JPH11283949A - Device and method for substrate cleaning - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a substrate-cleaning device capable of surely preventing cleaning solution, etc., splashed from a turning substrate, while cleaning from polluting the substrate in misty state due to a cup inner wall surface. SOLUTION: When wafers W are being cleaned by a cleaning solution, etc., ejected from nozzle 27, pure water is emitted from a large number of emitting ports 33 and 36 provided on the inner wall surface of an upper cup 31 and on the outer wall surface of a lower cup 32 to stream down along the inner wall surface of the upper cup 31 and the outer wall surface of the lower cup 32.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

The present invention relates to a substrate cleaning apparatus for cleaning a substrate by supplying a cleaning liquid while rotating a substrate such as a semiconductor wafer in a process of manufacturing a semiconductor device or the like.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art For example, in a photolithography process in a semiconductor device manufacturing process, a semiconductor wafer (hereinafter, referred to as "wafer") is subjected to a cleaning treatment and a hydrophobic treatment, and then a resist is applied to the wafer to form a resist film. After that, the wafer is exposed in a predetermined pattern by an exposure apparatus, and further subjected to a developing process to form a predetermined resist pattern on the wafer.

In the above-described photolithography process, for example, in a cleaning apparatus for cleaning the back surface of a wafer, after the wafer is turned over, the cleaning liquid is applied to the back surface of the wafer while the wafer is mounted on a rotary table and rotated at a relatively low speed. Perform a brush scrub on the back side of the wafer while spraying,
Rinsing is performed by spraying pure water on the back surface of the wafer, and thereafter, the wafer is rotated at a relatively high speed, and the pure water on the back surface of the wafer is shaken off to dry the wafer.

When the cleaning liquid is sprayed on the back surface of the wafer while rotating the wafer on the rotary table, the wafer and the rotary table are surrounded by an upper cup on the periphery and the upper surface. Thus, when the cleaning liquid and the contaminated pure water are scattered from the rotating wafer, the cleaning liquid and the contaminated pure water are dropped and discharged along the inner wall surface of the cup.

[0005]

However, in the above-described wafer cleaning apparatus, the cleaning liquid or contaminated pure water scattered from the rotating wafer arrives at the inner wall surface of the cup, and then is applied to the inner wall surface. Do not fall along, reflect on the inner wall surface, etc., scattered around the wafer in the form of a mist,
It may be attached to the back or front surface of the wafer.
Therefore, there is a problem that the back surface or the front surface of the wafer is contaminated even during the cleaning of the wafer.

Further, when a chemical such as ammonia is used as the cleaning liquid, there is a problem that the inside of the cleaning apparatus or the clean room is contaminated by the residual chemical liquid atmosphere.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and it is intended to prevent a cleaning liquid or the like scattered from a rotating substrate during cleaning of the substrate from becoming mist-like on the inner wall surface of the cup and contaminating the substrate. It is an object of the present invention to provide a substrate cleaning apparatus and a substrate cleaning method that can reliably prevent the occurrence of a chemical liquid and reduce the chemical liquid atmosphere when a chemical liquid is used as the cleaning liquid.

[0008]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a holding member for holding a substrate, and rotating means for rotating the substrate held by the holding member. A cleaning liquid supply means for supplying a cleaning liquid to the substrate,
A substrate cleaning apparatus comprising: an upper cup that surrounds an outer edge and an upper surface of a substrate; and an upper cup liquid discharge unit that discharges liquid so that liquid is supplied along an inner wall surface of the upper cup. Is provided.

According to such a configuration, since the liquid is supplied to the inner wall surface of the upper cup by the liquid discharging means, the inner wall surface of the upper cup is in a wet state. Even if the cleaning liquid collides with the inner wall surface of the cup, the cleaning liquid is absorbed by the liquid existing on the inner wall surface, so that the cleaning liquid or the like is prevented from becoming mist-like and scattered around the substrate as in the past, and the contaminated cleaning liquid is removed. It can be effectively prevented from adhering to the substrate. Also, the liquid supplied to the inner wall of the upper cup can replace the chemical liquid on the inner wall of the upper cup, and the chemical liquid atmosphere can be reduced.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, a holding member for holding a substrate, rotating means for rotating the substrate held by the holding member, cleaning liquid supply means for supplying a cleaning liquid to the substrate, An upper cup surrounding the outer edge and the upper surface,
A liquid discharging means for discharging the liquid so that the liquid is supplied along the inner wall surface of the upper cup, a lower cup disposed below the substrate held by the holding member, and There is provided a substrate cleaning apparatus, comprising: a lower cup liquid discharging unit that discharges the liquid so that the liquid is supplied along the outer wall surface.

According to this structure, the liquid is supplied along the outer wall surface of the lower cup disposed below the substrate in addition to the upper cup, so that the outer wall surface of the lower cup also scatters from the rotating substrate. The cleaning liquid or the like thus absorbed can be absorbed by the liquid existing on the outer wall surface, and the cleaning liquid or the like can be more reliably prevented from forming a mist and adhering to the substrate. Further, the chemical solution atmosphere can be further reduced.

In this case, the liquid discharging means for the upper cup is provided with a plurality of discharge ports arranged along the circumferential direction on a substantially upper edge portion of the inner wall surface of the upper cup, and the liquid is guided to these discharge ports. A structure having an annular guide tube disposed on the outer wall surface of the upper cup, and liquid supply means for supplying liquid to the guide tube, wherein the liquid flows from the discharge port along the inner wall surface of the upper cup. By flowing down, the inner wall surface of the upper cup can be reliably wetted with the liquid, and the effect of preventing the cleaning liquid or the like from becoming mist-like can be further enhanced.

[0013] The lower cup liquid discharging means may include a plurality of discharge ports arranged along a circumferential direction on a substantially upper edge portion of an outer wall surface of the lower cup, and a liquid may be guided to these discharge ports. A structure having an annular guide tube arranged on the inner wall surface of the lower cup and liquid supply means for supplying a liquid to the annular guide tube, wherein the liquid flows from the discharge port along the outer wall surface of the lower cup As a result, the outer wall surface of the lower cup can be reliably wetted with the liquid, and the effect of preventing the cleaning liquid from becoming mist-like can be further enhanced.

Further, by forming at least the inner wall surface of the upper cup with a material having a cleaning liquid contact angle of 60 to 80 degrees or less, the cleaning liquid scattered from the substrate is easily wetted on the inner wall of the upper cup, and the contaminated cleaning liquid is Is less likely to be inadvertently reflected on the inner wall surface of the upper cup.

[0015] Further, a substrate is provided below the substrate and is rotatable with the substrate, and inert gas ejecting means for ejecting inert gas from the outer edge of the rotary table in the radial direction of the substrate is provided. The inert gas ejected in the radial direction can reliably prevent the mist-like cleaning liquid or the like from approaching the substrate, and can more reliably prevent contamination of the substrate during cleaning.

The inert gas ejecting means is formed in the turntable and is provided in a guide portion for guiding the inert gas in a radial direction, and is formed in a pivot for rotating the turntable. And an inert gas supply means for supplying an active gas.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method of cleaning a substrate, wherein an outer edge and an upper surface of the substrate are surrounded by an upper cup, and a cleaning liquid is supplied to the substrate while rotating the substrate to clean the substrate. A substrate cleaning method is provided, wherein a liquid is supplied along the inner wall surface of the upper cup during cleaning.

According to such a configuration, the liquid is supplied along the inner wall of the upper cup while the substrate is being cleaned.
The cleaning liquid and the like scattered from the substrate at the time of cleaning can be absorbed by the liquid supplied to the inner wall of the upper cup, and the cleaning liquid and the like can be reliably prevented from forming as a mist and adhering to the substrate. In addition, since the liquid on the inner wall surface of the upper cup can be replaced by the liquid, the atmosphere of the liquid medicine can be reduced.

In this case, the step of supplying the liquid along the inner wall surface of the upper cup is preferably performed at least over the entire period of the step of cleaning the substrate. Accordingly, the cleaning liquid or the like can be prevented from being mist-shaped by the inner wall surface of the upper cup over the entire period in which the cleaning liquid or the like is scattered, so that contamination of the substrate can be reliably prevented.

Further, by performing the step of cleaning the substrate at a relatively low rotational speed of the substrate in the range of 500 rpm to 1500 rpm, the amount of the scattered cleaning liquid can be reduced, and the mist-like cleaning liquid and the like can be reduced. The wraparound to the substrate can be reduced.

Further, after the step of cleaning the substrate, the method further includes a step of rotating the substrate at a high speed to dry the substrate, and a step of supplying a liquid along the inner wall surface of the upper cup until a predetermined period of the drying step is performed. By doing so, it is possible to reliably prevent the cleaning liquid or the like that has been shaken off and scattered during the drying step from becoming a mist and adhering to the substrate.

[0022]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing a resist coating and developing system including a wafer cleaning apparatus to which the present invention is applied.

This resist coating and developing system 1
Is a cassette C that is a storage body for storing a plurality of wafers W.
Station 2, which carries out a series of processes for coating and developing, and wafer W in cassette C, which is placed in cassette station 2.
And a transfer mechanism 4 for transferring the wafer W to the main transfer arm 6 of the processing section 3. The transport mechanism 4 is provided movably on a transport path 5 provided along the direction in which the cassettes C are arranged (X direction).

The processing section 3 includes various single-wafer processing units for performing predetermined processing on the wafers W one by one, including a transfer path 8 of the main transfer arm 6 and another main transfer arm 7. Of the transport path 7,
8 are arranged on both sides. The processing units include two cleaning units 11 for cleaning the wafer W, an adhesion processing unit 13 for improving the fixability of the resist by hydrophobizing the surface of the wafer W, and cooling the wafer W to a predetermined temperature. A cooling processing unit 14, two resist coating units 15 for coating a resist liquid on the surface of the rotating wafer W, and heating for heating the wafer W coated with the resist liquid or heating the exposed or developed wafer W A processing unit 16 and two development processing units 17 for supplying a developing solution to the surface of the exposed wafer W while rotating the exposed wafer W to perform development processing are provided. At the rear end of the processing unit 3, a semiconductor wafer W is exposed to an exposure apparatus (not shown).
Interface section 18 for performing the transfer of the information. Further, a relay section 19 is provided between the transport paths 8 and 9.

The main arms 6 and 7 carry in / out the wafer W to / from each processing unit, and the main arm 6 transfers the wafer W to / from the transfer mechanism 4 and transfers the wafer W to / from the relay unit 19. The main arm 7 exchanges the wafer W with the relay unit 19 and exchanges the wafer W with the interface unit 18.

By integrating and integrating the processing units in this manner, space can be saved and processing efficiency can be improved. The entire processing section 2 including these processing units is disposed in a casing (not shown).

In the coating / developing processing system configured as described above, the wafer W in the cassette C is
The cleaning unit 11 first performs a cleaning process, a hydrophobic process in an adhesion process unit 13 to improve the fixability of the resist, and a cooling unit 14.
Then, the resist is applied by the resist application unit 15. Thereafter, the wafer W is subjected to a pre-baking process in one of the heat processing units 16 and cooled by the cooling unit 14, and then transferred to an exposure apparatus via the interface unit 18, where a predetermined pattern is exposed. And
It is again carried in via the interface section 18 and subjected to post-exposure bake processing in one of the heat processing units 16. Thereafter, the wafer W cooled by the cooling unit 14 is developed by the developing unit 17 and
A predetermined circuit pattern is formed. After that, post bake processing is performed in one of the heat processing units 16, and a series of processing ends.

Next, a cleaning unit 11 as an embodiment of the substrate cleaning apparatus according to the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS.
This will be described with reference to FIG. 2 is a sectional view of the cleaning unit 11, FIG. 3 is a plan view of the cleaning unit shown in FIG. 2, and FIG. 4 is an upper cup and a lower cup mounted on the cleaning unit shown in FIG. It is sectional drawing of a cup.

As shown in FIG. 2, an entrance 22 through which a wafer W is loaded and unloaded by the main transfer arm 3 is formed at a side portion of the casing 21, and is rotated by a motor 23 at a substantially center of the casing 21. A pivot 24 is disposed. A disc-shaped flange portion 25 is provided on the pivot 24, and a rotary table 26 is disposed so as to face the flange portion 25. At several positions on the upper edge of the rotary table 26, a wafer holding mechanism described later is provided. The periphery of the wafer W is held by 50. In the present embodiment, since the back surface of the wafer W is cleaned, the wafer W is turned over by a turning mechanism (not shown) when the wafer W is carried into the rotary table 26.

Above the wafer W, a nozzle 27 for ejecting a chemical solution such as ammonia, a cleaning solution, and pure water to the wafer W is movably provided.

Further, when the cleaning liquid or the like is sprayed onto the wafer W from the nozzle 27 to clean the wafer W, the wafer W
An upper cup 31 surrounding the upper side and the side of the wafer W is provided, and around the pivot 24 below the wafer W,
A lower cup 32 is provided. Thereby, the wafer W
During the cleaning, the cleaning liquid or the like scattered from the rotating wafer W
It flows down along the inner wall surface of the upper cup 31 and the outer wall surface of the lower cup.

When the cleaning of the wafer W is performed by the cleaning unit 11, the cassette C is transported by the transfer mechanism 4.
The wafer W taken out of the apparatus is carried into the apparatus from the entrance 22 of the casing 21 by the main transfer arm 3 and is inverted by an inversion mechanism (not shown). 50.

Next, the motor 23 is driven and the pivot 24
Then, the rotary table 26 is rotated to rotate the wafer W. The nozzle 27 is moved above the back surface of the wafer W,
A brush (not shown) is also moved above the back surface of the wafer W. As a result, the nozzle 2 is rotated while the wafer W is rotated.
The cleaning liquid is spouted from 7 to perform a brush scrub process.

After the end of the brush scrubbing step, a brush (not shown) is moved, and pure water is jetted from the nozzle 27 to perform a rinsing step. Thereafter, the nozzle 27 is moved, the wafer W is rotated at a high speed, the pure water on the back surface of the wafer W is shaken off, and a drying process is performed. After these processes, the rotation of the wafer W is stopped, and the wafer W is inverted and carried out by the transfer arm 4.

In this embodiment, as shown in FIG. 4, a large number of discharge ports 33 are provided in the upper edge portion of the inner wall surface of the upper cup 31 in a circumferential direction. As shown in FIG.
At the upper edge of the outer wall surface of the upper cup 31, these discharge ports 3
Annular guide tube 3 for guiding a liquid (for example, pure water) to 3
4 are provided. As shown in FIGS. 2 to 4, two supply pipes 35 for supplying a liquid are connected to the guide pipe 34.

Similarly, a number of discharge ports 36 are also provided at the upper edge of the outer wall surface of the lower cup 32, and an annular shape for guiding liquid to the discharge ports 36 is formed at the upper edge of the inner wall surface of the lower cup 32. , And two liquid supply pipes 38 are connected to the guide pipe 37.

With this configuration, the nozzle 2
7 is cleaning the wafer W by spraying a cleaning liquid or the like onto the wafer W from the inner wall surface of the upper cup 31 and the lower cup 3.
Pure water is discharged from a large number of outlets 33 and outlets 36 provided on the outer wall surface of the second cup 2, and the pure water flows down along the inner wall surface of the upper cup 31 and the outer wall surface of the lower cup 32. Therefore, even if the cleaning liquid or contaminated pure water scattered from the rotating wafer W collides with the inner wall surface of the upper cup 31 and the outer wall surface of the lower cup 32, the cleaning liquid or the like flows down along the inner wall surface or the outer wall surface. Etc. are absorbed in the liquid. for that reason,
Unlike the conventional case, the cleaning liquid or the like does not form a mist and scatters on the front surface or the back surface of the wafer W, and can be effectively prevented from adhering to the wafer W. Further, even when a chemical solution such as ammonia is used at the time of brush cleaning, the chemical solution attached to the inner wall or the like of the upper cup can be replaced with a liquid such as pure water, so that the chemical solution atmosphere can be reduced.

Next, the relationship between the cleaning process of the wafer W and the timing of discharging the liquid such as pure water to the cup will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 5 is a graph showing an example of the relationship between the number of rotations of a wafer during a wafer cleaning process and the timing of discharging a liquid such as pure water.

In the cleaning process of the wafer W, the wafer W
Is started, and when the rotation is increased to approximately 1000 rpm, a brush scrub process is performed. After the completion of this process,
The rinsing step is performed at a rotation speed of about 1000 rpm. After the completion of the rinsing step, the number of rotations of the wafer W becomes approximately 300
It is raised to 0 rpm, and a shake-off drying step is performed.

The inner wall surface of the upper cup 31 and the lower cup 32
The discharge of liquid such as pure water from the outer wall surface starts before the start of the brush scrub process and is performed halfway through the shake-off drying process. In other words, the liquid is discharged to the cup during the entire period of the wafer cleaning process, whereby the cleaning liquid or the contaminated pure water scattered from the wafer W is reliably absorbed during the cleaning of the wafer W, thereby preventing mist generation. be able to.

The end time of the liquid ejection need not necessarily be in the middle of the shake-off drying step, but may be at least after the rinsing step. However, by discharging the liquid halfway through the shaking-off drying step, it is possible to prevent the cleaning liquid and the like scattered during shaking-off from becoming mist-like.

In the brush scrubbing step and the rinsing step, the rotation speed of rotating the wafer W by the rotary table 26 is optimally from 500 rpm to 1500 rpm.
When the number of rotations of the wafer W is such a value, the amount of the cleaning liquid or the contaminated pure water scattered from the rotating wafer W can be reduced, and the cleaning liquid or the like becomes mist and contaminates the wafer W. Can be more reliably prevented. According to the experimental results, the number of rotations of the wafer was 1000 rpm
In the case of m, the number of particles in which the mist wraps around and adheres to the wafer surface is around 100,
2000 rpm or more and 3000 rpm for 00 rpm
In the case of, the number was 8000 or more.

Next, the materials of the inner wall surface of the upper cup 31 and the outer wall surface of the lower cup 32 will be described. Upper cup 31
Is preferably made of a material having a relatively small contact angle with a cleaning liquid such as pure water. Specifically, the contact angle is 60 to
It is preferable to be formed with a material of 80 degrees. By using at least the inner wall surface of the upper cup 31 of such a material, the cleaning liquid or the contaminated pure water scattered from the wafer W is suppressed from being reflected on the inner wall surface of the upper cup 31.
These can be reduced in the amount of the mist to adhere to the substrate. As described above, it is effective that the inner wall surface of the upper cup 31 is made of a material having a small contact angle, but the outer wall surface of the lower cup 32 is also made of a material having a small contact angle. it can.

As the material having the above contact angle,
Specifically, PVC (polyvinyl chloride; contact angle 68
Degree), PMMA (polymethyl methacrylate; contact angle 6)
7 degrees) and PA (polyamide; contact angle 60 degrees). PP (polypropylene) has a contact angle of 81 degrees,
Smaller contact angle than PVC (polyvinyl chloride)
And PE (polyethylene) are not preferable because the contact angle is as large as about 81 degrees.

The entire upper cup 31 and lower cup 32 may be formed of a material having the above-mentioned contact angle, or such a material may be formed on the inner wall surface of the upper cup 31 and the outer wall surface of the lower cup 32. It may be stuck.

Next, with reference to FIG. 6, an inert gas ejecting means for ejecting an inert gas below the wafer W will be described. FIG. 6 is a sectional view of a pivot and a rotary table of the wafer cleaning apparatus shown in FIG.

An inert gas supply passage 41 is formed in the pivot 24 in the axial direction thereof, and a counterbore portion 42 is formed above the inert gas supply passage 41. This counterbore part 42
A conical portion 43 for guiding the inert gas in the radial direction is provided on the turntable 26 side so as to face the rotary table 26. A plurality of support pins 44 are provided between the turntable 26 and the disc-shaped flange portion 25 of the pivot 24,
The lower side of the turntable 26 and the disc-shaped flange 25
A guide path 45 for an inert gas is formed between the two.

As a result, an inert gas, for example, nitrogen is supplied from the inert gas supply passage 41 of the pivot 24, guided in the radial direction by the counterbore portion 42 and the conical portion 43, and is guided in the radial direction along the guide passage 45. It is gushing. The inert gas ejected in the radial direction can surely prevent the mist-like cleaning liquid or the like from approaching the wafer W, thereby preventing contamination of the wafer W during cleaning.

Next, the wafer holding mechanism will be described with reference to FIG. 3, FIG. 7 to FIG. FIG. 7 is a side view of a pivot, a rotary table, and a wafer holding mechanism of the wafer cleaning apparatus shown in FIG. 2, showing a state where a wafer is held. FIG. 8 is a view showing the wafer cleaning apparatus shown in FIG. 9 is a perspective view of the wafer holding mechanism of the wafer cleaning apparatus shown in FIG. 2 and FIG.
FIG. 3 is a side view of a pivot, a rotary table, and a wafer holding mechanism of the wafer cleaning apparatus shown in FIG. 2, showing a state where a wafer is released.

As shown in FIGS. 7 and 9, in the wafer holding mechanism 50, three air cylinders 52 are attached to an arc-shaped support member 51 provided on the pivot 24. As shown in FIG. 7, three arms 53 extend in the radial direction from the disk-shaped flange portion 25 of the pivot 24, and a pivot 54 is provided at the tip of the arm 53. An L-shaped link member 55 is rotatably supported by the pivot 54, and the lower side of the link member 55 is constantly urged clockwise by a spring 56. At the upper end of the link member 55, a claw member 57 for holding the wafer W is provided.
Is provided. Further, a plurality of support pins 58 for supporting the wafer W are provided on a peripheral portion of the turntable 26.

Since the wafer holding mechanism 50 is configured as described above, when the air cylinder 52 is contracted to hold the wafer W, the urging force of the spring 56 causes the link member 55 to move as shown in FIG. The link member 55 is rotated clockwise as shown by the arrow, and the claw member 57 at the upper end of the link member 55 presses and holds the peripheral edge of the wafer W from above. Wafer W
10, the air cylinder 52 is extended against the urging force of the spring 56, the link member 55 is rotated counterclockwise, and the pawl at the upper end of the link member 55 is released, as shown in FIG. The member 57 is separated from the peripheral edge of the wafer W,
The wafer W is released.

As described above, the wafer holding mechanism 50 can hold the wafer W only at the peripheral edge while having a simple structure.

Note that the present invention is not limited to the above embodiment, and various modifications are possible. In the above-described embodiment, the case where the present invention is applied to the coating / developing processing system for a semiconductor wafer has been described. However, the present invention is not limited to this and can be applied to substrate cleaning for other uses. Further, the present invention can be applied to a cleaning process for a substrate other than the semiconductor wafer, for example, an LCD substrate.

[0054]

As described above, according to the present invention,
Since the liquid is supplied to the inner wall surface of the upper cup by the liquid discharging means, the inner wall surface of the upper cup is in a wet state, and even if the cleaning liquid scattered from the rotating substrate collides with the inner wall surface of the cup, the cleaning liquid is Is absorbed by the liquid present on the inner wall surface, and prevents the cleaning liquid and the like from being mist-like and scattered around the substrate as in the conventional case, and effectively prevents the contaminated cleaning liquid from adhering to the substrate. be able to. Also, the liquid supplied to the inner wall of the upper cup can replace the chemical liquid on the inner wall of the upper cup, and the chemical liquid atmosphere can be reduced.

Further, by supplying the liquid along the outer wall surface of the lower cup disposed below the substrate in addition to the upper cup, the cleaning liquid or the like scattered from the rotating substrate is also removed on the outer wall surface of the lower cup. It can be absorbed by the liquid existing on the wall surface, and the cleaning liquid and the like can be more reliably prevented from becoming mist-like and adhering to the substrate. Further, the chemical solution atmosphere can be further reduced.

Further, since the liquid is supplied along the inner wall of the upper cup while the substrate is being cleaned, the cleaning liquid and the like scattered from the substrate during the cleaning can be absorbed by the liquid supplied to the inner wall of the upper cup. As a result, it is possible to reliably prevent the cleaning liquid or the like from becoming a mist and adhering to the substrate. In addition, since the liquid on the inner wall surface of the upper cup can be replaced by the liquid, the atmosphere of the liquid medicine can be reduced.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing a resist coating / developing processing system including a wafer cleaning apparatus to which the present invention is applied.

FIG. 2 is a sectional view showing a wafer cleaning apparatus according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a plan view of the wafer cleaning apparatus shown in FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a sectional view showing an upper cup and a lower cup mounted on the wafer cleaning apparatus shown in FIG. 2;

FIG. 5 is a graph showing an example of the relationship between the number of rotations of a wafer during a wafer cleaning step and the timing of discharging a liquid such as pure water.

FIG. 6 is a sectional view of a pivot and a rotary table of the wafer cleaning apparatus shown in FIG. 2;

FIG. 7 is a side view showing a state where the wafer cleaning apparatus shown in FIG. 2 holds a pivot, a rotary table, and a wafer of a wafer holding mechanism.

8 is a plan view of a wafer holding mechanism of the wafer cleaning apparatus shown in FIG.

FIG. 9 is a perspective view of a wafer holding mechanism of the wafer cleaning apparatus shown in FIG.

FIG. 10 is a side view showing a state where the pivot of the wafer cleaning apparatus shown in FIG. 2, the rotary table, and the wafer of the wafer holding mechanism are released.

[Explanation of symbols]

 11 Cleaning unit 23 Motor 24 Axis 26 Rotary table (rotary table) 27 Nozzle 31 Upper cup (cup) 32 Lower cup 33 Discharge port 34 Guide pipe 35 ... supply pipe (liquid supply means) 36 ... discharge port 37 ... guide pipe 38 ... supply pipe (lower cup liquid supply means) 41 ... inert gas supply path (inert gas supply means) 45 ... Guideway W: Semiconductor wafer (substrate)

Claims (11)

[Claims] 1. A holding member for holding a substrate, rotating means for rotating the substrate held by the holding member, cleaning liquid supply means for supplying a cleaning liquid to the substrate, and an upper cup surrounding an outer edge and an upper surface of the substrate. And a liquid discharging means for the upper cup for discharging the liquid such that the liquid is supplied along the inner wall surface of the upper cup. 2. A holding member for holding a substrate, rotating means for rotating the substrate held by the holding member, cleaning liquid supply means for supplying a cleaning liquid to the substrate, and an upper cup surrounding an outer edge and an upper surface of the substrate. An upper-cup liquid discharging means for discharging liquid so that the liquid is supplied along the inner wall surface of the upper cup; a lower cup disposed below the substrate held by the holding member; A lower cup liquid discharging means for discharging the liquid so that the liquid is supplied along the outer wall surface of the substrate. 3. The upper cup liquid discharging means, comprising: a plurality of discharge ports arranged along a circumferential direction at a substantially upper edge portion of an inner wall surface of the upper cup; An annular guide tube disposed on the outer wall surface of the upper cup; and a liquid supply unit for supplying a liquid to the guide tube. The liquid flows down from the discharge port along the inner wall surface of the upper cup. The substrate cleaning apparatus according to claim 1 or 2, wherein 4. The lower cup liquid discharging means, comprising: a plurality of discharge ports arranged along a circumferential direction on a substantially upper edge portion of an outer wall surface of the lower cup; An annular guide tube disposed on the inner wall surface of the lower cup, and liquid supply means for supplying a liquid to the annular guide tube, wherein the liquid flows from a discharge port along an outer wall surface of the lower cup. 3. The apparatus for cleaning a substrate according to claim 2, wherein the apparatus flows down. 5. The method according to claim 1, wherein at least an inner wall surface of the upper cup is formed of a material having a contact angle of a cleaning liquid of 60 to 80 degrees. Substrate cleaning equipment. 6. A rotating table which is arranged below the substrate and rotates together with the substrate, and inert gas ejecting means for ejecting an inert gas from an outer edge of the rotating table in a radial direction of the substrate. Any one of claims 1 to 5
A substrate cleaning apparatus according to any one of the preceding claims. 7. The inert gas ejecting means is formed in the turntable and guides the inert gas in a radial direction, and is formed in a pivot for rotating the turntable, and the guide is 7. An apparatus for cleaning a substrate according to claim 6, further comprising: inert gas supply means for supplying an inert gas to said substrate. 8. A method of cleaning a substrate, wherein an outer edge and an upper surface of a substrate are surrounded by an upper cup, and a cleaning liquid is supplied to the substrate while rotating the substrate, thereby cleaning the substrate. A method for cleaning a substrate, comprising supplying a liquid along an inner wall surface. 9. The substrate cleaning method according to claim 8, wherein the step of supplying the liquid along the inner wall surface of the upper cup is performed at least over the entire period of the step of cleaning the substrate. 10. The substrate cleaning method according to claim 8, wherein the step of cleaning the substrate is performed by setting the number of rotations of the substrate in a range from 500 rpm to 1500 rpm. 11. After the step of cleaning the substrate, the method further comprises a step of drying the substrate by rotating the substrate at a high speed, and a step of supplying a liquid along the inner wall surface of the upper cup until a predetermined period of the drying step. The method for cleaning a substrate according to any one of claims 8 to 10, wherein the cleaning is performed.