JPWO2007083358A1 - Substrate processing apparatus and substrate processing method - Google Patents

Abstract

Disclosed are a substrate processing apparatus and a substrate processing method capable of suppressing or preventing the generation of streak-like particles on a substrate surface by favorably removing a rinsing liquid from the substrate surface. The substrate processing apparatus includes a substrate tilting mechanism that tilts the substrate on the substrate holding mechanism that holds the substrate. After the rinsing liquid is supplied onto the substrate to form a liquid mass, the substrate is tilted by a minute angle by the substrate tilting mechanism. Then, the liquid mass moves downward without being split and falls without leaving microdroplets on the upper surface of the substrate. Thereafter, the substrate is returned to the horizontal posture, and the substrate is dried.

Description

  The present invention is typified by semiconductor wafers, liquid crystal display substrates, plasma display substrates, FED (Field Emission Display) substrates, optical disk substrates, magnetic disk substrates, magneto-optical disk substrates, photomask substrates, etc. The present invention relates to a substrate processing apparatus and a substrate processing method for processing various substrates to be processed.

  In the manufacturing process of a semiconductor device, a process of supplying a processing liquid (chemical solution or pure water) to the surface of a semiconductor wafer (hereinafter simply referred to as “wafer”) as a substrate to be processed is performed. In particular, in a substrate cleaning apparatus for cleaning a wafer, a chemical solution for cleaning is supplied to the surface of the wafer, and then pure water is supplied to perform a rinsing process. Since pure water adheres to the wafer surface after the rinsing process, in order to remove the pure water, a drying process for rotating the wafer at a high speed and shaking off the pure water on the wafer surface is performed.

A typical substrate drying apparatus used for the drying process includes a spin chuck that rotates while holding the wafer horizontally, and a rotation drive mechanism that rotates the spin chuck at a high speed. With this configuration, the centrifugal force acting on the pure water as it rotates causes the pure water to be spun off and the substrate to be dried.
Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 10-41270

  However, for example, in a wafer on which a so-called Low-k film (an insulating film made of a material having a relative dielectric constant smaller than that of silicon oxide) is formed, the wafer surface is hydrophobic. For this reason, when pure water is supplied to the wafer surface for rinsing and the spin chuck is rotated at a high speed, the pure water film on the wafer breaks up into a large number of fine droplets. Move the surface radially. Thereby, streak-like particles are radially formed on the wafer surface.

This streak-like particle is a kind of watermark and is different from a particle in a normal sense (foreign matter on the wafer surface). However, the particle counter that counts the number of particles on the wafer surface counts such streak particles without distinguishing them from normal particles.
Therefore, it has been a problem to suppress or prevent the generation of streak-like particles.

  Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a substrate processing apparatus and a substrate processing method that can suppress or prevent the generation of streak-like particles on the substrate surface by eliminating the rinsing liquid well from the substrate surface. is there.

  A substrate processing apparatus according to a first aspect of the present invention includes a substrate holding mechanism (1, 101) that can hold a substrate (W) in a posture with one surface facing upward, and the substrate holding mechanism. A rinsing liquid supply mechanism (15, 17, 112, 120) for supplying a rinsing liquid to the one surface (upper surface) of the substrate being in contact with the substrate held by the substrate holding mechanism, the one surface being along a horizontal plane A substrate tilting mechanism (25, 102) for tilting the one surface to a tilting posture in which the one surface is tilted by a predetermined angle with respect to a horizontal plane, and substrate drying for drying the surface of the substrate held by the substrate holding mechanism Means (2,103). The alphanumeric characters in parentheses indicate corresponding components in the embodiments described later. The same applies hereinafter.

According to this configuration, the substrate is tilted by the substrate tilting mechanism after the rinsing liquid is supplied, so that it is possible to suppress the minute droplets of the rinsing liquid remaining on the substrate surface in the process of removing the rinsing liquid from the substrate surface. Then, the surface of the substrate can be dried by the substrate drying means. Thereby, the rinse liquid of the surface of a board | substrate and the whole end surface can be excluded favorably.
In particular, if the rinse liquid on the surface of the substrate is moved downward while being in a liquid mass and eliminated, there will be no more microdroplets remaining on the substrate surface, and the rinse liquid will be in a large liquid mass state. Therefore, it is excluded from the substrate surface. Thereby, it is possible to eliminate the rinse liquid on the substrate surface while suppressing or preventing the generation of streak-like particles.

  Here, the “liquid mass” refers to a substantially film-like liquid mass that spreads over a predetermined area on the substrate surface. It is most preferable that the liquid mass remains in a single state during the removal of the rinse liquid, but the liquid mass may be divided into several parts in the process of removing the rinse liquid. That is, even if there are a plurality of liquid masses in the range where no minute droplets remain in at least the area of the substrate surface where the rinse liquid is excluded (the area above the area where the liquid mass of the rinse liquid exists). Good.

The substrate to be processed may be either a hydrophobic substrate or a hydrophilic substrate, but is particularly effective for a hydrophobic substrate in which microdroplets tend to remain on the surface.
In addition to pure water, functional water such as carbonated water, electrolytic ion water, hydrogen water, magnetic water, or dilute concentration (for example, about 1 ppm) ammonia water may be used as the rinse liquid.

It is preferable that the substrate tilting mechanism tilts the substrate so that the trailing edge of the liquid mass moving on one surface of the substrate moves at a speed of 3 to 20 millimeters per second.
According to this configuration, the substrate is inclined so that the trailing edge (the uppermost edge portion of the liquid mass) formed by the rinse liquid on the substrate moves at a speed of 3 to 20 millimeters per second. Thus, it is possible to reliably prevent the microdroplets remaining on the substrate surface. Thereby, streak-like particles can be more effectively suppressed.

Preferably, the substrate processing apparatus further includes an abutting member (5) that abuts on a lower end surface of the substrate in the inclined posture when the substrate is inclined by the substrate inclination mechanism.
According to this configuration, the rinsing liquid flowing down from the substrate can be guided by the contact member that contacts the lower end surface of the substrate. That is, the rinse liquid flows down through the contact member. Thereby, the rinse liquid can be efficiently removed from the substrate surface. The timing at which the abutting member abuts on the substrate may be any time during a period during which the substrate is tilted (hereinafter referred to as a substrate tilting period). For example, the contact with the substrate may be performed only at the initial stage of the substrate tilt period, only at the end of the substrate tilt period, or may be always performed during the substrate tilt period.

The contact member may be a substrate holding member provided in the substrate holding mechanism, or may be a member provided separately from such a substrate holding member. Further, the contact member may be one or plural. Most preferably, when the substrate is tilted, the substrate end surface is in contact with the lowest position.
The substrate processing apparatus controls the rinse liquid supply mechanism and the substrate tilting mechanism, and supplies a part or the entire area of the one surface of the substrate held horizontally by the substrate holding mechanism from the rinse liquid supply mechanism. It is preferable to further include control means (40, 110) for covering the substrate with the rinse film and then tilting the substrate by the substrate tilting mechanism. As a result, a liquid film of the rinsing liquid that covers a part or the entire surface of the substrate surface is formed on the upper surface of the substrate. In particular, when a liquid film of a rinsing liquid is formed over the entire area, the surface of the substrate does not come into contact with oxygen, and it is possible to shift from this large liquid film state to the rinsing liquid removal process. It can be eliminated well from the upper surface of the surface. In the case where the substrate rotating means (2) for rotating the substrate held by the substrate holding mechanism is provided, the substrate is placed in a stopped state or a low-speed rotating state so that the substrate surface is covered with a liquid film of a rinsing liquid. Is preferred.

  The control means further controls the substrate drying means, and after the rinse liquid is removed from the one surface by tilting the substrate by the substrate tilting mechanism, the liquid component on the substrate is dried by the substrate drying means. It is preferable that the With this configuration, the surface of the substrate is dried after the substrate is tilted to remove the rinsing liquid from the upper surface of the substrate, so that the movement of the micro droplets on the upper surface of the substrate can be suppressed or prevented. Thereby, generation | occurrence | production of a streak-like particle can be suppressed.

  The substrate drying means may include a substrate rotating means (2) for rotating the substrate held by the substrate holding mechanism. In this case, when the substrate is dried, the control unit may rotate the substrate by the substrate rotation unit to shake off the droplets remaining on the end surface of the substrate. With this configuration, the substrate is tilted to remove the rinsing liquid from the upper surface of the substrate, and then the substrate is rotated so that the minute droplets on the end surface are shaken off, thereby suppressing the movement of the minute droplets on the upper surface of the substrate. Can be prevented. Thereby, generation | occurrence | production of a streak-like particle can be suppressed.

The control means, after removing the rinse liquid from one surface of the substrate by tilting the substrate by the substrate tilting mechanism, returns the substrate from the tilted posture to the horizontal posture by the substrate tilting mechanism, and thereafter, The substrate may be rotated by the substrate rotating means, and the droplets remaining on the end face of the substrate may be shaken off.
According to this configuration, the substrate is rotated by the substrate rotating unit after the substrate is returned to the horizontal posture, and the droplets on the substrate end surface are shaken off. Therefore, the droplets sprinkled off from the substrate end surface are obliquely above the substrate processing apparatus. Can be prevented from being scattered. Further, when using a substrate holding mechanism that can hold and rotate the substrate as the substrate rotating means, when tilting the substrate, it is not necessary to tilt the substrate holding mechanism itself, and only the substrate may be tilted. Therefore, the configuration of the substrate tilting mechanism can be simplified.

  The substrate drying means may include infrared generation means (135) for irradiating the substrate held by the substrate holding mechanism with infrared rays. According to this configuration, instead of rotating the substrate at a high speed, liquid components (including droplets on the substrate end face) on the substrate are evaporated and removed by irradiation with infrared rays, and the substrate can be dried. That is, in this configuration, the substrate can be dried in a non-rotating state or a low rotating state.

  In this configuration, the infrared ray is disposed between the infrared ray generating means and the substrate held by the substrate holding mechanism, and is held by at least the substrate holding mechanism among the infrared rays emitted from the infrared ray generating means. It is preferable to further include a filter plate (137) that absorbs infrared light having a wavelength that is absorbed by the substrate, and transmits infrared light having other wavelengths. Thereby, infrared rays can be absorbed by the liquid component on the surface and the liquid component can be evaporated while suppressing the temperature rise of the substrate. Thereby, since elution of the substrate material accompanying heating of the substrate can be suppressed, generation of watermarks can be suppressed.

  Further, as the substrate drying means, a gas supply mechanism (18, 138) for supplying a normal temperature (for example, about 23 ° C.) or heated (for example, 40 ° C. to 150 ° C.) gas to the substrate held by the substrate holding mechanism. ) May apply. The gas supplied by the gas supply mechanism may be, for example, air or an inert gas (nitrogen or the like), and an organic solvent vapor such as IPA (isopropyl alcohol) vapor or HFE (hydrofluoroether) vapor. Or a mixed gas. Furthermore, as the substrate drying means, a vacuum drying mechanism that depressurizes the space around the substrate held by the substrate holding mechanism, for example, the processing chamber in which the substrate holding mechanism is accommodated, may be applied.

In addition, in order to eliminate the rinsing liquid droplets remaining at the lower end of the substrate when the substrate is tilted by the substrate tilting mechanism, a suction member such as a porous member such as a sponge abutting on the lower end of the tilted substrate or a suction nozzle is used. A liquid member may be provided. Thereby, the liquid on a board | substrate can be excluded efficiently.
The substrate processing apparatus may further include an inert gas supply mechanism (18, 19) for supplying an inert gas to the one surface of the substrate held by the substrate holding mechanism. In this case, when the control means further controls the inert gas supply mechanism to incline the substrate and remove the rinse liquid from one surface thereof, at least the rinse liquid is eliminated on one surface of the substrate. It is preferable that the inert gas from the inert gas supply means is supplied to the region.

According to this configuration, by supplying an inert gas to the region where the rinse liquid on the upper surface of the substrate is removed, an exposed region of the substrate surface and a boundary region between the exposed region and the region where the rinse liquid exists (hereinafter, "Boundary region") can be placed in an inert gas atmosphere, and the generation of particles due to oxygen on the substrate surface can be suppressed.
The substrate processing apparatus includes a blocking member (10) having a substrate facing surface (11) that can be disposed close to the one surface of the substrate held by the substrate holding mechanism, and the blocking member held by the substrate holding mechanism. It is preferable to further include a blocking member moving mechanism (21) for approaching / separating from the one surface of the substrate. In this case, the control means further controls the blocking member moving mechanism, and when the inert gas from the inert gas supply means is supplied to one surface of the substrate, the substrate facing surface of the blocking member It is preferable that the blocking member moving mechanism is controlled to be arranged at a predetermined position close to one surface of the substrate.

According to this configuration, the inert gas is supplied to the space in a state where the substrate facing surface of the blocking member is brought close to the upper surface of the substrate and the space near the upper surface is limited. As a result, it is possible to ensure an inert gas atmosphere around the exposed area and the boundary area on the upper surface of the substrate.
The substrate processing apparatus further includes a blocking member tilting mechanism (60) for tilting the blocking member so that the substrate facing surface is tilted following the tilt of the substrate when the substrate is tilted by the substrate tilting mechanism. It is preferable to include.

  According to this configuration, when the substrate is tilted, the substrate facing surface of the blocking member is also tilted accordingly, so that the substrate facing surface can be made sufficiently close to the upper surface of the substrate. Therefore, during the period in which the rinse liquid is removed from the upper surface of the substrate, the space in the vicinity of the upper surface of the substrate is favorably limited by the blocking member throughout. Thereby, the periphery of the exposed area and the boundary area on the upper surface of the substrate can be surely set to an inert gas atmosphere.

  The blocking member tilting mechanism may be the same tilting mechanism (60) as the substrate tilting mechanism. Such a tilting mechanism includes, for example, a blocking member holding mechanism (23) that holds the blocking member, a movable frame (61) that holds the substrate holding mechanism, and the movable frame is rotated about a predetermined horizontal axis. The structure provided with a rotation drive mechanism (65) may be sufficient. With this configuration, the blocking member and the substrate held by the substrate holding mechanism can be integrally tilted by the rotation of the movable frame.

The inert gas supply means preferably supplies the inert gas toward the one surface of the substrate at a flow rate smaller than the flow rate at which the rinsing liquid mass on the one surface of the substrate is destroyed.
With this configuration, the liquid mass of the rinsing liquid can be retained, so that the generation of streak particles accompanying the destruction of the liquid mass of the rinsing liquid is suppressed or prevented, and the exposed area on the upper surface of the substrate and the vicinity of the boundary area are inactive. A gas atmosphere can be obtained.

Preferably, the substrate processing apparatus further includes a rinsing liquid replenishing mechanism (50) for newly supplying a rinsing liquid to the rinsing liquid on the one surface of the substrate that is inclined by the substrate tilting mechanism.
According to this configuration, it is possible to prevent breakage of the liquid mass of the rinse liquid on the substrate by newly replenishing the rinse liquid on the substrate surface. Therefore, even when the angle formed by the substrate in the inclined posture with respect to the horizontal plane is large, breakage of the liquid mass of the rinsing liquid can be avoided, so that the rinsing liquid can be quickly removed from the upper surface of the substrate. As a result, the processing time can be shortened.

  A substrate processing apparatus according to a second aspect of the present invention supplies a rinsing liquid to a substrate holding mechanism (1) capable of holding a substrate substantially horizontally, and an upper surface of the substrate held by the substrate holding mechanism. A gas spray region is formed on the upper surface of the substrate by spraying a gas onto the upper surface of the substrate held by the rinse liquid supply mechanism (15, 17) and the substrate holding mechanism, and the gas spray region covers the upper surface of the substrate. A gas knife mechanism (70) capable of scanning the entire region in one direction, and a rinsing liquid on the upper surface of the substrate in a region downstream of the gas spraying region in the scanning direction of the gas spraying region with respect to the gas spraying region formed by the gas knife mechanism A rinsing liquid replenishing mechanism (77-80) to be supplied and a substrate drying means (2) for drying the surface of the substrate held by the substrate holding mechanism.

  According to this configuration, the rinsing liquid is eliminated from the upper surface of the substrate by blowing gas onto the upper surface of the substrate by the gas knife mechanism, moving the gas blowing area on the upper surface of the substrate in one direction, and scanning the upper surface of the substrate. The At this time, since the rinsing liquid is supplied to the substrate surface on the downstream side in the movement direction of the gas spraying region, the liquid mass of the rinsing liquid is hardly divided in this region, and is maintained in a large liquid mass state. Thus, the rinse liquid is removed by the gas knife mechanism while maintaining a large liquid mass (preferably a single liquid mass) on the upper surface of the substrate. As a result, the generation of streak particles can be suppressed or prevented.

Thus, if the rinse liquid is removed from the substrate surface by the gas knife mechanism and then the substrate surface is dried by the substrate drying means, a trace amount of rinse liquid remaining on the substrate can be eliminated.
The substrate processing apparatus controls the substrate drying means, the rinse liquid supply mechanism, the gas knife mechanism, and the rinse liquid supply mechanism, and after the rinse liquid supply mechanism supplies the rinse liquid to the upper surface of the substrate, The top surface of the substrate is scanned in the gas spray area formed by the gas knife mechanism, and the rinse liquid is removed from the top surface of the substrate by supplying the rinse liquid from the rinse liquid replenishment mechanism to the area downstream of the gas spray area in the scan direction. Then, it is preferable to further include a control means (40) for drying the liquid component on the substrate by the substrate drying means.

With this configuration, since the substrate is dried after the rinsing liquid is removed from the upper surface of the substrate by the gas knife mechanism, it is possible to suppress or prevent the movement of the micro droplets on the upper surface of the substrate. Thereby, generation | occurrence | production of a streak-like particle can be suppressed.
The substrate drying means may include a substrate rotating means (2) for rotating the substrate held by the substrate holding mechanism. In this case, it is preferable that when the substrate is dried, the control unit rotates the substrate by the substrate rotating unit to shake off the droplets remaining on the end surface of the substrate. With this configuration, if the rinse liquid is removed from the substrate surface by the gas knife mechanism and then the substrate is rotated by the substrate holding and rotating mechanism, a small amount of rinse liquid remaining on the end surface of the substrate can be shaken off by centrifugal force.

The gas knife mechanism may form the linear gas blowing region (75, 81 to 85) on the upper surface of the substrate. According to this configuration, the rinse liquid can be efficiently removed from the upper surface of the substrate by moving the linear gas spray region.
The gas knife mechanism may form a concave linear gas spraying region (81, 84) on the upper surface of the substrate with a central portion set back toward the upstream side in the scanning direction of the gas spraying region. According to this configuration, since the linear gas blowing region has a shape with the central portion set back toward the upstream side in the moving direction, the rinsing liquid is collected inside the linear gas blowing region, The rinse liquid can be removed from the upper surface of the substrate. Thereby, the division of the liquid mass of the rinse liquid can be more reliably suppressed or prevented.

The substrate processing apparatus tilts a substrate held by the substrate holding mechanism from a horizontal posture in which an upper surface thereof is along a horizontal plane to an inclined posture in which the upper surface is inclined by a predetermined angle with respect to the horizontal plane ( 25).
According to this configuration, it is possible to more reliably eliminate droplets on the upper surface of the substrate by using the tilt of the substrate and the gas knife mechanism in combination. In this case, since the rinsing liquid is replenished in the region downstream of the gas knife in the scanning direction, the liquid mass of the rinsing liquid on the upper surface of the substrate can be suppressed or prevented from being divided, and the minute liquid of the rinsing liquid is formed on the upper surface of the substrate It is possible to suppress or prevent droplets from remaining.

  A substrate processing method according to one aspect of the present invention includes a substrate holding step of holding a substrate (W) in a posture in which one surface is directed upward by a substrate holding mechanism (1, 101), and the substrate holding step includes: A rinsing liquid supply step of supplying a rinsing liquid to the one surface (upper surface) of the substrate held by the substrate holding mechanism, and after the rinsing liquid supply step, the substrate held by the substrate holding mechanism is A state in which the rinse liquid on the one surface forms a liquid mass on the one surface by inclining the horizontal surface from the horizontal posture along the horizontal surface to the inclined posture in which the one surface is inclined by a predetermined angle with respect to the horizontal surface. The substrate tilting step of removing the substrate by moving it downward, and the drying step of drying the surface of the substrate after the substrate tilting step are included.

The substrate tilting step is preferably a step of tilting the substrate so that the trailing edge of the liquid mass moving on one surface of the substrate moves at a speed of 3 to 20 millimeters per second. By this method, it is possible to exclude the rinse liquid from the upper surface of the substrate while more reliably suppressing or preventing the breakage of the liquid mass of the rinse liquid on the upper surface of the substrate.
A substrate processing method according to another aspect of the present invention includes a substrate holding step of holding the substrate (W) substantially horizontally by the substrate holding mechanism (1), and the substrate held by the substrate holding mechanism in the substrate holding step. A rinsing liquid supplying step for supplying a rinsing liquid to the upper surface of the substrate, and after this rinsing liquid supplying step, gas is blown onto the upper surface of the substrate held by the substrate holding mechanism by a gas knife mechanism (70) to the upper surface of the substrate. A gas knife step of forming a gas blowing region (75, 81 to 85) and scanning the entire area of the upper surface of the substrate in one direction in the gas blowing region, and in parallel with the gas knife step, on the upper surface of the substrate, Rinsing liquid replenishment step of supplying a rinsing liquid to a region downstream of the gas blowing region in the scanning direction with respect to the gas blowing region formed by the gas knife mechanism And a drying step of drying the surface of the substrate after the gas knife step and the rinsing liquid replenishment step. The drying step rotates the substrate held by the substrate holding mechanism to the end surface of the substrate. A step of shaking off the remaining droplets may be included.

In addition, the drying step may include a step of irradiating the substrate held by the substrate holding mechanism with infrared rays from the infrared ray generating means.
The rinsing liquid supply step preferably includes a liquid film coating step of covering the entire surface of the one surface of the substrate held horizontally by the substrate holding mechanism in the substrate holding step with a liquid film of a rinsing liquid.

In the rinsing liquid supply process, it is preferable that the liquid film coating process is performed through a liquid mass growth process in which a large liquid mass of the rinse liquid is grown on the upper surface of the substrate while the substrate is stopped or rotated at a low speed.
The above-mentioned or other objects, features, and effects of the present invention will be clarified by the following description of embodiments with reference to the accompanying drawings.

It is an illustration figure for demonstrating the structure of the substrate processing apparatus which concerns on 1st Embodiment of this invention. It is a top view of the spin chuck with which the substrate processing device was equipped. It is a block diagram for demonstrating the electrical structure of the said substrate processing apparatus. 4A to 4E are diagrams for explaining the flow of substrate processing by the substrate processing apparatus. It is a time chart for demonstrating the control content by a control apparatus. It is an illustration figure for demonstrating the modification of 1st Embodiment. It is an illustration for demonstrating the structure of the modification of a board | substrate inclination mechanism. It is an illustrative perspective view for demonstrating the structure of the substrate processing apparatus of 2nd Embodiment of this invention. It is an illustration figure which shows the structure of the whole substrate processing apparatus of 2nd Embodiment. It is an illustration sectional view for explaining the composition of the substrate processing device concerning a 3rd embodiment of this invention. FIG. 5 is a schematic plan view of a substrate processing apparatus according to the third embodiment. It is a block diagram for demonstrating the structure for control of the substrate processing apparatus which concerns on the said 3rd Embodiment. It is a flowchart for demonstrating an example of operation | movement of the substrate processing apparatus which concerns on the said 3rd Embodiment. It is an illustration figure which shows embodiment which removes the pure water liquid mass on a board | substrate together using the inclination of a board | substrate, and a gas knife. 15 (a) to 15 (e) are illustrative views showing a modification of the shape of the gas spray region.

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.
FIG. 1 is an illustrative view for explaining the configuration of a substrate processing apparatus according to a first embodiment of the present invention. This substrate processing apparatus is a single wafer processing apparatus for performing processing with a processing liquid on a substantially circular substrate W such as a semiconductor wafer, and holds the substrate W in a substantially horizontal posture. A spin chuck 1 for rotating around a substantially vertical rotation axis passing through the center is provided. The substrate W is a substrate whose device forming surface is a hydrophobic surface, such as a silicon wafer having a low-k film formed on the surface thereof. Such a substrate W is held by the spin chuck 1 with its device formation surface (hydrophobic surface) facing upward.

  The spin chuck 1 is fixed to the upper end of a rotating shaft 3 rotated by a chuck rotation drive mechanism 2, and has a substantially disc-shaped spin base 4 and a plurality of peripheral portions of the spin base 4 at substantially equal angular intervals. And a plurality of clamping members 5 for clamping the substrate W. The rotating shaft 3 is a hollow shaft, and a lower surface processing liquid supply pipe 6 to which a chemical liquid or a pure water as a processing liquid is selectively supplied is inserted into the rotating shaft 3. The lower surface processing liquid supply tube 6 extends to a position close to the lower surface center of the substrate W held by the spin chuck 1, and a lower surface nozzle that discharges the processing liquid toward the lower surface center of the substrate W at the tip thereof. 7 is formed.

A chemical solution from a chemical solution (for example, etching solution) supply source can be supplied to the lower surface treatment solution supply pipe 6 via a chemical solution valve 8, and pure water (deionized pure water) from the pure water supply source can be supplied. ) Can be supplied through the pure water valve 9.
Above the spin chuck 1, there is provided a disk-shaped blocking plate 10 having a substrate facing surface 11 on the lower surface, which has substantially the same diameter as the substrate W and faces the upper surface of the substrate W. On the upper surface of the blocking plate 10, a rotation shaft 12 is fixed along an axis common to the rotation shaft 3 of the spin chuck 1. The rotary shaft 12 is a hollow shaft, and a processing liquid nozzle 15 for supplying a processing liquid to the upper surface of the substrate W is inserted through the rotary shaft 12. The treatment liquid nozzle 15 can be supplied with a chemical liquid from the chemical liquid valve 16 or pure water (deionized pure water, an example of a rinse liquid) from the pure water valve 17.

  Further, a nitrogen gas supply passage 18 for supplying nitrogen gas as an inert gas toward the center of the upper surface of the substrate W is formed between the inner wall surface of the rotating shaft 12 and the outer wall surface of the processing liquid nozzle 15. is doing. The nitrogen gas supplied from the nitrogen gas supply passage 18 is supplied to the space between the upper surface of the substrate W and the lower surface of the blocking plate 10 (substrate facing surface 11). Nitrogen gas is supplied to the nitrogen gas supply passage 18 via a nitrogen gas valve 19 and a flow rate adjusting unit 30. The flow rate adjusting unit 30 is for changing the supply flow rate of the nitrogen gas supplied to the nitrogen gas supply passage 18 (for example, changing it in two stages).

  The rotary shaft 12 is attached in a state of hanging from the vicinity of the tip of the arm 20 provided along a substantially horizontal direction. In relation to the arm 20, the arm 20 is moved up and down to bring the blocking plate 10 close to the upper surface of the substrate W held by the spin chuck 1 and a retreat position where the retreat position is largely retracted above the spin chuck 1. A blocking plate raising / lowering drive mechanism 21 for raising and lowering between them is provided. Further, in connection with the arm 20, a blocking plate rotation drive mechanism 22 for rotating the blocking plate 10 in synchronization with the rotation of the substrate W by the spin chuck 1 is provided.

The substrate facing surface 11 of the blocking plate 10 is brought close to the upper surface of the substrate W, and nitrogen gas is introduced between the substrate facing surface 11 and the substrate W, so that the vicinity of the upper surface of the substrate W can be maintained in a nitrogen gas atmosphere. it can.
FIG. 2 is a plan view of the spin chuck 1. In the spin chuck 1, for example, three clamping members 5 are arranged at substantially equal intervals on the peripheral edge of the disc-shaped spin base 4. Each sandwiching member 5 includes a support portion 35 that supports the lower surface of the peripheral edge of the substrate W by point contact, and a sandwiching portion 36 that contacts the peripheral end surface of the substrate W. The support member 35 is centered around the vertical axis. Thus, the holding unit 36 can be in a holding state in which the holding unit 36 is in contact with the peripheral end surface of the substrate W and in a released state in which the holding unit 36 is retracted from the peripheral end surface of the substrate W. It has become. These clamping members 5 are driven synchronously by a clamping member drive mechanism 13 (see FIG. 1).

  As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, a substrate tilting mechanism 25 for tilting the substrate W held by the spin chuck 1 is disposed on the side of the spin chuck 1. The substrate tilt mechanism 25 includes a substantially L-shaped swing arm 26 that extends in the horizontal direction, a substrate support member 27 provided on the upper surface of the tip of the swing arm 26, and the swing arm 26. A swing drive mechanism 28 that swings around the vertical axis about the base end portion and an arm lift drive mechanism 29 that lifts and lowers the swing arm 26 are provided. The substrate support member 27 swings the swing arm 26 by the swing drive mechanism 28, so that the substrate W is held on the spin chuck 1 while the substrate W is held between the upper surface of the spin base 4 and the lower surface of the substrate W. Can get in. Further, the swing arm 26 is raised by the arm raising / lowering drive mechanism 29 to bring the upper end of the substrate support member 27 into contact with the lower surface of the peripheral portion of the substrate W, and the peripheral portion of the substrate W is supported by the substrate support member 27. Can be supported and lifted.

  Accordingly, in a state in which the holding of the substrate W by the holding member 5 is released, the substrate supporting member 27 lifts one portion of the peripheral edge of the substrate W, thereby changing the posture of the substrate W from a horizontal posture substantially parallel to the horizontal surface. It is possible to change to an inclined posture inclined relative to. When the substrate tilting mechanism 25 is operated to tilt the substrate W, the spin chuck 1 enters at least one of the plurality of holding members 5 on the lower side with respect to the tilt direction and enters below the substrate W. The rotational position of the substrate support member 27 is controlled so that it does not interfere with any of the clamping members 5. Specifically, when the three clamping members 5 are arranged at substantially equal intervals along the peripheral edge of the disc-shaped spin base 4, one of them supports the substrate across the rotation center of the spin chuck 1. The rotational position of the spin chuck 1 is controlled so as to face the member 27. The rotational position of the spin chuck 1 is controlled by, for example, providing a rotational position sensor 39 (see FIG. 3) such as a rotary encoder in association with the spin chuck 1 and driving the chuck based on the output of the rotational position sensor 39. This can be realized by controlling the mechanism 2.

  FIG. 3 is a block diagram for explaining an electrical configuration of the substrate processing apparatus. The operations of the chuck rotation driving mechanism 2, the clamping member driving mechanism 13, the blocking plate lifting / lowering driving mechanism 21, the blocking plate rotating / driving mechanism 22, the swing driving mechanism 28, and the arm lifting / lowering driving mechanism 29 are controlled by a control device 40 including a computer. It has become so. The control device 40 further controls the opening / closing of the chemical liquid valve 16, the pure water valve 17, the nitrogen gas valve 19, the chemical liquid valve 8, and the pure water valve 9. An output signal of a rotational position sensor 39 that detects the rotational position of the spin chuck 1 is input to the control device 40.

  4 (a) to 4 (e) are diagrams for explaining the flow of processing of the substrate W by the substrate processing apparatus. FIG. 5 is a time chart for explaining the contents of control by the control device 40. The rotation / stop of the spin chuck 1 (FIG. 5 (a)), the opening / closing of the chemical solution valve 16 (FIG. 5 (b)), The opening and closing of the pure water valve 17 (FIG. 5C), the tilting state of the substrate W by the substrate tilting mechanism 25 (FIG. 5D), and the opening and closing of the nitrogen gas valve 19 (FIG. 5E) are shown. Yes.

  When an unprocessed substrate W is delivered to the spin chuck 1 from a substrate transfer robot (not shown), the control device 40 first performs a chemical solution process for supplying a chemical solution to the substrate W as shown in FIG. Execute the process. Specifically, the control device 40 controls the sandwiching member drive mechanism 13 to place the sandwiching member 5 in a sandwiched state in which the substrate W is sandwiched. Next, the control device 40 controls the chuck rotation driving mechanism 2 to rotate the spin chuck 1. At the same time, the control device 40 opens the chemical liquid valves 8 and 16 to supply the chemical liquid from the processing liquid nozzle 15 toward the upper surface of the substrate W. At this time, the blocking plate 10 is retracted to a position spaced upward from the substrate W, and the pure water valve 17 is held in a closed state.

In this way, the chemical liquid is supplied to the upper and lower surfaces of the substrate W, and the substrate W is rotated in a horizontal posture together with the spin chuck 1, whereby the chemical liquid spreads over the entire upper and lower surfaces of the substrate W, and the substrate processing by this chemical liquid is performed. Progresses. During this chemical treatment process, the nitrogen gas valve 19 may be opened or closed.
When such a chemical solution process is performed over a certain period of time, the control device 40 then executes a rinsing process for replacing the chemical solution on the substrate W with pure water, as shown in FIG. 4B. . That is, the control device 40 closes the chemical liquid valves 8 and 16 and opens the pure water valves 9 and 17 instead. Thereby, pure water is supplied to the upper and lower surfaces of the substrate W, and the substrate W is rotated in a horizontal posture together with the spin chuck 1, and the pure water spreads over the entire upper and lower surfaces of the substrate W. Thus, the chemical solution is replaced with pure water on the upper and lower surfaces of the substrate W. During the rinsing process, it is preferable that the nitrogen gas valve 19 is opened and the substrate W is surrounded by a nitrogen gas atmosphere.

  At the end of the rinsing process, the controller 40 controls the chuck rotation drive mechanism 2 to decelerate the rotation speed of the spin chuck 1 and stop its rotation. At this time, the control device 40 controls the rotation stop position of the spin chuck 1 based on the output of the rotation position sensor 39. That is, as described above, one of the holding members 5 is located at a position facing the substrate support member 27 of the substrate tilting mechanism 25 across the rotation center of the spin chuck 1, and any of the holding members 5 is also the substrate support member 27. The rotation stop position of the spin chuck 1 is controlled so as not to interfere with the rotation.

  After stopping the rotation of the spin chuck 1, the control device 40 closes the pure water valves 9 and 17 with a delay of a certain time (for example, about 5 seconds). Therefore, when the rotation of the spin chuck 1 becomes an extremely low speed rotation state, the pure water liquid mass 45 starts to grow on the upper surface of the substrate W (liquid mass growth step). Then, until the pure water valves 9 and 17 are closed by the supply of pure water continued even after the rotation of the spin chuck 1 is stopped, the upper surface of the substrate W is almost the same as shown in FIG. A pure water liquid mass (liquid film) 45 covering the entire area grows (liquid film coating step). In the liquid film coating process after the rotation of the spin chuck 1 is stopped, the control device 40 controls the clamping member drive mechanism 13 to release the clamping member 5. Thereby, it is possible to suppress the pure water from flowing down along the holding member 5, and the pure water liquid mass 45 is easily grown.

  From this state, the control device 40 executes a pure water removing step of inclining the substrate W and removing pure water from the upper surface of the substrate W, as shown in FIG. That is, the control device 40 controls the swing drive mechanism 28 and the arm elevating drive mechanism 29 so that the substrate support member 27 enters the gap between the upper surface of the spin base 4 and the lower surface of the substrate W. At this time, the control device 40 holds the holding member 5 in the released state and releases the holding of the substrate W under the control of the holding member driving mechanism 13. In a state where the holding of the substrate W is released, the control device 40 controls the arm lifting drive mechanism 29 to raise the substrate support member 27 to a predetermined height.

  As a result, the substrate W has an inclined posture inclined by a predetermined angle θ (for example, 1 to 5 degrees) with respect to the horizontal plane. The angle θ is determined so that the pure water liquid mass 45 moves downward while maintaining a single liquid mass state without being divided, and is removed from the upper surface of the substrate W. More specifically, the height at which the substrate support member 27 is raised is determined so that such an angle is formed between the inclined substrate W and the horizontal plane.

In order to exclude the pure water liquid mass 45 from the lower side of the substrate W in a single liquid mass state, the trailing edge 45a of the pure water liquid mass 45 moving on the upper surface of the substrate W (the uppermost side of the pure water liquid mass 45). It is preferable that the angle θ is determined so that the moving speed of the edge portion is 3 to 20 millimeters per second, more preferably 3 to 5 millimeters per second.
The lower edge of the inclined substrate W is positioned at a position facing the substrate support member 27 across the rotation center of the spin chuck 1 (that is, a position corresponding to the end surface of the lowest position of the inclined substrate W). A certain clamping member 5 comes into contact. Therefore, the pure water liquid mass 45 that has flowed down on the upper surface of the substrate W is guided so as to travel along the clamping member 5, and smoothly flows down from the upper surface of the substrate W.

  Prior to the deionized water removal step by tilting the substrate W, the control device 40 controls the blocking plate lifting / lowering drive mechanism 21 so that the substrate facing surface 11 is moved to the substrate so that the blocking plate 10 does not contact the tilted substrate W. Close to the upper surface of W. Specifically, when the substrate facing surface 11 is positioned at a height equal to or higher than a predetermined lower limit height (= substrate diameter × tan θ) from the upper surface of the substrate W in the horizontal posture, the blocking plate 10 does not contact the substrate W. .

  In addition, the control device 40 keeps the nitrogen gas valve 19 in an open state during the pure water removal process. In this way, the space above the substrate W is limited by the blocking plate 10, and this limited space is filled with nitrogen gas. In this state, the tilting operation of the substrate W by the substrate tilting mechanism 25 is started. As a result, a region where the pure water is excluded (exposed region) on the upper surface of the substrate W and a boundary region (boundary region) between the exposed region and the region where the pure water liquid mass 45 is present are kept throughout the pure water removing process. Since it is placed in a nitrogen gas atmosphere, the formation of oxides in these regions can be suppressed or prevented.

  In the deionized water removal step, the control device 40 controls the flow rate adjusting unit 30 to set the supply flow rate of nitrogen gas to a predetermined small flow rate. At this time, the supply flow rate of the nitrogen gas is set to a value smaller than the flow rate at which the pure water liquid mass 45 on the substrate W is destroyed. Specifically, the supply flow rate of nitrogen gas at this time is preferably 1 to 10 liters / minute, and more preferably 5 liters / minute.

During the pure water removal step, the blocking plate 10 may be rotated or may be in a stopped state.
Thus, after the pure water liquid mass 45 on the substrate W is removed, the control device 40 controls the arm lifting drive mechanism 29 to lower the substrate support member 27. As a result, the substrate W is returned to the horizontal posture supported by the sandwiching member 5. Further, the control device 40 controls the swing drive mechanism 28 to swing the swing arm 26 and retract the substrate support member 27 to the side of the spin chuck 1.

  Next, the control device 40 controls the holding member driving mechanism 13 to hold the substrate W by the holding member 5. Then, as shown in FIG. 4 (e), the control device 40 controls the chuck rotation drive mechanism 2 to keep the spin chuck 1 at a predetermined drying rotation speed (for example, 3000 rpm) for a predetermined time (for example, 15 seconds to 30 seconds). ) Rotate and perform the drying process. Thereby, even if a minute water droplet remains on the peripheral end surface of the substrate W, the water droplet is shaken off by the centrifugal force. Since these minute water droplets do not pass through the device formation region on the upper surface of the substrate W, they do not cause streak-like particles.

  In the drying process, the control device 40 controls the shield plate lifting / lowering drive mechanism 21 to bring the substrate facing surface 11 of the shield plate 10 close to the upper surface of the substrate W, for example, to a distance of about 0.5 mm to 5.0 mm, The blocking plate 10 is rotated in the same direction as the substrate W by the blocking plate rotation drive mechanism 22. As a result, the space above the substrate W is limited, the limited space is filled with nitrogen gas, and this nitrogen gas forms an air flow toward the outside of the substrate W. Therefore, it is possible to suppress or prevent an undesired oxide from being formed on the upper surface of the substrate W or a scattered matter from the processing chamber from adhering to the surface of the substrate W.

In the drying process, the control device 40 controls the flow rate adjusting unit 30 to set the supply flow rate of the nitrogen gas to a predetermined large flow rate. The supply flow rate of nitrogen gas at this time is set larger than the supply flow rate in the pure water removal step. Specifically, the supply flow rate of nitrogen gas at this time is preferably 5 to 20 liters / minute, and more preferably 10 liters / minute.
After performing such a drying process for a predetermined time (for example, 15 seconds to 30 seconds), the control device 40 controls the chuck rotation driving mechanism 2 to stop the rotation of the spin chuck 1, and the blocking plate lifting / lowering driving mechanism 21. To control the holding member drive mechanism 13 to release the holding of the substrate W by the holding member 5 and to close the nitrogen gas valve 19.

Thereafter, the processed substrate W is unloaded from the spin chuck 1 by the substrate transfer robot.
As described above, according to this embodiment, before the drying process is performed by rotating the spin chuck 1 at a high speed, the large pure water liquid mass 45 grown on the substrate W is divided by tilting the substrate W. And can be excluded outside the substrate W. That is, the pure water liquid mass 45 falls without leaving microdroplets on the upper surface of the substrate W. Therefore, since fine droplets do not remain on the upper surface (device formation surface) of the substrate W, the problem of streak-like particles can be overcome.

  FIG. 6 is an illustrative view for explaining a modification of the above-described embodiment. In this modification, a moving nozzle 50 that can move a pure water supply position on the substrate W while supplying pure water as a rinsing liquid to the surface of the substrate W is provided. Pure water from a pure water supply source is supplied to the moving nozzle 50 via a pure water valve 51. The opening and closing of the pure water valve 51 is controlled by the control device 40 described above. A nozzle moving mechanism 52 is provided to move the moving nozzle 50 horizontally above the spin chuck 1, and the operation of the nozzle moving mechanism 52 is also controlled by the control device 40. .

  During the pure water exclusion process in which the substrate W is tilted by the substrate tilt mechanism 25 and the pure water liquid mass 45 on the upper surface of the substrate W is excluded, the control device 40 opens the pure water valve 51 and moves the nozzle moving mechanism 52 to the The moving nozzle 50 is controlled to move above the substrate W in the inclined posture. More specifically, the landing point 55 of pure water from the moving nozzle 50 is below the trailing edge 45a of the pure water liquid mass 45 moving on the substrate W. The moving nozzle 50 is moved so that the state located at is maintained.

  According to this configuration, since the pure water liquid mass 45 can be more reliably prevented from being broken by replenishing the pure water liquid mass 45 from the moving nozzle 50, the pure water on the upper surface of the substrate W can be prevented. Water can be eliminated more efficiently. Therefore, since the split of the pure water liquid mass 45 can be prevented even if the angle θ with respect to the horizontal plane when the substrate W is inclined is relatively large, the removal of pure water from the upper surface of the substrate W can be advanced more quickly. it can. Thereby, processing time can be shortened.

  FIG. 7 is an illustrative view for explaining the configuration of a modified example of the substrate tilting mechanism for tilting the substrate W. FIG. The substrate tilt mechanism 60 includes a movable plate 61 that commonly holds the spin chuck 1 and the shield plate holding mechanism 23 including the arm 20, the shield plate lifting / lowering drive mechanism 21 and the shield plate rotation drive mechanism 22. The movable frame 61 is supported by a pair of rotation support shafts 63 and 64 that rotate around a horizontal rotation axis 62 that passes through the approximate center of the substrate W held substantially horizontally by the spin chuck 1. One rotation support shaft 63 is coupled to a rotation drive mechanism 65 that can rotate the rotation support shaft 63 around the rotation axis 62 in both directions. The rotation drive mechanism 65 is controlled by the control device 40 described above.

  In this configuration, the pure water removing step described above can be executed by tilting the spin chuck 1 and the blocking plate 10 integrally by the angle θ under the control of the rotation drive mechanism 65. And since the board | substrate opposing surface 11 of the shielding board 10 inclines following the inclination of the board | substrate W and both are hold | maintained in a parallel state, in the pure water exclusion process, the board | substrate opposing surface 11 of the shielding board 10 is made into the upper surface of the board | substrate W Can be arranged closer to each other. As a result, the vicinity of the upper surface of the substrate W can be surely set in a nitrogen gas atmosphere.

FIG. 8 is a schematic perspective view for explaining the configuration of the substrate processing apparatus according to the second embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 9 is a schematic side view showing an operation state. 8 and 9, the functionally equivalent parts to those shown in FIGS. 1 to 7 are given the same reference numerals.
The substrate processing apparatus includes a gas knife mechanism 70 that can move in the horizontal direction above the substrate W held by the spin chuck 1 (below the blocking plate 10). The gas knife mechanism 70 is interposed in a gas nozzle 71 having a straight slot-like gas discharge port 71 a, a nitrogen gas supply pipe 72 that supplies nitrogen gas as an inert gas to the gas nozzle 71, and the nitrogen gas supply pipe 72. A nitrogen gas valve 73 and a gas nozzle moving mechanism 74 for moving the gas nozzle 71 horizontally above the spin chuck 1. The opening and closing of the nitrogen gas valve 73 and the operation of the gas nozzle moving mechanism 74 are controlled by the control device 40.

The gas nozzle 71 forms a gas knife 76 by nitrogen gas discharged from the gas discharge port 71 a, and the gas knife 76 forms a linear gas spray region 75 on the surface of the substrate W. The gas blowing region 75 extends over a range longer than the diameter of the substrate W.
The substrate processing apparatus further includes a pair of moving nozzles 77 and 78 that can move the pure water supply position on the substrate W while supplying pure water as a rinse liquid to the surface of the substrate W. Pure water from a pure water supply source is supplied to these moving nozzles 77 and 78 via a pure water valve 79. The opening and closing of the pure water valve 79 is controlled by the control device 40 described above. Further, a nozzle moving mechanism 80 is provided to move the moving nozzles 77 and 78 in the horizontal direction above the spin chuck 1. The operation of the nozzle moving mechanism 80 is also controlled by the control device 40.

In the first embodiment described above, the pure water liquid mass 45 on the upper surface of the substrate W is eliminated by inclining the substrate W, but in the second embodiment, the substrate W is not inclined, The pure water liquid mass 45 is removed from the upper surface of the substrate W by the gas knife mechanism 70.
That is, the process up to FIG. 4C is performed in the same manner as in the first embodiment, and the gas nozzle moves in a state where the pure water liquid mass 45 covering almost the entire upper surface of the horizontal substrate W is formed. The mechanism 74 is activated. Specifically, the control device 40 opens the nitrogen gas valve 73 to supply nitrogen gas to the gas nozzle 71 and operates the gas nozzle moving mechanism 74. As a result, the gas blowing region 75 of the gas nozzle 71 scans the upper surface of the substrate W in one direction from the one peripheral end to the other peripheral end facing the same. Thereby, the pure water liquid mass 45 is swept away from the substrate W by the gas knife 76 formed by the nitrogen gas discharged from the gas nozzle 71 and eliminated.

Further, the control device 40 controls the nozzle moving mechanism 80 so that the liquid landing points of the moving nozzles 77 and 78 are located downstream of the gas blowing region 75 with respect to the moving direction R of the gas knife 76 and the moving direction R of the gas knife 76. Move in the same direction.
As a result, the pure water liquid mass 45 is removed from the upper surface of the substrate W by the gas knife 76, while the pure water liquid mass 45 can be prevented from being broken by supplying pure water downstream in the moving direction of the gas knife 76. . Accordingly, since the pure water liquid mass 45 is removed from the upper surface of the substrate W while maintaining a large liquid mass (preferably a single liquid mass), a minute liquid is formed in the device formation region on the upper surface of the substrate W. There is no risk of droplets remaining.

  In this embodiment, the pair of moving nozzles 77 and 78 are arranged so as to supply pure water to the upper surface of the substrate W from a position facing each other across the substrate W. These moving nozzles 77 and 78 may be straight nozzles or shower nozzles that supply pure water to the upper surface of the substrate W in a shower-like manner. It is not necessary to provide a pair of moving nozzles, and pure water may be replenished to the liquid mass 45 on the upper surface of the substrate W with one moving nozzle.

  The control device 40 closes the pure water valve 79 at the timing immediately before the liquid landing points of the moving nozzles 77 and 78 reach the peripheral end of the substrate W. When the gas spray region 75 of the gas knife 76 finishes scanning the entire upper surface of the substrate W, the control device 40 controls the gas nozzle moving mechanism 74 to retract the gas nozzle 71 to the side of the spin chuck 1 and The gas valve 73 is closed.

  Thereafter, as in the first embodiment, the drying step shown in FIG. 4 (e) is performed. That is, the control device 40 controls the chuck rotation driving mechanism 2 to rotate the spin chuck 1 at a high speed, and shakes and dries out fine droplets remaining on the peripheral end surface of the substrate W. Further, the control device 40 controls the shield plate lifting / lowering drive mechanism 21 to bring the substrate facing surface 11 of the shield plate 10 close to the upper surface of the substrate W, and further controls the shield plate rotation drive mechanism 22 to control the shield plate 10. Rotate.

As described above, according to this embodiment, the pure water liquid mass 45 on the upper surface of the substrate W is removed from the upper surface of the substrate W while maintaining a large liquid mass state. Generation or generation of particles can be suppressed or prevented.
FIG. 10 is an illustrative cross-sectional view for explaining the configuration of a substrate processing apparatus according to the third embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 11 is a schematic plan view thereof. The substrate processing apparatus includes a substrate holding mechanism 101 that holds a single substrate W in a non-rotating state, and a substrate posture change that changes the posture of the substrate W held by the substrate holding mechanism 101 between a horizontal posture and an inclined posture. A mechanism 102, a chemical nozzle 111 for supplying a chemical to the upper surface of the substrate W held by the substrate holding mechanism 101, and pure water as a rinsing liquid are supplied to the upper surface of the substrate W held by the substrate holding mechanism 101. A pure water nozzle 112 and a substrate drying unit 103 for drying the substrate W on the substrate holding mechanism 101 are provided. FIG. 11 shows a plan view of the configuration excluding the substrate drying unit 103.

  The substrate holding mechanism 101 holds the substrate W in a non-rotating state with the device formation surface as an upper surface. The substrate holding mechanism 101 includes a base 104 and three support pins 131, 132, and 133 protruding from the upper surface of the base 104. The support pins 131, 132, and 133 are respectively arranged at positions corresponding to the vertices of an equilateral triangle having the center of the substrate W as the center of gravity (in FIG. 10, for convenience, the support pins 131, 132, and 133 are actually arranged). These support pins 131, 132, and 133 are arranged along the vertical direction and are attached to the base 104. Among these, one support pin 133 is attached to the base 104 so as to be movable up and down, and the other two support pins 131 and 132 are fixed to the base 104. These support pins 131, 132, and 133 are configured such that their heads abut against the lower surface of the substrate W and support the substrate W. The substrate posture changing mechanism 102 includes a cylinder 105 that raises and lowers one of the support pins 131, 132, and 133. The drive shaft 105 a of the cylinder 105 is coupled to the support pin 133. Therefore, by driving the cylinder 105, the support pins 133 can be moved up and down, and the substrate support height can be made different from the substrate support heights of the other two support pins 131 and 132. As a result, the substrate W can be tilted from the horizontal posture indicated by the solid line in FIG. 10 to the inclined posture indicated by the two-dot chain line in FIG.

  Although the two support pins 131 and 132 are fixed to the base 104, the two support pins 131 and 132 are not necessarily fixed, and are attached to the base 104 so as to be movable up and down like the support pins 133. May be. That is, if at least one of the support pins 131, 132, and 133 is attached to the base 104 so as to be movable up and down, the inclination of the substrate W can be realized. Further, when the at least two support pins can be moved up and down with respect to the base 104, the inclination direction of the substrate W can be arbitrarily selected.

In this embodiment, the chemical nozzle 111 is a straight nozzle that discharges a chemical toward the center of the substrate W. A chemical liquid is supplied to the chemical liquid nozzle 111 via a chemical liquid valve 119.
Pure water from a pure water supply source is supplied to the pure water nozzle 112 via a pure water valve 120. In this embodiment, the pure water nozzle 112 is in the form of a straight nozzle that supplies pure water toward substantially the center of the substrate W.

  The substrate drying unit 103 is disposed above the substrate holding mechanism 101. The substrate drying unit 103 includes a disk-shaped plate heater (for example, a ceramic heater) 135 having substantially the same diameter as the substrate W. The plate heater 135 is supported in a substantially horizontal posture by a support cylinder 136 that is raised and lowered by an elevating mechanism 134. Further, below the plate heater 135, a thin disk-like filter plate 137 having the same diameter as the plate heater 135 is provided substantially horizontally (that is, substantially parallel to the plate heater 135). The filter plate 137 is made of quartz glass, and the disk heater 135 can irradiate the upper surface of the substrate W with infrared rays through the filter plate 137 made of quartz glass.

  A first nitrogen gas supply passage for supplying nitrogen gas whose temperature is adjusted to about room temperature (about 21 to 23 ° C.) as a cooling gas toward the central portion of the upper surface of the substrate W inside the support cylinder 136. 138 is formed. The nitrogen gas supplied from the first nitrogen gas supply passage 138 is supplied to a space between the upper surface of the substrate W and the lower surface (substrate facing surface) of the filter plate 137. Nitrogen gas is supplied to the first nitrogen gas supply passage 138 via a nitrogen gas valve 139.

  Further, around the first nitrogen gas supply passage 138, the temperature is about room temperature (about 21 to 23 ° C.) as a cooling gas in a space between the upper surface of the filter plate 137 and the lower surface of the plate heater 135. A second nitrogen gas supply passage 140 for supplying the adjusted nitrogen gas is formed. The nitrogen gas supplied from the second nitrogen gas supply passage 140 is supplied to the space between the upper surface of the filter plate 137 and the lower surface of the plate heater 135. Nitrogen gas is supplied to the second nitrogen gas supply passage 140 via a nitrogen gas valve 141.

When the substrate W on the substrate holding mechanism 101 is dried, the plate heater 135 is energized, the nitrogen gas valves 139 and 141 are opened, and the substrate facing surface (lower surface) of the filter plate 137 is brought close to the surface of the substrate W (for example, , Approaching to a distance of about 1mm). Thereby, the moisture on the surface of the substrate W is evaporated by the infrared rays that have passed through the filter plate 137.
The filter plate 137 made of quartz glass absorbs infrared rays in a part of the wavelength region of infrared rays. In other words, among the infrared rays irradiated from the plate heater 135, the infrared rays having a wavelength absorbed by the quartz glass are blocked by the filter plate 137, and the substrate W is hardly irradiated. Then, the substrate W is selectively irradiated with infrared rays in a wavelength region that passes through the filter plate 137, that is, quartz glass. Specifically, the plate heater 135 made of an infrared ceramic heater irradiates infrared rays having a wavelength region of about 3 to 20 μm. For example, quartz glass having a thickness of 5 mm absorbs infrared rays having a wavelength of 4 μm or more. Therefore, when these infrared ceramic heaters and quartz glass are used, the substrate W is selectively irradiated with infrared rays having a wavelength of about 3 μm to less than 4 μm.

  On the other hand, water has a property of particularly absorbing infrared rays having wavelengths of 3 μm and 6 μm. The infrared energy absorbed by water vibrates water molecules, and frictional heat is generated between the vibrated water molecules. That is, by irradiating water with infrared rays having a wavelength that is particularly absorbed by water, the water can be efficiently heated and dried. Therefore, when the substrate W is irradiated with infrared rays having a wavelength of about 3 μm, the pure water microdroplets adhering to the substrate W absorb the infrared rays and are dried by heating.

  Further, in the case of a silicon substrate, the substrate W itself has a property of absorbing infrared light having a wavelength longer than 7 μm and transmitting infrared light having a wavelength shorter than 7 μm. It is hardly heated. In other words, among the infrared rays irradiated from the infrared ceramic heater, the substrate W is almost absorbed by the substrate W by selectively irradiating the substrate W with infrared rays in a wavelength region that is efficiently absorbed by water and transmitted through the substrate W itself. Without heating, the fine droplets adhering to the substrate W can be efficiently heated and dried. The filter plate 137 may be made of a material that transmits infrared light having a wavelength that is efficiently absorbed by water and that absorbs infrared light having a wavelength that is absorbed by the substrate W itself.

  When the plate heater (ceramic heater) 135 is energized, convective heat transfer from the plate heater 135 to the substrate W can be considered, but this heat transfer is blocked by the filter plate 137. However, since the temperature of the space between the lower surface of the plate heater 135 and the upper surface of the filter plate 137 rises due to convection heat, the filter plate 137 is gradually heated, and the convection heat from the filter plate 137 is reduced to the substrate W. The substrate W may be heated. Therefore, by supplying nitrogen gas as a cooling gas to the space between the lower surface of the plate heater 135 and the upper surface of the filter plate 137, the temperature rise of the space is suppressed. The filter plate 137 absorbs infrared rays from the plate heater 135, but the supply of nitrogen gas between the plate heater 135 and the filter plate 137 can also suppress the temperature rise of the filter plate 137, and the filter plate 137 It is also possible to prevent the substrate W from being heated by the convection heat.

  FIG. 12 is a block diagram for explaining a configuration for controlling the substrate processing apparatus. The substrate processing apparatus includes a control unit 110 including a computer or the like. The control unit 110 controls the operation of the cylinder 105, the opening and closing of the chemical solution valve 119 and the pure water valve 120, the operation of the elevating mechanism 134, the energization of the plate heater 135, and the opening and closing of the nitrogen gas valves 139 and 140.

  FIG. 13 is a flowchart for explaining an example of the operation of the substrate processing apparatus of this embodiment. The unprocessed substrate W is carried into the substrate processing apparatus by a substrate transfer robot (not shown) and transferred to the support pins 131, 132, 132 of the substrate holding mechanism 101 (step S1). At this time, the substrate support heights of the support pins 131, 132, and 133 are equal, and the substrate W is supported in a horizontal posture. From this state, the control unit 110 opens the chemical liquid valve 119 and discharges the chemical liquid from the chemical liquid nozzle 111 toward the center of the substrate W (step S2). The chemical liquid flow rate at this time is a flow rate at which the chemical liquid supplied to the upper surface of the substrate W is held in a liquid accumulation state (paddle). Thus, the chemical liquid can be deposited on the upper surface of the substrate W. A chemical solution having a relatively low clay (for example, a mixed solution of ammonia and hydrogen peroxide) easily spreads over the entire surface of the substrate W when supplied from a chemical solution nozzle 111 having a straight nozzle configuration. When the chemical solution spreads over the entire surface of the substrate W, the control unit 110 closes the chemical solution valve 119 and stops the supply of the chemical solution (step S3). And the state where the chemical | medical solution was piled up on the upper surface of the board | substrate W of a horizontal attitude | position is hold | maintained only for fixed time. As long as the substrate W is held in a horizontal posture, the accumulated chemical liquid is held on the upper surface of the substrate W by the surface tension.

Thereafter, the control unit 110 drives the cylinder 105 to raise the substrate support height of the support pins 133. As a result, the substrate W assumes an inclined posture that descends from the substrate support pins 133 toward the center of the substrate W. Thereby, the chemical | medical solution currently piled up on the board | substrate W flows down from the board | substrate W (step S4).
After holding the inclined posture of the substrate W for a predetermined time, the control unit 110 drives the cylinder 105 to return the substrate support height of the support pins 133 to the original height. Thereby, the board | substrate W becomes a horizontal attitude | position (step S5). In this state, the controller 110 opens the pure water valve 120 and discharges pure water from the pure water nozzle 112 toward the center of the substrate W (step S6). At this time, the flow rate of the supplied pure water is set to a flow rate at which pure water can be deposited on the surface of the substrate W in a horizontal posture. In this way, when pure water is accumulated (paddle) on the upper surface of the substrate W and the pure water is spread over the entire upper surface, the control unit 110 closes the pure water valve 120 (step S7). As long as the substrate W is held in a horizontal posture, the pure water on the substrate W is held in a liquid state on the substrate W by its surface tension.

Thus, when the state in which pure water is accumulated on the surface of the substrate W is held for a certain period of time, the control unit 110 drives the cylinder 105 to increase the substrate support height of the support pins 133, Let W be an inclined posture. Thereby, the pure water accumulated on the surface of the substrate W flows down from the substrate W and is drained (step S8).
The control unit 110 holds the substrate W in the inclined posture for a predetermined time, and then drives the cylinder 105 to return the substrate support height of the support pins 133 to the original height. Thereby, the substrate W is returned to the horizontal posture (step S9).

  Next, the controller 110 causes the plate heater 135 to reach a predetermined processing position where the substrate facing surface (lower surface) of the filter plate 137 approaches the upper surface of the substrate W up to a predetermined distance (for example, 1 mm) by the elevating mechanism 134. Is lowered. Of course, prior to this, the chemical nozzle 111 and the pure water nozzle 112 are retracted to the outside of the substrate W. In this state, the control unit 110 energizes the plate heater 135. Thus, water droplets remaining on the substrate W after the inclined drainage are evaporated by infrared rays that pass through the filter plate 137 and reach the surface of the substrate W. The control unit 110 also opens the nitrogen gas valves 139 and 141 to supply nitrogen gas to the first and second nitrogen gas supply passages 138 and 140. As a result, nitrogen gas (cooling gas) adjusted to room temperature is supplied to the space between the substrate W and the filter plate 137 and the space between the filter plate 137 and the plate heater 135. Thus, while suppressing heat transfer from the plate heater 135 and the filter plate 137 to the substrate W, the upper surface of the substrate W is held in a nitrogen gas atmosphere, and infrared rays are absorbed by water droplets remaining on the upper surface of the substrate W, and the first nitrogen The substrate drying process can be performed by supplying nitrogen gas from the gas supply passage 138 (step S10).

After this drying process, the processed substrate W is carried out of the apparatus by the substrate transfer robot (step S11).
Thus, the process for one substrate W is completed. If there is an unprocessed substrate to be further processed, the same processing is repeated.
As described above, according to this embodiment, the support pins 131 and 132 are configured such that at least one of the three support pins 131, 132, and 133 provided in the substrate holding mechanism 101 is moved up and down by the cylinder 105. , 133 can be tilted, and the chemical solution or pure water on the substrate W can be excluded.

  Further, in this embodiment, the substrate W is not rotated by the substrate holding mechanism 101, but the substrate W is held in a horizontal posture or an inclined posture and the processing liquid is supplied to the substrate W. That is, the substrate W is held in a non-rotating state, and the upper surface of the substrate W is covered with a liquid film of the processing liquid, and the surface treatment of the substrate W is performed with this processing liquid. Therefore, the processing liquid does not jump out of the substrate W vigorously. Therefore, a guard for catching the scattered processing liquid is unnecessary, the configuration can be simplified, and the cost of the substrate processing apparatus can be reduced. Furthermore, since the diffusion of the spray of the processing liquid into the apparatus can be remarkably suppressed as compared with the conventional apparatus, the problem of atmospheric diffusion from the chemical solution deposit can be suppressed or prevented. Furthermore, there is no problem that the droplets that have jumped out of the substrate W at high speed bounce off the guard and reattach to the substrate W, so that the quality of the substrate processing can be improved.

In addition, since there is no need to rotate the substrate W at high speed, there is no need to provide a motor for rotating the substrate. Therefore, it is not necessary to take measures against dust generation around the motor. As a result, the manufacturing cost of the substrate processing apparatus can be further reduced.
Further, since a guard and a motor are unnecessary, it is not necessary to secure a large space around the substrate holding mechanism 101. Therefore, since the substrate W can be liquid-processed in a small space, the substrate processing apparatus can be greatly downsized. In other words, if the size of the substrate processing apparatus is set to be about the same as the conventional size, a large number of substrate processing units can be provided in the substrate processing apparatus. More specifically, a large number of substrate processing units of the same type or different types can be stacked one above the other.

Furthermore, since the chemical solution is deposited on the substrate W to perform the chemical treatment, the amount of the chemical solution used can be significantly reduced. Thereby, running cost can be reduced. Further, since the rinsing process after the chemical process is performed by the puddle process of pure water, the amount of pure water used can be reduced, and the running cost of the apparatus can be reduced accordingly.
Further, in the configuration in which the substrate W is dried by the high-speed rotation of the substrate W, a watermark may be generated due to the fine droplets scattered radially with the high-speed rotation. Since infrared drying is performed as a rotation state, the generation of watermarks can be suppressed or prevented.

Further, since it is not necessary to rotate the substrate W at a high speed, it is not necessary to provide a support member that firmly supports the substrate W. Further, there is no problem that a large load due to such a support member is applied to the substrate W, and defects such as chipping of the substrate W can be suppressed or prevented.
Furthermore, in the configuration in which the substrate W is rotated at a high speed, the problem of generation of static electricity due to friction between the chemical solution or air and the substrate surface is unavoidable, but in this embodiment, the substrate W is basically processed in a non-rotating manner. Thus, the problem of frictional charging can be suppressed or prevented.

  In order to separate and discharge the chemical liquid and the pure water, for example, a cylinder for raising and lowering one or both of the support pins 131 and 132 may be added. Thereby, since the inclination direction of the board | substrate W can be switched to 2 directions or 3 directions, the drain direction of a process liquid can be varied for every kind of process liquid. In the above example, the direction of draining the chemical liquid and the direction of draining pure water can be made different. Thereby, while recovering and reusing a chemical | medical solution, a pure water can be guide | induced to the waste-liquid installation of a factory.

  In this embodiment, the substrate W is held in a non-rotating state, and the top surface of the substrate W is covered with a liquid film of the processing liquid, and the surface treatment of the substrate W is performed with this processing liquid. However, surface treatment of the substrate W may be performed with the processing liquid while holding the substrate W in a low rotation state (for example, about 10 to 200 rpm) and supplying the processing liquid to the upper surface of the substrate W. Alternatively, the substrate W may be in a low rotation state only when the substrate W is dried by the substrate drying unit 103. Such a low rotation state of the substrate W can be realized, for example, by rotating a plurality of rollers that have a rotation axis substantially orthogonal to the surface of the substrate W and abut against the end surface of the substrate W. In this case, since the substrate W is not rotated at a high speed, a rotational drive source such as a motor or a cylinder can be made inexpensive and small, which is advantageous in terms of cost and space. In addition, when the processing liquid is supplied, the scattering of the processing liquid can be minimized. Further, the low rotation of the substrate W may be performed continuously or intermittently.

  While the three embodiments of the present invention have been described above, the present invention can also be implemented in other forms. For example, in the first and second embodiments, the spin chuck 1 made of a so-called mechanical chuck that sandwiches the peripheral end surface of the substrate W is used, but a vacuum chuck type that holds the lower surface of the substrate W by suction is held. The spin chuck may be used. In the first and second embodiments, if the substrate drying unit 103 described in the third embodiment is used, it is not necessary to rotate the substrate W at a high speed in the drying process. A substrate holding mechanism that holds the substrate in a rotating state can be applied.

  Moreover, in the said embodiment, although nitrogen gas is used as an inert gas, argon gas can be used as an inert gas besides this. Further, instead of the inert gas, air cleaned with a filter or the like (clean air) may be used. A gas drying process using these inert gases and clean air can also be performed. That is, instead of the substrate drying unit 103 described above, the surface of the substrate W is dried by supplying an inert gas or clean air heated to room temperature (for example, 23 ° C.) or 40 ° C. to 150 ° C. to the surface of the substrate W. You may do it. Also in this case, it is not always necessary to rotate the substrate W at a high speed in the gas drying step, and a substrate holding mechanism that holds the substrate W in a non-rotation state or a low rotation state can be applied. In drying using a gas such as an inert gas or clean air, supply of vapor of an organic solvent such as IPA (isopropyl alcohol) vapor or HFE (hydrofluoroether) vapor may be used in combination.

In addition, the drying step is a reduced-pressure drying step in which the space around the substrate W, for example, the processing chamber containing at least the mechanism (1, 101) for holding the substrate in the first to third embodiments is decompressed. May be.
In the above embodiment, pure water is used as the rinsing liquid. However, functional water such as carbonated water, electrolytic ion water, hydrogen water, and magnetic water, or diluted ammonia water (for example, about 1 ppm) is used. It can also be used as a rinse solution.

Further, in the first embodiment, as the mechanism for inclining the substrate W, the mechanism for inclining only the substrate W (FIG. 1) and the mechanism for inclining the spin chuck 1 (FIG. 7) are exemplified. The substrate W may be tilted with respect to the horizontal plane by tilting the entire processing chamber containing 1 or the like, or tilting the entire substrate processing apparatus.
Further, as schematically shown in FIG. 14, the substrate W is inclined by combining the first embodiment and the second embodiment, and at the same time, the substrate is inclined by the gas knife 76 formed in the gas nozzle 71. The pure water liquid mass 45 may be discharged to the lower side of the substrate W. Also in this case, it is preferable to prevent splitting of the pure water liquid mass 45 by supplying pure water from the moving nozzles 77 and 78 to the pure water liquid mass 45 on the downstream side in the movement direction of the gas knife 76.

  Further, in the second embodiment, the gas nozzle 71 for forming the linear gas spray region 75 on the surface of the substrate W is used, as shown in FIGS. 15 (a), 15 (b), and 15 (c). A gas nozzle that forms the polygonal gas blowing regions 81, 82, and 83 may be applied as described above, and a curved (arc-shaped) gas blowing region 84, as shown in FIGS. 15 (d) and 15 (e). A gas nozzle forming 85 may be applied.

For example, the gas blowing regions 81 and 84 in FIGS. 15 (a) and 15 (d) have a shape in which each central portion is recessed toward the upstream side with respect to the moving direction R of the gas knife. In this case, the pure water liquid mass can be pushed toward the moving direction R side while collecting pure water on the upper surface of the substrate W inward, so that the pure water liquid mass is not easily broken.
As the gas nozzle, in addition to a linear gas spray region on the substrate W, for example, a gas nozzle that forms an elliptical gas spray region on the substrate W may be applied.

  In the above-described embodiment, the rinse liquid (pure water) is removed from the substrate surface while remaining in a single liquid mass. However, in the process of removing the rinse liquid, microdroplets remain on the substrate surface. The liquid mass of the rinsing liquid may be divided into a plurality of masses to such an extent that they do not. For example, in the embodiments of FIGS. 15B, 15C, and 15E, the liquid is separated into two and three liquid masses at the end of the rinse liquid elimination process, respectively.

In the above-described embodiment, the liquid film (pure water liquid mass) covers almost the entire upper surface of the substrate W in the liquid film coating step, but the liquid film covers only a part of the upper surface of the substrate W. You may make it cover.
Further, in the first and third embodiments described above, a liquid absorbing member that absorbs droplets remaining on the end face of the substrate after the substrate W is tilted to remove the rinse liquid on the surface of the substrate W may be provided. The liquid absorbing member may be composed of a porous member such as a PVA sponge, or a suction nozzle to which a suction mechanism such as a comb is connected. It is preferable that it is attached to. Thus, after the rinse liquid is removed from the surface of the substrate W, the liquid absorbing member provided on the moving arm approaches the substrate W and approaches the portion of the end surface of the substrate W that is lowest when the substrate W is inclined. Alternatively, the liquid droplets on the end face of the substrate W can be sucked by contact. Therefore, the substrate W can be more reliably dried in the subsequent drying process of the substrate W.

Further, in the above-described embodiment, the device forming surface (upper surface) is a hydrophobic substrate W as an example, but the present invention can also be applied to a hydrophilic substrate. Furthermore, in the above-described embodiment, the case where the circular substrate W is a processing target has been described, but also for an apparatus that processes a square substrate such as a glass substrate for a liquid crystal display device or a glass substrate for a plasma display, The present invention can be applied.
In addition, various design changes can be made within the scope of matters described in the claims.

Claims (25)

On the other hand, a substrate holding mechanism that can hold the substrate in a posture with the surface facing upward,
A rinse liquid supply mechanism for supplying a rinse liquid to the one surface of the substrate held by the substrate holding mechanism;
A substrate tilting mechanism for tilting the substrate held by the substrate holding mechanism from a horizontal posture in which the one surface is along a horizontal plane to an inclined posture in which the one surface is inclined by a predetermined angle with respect to the horizontal plane;
And a substrate drying unit that dries the surface of the substrate held by the substrate holding mechanism.   The said board | substrate inclination mechanism inclines a board | substrate so that the rinse liquid on the said one surface may be moved below in the state which formed the liquid lump on the said one surface, and is excluded. Substrate processing equipment.   The substrate processing according to claim 2, wherein the substrate tilting mechanism tilts the substrate so that a trailing edge of the liquid mass moving on one surface of the substrate moves at a speed of 3 to 20 millimeters per second. apparatus.   The substrate processing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a contact member that contacts a lower end surface of the substrate in the inclined posture when the substrate is tilted by the substrate tilting mechanism.   The rinsing liquid supply mechanism controls the rinsing liquid supply mechanism and the substrate tilting mechanism, and a part of or the entire area of the one surface of the substrate held horizontally by the substrate holding mechanism is supplied from the rinsing liquid supply mechanism. The substrate processing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a control unit that covers the film and then tilts the substrate by the substrate tilting mechanism.   The control means further controls the substrate drying means, and after the rinse liquid is removed from the one surface by tilting the substrate by the substrate tilting mechanism, the liquid component on the substrate is dried by the substrate drying means. The substrate processing apparatus according to claim 5, which is a device. The substrate drying means includes substrate rotating means for rotating the substrate held by the substrate holding mechanism,
The substrate processing apparatus according to claim 6, wherein when the substrate is dried, the substrate is rotated by the substrate rotating unit to cause the droplets remaining on the end surface of the substrate to be shaken off.   The control means, after removing the rinse liquid from one surface of the substrate by tilting the substrate by the substrate tilting mechanism, returns the substrate from the tilted posture to the horizontal posture by the substrate tilting mechanism, and thereafter, The substrate processing apparatus according to claim 7, wherein the substrate is rotated by the substrate rotating means and droplets remaining on the end face of the substrate are shaken off.   The substrate processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the substrate drying unit includes an infrared generation unit that irradiates infrared rays onto the substrate held by the substrate holding mechanism. An inert gas supply mechanism for supplying an inert gas to the one surface of the substrate held by the substrate holding mechanism;
The control means further controls the inert gas supply mechanism to tilt the substrate and remove the rinse liquid from one surface of the substrate, so that at least the rinse liquid is removed from the one surface of the substrate. The substrate processing apparatus according to claim 5, wherein an inert gas is supplied from the active gas supply means. A blocking member having a substrate facing surface that can be disposed close to the one surface of the substrate held by the substrate holding mechanism;
A blocking member moving mechanism that moves the blocking member closer to or away from the one surface of the substrate held by the substrate holding mechanism;
The control means further controls the blocking member moving mechanism, and when the inert gas from the inert gas supply means is supplied to one surface of the substrate, the substrate facing surface of the blocking member is the surface of the substrate. The substrate processing apparatus according to claim 10, wherein the blocking member moving mechanism is controlled to be disposed at a predetermined position close to the surface.   The substrate processing according to claim 11, further comprising a blocking member tilting mechanism that tilts the blocking member such that the substrate facing surface tilts following the tilt of the substrate when the substrate is tilted by the substrate tilting mechanism. apparatus.   The substrate processing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a rinsing liquid supply mechanism that newly supplies a rinsing liquid to the rinsing liquid on the one surface of the substrate that has been inclined by the substrate inclination mechanism. A substrate holding mechanism capable of holding the substrate substantially horizontally;
A rinsing liquid supply mechanism for supplying a rinsing liquid to the upper surface of the substrate held by the substrate holding mechanism;
A gas knife that blows gas onto the upper surface of the substrate held by the substrate holding mechanism to form a gas blowing region on the upper surface of the substrate, and can scan the entire upper surface of the substrate in one direction in the gas blowing region. Mechanism,
A rinsing liquid replenishing mechanism for supplying a rinsing liquid to a region on the downstream side in the scanning direction of the gas spraying region from the gas spraying region formed by the gas knife mechanism on the upper surface of the substrate;
And a substrate drying unit that dries the surface of the substrate held by the substrate holding mechanism.   The gas formed by the gas knife mechanism after controlling the substrate drying means, the rinse liquid supply mechanism, the gas knife mechanism, and the rinse liquid supply mechanism to supply the rinse liquid to the upper surface of the substrate by the rinse liquid supply mechanism The rinsing liquid is removed from the upper surface of the substrate by scanning the upper surface of the substrate in the spraying area and supplying the rinsing liquid from the rinsing liquid replenishing mechanism to the region downstream in the scanning direction of the gas spraying area. 15. The substrate processing apparatus according to claim 14, further comprising control means for drying the liquid component on the substrate by the drying means. The substrate drying means includes substrate rotating means for rotating the substrate held by the substrate holding mechanism,
The substrate processing apparatus according to claim 15, wherein when the substrate is dried, the substrate is rotated by the substrate rotating unit to cause the droplets remaining on the end surface of the substrate to be shaken off.   The substrate processing apparatus according to claim 14, wherein the gas knife mechanism forms the linear gas blowing region on an upper surface of the substrate.   17. The gas knife mechanism is characterized in that a concave linear gas spraying region whose central part is set back toward the upstream side in the scanning direction of the gas spraying region is formed on the upper surface of the substrate. The substrate processing apparatus according to any one of the above.   The board | substrate inclination mechanism which inclines the board | substrate currently hold | maintained at the said board | substrate holding | maintenance mechanism from the horizontal attitude | position in which the upper surface follows a horizontal surface to the inclination attitude | position in which the said upper surface incline only the predetermined angle with respect to the horizontal surface. The substrate processing apparatus in any one of thru | or 18. A substrate holding step of holding the substrate in a posture with one surface facing upward by the substrate holding mechanism;
A rinsing liquid supply step for supplying a rinsing liquid to the one surface of the substrate held by the substrate holding mechanism in the substrate holding step;
After the rinsing liquid supply step, the substrate held by the substrate holding mechanism is inclined from a horizontal posture in which the one surface is along a horizontal plane to an inclined posture in which the one surface is inclined by a predetermined angle with respect to the horizontal plane. By this, the substrate tilting step of removing the rinse liquid on the one surface while moving it downward while remaining in a liquid mass on the one surface,
A substrate processing method comprising a drying step of drying the surface of the substrate after the substrate tilting step.   21. The substrate processing according to claim 20, wherein the substrate tilting step is a step of tilting the substrate so that a trailing edge of the liquid mass moving on one surface of the substrate moves at a speed of 3 to 20 millimeters per second. Method. A substrate holding step for holding the substrate substantially horizontally by the substrate holding mechanism;
A rinsing liquid supply step for supplying a rinsing liquid to the upper surface of the substrate held by the substrate holding mechanism in the substrate holding step;
After the rinsing liquid supply step, gas is blown onto the upper surface of the substrate held by the substrate holding mechanism by a gas knife mechanism to form a gas blowing region on the upper surface of the substrate. A gas knife process that scans the entire area in one direction;
In parallel with this gas knife step, a rinsing liquid replenishing step for supplying a rinsing liquid to a region on the downstream side in the scanning direction of the gas spraying region from the gas spraying region formed by the gas knife mechanism on the upper surface of the substrate,
A substrate processing method including a drying step of drying the surface of the substrate after the gas knife step and the rinsing liquid supply step.   23. The substrate processing method according to claim 20, wherein the drying step includes a step of shaking off a droplet remaining on an end surface of the substrate by rotating the substrate held by the substrate holding mechanism.   The substrate drying method according to any one of claims 20 to 22, wherein the drying step includes a step of irradiating the substrate held by the substrate holding mechanism with infrared rays from infrared ray generating means. 25. The rinsing liquid supply step includes a liquid film coating step of covering the entire surface of the one surface of the substrate held horizontally by the substrate holding mechanism in the substrate holding step with a rinsing liquid film. The substrate processing method according to any one of the above.

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