JPH118217A - Cleaning/drying treatment device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To improve the product yield, improve the performance of a device and prolong life by preventing the incorporation of foreign matters from the driving part of a shutter which opens and closes a cleaning treatment part and a drying treatment part to a treatment part and the incorporation of atmosphere inside a treatment part to a shutter-driving part. SOLUTION: This device is formed so as to have a cleaning treatment part 22 for storing the cleaning solution of a semiconductor wafer W, a drying treatment part 23 positioned in the upper part of the cleaning treatment part 22, a horizontally movable shutter 36 which opens and closes a communication opening between the part 22 and the part 23 and a liquid seal mechanism 60, which airtightly and watertightly seals a means 54 of the shutter 36.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a cleaning / drying method in which a substrate to be processed such as a semiconductor wafer or an LCD glass substrate is immersed in a cleaning liquid such as a chemical solution or a rinsing liquid, and then dried.
The present invention relates to a drying apparatus.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Generally, in a manufacturing process of a semiconductor manufacturing apparatus, an object to be processed (hereinafter, referred to as a wafer or the like) such as a semiconductor wafer or LCD glass is washed with a chemical solution or a rinsing solution (cleaning solution).
A cleaning method of sequentially immersing in a processing tank in which a processing liquid such as the above is stored for cleaning is widely adopted. Further, in such a cleaning apparatus, a dry gas composed of a vapor of a volatile organic solvent such as IPA (isopropyl alcohol) is brought into contact with the surface of a wafer or the like after cleaning,
A drying apparatus for condensing or adsorbing the vapor of the drying gas to remove and dry the moisture of the wafer or the like is provided.

In this type of conventional cleaning / drying processing apparatus, a drying processing section is provided above a cleaning processing section for storing a cleaning liquid such as a chemical solution or a rinsing liquid, and a communication port between the cleaning processing section and the drying processing section is provided. It has a shutter that opens and closes. This washing
According to the drying processing apparatus, after the wafer to be processed is held by the transfer arm and delivered to the holding means from the opening where the shutter is opened, the transfer arm is moved backward, and the wafer is cleaned in the cleaning processing unit. Is lifted up from the cleaning processing section, is conveyed into the upper drying processing section, and the shutter is closed to shut off the atmospheres of the cleaning processing section and the drying processing section, and a drying gas is supplied into the drying processing section to perform drying. Can be.

[0004]

However, in this type of conventional cleaning / drying apparatus, the shutter is sealed by a sealing member such as an O-ring.
The seal between the cleaning unit and the drive unit that opens and closes the shutter cannot be completely sealed, and there is a risk that particles generated in the drive unit may enter the cleaning unit. Conversely, the atmosphere of the cleaning processing unit may mix into the drive unit of the shutter, thereby impairing the performance of the drive unit and reducing the life of the apparatus.

The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and prevents particles from entering a processing unit from a driving unit of a shutter that opens and closes a cleaning processing unit and a drying processing unit, and reduces the atmosphere in the processing unit. It is an object of the present invention to provide a cleaning / drying apparatus capable of preventing the contamination of the cleaning and drying apparatus, thereby improving the product yield, improving the function of the apparatus, and extending the life.

[0006]

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention is configured as follows.

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a cleaning processing unit for storing a cleaning liquid for an object to be processed, a drying processing unit located above the cleaning processing unit, and a communication port between the cleaning processing unit and the drying processing unit. A horizontally movable shutter for opening and closing, a liquid sealing mechanism for sealing the opening and closing movement portion of the shutter in a gas-tight manner,
It is characterized by having.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided a cleaning processing section for storing a cleaning liquid for an object to be processed, a drying processing section located above the cleaning processing section, and a communication port between the cleaning processing section and the drying processing section. A horizontally movable shutter that opens and closes, a wing piece having a substantially inverted hat shape in cross section that protrudes from both sides along the opening and closing movement direction of the shutter, and an opening and closing movement unit that connects and closes at least one of the wing pieces to open and close the shutter And a liquid sealing mechanism including a trough-shaped tank that movably accommodates a part of the wing piece and a sealing liquid that is accommodated in the gutter-shaped tank.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the cleaning / drying apparatus according to the second aspect, a lower end portion of a partition wall for partitioning the shutter and the opening and closing moving means is immersed in a sealing liquid of a sealing mechanism. It is characterized by becoming.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, in the cleaning / drying apparatus of the second aspect, a supply port for the sealing liquid is provided below the gutter-shaped tank of the sealing mechanism, and the supply port for the sealing liquid is provided in the supply port. And a drain for overflow is provided on the outer side of the upper part of the trough-shaped tank.

According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, in the cleaning / drying apparatus according to the second aspect, an inert gas can be supplied to a driving portion of the opening and closing moving means.

According to a sixth aspect of the present invention, in the cleaning / drying apparatus according to the first or second aspect, the shutter is divided into an upper shutter body and a lower shutter body.
It is characterized in that a relative moving means for relatively moving the shutter bodies in the direction of contact and separation is built in between the upper shutter body and the lower shutter body.

According to the first or second aspect of the present invention, the opening / closing moving section of the shutter can be air-tightly sealed by the liquid sealing mechanism, so that particles generated in the shutter driving section enter the processing section. Can be prevented. Therefore, the cleaning process and the drying process of the object to be processed can be performed in an optimum state, and the product yield can be improved.

According to the third aspect of the present invention, the lower end of the partition wall for partitioning the shutter and the opening / closing moving means is immersed in the sealing liquid of the sealing mechanism, so that the opening / closing moving means of the shutter and the processing section are formed. It is possible to prevent the particles generated from the opening / closing moving means from entering the processing section, and to prevent the atmosphere of the processing section from being mixed into the driving section of the opening / closing moving means. .

According to the fourth aspect of the present invention, a sealing liquid supply port is provided at a lower portion of the gutter-shaped tank of the sealing mechanism, and a supply source of the sealing liquid is connected to the supply port, and the gutter-shaped supply port is provided. By providing an overflow drain on the upper outer side of the tank, it is possible to constantly replenish and fill the sealing liquid in the gutter-shaped tank of the liquid sealing mechanism, and to overflow the tank. Parts can be reliably sealed in a liquid-tight manner,
The particles generated from the opening and closing moving means can be received by the liquid seal mechanism and discharged from the liquid discharging section.

According to the fifth aspect of the present invention, the inert gas can be supplied to the drive section of the opening / closing moving means, so that the driving section of the opening / closing moving means can be made to have an inert gas atmosphere. Mixing of the atmosphere of the processing section into the section can be more reliably prevented.

According to the sixth aspect of the present invention, the shutter is divided into an upper shutter body and a lower shutter body, and the shutter bodies are relatively moved between the upper shutter body and the lower shutter body in the direction of contact and separation. By incorporating the relative moving means, it is possible to reliably shut off the cleaning processing unit and the drying processing unit by the shutter.

[0018]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the drawings. In this embodiment, a case where the present invention is applied to a semiconductor wafer cleaning processing system will be described.

FIG. 1 is a schematic plan view showing an example of a cleaning processing system to which the cleaning / drying processing apparatus of the present invention is applied, and FIG.
Is a schematic side view thereof.

The cleaning system includes a transfer unit 2 for loading and unloading a container, for example, a carrier 1 for storing a semiconductor wafer W (hereinafter, referred to as a wafer), which is a substrate to be processed, in a horizontal state. It mainly includes a processing unit 3 that performs a liquid process such as a cleaning liquid and a drying process, and an interface unit 4 that is located between the transfer unit 2 and the processing unit 3 and that performs transfer of the wafer W, position adjustment, and posture change. Have been.

The transport section 2 includes a carry-in section 5 and a carry-out section 6 which are provided alongside one end of the cleaning system. The carrier 1 of the loading unit 5 and the unloading unit 6
At the carry-in entrance 5a and the carry-out exit 6b, a slide-type mounting table 7 that allows the carrier 1 to enter and exit the carry-in section 5 and the carry-out section 6 is provided. In addition, the loading unit 5 and the unloading unit 6
A carrier lifter 8 (container transport means) is provided, and the carrier lifter 8 can transport the carrier 1 between the loading section and the unloading section, and the empty carrier 1 is provided above the transport section 2. The transfer to the carrier waiting unit 9 and the reception from the carrier waiting unit are performed (see FIG. 2).

The interface unit 4 includes a partition wall 4c.
A first chamber 4a adjacent to the loading section 5 and a loading section 6
And a second chamber 4b adjacent to the second chamber 4b. And
In the first chamber 4a, a horizontal (X, Y direction), a vertical direction (Z direction), and a rotatable (θ direction) wafer for taking out and transporting a plurality of wafers W from the carrier 1 of the loading unit 5 are provided. Take-out arm 10 (substrate take-out means) and wafer W
Notch aligner 11 for detecting a notch provided in
(Position detecting means) and an interval adjusting mechanism 12 for adjusting an interval between a plurality of wafers W taken out by the wafer take-out arm 10, and a first attitude conversion for converting a horizontal wafer W to a vertical state. A device 13 (posture changing means) is provided.

In the second chamber 4b, a wafer transfer arm 14 (substrate transfer means) for receiving and transferring a plurality of processed wafers W from the processing section 3 in a vertical state.
And a second attitude conversion device 1 for converting the wafer W received from the wafer transfer arm 14 from a vertical state to a horizontal state.
3A (posture conversion means) and the second posture conversion device 13
The horizontal direction (X, Y directions), the vertical direction (Z direction), and the rotation (θ) of receiving a plurality of wafers W converted into a horizontal state by A and storing them in the empty carrier 1 conveyed to the unloading section 6. Direction), a wafer storage arm 15 (substrate storage means) is provided. The second chamber 4b is sealed from the outside, and is configured so that the inside of the chamber is replaced by an inert gas (not shown), for example, N2 gas supplied from a nitrogen (N2) gas supply source.

On the other hand, the processing section 3 includes a first processing unit 16 for removing particles and organic contaminants adhering to the wafer W, a second processing unit 17 for removing metal contaminants adhering to the wafer W, The cleaning / drying processing unit 18 and the chuck cleaning unit 19 of the present invention, which are cleaning / drying processing units for removing and drying the chemical oxide film attached to the wafer W, are linearly arranged. A wafer transfer arm 21 (transfer means) that can rotate in the X and Y directions (horizontal direction), the Z direction (vertical direction), and rotate (θ) is disposed in a transfer path 20 provided at a position facing the transfer path 19. .

As shown in FIGS. 3 to 9, the cleaning / drying processing device 18 stores (contains) a cleaning solution such as a chemical solution such as hydrofluoric acid or pure water, and transfers the wafer W to the stored cleaning solution. Cleaning tank 22 (cleaning processing unit) to be immersed, and cleaning tank 2
A drying chamber 23 (drying processing unit) positioned above the storage chamber 2 and holding means such as a wafer boat 24 for holding a plurality of, for example, 50 wafers W and moving the wafers W into the cleaning tank 22 and the drying chamber 23. It is mainly composed of

In this case, the cleaning tank 22 includes an inner tank 22a formed of, for example, a quartz member or polypropylene, and an outer tank disposed outside the upper end of the inner tank 22a to receive a cleaning liquid overflowing from the inner tank 22a. And a tank 22b. Further, cleaning liquid supply nozzles 25 for spraying the cleaning liquid toward the wafers W located in the cleaning tank 22 are provided on both lower sides of the inner tank 22a, and a chemical liquid supply source (not shown) connected to the cleaning liquid supply nozzle 25 and a pure liquid supply source (not shown). A chemical solution or pure water is supplied from a water supply source by a switching valve and the cleaning tank 2
A chemical solution or pure water is stored in 2. A discharge port is provided at the bottom of the inner tank 22a, and a drain pipe 26 provided with a discharge valve 26a is connected to the discharge port. A drain pipe 27 provided with a discharge valve 27a is also connected to a discharge port provided at the bottom of the outer tank 22b. Note that the exhaust box 2 is provided outside the outer tank 22b.
An exhaust pipe 29 provided with a valve 29 a is connected to an exhaust port provided in the exhaust box 28.

The cleaning tank 22 and the exhaust box 28 configured as described above are disposed in a cylindrical box 30 having a bottom, and an upper chamber on the cleaning tank side is partitioned by a partition plate 31 that horizontally partitions the box 30. 32a, inner tank 22a and outer tank 22b
Are connected to drain pipes 26 and 27 and a drain port of the exhaust pipe 29 and a lower chamber 32b on the exhaust port side. As a result, the atmosphere of the lower chamber 32b and the scattering of the waste liquid are prevented from entering the upper chamber 32a, and the interior of the upper chamber 32a is kept clean. The exhaust window 33 is provided on the side wall of the upper chamber 32a.
Is provided, and an exhaust window 34 is provided on an upper side wall of the lower chamber 32b.
A drain port 35 is provided on the lower side wall.

The drying chamber 23 is provided with the opening 2 of the cleaning tank 22.
Fixed base 3 communicating with shutter 2c via shutter 36
7 and a drying chamber main body 39 which is in close contact with the fixed base 37 via a sealing member such as an O-ring 38.

The shutter 36 is, as shown in FIG.
It is divided into an upper shutter body 36a and a lower shutter body 36b. The plurality of, for example, eight cylinders 55 interposed (built-in) between the two shutter bodies 36a and 36b are formed so as to be capable of adjusting the distance in the contact and separation directions. (FIGS. 7 and 8
reference). Thus, the shutter 36 is moved to the upper shutter body 36.
a and the lower shutter body 36b are formed so that the distance between them in the contact and separation directions can be adjusted via the cylinder 55,
Since the cleaning tank 22 and the drying chamber 23 can be brought into close contact with each other with the shutter 36 closed, it is possible to further ensure the shutoff between the cleaning tank 22 and the drying chamber 23. Note that cylinder 5
5, the upper shutter body 36a and the lower shutter body 3
Any tube can be used as long as it is capable of adjusting the interval of 6b, so that a tube or the like that can be expanded and contracted by, for example, an air pump or the like can be applied in addition to the cylinder.

The lower shutter body 36 of the shutter 36
On both sides along the opening and closing movement direction in FIG.
6 opening and closing moving means 54 (hereinafter referred to as moving means). In this case, a part of the bent portion 58 of the two wing pieces 58
a is movably disposed while being immersed in a sealing liquid 59 such as water stored in a gutter-like tank 56 provided above the cleaning tank 22.

When the bent portion 58a of the wing piece 58 projecting to both sides of the shutter 36 is movably accommodated in this way, the gutter-shaped tank 56 and the bent portion 58a of the wing piece 58 stored in the gutter-shaped tank 56 are formed. The liquid sealing mechanism 60 is formed with the sealing liquid 59 to be immersed. The cleaning tank 22 and the outside of the cleaning tank 22 (specifically, the moving means 54 of the shutter 36 and the side opposite to the moving means 54 with respect to the cleaning tank 22) are air-tightly sealed by the liquid sealing mechanism 60 formed in this manner. can do.

The washing tank 22 and the moving means 54 are partitioned by a partition wall 57, and the lower end of the partition wall 57 has a sealing liquid 59 inside the bent portion 58 a of the wing piece 58 in the gutter-shaped tank 22. Is immersed in. Therefore, the atmosphere between the processing unit on the cleaning tank 22 side and the moving unit 54 side can be reliably shut off.

As shown in FIG. 6, a supply port 63a is provided at the bottom of the trough-shaped tank 56.
supply pipe 62 having a valve 62a and a throttle 62b
The sealing liquid supply source 61 is connected via the. A drainage port 63b is provided in the upper measuring part of the gutter-shaped tank 56, and the sealing liquid 59 filled in the gutter-shaped tank 56 overflows through the drainage port 63b. .

As described above, the sealing liquid 59 supplied from the sealing liquid supply source 61 constantly flows into the gutter-shaped tank 56 little by little, and overflows from the drainage port 63b. Since the sealing liquid 59 can be constantly replenished and filled in the gutter-shaped tank 56, the drive unit of the shutter 36 on the moving means 54 side and the cleaning tank 2
The processing unit on the two sides can be sealed in a liquid-tight manner. Further, the particles generated from the moving means 54 can be received by the liquid seal mechanism and discharged to the outside through the liquid discharge port 63b.

As shown in FIG. 6, for example, a driving portion of the moving means 54 includes a screw shaft 65a and a screw shaft 65.
a, which is movably engaged via a number of balls (not shown), and is formed by a ball screw mechanism 65 comprising a mover 65b connected to the wing piece 58. The screw shaft 65a is driven by a motor (not shown). By rotating, the mover 65b is moved in the axial direction, and the shutter 36 is opened and closed.

In this case, the ball screw mechanism 65 of the moving means 54 is housed in the case 64, and an inert gas supply source (not shown) is connected to a supply port 64 a provided in the upper part of the case 64. An inert gas, for example, a nitrogen (N2) gas is supplied therein. In this way, by placing the ball screw mechanism 65 of the moving unit 54 in a nitrogen gas atmosphere, it is possible to reliably prevent the atmosphere of the cleaning unit from being mixed into the driving unit of the moving unit 54.

In the above embodiment, the case where the driving section of the moving means 54 is formed by the ball screw mechanism 65 has been described. However, the driving section is not necessarily required to be the ball screw mechanism 65. Etc. may be used.

As shown in FIG. 4, the drying chamber 23 has a drying chamber main body 39 made of a quartz member having an inverted U-shaped cross section.
The fixed base 37 is also formed of a quartz member so that the state of the wafer W inside can be visually checked from the outside. Further, on the side of the fixed base 37 in the drying chamber 23, a supply portion 40 of a dry gas made of, for example, a vapor of a solvent of IPA and a discharge portion 41 for discharging the dry gas are provided upward from the side. I have. The drying gas supply unit 40 has an IP (not shown)
A gas generating section and a gas for pumping dry gas such as nitrogen (N
2) Gas heating unit is connected. An exhaust device (not shown) is connected to the discharge unit 41. By providing the dry gas supply unit 40 and the discharge unit 41 in this manner, the dry gas supplied from the dry gas supply unit 40 into the drying chamber 23 is supplied to both sides of the drying chamber main body 39 as indicated by arrows in FIG. After flowing upward along the wall surface, it flows downward from the central portion and is discharged from the discharge unit 41, so that the dry gas uniformly contacts the wafer W, and the vapor of the dry gas is condensed and replaced to dry uniformly. be able to. Further, a discharge unit may be provided in the shutter 36.

At both outer positions of the drying chamber main body 39,
A heating lamp 42 (light source for heating) is provided, and a reflection plate 43 is provided on the back side of the heating lamp 42. By arranging the heating lamp 42 in this way, the drying chamber 23 is heated by irradiating the inside of the drying chamber 23 with light reflected directly from the heating lamp 42 or from the reflection plate 43, so that the drying chamber 23 is heated. Drying of the wafer W in 23 is promoted.

On the other hand, the drying chamber main body 39 is formed so as to be able to move up and down by the first elevating means 44, that is, to be able to contact and separate from the fixed base 37. In this case, as shown in FIGS. 9 and 10, the first lifting / lowering means 44 includes a ball including a screw shaft 47 rotated by a motor 46 and a movable element 48 screwed to the screw shaft 47 via a ball. The two sliders 49, which are formed by a screw mechanism and slide on two guide rails 50 disposed in parallel with the screw shaft 47, are connected to the mover 48. The drying chamber main body 39 can be moved up and down by connecting the drying chamber main body 39 to the lifting / lowering means 44 via a bracket 51.

The wafer boat 24 is formed so as to be able to move up and down by the second lifting means 45, that is, to be movable in the cleaning tank 22 and the drying chamber 23. In this case, the second lifting / lowering means 45 is provided in parallel with the screw shaft 47 of the ball screw mechanism forming the first lifting / lowering means 44, and is rotated by a motor 46A. A ball screw mechanism comprising a mover 48A screwed through a ball, and a screw shaft 4
The two sliders 49A sliding on the two guide rails 50 parallel to 7A and the mover 48A are connected to each other. The rod 24a of the wafer boat 24 is connected to the second lifting / lowering means 45 via the bracket 51A. Are connected so that the wafer boat 24 can move up and down.

With the above configuration, the drying chamber main body 39 can be raised by driving the first lifting / lowering means 44 to form a space for inserting a wafer above the opening 22c of the cleaning tank 22. In this state, the wafer W is loaded from the side by the transfer arm 21 and then the second lifting / lowering means 45 is driven to raise the wafer boat 24 and receive the wafer W on the transfer arm 21 (FIG. 10).

As described above, the first elevating means 44
And a second lifting means 45 formed by a ball screw mechanism, and a slider 4 sliding on a common guide rail 50.
By providing 9, 49A, the driving mechanism can be simplified, and the vertical movement of the drying chamber main body 39 and the wafer boat 24 can be performed with high accuracy.

A through hole 39a is provided on one side of the top of the drying chamber main body 39, and the rod 24a of the wafer boat 24 is slidably inserted into the through hole 39a. A seal mechanism 5 is provided in a gap between the rod 39a and the rod 39a.
2, the airtightness of the gap between the through hole 39a and the rod 24a is maintained.

The mover 4 of the first elevating means 44
8 and the movable part of the slider 49 are provided with a second lifting means 45.
A stopper 53 for restricting upward movement of the movable member 48A and the movable portion of the slider 49A is fixedly provided (see FIGS. 9 and 10). By providing the first lifting means 44 with the stopper 53 for restricting the upward movement of the second lifting means 45 in this way, it is possible to prevent the wafer boat 24 from being carelessly raised and colliding with the drying chamber main body 39. be able to.

Next, the operation of the embodiment of the cleaning / drying apparatus of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. The following operation is performed by a control unit (not shown).

First, the shutter 36 at the opening 22c of the cleaning tank 22 is closed, and the drying chamber main body 39 is raised by driving the first lifting / lowering means 44 to form a space above the cleaning tank 22. Then, the transfer arm 21 holding the wafer W moves into the space and carries in the wafer W (see FIG. 11). At this time, the second raising / lowering means 45 is driven to move the wafer boat 24 up, and the wafer boat 24 receives the wafer W held by the transfer arm 21 (see FIG. 12).
After the transfer arm 21 that has transferred the wafer W is retracted, the shutter 36 is opened, and the wafer boat 24 is lowered by the driving of the second lifting / lowering means 45 to carry the wafer W into the cleaning tank 22 (see FIG. 13). . At this time, the first lifting / lowering means 4
4 is driven and the drying chamber main body 39 is lowered to come into close contact with the fixed base 37. Note that the shutter 36 may be open from the beginning.

Thereafter, a chemical such as hydrofluoric acid is supplied from the cleaning liquid supply nozzle 25 to clean the wafer W with the chemical. Note that the chemical solution may be supplied to the cleaning tank 22 in advance. Next, pure water is supplied from the cleaning liquid supply nozzle 25 and replaced with a chemical solution, and then a cleaning process is performed (see FIG. 14). Wafer W
Is cleaned, the second lifting / lowering means 45 is driven to raise the wafer boat 24, and the wafer W is transferred into the drying chamber 23 (see FIG. 15). At this time, the shutter 36 is closed, and the inside of the drying chamber 23 is cut off from the cleaning tank 22 and the outside air.
Note that the shutter 36 may be closed while the wafer W is being processed in the cleaning tank 22.

Thereafter, a drying gas, for example, a mixed gas of IPA and N 2 is supplied into the drying chamber 23 from the drying gas supply unit, and the inside of the drying chamber 23 is set to an IPA atmosphere, and the wafer W and the IPA are dried.
And the drying process is performed (see FIG. 16). At this time, a part of the dry gas is discharged from the discharge unit 41.

After the water adhering to the wafer W and the IPA are replaced, or after the drying process is completed, the N 2 gas is supplied from the drying gas supply unit 40 and the IPA atmosphere is removed from the drying chamber 23, and then the first drying process is performed. Of the drying chamber main body 3
9 rises to form a space with the cleaning tank 22 (see FIG. 17). Then, the transfer arm 21 moves below the wafer boat 24 in the space from the side (see FIG. 18), and the second lifting means 45 drives the wafer boat 2
4 descends and transfers the wafer W to the transfer arm 21 (see FIG. 19). After receiving the wafer W, the transfer arm 21
Retreats from above the cleaning tank 22 and is conveyed to the next processing step (see FIG. 20).

As described above, by raising the drying chamber main body 39 to form a space above the cleaning tank 22, the transfer arm 21 can be moved from the side to transfer the wafer W. The height of the apparatus can be reduced and the size of the entire apparatus can be reduced as compared with an apparatus of this type which has a structure in which the wafer W is transferred from above the drying chamber 23. Further, since the moving amount of the transfer arm 21 can be reduced, the moving time can be shortened and the throughput can be improved.

In the above embodiment, the case where the drying chamber moves up and down has been described. However, it is not always necessary to adopt such a structure, and the drying chamber is disposed above the cleaning tank, and between the two. It is applicable as long as it has a shutter. In the above embodiment, the case where the cleaning / drying processing apparatus of the present invention is applied to a semiconductor wafer cleaning processing system has been described. However, it is needless to say that the cleaning / drying processing apparatus can be applied to a processing system other than the cleaning processing. Needless to say, the present invention can be applied to other LCD glass substrates and the like.

[0053]

As described above, according to the cleaning / drying treatment apparatus of the present invention, the following advantages can be obtained because it is configured as described above.

1) According to the first or second aspect of the present invention,
Since the opening and closing moving portion of the shutter can be air-tightly sealed by the liquid sealing mechanism, it is possible to prevent particles generated in the shutter driving portion from entering the processing portion. Therefore, the cleaning process and the drying process of the object to be processed can be performed in an optimum state, and the product yield can be improved.

2) According to the third aspect of the present invention, the lower end of the partition wall for partitioning the shutter and the opening / closing moving means is immersed in the sealing liquid of the sealing mechanism, so that the opening / closing moving means of the shutter and the opening / closing moving means are separated. The processing section can be separated from the processing section, so that particles generated from the opening and closing moving means can be prevented from entering the processing section, and the atmosphere of the processing section can be prevented from being mixed into the driving section of the opening and closing moving means. Can be. Therefore, in addition to the above 1), the product yield can be further improved, and the life and reliability of the device can be increased.

3) According to the fourth aspect of the present invention, since the sealing liquid can be constantly replenished and filled in the gutter-shaped tank of the liquid sealing mechanism, and the overflow can be caused, the shutter is further provided in addition to the above 1). The opening and closing moving means and the processing section can be securely sealed in a liquid-tight manner,
The particles generated from the opening and closing moving means can be received by the liquid seal mechanism and discharged from the liquid discharging section.

4) According to the fifth aspect of the invention, since the inert gas can be supplied to the drive section of the opening / closing moving means, the driving section of the opening / closing moving means can be made to have an inert gas atmosphere. It is possible to more reliably prevent the atmosphere of the processing unit from being mixed into the driving unit. Therefore, 1) above
In addition to the above, it is possible to further increase the life and reliability of the device.

5) According to the sixth aspect of the invention, the shutter is divided into an upper shutter body and a lower shutter body, and these shutter bodies are relatively moved between the upper shutter body and the lower shutter body in the direction of contact and separation. Since the moving relative moving means is built in, in addition to the above 1), it is possible to more reliably shut off the cleaning processing unit and the drying processing unit by the shutter.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic plan view of a cleaning system to which a cleaning / drying apparatus of the present invention is applied.

FIG. 2 is a schematic side view of the cleaning processing system.

FIG. 3 is a schematic perspective view showing an example of the cleaning / drying processing apparatus of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a sectional view of the cleaning / drying apparatus.

FIG. 5 is a schematic sectional view showing a main part of the present invention in the cleaning / drying processing apparatus.

FIG. 6 is an enlarged sectional view showing the liquid sealing mechanism in FIG.

FIG. 7 is a sectional perspective view showing a shutter and a liquid seal mechanism according to the present invention.

FIG. 8 is an enlarged sectional view of a shutter according to the present invention.

FIG. 9 is a sectional view showing the drying chamber main body and the elevating means of the holding means in the present invention.

FIG. 10 is a sectional view showing a driving state of the elevating means.

FIG. 11 is a schematic cross-sectional view showing a state before delivery of a substrate to be processed.

FIG. 12 is a schematic cross-sectional view showing a state when a substrate to be processed is delivered.

FIG. 13 is a schematic sectional view showing a state in which a substrate to be processed is carried into a cleaning tank.

FIG. 14 is a schematic cross-sectional view showing a cleaning state of a substrate to be processed.

FIG. 15 is a schematic cross-sectional view showing a state where a substrate to be processed is carried into a drying chamber.

FIG. 16 is a schematic sectional view showing a dry state of a substrate to be processed.

FIG. 17 is a schematic sectional view showing a rising state of a drying chamber main body after a drying process.

FIG. 18 is a schematic sectional view showing a state before receiving a substrate to be processed after a drying process.

FIG. 19 is a schematic cross-sectional view showing a state of receiving a substrate to be processed after a drying process.

FIG. 20 is a schematic cross-sectional view showing the unloading state of a substrate to be processed.

[Explanation of symbols]

 W Semiconductor wafer (object to be processed) 22 Cleaning tank 23 Drying chamber 36 Shutter 36a Upper shutter body 36b Lower shutter body 54 Moving means (opening / closing moving means) 55 Cylinder 56 Trough tank 57 Partition wall 58 Wing piece 59 Sealing liquid 60 Liquid Sealing mechanism 61 Sealing liquid supply source 62 Sealing liquid supply pipe 62a Valve 63a Sealing liquid supply port 63b Sealing liquid drainage port 64 Case 64a Inert gas supply port 65 Ball screw mechanism

Claims (6)

[Claims] A cleaning unit for storing a cleaning liquid for the object to be processed; a drying unit located above the cleaning unit; and a horizontally movable unit for opening and closing a communication port between the cleaning unit and the drying unit. A cleaning / drying processing apparatus comprising: a shutter; and a liquid sealing mechanism for sealing the opening / closing moving portion of the shutter in a gas-tight manner. 2. A cleaning processing unit for storing a cleaning liquid for an object to be processed, a drying processing unit located above the cleaning processing unit, and a horizontally movable unit for opening and closing a communication port between the cleaning processing unit and the drying processing unit. A shutter, a wing piece having a substantially inverted hat shape in cross section protruding from both sides along the opening and closing movement direction of the shutter, an opening and closing movement means for connecting at least one of the wing pieces to open and close the shutter, A cleaning / drying processing apparatus, comprising: a trough-shaped tank that movably accommodates a part thereof; and a liquid sealing mechanism including a sealing liquid that is accommodated in the gutter-shaped tank. 3. The cleaning / drying processing apparatus according to claim 2, wherein a lower end of a partition wall for partitioning the shutter and the opening and closing moving means is immersed in a sealing liquid of a sealing mechanism. Cleaning and drying equipment. 4. The cleaning and drying apparatus according to claim 2, wherein a supply port for the sealing liquid is provided at a lower portion of the gutter-shaped tank of the sealing mechanism, and a supply source of the sealing liquid is connected to the supply port. A washing / drying treatment apparatus characterized in that an overflow drainage section is provided on the upper outer side of the trough-shaped tank. 5. The cleaning / drying processing apparatus according to claim 2, wherein an inert gas is supplied to a driving section of the opening / closing moving means. 6. The cleaning and drying apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the shutter is divided into an upper shutter body and a lower shutter body, and the shutter bodies are formed between the upper shutter body and the lower shutter body. A cleaning / drying processing device comprising a built-in relative moving means for relatively moving in a contact / separation direction.