JPH07335520A - Surface treating device for substrate - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To eliminate the need of a treatment unit exclusively used for dehydration baking so as to reduce the size of a surface treating device for substrate by using an adhesion promotion treating unit not only for adhesion promoter applying treatment, but also for dehydration baking treatment. CONSTITUTION:An adhesion promotion treating unit HA performs dehydration baking treatment (dehydration baking mode) against a substrate W by actuating a hot plate 10 while a section 24 which supplies hexamethyldisilasane(HMDS) which is an adhesion promotor. Then the unit HA performs applying treatment (adhesion promoter applying mode) for applying the HMDS to the surface of the substrate W baked for dehydration by actuating both the section 24 and plate 10. Therefore, a surface treating device can be made compact by reducing the number of treatment units, because no treating unit to be exclusively used for the dehydration baking treatment is required by switching the dehydration baking mode and adhesion promotor applying mode to each other by using signals from a control section 7.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The present invention is to clean various substrates such as a glass rectangular substrate for liquid crystal, a semiconductor wafer, a substrate for a color filter, etc. with a cleaning liquid and dry the substrate, and then apply an adhesion enhancer to the surface of the substrate. The present invention relates to a substrate surface treatment apparatus for applying a predetermined coating liquid to form a thin film of the coating liquid.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art FIG. 4 is a schematic view showing a conventional substrate surface treatment apparatus. In FIG. 4, SS is a cleaning unit including a spin scrubber that rotates the substrate while supplying the cleaning liquid to the substrate to clean the surface of the substrate, and HP1 heats the dried substrate to dry it (that is, performs dehydration baking). ) Dehydration bake unit consisting of hot plate, CP
1 is a cooling unit consisting of a cool plate for cooling the substrate heated by the hot plate HP1, AP is heating the cooled substrate again and supplies evaporation of an adhesion enhancer such as hexamethyldisilazane to adhere to the substrate surface Adhesion strengthening processing unit for applying a strengthening agent, CP2 is a cooling unit including a cool plate for cooling the substrate on which the adhesion strengthening agent is applied, and SC is for spin coating a predetermined resist on the surface of the substrate cooled by the cool plate CP2. A coating unit consisting of a spin coater, HP2 is a heating unit consisting of a hot plate for heating a substrate coated with a resist to solidify the resist to form a resist film, and CP3 is a cooling unit for cooling the substrate heated by the hot plate HP2. The cooling units consisting of plates are shown respectively. Then, one substrate is sequentially transported from right to left in FIG. 4 by a transport mechanism (not shown) such as a rotating roller, and is sequentially processed by each unit.

[0003]

However, in the apparatus having such a configuration, the cleaning unit SS, the dehydration bake unit HP1, the cooling unit CP1, and the contact unit are formed between the cleaning of one substrate and the formation of the resist film. Since eight processing units including the strengthening processing unit AP, the cooling unit CP2, the coating unit SC, the heating unit HP2, and the cooling unit CP3 are required, the total length of the apparatus becomes long and it is difficult to make the apparatus compact. .

Therefore, the present invention has been made in order to solve the above problems, and provides a substrate surface treatment apparatus which can make the apparatus more compact than the conventional apparatus shown in FIG. The purpose is.

[0005]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, a substrate washed with a cleaning liquid is dried, an adhesion enhancer is applied to the surface of the substrate, and then a predetermined coating liquid is applied to the substrate. A substrate surface processing apparatus for forming a thin film on a surface thereof, for achieving the above object, a chamber for accommodating a substrate cleaned by a cleaning liquid, a heating means for heating a substrate accommodated in the chamber, and the chamber. Adhesion enhancer supply means for supplying the vapor of the adhesion enhancer to the substrate accommodated in the substrate, and only the heating means is operated while the operation of the adhesion enhancer supply means is stopped to dry the washed substrate. A dehydration bake mode for operating the heating means and the adhesion enhancer supply means together to apply the adhesion enhancer to the surface of the substrate subjected to the dehydration bake treatment by the heating means. It is provided with adhesion enhancement processing unit comprising and control means for controlling switching between agent coating mode.

[0006]

According to the first aspect of the present invention, there is provided the adhesion strengthening processing unit for performing the dehydration baking processing for drying the cleaning liquid and the coating processing for applying the adhesion strengthening agent to the substrate. This adhesion strengthening processing unit includes a heating means for performing a heat treatment on a substrate housed in a chamber, an adhesion strengthening agent supplying means for supplying vapor of the adhesion strengthening agent to apply the adhesion strengthening agent, and a dehydration bake mode. And a control means for switching between the adhesion enhancer application mode and the dehydration bake mode. In the dehydration bake mode, only the heating means is operated to dry the washed substrate while the adhesion enhancer supply means is stopped. On the other hand, in the adhesion enhancer application mode, the heating means and the adhesion enhancer supply means operate together to apply the adhesion enhancer to the surface of the substrate that has been dehydrated and baked. In this way, since the adhesion strengthening processing unit executes not only the adhesion strengthening agent coating processing but also the dehydration baking processing, there is no need to provide a processing unit dedicated to the dehydration baking, and the substrate surface processing apparatus can be downsized.

[0007]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an adhesion strengthening processing unit (dehydration and adhesion strengthening processing unit) incorporated in a substrate surface processing apparatus according to the present invention. In the dehydration and adhesion strengthening processing unit HA, the inside of the airtight chamber 2 is the processing space 4, and the substrate W is carried into the chamber 2 via the shutter 6 provided at the side of the chamber 2. It can be carried out from the chamber 2. That is, the lower end of the shutter 6 is hinged to the chamber 2, and the shutter opening / closing drive unit 8 is operated in response to a signal from the control unit 7 to open / close the shutter 6 in the arrow direction α to carry in the substrate W. It can be carried out.

At the bottom of the chamber 2, the hot plate 1
0 is provided, and the substrate W is supported at a position directly above the hot plate 10 by a plurality of proximity pins 12 projecting from the upper surface of the hot plate 10. When the hot plate 10 is operated, heat is generated from the hot plate 10. And heat treatment is performed. The hot plate 10 is electrically connected to the control unit 7 and
It operates based on the signal from.

A pair of exhaust ports 14 are formed at the bottom of the chamber 2 and can be connected to a vacuum source 18 such as a vacuum pump or an ejector via an air valve 16 and a signal from the control unit 7 can be supplied. Air valve 1 according to
The inside of the processing space 4 can be depressurized by opening 6.

At the top of the chamber 2, an air supply port 20,
22 is attached. One of the air supply ports 20 is hexamethyldisilazane (hereinafter referred to as HMD) which is an adhesion enhancer.
S) vapor (hereinafter, HMDS vapor) is supplied to the processing space 4, and is communicated with the HMDS supply unit 24 that stores HMDS. The other air supply port 22 is for supplying nitrogen gas (N 2 gas) to the processing space 4, and is connected to the nitrogen gas supply unit 26.

In the chamber 2, air supply ports 20 and 22 are provided.
Directly underneath is fixed a rectifying plate 28 formed by forming a plurality of holes 28a in a stainless steel plate material. And the control unit 7
When the HMDS supply unit 24 operates in response to a signal from
The HMDS vapor is discharged toward the straightening vane 28 through the air supply port 20, further straightened by the straightening vane 28, and then uniformly supplied to the surface of the substrate W from each hole 28a.
Also, when the nitrogen gas supply unit 26 operates, the nitrogen gas is supplied to the processing space 4 in the same manner as above.

Further, inside the chamber 2, there is provided a substrate transfer arm 30 which can move up and down while holding the substrate W. The substrate transfer arm 30 is connected to the arm driving unit 32, and is moved in the vertical direction in response to a signal from the control unit 7. For example, when the substrate W is loaded into the chamber 2 from the outside, the shutter 6 is opened and the substrate held by the arm (not shown) of the transfer robot is the chamber 2.
After being carried in, the substrate transfer arm 30 moves up to the position indicated by the dotted line in the figure and receives the cleaned substrate W from the transfer robot. After that, when the substrate transfer arm 30 descends, the substrate W is placed on the proximity pin 12.

Next, the operation of the dehydration / adhesion strengthening processing unit HA configured as described above will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 2 is a graph showing the pressure in the chamber 2 with respect to time.

First, when the cleaning process by the cleaning unit SS is completed, the cleaned substrate W is transferred to the front of the dehydration and adhesion strengthening processing unit HA by the transfer robot,
The shutter 6 is opened, and the arm of the transfer robot holding the substrate W is advanced into the chamber 2. Then, the substrate transfer arm 30 is raised to transfer the cleaned substrate W from the transfer robot to the substrate transfer arm 30.

When this substrate transfer is completed, the substrate transfer arm 30 is lowered and the cleaned substrate W is placed on the proximity pins 12. Also, in parallel with this,
After retracting the arm of the transfer robot, the shutter 6 is closed (time t0). During this operation, the HMD
The S supply unit 24 and the nitrogen gas supply unit 26 remain stopped, the air valve 16 is closed, and the pressure in the chamber 2 is the pressure (atmospheric pressure) P0.

Next, until time t1 (time T1), the hot plate 10 is energized to heat the substrate W to remove the moisture adhering to the surface of the substrate W (dehydration baking treatment).

When the dehydration baking process is completed, the air valve 16 is opened to start depressurizing the chamber 2. Then, when the inside of the chamber 2 is depressurized to the pressure P2 (time t2), the air valve 16 is closed, and then the HMDS supply unit 24 is operated to introduce the HMDS vapor into the chamber 2 to introduce the inside of the chamber 2. Becomes pressure P1 (time t3), H
The MDS supply unit 24 is stopped and kept in that state until time t4 (time T2). Therefore, the substrate W is supplied with the HMDS vapor from above while being heated by the hot plate 10, and a thin film of HMDS is applied to the surface thereof (application process of HMDS).

When the HMDS coating process is completed as described above (time t4), the nitrogen gas supply unit 26 is operated to supply the nitrogen gas into the chamber 2, and the air valve 16 is opened again to open the inside of the chamber 2. After the pressure is reduced to P2 (time t5), the nitrogen gas is supplied and the vacuum source 18 evacuates the chamber 2 until time t6 (time T3) while the chamber 2 is maintained at pressure P2. HM
Reduce the concentration of DS vapor.

When the HMDS vapor in the chamber 2 is almost completely exhausted in this way, the air valve 16 is closed again to return the pressure in the chamber 2 to P0 (time t7).

Then, at time t8, the substrate transfer arm 3
After raising 0 to position the substrate W coated with HMDS at a position where substrate transfer is possible, the shutter 6 is opened and the arm of the transfer robot is advanced to transfer the substrate W from the substrate transfer arm 30 to the transfer robot. To do. The substrate W transferred to the transfer robot is transferred to a cool plate, which is the next processing unit, and subjected to cooling processing.

As described above, according to the dehydration / adhesion strengthening processing unit HA, the hot plate 10 is operated while the HMDS supply unit 24 is stopped to perform the dehydration bake processing of the substrate W (dehydration bake mode). ) Later, HMD
The S supply unit 24 and the hot plate 10 can be operated to perform a coating process of coating HMDS on the surface of the substrate W that has been dehydrated and baked (adhesion enhancer coating mode). Therefore, by switching between the dehydration bake mode and the adhesion enhancer application mode by a signal from the control unit 7, the dehydration and adhesion enhancement treatment unit HA can perform the dehydration bake treatment, and the dehydration bake unit HP1 shown in FIG. Since the cooling unit CP1 for cooling the heated substrate can be eliminated, the number of processing units can be reduced and the substrate surface processing apparatus can be made compact.

That is, when the dehydration and adhesion strengthening processing unit HA of FIG. 1 is used to perform the processing from the cleaning of one substrate to the formation of the resist film as in the conventional apparatus of FIG. As shown in FIG. 3, only six processing units, namely, a cleaning unit SS, a dehydration and adhesion strengthening processing unit HA, a cooling unit CP2, a coating unit SC, a heating unit HP2, and a cooling unit CP3 are required. Figure 4 requires one processing unit
The number of processing units can be reduced as compared with the illustrated conventional apparatus, and the apparatus can be made compact.

Further, since the number of processing units can be reduced by using the dehydration and adhesion strengthening processing unit HA configured as described above, the substrate can be carried into each processing unit by a single transfer robot. In the substrate surface processing apparatus configured to carry out the substrate that has been processed by each processing unit, it is possible to reduce the types of processing units that the transfer robot accesses to carry in and carry out the substrate. Therefore, the load on the transfer robot can be reduced and the processing tact of the apparatus can be shortened. This will be described in detail.

For comparison, FIG. 5 uses a conventional adhesion strengthening processing unit AP without using the dehydration and adhesion strengthening processing unit HA, and carries a substrate into each processing unit by a single transfer robot and performs each processing. It is a figure which shows the layout of the substrate surface processing apparatus comprised so that the board | substrate which the process in the unit completed may be carried out. In this apparatus, the cleaning unit SS and the coating unit SC are arranged in a line to form a processing line A. Also, two dehydration bake units HP1 and two heating units HP2, cooling units CP1, CP2, CP3 and an adhesion strengthening processing unit AP.
Processing rows B, which are arranged at predetermined positions and are parallel to the processing row A
Is configured. In FIG. 5A, the symbol “/” indicates that two processing units are stacked one above the other. For example, “HP2 / CP3” indicates that the cooling unit CP3 is in the lower stage. Is arranged and the heating unit HP2 is arranged on the upper side thereof. It should be noted that here, two dehydration bake units HP1 and two heating units HP2 are provided.
This is because the time required for these processes is longer than that of the other processing units, so that the processing tact is shortened in accordance with the other processing units.

The side ends of these processing rows A and B (see FIG. 5)
A cassette capable of accommodating a large number of substrates is placed on the upper side of (a), and the substrates to be processed are taken out one by one and transferred to a transfer robot R1 described later and the processed substrates are processed. The indexer IND is provided with a robot that receives the sheet from the transfer robot and puts it in the cassette. Further, the processing rows A and B are arranged so as to be opposed to each other with a certain distance therebetween, and the transfer robot R1 is provided so as to be capable of reciprocating between them. And
The transfer robot R1 includes an indexer IND, a cleaning unit SS, a dehydration bake unit HP1, a cooling unit CP1,
The substrate is transferred between the nine processing units of the adhesion strengthening processing unit AP, the cooling unit CP2, the coating unit SC, the heating unit HP2, and the cooling unit CP3 in the transfer order shown in FIG. 5B. That is, since the transfer robot R1 needs to access the above-mentioned nine kinds of processing units, for example, the transfer robot R1 is
If the time required to transfer the substrate from one processing unit to the next is 10 seconds on average, 10 seconds × 9
Since (type) = 90 seconds, the transfer robot R1 of FIG. 5 (a) receives one substrate, sequentially transfers the substrate to all the processing units, and returns it to the indexer IND again. In addition to the internal processing time, a transportation time of 90 seconds is required.

On the other hand, FIG. 6 shows an embodiment in which each processing unit is arranged in the same apparatus space by using the dehydration and adhesion strengthening processing unit HA. In this apparatus, as in FIG. 5, the cleaning unit SS and the coating unit SC are arranged in a line to form a processing line A. Also, two heating units HP2 and cooling units CP2, CP3 and 4
A dehydration and adhesion strengthening processing unit HA is arranged at a predetermined position to form a processing row B parallel to the processing row A. Also in FIG. 6A, the symbol “/” indicates that two processing units are vertically stacked. In addition,
Here, two heating units HP2 and four dehydration / adhesion strengthening treatment units HA are provided, because the time required for these treatments is longer than that of the other treatment units, so that the treatment tact is treated in another treatment unit. This is because of shortening according to. The transfer robot R2 is the transfer robot R1 shown in FIG.
Is similar to. However, in this embodiment, the transfer robot R2 includes the indexer IND and the cleaning unit S.
The substrate is disposed between the seven processing units of S, dehydration and adhesion strengthening processing unit HA, cooling unit CP2, coating unit SC, heating unit HP2, and cooling unit CP3.
It is configured to be carried in the carrying order shown in (b). That is, the transfer robot R2 only needs to access the above seven types of processing units.
If the time required for 2 to transfer the substrate from one processing unit to the next processing unit is 10 seconds on average as in the transfer robot R1, then 10 seconds × 7 (type) = 70 seconds. The transfer robot R2 shown in (a) transfers one substrate to all processing units and then returns it to the Inzaxa IND for 70 seconds separately from the processing time in each processing unit after receiving one substrate. It only takes time. Therefore, this dehydration and adhesion strengthening processing unit H
By using A, the processing tact can be shortened when the type of processing unit to be accessed by the transfer robot is reduced and the apparatus is not made compact.

In the above embodiment, as shown in FIG. 2, while the dehydration and adhesion strengthening processing unit HA is performing the dehydration baking treatment (time t0 to time t1), the pressure (atmospheric pressure) in the chamber 2 is kept. Although it is maintained at P0, if the air valve 16 is opened at the same time as the start of the dehydration bake treatment to depressurize the inside of the chamber 2, the steam generated during the dehydration bake treatment can be exhausted, and the dehydration bake treatment is more effective. Can be done. Further, since the pressure inside the chamber 2 is already reduced to the pressure P2 at the time t2 'during the dehydration bake treatment, the adhesion strengthening agent application treatment can be performed immediately after the dehydration bake treatment, and the treatment tact time can be shortened. Can be achieved.

In the above embodiment, the HMDS is decompressed.
Although the depressurization method for applying the adhesive was described as an example, even in the case of the semi-hermetically sealed system or the hermetically sealed adhesion strengthening treatment unit, the controller can switch between the dehydration bake mode and the adhesion strengthening agent application mode. The same effect as in the above embodiment can be obtained.

[0029]

As described above, according to the present invention, the heating means for heating the substrate and the adhesion enhancing agent supplying means for supplying the vapor of the adhesion enhancing agent to the substrate are provided, and the adhesion enhancing agent supplying means is provided. While the operation is stopped, the washed substrate is dehydrated and baked by operating only the heating means, while the heating means and the adhesion enhancer supply means are operated together to perform the dehydration bake processing by the heating means. Since the adhesion enhancer is applied to the surface of the substrate that has received the heat treatment, a processing unit dedicated to dehydration baking is not required, and as a result, the substrate surface processing apparatus can be downsized.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an adhesion strengthening processing unit (dehydration and adhesion strengthening processing unit) incorporated in a substrate surface processing apparatus according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a graph showing an operation of the dehydration / adhesion strengthening processing unit of FIG.

FIG. 3 is a view showing a substrate surface processing apparatus having the dehydration and adhesion strengthening processing unit of FIG.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a conventional substrate surface treatment apparatus.

FIG. 5 is a diagram for explaining the effect of the substrate surface treatment apparatus according to the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing an embodiment of a substrate surface treatment apparatus according to the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 2 chamber 4 processing space 7 control unit 10 hot plate (heating means) 24 HMDS supply unit

Continuation of the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁶ Identification number Office reference number FI technical display location H01L 21/304 351 Z

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A substrate surface treatment apparatus for drying a substrate washed with a cleaning liquid, applying an adhesion enhancer to the surface of the substrate, and then applying a predetermined application liquid to form a thin film on the substrate surface. A chamber for containing the substrate cleaned by the cleaning liquid; a heating means for heating the substrate contained in the chamber; and an adhesion enhancer supply means for supplying vapor of the adhesion enhancer to the substrate contained in the chamber. And a dehydration bake mode in which only the heating means is operated to dry the cleaned substrate while the operation of the adhesion enhancer supply means is stopped, and both the heating means and the adhesion enhancer supply means are operated. And a control means for switching and controlling an adhesion enhancer application mode for applying an adhesion enhancer to the surface of the substrate that has been subjected to the dehydration baking treatment by the heating means,
A substrate surface treatment apparatus comprising: an adhesion strengthening treatment unit comprising: