aspect, the holding surface deforming mechanism roughly adjusts the spacing and the gap adjusting member finely adjusts the spacing. Therefore, the spacing can be adjusted more finely and the treatment liquid after application can be processed. Film thickness fluctuation is reduced. In the treatment liquid application apparatus according to the sixth aspect, the distance between the treatment liquid supply unit and the substrate surface is adjusted when the treatment liquid supply unit moves relatively. As a result, variations in the intervals are reduced, and variations in film thickness after application of the treatment liquid are reduced.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic perspective view of a resist liquid coating apparatus as one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a plan view of a substrate holding unit.

FIG. 3 is a partial vertical sectional view of a nozzle.

FIG. 4 is a partial front view of a moving mechanism of the gap sensor.

FIG. 5 is a partial vertical sectional view of a swing mechanism.

FIG. 6 is a plan view of the cleaning device.

FIG. 7 is a front view of the cleaning device.

FIG. 8 is an enlarged partial view of FIG.

FIG. 9 is a control block diagram of the resist liquid coating apparatus.

FIG. 10 is a control flowchart of the resist solution coating device.

FIG. 11 is a control flowchart of the resist solution coating device.

FIG. 12 is a control flowchart of the resist solution coating device.

FIG. 13 is a control flowchart of the resist solution coating device.

FIG. 14 is a control flowchart of a resist solution coating device.

FIG. 15 is a graph showing the relationship between the movement time of the nozzle and the change in the interval.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Resist Liquid Coating Device 2 Substrate Holding Section 3 Coating Section 4 Cleaning Section 5 Holding Plate 6 Actuator 20 Nozzle 20a Slit 33 Gap Adjusting Mechanism 34 Die Member 35 Support Block 36 Piezoelectric Element

Claims (6)

[Claims] 1. A treatment liquid application device for applying a predetermined treatment liquid to the surface of a substrate, the substrate holding portion holding the substrate, and the substrate surface while relatively moving in a direction along the substrate surface. A processing liquid supply means having a processing liquid supply part for supplying a processing liquid to the gap, a gap detection means for detecting a distance between the relatively moving processing liquid supply part and the substrate surface, and a detection result of the gap detection means A treatment liquid application apparatus comprising: a treatment liquid supply unit that relatively approaches and separates the treatment liquid supply unit from the substrate surface to adjust the gap. 2. The substrate holding unit has a holding surface on which the substrate is placed, and the gap control unit moves both the processing liquid supply unit and the holding surface according to the detection result of the gap detection unit. The processing liquid application device according to claim 1, wherein 3. The processing liquid supply section has a nozzle main body having a processing liquid supply port extending in a direction intersecting a direction in which the processing liquid supply unit relatively moves, and an upstream side of the processing liquid supply port in the relative movement direction. And a gap adjusting member that is elastically deformable and extends parallel to the processing liquid supply port, and the plurality of gap control means are arranged in a direction intersecting the relative movement direction. The processing liquid application device according to claim 1, further comprising a driving element for elastically deforming the member. 4. The substrate holding section has a holding surface on which the substrate is placed, and a holding surface deforming mechanism for locally elastically deforming the holding surface. The treatment liquid application device according to any one of claims. 5. The gap control means according to claim 4, wherein the gap is roughly adjusted by the holding surface deforming mechanism and finely adjusted by the gap adjusting member based on a detection result of the gap detecting means. Treatment liquid coating device. 6. The gap control means relatively moves the processing liquid supply part relative to the substrate surface according to the detection result of the gap detection means while moving the processing liquid supply part relative to the substrate. The processing liquid application device according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein the processing liquid application device is made to approach and separate from each other.