JPS63293919A - Wafer processing equipment - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To prevent dust from being brought in the part on a wafer, and enable the wafer processing of high reliability, by arranging a liquid capturing member having water absorption properties so as to surround a wafer in the outside of the radial direction, in a wafer processing equipment which rotates the wafer at a high speed while dripping liquid on the wafer. CONSTITUTION:In a developing cup 21, a removable liquid capturing member 35 is arranged removably so as to be in contact with the inner surface of the outer wall of a lower cup 24. For the liquid capturing member 35, a porous sponge type one having water absorption properties, or one in which steel fibers are lapped in the form of a mesh, for example, is used. When a wafer 22 is set in a developing cup 21, and a spin chuck 27 is rotated at a high speed by a motor, the wafer 22 mounted thereon is also rotated at a high speed. From a developing solution supplying nozzle 28, developing solution is dropped on the wafer 22. Therefore, the radial direction of the dropped developing solution on the wafer 22 surface is succesively extended outward by centrifugal force, and the extended developing solution is shaked off from the outer peripheral part of the wafer 22 toward outside. The developing solution, which is shaked off, is captured by the liquid capturing member 35.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention relates to a technology that is particularly effective when applied to semiconductor manufacturing technology and wafer processing. It is related to effective technology that can be used for.

[Prior art] Regarding the development technology of resist formed on a wafer, see 1.
For example, it is described in pages 91 to 93 of the electronic materials special volume "Ultra LSI Manufacturing and Testing Equipment Guidebook" published by Kogyo Kenkyukai on November 20, 1985.

This technique will be explained using FIG. 2 as follows.

In the figure, numeral 1 represents a developing cup, and numeral 2 represents a wafer. Here, the developing cup 1 is divided into an upper cup 3 located above and a lower cup 4 located below by an annular partition plate 1a. An annular inner wall 5 is erected at the center of the floor surface of the lower cup 40. On the other hand, below the image cup 1 is a motor (not shown).
is provided, and the upper end of the drive shaft 6 of this motor is.

It faces into the lower cup 4 through an opening surrounded by the inner wall 5. A disk-shaped spin chuck 7 is attached to the upper end of this drive shaft 6, and this spin chuck 7
The wafer 2 is held by.

Further, a developer supply nozzle 8 and a rinse solution supply nozzle 9 are arranged above the spin chuck 7, and the developer and rinse solution are supplied to the wafer 2 from the developer supply nozzle 8 and the rinse solution supply nozzle 9. The liquid can be dripped selectively.

On the other hand, a waste liquid port 10 is formed in the floor wall of the developing cup 1.
Furthermore, a waste liquid pipe 11 is attached to this floor wall at a portion corresponding to the waste liquid port. Further, in this developer cup 1, the floor and wall surface are formed to have a downward slope toward the waste solution port 11, so that the developer and rinse solution can be effectively discharged. ing.

Next, the operation of this developing device will be explained as follows.

In this developing device, the wafer 2 after exposing the resist film is set on the spin chuck 7 by, for example, moving the lower cup 4 relative to the upper cup 3 in a direction away from each other.

Once the wafer 2 is set on the spin chuck 7, the lower cup 4 moves in a direction approaching the upper cup 3, and thereby the wafer 2 is set in the developing cup 1. Complete. Next, the spin chuck 7 is rotated at high speed by a motor (not shown).

The wafer 2 supported on the spin chuck 7 by this
is also rotated at high speed. Further, the developer is dripped onto the wafer 2 from the developer supply nozzle 7 . As a result, the dropped developer is sequentially spread outward in the radial direction on the surface of the wafer 2 by centrifugal force, and the spread developer is shaken off from the outer circumference of the wafer 2 to the outside. Then, the shaken-off developer hits the inner surface of the outer wall of the lower cup 4 and flows down to the floor wall along the inner surface of the outer wall, and the developer that reaches the floor wall is collected in the waste solution port 10 by the sloped floor wall soil surface. Waste liquid pipe 1 from here
1 and is discharged to the outside of the developing cup 1. In this way, the resist formed on the wafer 2 is developed.

After the development process is completed, a rinse liquid is supplied from the rinse liquid supply nozzle 9, and the wafer 2 is cleaned with this rinse liquid. Also in this case, the wafer 2 is rotated at high speed.

After the cleaning process of the wafer 2 is completed, the wafer 2 is subjected to a spin drying process.

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] However, in the conventional developing processing apparatus, the outer wall of the developing cup 1 was formed of a non-water-absorbing material such as aluminum or stainless steel, which caused the following problems.

In other words, after the developer etc. shaken off from the wafer 2 by the centrifugal force generated by the high-speed rotation of the wafer 2 hits the inner surface of the outer wall of the developing cup 1, the wafer is returned to the wafer with dust etc. attached to the inner wall of the developing cup 1. There is a risk of it adhering to the surface of 2. In addition, in the case of a developer, there is a risk that uneven development may occur due to redeposited developer. The redeposited developer and the like cause various appearance defects such as defective pattern shapes on the wafer 2, which causes a decrease in reliability and yield of semiconductor devices and a decrease in throughput 1-.

Problems similar to this occur not only in development processing apparatuses but also in other wafer processing apparatuses such as resist coating apparatuses.

The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide a wafer processing apparatus that can perform highly reliable wafer processing, and can further improve the reliability and yield of semiconductor devices and improve the throughput. .

The above and other objects and novel features of the present invention will become clear from the description of this specification and the accompanying drawings.

[Means for Solving the Problems] Representative inventions disclosed in this application will be summarized as follows.

That is, in a wafer processing apparatus that rotates the wafer at high speed while dropping a liquid onto the wafer, a highly water-absorbing liquid capturing member is provided around the wafer in a radial outward direction to surround the wafer.

[Function] According to the above-described means, the liquid shaken off from the wafer is captured by the liquid capturing member and prevented from returning to the wafer side, so that the reliability is improved by preventing dust from being brought onto the wafer. Aiming for high wafer processing,
As a result, the above objectives of improving the reliability and yield of semiconductor devices are achieved.

[Example] Embodiments of the present invention will be described below based on the drawings.

FIG. 1 shows a developing processing apparatus as an embodiment of the wafer processing apparatus according to the present invention.

In the figure, numeral 21 represents a developing cup, and numeral 22 represents a wafer. Here, the developing cup 21 is divided into an upper cup 23 located above and a lower cup 24 located below by an annular partition plate 21a. The floor surface of the lower cup 24 has an annular inner wall 2 at its center.
5 are erected. On the other hand, a motor (not shown) is provided below the developing cup 21, and the upper end of the drive shaft 26 of this motor faces into the lower cup 24 through an opening surrounded by the inner wall 25. . A disk-shaped spin chuck 27 is attached to the upper end of this drive shaft 26, and the wafer 22 is held by this spin chuck 27.

Further, above the spin chuck 27, a developer supply nozzle 28 and a rinse solution supply nozzle 29 are arranged. Rinse liquid can be dripped selectively.

Furthermore, a liquid capturing member 35 is removably disposed around the inside of the developing cup 21 so as to be in contact with the inner surface of the outer wall of the lower cup 24 . As the liquid trapping member 35, for example, a porous sponge-like material with high water absorption properties, a material made of steel fibers stacked in a net shape, etc. are used. In addition,
It is desirable to select a material for the liquid trapping member 35 that is strong against the liquid used.

On the other hand, a waste liquid port 30 is formed in the floor wall of the developing cup 21, and a waste liquid pipe 31 is further attached to the floor wall at a portion corresponding to the waste liquid port. Further, in this developing cup 21,
The upper surface of the floor wall is formed with a downward slope toward the waste liquid port 30, so that the developing solution and the rinsing solution can be effectively discharged.

Next, the operation of this developing device will be explained as follows.

In this developing device, the wafer 22 is set on the spin chuck 27 after exposing the resist film to the lower cup 2, for example.
4 are moved relative to the upper cup 23 in directions away from each other. Once the wafer 22 is set on the spin chuck 27, the lower cup 24 moves in a direction approaching the upper cup 23, thereby setting the wafer 22 inside the developing cup 21. is completed. Then, the spin chuck 27 is rotated at high speed by a motor (not shown). The wafer 2 supported on the spin chuck 27 by this
2 is also rotated at high speed. Further, the developer is dripped onto the wafer 22 from the developer supply nozzle 28 . As a result, one drop of the developer is sequentially spread outward in the radial direction on the surface of the wafer 22 by centrifugal force, and the spread developer is spread outward on the wafer 22 surface.
2. It is swung outward from the outer periphery. Then, the developer that has been shaken off is captured by the liquid capturing member 35.

In this way, the resist formed on the wafer 22 is developed.

After the development process is completed, a rinse liquid is supplied from the rinse liquid supply nozzle 29, and the wafer 22 is cleaned with this rinse liquid. Also in this case,
The wafer 22 is rotated at high speed.

After the cleaning process of the wafer 22 is completed, the wafer 2
A second spin drying process is performed.

According to the developing processing apparatus configured in this way, the following effects can be obtained.

That is, according to this development processing apparatus, the liquid trapping member 35 is provided outside the wafer 22 in the radial direction so as to surround it, thereby trapping the liquid shaken off from the wafer 22. .

Since the shaken-off liquid is prevented from returning to the wafer side, dust and the like are not brought onto the wafer, which means that dust and the splashed liquid themselves can also prevent adverse effects on the wafer. It is possible to perform highly reliable wafer processing, and as a result, it is possible to obtain the effects of improving the reliability and yield of semiconductor devices and improving throughput.

In addition, according to this development processing apparatus, the liquid capturing member 35 is removable, so when clogging occurs, etc.
Its maintenance is also easy because it can be cleaned as needed.

Although the invention made by the present inventor has been specifically explained above based on Examples, it goes without saying that the present invention is not limited to the above Examples and can be modified in various ways without departing from the gist thereof. Nor.

In the above explanation, the invention made by the present inventor was mainly applied to wafer development processing technology, which is the background field of application. It can be used in general technologies where liquid splashing is a problem, such as thin film formation technology such as glass).

[Effects of the Invention] Representative effects of the invention disclosed in this application will be explained as follows.

That is, according to the wafer processing apparatus of the present invention, the liquid shaken off from the rotating wafer is captured by the liquid capturing member provided radially outward of the wafer, and the shaken off liquid is prevented from returning to the wafer side again. As a result, dust and the like will not adhere to the wafer, and as a result, highly reliable wafer processing becomes possible, which in turn can improve the reliability, yield, and throughput of semiconductor devices. .

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a longitudinal sectional view of an embodiment of a wafer processing apparatus according to the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a longitudinal sectional view of an embodiment of a conventional wafer processing apparatus. 21...Developing cup, 22...Wafer, 35...
...Liquid capture member. Figure 1 Ward 2

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A liquid supply nozzle that drips liquid onto a wafer, and a wafer rotation drive means that rotates the wafer at high speed,
In a wafer processing apparatus that rotates the wafer at high speed while dropping a liquid onto the wafer and processes the wafer with the liquid, radially outward of the wafer,
A wafer processing apparatus characterized in that a liquid trapping member with high water absorbency is provided to surround the wafer processing apparatus. 2. The wafer processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the liquid trapping member is detachably provided.