JPH11297789A - Treating device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a treating device in which the position deviation of a substrate does not occur, even if the substrate is lowered rapidly along with an elevation pin. SOLUTION: A heat treatment device 25 is provided with an elevation pin 45 for elevating a wafer W, while it is supported and a placement stand 36 for placing and heating the wafer W. An exhaust port 42 is provided at the center of the placement stand 36, and a vacuum suction port 53 is provided on the upper side surface of the elevation pin 45. When the wafer W is lowered along with the elevation pin 45, the atmosphere between the lower surface of the wafer W and a placement surface 50 is evacuated from the exhaust port 42 and the vacuum suction port 53.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

[0001] 1. Field of the Invention [0002] The present invention relates to a processing apparatus provided with elevating pins for supporting a substrate and a mounting table for mounting the substrate.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art For example, in a photoresist process in the manufacture of a semiconductor device, a semiconductor wafer (hereinafter, referred to as a semiconductor wafer) is used.
Called "wafer". ), A resist solution is applied to the surface of a substrate to form a resist film, and after exposing a predetermined pattern to the substrate, a developing solution is supplied to perform development processing. When performing such a series of processing,
Conventionally, a coating and developing apparatus has been used.

The coating and developing apparatus includes a series of processes required for the coating and developing process, for example, a hydrophobic process for improving the fixability between the wafer and the resist, a heating process for heating the wafer,
Various so-called oven-type processing apparatuses for performing various processes such as a cooling process for cooling a wafer are individually provided.

Such an oven-type processing apparatus includes a mounting table capable of mounting a wafer horizontally and processing the mounted wafer at a predetermined temperature, and a plurality of mounting tables capable of moving up and down on the mounting table while supporting the wafer. Lifting pins are provided. With such a configuration, when the wafer is supported by the elevating pins, the wafer descends together with the elevating pins and is mounted on the mounting table, and thereafter, a predetermined process for each processing apparatus is performed.

[0005]

However, when the wafer is lowered by lowering the lifting pins supporting the wafer, the atmosphere between the lower surface of the wafer and the mounting table is compressed by the wafer. The atmosphere tries to flow outward. In particular, when the descending speed of the elevating pins is increased, the atmosphere between the lower surface of the wafer and the mounting table is rapidly compressed, so that the above-described force to flow out is increased. If the outflow of such an atmosphere is biased, a wafer to be mounted at a predetermined position on the mounting table may be displaced.

In this case, uniform processing is not performed on the wafer, and there is a possibility that the yield may be reduced. Conventionally, therefore, the only way to prevent the wafer from shifting is to lower the speed at which the lifting pins are lowered. Therefore, it was not possible to improve the throughput.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above points, and has as its object to provide a new processing apparatus in which the displacement of the substrate does not occur even when the lowering speed of the support pins is increased.

[0008]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a processing apparatus comprising: a mounting table on which a substrate is mounted; and an elevating pin capable of projecting from a mounting surface of the mounting table. A processing apparatus for performing a predetermined process on a substrate mounted on the mounting table, wherein a radial groove is formed on the mounting surface from a central portion to a peripheral portion of the mounting surface. And

According to this configuration, when the substrate is lowered together with the lifting pins, the compressed atmosphere between the substrate and the mounting surface flows radially outward while flowing along the grooves formed on the mounting surface. Exhausted. Therefore, even if the descending speed of the lifting pins supporting the substrate is increased, the flow of the atmosphere that shifts the substrate from the predetermined position does not occur. As a result, displacement of the substrate can be prevented.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided a processing apparatus comprising: a mounting table on which a substrate is mounted; and elevating pins capable of protruding from a mounting surface of the mounting table. In the processing apparatus for performing predetermined processing, the suction port opened on the mounting surface of the mounting table and the lower surface of the substrate and the mounting surface of the mounting table when the elevating pin descends while supporting the substrate. Exhaust means for exhausting the atmosphere between the two through the suction port.

According to this configuration, the atmosphere between the substrate and the mounting surface can be exhausted by the exhaust means. Since the compressed atmosphere between the substrate and the mounting surface can be positively discharged by this exhaust, even if the descending speed of the lifting pins supporting the substrate is increased, the position of the substrate is shifted. The flow of the atmosphere does not occur. As a result, displacement of the substrate can be prevented.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, there is provided a processing apparatus comprising: a mounting table for mounting a substrate; and elevating pins capable of protruding from a mounting surface of the mounting table. In a processing apparatus for performing a predetermined process, a radial groove formed from a center portion to a peripheral portion of the mounting surface, a suction port opened in the mounting surface of the mounting table, and a lifting pin while supporting the substrate. Exhaust means for exhausting the atmosphere between the lower surface of the substrate and the mounting surface of the mounting table from the suction port when the device descends.

According to this structure, when the substrate is lowered together with the lifting pins, the compressed atmosphere between the substrate and the mounting surface is radially exhausted along the groove and exhausted to the outside by the exhaust means. You. Therefore, it is possible to more reliably prevent the displacement of the substrate.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, in the processing apparatus according to the second or third aspect, a suction port is provided on an outer periphery of an upper portion of the elevating pin, and the inside of the elevating pin communicates with the suction port. A hollow portion is formed, and the hollow portion communicates with the exhaust means.

According to this configuration, when the substrate is lowered together with the lifting pins, the compressed atmosphere between the substrate and the mounting surface can be exhausted from the suction port of the lifting pins through the hollow portion. Therefore, even if the substrate is quickly moved down together with the elevating pins, no displacement occurs with respect to the substrate. In addition, when the suction port is formed in the elevating pin in this way, for example, in applying to a device for heating a substrate by incorporating a heater in the mounting table,
The degree of freedom in designing the mounting table is increased.

When the substrate descends together with the lifting pins, the atmosphere flowing out along the groove of the mounting table has a larger flow rate near the periphery of the mounting table than near the center of the mounting table.
The invention described in claim 5 has been made by paying attention to this point, and the invention of claim 5 is based on claim 1, 3 or 4.
In the processing apparatus described in (1), the groove width of the groove formed on the mounting surface of the mounting table is formed so as to gradually increase from the center to the peripheral edge of the mounting surface.

According to this configuration, since the groove width becomes wider toward the peripheral portion, it is possible to discharge a larger flow rate to the outside. Therefore, the atmosphere in which the substrate is displaced from the predetermined position can be more smoothly discharged to the outside, and the displacement of the substrate can be more reliably prevented.

The invention described in claim 6 is the first, third, and third aspects of the invention.
In the processing apparatus described in 4 or 5, the depth of the groove formed in the mounting surface of the mounting table is formed so as to gradually increase from the center to the peripheral edge of the mounting surface. I have.

According to such a configuration, the depth of the groove becomes deeper toward the peripheral portion, so that a larger flow rate can be discharged to the outside. Therefore, as in the case of the fifth aspect, the atmosphere that causes the displacement of the substrate can be more smoothly discharged, and the displacement of the substrate can be more reliably prevented.

[0020]

Preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings. This embodiment is embodied as a heat treatment device incorporated in a coating and developing treatment device. 1 to 3 show the appearance of a coating and developing treatment apparatus having a heat treatment apparatus. FIG. 1 shows a plan view, FIG. 2 shows a front view, and FIG. 3 shows a rear view. .

As shown in FIG. 1, the coating and developing apparatus 1 carries, for example, 25 wafers W into and out of the coating and developing apparatus 1 in cassette units,
A cassette station 2 for loading / unloading wafers W from / to a processing station, and a processing station in which various single-wafer processing apparatuses for performing predetermined processing on the wafers W one by one in a coating and developing process are arranged in multiple stages. 3 and an interface unit 4 for exchanging wafers W between an exposure apparatus (not shown) provided adjacent to the processing station 3.

In the cassette station 2, a plurality of, for example, four cassettes C are provided at the positions of the positioning projections 10 a on the cassette mounting table 10 serving as a mounting portion, with the entrance and exit of the wafer W facing the processing station 3 in the X direction. (Vertical direction in FIG. 1) It can be mounted in a line. The wafer W accommodated in the cassette arrangement direction (X direction) and the cassette C
The wafer transfer body 15 movable in the wafer arrangement direction (Z direction; vertical direction) is movable along the transfer path 15a so that each cassette C can be selectively accessed.

The wafer carrier 15 is also configured to be rotatable in the θ direction. As will be described later, an alignment unit (ALIM) and an alignment unit (ALIM) belonging to the multi-stage unit section of the third processing unit group G ₃ on the processing station 3 side. The extension unit (EXT) is configured to be accessible.

In the processing station 3, a main transfer device 20 is disposed at the center thereof, and various types of processing devices as units are multi-tiered and arranged around one or more sets to constitute a processing device group. doing. In this coating and developing apparatus 1, five processing apparatus groups G ₁ ,
G ₂ , G ₃ , G ₄ , G ₅ can be arranged.
The second processing unit group G ₁ and the second processing unit group G ₂ are disposed on the front side of the coating and developing processing unit 1, and the third processing unit group G ₃ is disposed adjacent to the cassette station 2. processing unit group G ₄ are disposed adjacent to the interface section 4, the fifth processing unit group G ₅ shown by broken lines are arranged on the rear side.

As shown in FIG. 2 in the first processing unit group G _1, 2 single spinner type processing apparatus for performing predetermined processing mounted on a spin chuck the wafer W in a cup CP, for example, the resist coating unit (COT ) And development processing equipment (DEV)
Are stacked in two layers in order from the bottom. And similarly to the first processing unit group G _1, in the second processing unit group G _2,
Two spinner type processing apparatuses, for example, a resist coating apparatus (COT) and a developing processing apparatus (DEV) are arranged in order from the bottom.
It is piled up on the steps.

In the third processing unit group G ₃ , as shown in FIG. 3, an oven-type processing unit for performing a predetermined processing by placing the wafer W on a mounting table, for example, a cooling processing unit (COL) for performing a cooling process, An alignment device (ALIM) for positioning the wafer W, an extension device (EXT) for holding the wafer W on standby, a hydrophobizing device (AD) for improving the fixability between the resist and the wafer W, and a book for performing a heating process The heat treatment devices 25 and the like according to the embodiment are arranged, for example, in eight stages.

A wafer carrier 30 is provided at the center of the interface section 4. The wafer carrier 30 is the X-direction, Z direction (vertical direction) movement and θ rotation direction is configured so as to be freely, the processing station 3 side of the fourth processing unit group G ₄ belonging extension unit of (EXT) and a wafer transfer table (not shown) on the side of an exposure apparatus (not shown).

The coating and developing apparatus 1 is configured as described above. Next, the heat treatment device 25 incorporated in the coating and developing treatment device 1 will be described.

As shown in FIG.
A mounting table 36 having a heating means (not shown) for heating the wafer W is provided inside the casing 30.

As shown in FIGS. 4 and 5, for example, six proximity pins 38 for supporting the back surface of the wafer W are provided at the peripheral portion of the mounting table 36, and exhaust gas is provided at the center of the mounting table 36. A mouth 42 is provided. In addition, the mounting table 36
For example, three holes 43 are formed in the heat treatment device 25, and three elevating pins 45 that can pass through the holes 43 are provided in the heat treatment device 25.
Is provided. These lifting pins 45 are connected to the cylinder 4
By the operation of 6, the wafer W can freely move up and down from the mounting surface 50 which is the upper surface of the mounting table 36, and can move up and down while supporting the wafer W.

The mounting surface 50 has, for example, six grooves 51 formed radially from the center to the periphery. These grooves 51 have substantially the same shape as each other, and the width and depth of each groove 51 are formed so as to be uniform from the center to the peripheral edge of the mounting surface 50.
Are formed at equal intervals.

As shown in FIG. 6, the elevating pin 45 has a hollow portion 52 in the inside thereof, and a vacuum suction port 53 is provided on the upper outer periphery of the elevating pin 45. Further, the exhaust port 42 and the hollow portion 52 communicate with the exhaust pipe 55 as shown in FIG. An exhaust device 57 is connected to one end of the exhaust pipe 55.

The heat treatment apparatus 25 according to the embodiment of the present invention is configured as described above. Next, the function and effect of the heat treatment device 25 will be described.

The wafer W which has been subjected to the development processing in the development processing device (DEV) is transferred to the heat processing device 25 by the main transfer device 20. Then, as shown in FIG. 8, the wafer W is horizontally supported by the lift pins 45 which have been raised. Next, after the exhaust device 57 is operated, the lifting pin 4
5 is lowered as shown in FIG.

At this time, the atmosphere between the wafer W and the mounting surface 50 tends to flow out because it is compressed by the descending wafer W. If the outflow of such an atmosphere is biased,
The wafer W to be mounted on the mounting table 36 at a predetermined position may be misaligned. However, in the heat treatment apparatus 25 according to the present embodiment, such an atmosphere is set on the mounting surface 50.
Can be uniformly discharged to the outside along the groove 51.

For this reason, when the wafer W is quickly moved down together with the lifting pins 45 without the wafer W being displaced from the predetermined position due to the compressed atmosphere between the wafer W and the mounting surface 50, However, the displacement of the wafer W can be prevented.

In the heat treatment device 25, the compressed atmosphere can be exhausted to the outside along the groove 51, and at the same time, the atmosphere can be exhausted from the exhaust port 42 by the operation of the exhaust device 57. For this reason, the atmosphere between the wafer W and the mounting surface 50 is positively evacuated, and the flow that causes the position shift of the wafer W does not occur. As a result, the wafer W
, The position of the wafer W can be prevented.

Further, in the heat treatment device 25, the atmosphere compressed by the lowering of the wafer W can be exhausted from the vacuum suction port 53 provided on the elevating pin 45 through the hollow portion 52. By performing the exhaust from the vacuum suction port 53 simultaneously with the exhaust from the exhaust port 42 and the exhaust along the groove 51, the atmosphere between the wafer W and the mounting surface 50 is further exhausted to the outside. Thus, even when the wafer W is quickly lowered, the positional shift of the wafer W can be more reliably prevented. In addition, a vacuum suction port 5 is
Since the heater 3 is provided, it is easy to incorporate a heater in the mounting table 36, for example.

Thereafter, the wafer W having been subjected to the predetermined heat treatment is lifted while being supported by the elevating pins 45, and is transferred by the main transfer unit 20 to the next cooling processing unit (COL).

As described above, in the present embodiment, the wafer W
As a result, the compressed atmosphere can be discharged along the groove 51 and the compressed atmosphere can be positively exhausted from the exhaust port 42 and the vacuum suction port 53. Therefore, it is possible to prevent the displacement of the wafer W.
As a result, the in-plane temperature distribution of the wafer W is made uniform, and a uniform heat treatment can be performed.

In the above embodiment, an example has been described in which the mounting surface 50 is formed with the groove 51 having a uniform width and depth from the center to the peripheral portion. It is not limited to a simple example. That is, as shown in FIG. 11, a mounting table 67 in which a groove 66 is formed so that the width gradually increases from the center to the peripheral edge of the mounting surface 50 and the depth gradually increases.

According to the mounting table 67, when the wafer W descends, it is possible to discharge more atmosphere near the periphery where the flow rate is larger than that near the center of the mounting table 67 to the outside. For this reason, the atmosphere compressed by the lowered wafer W can be more smoothly discharged to the outside than when the mounting table 36 is used. Therefore, it is possible to more reliably prevent the displacement of the wafer W.

Further, in the above-described embodiment, an example has been described in which the compressed atmosphere generated when the wafer W is lowered together with the elevating pins 45 is exhausted from the groove 51 and actively exhausted from the exhaust port 42. However, only the groove 51 may be formed on the mounting surface 50 of the mounting table 36, and the compressed atmosphere may be exhausted only from the groove 51 to the outside, or the external atmosphere may be formed only from the exhaust port 42 without forming the groove 51. May be exhausted. As described above, even if the groove 51 and the exhaust port 42 are independently applied, the displacement of the wafer W can be prevented.

Although an example using the heat treatment device 25 has been described, the present invention is also applicable to processing devices such as a cooling treatment device (COL) and a hydrophobizing treatment device (AD). Furthermore, although an example using a wafer W as a substrate has been described, the present invention is not limited to this example, and can be applied to, for example, a case where an LCD substrate is used.

[0045]

According to the first to sixth aspects of the present invention, even when the substrate is quickly lowered together with the elevating pins, no positional displacement of the substrate occurs. Therefore, uniform processing can be performed on the substrate.

In particular, according to the second to sixth aspects of the present invention,
When processing the substrate together with the lifting pins, the atmosphere between the substrate and the mounting surface can be positively exhausted by the exhaust means. Therefore, the flow of the atmosphere that causes the displacement of the substrate does not occur, and the displacement of the substrate can be prevented.

According to the third aspect of the present invention, when the substrate is lowered together with the elevating pins, the compressed atmosphere between the substrate and the mounting surface is positively evacuated and formed on the mounting surface. It can also be discharged from the groove formed. Therefore, it is possible to more reliably prevent the displacement of the substrate.

According to the fourth aspect of the present invention, the compressed atmosphere between the lowering substrate and the mounting surface can be positively exhausted from the suction port of the elevating pin through the hollow portion. Further, since the suction port is formed in the elevating pin, it is easy to incorporate a heating mechanism and a cooling mechanism in the mounting table.

According to the fifth and sixth aspects of the present invention, when the atmosphere compressed by the descending substrate is evacuated, the atmosphere near the peripheral portion where the flow rate is higher than that near the center of the mounting table is smoothly exhausted. It is possible to do.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a plan view of a coating and developing apparatus having a heat processing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a front view of the coating and developing apparatus of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a rear view of the coating and developing apparatus of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram of the heat treatment apparatus according to the present embodiment as viewed from the side.

FIG. 5 is a plan view of a mounting table provided in the heat treatment apparatus of FIG. 4;

FIG. 6 is a perspective view showing a configuration of an elevating pin provided in the heat treatment apparatus of FIG. 4;

FIG. 7 is an explanatory view of an exhaust pipe provided in the heat treatment apparatus of FIG. 4 as viewed from a side.

FIG. 8 is an explanatory view showing a state in which a lifting pin supports a wafer.

FIG. 9 is an explanatory view showing a state in which a lifting pin in FIG. 8 is lowered.

FIG. 10 is an explanatory diagram showing a state in which the lowering of the elevating pin in FIG. 9 is completed.

FIG. 11 is a diagram showing a modification of the mounting table of FIG. 5;

[Explanation of symbols]

 Reference Signs List 1 coating / developing apparatus 25 heating apparatus 36 mounting table 42 exhaust port 45 elevating pin 50 mounting surface 52 hollow section 53 vacuum suction port W wafer

Claims (6)

[Claims] 1. A processing apparatus, comprising: a mounting table on which a substrate is mounted; and elevating pins capable of protruding from a mounting surface of the mounting table, and performing a predetermined process on the substrate mounted on the mounting table. A processing device, wherein a radial groove is formed on the mounting surface from a center portion to a peripheral portion of the mounting surface. 2. A processing apparatus, comprising: a mounting table for mounting a substrate; and elevating pins capable of protruding from a mounting surface of the mounting table, and performing a predetermined process on the substrate mounted on the mounting table. The atmosphere between the lower surface of the substrate and the mounting surface of the mounting table is evacuated from the suction port when the elevating pin descends while supporting the substrate and the suction port opened on the mounting surface of the mounting table. A processing device, comprising: 3. A processing apparatus comprising: a mounting table on which a substrate is mounted, and elevating pins capable of protruding from a mounting surface of the mounting table, and performing a predetermined process on the substrate mounted on the mounting table. The radial groove formed from the center to the peripheral edge of the mounting surface, the suction port opened on the mounting surface of the mounting table, and the lifting pin A processing apparatus, comprising: exhaust means for exhausting an atmosphere between a lower surface and a mounting surface of a mounting table from the suction port. 4. A suction port is provided on an upper outer periphery of the lifting pin, and a hollow portion communicating with the suction port is formed inside the lifting pin, and the hollow portion communicates with an exhaust means. The processing device according to claim 2, wherein: 5. The device according to claim 1, wherein the width of the groove formed on the mounting surface of the mounting table is gradually increased from a central portion to a peripheral portion of the mounting surface. ,
The processing device according to 3 or 4. 6. The mounting table according to claim 1, wherein the depth of the groove formed on the mounting surface of the mounting table is gradually increased from the center to the peripheral edge of the mounting surface. ,
6. The processing apparatus according to 3, 4, or 5.