JPH10209171A - Substrate heating apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To prevent the in-plane temp. distribution of a substrate to be heat- treated from being nonuniform by a fluid blown on the substrate. SOLUTION: A hot unit 10 has a hot plate 20 for mounting a substrate W, and a chamber 40 for holding the atmosphere round the substrate W on the plate 20. An N gas is blown on the substrate laid on the plate 20 from above the chamber 40 and fills up its interior. The N gas is fed through a piping 50 a part of which is composed of a through-way 20a formed in the plate 20, and the gas flowing in the pipe 50 heats the plate 20 to raise the temp. of the gas to be blown on the substrate W.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a substrate heating apparatus for heating a substrate such as a semiconductor wafer or a liquid crystal glass substrate, and more particularly to a substrate heating apparatus for supplying a fluid such as nitrogen gas to the substrate. Related to the device.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Heretofore, as a heating device for a substrate, a device provided with a hot plate which is heated to heat the substrate has been known. In this type of substrate heating apparatus, a substrate is placed on a hot plate to perform a heating process on the substrate. In this heating process, a configuration in which a nitrogen purge process of blowing nitrogen gas to the substrate is performed. There is.

[0003]

By the way, in the above-mentioned conventional technique, since the nitrogen purge pipe is simply sent from the factory utility into the substrate heating apparatus, it is blown out toward the substrate. The nitrogen gas is not heated, and is at a much lower temperature than the temperature of the substrate heated on the hot plate. For this reason,
The temperature on the substrate to which the nitrogen gas is blown drops, causing a problem that the in-plane temperature of the substrate becomes non-uniform.

In a configuration in which a nitrogen gas is blown toward the atmosphere around the substrate instead of a configuration in which the nitrogen gas is directly blown onto the substrate, the atmosphere around the substrate heated by the hot plate is locally reduced. As a result, the temperature around the substrate becomes unstable, and the temperature in the plane of the substrate becomes non-uniform as in the configuration in which nitrogen gas is directly blown onto the substrate.

An object of the substrate processing apparatus of the present invention is to prevent a substrate or a fluid blown into its atmosphere from causing non-uniform temperature distribution in a plane of a substrate to be heated.

[0006]

Means for Solving the Problems and Their Functions / Effects As means for solving the above-mentioned problems, the following configuration is adopted.

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a substrate heating apparatus for supporting a substrate on an upper surface thereof and heating the substrate, and supplying a fluid to a substrate supported by the hot plate or an atmosphere around the substrate. Means, and
The fluid supply means includes a conduit for guiding a fluid from a fluid supply source to a fluid supply port, and the conduit is arranged to be in contact with the hot plate. I have.

According to the invention having this configuration, since the pipeline of the fluid supply means is in contact with the hot plate, the temperature of the pipeline increases, and the temperature of the fluid flowing through the pipeline can be increased. Therefore, the fluid supplied from the fluid supply means toward the substrate or the atmosphere around the substrate is heated to a desired temperature.

Therefore, since the temperature on the substrate to which the fluid is supplied does not decrease due to the fluid,
The in-plane temperature of the substrate becomes uniform.

In the substrate heating apparatus according to the first aspect of the present invention, the conduit may be provided so as to penetrate a part of the hot plate.

[0011] According to this configuration, since the conduit of the fluid supply means penetrates a part of the hot plate, more efficient heat supply to the conduit is possible.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided a substrate heating apparatus for heating a substrate, comprising: a hot plate for supporting and heating the substrate on an upper surface thereof; Fluid supply means for supplying a fluid toward the atmosphere around the substrate, further comprising:
The fluid supply means includes a conduit for guiding a fluid from a fluid supply source to a fluid supply port, and the conduit includes a through passage formed in the hot plate at an intermediate portion thereof. It is characterized by.

According to this configuration, since the fluid flowing through the conduit of the fluid supply means passes through the through passage of the hot plate,
The temperature of the fluid flowing through the pipeline can be increased with higher thermal efficiency.

[0014]

Next, embodiments of the present invention will be described based on examples.

FIG. 1 is an explanatory view showing the configuration of a hot unit 10 as a substrate heating apparatus according to one embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a plan view of a hot plate 20 provided in the hot unit 10.

As shown in these figures, the hot unit 1
No. 0 includes a hot plate 20 for heating the substrate W at a desired temperature. Further, the hot unit 10 includes a chamber 40 that forms a semi-hermetic space in order to create a heat treatment atmosphere by dropping onto the hot plate 20 during heat treatment of the substrate W.

As shown in FIG. 1, the hot plate 20 includes a base 21, a plate 22 disposed above the base 21 and serving as a heat radiating plate made of a metal material such as aluminum. 22 and a surface heater 23 sandwiched between them. The base 21, the plate 22, and the surface heater 23 each have a square flat plate shape.

A power supply device (not shown) is electrically connected to the surface heater 23, and power is supplied from the power supply device to the surface heater 23 to increase the upper surface temperature of the plate 22. The surface heater 23 has heater wires arranged therein at equal density, and generates heat uniformly on its surface.

As shown in FIG. 2, the hot plate 20 has lifter pins 31 for receiving the substrate W carried in from outside by three-point support, and receives the substrate W from the lifter pins 31 and floats the substrate W on the hot plate 20. And three proximity gap balls 35 for supporting the ball. Each lifter pin 31 can be moved up and down by an actuator (not shown). By operating the actuator, the substrate W can be moved up and down while being kept horizontal. Each proximity gap ball 35 is embedded on the plate 22, and the upper end of the proximity gap ball 35 is
2 slightly protrudes from the surface. The substrate W that has descended as the lifter pins 31 descend is floated and supported by the proximity gap balls 35 so as to be parallel to the surface of the hot plate 20. Therefore, the substrate W
Are supported on the proximity gap balls 35 without directly contacting the hot plate 20, so that contamination on the back surface is prevented.

The chamber 40 includes a disk-shaped upper plate 42 that covers the substrate W from above, and an annular side plate 44 that extends downward from the periphery of the upper plate 42. This chamber 4
Numeral 0 can be moved up and down by an elevating mechanism (not shown), which moves down during the heat treatment of the substrate W to form a semi-closed space on the hot plate 20. That is, the chamber 40 has a shape having an opening below, and this opening is substantially sealed by the hot plate 20 with a slight gap left. A nitrogen gas injection section 46 is provided near the upper center of the upper plate section 42 of the chamber 40, and a pipe 50 connected to a nitrogen gas supply source (not shown) is connected to the nitrogen gas injection section 46. I have.

The nitrogen gas from the nitrogen gas supply source flows into the nitrogen gas injection section 46 through the pipe 50. The nitrogen gas is distributed to the plurality of flow paths by the upper plate portion 42 and is blown vertically downward, that is, in a direction toward the substrate W placed on the hot plate 20. As a result, chamber 4
The atmosphere around the substrate W in 0 is filled with nitrogen gas.

The nitrogen gas supply source and the chamber 40
The pipe 50 connecting the nitrogen gas injection part 46 is cut off in the middle and is connected to a through passage formed in the hot plate 20. FIG. 3 is an enlarged cross-sectional view around a connection portion of the pipe 50 to the hot plate 20.

As shown in FIG. 3, the hot plate 20 has a through passage 20a having the same diameter as the pipe 50 in the thickness direction. Joints 52 and 53 are screwed to both ends of the through passage 20a, respectively.
56, 57, and 58 connect the joints 52 and 53 to the pipe 50a connected to the chamber 40 and the pipe 5 connected to the nitrogen gas supply source.
0b are connected to each other. With this configuration, the nitrogen gas flowing through the pipe 50 flows through the through passage 20 a formed in the hot plate 20 and is sent to the chamber 40. Therefore, the nitrogen gas is heated by the hot plate 20 when passing through the through passage 20a.

In this embodiment, the hot plate 2
Numeral 0 has a square plate shape in advance, and the through-hole 20a is formed at one of four corners which is not located below the substrate W when the substrate W is mounted, and the pipe 50 is connected. (See FIG. 2). The pipe 50 is made of a heat-resistant material,
For example, it is made of stainless steel or fluorine resin.

Next, regarding the operation of the hot unit 10, the hot plate 20 is heated to a predetermined set temperature, for example, 9 ° C.
The process of heating at 0 ° C. will be described as an example. First, the output of the surface heater 23 of the hot plate 20 is increased, and the temperature of the hot plate 20 itself is raised to 90 ° C. afterwards,
The heating of the hot plate 20 is continued for a predetermined time to bring the ambient temperature in the semi-enclosed space formed by the hot plate 20 and the chamber 40 to a desired steady state. At this time, the nitrogen purging process for blowing nitrogen gas into the chamber 40 is always performed. As a result, the surrounding atmosphere where the substrate W is to be placed is completed at a desired steady-state temperature, and the atmosphere around the substrate W is filled with nitrogen gas as an inert gas. The plate W is ready to be heated by the plate 20.

Therefore, the substrate W is carried into the hot unit 10 by a transfer robot (not shown) from the outside, and the substrate W is heated. When carrying the substrate W into the hot unit 10, the chamber 40 and the lifter pins 31 are raised in advance, and an unprocessed substrate is placed on the lifter pins 31. Then, the lifter pins 31 are moved down to replace the substrate W on the proximity gap balls 35.
In this way, a process of placing the substrate W on the hot plate 20 and heating for a predetermined time is performed. When the heating process is completed,
The lifter pins 31 are raised, and the substrate W is again lifted.
1 and carried out of the substrate W from the hot unit 10 by a transfer robot (not shown). After the heat treatment of the substrate W can be performed in this way, the substrates are sequentially carried into the hot unit 10 and the heat treatment of the substrate W is performed. In addition, during this heat treatment,
A nitrogen purge process for blowing nitrogen gas into the chamber 40 is always performed.

As described in detail above, in the hot unit 10 of this embodiment, a part of the pipe 50 for sending the nitrogen gas into the chamber 40 is constituted by the through passage 20 a formed in the hot plate 20. Therefore, the nitrogen gas sent into the chamber 40 through the pipe 50 is heated when passing through the through passage 20a.

Therefore, the nitrogen gas blown from the upper plate portion 42 of the chamber 40 toward the substrate W is also warmed, and the temperature on the substrate W to which the nitrogen gas is blown rarely drops. Therefore, the substrate W
Can have a uniform in-plane temperature. In particular, in this embodiment, since the nitrogen gas flowing through the pipe 50 passes through the through passage 20a in the hot plate 20, the nitrogen gas can be efficiently heated, and the temperature of the nitrogen gas is reduced.
The temperature can be raised to a temperature close to the substrate W placed on the hot plate 20. As a result, the in-plane temperature of the substrate W is more uniform.

In the above embodiment, a part of the pipe 50 for sending the nitrogen gas into the chamber 40 is
However, instead of this, as shown in FIG. 4, a pipe 90 is formed in the through passage 20a.
And a pipe 50a connected to the chamber 40 side and a pipe 50b connected to the nitrogen gas supply source may be connected to both ends of the pipe 90, respectively. Alternatively, pipe 50
May be directly penetrated through the through passage 20 a of the hot plate 20.

In the above embodiment, the hot plate 2
Although the nitrogen gas is directly blown onto the substrate W placed on the hot plate 20 from above, the nitrogen gas is directly blown toward the atmosphere around the substrate W placed on the hot plate 20. The chamber 40 can be filled with the nitrogen gas even if the structure is such that the nitrogen gas is not directly blown onto the substrate W. Also in this configuration, similarly to the above embodiment, the nitrogen gas flowing through the pipe 50 is supplied to the hot plate 2.
It is preferred to heat with 0. According to this configuration,
Since the atmosphere in the chamber 40 is not locally lowered by the blown nitrogen gas, the in-plane temperature of the substrate W can be made uniform as in the first embodiment.

Further, as shown in FIG. 5, the pipe 150 may be arranged along the side surface of the hot plate 20 so as to be in contact therewith. With this configuration, as in the first embodiment, the nitrogen gas blown toward the substrate W in the chamber 40 is heated, and the in-plane temperature of the substrate W can be made uniform. In this case, the degree of heating of the nitrogen gas can be increased by forming the pipe 150 in a meandering shape so that the meandering portion is along the side surface of the hot plate 20.

In the above embodiment, nitrogen gas is used as the fluid to be supplied to the substrate. Alternatively, another gas such as HMDS in a vapor state may be blown onto the substrate W. HMDS is a chemical that increases the degree of adhesion of the resist before spraying the resist.

Although one embodiment of the present invention has been described in detail above, the present invention is not limited to such embodiment at all, and may be carried out in various modes without departing from the gist of the present invention. It is possible.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram showing a configuration of a hot unit 10 as a substrate heating device according to one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 shows a hot plate 2 provided in the hot unit 10.
0 is a plan view.

FIG. 3 is an enlarged cross-sectional view around a connection portion of a pipe 50 to the hot plate 20.

FIG. 4 is an enlarged cross-sectional view showing another mode of connection of the pipe 50 to the hot plate 20.

FIG. 5 is an explanatory view showing an embodiment in which a pipeline is arranged along a hot plate 20;

[Explanation of symbols]

 Reference Signs List 10 hot unit 20 hot plate 20a through passage 21 base 22 plate 23 surface heater 31 lifter pin 35 ball for proximity gap 40 chamber 42 upper plate 44 side plate 46 nitrogen gas injection Part 50 ... Piping 52, 53 ... Coupling 55-58 ... Nut 150 ... Piping W ... Substrate

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A substrate heating apparatus for heating a substrate, comprising: a hot plate for supporting and heating the substrate on an upper surface; and a fluid flowing toward the substrate supported on the hot plate or an atmosphere around the substrate. And a fluid supply means for supplying a fluid from a fluid supply source to a fluid supply port, and the fluid supply means contacts the hot plate. A substrate heating device, wherein the substrate heating device is disposed in the substrate heating device. 2. The substrate heating apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the conduit is provided so as to penetrate a part of the hot plate. 3. A substrate heating apparatus for heating a substrate, comprising: a hot plate for supporting and heating the substrate on an upper surface thereof; and a fluid flowing toward the substrate supported on the hot plate or an atmosphere around the substrate. And a fluid supply means for supplying fluid to the hot plate.The fluid supply means further comprises a conduit for guiding a fluid from a fluid supply source to a fluid supply port. A substrate heating device comprising a formed through passage.