JPH10335203A - Apparatus and method for treating substrate - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an apparatus and a method for treating substrates with fewer misoperations and reduced work load on the worker. SOLUTION: A worker selects any of substrate treating recipes preset in a memory 50 for each lot according to a resist liq. coated on a substrate and sets its recipe no. in the memory 50. When a substrate-treating apparatus 1 starts processing, it automatically switches over gases to be fed to baking units 30 for every cassette, according to the selected and set substrate treating recipes for heat treating the substrates in the cassette. This reduces the misoperations and reduces the work load on the worker.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

The present invention relates to a substrate (hereinafter simply referred to as a "substrate") such as a semiconductor wafer, a glass substrate for a photomask, a glass substrate for a liquid crystal display, and a substrate for an optical disk while supplying gas in a substrate processing section. And a substrate processing method using the same.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, in a substrate processing apparatus for performing a process on a substrate while supplying a gas, particularly in a bake unit in a photolithography process of a semiconductor wafer, the type of gas supplied into the unit is determined according to the process. By selectively supplying a predetermined one from among a plurality of different ones, the processing of the substrate is made effective. In such an apparatus, a plurality of gas supply sources and a processing chamber are connected by a pipe, and an electromagnetic valve is provided in the pipe to switch a gas supplied to the processing chamber. The supplied gas is switched by manually switching the solenoid valve with the manual button.

[0003]

By the way, as described above, in the conventional apparatus, the supply gas is switched manually, so that erroneous operation is likely to occur.

Further, in the process using far ultraviolet rays, since many kinds of gases are selectively used, the manual switching operation of the supplied gas is complicated, and the work load on the operator is increased.

An object of the present invention is to overcome the above-mentioned problems in the prior art, and to provide a substrate processing apparatus and a substrate processing method using the same, in which erroneous operations are less likely to occur and the work load on an operator is reduced. With the goal.

[0006]

In order to achieve the above object, an apparatus according to a first aspect of the present invention is a substrate processing apparatus for performing processing on a substrate while supplying a gas in a substrate processing section, comprising: Storage means for storing a plurality of substrate processing parameters including designation of a type, parameter setting means for setting a desired substrate processing parameter from among the plurality of substrate processing parameters stored in the storage means, and a plurality of gas supply sources Gas changing means for changing the gas supplied to the substrate processing unit based on the gas supplied from the control means for controlling the gas changing means based on the designation of the gas in the substrate processing parameters set by the parameter setting means; , Is provided.

Further, according to a second aspect of the present invention, in the substrate processing apparatus of the first aspect, the gas changing means selectively switches a communication state between a plurality of gas supply sources and the substrate processing unit to thereby control the substrate processing. The gas supplied to the processing section is switched.

Further, according to a third aspect of the present invention, there is provided the substrate processing apparatus according to the first or second aspect, wherein different gases are supplied to a plurality of substrates while supplying gas in the substrate processing section. A substrate processing method for performing a resist process according to claim 1, wherein a step of setting a substrate processing parameter designating a gas corresponding to a type of a resist solution used for each of the plurality of substrates; Controlling the gas changing means on the basis of the substrate processing parameter for supplying the gas to the substrate processing unit.

Here, "resist processing" refers to a processing such as exposure, development, heating or the like for a substrate coated with a resist liquid, or a processing for applying a resist liquid to a substrate not coated with a resist liquid. Refers to general processing using.

[0010]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION

[0011]

[1. FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a substrate processing apparatus 1 according to an embodiment of the present invention. Hereinafter, the substrate processing apparatus 1 will be described with reference to FIG.

As shown, the apparatus comprises an N2 source 11,
A dry air supply source 12, an O2 supply source 13 (hereinafter, referred to as a "gas supply source" when collectively referred to), and a gas switching unit 2
0 (corresponding to "gas changing means"), baking unit 30
(Corresponding to “substrate processing unit”), control unit 40, memory 50
(Corresponding to "storage means"), a main panel 60, and an operation panel 70 (corresponding to "parameter setting means"). The bake unit 30 selectively supplies gas from each gas supply source to the surface while selectively supplying gas. This is a substrate processing apparatus that performs heat treatment (corresponding to “resist processing”) on a substrate to which a resist liquid has been applied.

The N2 supply source 11, the dry air supply source 12 and the O2 supply source 13 are supply sources of N2 (nitrogen), dry air and O2 (oxygen), respectively, and are connected to pipes 15 to 17, respectively. .

The gas switching unit 20 will be described in detail later.
Supply source 11, dry air supply source 12, and O2 supply source 1
3 is connected to the pipes 15 to 17 and also connected to the gas supply pipe 25, and switches the gas supply source connected to a bake unit described later, that is, the communication state with the bake unit. Switching the gas supplied to it.

The bake unit 30 includes a hot plate 32 in a processing chamber 31 connected to the gas supply pipe 25, and performs a heating process with the substrate W placed on the hot plate 32 (see FIG. 2). This can be a known one.

The control section 40 is connected to each section of the substrate processing apparatus 1 and an external substrate supply device (not shown), and controls each section according to a specified substrate processing recipe (corresponding to “substrate processing parameters”) to be described later. Perform control.

The memory 50 stores a plurality of substrate processing recipes and numbers of selected and set substrate processing recipes.

The main panel 60 is a console provided with input means for an operator to initialize a plurality of substrate processing recipes stored in the memory 50 as initial settings.

The operation panel 70 is a console provided with input means for allowing an operator to select one of a plurality of substrate processing recipes stored in the memory 50 and to set the selected recipe in the memory 50.

The external substrate supply device (not shown) includes a table for holding a plurality of cassettes and a substrate transfer robot. The substrate transfer robot moves the substrate between the table and the bake unit 30 of the substrate processing apparatus 1. Hold the
Transport.

Next, the features of the embodiment of the present invention will be described in more detail.

FIG. 2 shows a gas switching unit 20 according to this embodiment.
FIG.

The N 2 supply source 1 in the gas switching unit 20
1, switching valves 21 to 23 are inserted in the respective pipes 15 to 17 from the dry air supply source 12 and the O2 supply source 13. The switching valves 21 to 23 are connected to the control unit 40.
Are selectively opened under the control of the control unit 40, and the others are closed,
One of N2, dry air and O2 gas is supplied to the bake unit 30.

Further, each of the pipes 15 to 17 is provided with a switching valve 21.
After passing through to 23, the gas supply pipe 25 is intensively connected to one gas supply pipe 25, and the gas supply pipe 25 is connected to the bake unit 30 outside the gas switching unit 20.

By controlling the gas switching unit 20 by the control unit 40, the gas supplied to the bake unit 30 is automatically switched. The switching is specified in advance by a substrate processing recipe described below. Is done.

[0026]

[Table 1]

Table 1 is a table showing an example of the initial setting of the substrate processing recipe of this embodiment. The substrate processing recipe is a program for controlling the heating processing of the substrate W performed by the baking unit 30 based on parameters such as a processing temperature, a processing time, and a gas type, and is automatically performed based on the setting of each parameter as illustrated. Generated. Each parameter is as follows.

The processing temperature is a target value of the temperature of the heat treatment of the substrate W in the baking unit 30. In the example of Table 1, the recipe numbers “1”, “2”, and “3” are 90 ° C. and 120 ° C., respectively. , 110 ° C.

The processing time represents the heating time of the substrate W in the baking unit 30. In the example of Table 1, 60 is used for each of the recipe numbers "1", "2", and "3".
Seconds, 80 seconds, and 70 seconds.

The type of gas represents the type of gas supplied into the bake unit 30 during the heat treatment of the substrate W. In the example of Table 1, each of the recipe numbers "1", "2", and "3" is used. Are N2, dry air and O2.

In the substrate processing apparatus 1, substrate processing recipes for various gases as shown in Table 1 are stored in a memory 5.
It can be set to 0.

By the way, the substrate processing apparatus 1 mainly performs the heat treatment of the substrate W in a process using far ultraviolet rays. As the resist liquid in such a substrate processing, a positive type resist using an organic material, Many types such as a negative resist are used. Therefore, the substrate processing apparatus 1 can perform heat treatment on the substrate W to which different types of resist liquids are applied.

That is, when the same type of resist solution is applied to each of a plurality of cassettes put into the substrate supply apparatus by an operator, and the lot as a group of substrates W to be subjected to the same processing is different, That is, a substrate processing recipe in which different gas types are specified for each cassette is set in the memory 50 by the operation panel 70. That is, the various resist liquids as described above include a gas that is preferable and a gas that is not preferable for the substrate processing using the resist liquid. The substrate processing recipe with the specified gas is selected and set.

Thus, the substrate processing apparatus 1 performs the heat treatment in a state where a gas suitable for the resist liquid applied to the substrate W for each lot is supplied to the bake unit 30.

The processing procedure of substrate processing using the substrate processing apparatus 1 having the above-described configuration is as follows.

First, the operator initially sets a plurality of different substrate processing recipes including designation of various gases to be supplied to the bake unit 30 as shown in Table 1 by the main panel 60 and stores them in the memory 50. Let it be.

Next, the operator puts a cassette containing the substrates W coated with different types of resist solutions into an external substrate supply device (not shown).

Before the substrate processing apparatus 1 starts the heat treatment of the substrate W, the operator applies the resist solution applied to the substrate W stored in each cassette into the substrate supply apparatus. A recipe number is set for each lot by the operation panel 70 in the processing order based on the type, and stored in the memory 50.

Next, when the substrate processing apparatus 1 starts processing, the control unit 40 reads out a recipe number stored in the memory 50 for each lot, reads out a substrate processing recipe corresponding to the recipe number from the memory 50, and reads the recipe accordingly. The substrate W stored in the cassette is sequentially heated. At this time, the control unit 40 controls the gas switching unit 20
Control, the N2 supply source 11, the dry air supply source 1
2. The heat treatment of the substrate W is performed while the gas from the O2 supply source 13 is supplied to the bake unit 30.

When the processing of the substrates W in one cassette is completed in this way, the substrates W in the next cassette are sequentially loaded into the bake unit 30, and based on the substrate processing recipe for that cassette. , Control unit 4
0 controls the respective parts in the same manner as described above, whereby the gas supplied to the bake unit 30 is automatically switched.

Further, the above-described processing is sequentially performed on each of the loaded cassettes. When the processing is completed on the substrates W of all the cassettes, all the steps of the substrate processing in this apparatus are completed.

As described above, according to the substrate processing apparatus 1 of this embodiment, the control unit 40 controls the gas switching unit 2 based on the gas designation in the set substrate processing recipe.
Since 0 is controlled to change the gas supplied to the bake unit 30, there is no need to manually switch the gas in accordance with the cassette, so that erroneous operations are less likely to occur and the operator's work load can be reduced.

In particular, when substrate processing is performed using different types of resist liquids, the operator is required to apply the resist liquid applied to the substrates W stored in the cassettes for each lot to be processed. The substrate processing apparatus 1 automatically selects and sets a gas corresponding to the type of the substrate processing recipe, and automatically switches the gas supplied to the bake unit 30 accordingly. By supplying a suitable gas, more effective processing can be performed.

[0044]

[2. Modification In the substrate processing apparatus 1 of this embodiment,
The type of gas supplied to the bake unit 30 is selectively switched by switching the gas supply source connected to the bake unit 30 by the gas switching unit 20,
The present invention is not limited to this. By providing a control valve in each of the pipes from each of the gas supply sources and adjusting the degree of opening of each of the pipes, the gas is supplied while changing the mixing ratio of a plurality of gases. May be changed instead of the type of gas.

In this embodiment, the lot is set for each cassette and a different gas is supplied to the bake unit 30 for each cassette. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and the resist applied to one cassette is not limited to this. When substrates of different types are stored, different gases may be supplied to each substrate.

Although the present embodiment is directed to the heat treatment of the substrate coated with the resist solution with respect to far ultraviolet rays, the present invention is not limited to this. By preparing a gaseous substance and using a substrate processing recipe corresponding to the gaseous substance, it may be applied to a substrate coated with a resist solution such as a photoresist, an X-ray resist, or an electron beam resist.

Further, in this embodiment, the substrate processing apparatus 1 is an apparatus for heating the substrate W by the baking unit 30 having the hot plate 32 therein. However, the present invention is not limited to this. An apparatus for performing other substrate processing using a resist solution, such as a coater, may be used, or an apparatus for continuously processing a plurality of these substrates may be used.

Further, the substrate processing apparatus 1 of this embodiment
Although the substrate processing recipe includes parameters such as a processing temperature, a processing time, and a gas type as a substrate processing recipe, the present invention is not limited to this. For example, when the substrate processing apparatus 1 includes a coater, other parameters such as the rotation speed of the substrate are used. It may include parameters.

Further, in this embodiment, the selection and setting of a desired substrate processing recipe are performed by the operation panel 70, but the selection and setting may be performed from the main panel 60.

[0050]

As described above, according to the first and second aspects of the present invention, the control means controls the gas changing means based on the gas designation in the substrate processing parameter set by the parameter setting means. In order to change the gas supplied to the substrate processing unit, and according to the third aspect of the present invention, a substrate processing parameter that specifies a gas according to the type of the resist liquid used for each of the plurality of substrates is set, In performing resist processing on each substrate, the control unit controls the gas changing unit based on the substrate processing parameters for the substrate, and supplies gas to the substrate processing unit. Since it is unnecessary, erroneous operations are less likely to occur, and the work load on the operator can be reduced.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a substrate processing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a configuration diagram of a gas switching unit of the embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Substrate processing apparatus 11 N2 supply source 12 Dry air supply source 13 O2 supply source 20 Gas switching part (gas changing means) 30 Bake unit (substrate processing means) 40 Control part 50 Memory 70 Operation panel (parameter setting means) W substrate

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A substrate processing apparatus for performing processing on a substrate while supplying gas in a substrate processing unit, comprising: storage means for storing a plurality of substrate processing parameters including designation of a type of gas; Parameter setting means for setting a desired substrate processing parameter from the plurality of substrate processing parameters, and changing a gas supplied to the substrate processing unit based on a gas supplied from a plurality of gas supply sources. A substrate processing apparatus comprising: a gas changing unit; and a control unit that controls the gas changing unit based on designation of the gas in the substrate processing parameter set by the parameter setting unit. 2. The substrate processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the gas changing unit selectively switches a communication state between the plurality of gas supply sources and the substrate processing unit to supply a gas to be supplied to the substrate processing unit. A substrate processing apparatus characterized by switching. 3. A substrate processing method using the substrate processing apparatus according to claim 1 or 2, wherein a plurality of substrates are subjected to resist processing with different resist liquids while supplying gas in a substrate processing unit. Setting the substrate processing parameters by designating a gas corresponding to the type of the resist solution used for each of the plurality of substrates; and, in performing the resist processing on each substrate, based on the substrate processing parameters for the substrate. A step of supplying gas to the substrate processing unit while the control unit controls the gas changing unit.