JPH113846A - Device and method for treating wafer - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To reduce foot prints and, at the same time, to reduce the cost of a wafer by providing a treating means which can perform two or more kinds of treatment among prescribed solution applying treatment, developing treatment, cleaning treatment, and heat treatment performed on the substrate, while the wafer is held by a wafer holding means having a degree of freedom for rotation. SOLUTION: A spinner unit 11 is provided with a wafer holding section 21 having a degree of freedom for rotation, a developing solution nozzle 23 which supplies a developing solution onto a wafer W, a cleaning brush 25 which cleans the upper surface of the wafer W, a pure water nozzle 27 which supplies pure water onto the wafer W, and a supporting arm 31 which supports the nozzle 23 and brush 25. When the wafer W is rotated, pure water is supplied onto the wafer W from the nozzle 27 and, at the same time, the brush 25 comes into contact with and cleans the rear surface of the wafer W. In addition, the developing solution can be supplied onto the wafer W from the nozzle 23. Therefore, the constitution of a wafer treating device can be simplified and foot prints and the cost of the wafer W can be reduced.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a substrate processing apparatus used for a semiconductor substrate, a liquid crystal glass substrate, and the like, and a substrate processing method using the same.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In a process of manufacturing a substrate such as a semiconductor wafer and a glass substrate, a plurality of processes such as a coating process of a predetermined coating solution such as a photoresist solution, a developing process, a cleaning process and a heat treatment (heating process and cooling process) are performed. Is performed.

On the other hand, conventionally, a dedicated unit that exclusively performs processing such as coating processing of a predetermined coating liquid, development processing, cleaning processing, and heat treatment is mounted on a substrate processing apparatus in parallel for each processing. Alternatively, a processing device dedicated to a specific process is introduced by the type of the process.

[0004]

For this reason, in the above-described conventional apparatus configuration, it is necessary to mount a dedicated unit in the apparatus or to purchase a processing apparatus for the type of processing performed on the substrate. However, there is a problem that the footprint increases and the cost increases.

In view of the above problems, it is an object of the present invention to provide a substrate processing apparatus and a substrate processing method capable of reducing a footprint and reducing costs.

[0006]

Technical means for achieving the above object include a substrate holding means having a rotational degree of freedom,
Processing means capable of executing two or more types of processing of a predetermined coating liquid application processing, a development processing, a cleaning processing, and a heat treatment on the substrate held by the substrate holding means;
It is characterized by having.

Preferably, the processing means is for performing the developing process and the cleaning process.

Preferably, the processing means includes a developer nozzle for supplying a developer onto the substrate, a pure water nozzle for supplying pure water onto the substrate, a surface of the substrate, Alternatively, a cleaning brush for cleaning the substrate surface by contacting the pure water on the substrate supplied from the pure water nozzle may be provided.

Further, preferably, the processing means further includes a support arm for transferring the developer nozzle and the cleaning brush from a predetermined retracted position onto the substrate and supporting the developer nozzle and the cleaning brush on the substrate. Is good.

Further, the technical means for achieving the above object includes a coating process of a predetermined coating solution, a developing process, a cleaning process, and a heat treatment for the substrate held by the substrate holding device having a rotational degree of freedom. It is characterized in that two or more types of processing are executed.

[0011]

FIG. 1 is a view showing a configuration of a substrate processing apparatus according to a first embodiment of the present invention. The substrate processing apparatus 1 includes a transfer unit 3 for transferring a substrate W and a not-shown unit. An indexer 5 for transferring the substrate W to and from the substrate transport unit 3 while taking out and storing the substrate W in and from the cassette; an application unit 7 for applying a photoresist liquid to the substrate W; Unit 9 for reversing the process, a spinner unit (rotary substrate processing unit) 11 for performing a developing process and a cleaning process, and an exposure unit 1
3 and a heat treatment unit 15 for performing heating and cooling treatments, of which the spinner unit 11 is a feature of the present embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a plan view of the spinner unit 11, and FIG. 3 is a sectional view of a support arm provided in the spinner unit 11.
Are a substrate holder 21 (substrate holder) having a degree of freedom of rotation, a developer nozzle 23 for supplying a developer onto the substrate W, and a cleaning brush 2 for cleaning the upper surface of the substrate W.
5 and a pure water nozzle 27 for supplying pure water onto the substrate W
And a support arm 31 that supports the developer nozzle 23 and the cleaning brush 25.

The support arm 31 has a pivot center P1 at the base end.
Is provided so as to be able to turn around and to be able to move up and down.
A discharge port 23a of the developer nozzle 23 and a cleaning brush 25 are provided on the lower surface of the distal end of the support arm 31 in parallel on the left and right sides. The discharge port 23a of 23 and the cleaning brush 25 are turned around the turning center P1 from the position (retreat position) outside the substrate holding unit 21 shown in FIG. 2 to a position above the substrate W held by the substrate holding unit 21. Moving.

The cleaning brush 25 includes a cylindrical brush base 25.
a, and a resin brush portion 25b planted in a circular area on the lower surface of the brush stand 25a. The brush base 25a of the cleaning brush 25 is connected to a rotation shaft of a motor 41, and is driven to rotate by the motor 41 to rotate. The cleaning brush 25 is detachable and can be easily replaced. Here, the motor 41 is provided to rotate the cleaning brush 25, but the cleaning brush 25 may not rotate.

As shown in FIGS. 2, 4 and 5,
A plurality of substrate holding members 21b that move toward and away from each other are provided on a turntable 21a of the substrate holding unit 21. When the turntable 21a is rotated by a motor 21c, the turntable 21a is held by the turntable 21a. The substrate W is rotated.

The pure water nozzle 27 is fixed outside the substrate holding unit 21 so as not to hinder the loading of the substrate W into the substrate holding unit 21 of the spinner unit 11 by the transport unit 3.

The transport unit 3 is provided with a substrate holding arm 47 mounted on a moving table 45 that reciprocates in the transport path 43, and the substrate W received from the indexer 5 is moved by the holding arm 47 to a predetermined position to be described later. Are loaded into each of the units 7, 9, 11, 13, 15 according to the processing steps described above, and when all the processing is completed, they are transferred to the indexer 5.

The coating unit 7 has a substrate holder (not shown) similar to the substrate holder 21 of the spinner unit 11, and applies a photoresist liquid to the substrate W while rotating the substrate W. Here, the coating liquid is applied by the coating unit 7, but a polyimide resin for forming an insulating film and a protective film on the substrate W and a coating liquid for forming a silica-based coating are used.
Another coating liquid such as an OG material may be applied.

The heat treatment unit 15 has at least one set of a heating unit and a cooling unit (not shown), and performs a heating process and a cooling process for the substrate W heated by heating.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing a substrate processing step of the substrate processing apparatus 1. The substrate W received by the transport unit 3 from the indexer 5 is sent to the coating unit 7 in step S1, the photoresist liquid is applied to the main surface thereof, and sent to the reversing unit 9 in step S2, and the front and back are reversed. Then, in step S3, the spinner unit 11
And a cleaning process is performed.

In the cleaning process in step S3, when the substrate W is loaded into the substrate holding unit 21, the substrate W is rotated by the substrate holding unit 21, and pure water is supplied from the pure water nozzle 27 onto the substrate W. The support arm 31 is lowered after the cleaning brush 25 is pivoted from the retracted position to above the substrate W, as shown in FIG.
Is contacted with the upper surface (back surface) of the substrate W, or the cleaning brush 25 is contacted only with pure water on the substrate W supplied from the pure water nozzle 27 without contacting the substrate W, and the back surface side of the substrate W Is performed. At this time, the cleaning brush 25 is scanned on the substrate W by rotating the rotation arm 31 gradually while being rotated by the motor 41, and the entire back surface side of the substrate W is cleaned. When the cleaning by the cleaning brush 25 is completed, the support arm 31 is raised and returned to the retreat position, and after the supply of pure water by the pure water nozzle 27 is stopped,
Further, the rotation of the substrate W by the substrate holding unit 21 is continued,
Shaking-off drying in which the pure water adhering to the substrate W is shaken off by rotation is performed, and the process proceeds to step S4.

The substrate W having undergone the cleaning process on the back surface side is sent from the spinner unit 11 to the reversing unit 9 in step S4, where the substrate W is turned over, and is sent to the exposure unit 13 in step S5 to perform the exposure process. Then, in step S6, it is sent to the spinner unit 11 again, and the developing process is performed.

In the developing process of step S6, when the substrate W is loaded into the substrate holding section 21, the support arm 31 is moved to the position shown in FIG.
As shown in FIG. 5, after the developer nozzle 23 is swung from the retracted position to above the substrate W, the developer nozzle 23
When the developer is supplied from above to the substrate W, and the developer spreads over the entire surface of the substrate W, after being left for a predetermined time, the supply of pure water to the substrate W by the pure water nozzle 27 is started, and The rotation of the substrate W by the holding unit 21 is started, and the developing solution on the substrate W is replaced with pure water. When this pure water replacement process is completed, the supply of pure water from the pure water nozzle 27 is stopped, and the rotation of the substrate W is continued, and the pure water attached to the substrate W is removed by shaking-drying, and step S7 is performed.
Proceed to.

In step S7, the substrate W is sent from the spinner unit 11 to the heat treatment unit 15, subjected to a heating process and a subsequent cooling process, and then transferred to the indexer 5 by the transport unit 3 and stored in a predetermined cassette. You.

As described above, according to the present embodiment, the developing process and the cleaning process are performed by the spinner unit 11, so that a dedicated unit or a separate unit is used for each of the developing process and the cleaning process. Compared to having a dedicated processing device, the configuration of the device can be simplified, so that the footprint of the device can be reduced and the cost can be reduced.

In addition, since both the cleaning process and the developing process are processes using pure water and are processes involving the rotation of the substrate W, the units can be easily shared, so that the processes can be easily performed. .

Further, the developer nozzle 23 and the cleaning brush 2
5 is supported by the same support arm 31, the configuration is simple, the manufacturing cost of the apparatus 1 can be reduced, and, for example, the conventional cleaning unit or developing unit is shared as in this embodiment. When changing to a unit, it is not necessary to newly provide a support arm, and sharing can be performed with a relatively simple change.

Since the cleaning brush 25 is detachable, the cleaning brush 25 can be easily replaced.

FIG. 7 is a plan view showing the configuration of a spinner unit 51 according to a second embodiment of the present invention. The spinner unit 51 according to the first embodiment is different from the spinner unit 1 according to the first embodiment except that an infrared lamp 53 and a support arm 55 that supports the infrared lamp 53 are provided.
The configuration is the same as that of No. 1, and the corresponding parts are denoted by the same reference numerals and description thereof is omitted.

The infrared lamp 53 is for heating and drying the moisture adhered to the substrate W at the end of the cleaning process and the developing process. The support arm 55 that supports the infrared lamp 53 is rotatable around a center of rotation P2 at the base end thereof.
The infrared lamp 53 provided on the lower surface of the distal end portion of the substrate W held by the substrate holding unit 21 from the position (retreat position) shown in FIG. It revolves upward. Then, at the end of the cleaning processing and the developing processing, the support arm 55 is turned, the infrared lamp 53 is moved above the substrate W, and the heating and drying by the infrared lamp 53 is performed.

In this case, the substrate W is dried by the infrared lamp 53. However, in the optical amplification type resist processing, the heating for causing a crosslinking reaction or a decomposition reaction of the photoresist liquid applied to the substrate W is performed. The processing may be performed by the infrared lamp 53.

Also in this embodiment, since the development processing, cleaning processing, and heating processing can be performed by a single unit 51, the configuration of the apparatus can be simplified, thereby reducing the footprint of the apparatus and reducing the cost. For example, the same effects as those of the first embodiment can be obtained.

In the first and second embodiments, the developer nozzle 23, the cleaning brush 25, and the infrared lamp 5 are rotated by rotating the support arms 31 and 55.
3 was moved from the retracted position onto the substrate W,
By moving the support arms 31 and 55 in parallel, the developer nozzle 23, the cleaning brush 25, and the infrared lamp 5 are moved.
3 may be moved.

In the first and second embodiments described above, the developing nozzle 23 and the cleaning brush 25 are supported by the single support arm 31. However, the development nozzle 23 and the cleaning brush 25 may be supported by individual support arms. Good.

Further, in the first and second embodiments described above, the support arm 31 is provided with a single developer nozzle 23, but in addition to the developer nozzle 23, another chemical solution (for example, a cleaning solution) is used. ) Or a nozzle for supplying pure water.

FIG. 8 is a plan view showing the configuration of a spinner unit 61 according to a third embodiment of the present invention. The spinner unit 61 of the present embodiment is similar to the spinner unit 11 of the first embodiment, and the corresponding parts are denoted by the same reference numerals and description thereof will be omitted.

In the spinner unit 61, the pick-up arm 63 is provided so as to be able to move in parallel from the retracted position shown in FIG. 8 to the substrate W held by the substrate holding portion 21. Is that the pickup arm 63 is
By a, the developer nozzle 23 or the cleaning brush 25 finely arranged on the mounting portion 65 is selected and held, and is moved onto the substrate W.

Also in this embodiment, since the developing process and the cleaning process can be performed by a single unit 61, the structure of the apparatus can be simplified, so that the footprint of the apparatus can be reduced and the cost can be reduced. The same effects as those of the first embodiment can be obtained.

In this embodiment, the pick-up arm 63 picks up the developer nozzle 23 and the cleaning brush 25 and moves them to predetermined positions. However, the pick-up arm 63 also picks up the infrared lamp 53 of the second embodiment. May be moved to a predetermined position.

In each of the above embodiments, the cleaning brush 25 is used as the cleaning means in the spinner units 11, 51, and 61. However, instead of the cleaning brush 25 or together with the cleaning brush 25, the high-pressure water flow is applied to the substrate. One or both of a high-pressure jet cleaning means for applying and cleaning the W surface and an ultrasonic cleaning means for applying and cleaning ultrasonically-vibrated cleaning water to the surface of the substrate W may be provided.

Further, in each of the above-described embodiments, the developing process and the cleaning process, or the heat treatment in addition to the developing process and the cleaning process are performed in a single unit. However, for example, the coating process and the cleaning process are performed in a single unit. You may do so.

[0042]

As described above, according to the present invention, according to the first to fifth aspects of the present invention, two of coating, developing, cleaning and heat treatment of a predetermined coating solution are performed.
Since processing means for performing more than kinds of processing on the substrate are provided, the apparatus configuration is smaller than in the case where a dedicated unit or a dedicated processing apparatus is individually provided for each processing as in the related art. Simplification can be achieved, thereby reducing the footprint of the device and reducing costs.

According to the second to fourth aspects of the present invention, the cleaning process and the developing process are both processes using pure water and processes involving rotation of the substrate.
Since the sharing of the units and the like is easy, it can be easily implemented.

Further, according to the fifth aspect of the present invention, since the developer nozzle and the cleaning brush are supported by the same support arm, the configuration is simple and the manufacturing cost of the apparatus can be reduced.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating an overall configuration of a substrate processing apparatus according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a plan view showing a configuration of a spinner unit provided in the substrate processing apparatus of FIG.

FIG. 3 is a sectional view of a support arm provided in the spinner unit of FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating a state where a substrate is being cleaned by the spinner unit of FIG. 2;

FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating a state in which the spinner unit of FIG. 2 is performing a developing process on a substrate.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing a substrate processing step of the substrate processing apparatus of FIG. 1;

FIG. 7 is a plan view illustrating a configuration of a spinner unit according to a second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 8 is a plan view illustrating a configuration of a spinner unit according to a third embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Substrate processing apparatus 11 Spinner unit 21 Substrate holding part 23 Developer nozzle 25 Cleaning brush 31 Support arm 51, 61 Spinner unit

──────────────────────────────────────────────────の Continued on the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁶ Identification code FI H01L 21/30 569F 571

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. A substrate holding means having a degree of freedom of rotation, and two or more types of a coating liquid application processing, a development processing, a cleaning processing, and a heat treatment on a substrate held by the substrate holding means. Processing means capable of executing processing;
A substrate processing apparatus comprising: 2. The substrate processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the processing unit is for performing the developing process and the cleaning process. 3. The processing means includes: a developing solution nozzle for supplying a developing solution onto the substrate; a pure water nozzle for supplying pure water onto the substrate; and a surface of the substrate or the pure water nozzle. The substrate processing apparatus according to claim 2, further comprising: a cleaning brush configured to contact pure water on the substrate supplied from a water nozzle to clean a surface of the substrate. 4. The processing unit further comprises a support arm for transferring the developer nozzle and the cleaning brush from a predetermined retracted position onto the substrate and supporting the developer nozzle and the cleaning brush on the substrate. The substrate processing apparatus according to claim 3. 5. A process of applying a predetermined coating liquid to a substrate held by a substrate holding means having a rotational degree of freedom,
A substrate processing method, wherein two or more types of processing among a development processing, a cleaning processing, and a heat treatment are performed.