JPH1187463A - Apparatus for treating substrates - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an apparatus for treating substrates, which precisely controls the substrate temp. and improves the quality of the treated substrates. SOLUTION: A substrate carrying robot 6 has a cooling plate 25 having a heat pipe inside between an upper and lower stage arms 10, 11 for absorbing heat radiating from either of high temp. transport arms 10, 11 and a hot substrate held therewith at a heat-receiving zone AA and radiate from a radiating zone EA, thereby shutting off. This suppresses the thermal effect of both carrying arms 10, 11 and substrate held therewith and precisely controls the substrate temp.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

[0001] The present invention relates to a semiconductor wafer,
A plurality of substrate processing units including a heat processing unit for a substrate (hereinafter, simply referred to as a “substrate”) such as a photomask glass substrate, a liquid crystal display glass substrate, and an optical disk substrate; The present invention relates to a substrate processing apparatus including a substrate transfer unit that transfers a substrate while transferring the substrate.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, in a substrate processing apparatus for performing a resist film forming process and a developing process, a substrate is transferred between various processing units such as a heating processing unit and a cooling processing unit in addition to a film forming processing unit and a developing processing unit. A series of processes are performed while transferring the substrate to be processed by the robot. When a substrate transfer robot in such a substrate processing apparatus loads or unloads a substrate into or out of a heating processing unit or a cooling processing unit, a plurality of transfer arms each enter the high-temperature or normal-temperature atmosphere of the processing unit and transfer the substrate. Or move between the processing units while holding the substrate thus received.

[0003]

By the way, as described above, the transfer arm enters the high-temperature or normal-temperature atmosphere,
The transfer arm itself may be heated by holding the substrate, or the surrounding atmosphere may be heated by holding the high-temperature substrate. In this case, for example, when one transfer arm holds a high-temperature substrate and the other arm holds a normal-temperature substrate, that is, the temperature of one transfer arm or the substrate held by the transfer arm is changed to the other transfer arm. If the temperature of the substrate is significantly different from the temperature of the substrate held by the former, thermal radiation from the former will reach the latter, which will have a thermal effect on the latter, making it impossible to precisely control the temperature of the substrate and reducing the quality of the processed substrate. Sometimes worse.

The present invention is intended to overcome the above-mentioned problems in the prior art, and provides a substrate processing apparatus capable of precisely controlling the temperature of a substrate and improving the quality of a processed substrate. The purpose is to:

[0005]

In order to achieve the above object, an apparatus according to a first aspect of the present invention includes a plurality of substrate processing units including a substrate heating processing unit, and a plurality of substrate processing units. A substrate processing apparatus including a substrate transfer unit that transfers a substrate while transferring the substrate, wherein the substrate transfer unit includes a plurality of transfer arms that hold and transfer the substrate, and a cooling member that is cooled by a cooling unit. , Wherein the cooling member is provided between the plurality of transfer arms.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided the substrate processing apparatus according to the first aspect, wherein the cooling member is further provided on at least one of the upper and lower sides of the plurality of transfer arms. Features.

[0007]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION

<1. Mechanical Configuration and Features of Embodiment> An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS. FIG.
1 is a perspective view showing a substrate processing apparatus 100 according to an embodiment of the present invention. 1 to 5, the horizontal plane is indicated by XY.
A three-dimensional coordinate system XY with the plane as the vertical direction and the Z-axis direction
-Z is defined.

As shown in FIG. 1, a substrate processing apparatus 100
Are a plurality of process apparatuses, for example, a coating unit 1 for coating a resist on a substrate W, a developing unit 2 for developing a substrate W, and a heating unit 3 for heating a substrate W
a, 3b and a cooling unit 3c for performing a cooling process on the substrate W
(Note that the heating units 3a and 3b and the cooling unit 3
c is collectively referred to as a heat treatment unit 3, and the coating unit 1, the developing unit 2, and the heat treatment unit 3 are collectively referred to as "processing units 1 to 3". ), And a substrate transfer robot 6 that functions as a substrate transfer unit that sequentially supplies and discharges the substrates W to and from each of the processing units 1 to 3. A substrate transfer robot 5 that transfers the substrate W, receives the processed substrate W from the substrate transfer robot 6, and stores the substrate W again in the substrate storage cassette is provided.
In addition, as shown in FIG.
An upper arm 10 and a lower arm 11 (hereinafter collectively referred to as “transfer arms 10, 11”) support the substrate W, and a base 20 supporting the transfer arms 10, 11 travels by itself between the processing units, and The transfer arms 10 and 11 are configured to be able to move back and forth from the base 20 to the process device so as to move toward the required processing unit, and the processing units 1 to 3 are set based on a preset operation program.
Are sequentially delivered at a predetermined tact time.

Next, a specific configuration of the substrate transfer robot 6 will be described with reference to FIGS. In addition, FIG.
FIG. 4 is a view showing the substrate transfer robot 6, and FIG.
3 is a perspective view, FIG. 3 is a partial cross-sectional front view, and FIG.
FIG. 5 is a sectional view taken along the line IV, and FIG. 5 is a plan view of the partition plate.

The substrate transfer robot 6 is configured such that translation in the X-axis direction, elevation in the Z-axis direction, and rotation about the Z-axis direction are free (see FIG. 1) by a horizontal, vertical, and rotation drive mechanism (not shown). Slide rails 21 and 21 extend from both sides of the base 20 thus formed. The slide rails 21, 21 are fitted with slide members 22, 22, which are slidable with respect to the slide rails 21, 21. Support members 23, 24 are fixed outside the slide members 22, 22, respectively. Have been. These support members 2
An upper arm 10 for supplying or unloading an unprocessed or processed substrate W to or from each of the processing units 1 to 3 is fixed on the support member 23 of the support members 4, while an unprocessed or processed substrate W is fixed on the support member 4. Lower arm 1 for supplying or removing processed or processed substrate W to or from each of processing units 1 to 3
1 is fixed. As shown in FIG. 2, the structure of the two transfer arms 10 and 11 has an arc-shaped substrate mounting portion 10a formed so that the inner diameter is slightly larger than the substrate W.
11a and support portions 10b and 11b for supporting the substrate mounting portions 10a and 11a. Three support pins 26 are provided on the inner peripheral surfaces of the substrate mounting portions 10a and 11a, respectively. The substrate W is mounted on the support pins 26 and transported. .

Further, since the height of the support member 23 is configured to be slightly higher than the height of the support member 24, a slight gap is formed between the upper arm 10 and the lower arm 11. Will be. In the gap, a cooling plate 25 whose lower surface is fixed to a fixing member 28 provided on the base 20 is provided. The details of the cooling plate 25 will be described later.

Further, a motor 30 for driving the lower arm is provided below the base 20.
The drive roller 31 is fixed to the 0 axis. further,
Driven rollers 33, 33 are provided in the vicinity of both lower ends of the slide rail 21, and guide rollers 34 are provided in the vicinity of the drive roller 31. A wire 35 is wound around the four rollers 31, 33, 33, 34, and both ends of the wire 35 are fixed to the lower end of the support member 24. Thus, when the motor 30 is driven, the support member 24 (lower arm) moves forward and backward.

On the other hand, the motor 30 for driving the lower arm
A motor 40 for driving the upper arm, and rollers and wires (not shown) arranged in the same manner as described above are provided on the side surface of the base 20 opposite to the upper side. The structure is such that the arm 10) moves forward and backward. Note that the state in which the transfer arms 10 and 11 have not advanced to the processing units 1 to 3 as in the state shown in FIG. 2 is a standby state.

Next, the features of the present invention will be described with reference to embodiments.

As shown in FIG. 5, the cooling plate 25 (corresponding to "cooling member") has a heat pipe 250 (corresponding to "cooling means") for cooling the cooling plate 25 embedded therein as shown in the drawing. As shown in FIG. 5, it is a plate-like member, has a substantially rectangular shape with one short side being an arc in plan view, and is formed to be slightly larger than the two transfer arms 10 and 11.

Further, inside the cooling plate 25, there are provided heat pipes 250 having heat radiating portions 250a at both ends, a heat receiving portion 250b at the middle, and a heat insulating portion 250c between them. The heat receiving portion 25 of the heat pipe 250 covers the heat receiving region AA, which is a portion overlapping the transfer arms 10 and 11 and the substrate W held by them.
0b is provided, a heat insulating portion 250c of the heat pipe 250 is provided on the negative side of the X axis, and heat radiating portions 250a at both ends of the heat pipe 250 are provided in a heat radiating area EA of the cooling plate 25 on the negative side of the X axis. It is provided in the Y-axis direction.

As shown in FIG. 6, which is a sectional view showing the structure of the heat pipe 250, a hollow CA is provided at the center of the heat pipe 250, and a net-like wick 251 made of a thin metal wire is provided so as to cover the hollow CA. Further, a spiral tube 252 having a spiral fold is provided so as to cover the spiral tube. Then, the wick 25 is attached to the ridgeline of the fold of the spiral tube 252.
1 is in contact. And wick 251 and spiral tube 25
The hydraulic fluid F has penetrated between the two. Further, a heat-insulating tube wall 253 is provided only in the heat-insulating portion 250c so as to cover the spiral tube 252, and the tube wall 253 is not provided in the heat-radiating portions 250a at both ends and the intermediate heat-receiving portion 250b.

The principle of the heat radiation by the heat pipe 250 will be described briefly.

The working fluid F heated in the heat receiving section 250b (heat receiving area AA) evaporates and accompanies latent heat, reaches the heat radiating section 250a through the cavity CA, and emits heat in the heat radiating section 250a (heat radiating area EA). . As a result, the vapor of the working fluid F that has released heat from the surface of the heat radiating portion 250a is liquefied, and moves toward the heat receiving portion 250b again in the wick 251 by capillary action. Such a series of steps is constantly repeated to cool the heat receiving area AA where the heat receiving section 250b is located.

The heat pipe 250 is connected to the pipe wall 25.
3 and the spiral tube 252 are made of Teflon (registered trademark) resin,
Since the wick 251 is made of metal, the wick 251 has flexibility. Further, even if the wick 251 is bent and provided by providing the helical tube 252, the hydraulic fluid F is not hindered from moving, and the helical helical via the wick 251 is not hindered. It can move along the folds of the tube 252.

Therefore, in this apparatus, the heat pipe 250 is stretched around the substrate holding position of the two transfer arms in the cooling slope and the portion facing the substrate. Thereby, by intensively cooling the heat receiving area AA of the cooling plate 25,
The thermal effects of both arms in that part can be cut off.

When transferring the substrate W to any one of the processing units 1 to 3, the substrate transfer robot 6 drives the motor 40 or 30 to move the upper arm 10 or the lower arm 11 to each of the processing units. After the wafer W is transferred into one of the target processing units 1 to 3 and transferred, the transfer arms 10 and 11 are retracted and returned to the standby positions shown in FIGS. 2 and 3. When the target processing units 1 to 3 are the heating units 3a or 3b, the heating units 3a or 3b
b, the transfer arms 10 and 11 that have delivered to and are heated to a high temperature.
When 1 holds and takes out the substrate W, the substrate W is at a high temperature. In such a case, when the high-temperature transfer arms 10 and 11 and the substrate W hold the high-temperature substrate W, heat radiation from the substrate W (hereinafter, these are collectively referred to as a “heating side”) is To the heat receiving area AA of the cooling plate 25 facing the heat sink, and heats it. However, since the cooling plate 25 has the heat pipe 250 therein as described above and thereby cools the cooling plate 25 itself, the temperature does not rise so much.

Therefore, the cooling plate 25 blocks the heat radiation from the heat-generating side, and the other normal-temperature transfer arm 10,
In the case where the substrate 11 is held at or at room temperature, the substrate W (hereinafter, these are collectively referred to as “heat receiving side”).
And the cooling plate 25 itself is heated and the heat receiving side is hardly heated by the secondary heat radiation, so that the thermal influence between the heat generating side and the heat receiving side can be suppressed.

The atmosphere near the heat-generating side is heated. Particularly, when the lower arm 11 is on the heat-generating side, the upper arm 10 is on the heat-receiving side, and the two transfer arms 10 and 11 are at the standby position, Due to the convection, the heated atmosphere on the heat generation side rises and moves toward the heat reception side. However, since the cooling plate 25 cooled as described above is provided between the heat generation side and the heat reception side, the heat of the high temperature atmosphere on the heat generation side does not directly reach the heat reception side. Therefore, the thermal effect on the heat generation side and the heat reception side can be further suppressed in combination with the above-described heat radiation blocking effect.

As described above, the temperature of the substrate W can be precisely controlled, and the quality of the processed substrate W can be improved.

Further, since the substrate transfer robot 6 uses the heat pipe 250 for cooling the cooling plate 25,
Since it is not necessary to connect the pipes for sending and receiving the refrigerant to the heat radiating means provided outside the cooling plate 25 as in the case of cooling with a heat pump or the like, the pipes are not damaged by the movement of the substrate transfer robot 6. And a highly reliable device.

<2. Modification> In this embodiment, the substrate transfer robot 6 has the cooling plate 25 between the transfer arms 10 and 11, but the present invention is not limited to this, and the upper and lower arms of the upper arm 10 are not limited thereto. A cooling plate is also provided in proximity to them on the lower side, thereby cooling the atmosphere near the heat generation side, and transferring the transfer arm 10 or 11 on the heat generation side in contact with the atmosphere and the substrate W held thereon. It may be cooled.

Further, in this embodiment, the substrate transfer robot 6 has one cooling plate 25 between the two transfer arms 10 and 11, but the present invention is not limited to this. A plurality of cooling plates may be provided between 10 and 11.

Further, in this embodiment, the substrate transfer robot 6 has two transfer arms 10 and 11, but the present invention is not limited to this. A cooling plate may be provided between the arms or some of the transfer arms.

The arrangement of the heat pipes 250 arranged in the cooling plate 25 is not limited to the one shown in FIG. 5 of the previous embodiment, but may be, for example, a plurality of linearly arranged along the X direction in the figure. At the same time, each heat pipe may serve as a heat radiating portion, a heat insulating portion, and a heat receiving portion from the negative side of the X axis toward the positive direction.

In this embodiment, the heat pipe 250 is provided in the cooling plate 25 to perform cooling. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and other cooling means such as a heat pump may be used. May be used.

Further, in this embodiment, the cooling plate 25 is provided as the temperature adjusting member. However, the present invention is not limited to this. It may be shaped.

[0033]

As described above, according to the first and second aspects of the present invention, since the cooling member having the cooling means is provided between the plurality of transfer arms, the plurality of transfer arms and the holding members are provided. Thermal effects can be suppressed between the processed substrates, so that the temperature of the substrates can be precisely controlled, and the quality of the processed substrates can be improved.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing a substrate processing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing a substrate transfer robot according to the embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a partial cross-sectional side view of the substrate transfer robot according to the embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a sectional view taken along line IV-IV in FIG. 2;

FIG. 5 is a plan view of a cooling plate of the substrate transfer robot.

FIG. 6 is a sectional view of a heat pipe.

[Explanation of symbols]

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Coating unit 2 Developing unit 3a, 3b Heating unit 3c Cooling unit 6 Substrate transfer robot 10, 11 Upper arm, lower arm (also transfer arm) 25 Cooling plate (Cooling member) 100 Substrate processing unit 250 Heat pipe (Cooling means) W substrate

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A substrate processing apparatus comprising: a plurality of substrate processing units including a substrate heat processing unit; and a substrate transfer unit configured to transfer a substrate to each of the plurality of substrate processing units while transferring the substrate. Wherein the substrate transfer unit includes: a plurality of transfer arms for holding and delivering a substrate; and a cooling member cooled by cooling means, wherein the cooling member is provided between the plurality of transfer arms. Characteristic substrate processing equipment. 2. The substrate processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the cooling member is further provided at least above or below the plurality of transfer arms.