JPH084771B2 - Coating device and coating method using the same - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Industrial field of application] The present invention relates to a coating apparatus for storing a material to be coated in a processing container and applying the coating material while rotating the material to be coated, for example,
The present invention relates to a coating apparatus for coating a resist on a wafer in a semiconductor manufacturing apparatus and a coating method using the coating apparatus.

[Conventional technology]

In semiconductor manufacturing equipment, when applying a resist on a wafer, the wafer is placed and fixed on a rotatable spin head placed inside the processing container, and the resist solution is supplied to the wafer surface while rotating the wafer. Then, the resist coating process is performed (Japanese Patent Publication No. 53-37189).

On the other hand, in recent years, in order to increase the number of chips that can be formed on one wafer, there is an increasing demand to use a larger diameter wafer such as an 8-inch wafer in place of the conventional 6-inch wafer that has been the mainstream. Alternatively, there is also a demand for the use of a rectangular wafer, which should be compatible with a liquid crystal screen and can efficiently secure chips.

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention]

Generally, in order to thinly and uniformly coat a large-diameter wafer with a resist, it has been considered to change the viscosity of the coating material or to increase the rotation speed of the coating material.

The only way to meet the above demands on the coating apparatus side was to increase the rotation speed of the material to be coated, but if the rotation speed was increased, the rotation speed (tangential speed ) Is very different. When the speed of the peripheral portion of the wafer, which has a large speed difference from the surrounding space, exceeds a predetermined value, evaporation of the solvent as the coating material is promoted, and the uniformity of resist coating on the peripheral portion is rather deteriorated. Was confirmed by the present inventors.

As described above, when applying a resist to a large-diameter wafer, the resist application range is naturally limited only by dealing with the number of rotations of the wafer, and it is possible to reliably perform the resist on a large-diameter wafer such as an 8-inch wafer. could not.

By the way, according to Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 61-194829, there is proposed a technique for forcibly introducing a vapor flow of a solvent into the processing container in order to stabilize the quality of a coating film. It has been confirmed by the present inventors that the above resist cannot be reliably performed.

Here, JP-A-51-39737 and JP-A-60-14387.
Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication (Kokai) 1 discloses a technique in which a processing container in which a wafer is placed is rotationally driven in the same direction as the wafer. According to these techniques, the evaporation of the solvent on the wafer can be suppressed, and the uniformity of the resist coating can be improved at the peripheral portion of the wafer.

By the way, as disclosed in the above publications,
When the processing container itself in which the wafer is placed is driven to rotate together with the wafer, it is difficult to provide the coating apparatus itself with a structure for placing the wafer in the processing container. This is because, as disclosed in each of the above publications, the turntable that supports the wafer in the processing container or the spin chuck itself is fixed to the processing container. JP-A-51-39737 and JP-A-60
No. 143871 does not disclose a method of mounting a wafer on a turntable or a spin chuck integrated with a processing container.

Further, in the case where the periphery of the wafer is surrounded by the upper cup and the lower cup, in order to drive the lower cup to rotate,
A special structure must be adopted for the upper cup support structure. This is because the lower cup must be driven to rotate together with the upper cup, and must be in close contact with the upper cup.

Therefore, the object of the present invention is to integrally rotate the processing container in which the material to be coated is placed together with the material to be coated,
While enhancing the uniformity of coating, the material to be coated can be easily placed in the rotating processing container, and the driving, driven and closely contacting of the first and second containers constituting the processing container can be efficiently performed. An object of the present invention is to provide a coating device that can be well performed and a coating method using the coating device.

[Means for solving the problem]

The invention according to claim 1 is a coating apparatus having a coating material rotation driving means, which encloses a supply means for supplying the coating material to the coating material (4) and a lower side and a lateral side of the coating material. A container main body (12) having an opening at the center of the bottom, a lid body (11) that can be moved up and down in close contact with the container main body, a shaft part inserted through the opening, and an upper end of the shaft part. And a holding means (31) for holding the material to be coated on the holding portion, and the container body and the holding portion are moved up and down relatively,
First elevating and lowering driving means (33) for arranging the material to be coated held by the holding portion in the container body, and means for driving the container body to rotate in the same direction as the rotation direction of the material to be coated ( 40) and a guide means (10A, 13, 14) for rotationally guiding the lid body while pressing the lid body against the rotated container body to maintain a close contact state between the lid body and the container body. , 15,16,1
7,18) and

The invention of claim 2 is the first invention of claim 1.
In the above paragraph, the coating material rotation driving means is configured by providing a vacuum suction section (30) for receiving the coating material from the holding section and vacuum-sucking the coating material in the container body, wherein the coating material is a vacuum vacuum. It is characterized in that it is vacuum-adsorbed on the adsorption unit and is rotationally driven.

The invention of Claim 3 is the same as Claim 1
In the above paragraph, the coated material rotation driving means includes a motor (32) for rotating the holding means while holding the coated material on the holding portion.

The invention of claim 4 is the first aspect of the invention.
In any one of items 1 to 3, the guide means is a driven guide member (10A, 13A) that rotatably supports the lid body.
A, 18) and a second elevating and lowering drive means (14) for elevating and lowering the driven guide member.

The invention of claim 5 is the invention of claim 4
In the paragraph, the supply unit includes a supply nozzle that supplies the coating material to the coating target material, an upper position of the container body formed by vertically separating the lid body and the container body, and the lid body. And a moving means for moving the supply nozzle between the retracted position and the retracted position.

The invention of claim 6 is the first aspect of the invention.
In any one of the items 1 to 4, the supply unit is supported by the lid.

The invention of claim 7 is the same as claim 5
Item 5 or Item 6 is characterized in that the supply unit drops the coating material toward substantially the center of the coating target material arranged in the container body.

The invention of claim 8 has a container body (12) having an opening formed in the center and surrounding the material to be coated (4) below and to the side, and a lid body that is in close contact with the container body. (11), a holding means (31) having a shaft portion extending upward through the opening and a holding portion formed at the upper end of the shaft portion, and a coating material rotation driving means, Then, in forming a coating film on the material to be coated, a step of disposing the holding portion above the container body and holding the material to be coated in the holding portion, the step of being held by the holding portion A step of supplying the coating material onto the coating material, and a step of moving up and down the holding part holding the coating material and the container body relatively, and arranging the coating material in the container body. And the lid body and the container body are brought into close contact with each other, and the periphery of the material to be coated is covered with the lid body and the container body. A step of enclosing with the main body, the container body is rotationally driven, and the lid body is driven to rotate so that the container body and the lid body are rotated in the same direction as the rotation direction of the coated material, And a spin coating step of forming a coating film on the material to be coated.

[Action]

In the present invention, since the processing container is rotating in the same direction as the material to be coated, the relative speed difference is small (the relative speed difference is zero at the same number of rotations), and the material having a large diameter is coated. Even in this case, the evaporation at the peripheral portion is suppressed, and the application of the coating material can be reliably performed in the desired area.

Further, since the amount of evaporation can be reduced, there is also an effect that the amount of the coating material to be dropped on the material to be coated can be reflectively reduced.

Further, according to the present invention, the opening is provided at the center of the bottom portion of the container body that is rotationally driven. Further, a shaft portion extending upward through the opening and a holding means having a holding portion at the upper end of the shaft portion are provided. Therefore, first, in order to arrange the material to be coated in the container body, the holding portion can be arranged at a position above the container body, and the material to be coated can be held on the holding portion. After that, the holding means holding the material to be coated and the container body are moved up and down relatively, so that the material to be coated can be arranged in the container body. After that, the lid body is pressed toward the container body side, and the space around the material to be coated is closed. Then, by rotationally driving the container body, the spin coating process is performed while the lid body is guided and rotated.

〔Example〕

Hereinafter, the present invention will be specifically described with reference to the illustrated embodiments.

 The drawing is a cross-sectional view of an example device.

In this figure, the apparatus of this embodiment has a lower base 1, an upper base 2 and columns 3 for fixing both bases 1 and 2 in parallel with each other as a basic framework.

A processing container 10 for mounting and fixing a wafer 4, which is an example of a material to be coated, is composed of first and second containers 11 and 12 that are closed during coating and are separable except during coating.

The first container 11 as a lid arranged on the upper side is supported by the movable plate 13 via the mounting bases 10A and 13A, and can be raised to the position shown by the chain double-dashed line in FIG. The movable plate 13 is connected to a shaft 15 of an elevating and lowering driving unit 14 which is a second elevating and lowering driving means fixed to the upper base 2, and has one end of a guide shaft 16 fixed thereto and the other end side thereof being the upper side. By being slidably supported by the guide member 17 provided on the base 2, the above-mentioned vertical movement is possible.
The mounting bases 10A and 13A are rotatable with respect to each other via a bearing 18. This mounting base 10A,
The driven guide member that rotatably supports the first container 11 is configured by the 13A and the bearing 18. A packing 19 is provided on the peripheral portion of the first container 11 so that the airtightness of the processing container 10 can be ensured.

The second container 12, which is the lower container main body, is supported by the rotation drive mechanism section 40 as the first rotation drive means or the container rotation drive means having the following configuration. That is,
A support base 20 is fixed to the lower base 1 and
A rotation block 22 that is a driven shaft that is rotatable around 20 via a bearing 21 is provided. The second container 12 is fixed to the rotation block 22 so that it can rotate integrally. A first pulley 23 is fixed around the rotating block 22.

On the other hand, a second motor 24 is arranged on the lower base 1, and a second pulley 26 is fixed around the output shaft 25 which is a rotary drive shaft. And the first and second pulleys
By suspending the belt 27, which is a tension member, between the members 23 and 26, the rotational force of the second motor 24 is transmitted to the rotary block 22. As described above, since the rotational power from the second motor 24 is transmitted to the second container 12 side via the belt 27 which is a tension member, the second motor 24 side It is possible to reduce the transfer of the generated heat to the second container 12 side. As a result, it is possible to prevent a change in the coating environment temperature that affects the coating characteristics.

In the central area of the second container 12, the second container 12
A hollow disk-shaped vacuum suction portion 30 which protrudes from the inner surface of the substrate and functions as a contact portion is provided so that the wafer 4 placed in the processing container 10 can be vacuum-sucked. Since the vacuum suction unit 30 is fixed to the second container 12 with screws or the like, it can be rotated integrally with the second container 12. A spin chuck 31 as a holding means is arranged inside the vacuum suction unit 30. The spin chuck 31 has a shaft portion that is inserted into a hole 20A that forms a hollow portion that is bored in the center of the support table 20, and the shaft portion is supported by the lower base 1 so as to be vertically movable. One motor 32 is connected. The hole 20A is opened inside the vacuum suction portion 30 of the second container 12. Spin chuck
Reference numeral 31 has a holding portion capable of holding the wafer 4 on the upper end side of the shaft portion extending upward through this opening, and in this embodiment, this holding portion is configured as a vacuum suction portion. The lower base 1 is provided with an elevating / lowering drive unit 33 and guide shafts 34 fixed to both sides of a first motor 32, and one of a support frame 35 for supporting the first motor 32 is a first elevating / lowering drive means. It is fixed to the elevating shaft 33A of the elevating drive unit 33, and the other is slidably supported along the guide shaft 34 via a bearing 36. As a result, the spin chuck 31 can move up and down and can rotate. In addition, a compressor (not shown) is connected to the spin chuck 31 so that the wafer 4 can be vacuum-sucked. Further, in order to enable the suction at the vacuum suction portion 30, the negative chuck that is inserted into the vacuum suction portion 30 is used. Also serves as a pressure path.

Although the coating material dropping portion is not shown in the apparatus of this embodiment, this dropping portion is located above the wafer 4 when the first container 11 is raised to the position shown by the chain double-dashed line in FIG. Move
Here, a predetermined amount of the coating material (resist material in this embodiment) is dropped onto the central portion of the wafer 4, and thereafter, the coating material is moved back to the initial position.

The operation of the embodiment apparatus configured as described above will be described.

First, the elevating and lowering drive unit 14 is driven to raise the first container 11 to the position shown by the chain double-dashed line in the figure, and with the processing container 10 opened, the wafer 4 is set and the resist material is dropped by the dropping unit. Are performed sequentially. After that, the first container 11 is lowered by the driving of the elevating / lowering drive unit 14, and the first and second containers 11 and 1
The processing container 10 is closed by 2.

Next, the compressor is driven as shown in the figure, and the vacuum suction unit 30 can be suctioned via the spin chuck 31, and the wafer 4 is suctioned by the vacuum suction unit 30 as shown in the drawing (in this state, the spin chuck 30). Reference numeral 31 stands by at a position lower than the suction surface of the vacuum suction unit 30 as shown in the figure). The spin chuck 31 is not in contact with the back surface of the wafer 4, but the area between the wafer 4 and the spin chuck 31 is sealed by the wafer 4 and the vacuum suction unit 30 being in close contact with each other. It is possible to bring the wafer 4 into close contact with the second container 12 side by setting a negative pressure in the region. After this,
The second rotation speed is determined by the set diameter of the wafer 4, the viscosity of the resist material, the film thickness to be applied, and other characteristics.
The motor 24 of is driven. Then, this second motor
The rotational force of 24 is output shaft 25, second pulley 26, belt 27, first
It is transmitted to the rotary block 22 via the pulley 23, and the rotary block 22 rotates.

When the rotation block 22 is rotated, the rotation block 22
The second container 12 and the vacuum suction unit 30 that are fixedly attached to each other rotate together. In addition, the first container 11 is
Since it is pressed against the second container 12 by the elevating / lowering drive unit 14 and is rotatable via the bearing 18,
It will rotate together with the second container 12.

As a result, the wafer 4 and the processing container 10, which are vacuum-sucked by the vacuum suction unit 30, rotate integrally, and the peripheral space inside the processing container 10 rotates together with the wafer 4 at the same speed and in the same direction. .

Here, the main reason why the resist material cannot be surely applied to the peripheral portion of the large-diameter wafer 4 as compared with the conventional one is that the speed difference between the peripheral portion of the wafer 4 and its surrounding space when the wafer 4 is rotated at a high speed. Is significantly increased. According to the apparatus of this embodiment, since the wafer 4 and the surrounding space thereof are integrally rotated as described above, the speed difference becomes zero, and the evaporation of the resist material at the peripheral portion of the wafer 4 is suppressed. Therefore, even if the wafer 4 has a large diameter, it is possible to reliably apply the resist material to the peripheral portion thereof.
In this spin coating step, the excess resist material on the wafer 4 wraps around from the peripheral edge of the wafer to the back surface side, and the back surface of the wafer 4 is contaminated. However, in this embodiment, due to the existence of the vacuum suction unit 30, the resist material is
It is prevented from scattering inward in the radial direction of 30.

After performing the coating operation for a predetermined time, the second motor
The drive of 24 is stopped and the elevating drive unit 14 is driven to drive the first container.
11 is raised to the position shown by the chain double-dashed line in the figure, and the processing container 10 is released. After that, the elevating and lowering drive unit 33 attached to the lower base 1 is driven to raise the first motor 36 to raise the spin chuck 31 while adsorbing the wafer 4, thereby moving the wafer 4 from the processing container 10. It is taken out and set at the position indicated by the two-dot chain line in the figure. In this state, a cleaning device (not shown) for cleaning the back surface of the wafer 4 is set to move to the back surface side of the wafer 4, and the first motor 36 is driven to rotate the wafer 4 to perform back surface cleaning. , The subsequent processing steps will be performed. In this back surface cleaning step, the wafer 4 is held only by the spin chuck 31. This spin chuck
The back surface holding position of the wafer 4 by 31 is inside the support position of the wafer 4 at the time of the above-described spin coating (support position by the vacuum suction unit 30). Therefore, in this back surface cleaning step, the position held by the vacuum suction unit 30 during the spin coating is exposed, and it is possible to remove the resist material that has entered this region during the spin coating. As a result, when the wafer 4 is subsequently transferred or processed in the next step, the resist material attached to the back surface of the wafer 4 causes
It is possible to prevent the transfer arm and the susceptor from being contaminated.

Although one embodiment of the present invention has been described above, the present invention is not limited to the above embodiment, and various modifications can be made within the scope of the gist of the present invention.

In the above-mentioned embodiment, a so-called nozzle scan system is adopted which can move and scan the inside and outside of the upper region of the wafer 4 as the lower part of the coating material. Instead of this, it is also possible to adopt a fixing method in which the dropping portion is fixed to the central portion of the first container 11.

Further, in the above embodiment, the conventional spin chuck 31
In addition, since the vacuum suction unit 30 is rotatably provided together with the second container 12 and also serves as the rotation driving mechanism for the processing container 10 and the wafer 4, the rotation speeds of the surrounding space and the wafer 4 are the same. However, the configuration is not necessarily limited to this. For example, without providing the vacuum suction unit 30, the processing container 10
The suction and rotation of the wafer 4 inside may be performed by the spin chuck 31. In this case, it would be difficult to make the rotational speed of the surrounding space physically the same as that of the driving source, but at least the relative speed difference is greatly reduced as compared with the conventional one, so that the same The effects of the invention can be achieved.

Further, although the rotary drive mechanism 40 of the processing container 10 is based on the pulley and belt system in the above embodiment, it is needless to say that it can be replaced with various other rotary drive means. further,
The coating apparatus to which the present invention is applied is not limited to resist coating on a semiconductor wafer, but can be applied to various coating apparatuses such as resist coating on a mask, and in particular, it is possible to coat every corner of a material to be coated. Therefore, it is possible to exert an excellent effect even when applied to a rectangular wafer such as a liquid crystal screen.

〔The invention's effect〕

As described above, according to the present invention, the container body is rotated and driven, and the lid body is guided while maintaining a close contact with the container body, thereby making the processing container surrounding the material to be coated with the material to be coated. Appropriate coating characteristics can be obtained by rotationally driving in the same direction, and the material to be coated can be easily carried in and out of the processing container by the holding means that is relatively movable independently of the processing container. A highly practical coating device and a coating method using the same can be provided.

[Brief description of drawings]

 The drawing is a schematic sectional view of an apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. 4 ... Material to be coated 10 ... Processing container 11 ... First container 12 ... Second container 14 ... Second rotation drive means 30 ... Vacuum suction part (contact part) 31 ... Spin chuck (Holding means) 40 ... First rotation driving means

Continued Front Page (72) Inventor Omori Den, Tokyo Electron Co., Ltd., 1-226-2 Nishishinjuku, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo (56) Reference JP-A-51-39737 (JP, A) (JP, U) Japanese Patent Sho 60-143871 (JP, B2)

Claims (8)

[Claims] 1. A coating apparatus having a coating material rotation driving means, supplying means for feeding a coating material to a coating material (4), and surrounding the lower and lateral sides of the coating material, and opening at the center of the bottom. A container body (12), a lid body (11) that can be moved up and down in close contact with the container body, a shaft portion that is inserted into the opening, and a holding portion that is formed at an upper end of the shaft portion. Then, holding means (31) for holding the material to be coated on the holding portion, and the container body and the holding portion are relatively moved up and down, the material to be coated held in the holding portion First raising / lowering drive means (33) arranged in the container body, means (40) for rotationally driving the container body in the same direction as the rotation direction of the material to be coated, and for the container body to be rotated While pressing the lid to maintain the close contact between the lid and the container body, rotate the lid. Guide means which is driven guide (10A, 13,14,15,16,17,1
8) and a coating device characterized by having. 2. The coating material rotation driving means according to claim 1, wherein the container body is provided with a vacuum suction section (30) for receiving the coating material from the holding section and vacuum-sucking it. A coating device, wherein the coating material is vacuum-sucked onto the vacuum suction portion and is driven to rotate. 3. The coating material rotation driving means according to claim 1, further comprising a motor (32) for rotating the holding means while holding the coating material on the holding portion. A coating device characterized by. 4. The driven guide member (10A, 13A, 13A, 13A, 13A, 13A, 13A, 13A, 13A, 13A, 13A, 13A, 13A, 13A, 13A, 13A, and 13B according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the guide means rotatably supports the lid body.
18) and a second elevating and lowering drive means (14) for elevating and lowering the driven guide member, and a coating apparatus. 5. The supply unit according to claim 4, wherein the supply nozzle is configured to vertically separate the supply nozzle that supplies the coating material to the coating target material, the lid body, and the container body. A coating device comprising: a moving unit that moves the supply nozzle between an upper position of the container body and a retracted position that avoids an up-and-down path of the lid. 6. The coating apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the supply unit is supported by the lid. 7. The supplying device according to claim 5 or 6, wherein the supplying means drips the coating material toward substantially the center of the coating material arranged in the container body. Characteristic coating device. 8. A container body (12) having an opening formed in the center and enclosing the material to be coated (4) below and laterally, a lid body (11) that is in close contact with the container body, and the opening. A holding means (31) having a shaft portion extending upward through a holding portion formed at the upper end of the shaft portion, and a coating material rotation driving means, In forming a coating film on, the step of disposing the holding portion at a position above the container body, and holding the material to be coated in the holding portion, and on the material to be coated held in the holding portion A step of supplying a coating material; a step of moving the holding part held by the coating material and the container main body relative to each other to dispose the coating material in the container main body; A process in which the main body is brought into close contact and the periphery of the coated material is surrounded by the lid and the container main body. And the container body is driven to rotate and the lid body is driven to rotate so that the container body and the lid body are rotated in the same direction as the rotation direction of the coating material, and the coating material is coated with the coating material. A spin coating step of forming a coating film on a material, and a coating method.