KR101398442B1 - Single wafer type cleaning apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

A single-wafer type cleaning apparatus capable of preventing the characteristics of a cleaning agent from being varied is disclosed. A single-wafer type cleaning apparatus according to the present invention comprises a rotation support unit for rotating a substrate, a spray unit for spraying a cleaning agent onto a substrate, the spray unit including a plurality of spray nozzles, . Here, the nozzle cleaning unit supplies pure water to the injection nozzle during non-injection operation excluding the injection nozzle during the cleaning agent injection operation. With this configuration, even if foreign substances having different characteristics from those of the cleaning agent sprayed into the spray nozzle are introduced, they can be diluted and rinsed. Therefore, the cleaning agent for cleaning the substrate is not varied in characteristics, thereby improving the cleaning efficiency.

Cleaning, substrate, sheet, chemical, pure, rinse, wash, foreign, inflow, nozzle.

Description

{SINGLE WAFER TYPE CLEANING APPARATUS}

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a single-wafer type cleaning apparatus, and more particularly, to a single-wafer type cleaning apparatus capable of cleaning a foreign matter introduced into a spray nozzle for spraying a cleaning agent.

Generally, semiconductors are manufactured by repeatedly performing a series of processes such as lithography, deposition and etching. At this time, contaminants such as various particles, metal impurities and / or organic substances are left on the surface of a substrate such as a silicon wafer constituting the semiconductor by a repetitive process. The contaminants remaining on the substrate deteriorate the reliability of the semiconductor to be produced, and therefore, a cleaning device is employed in the semiconductor manufacturing process to improve the reliability.

The cleaning apparatus treats contaminants on the surface of the substrate by either dry (dry) or wet (wet). The wet cleaning method is a cleaning method using a chemical liquid, and is divided into a batch type in which a plurality of substrates are simultaneously cleaned and a dry type in which the substrate is cleaned in a sheet unit.

In the single-wafer cleaning method, a cleaning agent is sprayed on a surface of a substrate rotating at a high speed on a rotary support, and the surface of the substrate is cleaned by centrifugal force of the substrate. At this time, the substrate is horizontally seated on the rotary support, and both the upper and the lower surfaces are opposed to the spray nozzles so that both surfaces are cleaned. At this time, a plurality of spray nozzles facing the back surface of the substrate are provided on a shaft that provides a rotation center of the rotary support.

However, when a plurality of injection nozzles are provided on the shaft of the rotary support as described above, the cleaning agent injected from one of the plurality of injection nozzles is introduced into another adjacent injection nozzle to cause contamination of the injection nozzle. This eventually results in deterioration of cleaning efficiency due to deterioration in cleaning stability and reliability by changing the characteristics of the cleaning agent sprayed onto the spray nozzle.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned problems, and it is an object of the present invention to provide a single-wafer type cleaning apparatus capable of improving detergency by preventing a characteristic change of a cleaning agent sprayed from an injection nozzle.

It is another object of the present invention to provide a single wafer type cleaning apparatus capable of performing a cleaning and rinsing process with a simple structure.

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a single wafer type cleaning apparatus comprising: a rotation support unit for rotating a substrate; a spray unit for spraying a cleaning agent onto the substrate with a plurality of spray nozzles; And a nozzle cleaning unit for cleaning the inside of the plurality of injection nozzles.

According to a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the nozzle cleaning unit supplies pure water to the injection nozzle during non-injection operation excluding the injection nozzle during the cleaning agent injection operation.

Specifically, the pure water supply of the nozzle cleaning unit is performed simultaneously with the detergent spraying operation or after the detergent spraying operation, thereby diluting the foreign matter inside the spray nozzle with the pure water.

Meanwhile, the rotation support unit includes a rotary support on which the substrate is mounted and rotated about a shaft, and the injection unit is installed inside the shaft.

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a single-wafer type cleaning apparatus comprising: a rotatably supporting unit for rotating a substrate; an ejection unit having a plurality of ejection nozzles for ejecting different cleaning agents onto the substrate; And a control unit for controlling the nozzle cleaning unit to clean the foreign substances introduced into the plurality of injection nozzles in cooperation with the spraying of the cleaning agent of the injection unit.

The controller controls the nozzle cleaning unit to clean the injection nozzle during the non-injection operation excluding the injection nozzle during the cleaning agent injection operation, and the nozzle cleaning unit supplies pure water to the injection nozzle to dilute the foreign matter in the injection nozzle.

Specifically, the ejection unit includes a first ejection nozzle for ejecting the first chemical liquid, a second ejection nozzle for ejecting the second chemical liquid, and a third ejection nozzle for ejecting the desiccant, A first pure water supply line for supplying pure water to the first injection nozzle, and a second pure water supply line for supplying pure water to the second injection nozzle.

At this time, the control unit interconnects the second injection nozzle and the second pure water supply line when the first injection nozzle is in the injection operation or after the injection operation, and when the second injection nozzle is in the injection operation or After the injection operation, the first injection nozzle and the first pure water supply line are interconnected.

The control unit may connect the first and second injection nozzles and the first and second pure water supply lines to each other after the first and second chemical liquid injections from the first and second injection nozzles, By rinsing, the rinse process of the substrate is carried out with the spray nozzle performing the cleaning process.

The single-wafer type cleaning apparatus according to the present invention can maintain constant the characteristics of the cleaning agent sprayed from the spray nozzle by diluting and purifying the foreign substances such as the cleaning agent having different characteristics into the injection nozzle. Therefore, the stability and reliability of the cleaning agent can be ensured, and the substrate cleaning efficiency can be improved.

In addition, since the pure water is supplied through the spray nozzle for spraying the chemical liquid, the substrate rinsing process by the pure water spray can be performed without a separate pure water supply nozzle, thereby providing a single-wafer type cleaning apparatus with a simple structure.

Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

1 to 4, a single-wafer type cleaning apparatus according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention includes a rotation support unit 20, a spray unit 30, a nozzle cleaning unit 40, and a control unit 50 do.

The rotation support unit 20 rotates and raises and lowers the substrate W inserted into the cleaning chamber 10. The rotary support unit 20 includes a rotary support 21 and a drive unit 23. [ The cleaning chamber 10 provides a space for cleaning the substrate W and prevents scattering of the cleaning agents C1, C2 (N) sprayed onto the substrate W, And has an opening 11 through which the substrate W is horizontally inserted.

For reference, the substrate W selectively loaded / unloaded into the cleaning chamber 10 is exemplified as a silicon wafer as a semiconductor substrate, but is not limited thereto. That is, it is a matter of course that the substrate W may be a glass substrate for a flat panel display device such as a liquid crystal display (LCD) or a plasma display panel (PDP).

The rotary support 21 is inserted into the cleaning chamber 10 through the opening 11 to support the loaded substrate W and rotate at a high speed. In addition, the rotary support 21 is raised and lowered in multiple stages while supporting the substrate W so that the cleaning process of the substrate W can be multi-stage. It is preferable that the rotary support body 21 is formed in a circular shape corresponding to the substrate W having a substantially circular shape, but the shape of the rotary support body 21 is not limited thereto.

The rotation support body 21 is provided with a chuck pin (not shown) for fixing the rim of the substrate W to the rotary support body 21 at least at three or more positions in order to prevent the loaded substrate W from flowing or being separated during high- 22 are installed. The chuck pin 22 is configured to be movable between a position where the substrate W does not interfere with the loading of the substrate W onto the rotary support 21 and a position where the substrate W is chucked with the rotary support 21. [ Since the technical structure of such a chuck pin 22 can be understood from known techniques, detailed description and illustration are omitted.

The driving unit 23 is connected to the rotary support 21 by a shaft 24 so as to rotate the rotary support 21 at high speed or ascend and descend in multiple steps. At this time, the shaft 24 provides the center of rotation of the rotating support body 21.

In this embodiment, it is exemplified that the surface of the substrate W is processed in three steps by moving up and down in three steps in a state in which the rotating support body 21 supports the substrate W. The first and second steps are first and second cleaning steps for cleaning contaminants on the substrate W as shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, And a drying step of drying the surface (W).

On the other hand, on the inner circumferential surface of the cleaning chamber 10, a recovery passage 12 is provided so as to surround the periphery of the rotary support body 21 in order to recover the cleaning agents C1, C2 (N) . This recovery passage 12 is formed in three stages on the inner circumferential surface of the cleaning chamber 10 in correspondence with the rotating support body 21 which is moved up and down in three steps.

The injection unit 30 includes first to third injection nozzles 31, 32, and 33 by jetting different cleaning agents C1, C2, and N onto the substrate W do.

The first to third injection nozzles 31, 32 and 33 are spaced apart from each other in a substantially triangular shape in the shaft 24 so as to spray different cleaning agents C1 and C2 (N). Accordingly, the first to third injection nozzles 31, 32, and 33 clean the lower surface of the substrate W that is seated on the rotary support 21. In addition, the first to third injection nozzles 31, 32, and 33 have different injection timings. The first to third injection nozzles 31, 32, The rotating support body 21 is moved up and down in three steps correspondingly.

The first to third injection nozzles 31, 32 and 33 are supplied with the cleaning agents C1, C2 (N) from the cleaning agent supply unit 34. At this time, the cleaning agent supply unit 34 supplies the first and second chemical liquids C1 and C2 to the first and second injection nozzles 31 and 32, respectively, And supplies gas (N). Accordingly, the first and second injection nozzles 31 and 32 perform the first and second cleaning steps, respectively, and the third injection nozzle 33 performs the drying step.

The first to third injection nozzles 31, 32 and 33 are nozzles for cleaning the lower surface of the substrate W. The upper surface of the substrate W is cleaned An upper surface injection nozzle is separately provided. The structure of the top surface cleaning technique of the substrate W is well known to those skilled in the art, and therefore, detailed description and illustration thereof are omitted.

The nozzle cleaning unit 40 includes first and second pure water supply lines 41 and 43 by cleaning the inside of the first to third injection nozzles 31 to 32.

The first and second pure water supply lines 41 and 43 are connected to the first and second injection nozzles 31 and 32, respectively. At this time, first and second valves 42 and 44 are provided between the first and second pure water supply lines 41 and 43 and the first and second injection nozzles 31 and 32, respectively, It is preferable to selectively open and close the supply of the refrigerant R.

When the pure water R is supplied to the first and second injection nozzles 31 and 32 through the first and second pure water supply lines 41 and 43 as described above, (31) and (32) are diluted with pure water. That is, the pure water R supplied from the first and second pure water supply lines 41 and 43 rinses the first and second injection nozzles 31 and 32.

The first and second pure water supply lines 41 and 43 receive pure water R from the pure water supply unit 45. The pure water supply unit 45 includes a pure water storage tank for storing the pure water R and a pure water pumping means for pumping the stored pure water R, though not shown. The technical constitution of the pure water supply unit 45 can be understood from a known technology such as the cleaning agent supply unit 34 described above, and therefore detailed description and illustration are omitted.

The control unit 50 controls the first and second injection nozzles 31 and 32 in conjunction with the first and second fluids C1 and C2 of the first and second injection nozzles 31 and 32 32 to control the nozzle cleaning unit 40 so as to clean the foreign substances introduced into the nozzle cleaning unit 40. Here, the controller 50 controls the nozzle cleaning unit 40 to clean the non-spraying injection nozzle except the spray nozzle during the cleaning agent injection operation.

2, when the first chemical liquid C 1 is injected from the first injection nozzle 31, the control unit 50 controls the first chemical liquid C 1 flowing into the second injection nozzle 32, (R) is supplied to the second injection nozzle (32) to dilute the first injection nozzle (C1). At this time, the controller 50 opens the second valve 44 so that the second pure water supply line 43 and the second injection nozzle 32 are connected to each other.

3, when the second chemical solution C2 is injected from the second injection nozzle 32, the control unit 50 controls the second chemical solution C2 injected into the first injection nozzle 31, C2 to the first injection nozzle 31 to dilute the pure water R. At this time, the controller 50 opens the first valve 42 so that the first pure water supply line 41 and the first injection nozzle 31 are connected to each other.

After the completion of the cleaning process in which the first and second chemical liquids C2 are injected from the first and second injection nozzles 31 and 32, the control unit 50 controls the first and second chemical liquids C2 and C2 through the third injection nozzle 33 It is possible to control the injection of the pure water R from the first and second injection nozzles 31 and 32 before the drying process is performed. That is, pure water is sprayed onto the substrate W through the first and second injection nozzles 31 and 32 without a separate pure water supply nozzle for supplying the pure water R to the substrate W having been subjected to the cleaning process The surface of the substrate W can be rinsed.

Meanwhile, in the present embodiment, the control unit 50 controls the pure water R to be supplied to the spray nozzle during the non-spraying operation during the cleaning agent spraying operation, but is not limited thereto.

The second valve 44 is connected to the second injection nozzle 32 and the second pure water supply line 43 when the first chemical liquid C 1 is not injected from the first injection nozzle 31, (R) is supplied to the first injection nozzle 31 when the injection of the second chemical liquid C2 is stopped from the second injection nozzle 32. On the contrary, when the second chemical liquid C2 is injected from the second injection nozzle 32, Embodiments are also possible.

In addition, although not shown, after the first or second chemical liquids C1, C2 are ejected from any one of the first or second injection nozzles 31, 32, the first and second injection nozzles 31, 31) 32 are controlled by the control unit 50 so that the pure water R is supplied and washed.

That is, the timing at which the controller 50 connects the first and second pure water supply lines 41 and 43 with the first and second injection nozzles 31 and 32 to supply the pure water R The first and / or second chemical liquids C1 and C2 are sprayed from the first and / or second injection nozzles 31 and 32 to the first and / or second injection nozzles 31 and 32 Various modified embodiments are possible as the time when the chemical liquids (C1) and (C2) of different characteristics are introduced.

The nozzle cleaning operation of the single wafer type cleaning apparatus according to the present invention having the above-described structure will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 to 4. FIG.

Referring to FIG. 1, when the substrate is inserted into the cleaning chamber 10 and is mounted on the rotary support 21 and rotated at a high speed, the first chemical solution C1 is supplied from the first injection nozzle 31 to the substrate (W). At this time, the controller 50 opens the second valve 44 to allow the second injection nozzle 32 and the second pure water supply line 43 to communicate with each other. Therefore, even if the first chemical liquid C 1 injected from the first injection nozzle 31 flows into the second injection nozzle 32, it can be diluted with the pure water R.

When the first cleaning process is completed by the first injection nozzle 31, as shown in FIG. 3, the second cleaning liquid is sprayed from the second injection nozzle 32 to perform a second cleaning process . At this time, the first valve 42 is opened by the controller 50 so that the first injection nozzle 31 and the first pure water supply line 41 are connected to each other. Even if the second chemical liquid C2 injected from the second injection nozzle 32 flows into the first injection nozzle 31 while the pure water R is supplied to the first injection nozzle 31, (R).

When the first and second cleaning processes are completed, as shown in FIG. 4, a drying process for drying the substrate W is performed by spraying the drying gas N from the third spray nozzle 33 do. At this time, before the first and third dry gases N are injected, the pure water R is supplied onto the substrate W through the first and second injection nozzles 31 and 32, A rinsing process may be performed in which the pure water R is removed from the chemical liquids C1 and C2 on the wafer W.

While the present invention has been particularly shown and described with reference to exemplary embodiments thereof, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited to the disclosed exemplary embodiments. It will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that numerous changes and modifications of the invention are possible without departing from the spirit and scope of the appended claims. Accordingly, all such appropriate modifications and variations, and equivalents thereof, should be regarded as falling within the scope of the present invention.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS Fig. 1 is a schematic view showing a single-wafer type cleaning apparatus according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention,

FIGS. 2 to 4 are diagrams showing the cleaning agent spraying operation and the cleaning operation of the spray nozzle in stages.

Description of the Related Art [0002]

10: Cleaning chamber 20: Rotary support unit

21: rotating support body 24: shaft

30: injection unit 31: first injection nozzle

32: second injection nozzle 33: third injection nozzle

40: nozzle cleaning unit 41: first pure water supply line

42: second pure water supply line 50:

Claims (12)

delete delete delete delete A rotation support unit for rotating the substrate; An ejection unit having a plurality of ejection nozzles, each ejection nozzle including a first ejection nozzle for ejecting the first chemical liquid onto the substrate, a second ejection nozzle for ejecting the second chemical liquid, and a third ejection nozzle for ejecting the desiccant; A nozzle cleaning unit comprising a first pure water supply line for supplying pure water to the first injection nozzle and a second pure water supply line for supplying pure water to the second injection nozzle, the nozzle cleaning unit cleaning the inside of the plurality of injection nozzles; And A control unit for controlling the nozzle cleaning unit to clean the foreign substances introduced into the plurality of injection nozzles in cooperation with the first and second chemical liquid injections of the injection unit; Lt; / RTI > Wherein, The second injection nozzle and the second pure water supply line are interconnected when the first injection nozzle is in operation, And connects the first injection nozzle and the first pure water supply line when the second injection nozzle is in operation. 6. The method of claim 5, Wherein the control unit controls the nozzle cleaning unit to clean the injection nozzle during the non-injection operation except for the first chemical liquid or the second chemical liquid injection operation. The method according to claim 6, Wherein the nozzle cleaning unit supplies pure water to the spray nozzle to dilute foreign matter in the spray nozzle. 8. The method of claim 7, Wherein the controller controls the cleaning operation of the nozzle cleaning unit to be performed simultaneously with or after the first and second chemical liquid injection operations of the injection nozzle. delete delete 6. The method of claim 5, Wherein, After the injection operation of the first injection nozzle, interconnects the second injection nozzle and the second pure water supply line, Wherein the first spray nozzle and the first pure water supply line are interconnected after the spray operation of the second spray nozzle. 12. The method of claim 11, Wherein the control unit interconnects the first and second injection nozzles and the first and second pure water supply lines after the first and second chemical liquid injections from the first and second injection nozzles, To the cleaning unit.

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