JPH11169775A - Resist coating apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To enhance the rate of operation of a resist coating apparatus having a plurality of resist supply systems. SOLUTION: Three three-way valves 101, 102, 103 are arranged in the pipings 24 in the vicinity of the respective resist supply units 4 of first, second and third resist supply systems 1, 2, 3 being three resist supply systems supplying photoresists of different kinds and the pipings 115a, 115b, 115c of a thinner supply system 100 are connected to the three-way valves 101, 102, 103.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a resist coating apparatus, and more particularly, to a resist coating apparatus characterized by a cleaning mechanism of a resist supply piping system.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In a manufacturing process of an active matrix substrate of a semiconductor device or a liquid crystal display device, a predetermined pattern is formed on a substrate to be processed, for example, an insulating substrate such as a semiconductor wafer or glass using a photolithography technique. However, in this case, a resist coating device is used for coating the photoresist on the upper surface of the semiconductor wafer or the like.

A recent resist coating apparatus is composed of a carrier station section on which a wafer cassette containing a large number of semiconductor wafers is placed, a resist coating section, a resist heating section before resist exposure, and the like, and transport of the semiconductor wafer to these sections. The semiconductor wafer after the completion of the resist coating step is configured to have a mechanism for automatically transporting the semiconductor wafer from the resist coating apparatus to an exposure apparatus arranged in connection with the resist coating apparatus. I have.

Further, in order to cope with the case where the type of photoresist applied to the semiconductor wafer is different, a plurality of resist application lines are provided in the carrier station section by regarding the resist coating section and the resist heating section as one resist application line. Is also available. In this case, the semiconductor wafer in the wafer cassette mounted on the carrier station is transported to the resist coating line corresponding to the photoresist by the photoresist to be coated, coated on the resist coating line, and heated. The processed semiconductor wafer is automatically sent to the position of the semiconductor wafer transfer section of the exposure apparatus connected to the resist coating apparatus.

Further, a plurality of photoresist supply systems for supplying different types of photoresists to the resist coating section even in one resist coating line are provided.
In addition, by using a resist heating unit in which the heat treatment temperature of the resist can be set corresponding to different types of photoresist, it is possible to cope with different types of photoresist applied to the semiconductor wafer.

In any of the above-described resist coating apparatuses capable of coating different types of photoresists, it is necessary to provide a plurality of resist supply systems. here,
Referring to FIG. 3, a description will be given of a resist supply system of a resist coating unit in a conventional resist coating apparatus having three resist coating lines capable of coating three types of photoresists.

First, as shown in FIG. 3, a resist supply system in a resist coating section having three resist application lines corresponding to different types of photoresists includes a first resist supply system 1 and a second resist supply system. There is a supply system 2 and a third resist supply system 3. Each of these resist supply systems 1, 2, and 3 is provided with a nozzle disposed near the spin coat portion of the resist coat portion for discharging a resist onto the semiconductor wafer 50. Unit 11, a filter 12 for removing solids and the like in the photoresist, a pump unit 13 such as a bellows pump for controlling the discharge amount of the photoresist, and a pipe 14 for connecting them, and are usually installed at a location away from the spin coat unit. been, feeding the tubing 23 and the photoresist introducing the photoresist 20 containers with 21 and nitrogen gas (N ₂ gas), Connect to pump unit 13 was described, the length L is schematically composed of a resist supply unit 4 constituted by a lid 22 which the end of a long pipe 24 which is also approximately 2~3m is attached.

Next, the above-mentioned three resist supply systems 1,
Semiconductor wafer 50 by a resist coating apparatus having two or three
The operation of applying resist to the substrate will be described. First, the following initial operation is performed. This initial operation is performed by first sending nitrogen gas at a predetermined pressure from the pipe 23 to the container 21 of the resist supply unit 4 and applying pressure to the liquid level of the photoresist 20.
The photoresist 20 is sent out to the pipe 24. The photoresist 20 sent from the pipe 24 is sent to the pipe 14 via the pump unit 13 operated by driving power from a driving device (not shown) of the pump unit 13, and solid matter and the like are filtered by the filter 12. After being excluded, it is discharged from the nozzle unit 11.
By the operation as described above, each of the resist supply systems 1, 2, and 3 from the three resist supply units 4 of different types of photoresists 20 to the nozzle unit 11 is filled with the photoresist 20, and then the pump The initial operation is completed by stopping the operation of the unit 13.

Next, when the photoresist 20 is actually applied to the semiconductor wafer 50, the pump unit 13 operates for a short period of time when the semiconductor wafer 50 is sent to the spin coat unit by automatic conveyance. Quantitative photoresist 20
Is discharged from the nozzle portion 11 and dropped on the semiconductor wafer 50. After that, a photoresist film having a predetermined thickness is formed on the semiconductor wafer 50 by rotating the semiconductor wafer 50 in the spin coating section.

The above operation is repeated to apply the photoresist 20 to a large number of semiconductor wafers 50. For example, when the photoresist 20 in the container 21 of the resist supply unit 4 of the first resist supply system 1 runs out, ,
In order to replenish the photoresist, first, the container 21 of the resist supply unit 4 is removed from the lid 22, and then a photoresist solvent which is a solvent for the photoresist, for example, a container of the photoresist 20 attached to the lid 22 containing a thinner. A container similar to 21 is attached to the lid 22,
Thereafter, the thinner is discharged from the nozzle unit 11 in the same operation as the initial operation in the application operation of the photoresist 20, thereby cleaning the pipe 24 and the like from the resist supply unit 4 of the first resist supply system to the nozzle unit 11. Do.

The thinner cleaning is used to prevent a change in the components of the photoresist in the new photoresist container due to mixing with the previously used photoresist components, and to prevent contamination of the new photoresist. is there. After the cleaning with the thinner, the container of the thinner is removed from the lid 22, a container containing a new photoresist is attached to the lid 22, and then the above-described photoresist coating operation is performed again.

In the resist coating apparatus having the first, second, and third resist supply systems capable of applying the three types of photoresists described above, the photoresist 20 of each resist supply unit 4 is eliminated. When replenishing the photoresist, the pipe must be washed as described above before replenishing a new photoresist, and the number of man-hours for attaching and detaching the container containing the thinner to and from the lid 22 is required. , There is a problem that the operating rate of the resist coating apparatus is reduced.

[0013]

In the above-described conventional resist coating apparatus having three resist supply systems, when replenishing the photoresist in the resist supply unit, the container containing the thinner is attached to or detached from the lid. Therefore, there is a problem that the operation rate of the resist coating apparatus is reduced due to the increased number of work steps. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and an object of the present invention is to provide a resist coating apparatus in which the operation rate of a resist coating apparatus having a plurality of resist supply systems is improved.

[0014]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION A resist coating apparatus according to the present invention is proposed to solve the above-mentioned problem. In a resist coating apparatus having a plurality of resist supply systems, a plurality of resist supply systems are provided. It has a plurality of switching means and a photoresist solvent supply unit for switching the flow of the photoresist and the photoresist solvent, which are provided in a piping part near the resist supply unit of the piping for sending out the photoresist from the supply unit. Is what you do.

According to the present invention, by providing a plurality of switching means and a photoresist solvent supply unit as described above, when replenishing the photoresist of the plurality of resist supply systems, the photoresist solvent to be performed immediately before re-supply is performed. Cleaning of the resist supply system can be easily performed, and the work of attaching and removing the container of the photoresist solvent to the resist supply unit as in the related art is not required.
The operation rate of the resist coating device can be improved.

[0016]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, specific embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings. The same components as those in FIG. 3 referred to in the description of the prior art are denoted by the same reference numerals.

Embodiment 1 This embodiment is an example in which the present invention is applied to a resist coating apparatus having a plurality of resist supply systems.
This will be described with reference to FIG. First, as shown in FIG. 1, a plurality of, for example, three resist supply systems of the resist coating apparatus according to the present invention include a first resist supply system 1, a second resist supply system 2, and a third resist supply system 2, which are the same as the conventional example. Resist supply system 3 and a photoresist solvent supply system such as a thinner supply system 100
And the respective resist supply systems 1, 2, 3 and the thinner supply system 1.
A plurality of switching means for switching the flow of the photoresist and the thinner which is a photoresist solvent between 00 and 00,
For example, the three-way valves 101, 102, and 103 are schematically configured.

The above three-way valves 101, 102, 103
Is provided in the middle of a pipe 24 near the resist supply unit 4 of each of the resist supply systems 1, 2, and 3. Further, the thinner supply system 100 described above includes a container 111 containing a thinner 112, a thinner supply unit 110 including a nitrogen gas pipe 114 and a lid 113 provided with a pipe 115 for sending out the thinner, and the thinner supply unit 110 described above. Nitrogen gas pipe 114, thinner supply unit 110 and three-way valves 101, 102, 103 of respective resist supply systems 1, 2, and 3
Pipe 115 for sending out the thinner 112
And pipes 115a and 115 branched from the pipe 115
b and 115c.

Next, the operation of applying a resist to the semiconductor wafer 50 by the above-described resist applying apparatus having three resist supply systems will be described. First, an initial operation is performed as in the conventional case. This initial operation is performed first by three-way valves 101, 102,
The state of 103 is such that the photoresist 20 flows into each of the resist supply systems 1, 2, and 3 and the thinner 112 does not flow from the thinner supply system 100 (the three-way valves 101, 10 in FIG. 1).
2 and 103), and then, as in the conventional case, nitrogen gas of a predetermined pressure is sent from the pipe 23 to the container 21 of the resist supply unit 4 and pressure is applied to the photoresist 20 liquid level, so that the photoresist 20 is pressed. To the pipe 24. The photoresist 20 sent out from each resist supply unit 4 through the pipe 24 includes a three-way valve 101,
After passing through 102 and 103 to each pump section 13, the pump section 13 is operated by a driving power from a driving device (not shown) of the pump section 13 and is sent to a front pipe 14. After the objects and the like are removed, the ink is discharged from the nozzle unit 11. In this manner, the respective resist supply systems 1, 2, and 3 from the resist supply unit 4 to the nozzle unit 11 are filled with the photoresist 20, and the operation of the pump unit 13 is stopped, so that the initial operation can be performed. Complete.

Next, when the photoresist 20 is actually applied to the semiconductor wafer 50, the pump unit 13 is turned on for a short time at the stage when the semiconductor wafer 50 is sent to the spin coat unit by automatic conveyance, as in the conventional example. During the operation, a predetermined amount of the photoresist 20 is discharged from the nozzle unit 11 and dropped on the semiconductor wafer 50. After that, a photoresist film having a predetermined thickness is formed on the semiconductor wafer 50 by rotating the semiconductor wafer 50 in the spin coating section.

The above operation is repeated to apply a photoresist 50 to a large number of semiconductor wafers 50. For example, when the photoresist 20 in the container 21 of the resist supply unit 4 of the first resist supply system 1 runs out, ,
In order to replenish the resist, first, the container 21 of the resist supply unit 4 is removed from the lid 22, and then the three-way valve 101 is removed.
Is turned counterclockwise by about 90 °, for example, so that the thinner 112 flows from the thinner supply system 100 to the first resist supply system 1. Thereafter, a nitrogen gas at a predetermined pressure is sent from the pipe 114 to the container 111 of the thinner supply unit 110, and a pressure is applied to the liquid level of the thinner 112, thereby causing
12 is sent out to a pipe 115. Thinner 112 is connected to piping 1
15 and the piping 115a, the three-way valve 101, the first resist supply system 1 is sent to the first resist supply system 1, and the thinner 112 is used to connect the three-way valve 101 of the first resist supply system 1 to the nozzle unit 11 with the piping 24 and the like. Is performed.

After the cleaning of the pipe 24 and the like by the thinner 112, the three-way valve 101 is turned clockwise, for example, by about 90 ° to the original position, and then a new photoresist container is attached to the lid 22. Thereafter, the initial operation of the photoresist coating operation as described above is performed again.

The above-described cleaning with the thinner 112 can only clean the pipe 24 and the like from the three-way valve 101 of the first resist supply system 1 to the nozzle portion 11. 24 parts of a long pipe having a length L of about 2 to 3 m, a pump section 13 and a filter 1
2. Since it is possible to wash the nozzle portion 11 and the piping 14 therebetween, etc., the components of the photoresist in the new photoresist container are mixed with the components of the previously used photoresist 20 to change the components, Contamination of the new photoresist can be at a level that is almost no problem.

Further, in order to further suppress the change of the components of the new photoresist and to prevent the contamination of the new photoresist, the pipe 24 located on the side of the resist supply unit 4 from the three-way valve 101 may be washed. . In this cleaning, a waste liquid container is prepared below the pipe 24 provided in the lid 22, and the thinner 112 is used for cleaning the first resist supply system 1. 180 degrees from the position, thinner 112 of thinner supply system 100
To the pipe 24 provided in the lid 22.
However, in this case, it is necessary to prepare a waste liquid container.

The above-mentioned three resist supply systems 1, 2, 3
In a resist coating apparatus having a thinner supply system,
The thinner supply system 100 and the three resist supply systems 1, 2, 3 are connected to three-way valves 101, 102, 103 in the middle of each pipe 24 near each resist supply unit 4.
The cleaning operation of the resist supply systems 1, 2, and 3 performed at the time of replenishing the photoresist can be performed by connecting the thinner container to the resist supply systems 1, 2, and 3 as in the conventional operation. Can be implemented with simple tasks without the need for
The operation rate of the resist coating device is improved.

Embodiment 2 This embodiment is an example in which the present invention is applied to a resist coating apparatus having a plurality of resist supply systems, which will be described with reference to FIGS. In this embodiment,
Only the switching means for switching the flow between the photoresist 20 and the thinner 112 according to the first embodiment is different, and the description of the same parts as in the first embodiment is omitted, and the switching means which is a characteristic part of the present invention is omitted. Will be described in detail.

As shown in FIG. 2, the switching means 120 for switching the flow between the photoresist 20 and the thinner 112 in the resist coating apparatus according to the present invention comprises three-way valves 101, 10
It is an alternative to 2 and 103, the photoresist 20
Valves, for example, electromagnetic valves 121 and 122 that open and close electrically, and two electromagnetic valves 1
A photoresist solvent, for example, a thinner pipe, for example, 115a, connected in the middle of a pipe 124 between 21 and 122.
Valve, for example, an electromagnetic valve 123 that opens and closes electrically
It is composed of Switching means 120 described above
Is a resist supply unit 4 similar to the first embodiment.
A pipe 2 provided in the vicinity and connected to the solenoid valve 121
4 is connected to the pump unit 13 of the resist supply system, and a pipe 24 connected to the solenoid valve 122 is connected to the resist supply unit 4.
The piping connected to the solenoid valve 123 is, for example, 115a (see FIG. 1) for the thinner supply system.

Next, instead of the three-way valves 101, 102 and 103 shown in FIG. 1 used in the embodiment, the above-described switching means 120 using three solenoid valves 121, 122 and 123 is used. A resist coating operation on a semiconductor wafer by a resist coating apparatus having a plurality of resist supply systems will be described. First, an initial operation similar to the conventional operation is performed. In this initial operation, first, the electromagnetic valves 121 and 122 of the switching means 120 of each of the resist supply systems 1, 2, and 3 are turned on (opened) by an electromagnetic valve driving device (not shown), and thereafter, the conventional operation is performed. By the same operation as described above, the resist supply systems 1, 2, and 3 are filled with the photoresist to complete the initial operation.

Next, a photoresist is actually applied to the semiconductor wafer by the same operation as in the prior art. When the photoresist application operation is repeatedly performed to apply photoresist to a large number of semiconductor wafers and replenish the resist supply system in the container 21 of the resist supply unit 4 where the photoresist has run out, first, the switching means is used. 1
The 20 solenoid valves 122 are turned off by the solenoid valve driving device.
In the state (closed state), the container 21 of the resist supply unit 4 is then removed from the lid 22. Next, the electromagnetic valve 123 of the switching means 120 is operated by an electromagnetic valve driving device.
After being turned on, the thinner 112 flows from the thinner supply system 100 to the resist supply system 1 in the same manner as in the first embodiment, and the piping 24 and the like from the switching means 120 to the nozzle 11 are cleaned. After the completion of the cleaning, the solenoid valve 123
Is turned off by the solenoid valve driving device.

Next, a new photoresist container is attached to the lid 22, and then nitrogen gas at a predetermined pressure is introduced into the container 21 of the resist supply unit 4 from the pipe 23. Is turned on by the solenoid valve driving device. Thereafter, after performing the above-described initial operation, the application of the resist to the semiconductor wafer 50 is started again.

The cleaning by the thinner 112 described above can only clean the pipe 24 and the like from the switching means 120 of the first resist supply system 1 to the nozzle portion 11.
Since a long pipe 24 having a length L of about 2 to 3 m from the switching means 120 to the pump section 13, the pump section 13, the filter 12, the nozzle section 11, and the pipe 14 therebetween can be cleaned, etc. The photoresist component in the photoresist container is the photoresist 2 used previously.
Component change due to mixing with the zero component and contamination of new photoresist can be made to a level that causes almost no problem.

Further, in order to further suppress the change in the composition of the new photoresist and to prevent the contamination of the new photoresist, the switching means 120 may clean the pipe 24 located on the resist supply unit 4 side. . In this cleaning, a container for waste liquid is prepared below the pipe 24 provided in the lid 22, and the first resist supply system 1 is cleaned by the thinner 112 and the like. The valve 121 is turned off, and then the solenoid valve 122 is turned off.
By setting the N state, the thinner 11 of the thinner supply system 100 is
2 is caused to flow through the pipe 24 provided on the lid 22. However, in this case, it is necessary to prepare a waste liquid container.

In the above-described resist coating apparatus, the three switching means 120 for switching the flow between the photoresist 20 and the thinner 112 of the resist supply system have the same functions as the three-way valves 101, 102, and 103 of the first embodiment. The same effect as that of the first embodiment, that is, the effect of reducing the number of work steps and improving the operation rate of the resist coating apparatus can be obtained.

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,
Although a plurality of resist supply systems have been described as three resist supply systems, two resist supply systems or four or more resist supply systems may be used. In the embodiment of the present invention, the photoresist solvent is described as thinner,
Other photoresist solvents such as acetone may be used.

[0035]

As is apparent from the above description, the resist coating apparatus having a plurality of resist supply systems according to the present invention is
A plurality of switching means for switching the flow of the photoresist and the photoresist solvent to the resist supply system, and by including a photoresist solvent supply unit, when replenishing the photoresist of the resist supply system, immediately before re-supply, Since the resist supply system can be easily cleaned with the photoresist solvent and the work of attaching and removing the container for the photoresist solvent to and from the conventional resist supply unit is not required, the operation rate of the resist coating apparatus is reduced. Can be improved.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a resist supply system in a resist coating apparatus having three resist supply systems according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a schematic view of switching means for switching the flow of a photoresist and a photoresist solvent in a resist coating apparatus having three resist supply systems according to a second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram of a resist supply system in a conventional resist coating apparatus having three resist supply systems.

[Explanation of symbols]

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... 1st resist supply system, 2 ... 2nd resist supply system, 3 ... 3rd resist supply system, 4 ... resist supply unit, 11 ... nozzle part, 12 ... filter, 13 ... pump part, 14 and 23 , 24, 114, 115, 115a, 1
15b, 115c, 124: piping, 20: photoresist, 21, 111: container, 22, 113: lid, 50:
Semiconductor wafer, 100 ... thinner supply system, 101, 10
2, 103: three-way valve, 110: thinner supply unit, 1
12: Thinner, 120: Switching means, 121, 12
2,123 ... solenoid valve

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A resist coating apparatus having a plurality of resist supply systems, wherein the photoresist and the photo resist are provided in a piping portion near a resist supply unit of a piping for sending out a photoresist from the resist supply units of the plurality of resist supply systems. A resist coating apparatus comprising: a plurality of switching means for switching a flow with a resist solvent; and a photoresist solvent supply unit. 2. The resist coating apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said switching means is a three-way valve. 3. The switching means includes two on-off valves provided on a photoresist pipe, and an on-off valve provided on a photoresist solvent pipe connected in the middle of a pipe between the two on-off valves. 2. The resist coating apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the resist coating apparatus comprises: