JPH10100068A - Wafer both surfaces washing and drying device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To wash and dry both surfaces of a wafer at a time. SOLUTION: A chuck device 21 furnishing rollers 30, 31, 32, and 33 rotating by holding the outer peripheral ends of a wafer W; a chuck switching device 22 to open and close the chuck device 21 to connect and disconnect the wafer W to the rollers; a rotary brush device 23 provided movable forward and rearward in order to hold both surfaces of the wafer W; and a washing water and air injection device 24 which is provided movable forward and rearward to hold both surfaces of the wafer, and feeds a washing water on both surfaces of the wafer in the washing time, while feeding the air on both surfaces of the wafer after the washing; are provided. Since there is no contacting article on the both surfaces of the wafer W except for brushes 46 and 47, no dirt is attached on the washed surface, and the yield rate of the wafer is made higher.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a method for cleaning and drying both surfaces of a wafer after polishing the wafer formed of a silicon semiconductor material or a compound semiconductor material such as gallium arsenide, gallium phosphide or indium phosphide. It relates to a washing / drying device.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art With the remarkable development of electronics technology in recent years, various semiconductor devices have been used in many electronic devices. 2. Description of the Related Art A semiconductor device is manufactured based on a material obtained by crystallizing a semiconductor material such as silicon into a column shape and slicing the same into a thin disk shape called a wafer. Since a very high degree of flatness is required for the wafer, it is mirror-finished by mechanical polishing (such as surface grinding or lapping). The wafer after mechanical polishing is washed with pure water, air-dried, and then housed in a wafer cassette for shipment.

[0003]

However, since the conventional cleaning and drying of the wafer is performed only on one side of the wafer, the side that has not been cleaned is not sufficiently clean. The dirt may be transferred to a part of the apparatus, and the dirt may be re-transferred to the wafer, which is one of the causes for deteriorating the quality of the wafer. An object of the present invention is to solve such a conventional problem, and an object of the present invention is to provide a wafer double-side cleaning / drying apparatus capable of cleaning and drying both sides of a wafer.

[0004]

According to the present invention, in order to achieve the above object, the outer peripheral end surface of a polished wafer is supported and rotated by rollers, and cleaning water is supplied by sandwiching both surfaces of the wafer with a rotating brush. After cleaning, the wafer is dried by blowing air.

[0005]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The invention according to claim 1 of the present invention is characterized in that the chuck means provided with a roller which rotates while holding the outer peripheral end face of the wafer, and the chuck means for attaching and detaching the wafer to and from the roller. Means for opening and closing, rotating brush means provided so as to be able to advance and retreat so as to sandwich both surfaces of the wafer held by the chuck means, and means which is capable of being advanced and retractable so as to sandwich both sides of the wafer held by the chuck means ,
A cleaning / drying apparatus for both sides of a wafer, which is provided with cleaning water / air jetting means for supplying cleaning water to both sides of the wafer during cleaning and supplying air to both sides of the wafer after cleaning, and is capable of cleaning and drying both sides of the wafer. Since there is nothing other than the brush on both sides of the wafer, there is no contamination on both sides of the wafer, and the yield of the wafer can be increased.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided a means for sucking a wafer, transferring the wafer to a chuck means, releasing the wafer just above the chuck means, and holding and cleaning the wafer after cleaning and drying. 2. The apparatus for cleaning and drying a wafer on both sides according to claim 1, further comprising means for transferring the wafer from the means to the next step and detaching the wafer in the next step. Can be done.

[0007]

An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a schematic plan view of a wafer manufacturing apparatus provided with a wafer double-side cleaning / drying apparatus according to one embodiment of the present invention. In FIG. 1, reference numeral 1 denotes a grinding device, which performs a surface grinding of a wafer W adsorbed on a rotary table 2 with a rotary grindstone 3 to finish it to a mirror surface. When the grinding is completed, the indexing device 4 is rotated by 180 degrees to remove the unground wafer W from the rotating grindstone 3.
, And the ground wafer W is positioned below the arm 6 of the transfer robot 5. The arm 6 of the transfer robot 5 sucks the wafer W, moves up, then rotates, transfers the wafer W to a position above the chuck 8 of the double-sided cleaning / drying apparatus 7, and moves down. The chuck 8 of the double-sided cleaning / drying device 7 can be opened and closed. After receiving the wafer W in an open state, the chuck 8 is closed and the outer peripheral end surface of the wafer W is held by four rollers 9. The transfer robot 5 releases the suction on the wafer W and returns to the original position. The double-sided cleaning / drying device 7 cleans and dries both sides of the wafer W with the rotating brush 10 and the cleaning water / air nozzle 11 while rotating the wafer W with the four rollers 9. Thereafter, when the wafer support table 12 is raised to support the wafer W, the chuck 8 is opened and the arm 14 of the transfer robot 13 picks up and holds the wafer W from below, and carries the wafer W to the conveyor belt 15,
The wafer is accommodated in the wafer cassette 16 by the conveyor belt 15.

Next, referring to FIG.
The details of the drying device 7 will be described. FIG. 2 is a schematic front view of the device, and FIG. 3 is a schematic plan view of the device. 4 is a schematic sectional view of a rotary brush device in the device, FIG. 5 is a schematic sectional view of a cleaning water / air injection device in the device, and FIG. 6 is a schematic sectional view of a wafer support device in the device.

2 and 3, reference numeral 21 denotes a wafer W
Chuck device for holding the chuck, 22 is the chuck device 2
, A chuck opening / closing device for opening / closing wafer 1;
A rotating brush device for cleaning both surfaces of the wafer W, a cleaning water / air jet device for supplying cleaning water to both surfaces of the wafer W and supplying air after cleaning, and a cleaning device 25 for drying the wafer W after drying This is a wafer support device that temporarily supports the wafer to be transferred to it. The chuck device 21 includes a pair of opening / closing arms 26 and 27, and has driving rollers 30 and 31 that are driven to rotate by motors 28 and 29, respectively, and driven rollers 32 and 33 that are separated from each other.
Each of the driven rollers 32 and 33 is provided with a tension coil spring 3.
4, 35, it is pressed and urged inward. One end of each of the pair of open / close arms 26 and 27 is fixed to the chuck open / close device 22 via brackets 36 and 37, respectively. As the chuck opening / closing device 22, a special air cylinder in which two pistons move in parallel to the opposite side is used here, but a device that swings around the brackets 36 and 37 to open and close may be used. The chuck opening / closing device 22 is supported by a chuck opening / closing support device 38, and is mounted to be vertically movable by an air cylinder (not shown). The rotating brush device 23 and the cleaning water / air jet device 24 are supported by a common column 39 so that their respective tips face the center of the chuck device 21, that is, the center of the wafer W. The wafer support device 25 is supported by an air cylinder (not shown) so as to be able to move up and down.

In FIG. 4, the rotating brush device 23 has a pair of gears 42 and 43 rotated by a motor 41,
A pair of brushes 46, 47 is attached to the tip of each gear rotation shaft 44, 45. Gear rotating shaft 44,
45 is rotatably held in support pipes 48, 49 via bearings, respectively, and brushes 46, 47 are covered by covers 50, 51 fixed to support pipes 48, 49, respectively.
Covered by Motor 41 and support pipe 4
As shown in FIG. 3, a movable portion 55 of a linear motion transfer device 54 is fixed to a motor bracket 52 that supports the motors 8 and 49 via a mounting plate 53. The movable portion 55 is guided by a guide rod 56 by an internal motor. Reciprocate above. Guide rod 5
6 is fixed to a frame 57, and the frame 57 is a column head 39 of a column 39 that supports the rotating brush device 23.
a. Therefore, when the movable part 55 moves, the motor bracket 5
2 moves, and the brushes 46 and 47 reciprocate.

In FIG. 5, a washing water / air injection device 24 is shown.
Is provided with a pair of air cylinders 61, 62, and the distal ends of the piston rods 63, 64 are provided with brackets 65, 6 respectively.
A pair of nozzles 67, 68 are attached via 6. Each nozzle 67, 68 has a pipe 69, 7
0 is connected, and the pipes 69 and 70 are mounted on the air cylinders 61 and 62 by mounting plates 73 and 74 via bushings 71 and 72, respectively. Each of the air cylinders 61 and 62 is fixed via a support bracket 75 to a column head 39a of a column 39 that supports the washing water / air injection device 24. Therefore, when the air cylinders 61 and 62 are operated, the piston rods 63 and 64 are extended, and the nozzles 67 and 68 are connected to the pipe 6.
It reciprocates with 9, 70. A hose (not shown) is connected to each of the pipes 69 and 70, and washing water and air are alternately supplied.

In FIG. 6, a wafer supporting device 25 includes four support pins 8 having a conical top for supporting a wafer on an upper surface of a head 82 fixed to an upper portion of an outer cylinder 81.
3 is provided. A cap 84 is fixed to the upper surface of the head 82, and the cap 84 has a support pin 83.
An injection port 85 for washing with water so as to prevent the conical top portion from being contaminated is formed. In the center of the head 82,
A rod 86 is fixed, and a water channel 8 formed in the center thereof is provided.
7 and the injection port 85 communicate with each other. Water for washing is supplied to the water channel 8 through a nipple attached to the nipple attachment port 88 and a pipe attached to the nipple.
7 is supplied. The rod 86 is fixed to a support shaft 90 via a spacer 89. The support shaft 90 is housed in the inner cylinder 91 and fixed to a piston rod 92 of an air cylinder. Therefore, the piston rod 9
2 moves up and down, so that the head 82 also moves up and down.

Next, the operation of the wafer double-side cleaning / drying apparatus configured as described above will be described. 2 and 3, the wafer W which has been ground and has been sucked by the transfer robot 5 (see FIG. 1) and transferred to a position directly above the chuck device 21 is opened by the chuck opening and closing device 22. Rollers 30, 31, 32, 33
After being lowered so as to ride on the flanges 30a, 31a, 32a, 33a of the
1 is closed, and the outer peripheral end surface of the wafer W is held by the peripheral surfaces of the rollers 30, 31, 32, and 33. Driven rollers 32, 33
Is pressing the outer peripheral end surface of the wafer W against the drive rollers 30 and 31 by the coil springs 34 and 35,
When the rollers 8 and 29 rotate, the driving rollers 30 and 31 rotate the wafer W together with the driven rollers 32 and 33.

The cleaning water / air jetting device 24 extends nozzles 67, 68 by air cylinders 61, 62 and jets cleaning water from both the front side and the back side of the rotating wafer W by rollers 30, 31, 32, 33. Then retreat. The rotating brush device 23 causes the motors 41 to rotate the brushes 46 and 47 in directions opposite to each other, and moves the movable portion 55 on the guide rod 56 so that the brushes 46 and 47 rotate on the front side and the back side of the wafer W, respectively. Contact the wafer W
Wash gradually to the center. When the cleaning is completed, the brushes 46 and 47 are retracted, and the cleaning water / air injection device 2 is returned again.
4 advances and injects air from the nozzles 67 and 68,
The front and back surfaces of the wafer W are dried and receded.

After the cleaning is completed, the wafer supporting device 25 is lifted and stopped at a position where the upper support pins 83 are close to the wafer W. When the chuck opening / closing device 22 opens the chuck device 21 and places the wafer W on the support pins 83, the chuck device 21 and the chuck opening / closing device 22 are lowered by the chuck opening / closing support device 38, and the transfer robot 13 is moved to the empty space. The arm 14 (see FIG. 1) enters, scoops up the wafer W, carries it to the conveyor belt 15, and stores it in the wafer cassette 16 from the conveyor belt 15.

As described above, according to the wafer double-side cleaning / drying apparatus having the above configuration, the chuck opening / closing apparatus 22 opens the chuck apparatus 21 and the rollers 30, 31, 32, and 33 hold the outer peripheral end face of the wafer W. Then, the wafer W is rotated by the motors 28 and 29 of the driving rollers 30 and 31, and both surfaces of the rotating wafer W are washed by the rotating brush device 23 while spraying the washing water by the washing water / air jetting device 24. Inject air from the washing water / air injection device 24 to dry,
Wafer holding device 25 so as not to contaminate dried wafer W.
, So that both sides of the wafer can be washed and dried at the same time, and since there is nothing other than a brush on both sides of the wafer during cleaning, minimal contact is required after cleaning. As shown, the wafer support device 2
Since the pinpoint contact by the support pins 83 of No. 5 is adopted, dirt does not adhere to the cleaning surface.

[0017]

As is apparent from the above embodiment, the present invention provides a chuck means provided with a roller which rotates while holding the outer peripheral end face of a wafer, and a means for opening and closing the chuck means for attaching and detaching the wafer to and from the roller. A rotating brush means provided so as to be able to advance and retreat so as to sandwich both sides of the wafer held by the chuck means, and a rotating brush means which is provided so as to be able to advance and retreat so as to sandwich both sides of the wafer held by the chuck means. Cleaning water and air jetting means for supplying air to both sides of the wafer after cleaning, so that both sides of the wafer can be cleaned and dried at the same time. Since there is nothing to contact, dirt does not adhere and the yield rate of the wafer can be increased.

According to the present invention, there is also provided a means for sucking a wafer and transferring it to the chuck means, and detaching the wafer just above the chuck means, and for holding the washed and dried wafer and transferring it from the chuck means to the next step. And means for detaching the wafer in the next step, so that loading and unloading of the wafer into and from the wafer double-side cleaning / drying apparatus can be performed automatically.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic plan view of a wafer manufacturing apparatus including a wafer double-side cleaning / drying apparatus according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a schematic front view of a wafer double-side cleaning / drying apparatus showing one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a schematic plan view of a wafer double-side cleaning / drying apparatus showing one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a schematic sectional view of a rotating brush device in the device.

FIG. 5 is a schematic sectional view of a cleaning water / air injection device in the device.

FIG. 6 is a schematic sectional view of a wafer support device in the same device.

[Explanation of symbols]

 W Wafer 1 Grinding device 2 Rotary table 3 Rotating grindstone 4 Indexing device 5 Transfer robot 6 Arm 7 Double-sided cleaning / drying device 8 Chuck 9 Roller 10 Rotary brush 11 Wash water / air nozzle 12 Wafer support 13 Transport robot 14 Arm 15 Conveyor belt Reference Signs List 16 Wafer cassette 21 Chuck device 22 Chuck opening / closing device 23 Rotary brush device 24 Cleaning water / air injection device 25 Wafer support device 26, 27 Opening / closing arm 28, 29 Motor 30, 31 Drive roller 32, 33 Follower roller 34, 35 Tension coil spring 36, 37 Bracket 38 Chuck open / close support device 39 Column

Claims (2)

[Claims] A chucking means provided with a roller for rotating while holding an outer peripheral end face of the wafer; a means for opening and closing the chucking means for attaching and detaching the wafer to and from the roller; A rotating brush means provided so as to be able to advance and retreat so as to sandwich both sides thereof, and a cleaning brush which is provided so as to be able to advance and retreat so as to sandwich both sides of the wafer held by the chuck means, and supplies cleaning water to both sides of the wafer during cleaning. An apparatus for cleaning and drying both sides of a wafer, comprising cleaning water and air jetting means for supplying air to both sides of the wafer later. 2. A means for sucking and transporting a wafer to a chuck means, separating the wafer just above the chuck means, holding the washed and dried wafer, transporting the wafer from the chuck means to the next step, and 2. The apparatus for cleaning and drying wafers on both sides according to claim 1, further comprising: means for detaching the wafer by means of.