JPH09160255A - Tight adhesion intensifying device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To prevent a tight adhesion intensifying agent from leaking outside in carrying in or out of a substrate. SOLUTION: A discharge pipeline 7 is mounted at the rear surface of a chamber body 2 of the tight adhesion intensifying device 1 and an aspirator 8 is disposed in mid-way of this discharge pipeline 7. A control section 9 drives this aspirator 8 to have a discharge operation executed when a hermetic closing cap 5 is opened in carrying in and out of the substrate 10, thereby preventing the HMDS(hexamethyl disilazane) remaining in a chamber space 13 from leaking to the circumference. The discharge operation is kept continued while the hermetic closing cap 5 is held open.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an adhesion strengthening apparatus that performs a process for strengthening the adhesion between a substrate and a resist.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, progress in miniaturization technology has been strongly desired in order to further promote high integration of semiconductor devices. In forming a fine pattern, improving the resolution of the exposure process is an essential element. For this reason, in recent exposure processes, a KrF excimer laser having a shorter wavelength than the i-line of a conventional mercury lamp has come to be used.

However, since the KrF excimer laser has a short wavelength and a small illuminance, a conventional resist cannot obtain sufficient sensitivity. Therefore, a chemically amplified resist having high sensitivity has been newly developed. The chemically amplified resist is composed of three kinds of base resin, acid generator and solvent. When receiving the KrF excimer laser light, an acid is generated from the acid generator, and the acid reacts with the base resin to form a resist pattern.

[0004]

However, in a chemically amplified resist having high sensitivity, there is a problem that the chemical catalytic reaction of the resist is stopped when exposed to an alkaline component in the atmosphere.

An adhesion strengthening device is a source for generating an alkaline component in the atmosphere. Normally, the surface of the wafer (substrate) is hydrophilic, and the adhesion between the wafer and the resist formed on the substrate is poor, and the resist pattern may peel off. Therefore, before applying the resist on the substrate, the adhesion enhancing process is performed on the surface of the substrate using the adhesion enhancing device.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram of a conventional pressure-reducing and sealing type adhesion strengthening device. The adhesion strengthening device 20 includes a chamber body 21 and a sealing lid 24. The sealing lid 24 is configured to be openable and closable.

During the adhesion strengthening process, the sealing lid 24 is closed and the inside thereof is depressurized. The substrate 26 is the substrate holder 22.
HMDS (hexamethyldisilazane) 28 as an adhesion enhancer is supplied to the surface of the substrate 26 from a supply pipe line 25 which is held above and connected to the sealing lid 24. When the supply of the HMDS 28 is completed, the atmosphere inside the sealing lid 24 is replaced with an inert gas, and then the sealing lid 24 is opened to open the substrate 2
The carry-out operation of 6 and the carry-in operation of a new substrate are performed.

However, even if the HMDS 28 is replaced with an inert gas, the HMD is still present in the atmosphere inside the sealing lid 24.
Part of S28 remains. Therefore, when the sealing lid 24 is opened when the substrate 26 is carried out, the remaining HMDS 28 leaks to the outside. By the way, HMDS28 has a property of generating ammonia (alkali component) when it comes into contact with water. Therefore, when the HMDS 28 leaking to the outside comes into contact with the outside air, it reacts with the moisture in the air to generate ammonia. Therefore, the ammonia 27 is diffused from the periphery of the adhesion strengthening device into the outside atmosphere.

For example, in a general substrate processing apparatus, a substrate heating device (hot plate) is provided near the adhesion strengthening device 20.
Is arranged. The substrate heating device is a device that heats a substrate on which a chemically amplified resist film has been exposed. The substrate conveyed to the substrate heating device passes near the adhesion strengthening device. Therefore, the chemically amplified resist film after exposure is exposed to the ammonia component generated from the adhesion strengthening device. The ammonia component neutralizes the acid generated in the chemically amplified resist film by exposure. Therefore, there arises a problem that the exposure pattern disappears and the exposure accuracy is impaired.

The ammonia component diffused in the air is not limited to the chemically amplified resist film after exposure, but the chemically amplified resist solution discharged from the nozzle of the spin coater,
Even when it comes into contact with the resist film spin-coated on the substrate, it causes a problem that the photosensitivity of the chemically amplified resist is lowered.

An object of the present invention is to provide an adhesion strengthening device which does not leak the adhesion strengthening agent into the outside atmosphere when the substrate is loaded or unloaded.

[0012]

[Means for Solving the Problems and Effects of the Invention] An adhesion strengthening device according to the first invention holds a substrate inside a closed container having a container body and a lid provided so as to be openable and closable with respect to the container body. Then, in the adhesion strengthening device for applying the adhesion strengthening agent on the substrate, the exhaust means for exhausting the inside of the closed container and the exhaust means are operated when the lid is opened to exhaust the inside of the closed container. And an exhaust operation control means for controlling the exhaust operation.

According to a second aspect of the invention, there is provided the adhesion enhancing device according to the first aspect of the present invention, wherein the exhaust means is an aspirator. In the adhesion enhancing device according to the first and second aspects of the present invention, the gas in the closed container is exhausted to the outside because the exhaust means is operated when the lid is opened. Therefore, even if the lid is opened, the inside of the closed container is kept at a lower pressure than the outside atmosphere. Therefore, the outside air is sucked toward the inside of the closed container and further discharged to the outside by the exhaust means. Also,
The adhesion enhancer remaining inside the closed container is also sucked into the exhaust means and discharged outside without leaking to the outside of the closed container. Therefore, even if the adhesion enhancer comes into contact with the surrounding air to generate an alkaline component, the alkaline component is exhausted to the outside by the exhaust means.

Therefore, it is possible to prevent the alkaline component from leaking into the atmosphere around the adhesion strengthening device and prevent the chemically amplified resist film on the substrate transported near the adhesion strengthening device from being adversely affected. You can

Particularly, in the adhesion strengthening device according to the second aspect of the invention, the exhaust operation is performed by the aspirator.
Since the aspirator does not have a structure for directly sucking, unlike the vacuum pump, even if the HMDS is sucked, the exhaust operation can be performed without causing any inconvenience.

[0016]

1 is a sectional structural view of an adhesion strengthening device according to an embodiment of the present invention. This adhesion strengthening device 1
Is a vacuum-tight type device, and includes a chamber body 2 and a sealing lid 5 that covers the chamber body 2 from above.

A substrate holder 3 is provided inside the chamber body 2.
Is arranged. A mounting surface for holding the substrate 10 is formed on the upper surface of the substrate holding table 3. Further, the mounting surface is provided with a plurality of substrate support pins 4 that vertically move up and down when the substrate 10 is loaded and unloaded. An exhaust pipe line 7 is connected to the bottom surface of the chamber body 2.

An aspirator 8 is provided in the middle of the exhaust pipe line 7. The aspirator 8 is provided to exhaust the inside of the closed lid 5 through the exhaust pipe line 7. The aspirator 8 has a gas blowing nozzle inserted inside the exhaust pipe line 7. During operation, the gas is jetted at high speed from the gas blowing nozzle toward the downstream side of the exhaust pipe line 7. When the gas is ejected, the inside of the exhaust pipe line 7 on the downstream side of the aspirator 8 becomes negative pressure. As a result, the gas on the upstream side of the exhaust pipe line 7 is sucked to the downstream side and exhausted.

The suction operation of the aspirator 8 is controlled by the controller 9. The control operation of the control unit 9 will be described later. The sealing lid 5 is provided so as to be vertically movable. A supply line 6 is connected to the central portion of the sealing lid 5. The supply pipeline 6 supplies HMDS, which is an adhesion enhancer, and an inert gas (N ₂ gas) into the chamber space 13.

Here, the aspirator 8 of this embodiment constitutes the exhaust means of the present invention, and the control section 9 constitutes the exhaust operation control means. Next, the operation of the adhesion enhancing device 1 having the above configuration will be described. FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a pressure history in the chamber space in each processing step of the adhesion enhancing device 1, and FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram showing an operation state of the adhesion enhancing device 1 in each processing step.

First, the substrate 1 is placed on the upper surface of the substrate holder 3.
0 is placed and the sealing lid 5 is closed. Then, the controller 9 drives the aspirator 8 to evacuate the chamber space 13 as shown in FIG. 2 (step S
1).

Next, as shown in FIGS. 2 and 3 (a), the controller 9 stops the aspirator 8 and
The exhaust pipe line 7 is cut off. In this state, the HMDS 11 is placed in the chamber space 13 from the supply line 6 of the sealing lid 5 to the substrate 1.
0 surface. This supply period is, for example, several tens.
It is about a second (step S2).

Further, as shown in FIGS. 2 and 3B, the control unit 9 drives the aspirator 8 to discharge the atmospheric gas 14 in the chamber space 13 from the exhaust pipe line 7. At the same time, the inert gas 12 is supplied from the supply pipeline 6 into the chamber space 13, and the inside of the chamber space 13 is replaced with the inert gas 12. At this time, most of the HMDS 11 in the chamber space 13 is discharged to the outside from the exhaust pipe line 7 (step S3).

Further, as shown in FIGS. 2 and 3 (c), the control section 9 stops the aspirator 8 and
The exhaust line 7 is closed. The inert gas 12 is continuously supplied from the supply pipeline 6. As a result, the inert gas 12 fills the chamber space 13 and returns to normal pressure (step S4).

Through the above steps, the adhesion strengthening process for the substrate 10 is completed. Next, the operation of unloading the substrate 10 is performed. As shown in FIG. 2 and FIG. 3D, the supply line 6
Is closed, the lid 5 is raised, and the substrate support pins 4 are raised to move the substrate 10 above the substrate holder 3. Simultaneously with the raising of the sealing lid 5, the control unit 9 drives the aspirator 8 to start the exhaust operation through the exhaust pipe line 7.

When the exhaust operation is started, the atmospheric gas in the vicinity of the suction port of the exhaust pipe line 7 is sucked and discharged to the outside through the exhaust pipe line 7. Thereby, in the chamber space 13, even if the sealing lid 5 is opened, it is possible to maintain a low pressure state as compared with the external atmosphere.

Therefore, the HMDS 11 is discharged through the exhaust pipe line 7 without leaking from the chamber space 13 to the outside even if it remains in the chamber space 13. Further, even if the air sucked from the outside reacts with the HMDS 11 remaining in the chamber space 13 to generate ammonia in the chamber space 13, most of the generated ammonia is sucked by the aspirator 8 and the exhaust pipe line. 7 is discharged to the outside.

Therefore, it is possible to solve the conventional problem that ammonia generated in the adhesion strengthening apparatus 1 comes into contact with the chemically amplified resist on the substrate and exerts an adverse effect.

The exhaust operation from the exhaust pipe 7 is carried out until the substrate 10 is carried out, a new substrate is carried in, and the substrate 10 is held by the substrate holding table 3. That is, the exhaust operation is performed while the sealing lid 5 is open.

As described above, the adhesion strengthening apparatus 1 according to the above-described embodiment is a pressure-reducing closed-type apparatus, and the evacuation operation when loading and unloading the substrate 10 is performed by the decompression mechanism (exhaust) for applying the HMDS 11 under reduced pressure. Pipe line 7 and aspirator 8
Etc.). However, the substrate 10
The exhaust pipe line and the aspirator for performing the exhaust operation at the time of carrying in and out may be provided separately from the decompression mechanism for supplying the HMDS 11. Further, in the adhesion strengthening device other than the pressure-reduced airtight type, the exhaust pipe line 7, the aspirator 8 and the control unit 9 described in the above embodiment may be newly provided.

Further, the exhaust means is not limited to the aspirator 8 described in the above embodiment, but other suction device may be used.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional structural diagram of an adhesion enhancing device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a history diagram of pressure in a chamber space in a treatment process of the adhesion strengthening device.

FIG. 3 is an operation explanatory view in each processing step of the adhesion enhancing device.

FIG. 4 is a configuration diagram of a conventional adhesion strengthening device.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Adhesion Strengthening Device 2 Chamber Main Body 3 Substrate Holding Table 5 Sealing Lid 7 Exhaust Pipeline 8 Aspirator 9 Controller 10 Substrate 11 HMDS

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. An adhesion strengthening device for holding a substrate inside a closed container having a container body and a lid provided to be openable and closable with respect to the container body and applying an adhesion enhancer onto the substrate, An exhaust operation unit for exhausting the inside of the closed container; and an exhaust operation control unit for operating the exhaust unit to exhaust the inside of the closed container when the lid is opened. Adhesion strengthening device. 2. The adhesion strengthening device according to claim 1, wherein the exhaust means is an aspirator.