JPH10242105A - Wet treating apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To greatly reduce the turbulence of a treating liq. round jet holes to improve the cleaning efficiently by providing a straightening vane having many jet holes having wide entrances below a wet treating tank. SOLUTION: The apparatus comprises a straightening vane 30 below a wet treating tank. The vane 30 has many jet holes 30a e.g. approximately truncated conical holes having wider drains 32 for a treating liq. than entrances 31. The holes are bored through a Teflon flat plate in a close packed configuration. When a semiconductor wafer is cleaned in the wet treating tank using such a vane 30, the turbulence of the treating liq. around the hole holes 30a of the plate 30 is greatly reduced to obtain a uniform laminar flow on the wafer surface, thus improving the wafer cleaning efficiency.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a wet processing apparatus, and more particularly, to a wet processing used in a cleaning process and a wet etching process for performing a chemical treatment and a pure water treatment of a semiconductor wafer in a semiconductor device manufacturing apparatus. The present invention relates to a wet processing tank of the apparatus.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art As one of semiconductor manufacturing apparatuses used for manufacturing semiconductor devices, there are used a cleaning apparatus used in a cleaning step of performing a chemical solution treatment and a pure water treatment of a semiconductor wafer and a wet etching step of a semiconductor wafer. There is a wet processing apparatus such as a wet etching apparatus. The cleaning device and the wet etching device include a device for immersing a semiconductor wafer in a processing liquid in a wet processing tank and cleaning or etching the semiconductor wafer, and a semiconductor wafer while spraying the processing liquid onto the semiconductor wafer. There is a wet processing apparatus that employs a method of cleaning or etching a substrate. Here, as a wet processing apparatus, a cleaning apparatus for cleaning a semiconductor wafer by immersing a semiconductor wafer in a processing liquid in a wet processing tank will be described as an example, and will be described with reference to FIGS.

[0003] First, as shown in FIG.
It roughly comprises a loader section 2, an unloader section 3, a transfer robot 4, a plurality of wet processing tanks 5, a spin dryer 6, and the like. The loader unit 2 is a place where the semiconductor wafer before cleaning is set. The semiconductor wafer set in the loader unit 2 is taken out by the transfer robot 4 and transferred to the wet processing tank 5. A chemical solution or pure water according to the cleaning process is supplied to the wet processing tank 5, and the transfer of the semiconductor wafer between the wet processing tanks 5 is also performed by the transfer robot 4. When the cleaning process of the semiconductor wafer in the wet processing tank 5 is completed, the semiconductor wafer is transported to the spin dryer 6 by the transport robot 4, where the semiconductor wafer is dried. The semiconductor wafer on which the drying process has been completed is transported to the unloader unit 3 by the transport robot 4, and is placed on the semiconductor wafer installation unit of the unloader unit 3.

[0004] As shown in FIG. 4, the structure of a wet processing tank 5 of the cleaning apparatus 1 is a processing tank section 10 and a drainage receiving section 20.
It is roughly composed of A supply pipe 11 for supplying a processing liquid is provided at the bottom of the processing tank unit 10, and a rectifying plate for making a flow of the processing liquid in the processing tank unit 10 a laminar flow is provided above the bottom of the processing tank unit 10. 12 are provided. Current plate 12
Is a flat plate provided with a large number of ejection holes 12a for ejecting the treatment liquid. FIG. Here, FIG. 5A is a schematic plan view of the current plate 12 and FIG.
FIG. 5B is a schematic cross-sectional view enlarging a CC section of FIG. As shown in FIGS. 5 (a) and 5 (b), the current plate 12 is formed, for example, on a flat Teflon flat plate by a cylindrical ejection hole 12.
This is a structure in which many a are arranged at equal intervals. Note that a semiconductor wafer mounting portion (not shown) on which the semiconductor wafer transported by the transport robot 4 is mounted is disposed on the current plate 12.
Is provided.

When the processing liquid is introduced from the bottom of the processing tank section 10 through the supply pipe 11 for supplying the processing liquid, the processing liquid is jetted from the jet holes 12a of the rectifying plate 12 to form a laminar flow.
The processing liquid that flows above the processing tank unit 10 and reaches the upper portion of the processing tank unit 10 overflows from the upper end of the side wall of the processing tank unit 10, flows into the drainage receiving unit 20, and is provided at the bottom of the drainage receiving unit 20. The liquid is discharged from a drain pipe 21.

The most important thing in the cleaning apparatus 1 having the above-mentioned wet processing tank 5 is the cleaning ability. The major factors that determine the cleaning performance are cleaning in the wet processing tank 5 and drying in the spin dryer 6. In order to increase the cleaning effect in the wet processing tank 5, the processing liquid that contacts the semiconductor wafer surface depends on the purity of the chemical solution or pure water to be used and the cleaning process in which these processing liquids are processed. It is important to eliminate the stagnation of the processing liquid and to create a flow of the processing liquid in which the processing liquid is uniformly replaced above the surface of the semiconductor wafer. For this reason, the laminar flow of the processing liquid by the rectifying plate 12 provided with a large number of ejection holes 12a Is formed.

The flow of the processing liquid in the wet processing bath 5 is such that the semiconductor wafer is placed on a semiconductor wafer mounting portion (not shown) and the central portion of the semiconductor wafer in the wet processing bath 5 is wet-processed. The flow velocity is different from the peripheral part in the tank 5, and the laminar flow state is deteriorated. Therefore, instead of the straightening plate 12 in which the ejection holes 12a having the same diameter are arranged at equal intervals as shown in FIG.
Changing the diameter, changing the arrangement interval of the ejection holes 12a between the central part and the peripheral part of the current plate 12,
Various modifications have been made such that the two ejection holes 12a are changed into a slit shape parallel to the semiconductor wafer, and the slit width and interval are changed.

However, the above-described cylindrical ejection hole 1
At the time of cleaning the semiconductor wafer in the wet processing tank 5 using the rectifying plate 12 of 2a, as shown in FIG.
The turbulent flow of the processing liquid is generated around the ejection holes 12a of the second, and the influence of the turbulent flow disturbs the laminar flow of the processing liquid passing through the rectifying plate 12, and the uniform laminar flow on the semiconductor wafer surface to be cleaned is generated. Thus, there is a problem that the cleaning effect of the semiconductor wafer is insufficient. For this reason, there is a possibility that a problem that the production yield of the semiconductor device is reduced due to metal contamination, patterning failure due to attached dust, or the like may occur.

[0009]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to solve the above-mentioned problems in the wet processing tank. That is, an object of the present invention is to provide a wet processing apparatus having a wet processing tank having a large cleaning effect.

[0010]

Means for Solving the Problems A wet processing apparatus according to the present invention is proposed to solve the above-mentioned problems. In a wet processing apparatus having a wet processing tank, a wet flow is provided below the wet processing tank. It is characterized in that a flow straightening plate provided with a large number of ejection holes whose outlets are wider than the inlets is provided.

According to the present invention, a rectifying plate provided with a large number of ejection holes whose outlets are wider than the inlets is provided below the wet processing tank, so that the processing liquid is turbulent around the ejection holes. Since the flow can be greatly reduced, the processing liquid in the wet processing tank becomes a laminar flow to process the substrate to be processed, so that the cleaning effect is improved.

[0012]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, specific embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings. Components similar to those in FIGS. 3, 4, and 6 referred to in the description of the related art are denoted by the same reference numerals.

Embodiment 1 This embodiment is an example in which the present invention is applied to a cleaning apparatus which is one of wet processing apparatuses having a wet processing tank, and FIG. 3 and FIG. 4 and FIG.
This will be described with reference to FIG. First, the basic configuration of the cleaning apparatus 1 is almost the same as that of the conventional cleaning apparatus 1 shown in FIG.
Description of the basic components of the cleaning device 1 will be omitted. Further, the basic configuration of the wet processing tank 5 in the cleaning apparatus 1 is almost the same as the conventional wet processing tank 5 shown in FIG.

Next, the wet processing tank 5 of this embodiment
Has a structure as shown in FIG.
Here, FIG. 1A is a schematic plan view of the current plate 30 and FIG.
FIG. 2B is a schematic cross-sectional view enlarging an AA part of FIG. As shown in FIGS. 1 (a) and 1 (b), the rectifying plate 30 is formed of, for example, a Teflon flat plate with an outlet 32a having an outlet 32 wider than the inlet 31 of the processing liquid, for example, a substantially frustoconical outlet. A large number of 30a are arranged, for example, in a dense arrangement. A schematic cross section passing through the center of the substantially truncated conical ejection hole 30a is as shown in FIG. 1B, and the inclination of the side wall of the ejection hole 30a is an arc. Instead of the shape of the ejection hole 30a of the current plate 30 shown in FIG. 1, a so-called frustoconical ejection hole in which the ejection hole side wall is straight in a schematic sectional view passing through the center of the ejection hole may be used.

When the semiconductor wafer is washed in the wet processing tank 5 using the above-mentioned current plate 30, a turbulent flow of the processing liquid occurs around the ejection holes 12a of the current plate 12 as shown in FIG. The amount is greatly reduced, and a uniform laminar flow on the surface of the semiconductor wafer to be cleaned is obtained, and the cleaning effect of the semiconductor wafer is improved.

Embodiment 2 This embodiment is an example in which the present invention is applied to a cleaning apparatus which is one of wet processing apparatuses having a wet processing tank, and FIG. 3 and FIG. 4 and FIG.
This will be described with reference to FIG. First, the basic configuration of the cleaning device is almost the same as the conventional cleaning device 1 shown in FIG.
The description of the basic components of the cleaning device will be omitted. In addition, the basic configuration of the wet processing tank 5 in the cleaning apparatus is almost the same as the conventional wet processing tank 5 shown in FIG. Next, the current plate 40 of the wet processing tank 5 of the present embodiment has a structure as shown in FIG. Here, FIG.
0 is a schematic plan view, and FIG. 2B is a schematic cross-sectional view enlarging a BB portion in FIG. 2A.

As shown in FIGS. 2 (a) and 2 (b), the flow regulating plate 40 is formed, for example, on a flat Teflon flat plate by an ejection hole 40a whose outlet 42 is wider than the inlet 41 of the processing liquid, for example, wet processing. A substantially quadrangular truncated pyramid-shaped ejection hole 40 having a long side parallel to the surface of the semiconductor wafer to be processed in the tank 5, for example, a quadrangular pyramid-shaped ejection hole
For example, a large number of "a" are arranged at equal intervals both vertically and horizontally. Although the above-described ejection holes 40a of the current plate 40 are truncated square pyramid-shaped ejection holes 40a, instead of the truncated square pyramid-shaped ejection holes 40a, substantially square truncated pyramidal shapes in which the ejection hole side walls are arc-shaped. It is good also as an ejection hole.

When the semiconductor wafer is washed in the wet processing tank 5 using the above-described current plate 40, turbulence of the processing liquid occurs around the ejection holes 12a of the current plate 12 as shown in FIG. The amount is greatly reduced, and a uniform laminar flow on the surface of the semiconductor wafer to be cleaned is obtained, and the cleaning effect of the semiconductor wafer is improved.

Although the present invention has been described with reference to the two embodiments, the present invention is not limited to these embodiments. For example, in the embodiment of the present invention, a wet processing apparatus having a wet processing tank is described as a cleaning apparatus. However, the present invention may be applied to a wet etching apparatus having a wet processing tank. Further, in the embodiment of the present invention, a straightening plate made of Teflon is used, but a straightening plate made of quartz or enbi may be used. Further, in the embodiment of the present invention, the description has been made using the rectifying plate in which a large number of ejection holes having the same shape are arranged at equal intervals. The size, interval, and the like of the ejection holes may be changed between the peripheral portion and the plate.

[0020]

As is apparent from the above description, the wet processing apparatus having the wet processing tank according to the present invention is a wet processing tank using a straightening plate provided with a large number of ejection holes having an outlet wider than an inlet. The cleaning effect is large because the semiconductor wafer is cleaned by the method described above. Therefore, the use of this wet processing apparatus improves the production yield of semiconductor devices.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a current plate of a wet processing tank according to a first embodiment of the present invention, where (a) is a schematic plan view and (b) is A in FIG. 1 (a).
It is the schematic sectional drawing which expanded the -A part.

2 (a) is a schematic plan view, and FIG. 2 (b) is a flow rectifier plate of a wet processing tank according to Embodiment 2 of the present invention.
It is the schematic sectional drawing which expanded the -B part.

FIG. 3 is a schematic view of a conventional cleaning apparatus.

FIG. 4 is a schematic view of a wet processing tank of a conventional cleaning apparatus.

5 (a) is a schematic plan view, and FIG. 5 (b) is a schematic cross-sectional view enlarging a C-C portion of FIG.

FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating a flow of a processing liquid from a discharge hole of a current plate of a conventional wet processing tank.

[Explanation of symbols]

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Cleaning device, 2 ... Loader part, 3 ... Unloader part, 4 ...
Transfer robot, 5: wet processing tank, 6: spin dryer, 10: processing tank section, 11: supply pipe, 12, 30,
Reference numeral 40: straightening plate, 12a: ejection hole, 20: drainage receiving part, 2
1 ... drainage pipe, 31, 41 ... inlet, 32, 42 ... outlet

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A wet processing apparatus having a wet processing tank, wherein a rectifying plate provided with a large number of ejection holes having an outlet wider than an inlet is provided below the wet processing tank. Processing equipment. 2. The wet processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the ejection hole has a substantially truncated cone shape. 3. The wet processing apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the ejection holes are arranged in a dense arrangement. 4. The wet processing according to claim 1, wherein the ejection holes have a substantially truncated quadrangular pyramid shape having long sides parallel to a surface of a substrate to be processed in the wet processing tank. apparatus.