JPH11181584A - Substrate treatment apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a substrate treatment apparatus capable of immediately executing pure water cleaning right after the stop of a medicinal liquid treatment and decreasing the volume of waste medicinal liquids. SOLUTION: This apparatus includes a first vessel 4 for executing the first treatment of a substrate 1 and a second vessel 5 for executing the second treatment of the substrate 1 and is provided with an aperture 13 and a substrate vertical driving means 10 to allow the substrate 1 to move between these vessels 4 and 5. The first vessel 4 is provided with a first discharge port 8 and the second vessel 5 with a second discharge port 9 in order to separately recover the waste liquids generated in the first and second treatments.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

[0001] 1. Field of the Invention [0002] The present invention relates to a substrate processing apparatus, and more particularly, to a substrate processing apparatus for performing a chemical solution processing such as a development processing and an etching processing on a substrate surface and a pure water cleaning.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In the manufacture of liquid crystal display elements and semiconductor devices, when wirings and elements are formed on a substrate, complicated and fine processing is required. As a process necessary for such processing, for example, there is a substrate chemical treatment for treating the substrate surface with a chemical such as a resist development treatment or an etching treatment described below.

In forming a circuit pattern on a substrate surface,
First, a film made of a material constituting a circuit pattern is formed on a substrate surface. A photosensitive agent is applied on the film to form a photosensitive film, and the photosensitive film is exposed to a circuit pattern and then developed to form a resist pattern. In forming the resist pattern, a predetermined chemical is used for removing the photosensitive agent as necessary, and the chemical remaining on the substrate surface is removed by washing with water.

Next, the coating formed on the substrate is etched with an etching solution using the resist pattern as a mask, and the etching solution remaining on the substrate surface is removed by washing with water. Further, a circuit pattern is formed on the substrate surface by removing the resist pattern with a predetermined chemical solution and removing the remaining chemical solution by washing with water.

In such a substrate chemical treatment, treatment of the substrate surface using a chemical and washing with pure water are repeated, and such a process is generally performed by using a substrate treatment apparatus shown in FIG. Done.

In the apparatus shown in FIG. 3, a substrate 31 is supported by a rotary chuck 32,
Is fixed to one end of the rotation shaft of the motor 33. The substrate 31 and the rotary chuck 32 have an opening 35 at the top.
The nozzles 36 and 37 are arranged above the opening with their discharge ports facing the center of the substrate 31. In the cup 34, a rectifying plate 39 is disposed so as to be located below the substrate 31 and the rotary chuck 32.
An outlet 38 is provided.

The chemical processing and the pure water cleaning processing using the substrate processing apparatus will be described below. First, the substrate 31
Is mounted on the rotary chuck 32 by a transfer device (not shown) such that the surface to be processed of the substrate 31 faces upward. The motor 33 is driven to rotate the substrate 31 at a rotation speed of about 100 rpm, and the chemical liquid is discharged from the nozzle 36 toward the center of the substrate 31. The chemical discharged on the substrate surface of the substrate 31 is
The excess chemical solution is spread on the substrate surface by the centrifugal force, and is shaken off from the outer periphery of the substrate 31, adhered to the inner wall of the cup 34, and collected from the outlet 38.

After the chemical has spread over the entire substrate surface, the nozzle 3
The chemical solution processing is performed in a state where the discharge of the chemical solution from 6 is stopped, the motor 33 is stopped, and the substrate 31 is stopped. After a lapse of a predetermined time, the substrate 31 is rotated at a rotation speed of about 100 rpm,
Pure water is discharged from the nozzle 37 toward the center of the substrate 31 to clean the substrate surface. At this time, pure water discharged onto the substrate surface is also collected from the outlet 38 in the same manner as the chemical solution. After the chemical liquid on the substrate surface has been sufficiently replaced with pure water, the discharge of the pure water is stopped, the rotation speed of the substrate 31 is increased to about 2000 rpm, and the substrate 31 is dried. Here, the pure water shaken off from the substrate 31 is also collected from the outlet 38.

The waste liquid recovered by the above-mentioned chemical treatment contains a high concentration of a chemical such as an etching solution or a developing solution. Such a high-concentration etching solution, developing solution, or the like cannot be decomposed by ordinary waste liquid treatment equipment used for treating acid-alkali waste liquid. For this reason, this waste liquid is collected in a tank provided outside the apparatus, and is periodically contracted to a dedicated waste liquid processing company for decomposition treatment. However, the amount of waste liquid increases in proportion to the production scale, and the cost required for recovery and treatment also increases. Therefore, it is desired to minimize the amount of waste liquid.

As a method of reducing the amount of waste liquid, it is conceivable to reduce the amount of chemical solution and pure water used. However,
At present, almost constant amounts of the chemical solution and the pure water are required, and therefore, it is practically difficult to reduce the amounts of the chemical solution and the pure water.

As another method for reducing the amount of waste liquid, it is conceivable to separately collect a chemical liquid waste liquid and a pure water waste liquid. However, for example, in the chemical solution treatment and the pure water cleaning, by using separate substrate processing apparatus, when collecting the chemical waste liquid and the pure water waste liquid separately, because it takes time to move the substrate between the apparatuses, There is a problem that the chemical solution processing such as etching is not immediately stopped, and the line width of the pattern becomes non-uniform.

Further, the same substrate processing apparatus is used for chemical solution treatment and pure water cleaning, and the flow of waste liquid from the discharge port is switched between chemical solution treatment and pure water cleaning and collected in separate tanks. Can be considered. However, since the chemical liquid waste remaining on the inner wall and bottom of the cup is mixed into the pure water waste,
There arises a problem that the pure water waste liquid cannot be treated by ordinary waste liquid treatment equipment.

[0013]

As described above, when it is necessary to wash with pure water immediately after chemical treatment, it is difficult to separate and recover the pure water waste liquid from the chemical waste liquid. Need to be processed. An object of the present invention is to provide a substrate processing apparatus that can perform pure water cleaning immediately after stopping chemical solution processing and that can reduce the amount of chemical solution waste liquid.

[0014]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention comprises a substrate supporting means for supporting a substrate, a substrate rotating means for rotating the substrate supported by the substrate supporting means, and an opening in the upper portion through which the substrate passes. And performing a first process on the substrate.
A second container formed so as to cover the outer periphery of the first container and performing a second processing of the substrate above the first container, and the first container Vertical drive means for vertically moving between the inside and a second container above the second container, and a second liquid ejecting a first liquid onto the upper surface of the substrate when the substrate is in the first container. A first discharge unit, a second discharge unit that discharges a second liquid onto an upper surface of the substrate when the substrate is in a second container above the first container, and the first container A substrate provided with a first outlet for discharging a first liquid, and a second outlet provided for the second container and discharging a second liquid. A processing device is provided.

According to the present invention, in the above-described substrate processing apparatus, the opening of the first container is closed with the upward movement of the substrate, and the substrate is moved downward of the opening. A rectifying plate for opening an opening of the closed first container is provided. The present invention is characterized in that, in the substrate processing apparatus, an opening having a diameter larger than an outer diameter of the substrate is provided in an upper portion of the second container.

[0016]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 illustrates a cross-sectional view of a substrate processing apparatus according to one embodiment of the present invention. In this figure, the substrate processing apparatus is arranged on a base 14, a cup 4 as a first container disposed on the base 14 and having an opening 12 at an upper part, and arranged to include the cup 4. And a cup 5 as a second container having an opening 13 at the top. The opening 12 of the cup 4 is made larger than the outer shape of the substrate 1 so as to allow the substrate 1 to pass therethrough.

Above the opening 13 of the cup 5, a nozzle 6 and a nozzle 7 as a first discharge unit and a second discharge unit, respectively, are arranged with their respective discharge ports facing the center of the substrate 1. A first outlet 8 is provided at the bottom of the cup 4, and a second outlet 9 is provided at the bottom of the cup 5.

A motor mounting portion 15 is provided on the back of the surface of the base 14 on which the cup 4 is disposed.
, The motor 10 and the guide 16 are fixed. Ball screw 1 attached to the rotating shaft of motor 10
The motor mounting plate 18 is installed on the 7 and the guide 16 so as to be movable in the vertical direction. The motor 10, the ball screw 17, the guide 16, and the motor mounting plate 18
It constitutes a substrate vertical drive means.

One end of a tube 19 is mounted on the upper surface of the motor mounting plate 18, and the motor 3 is mounted on the rear surface as a substrate rotating means. A rectifying plate 11 is attached to the other end of the tube 19, and a rotary chuck 2 that supports the substrate 1 is fixed to an end of a rotating shaft 20 of the motor 3 as substrate supporting means.

The substrate vertical drive means used in the substrate processing apparatus of the present invention is not particularly limited as long as it can control the height of the substrate, and means other than the above-described ball screw can be used.

The first container used in the present invention needs to have, at the top, an opening larger than the diameter of the substrate. Further, it is preferable that the second container used in the present invention has an opening having a diameter larger than the outer diameter of the substrate at an upper portion. When the opening having such a size is provided, it is not necessary to remove the second container when the substrate is placed on the substrate supporting means, and it is necessary to make the first and second discharge portions movable. There is no.

In the substrate processing apparatus of the present invention, what kind of processing is performed is optional. For example, the chemical treatment can be performed in one of the first and second containers, and the pure water cleaning can be performed on the other. Which of the first and second containers performs the chemical cleaning is arbitrary, but at least the inner wall of the container in which the chemical cleaning is performed has resistance to a chemical such as an etching solution or a developing solution. Is preferred. As a method for imparting resistance to the inner wall of the container, a passivation treatment generally performed is applied to the inner wall of the container.

The substrate processing apparatus of the present invention closes the opening of the first container as the substrate moves upward, and closes the opening of the first container as the substrate moves downward. It is preferable to provide a rectifying plate for opening the rectifying plate. When such a current plate is provided, the first container and the second container are completely isolated from each other during the treatment in the second container, so that the chemical solution or the pure water is removed from the first container. There is no mixing in.

The chemical processing performed by the substrate processing apparatus of the present invention includes an etching processing and a developing processing. The operation procedure of chemical solution treatment and pure water cleaning using the substrate processing apparatus configured as described above will be described below.

First, the substrate 1 is set on the substrate supporting means 2 by a transfer device (not shown). At this time, the substrate 1 is located in the container 4. By driving the motor 10, the substrate 1 is raised as shown in FIG. 1, and the opening 12 of the container 4 is closed by the current plate 11. As a result, the substrate 1 exits the container 4 and is located in the container 5.

Next, while driving the motor 3 to rotate the substrate 1, the chemical liquid is discharged from the chemical liquid discharging section 6 toward the center of the substrate 1. The chemical solution discharged to the substrate 1 spreads on the substrate surface by centrifugal force, and excess chemical solution is shaken off from the outer periphery of the substrate 1, adheres to the inner wall of the container 5, and is collected from the outlet 9.

After the chemical liquid has spread over the entire surface of the substrate, the chemical liquid processing is performed while the discharge of the chemical liquid from the chemical liquid discharge section 6 is stopped, the motor 3 is stopped, and the substrate 1 is stopped. After a lapse of a predetermined time, the substrate 1 is rotated at a high rotation speed, and the chemical solution is shaken off the substrate 1.

Next, the rotation speed of the substrate 1 is reduced, and the motor 10 is driven to lower the substrate 1 so as to be positioned in the container 4 as shown in FIG. At this time, the current plate 11 closing the opening 12 also descends, so that the opening 12
Is released. While rotating the substrate 1, the pure water discharge unit 7
To discharge water toward the center of the substrate 1 to clean the substrate surface. At this time, the pure water discharged on the substrate surface is recovered from the outlet 8 together with the remaining chemical liquid. After the chemical solution on the substrate surface is sufficiently replaced with pure water, the discharge of the pure water is stopped, the rotation speed of the substrate 1 is increased, and the substrate 1 is dried.
Here, the pure water shaken off from the substrate 1 is also collected from the outlet 8.

According to the operation procedure described above, the chemical treatment is performed in the second container, and the chemical adhering to the substrate is shaken off into the second container by rotating the substrate at a high speed. Therefore, the amount of the chemical solution removed in the first container is very small thereafter, and the waste solution washed with pure water can be treated in a usual acid-alkali waste solution treatment facility. , The amount of chemical liquid waste is significantly reduced.

In general, it takes about 3 seconds to move the substrate from the second container to the first container. in the meantime,
Since the substrate is left in a semi-dry state, pattern unevenness may occur. In such a case, the above-described problem can be prevented by discharging the pure water when the chemical solution is shaken off. As a result, pure water is mixed into the chemical liquid waste liquid, and the amount of the chemical liquid waste liquid increases. However, the amount of pure water used for shaking off the chemical liquid is 1/10 of the amount of pure water used for the pure water cleaning.
There is no particular problem because it is small.

The chemical concentration in the collected chemical waste liquid is almost the same as before the chemical treatment. Therefore, it is possible to save energy such as reuse of chemical liquid waste, and it is possible to greatly reduce equipment running costs.

[0032]

As described above, according to the substrate processing apparatus of the present invention, the container for performing the chemical solution treatment and the container for performing the pure water cleaning are separately provided, and the position of the substrate is controlled up and down. Since the apparatus is configured so that the substrate can be moved between these containers, the cleaning with pure water can be performed immediately after the stoppage of the chemical solution treatment, and the amount of the chemical solution waste can be reduced.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view of a substrate processing apparatus according to one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view of a substrate processing apparatus according to one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view of a conventional substrate processing apparatus.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1, 31 ... substrate 2, 32 ... rotary chuck 3, 33 ... motor 4, 5, 34 ... cup 6, 7, 36, 37 ... nozzle 8, 9, 38 ... outlet 10 ... motor 11, 39 ... rectifying plate 12 Reference numerals 13, opening 14, base 15, motor mounting part 16, guide 17, ball screw 18, motor mounting plate 19, tube 20, rotating shaft

──────────────────────────────────────────────────の Continued on the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁶ Identification code FI H01L 21/304 643 H01L 21/30 569C 21/306 21/306 R

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A substrate supporting means for supporting a substrate, a substrate rotating means for rotating a substrate supported by the substrate supporting means, and an upper portion having an opening through which the substrate passes, A first container for performing processing, and a first container formed to cover an outer periphery of the first container;
Performing a second processing of the substrate above the container
And a substrate vertical drive means for vertically moving the substrate between the inside of the first container and the inside of the second container above the first container, and when the substrate is in the first container, A first discharge unit that discharges a first liquid onto the upper surface of the substrate; and a second liquid that discharges a second liquid onto the upper surface of the substrate when the substrate is in a second container above the first container. A second outlet provided in the first container for discharging the first liquid; and a second outlet provided in the second container for discharging the second liquid. And a discharge port. 2. An opening of the first container is closed as the substrate moves upward of the opening, and the closed position of the substrate is moved as the substrate moves downward of the opening. The substrate processing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a rectifying plate that opens an opening of the first container. 3. The substrate processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein an opening having a diameter larger than an outer diameter of the substrate is provided in an upper portion of the second container.