JPH11287721A - Treatment equipment and treatment method - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To suitably and simply obtain accurate data of contact pressure of a treatment body in the course of treatment. SOLUTION: In surface treatment equipment 7, a treatment body 40 is brought into contact with the surface of a wafer W held by a holding means spin chuck 22, and treatment is performed. The treatment body 40 is so constituted at a retreat position 25 isolated from the surface of the wafer W that free retreat is enabled. A measurement cleaning machine 28 in which a measuring instrument 26 for measuring the contact pressure of the treatment body 40 which has retreated to the retreat position 25 and a cleaning machine 27 for cleaning the treatment body 40 are unified in a body is installed. The measuring instrument 26 is provided with a pedestal 60 mounting the treatment body 40 and a press pressure sensor 62 for measuring the contact pressure of the treatment body 40 by detecting the contact pressure applied to the pedestal 60. The height of a mounting surface 63 of the pedestal 60 is equal to the height of the surface of the wafer W held by the spin chuck 22.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a processing apparatus and a processing method for processing substrates such as semiconductor wafers and glass plates for LCDs.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Generally, in a semiconductor device manufacturing process, for example, cleaning is performed to remove contamination such as particles, organic contaminants, and metal impurities attached to the surface of a semiconductor wafer (hereinafter, referred to as "wafer"). Processing system is used. As one of them, a single wafer type cleaning processing system is generally provided with a spin type processing apparatus.

There is known a processing apparatus which performs a so-called scrub cleaning process in order to effectively remove particles adhering to the surface of a wafer. In this scrub cleaning process, a processing body provided with a member such as a brush or a sponge on the lower surface is brought into contact with the surface of the wafer held by the spin chuck while rotating, and particles or the like adhering to the surface of the wafer are scraped off. is there. A conventional processing apparatus includes an arm member that can be moved up and down and is rotatable, and an air cylinder is provided at a distal end of the arm member.
A shaft that can be raised and lowered and rotatable is arranged below the air cylinder, and a processing body is attached to a lower end of the shaft.

A vertical thrust is applied to the shaft by the operation of raising and lowering the air cylinder, and this thrust acts on the processing body, and the processing body presses the surface of the wafer. The sum of the thrust acting on the processing body and the weight of the processing body itself is the contact pressure (pressure per unit area) actually applied to the wafer surface by the processing body. Here, if the thrust of the shaft becomes excessive and the contact pressure of the processing object exceeds an allowable range, the surface of the wafer is damaged. In order to avoid this, the arm member is provided with a weight sensor for sensing the thrust of the shaft. Then, based on the data obtained by the weight sensor, the vertical movement of the air cylinder is automatically controlled, and the thrust of the shaft is adjusted accordingly to control the contact pressure of the processing body.

In the conventional processing apparatus, the weight sensor detects the thrust of the shaft but cannot directly detect the contact pressure of the processing object. For this reason, for example, a disturbance element (sliding resistance with the bearing, a rotating force for rotating the shaft, etc.) is applied to the shaft, and the contact pressure actually applied to the surface of the wafer by the processing object fluctuates from the initial predetermined contact pressure. However, the weight sensor cannot detect it.

In view of the above, the processing apparatus disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. Hei 8-267023 is configured to hold a wafer by a spin chuck including a mounting table detachably mounted on a rotating shaft. When the contact pressure actually applied to the surface of the wafer is measured, the mounting table is removed from the rotating shaft, and a sensor for sensing the contact pressure of the processing object is provided on the rotating shaft instead. In this way, if the sensor is provided on the rotating shaft and the processing body is brought into contact with the sensor in the same manner as when the processing body is brought into contact with the surface of the wafer W, the contact pressure of the processing body can be sensed by the sensor. .

[0007]

However, in the processing apparatus disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 8-267623 or the like,
In order to measure the contact pressure of the processing object, it is necessary to perform the mounting work of the sensor unit. For example, when continuously cleaning 25 wafers one by one, during the cleaning process, It is not possible to check whether the contact pressure applied to the surface is really at a predetermined value. Further, if the measurement is performed during the continuous cleaning process, the measurement must be temporarily stopped, which causes a remarkable decrease in throughput. Also, the mounting operation of the sensor unit itself is troublesome.

Further, as semiconductor devices become more highly integrated, more precise control of contact pressure is required. However, in such a conventional processing apparatus, it is difficult to precisely control the contact pressure of the processing object by measuring the contact pressure during the cleaning process and adjusting the thrust of the shaft based on the measured contact pressure. There is a possibility that the reliability of the processing is reduced.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a processing apparatus and a processing method capable of appropriately and easily obtaining data of a contact pressure of a processing object during processing.

[0010]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a processing apparatus for performing processing by bringing a processing object into contact with a surface of a substrate held by holding means. Is configured to be able to retreat to a retreat position distant from the surface of the substrate, and a measuring means for measuring a contact pressure of the processing body retreated to the retreat position is provided.

According to the first aspect of the present invention, for example, when a plurality of substrates are continuously processed, the processing body is retracted to the retracted position after the processing of the previous substrate is completed. Then, in order to confirm whether or not the contact pressure applied to the surface of the substrate is normal, the contact pressure of the processing object is directly measured using a measuring means. As a result of the measurement, if the contact pressure is normal, the next substrate is processed. Then, the continuous processing is continued until an abnormality of the contact pressure exceeding the allowable range is found. In this way, the contact pressure can be appropriately checked, so that the continuous processing is not interrupted. Further, if a deviation of the contact pressure is detected during the measurement, the contact pressure may be automatically adjusted and a predetermined contact pressure may be obtained again. In addition, since the measuring means is provided in the retracted position in advance, the time required for the preparation for the measurement is eliminated, and the contact pressure can be easily measured.

In the processing apparatus according to the first aspect, as described in the second aspect, the measuring means senses a pedestal on which the processing object is mounted and a contact pressure applied to the pedestal, thereby detecting the processing object. Preferably, a measurement mechanism for measuring the contact pressure is provided. According to this configuration, the processing body is placed on the pedestal, and the contact pressure applied to the pedestal is measured by the measuring mechanism. The contact pressure applied to the pedestal can be regarded as the contact pressure of the processing object.

In this case, it is preferable that the height of the mounting surface of the pedestal is equal to the height of the surface of the substrate held by the holding means. According to this configuration, the mounting surface of the pedestal is regarded as the surface of the substrate, and the mounting surface of the pedestal is set to a height equal to the height of the surface of the substrate held by the holding means. Thus, the situation when the processing object actually contacts the surface of the substrate during the processing can be faithfully reproduced. Therefore, even if the contact pressure is not directly measured during the processing, if the contact pressure is measured by the pedestal, the data of the contact pressure of the processing object during the processing can be obtained accurately.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a supply means for supplying a processing liquid to the substrate held by the holding means, and a processing liquid discharge mechanism for discharging the processing liquid to the measuring means. Good. According to this configuration, the processing liquid is supplied to the substrate from the supply unit during the processing in order to improve the effect of the processing. Correspondingly, during the measurement of the contact pressure, the processing liquid discharge mechanism discharges pure water to replace the role of the supply means. Therefore, the situation during the processing can be faithfully reproduced as in the third aspect, and the data of the contact pressure of the processing object during the processing can be accurately obtained. Further, if the processing liquid is a liquid such as pure water, it is preferable that such a processing liquid is discharged to the processing body under measurement to purify the processing body.

Further, as set forth in claim 5, a purifying means for purifying the processing body is provided at the retracted position, and as set forth in claim 6, the purifying means is provided for storing the processing body. It is preferable to include a vessel and a purifying liquid discharging mechanism for discharging a purifying liquid. According to this configuration, the processing body can be purified. As described in claim 7, the purifying means and the measuring means are preferably arranged adjacent to each other. According to such a configuration, the transition from the measurement of the contact pressure to the purification of the processing body is quick.

According to a eighth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a processing method for processing a substrate by bringing a processing body into contact with a surface of a substrate held by a holding means, during processing of the substrate and / or by the holding means. Until the substrate after the previous processing is carried out and the holding means holds the substrate before the next processing, the processing body is retracted from above the substrate and the contact pressure is measured.

According to this method, for example, when a plurality of substrates are continuously processed, the contact pressure can be appropriately checked, so that the continuous processing is not interrupted.

According to a ninth aspect of the present invention, during the processing of the substrate, and / or the substrate after the previous processing held by the holding means is unloaded, and the substrate before the next processing is transferred to the holding means. It is preferable that the processing body is retracted from above the substrate and cleaned before the substrate is held. According to such a method, for example, when a plurality of substrates are continuously processed, the processing body can be purified without interrupting the continuous processing.

[0019]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, a preferred embodiment of the present invention will be described based on a surface treatment apparatus configured to clean the surface of a wafer as an example of a substrate. FIG.
1 is a perspective view of a cleaning system 1 incorporating a surface treatment device 7 according to the present embodiment. The cleaning system 1 is configured to carry in wafers in units of carriers C, wash and dry wafers one by one, and carry out wafers in units of carriers.

The cleaning system 1 is provided with a mounting portion 2 on which four carriers C containing wafers W can be mounted. At the center of the cleaning processing system 1,
And a take-out arm 3 for taking out the wafers W before the processing step one by one from the carrier C placed on the carrier C and storing the wafers W after the processing step in the carrier C. A transfer arm 4 serving as a transfer mechanism is provided on the back of the unloading arm 3 for exchanging wafers W with the unloading arm 3.
Is waiting. The transfer arm 4 includes the cleaning system 1
Are provided so as to be movable along a transport path 6 provided at the center of the image forming apparatus. Various processing devices are arranged on both sides of the transport path 6. Specifically, on one side of the transport path 6,
For example, a surface treatment device 7 for cleaning the surface of the wafer W
And a back surface processing device 8 for cleaning the back surface of the wafer W are arranged side by side. On the other side of the transport path 6, four heating devices 9 are provided in a stacked manner. The heating device 9 is a means for heating and drying the wafer W. Two wafer reversing devices 10 are stacked adjacent to the heating device 9.

Here, the configuration of the surface treatment apparatus 7 will be described. FIG. 2 is a plan view of the internal structure of the surface treatment device 7, and FIG. 3 is a side view thereof. The surface processing apparatus 7 includes a spin chuck 22 that is rotated by a motor 21 while holding the wafer W horizontally at a substantially center of the case 20, and the spin chuck 22 and the wafer W
And a cup 23 for preventing the processing liquid or the like supplied to the surface of the wafer W from scattering around.

The surface processing apparatus 7 applies a processing body 4 to be described later on the surface of the wafer W held by the spin chuck 22.
The scrub cleaning process is performed by bringing 0 into contact. The scrub cleaning machine 24 provided with the processing body 40
0 is retractable to a retract position 25 away from the surface of the wafer W. And this retreat position 2
5, a measuring device 26 for measuring the contact pressure (pressure per unit area) by the processing body 40 and a purifying device 27 for purifying the processing body 40 are integrated so that they can be arranged adjacently. A purifier 28 is provided.

As shown in FIG. 4, the arm member 30 has a frame 30a and a cover 30b. A motor 31 is provided at a base end in the cover 30b.
An air cylinder 32 is provided at a tip end in the cover 30b. A rod 33 that moves up and down in the vertical direction is connected to the lower surface of the air cylinder 32. An elevating body 35 that moves up and down in a vertical direction along a support guide 34 is connected to the rod 33. Frame 30a
A weight sensor 36 is provided on the upper surface of the body, and the lower surface of the lifting / lowering body 35 contacts the weight sensor 36. The downward pressing force of the elevating body 35 can be measured by the weight sensor 36. Through this, the scrub cleaner 24 can sense the thrust of a shaft 37 described later during the cleaning process. The thrust of the rod 33 can be adjusted based on the measurement result of the elevating body 35.

At the other end of the elevating body 35, the upper end of the shaft 37 described above is rotatably supported, and the lower end of the shaft 37 projects below the arm member 30. A protective cover 38 is disposed on the outer periphery of the protruding portion of the shaft 37.
The processing body 40 is provided detachably through the base 9.
Then, as the shaft 37 moves up and down, the processing body 40
Moves vertically (in the direction of the reciprocating arrow A in FIG. 4).

When the shaft 37 is moved up and down, the air is supplied from the first supply / exhaust section 41 and the second supply / exhaust section 4 is supplied.
The rod 33 and the lifting / lowering body 35
The shaft 37 is moved downward via the rod 33 and the shaft 37 is raised via the rod 33 and the elevating body 35 by exhausting air from the first supply / exhaust section 41 and supplying air from the second supply / exhaust section 42. It is designed to be moved. In this case, depending on the type of the cleaning process, a downward thrust is applied to the shaft 37 by the lowering operation of the air cylinder 32,
When the sum of the own weight applied to the processing body 40 and the thrust acting on the processing body 40 by the shaft 37 becomes a predetermined contact pressure,
The extent that the processing body 40 is not separated from the surface of the wafer W,
The upward operation of the air cylinder 32 applies an upward thrust to the shaft 37, and the difference between the own weight applied to the processing body 40 and the thrust acting on the processing body 40 by the shaft 37 becomes a predetermined contact pressure of, for example, 60 gf or less. The case and the case are properly used.

The processing body 40 has a member 43 such as a brush or a sponge on its lower surface for cleaning the surface of the wafer W cleanly. Depending on the object to be cleaned,
It is possible to appropriately select a hard brush such as a nylon brush having a hard bristle, or a soft brush having a soft bristle such as a mohair brush.

On the other hand, a belt 47 is wound between a driven pulley 45 fixed near the upper end of the shaft 37 and a driving pulley 46 fixed rotatably to the motor 31. Thus, the rotational drive of the motor 31 is transmitted to the shaft 37 via the belt 47, and the shaft 37 and the processing body 40 are integrally rotated (in the direction of the reciprocating rotation arrow B in FIG. 4). .

As shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, the base end of the arm member 30 of the scrub cleaner 24 'is moved up and down (in the direction of the reciprocating arrow C in FIG. 4) and rotated (see FIG. Shaft 50 in the direction of arrow D)
Is fixed in a horizontal posture at the upper end of the. Arm member 30
Is moved to the retreat position 25 by the operation of a drive mechanism (not shown).
It is configured to be able to reciprocate by turning in the θ direction in FIG.

A scrub cleaning machine 2 shown by a two-dot chain line in FIG.
4 shows a state in which the processing body 40 is retracted to the retreat position 25, and the measurement and purification device 28 is arranged so as to be located below the processing body 40. As shown in FIG. 5, the measurement and purification device 28 includes a cup part 55 protruding from the upper surface of the case 20 and a base part 56 supporting the cup part 55.
have. The upper part of the cup part 55 is open and formed in a substantially circular cylindrical shape. The cup part 55 includes the partition wall 5.
7, one side is a storage device 58 dedicated to the measuring device 26, and the other side is a storage device 59 dedicated to the purification device 27. The upper end of the container 58 is slightly higher than the upper end of the container 59.

In the measuring device 26, the processing body 40 'shown by a two-dot chain line in FIG. 5 is rotated by the operation of the drive mechanism so that the scrub cleaner 24 is rotated to a position above the measuring device 26. 58 shows a state of being retracted. In the container 58 for storing the processing body 40 ′, the processing body 4
The pedestal 60 on which 0 ′ is placed is mounted on a support 61 fixed to the bottom of the container 58. Further, a pressing sensor 62 is fitted into the pedestal 60 and the support base 61 from below. The pressure sensor 62 is in close contact with the inside of the pedestal 60. When the processing body 40 ′ is placed on the placement surface 63 of the pedestal 60, the pressure sensor 62 directly detects the contact pressure applied to the pedestal 60. Has become. Thus, the contact pressure of the processing body 40, which is the sum of the thrust acting on the processing body 40 'by the shaft 37, the own weight of the processing body 40', and the sliding resistance of the shaft 37, can be directly measured. I have.

In this case, as shown in FIG. 6, the height of the mounting surface 63 of the pedestal 60 is equal to the height of the surface of the wafer W held by the spin chuck 22. Thereby, the wafer W
The same situation as when the cleaning process is performed, specifically, the distance between the surface of the wafer W and the arm member 30 and the conditions when the thrust is applied to the shaft 37 by the air cylinder 32 are faithfully reproduced. Become. Therefore, the configuration is such that the measuring device 26 can accurately measure the contact pressure of the processing body 40 during the cleaning process.

The measurement result of the pressure sensor 62 is configured to be input to the control unit 64 as shown in FIG. If there is a deviation in the contact pressure, the control unit 64 sends an adjustment signal to the pressure adjusting valve 65 of the first supply / exhaust unit 41 and the second supply / exhaust unit 42 according to a program stored in advance.
And the rod 33 and the lifting / lowering body 35
, The thrust of the shaft 37 is adjusted, and the contact pressure of the processing body 40 is adjusted. Furthermore, the processing body 4
When the contact pressure of 0 is adjusted to a predetermined set value, the downward pressing force of the elevating body 35 at this time is measured by the weight sensor 36, and the data is stored. Then, during the cleaning process, by comparing the stored data with the measurement data obtained by the weight sensor 36 during the cleaning process,
The lifting body 35 and the shaft 37 can be monitored.

The timing for measuring the contact pressure is determined by the spin chuck 22.
The setting is made before the wafer W after the cleaning process held before is carried out and the spin chuck 22 holds the wafer W before the next cleaning process on the spin chuck 22.
If the scrub cleaner 24 is retracted to the retreat position 25 between the valleys between the cleaning processes, the contact pressure can be easily measured by the measuring device 26. Further, in order to measure the contact pressure, it is not necessary to attach the components of the measurement system to the surface treatment device 7 or to interrupt the cleaning process for a long time.

The surface treatment apparatus 7 includes a spin chuck 22
A pure water supply nozzle 70 is disposed at a position symmetrical to the scrub cleaning machine 24 with respect to. This pure water supply nozzle 70 is
It can be reciprocated by turning in the θ ′ direction in FIG. Thus, the surface processing apparatus 7 is configured to supply pure water as a processing liquid to the surface of the wafer W during the cleaning processing. As described above, when the contact pressure is accurately measured by the measuring device 26, it is preferable to faithfully reproduce the same situation as when the wafer W is being cleaned. Therefore, a discharge port of a pure water discharge mechanism 71 that discharges pure water protrudes into the container 58, and when the contact pressure is measured, pure water is discharged from the pure water discharge mechanism 71 to the processing body 40. It is supposed to.

In the purifying apparatus 27, the processing body 40 'indicated by a two-dot chain line in FIG. 5 is rotated by the operation of the drive mechanism so that the scrub cleaner 24 is rotated to a position above the purifying apparatus 27. The state where it retracted in the container 59 is shown. A discharge port of a pure water discharge mechanism 72 that discharges pure water as a purifying liquid protrudes into a container 58 that stores the processing body 40 ″. In this case, the discharge port is stored during the evacuation time for each wafer W cleaning process. The processing unit 40 ″ is stored in the vessel 58, and pure water is supplied from the pure water discharge mechanism 72 to the processing unit 40 ″ to process the processing unit 40 ″.
It is configured to purify. A communication port 75 is formed below the partition wall 57, and the storage device 26 and the storage device 27 communicate with each other below. A drain hole 76 is formed at the bottom of the container 58.
Extends to the bottom of the container 26. Further, a drain pipe 77 is connected to the drain hole 76, and both the pure water in the container 58 and the pure water in the container 59 pass the drain pipe 77 from the drain hole 76. Is drained out of the apparatus via

Next, processing of the wafer W performed in the cleaning processing system 1 including the surface processing apparatus 7 configured as described above will be described. First, a transfer robot (not shown) places a carrier C containing, for example, 25 wafers W that have not been cleaned yet, on the placement unit 2. Then, the wafers W are loaded one by one from the carrier C placed on the placing section 2.
Is taken out, and the transfer arm 4 is
Passed to. Then, the wafers W are cleaned one by one using the surface processing device 7 and the back surface processing device 8 to remove organic contaminants, particles, and the like attached to the front and back surfaces of the wafer W. Then, the wafer W is heated and dried by the heating device 9. Wafer W for which predetermined processing steps have been completed
Is transferred from the transfer arm 4 to the take-out storage arm 3,
It is stored in the carrier C again.

Here, the cleaning process in the surface treatment device 7 will be described. First, the wafer W is set in the surface treatment device 7.
Is loaded and the wafer W is held by the spin chuck 22 and starts rotating, as shown in FIG. 2, the arm member 30 moves from the retreat position 25 to above the wafer W, and as shown in FIG.
As shown in (2), the processing body 40 is brought into contact with the surface of the wafer W. And, by raising and lowering operation of the air cylinder 32,
Thrust is applied to the shaft 37, and this thrust acts on the processing body 40. The processing body 40 presses the surface of the wafer W, and the wafer W
A predetermined contact pressure (pressure per unit area) is applied to the surface of the substrate. In this state, at least the wafer W
Is rotated from the center to the peripheral edge of the wafer W to uniformly clean the surface of the wafer W. Meanwhile, the pure water supply nozzle 70 also moves above the wafer W, and supplies pure water to the surface of the wafer W.

After a predetermined time has elapsed, both the scrub cleaning and the megasonic cleaning are completed. The arm member 30 is turned and retracted from above the wafer W, and returns to the retracted position 25.
Similarly, the pure water supply nozzle 70 is turned and retracted from the surface of the wafer W to return to the original state. The wafer W having been subjected to the cleaning process is carried out of the surface processing device 7 by the transfer arm 4 and transferred to the back surface processing device 8. On the other hand, in the surface processing apparatus 7, the next wafer W before cleaning is carried in, and thereafter, the same cleaning processing is continuously repeated.

By the way, the processing body 4 is attached to the weight sensor 36.
The data of the pressing force of the lifting / lowering body 35 necessary for achieving 0 to the predetermined contact pressure is stored in advance. However,
During the cleaning process, the downward pressure of the elevating body 35 is measured by the weight sensor 36, and the thrust of the shaft 37 can be detected and monitored. However, the contact pressure actually applied to the surface of the wafer W by the processing body 40 is directly detected. I can't. Direct measurement of the contact pressure of the processing body 40 is indispensable for performing a reliable cleaning process.

Therefore, the wafer W after the previous cleaning process held by the spin chuck 22 is carried out, and the measuring device 26 is used to remove the wafer W before the next cleaning wafer W is held by the spin chuck 22. Measure the contact pressure. When the wafer W is continuously cleaned, the scrub cleaning machine 2 is used as described above every time the wafer W is cleaned.
The processing body 40 is retracted to the evacuation position 25 with the evacuation of the processing object 4. Then, the processing body 40 is stored in the storage device 58, and the contact pressure is directly measured using the measuring device 26.

Specifically, the processing body 40 is placed on the pedestal 60, and the contact pressure applied to the pedestal 60 is measured by the pressure sensor 62. The contact pressure applied to the pedestal 60 can be regarded as the contact pressure of the processing body 40. In this case, as shown in FIG. 6, the mounting surface 63 of the pedestal 60 is regarded as the surface of the wafer W, and the mounting surface of the pedestal 60 is set to a height equal to the height of the surface of the wafer W held by the spin chuck 22. Set the height of 63. In addition, in order to improve the effect of the cleaning process, pure water is supplied to the wafer W from the pure water supply nozzle 70 during the cleaning process. Correspondingly, during the measurement of the contact pressure, pure water is discharged from the processing liquid discharge mechanism 72 and the pure water supply nozzle 7 is discharged.
Substitute the role of 0. Thus, the situation when the processing body 40 actually contacts the surface of the wafer W during the cleaning process can be faithfully reproduced. Accordingly, even if the contact pressure is not measured during the cleaning process, if the measuring device 26 measures the contact pressure, data on the contact pressure of the processing body 40 during the cleaning process can be accurately obtained. Further, pure water is also discharged to the processing body 40 under measurement, and the processing body 40 is purified.

As a result of the measurement, if the contact pressure is normal, the next wafer W is cleaned. Then, the continuous cleaning process is continued until an abnormality in the contact pressure exceeding the allowable range is found.
In this manner, the contact pressure can be appropriately checked, so that the continuous cleaning process is not interrupted. If the deviation of the contact pressure is detected, as shown in FIG. 7, the vertical movement of the air cylinder 32 is automatically controlled by the adjustment signal from the control unit 64, and the thrust of the shaft 37 is adjusted to a predetermined value. Is obtained again. Further, since the measuring device 26 is provided in the retracted position 25 in advance, the time required for preparation for measurement is eliminated, and the contact pressure can be easily measured.

After the measurement, the processing unit 40 is stored in the storage 59 of the purification device 27, and the pure water discharge mechanism 7 is moved toward the processing unit 40.
Discharge pure water from 2. Thereby, the processing body 40 can be purified. In addition, the measuring device 26 and the purifying device 2
7 are disposed adjacent to each other, the transition from the measurement of the contact pressure to the purification of the processing body 40 is quick.

In this manner, the wafer W is subjected to a predetermined processing step, and when 25 processed wafers W are stored in the carrier C, the wafers W are carried out of the cleaning processing system 1 in units of the carrier C.

Thus, the surface treatment apparatus 7 of the present embodiment
According to this, the contact pressure by the processing body 40 is measured by the measuring device 26 provided at the retreat position 25, so that the contact pressure can be appropriately confirmed and the measurement can be simplified. Therefore, there is no reduction in throughput and no labor for measurement. Further, since the data of the contact pressure of the processing body 40 during the cleaning process can be accurately obtained by the measuring device 26, it is possible to monitor the contact pressure for abnormality or deviation. Therefore, the contact pressure can be precisely controlled, and the reliability of the cleaning process can be improved.

Although an example of the embodiment of the present invention has been described, the present invention is not limited to this example but can take various forms. For example, the substrate is not limited to the semiconductor wafer W as in the above-described embodiment, but may be an LCD.
It may be a substrate, a glass substrate, a CD substrate, a photomask, a printed substrate, a ceramic substrate, or the like. In addition, the treatment liquid is not limited to pure water, but may be hydrogen peroxide, hydrofluoric acid,
Ammonia water, hydrochloric acid, sulfuric acid or the like may be used.

[0047]

According to the first aspect of the present invention, by measuring the contact pressure of the processing object by the measuring means provided at the retreat position, the contact pressure can be appropriately confirmed and the measurement can be simplified. Therefore, there is no reduction in throughput and no labor for measurement.

According to the second to fourth aspects of the present invention, since the data of the contact pressure of the processing object during the processing can be accurately obtained by the measuring means, it is possible to monitor the contact pressure for abnormality or deviation. . Therefore, precise control of the contact pressure becomes possible, and the reliability of the processing can be improved. As a result, for example, it is possible to sufficiently cope with a miniaturization technique in a semiconductor manufacturing process.

According to the fifth aspect of the present invention, the processing object can be purified. According to the invention of claim 6, the transition from the measurement of the contact pressure of the processing object to the cleaning of the processing object is quick, and the throughput can be reduced.

According to the eighth aspect of the present invention, the contact pressure can be appropriately checked, so that the throughput is not reduced. According to the ninth aspect, the processing body can be purified.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a cleaning processing system including a surface treatment apparatus according to an embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a plan view of the internal structure of the surface treatment apparatus according to the embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a sectional view of the internal structure of the surface treatment apparatus according to the embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a sectional view of the internal structure of the scrub cleaner.

FIG. 5 is a sectional view of the internal structure of the measurement and purification device.

FIG. 6 is an explanatory view for explaining that the height of the mounting surface of the pedestal is equal to the height of the surface of the wafer held by the spin chuck.

FIG. 7 is an explanatory diagram illustrating a mechanism for controlling the thrust in the vertical direction of the shaft.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Cleaning processing system 7 Surface treatment device 22 Spin chuck 24 Scrub cleaner 25 Retreat position 26 Measuring device 27 Purification device 28 Measurement / purification machine 40 Processing body 60 Base 62 Press sensor 63 Mounting surface 71 Pure water discharge mechanism W wafer

Continued on the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁶ Identification code FI H01L 21/304 648 H01L 21/304 648G

Claims (9)

[Claims] In a processing apparatus for performing processing by bringing a processing body into contact with a surface of a substrate held by holding means, the processing body is configured to be retractable to a retreat position separated from the surface of the substrate, and to be retreated to the retreat position. A processing apparatus, comprising: a measuring means for measuring a contact pressure of a retracted processing body. 2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the measuring unit includes a pedestal on which the processing object is placed, and a measuring mechanism for measuring a contact pressure of the processing object by sensing a contact pressure applied to the pedestal. The processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the processing is performed. 3. The processing apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the height of the mounting surface of the pedestal is equal to the height of the surface of the substrate held by the holding means. 4. A processing liquid supply mechanism for supplying a processing liquid to the substrate held by the holding means, and a processing liquid discharging mechanism for discharging the processing liquid is provided in the measuring means.
The processing device according to claim 1. 5. The cleaning device according to claim 1, wherein a purifying means for purifying the processing body is provided at the retracted position.
A processing device according to claim 1. 6. The processing apparatus according to claim 5, wherein said purifying means includes a container for storing said processing body, and a purifying liquid discharging mechanism for discharging a purifying liquid. 7. The processing apparatus according to claim 5, wherein said purifying means and said measuring means are arranged adjacent to each other. 8. A processing method in which a processing body is brought into contact with a surface of a substrate held by a holding means to perform processing during processing of the substrate and / or unloading the processed substrate held by the holding means. A processing method characterized by measuring the contact pressure of the processing body by retracting the processing body from above the substrate before the holding means holds the substrate before the next processing. 9. A process for processing a substrate and / or during a period before carrying out a substrate after processing held by the holding means and causing the holding means to hold a substrate before the next processing. 9. The processing method according to claim 8, wherein the body is removed from above the substrate and purified.