JPH1197407A - Wafer drying equipment - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To completely dry a wafer, by jetting a gas to the surface of the wafer while it is being transferred by the gas jetting means of a first drying part, and supplying the gas by the gas supply means of a second drying part over a prescribed transfer area. SOLUTION: In a first drying part 8, a gas is jetted to the upper and lower planes of a wafer, which is being transferred by a transfer mechanism 6, through gas jetting ports 20a and 21a of a first and a second air knives 20 and 21, and a cleaning solution is removed by being blown away. The drying by the first drying part 8 is the preliminary drying and there is no need for specially increasing the jetting quantity of the gas nor reducing the transfer speed of the wafer. In a second drying part 9, while the gas is supplied from a punched hole 37 at bottom parts 30a and 31a of a first and a second gas supply parts 30 and 31, the wafer is passed through the second drying part 9 at a fixed transfer speed so as to remove the remaining cleaning solution at the molecular level and completely dry the wafer W.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a substrate drying apparatus for drying a substrate such as a glass substrate for a liquid crystal display, a glass substrate for a photomask, a printed wiring board, and a semiconductor wafer which has been subjected to wet processing.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In a process of manufacturing a glass substrate such as a liquid crystal display or a photomask, a predetermined processing liquid is supplied to the substrate, and the substrate is subjected to various wet processes. As the wet processing, for example, there is a cleaning processing in which a cleaning liquid such as pure water is supplied to a substrate by a cleaning apparatus to clean the substrate. The substrate after the cleaning process is subjected to a drying process of removing the cleaning liquid attached to the substrate in the cleaning process and drying the substrate. As one of the substrate drying apparatuses for performing the drying process, an apparatus using an air knife is conventionally known.

A conventional apparatus using this air knife, as shown in FIG. 5, comprises a plurality of transport rollers for transporting a substrate W in a transport direction HY along a surface thereof while holding the substrate W in a horizontal posture. Transport mechanism (not shown), and air knives 101 and 102 having slit-shaped gas injection ports 101a and 102a for injecting gas toward both surfaces of the substrate W transported by the transport mechanism. Have been.

In this conventional apparatus, gas is ejected from upper and lower surfaces of a substrate W conveyed by a carrier mechanism from gas injection ports 101a and 102a, and the cleaning gas CQ adhering to the upper and lower surfaces of the substrate W is flushed by the ejected gas. The substrate W is blown off and removed, and the substrate W is dried.

[0005]

However, the gas injection ports 101a, 102a of the air knives 101, 102
If the cleaning liquid CQ adhering to the upper and lower surfaces of the substrate W is simply blown off and removed by the gas ejected from the substrate W, the cleaning liquid CQ remains on the substrate W at the molecular level and the drying of the substrate W tends to be incomplete. Was.

If the amount of gas ejected from the gas ejection ports 101a and 102a of the air knives 101 and 102 is sufficiently increased or if the transfer speed of the substrate W is sufficiently reduced, the substrate W can be dispensed with the air knives 101 and 102 alone. It is believed that complete drying is possible. However, the air knives 101, 1 and 1 are so dried that the substrate W is completely dried.
When the amount of gas ejected from the gas injection ports 101a and 102a of 02 is increased, the amount of consumed gas becomes extremely large, resulting in a significant increase in running cost. On the other hand, if the transport speed of the substrate W is reduced to such an extent that the substrate W is completely dried, the sleep of the process is extremely reduced, and the productivity is significantly reduced.

In the structure of the conventional apparatus, the cleaning liquid CQ is scattered by the pressure of the gas blown by the air knives 101 and 102, and forms a mist and floats around the substrate W. Then, as shown by the dotted line in FIG. 5, the mist of the cleaning liquid CQ adheres again to the substrate W after the drying process, and remains on the substrate W as a local thin film stain. Such spots have a problem that they are peeled off in a subsequent manufacturing process to generate particles in a processing chamber and that they have a bad effect in forming an element on a substrate. And the yield of products such as photomasks has been reduced.

The present invention has been made in view of such circumstances, and does not cause a significant increase in running cost.
It is a main object of the present invention to provide a substrate drying apparatus that can completely dry a substrate that has been subjected to a wet process without causing a significant decrease in productivity.

Another object of the present invention is to achieve the above-mentioned main object efficiently without lowering the yield of products.

[0010]

The present invention has the following configuration in order to achieve the above object. That is, the invention according to claim 1 is a substrate drying apparatus for drying a substrate that has been subjected to a wet process, a transport unit that transports the substrate in a predetermined transport direction along a surface of the substrate, and the transport unit. A first drying unit provided with a gas injection unit having a slit-shaped gas injection port for injecting a gas toward a predetermined surface of the substrate conveyed by the first drying unit; A second drying unit provided with gas supply means for supplying gas over a predetermined transfer section toward a predetermined surface of the substrate transferred by the second drying unit.

The "gas" in the present invention includes:
It may be air or an inert gas such as nitrogen gas.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the substrate drying apparatus according to the first aspect, the first drying section is provided at least by the transport means on the upstream side of the gas injection port of the gas injection means. A shielding member is provided to cover a predetermined surface of the substrate to be opposed to the predetermined surface of the substrate to be conveyed.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the substrate drying apparatus according to the second aspect, the shielding member is provided so as to cover a periphery of the substrate conveyed by the conveying means. It is assumed that.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, in the substrate drying apparatus according to the first aspect, the second drying section includes at least a predetermined surface of the substrate conveyed by the conveying means. A shielding member that covers a predetermined surface is provided, and the gas from the gas supply unit is configured to be supplied to a space between the predetermined surface of the substrate conveyed by the conveyance unit and the shielding member. Is what you do.

According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, in the substrate drying apparatus of the fourth aspect, the shielding member is provided so as to cover a periphery of the substrate conveyed by the conveying means. It is assumed that.

[0016]

The operation of the first aspect of the invention is as follows. The substrate to which the processing liquid has been applied after the wet processing is received by the substrate drying apparatus according to the present invention, and is transported in a predetermined transport direction along the surface by the transport unit. A drying process is performed in each drying section in order.

In the first drying section, a gas is injected from a gas injection port of the gas injection means toward a predetermined surface of the substrate conveyed by the conveyance means, and the processing liquid adhered to the predetermined surface of the substrate by the injected gas. To remove while blowing off.
The drying in the first drying unit is a preliminary drying, and removes a processing liquid adhering to a predetermined surface of the substrate so that water droplets or the like that cause a watermark after drying do not remain on the predetermined surface of the substrate. At this stage, the processing solution may remain on the substrate at the molecular level. Therefore, it is not necessary to particularly increase the amount of gas injected from the gas injection port of the gas injection means, and it is not necessary to particularly reduce the transfer speed of the substrate.

The substrate from which the processing liquid has been roughly removed in the first drying section is then subjected to a drying process in the second drying section. In the second drying section, a gas is supplied from the gas supply unit to a predetermined surface of the substrate conveyed by the conveyance unit, over a predetermined conveyance section, and the gas supplied to the predetermined surface of the substrate in a planar manner. In the first drying unit, the treatment liquid at the molecular level remaining on the substrate is removed, and finish drying is performed.

The predetermined surface of the substrate is usually the front surface of the substrate, and when the front and rear surfaces of the substrate are completely dried, the predetermined surface of the substrate may be the front and rear surfaces of the substrate. When the front and back surfaces of the substrate are the predetermined surfaces, the first drying unit includes gas injection means each having a slit-shaped gas injection port for jetting gas toward the front and back surfaces of the substrate conveyed by the conveyance means. The second drying section includes gas supply means for supplying gas over a predetermined conveyance section toward both the front and back surfaces of the substrate conveyed by the conveyance means. When the wet processing is performed on the back surface of the substrate and only the back surface of the substrate needs to be dried by the substrate drying apparatus according to the present invention, the predetermined surface of the substrate may be used as the back surface of the substrate.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, the first drying unit is provided with a substrate upstream of the gas injection port of the gas injection unit at least facing a predetermined surface of the substrate conveyed by the conveyance unit. Since the shielding member that covers the predetermined surface is provided, the processing liquid blown off by the gas injected from the gas injection port of the gas injection unit by the shielding member flies downstream from the gas injection port of the gas injection unit. Can be suppressed to some extent, and the mist of the processing liquid can be prevented from re-adhering to the substrate conveyed downstream of the gas injection port of the gas injection means to some extent.

According to the third aspect of the present invention, the shielding member is provided on the upstream side of the gas injection port of the gas injection means of the first drying section so as to cover the periphery of the substrate transferred by the transfer means. That is, on the upstream side of the gas injection port of the gas injection unit, the substrate is transported in the cylindrical tunnel formed by the shielding member. The processing liquid blown off by the gas injected from the injection port can more reliably suppress the processing liquid from flowing downstream from the gas injection port of the gas injection means, and the processing liquid can be prevented from flowing downstream from the gas injection port of the gas injection means. It is possible to more reliably suppress the mist of the processing liquid from re-adhering to the transferred substrate.

Further, since the flow of gas in the tunnel formed by the shielding member can be easily controlled, the flow of gas in the tunnel can be controlled by the gas injected from the gas injection port of the gas injection means. It is also possible to make the direction from the injection port to the upstream thereof, and the flow of the gas causes the spray or mist of the processing liquid blown off by the gas injected from the gas injection port of the gas injection means to the first position.
It can be flushed upstream of the drying section, and it becomes possible to drain splashes and mist of the processing liquid upstream of the first drying section.

According to the fourth aspect of the present invention, the second drying section is provided with a shielding member that covers at least a predetermined surface of the substrate that is opposed to at least a predetermined surface of the substrate conveyed by the conveying means,
Since the gas from the gas supply means is configured to be supplied to the space between the predetermined surface of the substrate conveyed by the conveyance means and the shielding member, the predetermined surface of the substrate conveyed by the conveyance means and the shielding member By supplying the gas to the local space sandwiched between the substrates, the gas can be uniformly supplied to the predetermined surface of the substrate conveyed by the conveying means, and the final drying in the second drying unit can be efficiently and uniformly performed. Can be done.

According to the fifth aspect of the present invention, since the second drying section is provided with the shielding member so as to cover the periphery of the substrate transported by the transporting means, the cylindrical tunnel formed by the shielding member is provided. While the substrate is being conveyed inside, the finish drying by the supply gas can be performed. This shielding member makes it difficult for the outside atmosphere to enter the tunnel,
By forming a local space in the tunnel, the local space can be replaced with the supply gas atmosphere in a short time, and the atmosphere can be easily maintained. Therefore, while the substrate is transported in the atmosphere of the supply gas, the finish drying by the supply gas is performed, the gas is uniformly supplied to the entire substrate, and the finish drying in the second drying unit is more efficiently performed, and It can be performed uniformly.

[0025]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a longitudinal sectional view showing a schematic configuration of a substrate drying apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention and a cleaning apparatus in a pre-process thereof, FIG. 2 is a sectional view taken along line AA of FIG. 1, and FIG. 1 is a sectional view taken along the line BB of FIG.

The substrate drying apparatus 1 according to the present invention comprises a cleaning apparatus 2
Are disposed adjacent to each other. The cleaning device 2 includes a transport mechanism 3 including a plurality of transport rollers 3a and a pinch roller 3b for transporting the substrate W along a surface thereof while holding the substrate W in a horizontal posture, and a horizontal mechanism by the transport mechanism 3. A cleaning nozzle 4 for spraying a cleaning liquid such as pure water on both upper and lower surfaces of the substrate W to be conveyed is provided. Further, on one side surface of the cleaning device 2, a carry-in port 2 a for carrying the substrate W into the cleaning device 2 is provided, and a partition wall between the cleaning device 2 and the substrate drying device 1 is provided with a cleaning process. An introduction port 5 for guiding the substrate W from the cleaning device 2 to the substrate drying device 1 is provided. Further, a discharge port 2b for discharging unnecessary substances removed from the substrate W together with the cleaning liquid is provided at a lower portion of the cleaning device 2.
Is provided. Substrate W loaded from loading port 2a
The unnecessary matter is washed away by the cleaning liquid sprayed from the cleaning nozzle 4 while being transported by the transport mechanism 3. Then, the substrate W having been subjected to the cleaning process is supplied to the inlet 5
From the substrate drying apparatus 1.

The substrate drying apparatus 1 includes a plurality of transport rollers 6a and a pinch roller 6 for transporting the substrate W introduced from the introduction port 5 along the surface thereof while maintaining the substrate W in a horizontal posture.
b, etc., and a discharge unit 7, a first drying unit 8, and a second drying unit 9 are provided in this order from the upstream side of the transfer path of the substrate W by the transfer mechanism 6. .

A plurality of transport rollers 6a shown in the figure are supported in parallel in the direction of transporting the substrate W (the direction from right to left in FIG. 1), and are driven by a drive source such as a motor (not shown) via a chain (not shown). (Not shown).

The discharge part 7 is covered with a shielding member 10 and has a clean gas inlet 7a at the upper part. Above the clean gas inlet 7a, for example, a fan (not shown) and a dust removal filter such as an ULPA filter are stacked. Then, the clean gas after the outside air is taken in by the fan and the dust is removed by the dust removal filter is supplied from the clean gas inlet 7a into the discharge space 7b inside the discharge unit 7, and flows down into the discharge space 7b. Gas flow is formed. Further, a discharge port 7c is provided at a lower portion of the discharge section 7, and the gas in the discharge space 7b and the cleaning liquid are discharged from the discharge port 7c.

The first drying unit 8 includes a first air knife 20 for jetting gas toward the upper surface (usually the front surface) and the lower surface (usually the back surface) of the substrate W transferred by the transfer mechanism 6. And a second air knife 21. The air knives 20 and 21 are integrally formed by stacking plate members each having a tapered tip so as to face each other, and have a gas injection port 20a formed in a slit shape at the tip. A high pressure gas supplied from a gas supply source (not shown) is ejected in a band shape. The gas outlets 20a and 21a of the air knives 20 and 21 move the substrate W in a direction orthogonal to the transport direction.
(Dimension in the direction perpendicular to the plane of FIG. 1) so that gas can be uniformly blown out over the entire surface of the substrate W (see FIG. 2).

Each of the air knives 20 and 21 is provided to be inclined with respect to the substrate W transferred by the transfer mechanism 6. Specifically, each air knife 2
0 and 21 are set so that the direction in which the gas is ejected from each of the gas ejection ports 20a and 21a is opposite to the direction in which the substrate W is transported, that is, θ = about 60 with respect to the transport direction of the substrate W.
° are deployed at an angle. Therefore, the cleaning liquid attached to the upper and lower surfaces of the substrate W transported by the transport mechanism 6 by the high-pressure gas injected from each of the gas injection ports 20a and 21a causes the cleaning liquid to flow in the opposite direction to the transport direction of the substrate W, that is, the discharge unit They are blown off in seven directions.
The humidity of the gas ejected from each of the gas ejection ports 20a and 21a is set to about 20%.

As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, each of the gas injection ports 20a and 21 of each of the air knives 20 and 21 of the first drying section 8 is used.
A shielding member 22 is provided on the upstream side of “a” so as to cover the periphery of the substrate W transferred by the transfer mechanism 6.
That is, each gas injection port 2 of each air knife 20, 21
On the upstream side from 0a and 21a, the substrate W is transported in a cylindrical tunnel formed by the shielding member 22.

The second drying section 9 provided on the downstream side of the first drying section 8 is provided with a gas that is dried over a predetermined transport section HL toward both upper and lower surfaces of the substrate W transported by the transport mechanism 6. The first and second gas supply units 30 and 31 are provided. Each gas supply unit 30, 31
Is supplied with gas from a gas supply source 32 such as a utility of a factory through pipes 33 and 34. Opening / closing valves 35, 36 are interposed in the respective pipes 33, 34, and the supply and stop of gas to the gas supply units 30, 31 are switched by opening / closing of the opening / closing valves 35, 36. The gas supply units 30, 3
The humidity of the gas supplied from 1 is set at about 20% to 45%.

The bottoms 30a, 3a of the gas supply units 30, 31
1a is disposed to face the upper and lower surfaces of the substrate W transported by the transport mechanism 6. A large number of punching holes 37 are formed in the bottom portions 30a and 31a of the gas supply units 30 and 31, so that gas can be supplied in a planar manner to both the upper and lower surfaces of the substrate W transported by the transport mechanism 6. It has become. Instead of the punching holes 37, a number of slits may be formed in the bottoms 30a and 31a of the gas supply units 30 and 31 in parallel with the transport direction of the substrate W. Further, the punching holes 37 of the bottom portions 30a and 31a of the gas supply units 30 and 31 are formed in a range wider than the width of the substrate W (dimension in a direction perpendicular to the plane of FIG. 1) in a direction perpendicular to the transport direction. Thus, gas can be uniformly blown out over the entire surface of the substrate W (see FIG. 3).

As shown in FIGS. 1 and 3, the second drying section 9 is provided with a bottom 30a, 31a of each of the gas supply sections 30, 31 for covering the periphery of the substrate W transported by the transport mechanism 6. A shielding member 38 is provided. That is, in the second drying unit 9, the bottom 30 of each of the gas supply units 30 and 31
The substrate W is transported in a cylindrical tunnel formed by the a and 31a and the shielding member 38. Also, at the end of the tunnel opposite to the first drying unit 8 side,
An outlet 40 for unloading the substrate W after the drying process is provided.

The shielding member 10 of the discharge unit 7 and the shielding member 22 of the first drying unit 8 and the shielding member 22 of the first drying unit 8 are connected to each other so that the outside atmosphere does not flow into the substrate drying apparatus 1. The shielding member 38 of the second drying unit 9 is connected without any gap by welding or the like.

Next, the operation of the substrate drying apparatus having the above configuration will be described. The substrate W that has been subjected to the cleaning processing by the cleaning device 2 is introduced into the substrate drying device 1 through the introduction port 5, and is transported by the transport mechanism 6 to the first drying unit 8 via the discharge unit 7.

In the first drying section 8, gas is injected from the gas injection ports 20 a, 21 a of the first and second air knives 20, 21 toward the upper and lower surfaces of the substrate W transferred by the transfer mechanism 6. Then, the cleaning liquid adhering to the upper and lower surfaces of the substrate W is blown off and removed while being flushed by the spray gas.
The drying in the first drying unit 8 is preliminary drying,
The cleaning liquid adhering to the upper and lower surfaces of the substrate W may be removed so that water droplets and the like that cause watermarks after drying do not remain on the upper and lower surfaces of the substrate W. At this stage, the cleaning liquid remains on the substrate W at the molecular level. It may be. Therefore, each of the gas injection ports 20 of the first and second air knives 20 and 21
It is not necessary to particularly increase the injection amount of the gas injected from the nozzles 21a and 21a, and it is not necessary to particularly reduce the transfer speed of the substrate W.

The substrate W from which the cleaning liquid has been substantially removed in the first drying unit 8 is subjected to a drying process in the second drying unit 9. In the second drying section 9, the first and second gas supply sections 3 are provided.
When the substrate W passes through the second drying unit 9 at a constant transport speed by the transport mechanism 6 in a state where gas is supplied from the punching holes 37 in the bottom portions 30a and 31a of the substrates 0 and 31, the substrate W The gas supplied to the upper and lower surfaces in a planar manner removes the cleaning liquid of the molecular level remaining on the substrate W in the first drying unit 8 and the substrate W is completely dried. And
The substrate W after the drying processing is carried out from the carry-out port 40.

In this embodiment, the gas is used in the second drying unit 9 in excess compared with the conventional apparatus, but the gas supply units 30 and 31 inject the gas at a high pressure like an air knife. Therefore, the increase in the amount of use is extremely small as compared with the case where the amount of gas ejected from the air knife is increased so that the substrate W is completely dried only with the air knife. In addition, the provision of the second drying unit 9 increases the transport distance of the substrate W, thereby increasing the processing time. However, the processing time increases as the substrate W is completely dried using only the air knife. The processing time is extremely short compared to the increase in processing time when the transport speed of the substrate W is reduced.

As described above, according to this embodiment, the substrate W can be completely dried without causing a large increase in gas consumption and without extremely increasing the processing time.

In the present embodiment, each of the gas injection ports 20a, 21a of each of the air knives 20, 21 of the first drying section 8 is used.
By providing the shielding member 22 on the upstream side so as to cover the periphery of the substrate W transferred by the transfer mechanism 6, the following effects can be obtained.

That is, the gas ejected from the gas ejection port 20a of the first air knife 20 causes the transfer mechanism 6
Most of the cleaning liquid blown off from the upper surface of the substrate W transported by the substrate W is opposed to the ceiling portion 22 a of the tunnel formed by the shielding member 22, that is, the upper surface of the substrate W transported by the transport mechanism 6. Some of the cleaning liquid received by the shielding member 22 disposed to cover the upper surface and blown to the side of the space between the ceiling portion 22a of the tunnel and the substrate W is also provided on both side surface portions 22b of the tunnel, Since the cleaning liquid is received by the bottom portion 22c and the bottom portion 22d, splashing and mist of the cleaning liquid are prevented from being scattered around. Further, most of the cleaning liquid blown off from the lower surface of the substrate W conveyed by the transfer mechanism 6 by the gas ejected from the gas outlet 21a of the second air knife 21, the bottom portion 22d of the tunnel, that is, the transfer mechanism 6
Is received by the shielding member 22 disposed so as to cover the lower surface of the substrate W opposed to the lower surface of the substrate W conveyed by the substrate W, and is blown to the side of the space between the bottom portion 22d of the tunnel and the substrate W. Part of the cleaning liquid thus collected is also received by the side portions 22b and 22c and the ceiling portion 22a of the tunnel, so that splashes and mist of the cleaning liquid are prevented from being scattered around. Therefore, the cleaning liquid blown off by the gas injected from the gas injection ports 20a and 21a of the air knives 20 and 21 flows downstream from the gas injection ports 20a and 21a of the air knives 20 and 21. Each air knife 20, 21
The mist of the cleaning liquid can be prevented from re-adhering to the substrate W conveyed downstream from each of the gas injection ports 20a and 21a.

The gas flow in the tunnel formed by the shielding member 22 by the gas injected from each of the gas injection ports 20a and 21a of each of the air knives 20 and 21 corresponds to the gas injection of each of the air knives 20 and 21. The direction is from the ports 20a and 21a to the upstream. Therefore, the spray and the mist of the cleaning liquid blown off from the upper and lower surfaces of the substrate W conveyed by the conveyance mechanism 6 by the gas jetted from the gas jet ports 20a and 21a of the air knives 20 and 21 cause the air current in the tunnel. Discharge section 7 upstream of the first drying section 8
And can be discharged from the discharge port 7c by the downflow airflow in the discharge space 7b.

In this embodiment, the gas supplied from the punching holes 37 of the bottom portions 30a and 31a of the gas supply units 30 and 31 of the second drying unit 9 is supplied to the upper surface of the substrate W transported by the transport mechanism 6. Toward the lower surface, the gas is supplied to a local space sandwiched between the upper surface of the substrate W and the bottom 30a of the gas supply unit 30 and a local space sandwiched between the lower surface of the substrate W and the bottom 31a of the gas supply unit 31. Therefore, the gas can be uniformly supplied to the upper and lower surfaces of the substrate W transferred by the transfer mechanism 6.

Further, since the periphery of the second drying section 9 is covered by the bottoms 30a and 31a of the gas supply sections 30 and 31 and the shielding member 38 to form a local space, entry of the external atmosphere is suppressed. This makes it easier to control the atmosphere in the internal space of the second drying section 9. That is, each gas supply unit 30,
The time required to replace the inside space of the second drying unit 9 with the atmosphere of the supply gas by the gas supplied from the punching holes 37 of the bottom portions 30a and 31a of the 31 decreases, and it is easy to maintain the atmosphere. Become. Therefore, while the substrate W is transported in the atmosphere of the supply gas, the finish drying by the supply gas is performed, the gas is uniformly supplied to the entire substrate W, and the finish drying in the second drying unit 9 is more efficiently performed. , And can be performed uniformly.

Further, by supplying the gas into the internal space of the second drying section 9, the gas supplied in the internal space of the second drying section 9 is blown out from the carry-out port 40 to the outside, and
It will flow out to the drying unit 8. Accordingly, it is possible to prevent the external atmosphere from entering the internal space of the second drying unit 9 from the carry-out port 40. In addition, the first drying is performed from the internal space of the second drying section 9.
The gas flowing out to the drying unit 8 can more reliably prevent the splash and mist of the cleaning liquid in the first drying unit 8 from entering the second drying unit 9.

Incidentally, an openable / closable shutter which is opened only when the substrate W is carried out may be provided at the carry-out port 40. By providing the shutter at the carry-out port 40 in this manner, the entry of the external atmosphere from the carry-out port 40 into the internal space of the second drying unit 9 can be more reliably suppressed. In addition, while the shutter is closed, the supply gas in the internal space of the second drying unit 9 flows out only to the first drying unit 8, and the spray and mist of the cleaning liquid in the first drying unit 8 generate the second gas. It is possible to more reliably prevent entry into the drying section 9.

The upper surface (lower surface) of the substrate W transferred by the transfer mechanism 6 and the bottom 30 of the gas supply unit 30 (31).
a (31a) is between 30 mm and 30 mm (see FIG. 3).
Preferably, it is in the range of 100 mm. When the substrate W is warped, if the interval B is less than 30 mm, the substrate W may not be able to be transported. If the interval B exceeds 100 mm, the internal space of the second drying unit 9 becomes too large. This is because it becomes difficult to control the atmosphere of the internal space.

As described above, the second drying unit 9 of the present embodiment supplies the gas to the upper and lower surfaces of the substrate W while transporting the substrate W in the local space, and performs the drying process using the gas. 2 The drying process in the drying section 9 can be performed efficiently and uniformly.

Next, a comparison result between the case where the substrate W is completely dried by the conventional apparatus and the case where the substrate W is completely dried in the present embodiment will be described. In addition, the following comparative experiment is 550
This was performed using a substrate W having a size of × 650 (mm).

[1] When the substrate W is completely dried by increasing the gas injection amount from the gas injection port of the air knife in the conventional apparatus, the gas usage amount in the air knives 101 and 102 is 2.1 m ^3. / One substrate.

[2] When the substrate W is completely dried in this embodiment, the amount of gas used in the air knives 20 and 21 (the first drying unit 8) is 1.1 m ³ / substrate, and the gas supply unit 30,
The amount of gas used in 31 (second drying section 9) was 0.5 m ³ / substrate. In this experiment, the length of the transport section HL was set to 200 mm.

As shown in FIG. 4, a partition member 51 having an opening 50 through which the substrate W can pass may be provided between the first drying section 8 and the second drying section 9. With this configuration, it is possible to more reliably prevent splashes and mist of the cleaning liquid in the first drying unit 8 from entering the second drying unit 9.

Further, in the above embodiment, the driving speed of the substrate W in the substrate drying apparatus is made constant by using one drive source for all the conveying rollers 6 a of the conveying mechanism 6. From the discharge unit 7 to the first drying unit 8, for example, the drive source of the transport roller 6 a provided in the first drying unit 8 and the drive source of the transport roller 6 a provided in the second drying unit 9 are separated. A transport mechanism for transporting the substrate W and a transport mechanism for transporting in the second drying unit 9 are separately provided, and the transport speed of the substrate W from the discharge unit 7 to the first drying unit 8 is increased. The transport speed in the drying unit 9 may be individually changed, and the substrate W may be transported at a transport speed suitable for drying in each of the drying units 8 and 9. In this case, the transport mechanism that transports the substrate W from the discharge unit 7 to the first drying unit 8 and the transport mechanism that transports the substrate W in the second drying unit 9 constitute a transport unit in the present invention. Become.

The air knife and the gas supply unit may be provided on only one of the upper surface and the lower surface of the substrate W transferred by the transfer mechanism 6.

Further, the transfer of the substrate W may be performed by holding the substrate W in a vertical position so that the transfer direction is upward, or may be performed such that the transfer direction is obliquely upward. May be configured to be performed while maintaining the tilted posture.
With such a transfer, the cleaning liquid attached to the substrate W naturally flows down, so that the cleaning liquid can be more efficiently removed from the substrate W.

Further, the substrate drying apparatus according to the present invention can be suitably applied to a drying process after a wet process using various processing solutions, in addition to removing and drying a cleaning solution after the cleaning process. .

[0059]

As is apparent from the above description, according to the first aspect of the present invention, the first drying unit adheres to the predetermined surface of the substrate by the gas injected from the gas injection port of the gas injection means. Preliminary drying is performed to remove the processing liquid by blowing it away while flushing it out, and then the second drying unit is configured to perform finish drying with gas, so that the gas consumption is not significantly increased, and In addition, the substrate can be completely dried without extremely reducing the transport speed. Therefore,
It is possible to realize a substrate drying apparatus capable of completely drying a substrate without causing a significant increase in running cost and a significant decrease in productivity.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, the first drying unit is provided with the substrate on the upstream side of the gas injection port of the gas injection unit at least facing the predetermined surface of the substrate conveyed by the conveyance unit. Since the shielding member that covers the predetermined surface is provided, it is possible to suppress to some extent the mist of the processing liquid from re-adhering to the substrate transported downstream from the gas injection port of the gas injection unit, and the mist of the processing liquid is applied to the substrate. It is possible to suppress a decrease in the yield of the product due to the re-adhesion to some extent.

According to the third aspect of the present invention, since the shielding member is provided on the upstream side of the gas injection port of the gas injection means of the first drying unit so as to cover the periphery of the substrate conveyed by the conveyance means, It is possible to more reliably suppress the mist of the processing liquid from re-adhering to the substrate transported downstream of the gas injection port of the injection unit, and to further improve the product yield. Further, since it becomes easy to control the flow of gas in the tunnel formed by the shielding member, the droplets and mist of the processing liquid blown off by the gas injected from the gas injection port of the gas injection means are removed upstream of the first drying unit. Can also be discharged.

According to the fourth aspect of the present invention, the second drying section is provided with a shielding member for covering at least a predetermined surface of the substrate conveyed by the conveying means and covering the predetermined surface of the substrate,
Since the gas from the gas supply unit is configured to be supplied to the space between the predetermined surface of the substrate conveyed by the conveyance unit and the shielding member, the gas is unevenly formed on the predetermined surface of the substrate conveyed by the conveyance unit. And the final drying in the second drying section can be performed efficiently and uniformly.

According to the fifth aspect of the present invention, since the second drying section is provided with the shielding member so as to cover the periphery of the substrate transported by the transporting means, the cylindrical tunnel formed by the shielding member is provided. While the substrate is being conveyed inside, the finish drying by gas can be performed, and the finish drying in the second drying unit can be performed more efficiently and uniformly.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a longitudinal sectional view showing a schematic configuration of a substrate drying apparatus and a cleaning apparatus in a pre-process thereof according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a sectional view taken along the line AA of FIG.

FIG. 3 is a sectional view taken along the line BB of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a vertical cross-sectional view illustrating a main configuration of a modified example in which a partition member is provided between a first drying unit and a second drying unit.

FIG. 5 is a front view showing a schematic configuration of a conventional device and its problems.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1: substrate drying device 2: cleaning device 6: transport mechanism 8: first drying unit 9: second drying unit 20, 21: air knife 20a, 21a: gas injection port 22, 38: shielding member 30, 31: gas supply Part W: Substrate

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. A substrate drying apparatus for drying a substrate that has been subjected to wet processing, comprising: transport means for transporting the substrate in a predetermined transport direction along a surface of the substrate; A first drying unit including a gas injection unit having a slit-shaped gas injection port for injecting gas toward a predetermined surface; and a substrate provided downstream of the first drying unit and transported by the transportation unit. A second drying unit provided with a gas supply unit for supplying gas over a predetermined transport section toward a predetermined surface. 2. The substrate drying apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the first drying unit includes at least a predetermined surface of the substrate conveyed by the conveyance unit, at a position upstream of a gas ejection port of the gas ejection unit. A substrate drying apparatus, comprising: a shielding member that covers a predetermined surface of a substrate facing the substrate. 3. The substrate drying apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the shielding member is provided so as to cover a periphery of the substrate transferred by the transfer unit. 4. The substrate drying apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the second drying unit is provided with a shielding member that covers at least a predetermined surface of the substrate that is opposed to a predetermined surface of the substrate conveyed by the conveyance unit. A substrate drying apparatus, wherein gas from the gas supply unit is supplied to a space between a predetermined surface of the substrate conveyed by the conveyance unit and the shielding member. 5. The substrate drying apparatus according to claim 4, wherein the shielding member is provided so as to cover a periphery of the substrate transferred by the transfer unit.