JPH10154652A - Substrate treating device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To reduce the floor-space for a substrate treating device and to prevent contamination of the board then it is transported by an AGV. SOLUTION: At a substrate cleaning part 20, a substrate W1 which is supported almost horizontally and transported in the horizontal direction is supplied with cleaning agent. The cleaning agent supplied to the substrate W1 is the dried. At a resist coating and developing part 30, the substrate W1 is coated with resist and the resist after exposure is developed. The cleaning part 20 is provided with a substrate delivery part IF for receiving the substrate delivered between the cleaning part 20 and the resist coating and developing part 30. The cleaning part 20 is provided with a lifter 28 for storing the substrate W1 once, a transporting robot TR for delivering the substrate W1 between the cleaning part 20 and the resist locating and developing part 30 through the lifter 28.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a substrate processing apparatus for performing predetermined processing on substrates such as a glass square substrate for a liquid crystal display and a semiconductor wafer.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art As one of conventional substrate processing apparatuses, a coating and developing apparatus for applying and developing a resist on a substrate is disclosed in JP-A-8-222616.

This coating and developing apparatus has a plurality of transfer robots for transferring a substrate in a predetermined direction, and a processing section provided on one side along a transfer path of the transfer robot. The processing unit is provided with a spin scrubber for cleaning the substrate, a spin coater for applying a resist on the substrate, and a spin developer for developing the resist film on the substrate on which a predetermined pattern has been printed by an exposure machine. ing.

Further, the spin scrubber provided in the above-mentioned coating and developing apparatus has a problem that it cannot sufficiently cope with an increase in the size of a substrate. That is, for example, contamination of the substrate surface when the substrate is received in a liquid crystal display manufacturing factory,
After the formation of various thin films on the substrate, it is not possible to sufficiently remove metal powder and oil stains adhering to the surface, and it is not configured to be able to sufficiently clean the back surface of the substrate. A substrate cleaning device for cleaning the substrate has been required.

This substrate cleaning apparatus includes a plurality of transport rollers arranged in parallel along the transport direction of a substrate, and a chemical solution such as an alkaline solution or the like, for example, applied to both front and back surfaces of the substrate transported by the plurality of transport rollers. As disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 5-264942, the substrate is washed by spraying high-pressure pure water or pure water to which ultrasonic waves are applied. Further, for example, as disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 7-6987, there is also known a substrate cleaning apparatus for cleaning a substrate by bringing a roll brush into contact with both front and back surfaces of the substrate conveyed by a plurality of conveyance rollers.

The substrate that has been cleaned by the above-described substrate cleaning apparatus and stored in a cassette is transported by the AGV to the above-described coating and developing apparatus, where the resist is coated and developed.

On the surface of the substrate, ITO (Indium Tin O
xide) As a pre-process of a film forming process using a plasma CVD method or a sputtering method for forming an electrode film such as a film, a substrate cleaning process is performed by the above-described substrate cleaning apparatus. The substrate is transported by an AGV to a film forming apparatus such as a sputtering apparatus or a CVD apparatus and subjected to a film forming process.

[0008]

However, as described above, for example, a coating and developing device, a substrate cleaning device, and a film forming device are separately arranged on one floor of a liquid crystal display manufacturing factory, and When a substrate stored in a cassette is transported by the AGV, it is necessary to secure a transport path for the AGV on the floor, and it is necessary to provide each device with an indexer unit for transferring the substrate between the cassette and a predetermined processing unit. Therefore, there arises a problem that the total floor area on which each processing apparatus is installed increases.

Further, when the substrates stored in the cassette are transported by the AGV, another problem occurs that the substrates in the cassette are contaminated.

[0010] The object of the present invention has been made in view of the above points,
An object of the present invention is to provide a substrate processing apparatus in which the floor area on which each apparatus is installed is reduced, and contamination of the substrate during transfer of the substrate by the AGV is suppressed.

[0011]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a substrate processing apparatus for performing a predetermined process on a substrate, wherein the substrate is supported substantially horizontally and the substrate is moved in a predetermined direction. A first processing unit having a cleaning liquid supply unit for supplying a cleaning liquid to the main surface of the substrate while being transported, and a drying unit for drying the cleaning liquid supplied to the substrate by the cleaning liquid supply unit; A second processing unit having a plurality of processing units including a coating unit for coating a resist, a buffer unit for temporarily storing a substrate to be transferred between the first processing unit and the second processing unit; A substrate delivery unit having delivery means for delivering a substrate between the first processing unit and the second processing unit via
It is characterized by having.

Further, in the apparatus according to the second aspect, the first processing unit includes:
A roller transport type processing unit in which a plurality of substrates are continuously transported by a plurality of transport rollers arranged in parallel along a substrate transport path and a cleaning liquid supply unit and a drying unit are arranged at predetermined positions on the transport path. Wherein the second processing unit is a processing unit of a robot sequential transfer system in which the transfer robot sequentially transfers the substrate to an arbitrary processing unit of the plurality of processing units in a predetermined order and performs a series of processing on the substrate. It is characterized by the following.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, one of the plurality of processing units is a developing unit for developing a resist film formed on the main surface of the substrate and having a predetermined pattern printed thereon. .

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a substrate processing apparatus for performing a predetermined processing on a substrate, wherein the cleaning liquid is applied to the main surface of the substrate while supporting the substrate substantially horizontally and transporting the substrate in a predetermined direction. A first processing unit having a cleaning liquid supply unit for supplying a liquid, a drying unit for drying the cleaning liquid supplied to the substrate by the cleaning liquid supply unit, and a film forming unit for forming a predetermined electrode film on the main surface of the substrate A second processing unit, a buffer means for temporarily storing a substrate to be transferred between the first processing unit and the second processing unit, and a first processing unit and a second processing unit via the buffer means. And a substrate delivery unit having delivery means for delivering the substrate between them.

[0015] In a fifth aspect of the present invention, the first processing unit comprises:
A brush cleaning means for supporting the substrate substantially horizontally and transporting the substrate in a predetermined direction while cleaning the substrate by bringing a brush into contact with the main surface of the substrate is provided.

[0016] The apparatus according to claim 6 is characterized in that the cleaning liquid supplied by the cleaning liquid supply means is an alkaline solution.

[0017]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION

[First Embodiment] FIG. 1 shows a structure of a substrate processing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 1A is a plan view of the substrate processing apparatus, and FIG. 1B is a front view of the substrate processing apparatus.

As shown in the figure, this substrate processing apparatus has an AG
An indexer unit 10 for receiving substrates transported in cassette units from the cassette V and removing substrates one by one from the cassette for subsequent continuous processing, and a first processing unit for cleaning the removed substrates with a predetermined cleaning liquid. A washing unit 20,
A substrate transfer section I for temporarily accumulating a substrate transferred between the cleaning section 20 and the resist coating section 30 and transferring a substrate between the cleaning section 20 and the resist coating and developing section 30.
F, a resist coating / developing unit 30 as a second processing unit for performing processing such as resist coating on the washed substrate, and an interface for performing peripheral exposure on the resist coated substrate and transferring the substrate to the stepper 50 And a unit 40.

The indexer unit 10 includes four cassettes CA.
Indexer robot IN
D, the substrates are taken out one by one and transferred to a substrate entrance / exit portion 21 of a cleaning unit 20 described later, and a cleaning process, a resist coating / developing process, and an exposure process are performed. The substrate is received by the indexer robot IND and stored in one of the four cassettes CA.

The cleaning section 20 is a processing section of a conveyor system for successively cleaning the substrates before application of the resist in a horizontal direction one by one while continuously transferring the substrates to and from the indexer section 10. And a UV processing unit 22 for irradiating the received substrate with ultraviolet light, and tilting the substrate from a horizontal position in the horizontal direction toward the transport direction of the substrate within a tilt angle of 3 ° to 40 ° with respect to a horizontal plane. And a chemical cleaning section 24 for performing chemical processing on the upper and lower surfaces of the substrate while transporting the substrate in the inclined attitude.
And a pure water cleaning unit 25 for cleaning the upper and lower surfaces of the substrate with pure water.
And an air knife drying unit 26 for drying the washed substrate
And

The transfer section IF changes the substrate dried in the air knife drying section 26 and transported in the inclined position from the inclined position to the horizontal position, and then temporarily stores the substrate in a buffer section described later. Then, the substrate once accumulated in the buffer unit is transferred to the substrate entrance / exit portion TRP1 of the resist coating / developing unit 30 by the transfer robot TR serving as a transfer unit.

On the other hand, via the interface unit 40,
The substrate exposed by the stepper 50 and developed by the resist coating and developing unit 30 is transferred from the substrate entrance / exit unit TRP1 to the shuttle transfer unit 29 via the transfer robot TR of the substrate transfer unit IF. The shuttle transport section 29 transports the substrate and moves it to the substrate entrance 21.

The resist coating / developing section 30 is a robot sequential transport type processing section in which a transport robot moves reciprocally, and sequentially transports the substrate to any one of a plurality of processing units in a predetermined order. In addition, a resist is applied to the substrate cleaned by the cleaning unit 20 to form a resist film on the main surface of the substrate, and a resist film exposed to a stepper 50 and printed with a predetermined pattern is subjected to a developing process. . The resist coating and developing unit 30 is divided into a plurality of processing units arranged in a horizontal direction and stacked on each other in order to perform a series of substrate processing as described above. The transport units TR1 to TR3, which are a plurality of transport units that can move along the horizontal direction, cyclically transport between the processing units in a predetermined procedure. As a processing unit, a spin coater SC which is a coating unit for coating a resist on the main surface (upper surface) of the substrate, an end surface cleaning unit EBR for removing the resist coated on the end surface of the substrate, and a stepper 50 are provided on the lower side. There are provided spin developers SD1 to SD3, which are development units for developing the resist film on which the pattern has been printed. Further, on the upper side, a dehydration bake unit DB for performing dehydration and drying processing on the substrate, an adhesion strengthening unit AP for performing an adhesion strengthening processing for enhancing the adhesion of the resist to the substrate before applying the resist to the substrate, A soft bake unit SB for performing a heat treatment on the substrate, a hard bake unit HB for drying the substrate after development of the resist, a post-exposure bake unit PEB for drying a substrate having a resist film on which a predetermined pattern is baked by the exposure device 50,
Cooling plates CP1 to CP4 for cooling the substrates While cooling the substrates, the cooling plates IMC1 functioning as a substrate transfer unit between the transfer robot TR1 and the transfer robot TR2, and cooling the substrates;
Cooling plate IM functioning as a substrate transfer section between transfer robot TR2 and transfer robot TR3
C2 is provided.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing the structure of the cleaning section 20 in more detail. In the substrate entrance 21, the indexer 1
The substrate W1 taken out one by one by the indexer robot IND from the cassette CA of No. 0 is received. The substrate W1 received here is transported by a plurality of transport rollers (not shown).
And is conveyed horizontally sequentially and moved to the UV processing unit 22. In the UV processing unit 22, the surface of the substrate W1 is irradiated with ultraviolet rays to ash the fat and oil components on the surface of the substrate W1. After the substrate W1 that has been subjected to the ultraviolet treatment is moved straight by horizontal conveyance using a plurality of conveyance rollers (not shown),
The traveling direction is changed in the orthogonal direction with the posture as it is, and the substrate is horizontally moved to the substrate inclined portion 23. In the substrate inclined portion 23,
For the sake of convenience of the subsequent cleaning process, the substrate W1 in the horizontal posture is tilted in the horizontal direction in the range of 3 ° to 40 ° with respect to the horizontal plane by the posture displacement mechanism (not shown) toward the transport direction of the substrate. With the conveyance roller R to the inclined position. This is to form a one-way flow in the cleaning liquid supplied on the substrate W1, and to efficiently replace the cleaning liquid on the substrate W1 and remove particles. In the chemical cleaning section 24, the alkaline liquid is supplied to the surface of the substrate W1 transported on a plurality of transport rollers R, which will be described later, while being inclined from the substrate inclined section 23, to perform the chemical cleaning. Pure water cleaning part 2
In step 5, pure water is supplied to the surface of the substrate W1 transported on the transport roller R in an inclined posture to perform pure water cleaning. In the air knife drying unit 26, the substrate W1 is dried by draining pure water adhering to the surface of the substrate W1 with purified pressurized air.

FIG. 3 shows a chemical cleaning section 24 and a pure water cleaning section 25.
FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram for explaining an outline of a process in an air knife drying unit 26 in more detail. The plurality of transport rollers R
The substrates are arranged in parallel along the traveling direction of the substrates, hold the substrates one by one in an inclined posture, and
3. A plurality of substrates are sequentially transported to a chemical solution cleaning unit 24, a pure water cleaning unit 25, an air knife drying unit 26, and a substrate removal unit 27 of a substrate delivery unit IF described later. In the chemical cleaning unit 24, which is a brush cleaning unit, an alkali solution is supplied from a nozzle 124, which is a first cleaning liquid supply unit, to the surface of the substrate W1 conveyed from the substrate inclined unit 23 side. Oil components on the upper and lower surfaces are removed. Next, in the pure water cleaning section 25, an alkaline solution or the like on the upper and lower surfaces of the substrate W1 is caused to flow by a curtain of pure water discharged from a pure water nozzle 125 as a second cleaning liquid supply unit. Further, the substrate W1 is subjected to high-pressure spray cleaning with high-pressure cleaning water from a high-pressure nozzle 225 as a third cleaning liquid supply unit, and cleaning with ultrasonic vibration applied from an ultrasonic cleaning device 325 as a fourth cleaning liquid supply unit. It is further washed by supplying water. Lastly, in the air knife drying section 26 serving as a drying unit, liquid is removed from the upper and lower surfaces of the substrate W1 by pressurized air from the nozzle 126.

Returning to FIG. 2 again, the substrate W1 dried through the air knife drying unit 26 is transported by the plurality of transport rollers R to the substrate unloading unit 27 of the substrate delivery unit IF while maintaining the inclined posture. Substrate W conveyed to substrate unloading section 27
1 is displaced from an inclined posture to a horizontal posture by a posture displacement mechanism (not shown) together with a plurality of transport rollers R.
Then, the substrate W1 displaced to the horizontal posture is held by the fork-shaped lifter 28 and moves to the upper evacuation position.

FIG. 4 shows the structure of the lifter 28 as a buffer means for adjusting the difference between the processing time (processing tact) of the substrate W1 in the cleaning unit 20 or the resist coating and developing unit 30 and the transfer timing of the transfer robot TR. FIG. From the main body 228 of the lifter 28, a pair of support rods 128, 128 extend on the substrate transport path.
Each support bar 128 is provided with a plurality of claws 128a for supporting the substrate W1. Each support rod 128 is simultaneously moved up and down by a drive mechanism (not shown) provided inside the main body portion 228, and is simultaneously rotatable in opposite directions. When the claws 128a provided on the support rods 128 are opened in a state of being rotated in a direction away from each other, the support rods 128 are held by a plurality of transport rollers R provided on the substrate take-out portion 27 in a horizontal posture. It can be moved up and down without being interfered with. on the other hand,
When the claws 128a provided on the respective support rods 128 are opened in a state of being rotated in a direction approaching each other, the ends of the claws 128a can support both ends of the substrate W1 from the lower surface side. Can be moved up and down.

In operation, the substrate W1 is transported from the air knife drying section 26 to the substrate take-out section 27 while being held in an inclined position by a plurality of transport rollers R, and then stopped. Next, the substrate W1 is displaced to a horizontal posture together with the transport roller by a posture displacing mechanism (not shown). At this time, the pair of support bars 128 are retracted to the retracted position above the transport roller R. Then, the pair of support rods 128 are lowered with the claws 128a in the open state to the height position (transport position) at both ends of the substrate W1 in the horizontal posture. A pair of support rods 128 lowered to the transport position
Are rotated to open the claws 128a, and the tips of the claws 128a are brought into contact with the lower main surfaces of both ends of the substrate W1, then raised to the retracted position, and the ends of the substrate W1 are claws from the lower main surfaces. The substrate W1 is transported to the retreat position while being supported by 128a.

Returning to FIG. 2, the transfer robot TR provided in the board transfer section IF moves along the guide rail (not shown) in the Y direction of FIG. A robot body 72 that reciprocates along the axis, an articulated arm 71 that expands, contracts, rotates, and moves up and down with respect to the robot body 72, and a hand 70 that holds the substrate W1 from the lower main surface.
And The transport robot TR transports the substrate W1 supported by the pair of support rods 128 at the retreat position of the substrate unloading unit 27 to the substrate entrance TRP1 provided in the resist coating and developing unit 30. Specifically, first, the robot main body 72 advances to a position immediately before the substrate take-out section 27, and then extends the arm 71 to move the hand 70,
It is inserted below the substrate W1 supported by the support rod 128 at the retracted position. Next, the arm 71 is raised and the hand 70
After receiving the substrate W1 from the support rod 128, the arm 71 is contracted. Then, after holding the substrate W1 with the hand 70, the robot main body 72 retreats to just before the substrate entrance TRP1, and then rotates the arm 71 while extending it in the X direction of FIG. Substrate support (not shown) provided at substrate entrance TRP1
Insert above. Next, the arm 71 is lowered and the substrate W
1 is transferred to the board receiving table. Thus, the substrate entrance TR
The substrate W1 transported to the substrate receiving table of P1 is transported to a predetermined processing unit of the resist coating and developing unit 30, for example, a dehydration bake DB, by a transport robot TR1 (FIG. 1) provided in the resist coating and developing unit 30.

Before transferring the substrate W1 having been subjected to the cleaning process by the cleaning unit 20 to the transfer robot TR,
By temporarily holding the substrate W1 by the support rod 128, the substrate W1 can be temporarily stored. That is, even while the transfer robot TR is transferring the substrate W1, the next substrate (referred to as W2) is held by the support rod 128, so that the next substrate (referred to as W3) is further transferred. Extraction unit 2
7, the substrate (W1, W2, W2) can be received without interrupting the continuous cleaning process of the cleaning unit 20.
3,...) Can be conveyed continuously from the cleaning unit 20 to the resist coating and developing unit 30.

Above the retracted position of the support rod 128, a buffer cassette BCA (FIG. 2) capable of storing a plurality of substrates, for example, about 20 substrates, is provided. In the buffer cassette BCA, the time (processing tact) for cleaning one substrate in the cleaning unit 20 is smaller than the processing tact in, for example, the resist coating and developing unit 30 which is a process subsequent to the cleaning unit 20. Is large, or the resist coating and developing unit 3 which is a process after the cleaning unit 20 is used.
0 is used when a failure occurs and its processing is interrupted. More specifically, in the case where the difference in the processing tact is large as described above, for example, the substrate (W0) cleaned before the substrate W1 held by the transfer robot TR of the substrate transfer unit IF is subjected to the resist. Coating and developing unit 30
The transfer robot TR of the substrate transfer section IF cannot stay and receive the substrate W1 from the substrate receiving table of the substrate transfer section TRP1 without being received by the transfer robot TR of the resist coating and developing section 30. In such a case,
The transfer robot TR stores the substrate W1 held therein in the buffer cassette BCA, and then sequentially transfers the substrates (W2, W3) held on the support rod 128 until the substrate W0 of the substrate entrance TRP1 is transferred by the transfer robot TR1. ..) Are received and stored in the buffer cassette BCA.

When the transfer robot TR1 transfers the substrate W0 of the substrate entrance TRP1, the transfer robot TR1
Is the substrate W1 next to the substrate W0 from the buffer cassette BCA.
Is taken out and transported to the substrate entrance TRP1. Then, the transfer robot TR sequentially transfers the substrates (W2, W3...) From the buffer cassette BCA to the substrate entrance TRP1, so-called FIFO (first-in first-out).
Convey by method.

As described above, the substrates that have been subjected to the cleaning process in the cleaning unit 20 are sequentially stored in the buffer cassette BCA, so that the cleaning process in the cleaning unit 20 can be performed even if the substrate is stagnant in the substrate entrance TRP1. Interruption on the way can be prevented, and the following problems can be solved. That is, if the cleaning process is interrupted in the cleaning unit 20, the transport of the substrate by the transport roller 20 is stopped. For example, in the chemical solution cleaning unit 24, an excess alkali solution is supplied to a part of the substrate, and Since the roll brush 24 cleans only a part of the substrate for a longer period of time, after the interruption of the cleaning process is eliminated, there is a problem that unevenness and scratches occur on the substrate after the cleaning process. Occurs. In order to solve this problem, a method of temporarily stopping the supply of the substrate from the indexer unit 10 to the cleaning unit 20 may be considered. However, this method cannot cope with an unexpected failure of the resist coating and developing apparatus 30, for example. In addition, since the cleaning process in the cleaning unit 20 is interrupted, another problem such as a reduction in substrate processing capability occurs.

On the other hand, the substrate WZ which has been subjected to the development processing in the resist coating / developing section 30 is transferred from the substrate entrance / exit section TRP1 to the shuttle transport section 2 via the transport robot TR on the cleaning section 20 side.
9 Specifically, the transfer robot TR receives the processed substrate WZ from the substrate loading / unloading section TRP1, and transfers the substrate onto the turntable 129 provided at one end of the shuttle transfer section 29. The substrate W2 is held on the turntable 129 by vacuum suction and rotates by 90 ° with it, so that the substrate W2 can be transferred to the indexer unit 10. In this state, the turntable 129 is raised, and the substrate WZ is transferred to the slide hand 229. Specifically, when the slide hand 229 is moved to the position of the turntable 129, the slide hand 22
The substrate WZ relatively moves directly below the main body 9. In this state, when the turntable 129 is lowered to release the suction state, the hooks 22 provided at both ends of the slide hand 229 are provided.
The substrate WZ is held by 9a and 229a. The slide hand 229 holding the substrate WZ moves along the longitudinal direction of the shuttle transport unit 29 (the -X direction in FIG. 2), and moves the substrate WZ to the substrate entrance 21. The substrate WZ that has been moved to the substrate entrance 21 is transferred to the transfer robot IND provided on the indexer unit 10 side. Transfer robot IN
D has the same structure as the transfer robot TR and has four substrates WZ.
Stored in one of the two cassettes CA.

[Second Embodiment] As a modification of the substrate processing apparatus of the first embodiment, a substrate processing apparatus in which a cleaning unit 20 as shown in FIG.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a substrate processing apparatus for film formation according to the second embodiment. This substrate processing apparatus is an indexer unit 10 having the same structure as in FIG. 1, a cleaning unit 20 having the same structure as in FIG. 1, and a second processing unit for forming an electrode film on, for example, a liquid crystal glass substrate after cleaning. A film forming unit 90 using a plasma CVD method or a sputtering method. The film forming section 90 includes a film forming chamber 91 for forming a metal film such as ITO on a substrate, and a transfer robot TR4 for transferring the substrate received at the substrate entrance TRP1 to the film forming chamber 91. The operation will be briefly described. The substrate taken out of the cassette by the indexer unit 10 is transferred to the cleaning unit 20 side, subjected to ultraviolet irradiation by the UV processing unit 22, passed through the substrate inclined unit 23, and then passed through the chemical cleaning unit 24. Is performed, and the pure water cleaning section 25 performs pure water cleaning. After the substrate is dried, the substrate is transferred to a substrate entrance TRP1 provided in the film forming unit 90 by a transfer robot TR provided in the substrate transfer unit IF. The substrate received at the substrate entrance TRP1 is transported by the transport robot TR4 to the deposition chamber 91, where the deposition process is performed. The film-deposited substrate taken out of the film-forming chamber 91 is transferred to the substrate entrance TRP1 by the transfer robot TR4. The substrate after film formation transferred to the substrate entrance TRP1 is transferred to one end of the shuttle transfer unit 29 by the transfer robot TR, transferred through the shuttle transfer unit 29, and stored in the cassette in the indexer unit 10. You.

Although the present invention has been described with reference to the embodiment, the present invention is not limited to the above embodiment. For example, the configuration of the cleaning unit 20 is free, and the UV processing unit 22 and the chemical liquid cleaning unit 24 do not always need to be provided.
Further, the configuration of the pure water cleaning unit 25 is also free.

Further, when the substrate W1 is carried by the plurality of carrying rollers R in the cleaning section 20, the posture of the substrate may be a horizontal posture instead of an inclined posture. Note that the substantially horizontally supported substrate in the present invention is supported within the range of the above-described horizontal posture (inclination angle with respect to the horizontal plane of 0 °) to the inclination posture (with a inclination angle of 3 ° to 40 ° with respect to the horizontal plane). It is a substrate.

It is also possible to dispose a spin dryer instead of the air knife dryer 26.

Further, the shuttle transfer section 29 is not indispensable, and the transfer robot TR can transfer the substrate from the substrate input / output section TRP1 to the substrate input / output section 21.

In the second embodiment, the arrangement of the resist coating / developing unit 30 is also free, and the number of transfer robots can be changed as needed.

In the first embodiment, the process using the resist coating and developing unit 30 is not essential, and the process using only the cleaning unit 20 can be performed. In this case, the substrate taken out of the cassette by the indexer unit 10 is transferred to the cleaning unit 20 side, and is subjected to ultraviolet irradiation processing, chemical cleaning,
Pure water washing and the like are performed. The washed substrate is transferred to one end of the shuttle transport unit 29 by the transport robot TR provided in the substrate transfer unit IF after drying, and the shuttle transport unit 2
9 is conveyed and stored in a cassette at the indexer section 10.

[0043]

As described above, in the apparatus according to the first aspect, the cleaning liquid supply for supplying the cleaning liquid to the main surface of the substrate while supporting the substrate substantially horizontally and transporting the substrate in a predetermined direction. A first processing unit having means for drying the cleaning liquid supplied to the substrate by the cleaning liquid supply means, and a second processing unit having a plurality of processing units including a coating unit for coating a resist on the main surface of the substrate. A processing unit, buffer means for temporarily storing a substrate to be transferred between the first processing unit and the second processing unit, and a substrate between the first processing unit and the second processing unit via the buffer means. And a board delivery unit having delivery means for delivering
There is no need to provide a dedicated indexer unit for taking substrates in and out of the cassette in each of the first processing unit for cleaning and the second processing unit for resist coating, and the AGV uses a cassette between such indexer units. There is no need to transport Therefore, the floor area on which the apparatus is installed can be reduced, and the contamination of the substrate when the substrate is transported by the AGV can be suppressed.

In the apparatus according to the second aspect, the first processing unit is a processing unit of a roller transport system, and the second processing unit is a processing unit of a robot sequential transportation system. Adjustment of the timing of transferring the substrate to the two processing units is indispensable, but by interposing the buffer means in the transfer of the substrate, the transfer of the substrate becomes reliable and efficient.

In the apparatus according to the third aspect, one of the plurality of processing units is a developing unit for developing a resist film formed on the main surface of the substrate and having a predetermined pattern printed thereon. Section, the second processing section and the resist exposure machine are arranged in series, and the substrate can be washed, resist coated and developed by only one indexer section,
The floor area can be effectively reduced.

Further, in the apparatus according to the fourth aspect, the cleaning liquid supply means for supplying the cleaning liquid to the main surface of the substrate while supporting the substrate substantially horizontally and transporting the substrate in a predetermined direction, and the cleaning liquid supply means A first processing unit having drying means for drying the cleaning liquid supplied to the substrate by
A second processing unit having a film forming unit for forming a predetermined electrode film on the main surface of the substrate; a buffer unit for temporarily storing a substrate to be transferred between the first processing unit and the second processing unit; Since there is provided a substrate transfer unit having a transfer unit that transfers a substrate between the first processing unit and the second processing unit via the buffer unit, the first processing unit for cleaning and the first processing unit for film formation are provided. 2
It is not necessary to provide an indexer unit for loading and unloading the substrate from the cassette in each of the processing units, so that the floor area for installing the apparatus can be reduced, and
It is possible to suppress contamination of the substrate when the substrate is transferred by the GV.

In the apparatus according to the fifth aspect, the first processing section supports the substrate substantially horizontally and transports the substrate in a predetermined direction, while bringing the brush into contact with the main surface of the substrate, and Is provided, the contaminant firmly attached to the main surface of the substrate can be effectively removed.

In the apparatus according to the sixth aspect, since the cleaning liquid supplied by the cleaning liquid supply means is an alkaline solution, the efficiency of removing organic substances and the like adhered to the main surface of the substrate can be improved.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a plan view and a front view of a substrate processing apparatus according to a first embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view illustrating a cleaning unit of the substrate processing apparatus of FIG. 1 in more detail.

FIG. 3 is a diagram schematically illustrating a part of a cleaning process in a cleaning unit of FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a view for explaining the operation and the like of a lifter provided in the cleaning unit of FIG. 2;

FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram for explaining a planar structure of a substrate processing apparatus according to a second embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 Indexer part 20 Cleaning part 21 Substrate in / out part 22 UV processing part 23 Substrate inclination part 24 Chemical liquid cleaning part 25 Pure water cleaning part 26 Air knife drying part 28 Lifter 29 Shuttle conveyance part 30 Resist coating and developing part 40 Interface part 50 Stepper IF substrate Delivery unit TR, TR1-TR4 Transfer robot

──────────────────────────────────────────────────の Continued on the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁶ Identification code FI H01L 21/30 569D

Claims (6)

[Claims] 1. A substrate processing apparatus for performing a predetermined process on a substrate, comprising: a cleaning liquid supply unit that supplies the cleaning liquid to a main surface of the substrate while supporting the substrate substantially horizontally and transporting the substrate in a predetermined direction. A first processing unit having a drying unit configured to dry the cleaning liquid supplied to the substrate by the cleaning liquid supply unit; and a plurality of processing units including a coating unit for coating a resist on a main surface of the substrate. A second processing unit; a buffer unit for temporarily storing the substrate transferred between the first processing unit and the second processing unit; and the first processing unit and the second processing unit via the buffer unit. A substrate delivery unit having delivery means for delivering the substrate to and from a processing unit. A first processing section for continuously transporting the plurality of substrates by a plurality of transport rollers arranged in parallel along the transport path of the substrate, and at the predetermined position on the transport path; A roller transport type processing unit in which a supply unit and the drying unit are arranged, wherein the second processing unit sequentially transports the substrate to an arbitrary processing unit of the plurality of processing units by a robot in a predetermined order. 2. The substrate processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the processing unit is a robot sequential transfer type processing unit that performs a series of processing on the substrate. 3. The developing unit according to claim 1, wherein one of the plurality of processing units is a developing unit configured to develop a resist film formed on a main surface of the substrate and having a predetermined pattern printed thereon. Item 3. A substrate processing apparatus according to item 2. 4. A substrate processing apparatus for performing predetermined processing on a substrate, comprising: a cleaning liquid supply unit that supplies the cleaning liquid to the main surface of the substrate while supporting the substrate substantially horizontally and transporting the substrate in a predetermined direction. A first processing unit having a drying unit for drying the cleaning liquid supplied to the substrate by the cleaning liquid supply unit; and a second processing unit having a film forming unit for forming a predetermined electrode film on the main surface of the substrate. A buffer unit for temporarily storing the substrate transferred between the first processing unit and the second processing unit; and the first processing unit and the second processing unit via the buffer unit. A substrate delivery unit having delivery means for delivering the substrate between the substrate processing apparatus. 5. A brush cleaning apparatus, wherein the first processing unit supports the substrate substantially horizontally and transports the substrate in a predetermined direction, and abuts a brush on a main surface of the substrate to clean the substrate. The substrate processing apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 4, further comprising means. 6. The substrate processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the cleaning liquid supplied by the cleaning liquid supply unit is an alkaline solution.