JPH1092790A - Substrate treatment device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a substrate treatment device capable of preventing lowering of a treatment quality due to uneven drying of the substrate. SOLUTION: A substrate carrier device 21 is provided with a running member 23 capable of reciprocating running in the X-direction, a supporting member 24 capable of vertically traveling to the running member 23 and a pair of chucks 25 supported by a supporting member 24. A pair of the chuck members 25 have a pair of rotary axes 26 allowing pivotal rotation on the respective supporting members 24, supporting rods 27 hanging from a pair of pivots 26 and substrates holding rods 28 installed between the supporting rods 27. Holding grooves for holding side edges of a plurality of substrates W are notched on the respective holding rods 28. Then, a pair of covers 30 are provided on a pair of rotary axes 26 for covering the upper part of the substrate W held by the chucks and shielding an air current due to a down flow.

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 immersing a substrate such as a semiconductor wafer, a glass substrate for a liquid crystal display panel, or a glass substrate for a semiconductor manufacturing apparatus in a processing solution stored in a processing solution tank. About.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In such a substrate processing apparatus, as shown in FIG.
The substrate W is transported in a state of being held, and the surface of the substrate W is processed by immersing the substrate W in a processing liquid stored in a processing liquid tank. In such a substrate processing apparatus, in order to quickly discharge particles in the atmosphere, mist generated from the processing liquid, and the like to the outside of the apparatus, an airflow generating unit is used to perform a process from above a processing liquid tank called a downflow. It is configured to generate a flowing clean gas flow.

[0003]

When the substrate W is pulled up from the processing liquid stored in the processing liquid tank or when the substrate W is being transported by the substrate transport device 2, the airflow caused by the downflow to the substrate W is reduced. , The drying of the processing liquid is promoted on the surface of the substrate W, and the drying proceeds sequentially from above the substrate W downward as shown in FIG. Note that the hatched portion of the substrate W shown in FIG. 7 indicates a region where the processing liquid has not been dried yet, and the other portion indicates a region where the processing liquid has already been dried.

As described above, when the processing liquid adhered to the surface of the substrate W is sequentially dried from the upper side to the lower side, there is a problem that the processing quality of the substrate W is deteriorated. For example, when an etching solution such as hydrofluoric acid is used as the processing solution, a difference occurs in the amount of etching between a dry region and a non-dried region on the surface of the substrate W, and the uniformity of the process after the etching process is impaired. It is. Further, when pure water is used as the treatment liquid, oxidation of the surface of the substrate W occurs at the boundary between the dried region and the non-dried region on the surface of the substrate W. A film is generated.

The present invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned problem, and has as its object to provide a substrate processing apparatus capable of preventing a reduction in processing quality due to uneven drying of a substrate W.

[0006]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention provides a processing liquid tank for storing a processing liquid for processing a substrate, and a method for processing the substrate by immersing the substrate held therein in the processing liquid tank. A substrate transport apparatus that transports the processed substrate from the processing liquid tank to the next processing unit; and an airflow generating unit that generates an airflow that flows down from above the processing liquid tank. A cover for shielding the air flow is provided above the substrate held by the means.

[0007]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a schematic view of a substrate processing apparatus according to the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a perspective view of a substrate transfer apparatus 21. In this embodiment, the present invention is applied to a substrate processing apparatus that processes a substantially circular semiconductor substrate W.

In these figures, reference numeral 12 denotes a processing liquid tank storing a processing liquid. The processing liquid stored in the processing liquid tank 12 is circulated through the overflow tank 14 and the filter 15 by the action of the pump 13.

Above the treatment liquid tank 12, a filter 16 for forming a clean downflow by passing an air flow generated by a fan or the like (not shown) is provided. The flow of the clean gas due to the downflow flows down from the filter 16 as indicated by an arrow in FIG. 1 and is forcibly exhausted to the outside of the processing apparatus together with particles and processing liquid mist generated in the processing apparatus.

A substrate transfer device 21 is provided in the substrate processing apparatus. The substrate transfer device 21 is capable of reciprocating in the X direction shown in FIG. 2 (a direction perpendicular to the plane of FIG. 1) in the passage 22 of the substrate transfer device 21, and is vertically moved relative to the travel member 23. It has a possible support member 24 and a pair of chucks 25 supported by the support member 24.

Each of the pair of chucks 25 includes a pair of rotation shafts 26 rotatably supported by the support member 24, a support rod 27 hanging from the pair of rotation shafts 26, and a support rod 27.
And a substrate holding rod 28 provided therebetween. Each substrate holding rod 28 is provided with a holding groove for holding the side edges of the plurality of substrates W. And, on the pair of rotating shafts 26,
A pair of plate-shaped covers 30 that cover the upper part of the substrate W held by the chuck is provided.

With the substrate W held by the substrate transfer device 21, the substrate W is immersed in the processing liquid tank 12 and then pulled up from the processing liquid tank 12, or the next processing unit (not shown) from the processing liquid tank 12. In the case of transporting to a processing liquid tank or a drying device, since the cover 30 is provided at a position above the plurality of substrates W held by the substrate transport device 21, the airflow due to the downflow flowing down from the filter 15 is reduced. The cover 30 blocks the light. For this reason, the drying of the processing liquid attached to the surface of the substrate W is promoted by the airflow due to the downflow, and it is possible to prevent the processing quality of the substrate W from deteriorating due to the drying of only the region above the substrate W.

In this embodiment, the pair of covers 30 are connected to the processing liquid tanks 12 of the pair of chucks 25.
Are disposed on a pair of rotating shafts 26 which are portions that do not enter the processing liquid stored in the rotary shaft 26. Therefore, the substrate W is stored in the processing liquid tank 12.
Even in the case of immersion, the cover 30 does not enter the processing liquid. It should be noted that a single cover attached to the support member 24 in a cantilever manner may be used instead of the pair of covers 30.

Next, another embodiment of the present invention will be described. FIG. 3 is a perspective view of the substrate transfer device 41 according to the second embodiment. The same members as those of the substrate transfer device 21 shown in FIG. 2 are denoted by the same reference numerals, and description thereof will be omitted.

The substrate transfer apparatus 41 differs from the substrate transfer apparatus 21 shown in FIG. 2 in that a cover 42 is further provided on one chuck 25. That is, in the substrate transfer device 41, the substrate W immersed in the processing liquid tank 12 is held by the pair of chucks 25 of the substrate transfer device 41 and pulled up, and then the substrate transfer device 41 is moved to move the substrate W In the case of transporting the substrate W, the cover 42 that covers the front of the plurality of substrates W is disposed on the chuck 25 located on the upstream side in the traveling direction of the substrate transport device 41, so that the air current generated when the substrate W moves W is prevented from hitting.

According to the substrate transfer apparatus 41, similarly to the substrate transfer apparatus 21 according to the first embodiment shown in FIG. 2, the processing quality of the substrate W due to the drying of only the region above the substrate W is reduced. Further, it is possible to prevent a decrease in the processing quality of the substrate W caused by the promotion of drying of the region on the upstream side in the traveling direction of the substrate W by the air current generated when the substrate W moves. it can.

Next, still another embodiment of the present invention will be described. FIG. 4 is a perspective view of the substrate transfer device 51 according to the third embodiment. Note that the substrate transfer device 2 shown in FIG.
The same members as 1 are denoted by the same reference numerals and description thereof will be omitted.

In the substrate transfer device 61, a pair of covers 60 curved in accordance with the curvature of the outer peripheral portion of the substrate W are brought close to the substrate W in place of the cover 30 provided with the pair of chucks 25. 2 is different from the substrate transfer device 21 shown in FIG. In the substrate transfer device 61, since the cover 60 can be disposed closer to the substrate W held by the pair of chucks 25, the airflow due to the downflow can be more effectively shielded.

In the above-described embodiment, the cover 3
The substrate W held on the chuck 25 as 0 and 60
Although the case where a shape that shields the whole area above the substrate W is used has been described, a configuration in which a part of the substrate W is covered at a position above the substrate W may be used. That is, considering that the drying proceeds sequentially from the upper end of the substrate W due to the action of the airflow due to the downflow, when a substantially circular semiconductor substrate or the like is used as the substrate W, as shown in FIG.
By using the cover 70 that can cover at least the region including the upper end portion, the progress of drying from the upper end portion of the substrate W can also be prevented. In the case where a rectangular glass substrate for a liquid crystal display panel or the like is used as the substrate W and is transported while being inclined, at least a region including a corner at the upper end of the substrate W should be covered as shown in FIG. By using the cover 80 that can be used, the progress of drying from the upper end of the substrate W can be prevented.

In each of the above-described embodiments, the covers 30, 60, 70, and 80 are each capable of completely blocking the air flow.
For example, nets or porous members may be used as the members 60, 70, and 80 to block a part of the airflow.
The shielding in this specification is a concept including such a form.

In each of the above-described embodiments, a case has been described in which the substrate W is directly held and transported by the transport devices 21, 41, and 51. However, the substrate W is stored in a cassette, and May be held and transported by the transport device.

Further, in the first to third embodiments described above, the case where the present invention is applied to a substrate processing apparatus for processing a semiconductor substrate has been described. However, the present invention is applied to a glass substrate for a liquid crystal display panel or a semiconductor manufacturing apparatus. It can also be applied to a substrate processing apparatus that processes a substrate such as a glass substrate for use.

[0023]

According to the substrate processing apparatus of the present invention,
Since the cover for shielding the airflow is disposed above the substrate held by the transporting means, drying of the processing liquid attached to the substrate surface by the downward airflow is promoted, and only the region above the substrate is dried. It is possible to prevent the processing quality of the substrate from deteriorating due to drying.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a substrate processing apparatus according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the substrate transfer device 21 according to the first embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of a substrate transfer device 41 according to a second embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of a substrate transfer device 51 according to a third embodiment.

FIG. 5 is an explanatory view showing a modification of the cover.

FIG. 6 is an explanatory view showing a modification of the cover.

FIG. 7 is a schematic view of a conventional substrate transfer device 2.

[Explanation of symbols]

 Reference Signs List 12 treatment liquid tank 16 filter 21 substrate transfer device 30 cover 41 substrate transfer device 42 cover 51 substrate transfer device 60 cover 70 cover 80 cover W substrate

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A processing liquid tank for storing a processing liquid for processing a substrate, and the substrate held in the processing liquid tank is immersed in the processing liquid tank to process the substrate. In a substrate processing apparatus having a substrate transfer device that transfers a processing liquid from a processing liquid tank to a next processing unit, and an airflow generating unit that generates an airflow that flows down from above the processing liquid tank, A substrate processing apparatus, wherein a cover for shielding the airflow is provided at a position.