KR100608294B1 - Spin drier with cleaner of wafer lift and the cleaning method for the wafer lift - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to a spin dryer having a wafer lift cleaning means and a cleaning method of a wafer lift, comprising: a chamber in which a wafer to be dried is loaded; A wafer guide installed inside the chamber to fix the wafer; And a wafer lifter having a plurality of slots into which the wafer is inserted, and a wafer lifter configured to load / unload the wafer into the wafer guide, wherein the cleaning means removes foreign matter remaining between the slots in the chamber. It provides a wafer spin dryer characterized in that it further comprises.

According to the present invention, since foreign matters generated by friction between the wafer and the inside of the slot can be removed, it is possible to prevent foreign matters from adhering to the wafer and to generate defects, thereby providing an effect of lowering the defective rate. In addition, it is possible to keep the lifter clean at all times, so there is an advantage in improving the life of the lifter.

Wafers, spin dryers, slots, debris, nozzles.

Description

Spin drier with cleaner of wafer lift and the cleaning method for the wafer lift}

1 is a perspective view schematically showing a conventional spin dryer.

FIG. 2 is an enlarged perspective view of the wafer lift part of FIG. 1. FIG.

Figure 3 is a perspective view of the interior of one embodiment of a spin dryer with wafer lift cleaning means in accordance with the present invention.

4 is a system diagram illustrating the embodiment shown in FIG. 3.

5 is a flowchart illustrating an embodiment of a wafer lift cleaning method according to the present invention.

<Explanation of symbols for main parts of the drawings>

100: chamber,

120: wafer guide,

130: lifter,

132: base,

134: bead,

136: slot,

140: nozzle body,

142: nozzle,

144, 146: on-off valve.

The present invention relates to a spin dryer having a wafer lift cleaning means and a wafer lift cleaning method, and more particularly, to an apparatus for removing foreign matter present between slots of a spin dryer for drying pure water remaining on a wafer surface. It is about a method.

In the semiconductor manufacturing process, a photoresist is generally applied to a surface of a wafer to form a pattern through an exposure and development process, followed by an etching or ion implantation process to remove the photoresist. As a conventional method of removing the photoresist, the plasma is firstly removed, and impurities and residual photoresist generated during the first cleaning process are removed through the second cleaning process using chemicals, and the chemicals are removed. After the second cleaning process, a third cleaning process of removing residual chemicals and particles (fine particles) using pure water (DIW, Deionized Water) is performed. Then, the wafer is mounted on a spin dryer to dry.

Referring to FIG. 1, an example of a conventional general spin dryer is schematically illustrated. First, the spin dryer has a chamber 100 for loading a plurality of wafers (w) therein, and at least three circumferences of the wafer (w) in the chamber (100), usually five places A wafer guide 120 that is rotated by a rotor (not shown) is provided (only two are shown upward in order to avoid complexity), and an inner bottom of the chamber 100 has a wafer at the time of wafer loading and unloading. The lifter 130 which supports the lower ends of the (w) is provided to be up / down by a motor (not shown).

Here, the lifter 130 has three longitudinally extending beads 134 formed on the base 132, and each bead is formed with a slot 136 having a rhombus cross section. The slot 136 is formed to allow the wafer (w) to be fitted therein and fixed thereto.

The conventional spin dryer has a bead 134 formed on the lifter 130 by lifting the lifter 130 when the wafer w enters the chamber 100 while the wafer guides 120 are flipped and released. The wafer w is inserted into and supported in the slot 136 of the wafer, and then the wafer guides 120 are moved toward the circumference of the wafer w so that the lifter 130 descends when the wafer w is gripped. As the wafer guides 120 are rotated by the centrifugal force, pure water remaining on the surface of the wafer w is detached.

In the process of lifting the lifter 130 and inserting the wafer w into the slot 136, foreign matter is generated in the slot 136 due to friction between the wafer w and the slot 136. . In general, the bead 134 of the lifter 130 is made of a Teflon material, foreign matter (particles) are generated due to friction with the wafer (w). This will cause the transfer to the wafer to increase the defective rate.

The present invention has been made to overcome the disadvantages of the prior art as described above, the technical problem is to provide a wafer spin dryer that can remove the foreign matter caused by the friction between the wafer and the beads.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a cleaning method for removing foreign matters generated in a wafer spin dryer.

In order to achieve the above technical problem, the present invention is a chamber in which a wafer to be dried is loaded; A wafer guide installed inside the chamber to fix the wafer; And a wafer lifter having a plurality of slots into which the wafer is inserted, and a wafer lifter configured to load / unload the wafer into the wafer guide, wherein the cleaning means removes foreign matter remaining between the slots in the chamber. It provides a wafer spin dryer characterized in that it further comprises.

Here, the cleaning means includes a nozzle body disposed adjacent to the inner wall of the chamber; And a plurality of nozzles installed in the nozzle body and disposed toward the slots.

Preferably, the nozzle body extends in the longitudinal direction of the chamber, it is preferable that the nozzles are arranged at equal intervals on the nozzle body.

Here, the nozzle body may be disposed on both sides of the wafer lifter, three or more nozzle bodies may be provided.

Preferably, the nozzle is to inject nitrogen gas and pure water.

The present invention also includes the step of moving the dried wafer out of the chamber; Injecting nitrogen gas into the wafer lift; Spraying pure water on the wafer lift; And it provides a wafer lift cleaning method of the wafer spin dryer comprising the step of injecting nitrogen gas to the wafer lift again.

Hereinafter, with reference to the accompanying drawings will be described in detail an embodiment of a spin dryer having a wafer lift cleaning means and a method of cleaning the wafer lift according to the present invention. In addition, in the following description, the same reference numerals are given to the same parts as in the related art, and overlapping descriptions will be omitted.

3, an embodiment of a spin dryer according to the present invention is shown. In the above embodiment, a pair of nozzle bodies 140 are mounted on both sides of the inner wall formed in the cylindrical shape of the chamber 100 along the longitudinal direction of the chamber 100. The nozzle body 140 has a hollow cylindrical pipe shape, and both ends thereof are blocked. In addition, although not shown, the nozzle body 140 is connected to a supply line installed through an inner wall of the chamber 100, and the supply line is connected to a nitrogen gas storage tank and a pure water storage tank, respectively.

Meanwhile, a plurality of nozzles 142 are disposed in the nozzle body 140 at equal intervals along the longitudinal direction of the nozzle body 140. Here, the nozzle 142 is disposed toward the slot 136 formed on the surface of the bead 134. Therefore, nitrogen gas and pure water can be injected toward the slot 136 through the nozzle 142. Here, an additional nozzle body 140 may be installed at the upper end of the inner wall of the chamber 100 for the beads 134 located at the center of the beads 134.

Referring to FIG. 4, the nozzle body 140 is connected to an external supply line through an inner wall of the chamber 100, and the supply line is branched in the middle to be connected to a nitrogen reservoir and a pure reservoir, respectively. In addition, two on-off valves 144 and 146 are installed in the supply line adjacent to the nitrogen reservoir and the pure water reservoir, and a pneumatic valve may be used as the on-off valve.

Here, the on-off valves 144 and 146 are connected to the control unit 148, and the on-off valves 144 and 146 are individually operated by the control command of the control unit 148 to allow the nozzle 142 to operate. Through it, it is possible to inject nitrogen gas and pure water into the slot 136.

The operation of the controller 148 is shown in FIG. First, when a drying operation is completed for a wafer loaded in the chamber 100, the wafer lifter 130 is raised to unload the wafer from the chamber 100 while placing the wafer on the upper portion of the lifter 130. do. In this state, the robot arm (not shown) takes the wafer out of the chamber and the wafer unloading operation is completed.

In the drying operation or loading / unloading step, foreign matter generated by the contact between the wafer and the Teflon bead remains in the slot. At this time, after the chamber 100 is sealed, nitrogen gas is injected toward the slot from the nozzle 142 by opening the on / off valve 144 connected to the nitrogen reservoir. Through this, most foreign matter is separated from the slot is moved to the bottom surface of the chamber 100 or the top of the base 132.

In this state, the on-off valve 146 connected to the pure water reservoir is opened to inject pure water at a high pressure toward the slot. Through this, foreign matter attached to the slot is completely removed, foreign matter remaining on the bottom surface of the base 132 and the chamber 100 is completely washed out.

When the pure water injection process is completed, nitrogen is injected again. This is to prevent the pure water from remaining in the slot or the inner wall of the chamber to contaminate the wafer in a later process, so that the pure water remaining in the chamber and between the slots is completely dried.

In the above-described embodiment, a shape in which a plurality of nozzles are formed in a cylindrical nozzle body is used, but is not necessarily limited thereto. As an example, an example of installing a nozzle directly on an inner wall of a chamber may be considered. In addition, in order to prevent the foreign matter scattered during the nitrogen gas injection process adheres to the inner wall of the chamber and remains, the nozzle is formed on the entire outer circumferential surface of the nozzle body instead of one side of the nozzle body, so that the nitrogen gas and pure water are not only slots Embodiments of the form in which the entire inner wall of the chamber is sprayed may be considered.

According to the present invention having the above-described configuration, since foreign matters generated by friction between the wafer and the inside of the slot can be removed, it is possible to prevent foreign matters from adhering to the wafer and to generate defects, thereby reducing the defective rate. Can provide. In addition, it is possible to keep the lifter clean at all times, so there is an advantage in improving the life of the lifter.

Claims (6)

delete delete A chamber in which a wafer to be dried is loaded; A wafer guide installed inside the chamber to fix the wafer; And A wafer spin dryer having a plurality of slots into which a wafer is inserted, and including a wafer lifter for loading / unloading a wafer into the wafer guide. And cleaning means for removing foreign matter remaining between the slots in the chamber, the nozzle body being disposed adjacent to the inner wall of the chamber and a plurality of nozzles installed in the nozzle body and disposed toward the slots. But And the nozzle body extends in the longitudinal direction of the chamber, and the nozzles are disposed at equal intervals on the nozzle body. The method of claim 3, And the nozzle body is disposed on both sides of the wafer lifter. The method of claim 3, The nozzle spin dryer, characterized in that for injecting nitrogen gas and pure water. Moving the dried wafer out of the chamber; Injecting nitrogen gas into the wafer lift; Spraying pure water on the wafer lift; And And injecting nitrogen gas back into the wafer lift.

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