JPH08264923A - Method and device from cleaning end face of substrate - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: To provide a device for cleaning end face of substrate which can prevent the rising of a resist at the time of cleaning the end face of a substrate coated with the resist with an organic solvent. CONSTITUTION: The recessed sections 15a and 16a of an end face cleaning nozzle 15 and resist drying nozzle 16 are engaged with to the peripheral section of the end section of a substrate 11. The nozzle 16 positioned on the downstream side of nozzle 15 in the moving direction of the nozzles 15 and 16 moves and blows a heated N2 gas upon the peripheral section of the end face of the substrate 11 from a gas blowing section provided in the recessed section 16a. As a result, a resist is hardened, because the solvent component contained in the resist is locally removed. The solvent component generated from the peripheral section of the end face of the substrate 11 is removed with a vacuum removing section additionally provided in the section 16a. As the nozzle 16 moves, the end face cleaning nozzle 15 also moves in the same direction and jets an organic solvent upon the hardened resist from the inside of the recessed section 15a to clean the peripheral section of the end face of the substrate 11. The excessive amounts of the dissolved resist and solvent are removed by a vacuum removing section in the section 15a.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a substrate end face cleaning method and apparatus used for cleaning the end face of a substrate after resist coating.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Generally, as a manufacturing process of various substrates,
In order to form a pattern on the surface of the substrate, there is a step of applying a resist to the surface, but when the resist is applied, the peripheral portion of the end face of the substrate is washed with an organic solvent,
It is necessary to remove the resist adhering to this end face and the peripheral portion.

Conventionally, a structure shown in FIG. 4 has been known as a substrate end face cleaning apparatus for the end face of a substrate of this type. In FIG. 4, reference numeral 11 denotes a substrate to be cleaned which has been coated with a resist. The substrate 11 is placed on a substrate cleaning stage 12 by a transfer device (not shown) and fixed on the substrate cleaning stage 12 by vacuum suction. It Further, the substrate cleaning stage 12 has a supporting surface smaller than the area of the substrate 11, and is formed so that the lower surface of the peripheral portion of the substrate 11 vacuum-adsorbed is exposed. The substrate cleaning stage 12 is fixed to a rotation shaft 13, and the rotation of the rotation shaft 13 allows the substrate 11 fixed to the upper surface to be rotated at an arbitrary angle along the plane direction.

Further, 15 is an end face cleaning nozzle, and this end face cleaning nozzle 15 has a recess 15a having a U-shaped cross section, and this recess 15a
Are arranged so as to engage with two opposite sides of the peripheral portion of the end surface of the substrate 11 fixed on the substrate cleaning stage 12, respectively. Further, these end surface cleaning nozzles 15 are configured so as to be able to move along corresponding side portions, as indicated by arrows.

These end surface cleaning nozzles 15 are arranged in the recess 15a toward the peripheral portion of the end surface of the substrate 11 with an organic solvent such as MI.
A solvent ejection unit (not shown) for ejecting a BK solvent, an ECA solvent, or the like is provided. Further, in the recess 15a,
A vacuum removing unit (not shown) is additionally provided for sucking and removing the excess cleaning liquid and the dissolved resist.

When cleaning the substrate 11 coated with the resist, first, the substrate 11 to be cleaned is placed on the substrate cleaning stage 12 by a transfer device (not shown), and the substrate is cleaned.
Fix 11 by vacuum adsorption. In addition, the end face cleaning nozzle 15
The recess 15a is engaged with the peripheral portion of the end surface of the substrate 11. In this state, while discharging the organic solvent from the solvent discharge portion provided in the recess 15a to the peripheral portion of the corresponding end surface, by moving the end surface cleaning nozzle 15 along the corresponding side portion as shown by the arrow, The periphery of the end surface of the substrate 11 is washed. During this cleaning, excess resist and cleaning solution that are
Vacuum removal is performed by the vacuum removal unit attached inside 15a.

As described above, the end faces of the two sides of the substrate 11 are cleaned, and when the cleaning is completed after a predetermined time elapses,
The substrate 11 is rotated 90 ° by the rotating shaft 13, the recesses 15a of the end face cleaning nozzle 15 are engaged with the remaining two sides, and the series of cleaning operations described above are repeated.

However, when the end surface of the substrate 11 is cleaned, as is apparent from FIG. 5, of the resist film 11A applied to the surface of the substrate 11, the surplus of the end surface of the substrate 11 and the peripheral portion indicated by the area A is left. Although the resist can be removed, the resist rises as shown in the figure at the boundary between the resist film 11A and the glass surface 11B. That is, as compared with the normal film thickness of the resist film 11A shown in the region B, the bulge occurs in the boundary surface portion shown in the region C.

This rise is due to the fact that the dissolution rate of the resist in the organic solvent is high, so that the dissolved resist accumulates on the boundary portion indicated by the region C.

When such a bulge occurs, the thickness of the boundary surface after cleaning shown in region C becomes thicker than the resist film thickness in the central portion of the substrate 11 shown in region B, and the resist after exposure and development processing is increased. A film residue occurs. For this reason, the yield is reduced due to dust generation due to the resist peeling, and it is necessary to add a step for removing the residual resist film.

[0011]

As described above, when the edge surface of the resist-coated substrate is washed with an organic solvent,
The interface between the resist film and the surface of the substrate from which the resist has been removed is raised, which is a factor of lowering the yield and adding processes.

The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and provides a method and apparatus for cleaning a substrate end surface that does not cause swelling of the resist when cleaning the end surface of a resist-coated substrate with an organic solvent. The purpose is to do.

[0013]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a substrate edge cleaning method for cleaning a peripheral portion of an edge of a substrate coated with a resist with an organic solvent. The heated gas body is sprayed in advance to cure the resist in the peripheral area of this end face,
After the resist is cured, it is washed with an organic solvent.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided a substrate end surface cleaning apparatus for cleaning a peripheral portion of an end surface of a substrate coated with a resist with an organic solvent. And a gas blowing nozzle which is located relatively far from the cleaning nozzle and blows a heated gas body onto the resist in the peripheral portion of the end surface of the portion to be cleaned of the substrate.

[0015]

According to the method of cleaning the end face of the substrate of the present invention, a heated gas body is previously sprayed on the portion to be cleaned and removed by the organic solvent to cure the resist in this portion, thereby dissolving the portion in the organic solvent. The speed is reduced, the accumulation action of the dissolved portion on the boundary surface of the resist generated after the resist is dissolved, the rise of the resist is prevented, and the shape is made uniform.

In the substrate end face cleaning apparatus according to the second aspect, the heated gas body is blown out from the blowing nozzle and then washed with the organic solvent in the washing nozzle, so that the resist can be pre-cured and the resist at the boundary surface can be cured. To prevent the rise of.

[0017]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the substrate end face cleaning apparatus of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. The parts corresponding to the conventional example will be described with the same reference numerals.

FIG. 1 shows a substrate end face cleaning apparatus which is applied to substrate end face cleaning after resist coating on a glass substrate for liquid crystal display devices and substrate end face cleaning after resist coating on a silicon wafer used for a semiconductor element. It is a perspective view, and the substrate 11 to be cleaned on which the resist coating has been performed is placed on the substrate cleaning stage 12 by a transfer device (not shown), and is fixed on the substrate cleaning stage 12 by vacuum suction. Further, the substrate cleaning stage 12 has a supporting surface smaller than the area of the substrate 11, and is formed so that the lower surface of the peripheral portion of the substrate 11 vacuum-adsorbed is exposed. The substrate cleaning stage 12 is fixed to a rotation shaft 13, and the rotation of the rotation shaft 13 allows the substrate 11 fixed to the upper surface to be rotated at an arbitrary angle along the plane direction.

Further, 15 is an end face cleaning nozzle, and this end face cleaning nozzle 15 has a recess 15a having a U-shaped cross section, and this recess 15a
Are arranged so as to engage with two opposite sides of the peripheral portion of the end surface of the substrate 11 fixed on the substrate cleaning stage 12, respectively. Further, these end surface cleaning nozzles 15 are configured so as to be able to move along corresponding side portions, as indicated by arrows.

These end surface cleaning nozzles 15 have an organic solvent such as MI in the recess 15a toward the peripheral portion of the end surface of the substrate 11.
A solvent ejection unit (not shown) for ejecting a BK solvent, an ECA solvent, or the like is provided. Further, in the recess 15a,
A vacuum removing unit (not shown) is additionally provided for sucking and removing the excess cleaning liquid and the dissolved resist.

Further, 16 is a resist drying nozzle as a gas blowing nozzle, and this resist drying nozzle 16 has a recess 16a having a U-shaped cross section like the end surface cleaning nozzle 15,
Side by side with the end face cleaning nozzle 15, that is, the recess
16a are arranged so as to respectively engage with two opposite sides of the peripheral portion of the end surface of the substrate 11 fixed on the substrate cleaning stage 12, and along the corresponding side portions as indicated by arrows. It is configured so that it can be moved.
It should be noted that the resist drying nozzle is in the moving direction indicated by the arrow.
16 is located ahead of the edge cleaning nozzle 15.

Further, although not shown in the drawing, the recess 16a of the resist drying nozzle 16 has a gas body heated toward the end face of the substrate 11, for example, a gas body discharge section for discharging N ₂ and a heated gas body discharge section. And a vacuum removing unit for sucking and removing the solvent component generated from the resist by spraying the gas body.

Next, the operation of the above embodiment will be described.

When cleaning the substrate 11 coated with the resist, first, the substrate 11 to be cleaned is placed on the substrate cleaning stage 12 by a transfer device (not shown) and fixed by vacuum suction. Then, the recess 15a of the end surface cleaning nozzle 15 and the recess 16a of the resist drying nozzle 16 are engaged with the peripheral portion of the end surface of the substrate 11.

[0025] In this state, first, resist drying nozzle 16 located in front of the direction of movement thereof from the gas-dispensing unit which is provided in the recess 16a, such as N _2, which are heated toward the end face periphery of the substrate 11 It moves in the direction of the arrow while discharging the gas body. By the scanning of the resist drying nozzle 16, the heated N ₂ gas is uniformly sprayed on the resist on the peripheral portion of the end surface of the substrate 11, that is, the resist on the portion to be cleaned. For this reason, the solvent component is locally removed from the resist in this portion and the resist is cured. At this time, the solvent component removed from the resist and generated in the peripheral portion of the end surface of the substrate 11 is sucked and removed by the vacuum removing unit provided in the recess 16a.

Further, with the scanning of the resist drying nozzle 16, the end surface cleaning nozzle 15 also moves in the same direction and starts scanning. That is, while the organic solvent is being ejected from the solvent ejecting portion provided in the concave portion 15a to the resist on the peripheral portion of the end surface which is cured by the scanning of the resist drying nozzle 16, the resist is moved along the corresponding side portion as shown by the arrow. The peripheral portion of the end surface of the substrate 11 is cleaned. During this cleaning, the dissolved excess resist, cleaning solution, etc. are sucked and removed by the vacuum removing section additionally provided in the recess 15a.

When the end face cleaning on the two sides of the substrate 11 is completed in this way, the substrate 11 is rotated 90 ° by the rotating shaft 13.
It is rotated to engage the recess 15a of the end face cleaning nozzle 15 and the recess 16a of the resist drying nozzle 16 with the remaining two sides, and a series of cleaning operations are repeated.

Here, at the time of cleaning, the resist portion around the end surface of the substrate 11 to which the organic solvent is sprayed is hardened by spraying the heated gas body in the previous stage, and the dissolution rate by the organic solvent is reduced. . For this reason, the accumulation action of the dissolved portion on the resist boundary surface, which occurs after the resist is dissolved, is reduced, and as in the conventional example shown in FIG.
Compared with the normal film thickness of the resist film 11A, the boundary portion shown by the region C does not rise significantly.

As is apparent from FIG. 2, when the end face of the substrate 11 is washed, the resist film applied on the surface of the substrate 11
Of 11A, the surplus resist in the end face of the substrate 11 and the peripheral portion shown by the region A can be removed. Further, as shown in the figure, resist swelling hardly occurs at the boundary surface between the resist film 11A and the glass surface 11B, and the film thickness of the normal resist film 11A shown in the region B is almost even at the boundary surface portion described above. A resist film 11A that does not rise and is flat even in the peripheral portion can be obtained.

Therefore, problems such as the resist film remaining after the exposure and development processes do not occur, and therefore, the yield decrease due to dust generation due to the resist peeling can be prevented, and the resist film residue removing process and the like can be performed. No need to add.

[0031]

According to the substrate end face cleaning method of the first aspect of the present invention, a heated gas body is previously sprayed on the portion to be cleaned and removed by the organic solvent to cure the resist in this portion. It is possible to obtain a flat resist film by reducing the dissolution rate by an organic solvent, reducing the accumulation action on the boundary surface of the resist of the dissolution part generated after resist dissolution, preventing the resist from rising and making the shape uniform. Therefore, the resist film remaining after exposure and development can be eliminated.

According to the substrate end surface cleaning apparatus of the second aspect, since the heated gas body is blown out from the blowing nozzle and then washed by the organic solvent in the cleaning nozzle, the resist can be pre-cured and the boundary surface Since the resist can be prevented from rising and a flat resist film can be obtained, the resist film remaining after exposure and development can be eliminated.

[0033]

[Brief description of drawings]

[0034]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing an embodiment of a substrate end surface cleaning apparatus of the present invention.

[0035]

FIG. 2 is a view showing a peripheral portion of an end surface of a substrate cleaned according to the above-mentioned embodiment.

[0036]

FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing a substrate to be cleaned.

[0037]

FIG. 4 is a perspective view showing a conventional substrate end surface cleaning apparatus.

[0038]

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a cleaning result of the conventional example.

[0039]

[Explanation of symbols]

 11 substrate 15 edge cleaning nozzle 16 resist drying nozzle as gas blowing nozzle

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A substrate edge cleaning method for cleaning an edge of a substrate coated with a resist with an organic solvent, wherein a heated gas body is sprayed in advance on the edge of the edge of the substrate to be cleaned. A method for cleaning an end face of a substrate, characterized in that the resist is cured, the resist is cured, and then cleaned with an organic solvent. 2. A substrate end face cleaning device for cleaning the peripheral portion of the end face of a substrate coated with a resist with an organic solvent, a cleaning nozzle for cleaning with an organic solvent, and a side relatively ahead of the cleaning nozzle with respect to the substrate. And a gas blowing nozzle that blows a heated gas body onto the resist in the peripheral portion of the end surface of the portion to be cleaned of the substrate, the substrate end surface cleaning apparatus.