KR101942656B1 - Substrate processing apparatus and substrate processing method - Google Patents

Abstract

A tact time of a substrate processing apparatus that feeds a process liquid from a pump filled with a process liquid to a nozzle and discharges the process liquid from the nozzle to the substrate while moving the nozzle relative to the substrate is shortened.
A moving part for moving the nozzle relatively to the maintenance part and the discharge position; and a control part for moving the nozzle from the discharge position to the discharge position via the maintenance part, And a control section for performing a preparatory operation for delivering the process liquid to the next substrate by feeding the process liquid from the pump toward the nozzle, wherein the control section performs a first supplement And a second replenishing operation for replenishing the second amount of the processing liquid to the pump and restoring the pump to the charged state after the preparatory operation is carried out by the replenishing unit and the first amount is the processing amount necessary for starting the preparatory operation And is smaller than the amount of the treatment liquid to be discharged onto the substrate.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention [0001] The present invention relates to a substrate processing apparatus,

The present invention relates to a substrate processing apparatus and a substrate processing method for transferring a processing liquid for processing a substrate from a pump to a nozzle, and discharging the processing liquid from the nozzle to the substrate. In addition, the substrate may be a semiconductor substrate, a photomask substrate, a liquid crystal display substrate, an organic EL display substrate, a plasma display substrate, a substrate for an FED (Field Emission Display), an optical disk substrate, Substrates for magnetic disks, and the like.

BACKGROUND ART [0002] In a manufacturing process of an electronic component such as a semiconductor device or a liquid crystal display device, a substrate processing apparatus for discharging a treatment liquid onto the surface of the substrate and treating the substrate with the treatment liquid is used. For example, in the substrate processing apparatus disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2010-227850, a treatment liquid is delivered to a slit nozzle by a pump while the substrate is transported while a substrate is floated by spraying gas on the back surface of the substrate, To the surface of the substrate to apply the treatment liquid to almost the entire surface of the substrate. Further, in the substrate processing apparatus disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 2015-66482, while the substrate is being attracted and held on the stage, the treatment liquid fed from the pump is discharged from the discharge port of the slit nozzle toward the surface of the substrate, And the process liquid is applied to almost the entire substrate. As described above, the apparatus described in JP-A-2010-227850 and JP-A-2015-66482 performs a coating process as a substrate process.

By the way, in these substrate processing apparatuses, when the coating process for one substrate is completed, various preparatory operations are performed on the next substrate until the coating process is started. For example, in order to prevent the leakage of the coating liquid from the discharge port of the nozzle, a so-called quenching process may be carried out. In this case, bubbles may be swept away in the vicinity of the discharge port of the nozzle. Therefore, there is a case where the bubble removing operation of feeding the treatment liquid from the pump and removing the bubble from the discharge port of the nozzle is performed as one of the preparatory operations.

Further, a maintenance section having a nozzle cleaning waiting unit or the like is formed, and the discharge port is cleaned with respect to the slit nozzle after the coating treatment. In the maintenance section, the following preliminary discharge operation is performed. That is, when a certain treatment liquid is discharged from the discharge port in a state in which the slit nozzle is brought close to the outer peripheral surface of the roller, a liquid droplet of the treatment liquid is formed at the discharge port. When the liquid droplets are uniformly formed on the discharge port as described above, the coating process for the next substrate can be performed with high accuracy. Thus, in the above-described substrate processing apparatus, a so-called preliminary discharge operation for initializing the discharge port by feeding a certain amount of the processing solution to the slit nozzle by the pump after the pump is filled with the treatment liquid to reach the charged state May be performed as the preparation operation.

However, in the prior art, the relationship between the preparatory operation and the charging operation of the pump has not been thoroughly examined, and the time required for the coating process on one substrate, that is, the so-called tact time, has been left. For example, since the preliminary discharge operation is performed after the pump is in a charged state, the tact time is increased, and it has been desired to provide a technique for shortening the tact time.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and has an object of providing a process liquid transfer device for transferring a process liquid from a pump in a charged state filled with a process liquid to a nozzle while relatively moving a nozzle maintained at a maintenance section relative to a substrate at a discharge position, The object of the present invention is to shorten a tact time in a substrate processing technique for discharging a process liquid onto a substrate.

According to one aspect of the present invention, a process liquid is fed from a pump in a charged state filled with a process liquid to a nozzle while moving the nozzle, which has undergone maintenance in the maintenance section, relative to the substrate at a discharge position, A moving part for relatively moving the nozzle to the maintenance part and the discharging position; and a moving part for moving the nozzle from the discharging position to the discharging position via the maintenance part, And a controller for performing a preparatory operation to dispense the treatment liquid onto the next substrate by feeding the treatment liquid from the pump toward the nozzle while moving the first treatment liquid to the pump, A second replenishing operation that replenishes the second amount of the processing liquid to the pump after the preparation operation, And the first amount is smaller than the amount of the processing liquid necessary for starting the preparation operation and smaller than the amount of the processing liquid discharged onto the substrate .

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a liquid ejection apparatus comprising: a substrate for feeding a process liquid from a pump in a charged state filled with the process liquid to a nozzle while discharging the process liquid from the nozzle to the substrate while relatively moving the nozzle relative to the substrate at the ejection position; A preparation step of delivering a treatment liquid from a pump toward a nozzle while the nozzle is moved from the discharge position to the discharge position via the maintenance part to perform a preparation operation for discharging the treatment liquid to the next substrate; A first replenishing step of replenishing a first amount of the processing liquid to the pump before the amount of the processing liquid required to start the preparation operation and less than the amount of the processing liquid discharged onto the substrate; And a second replenishing step of replenishing the two amounts of the treatment liquid to the pump to restore the pump to a charged state.

In the invention constituted as described above, the preliminary ejection is performed in the step of replenishing the first amount of the processing liquid to the pump. That is, the preliminary discharge is performed earlier than the prior art in which the preliminary discharge is performed and the preliminary discharge is performed by waiting for the pump to be charged, without waiting for the pump to recover to the charged state. After the preliminary discharge, the second amount of the processing liquid is replenished to the pump so that the pump returns to the charged state, and the processing liquid is ready for discharging to the next substrate.

As described above, according to the present invention, it is possible to perform the preliminary ejection after replenishing the first amount of the processing liquid, which is larger than the amount of the processing liquid consumed in the preliminary ejecting operation and smaller than the amount of the processing liquid ejected to the substrate, That is, the preliminary discharge is performed without waiting for the pump to be charged. As a result, the tact time can be shortened.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS FIG. 1A is a view showing a coating apparatus which is a first embodiment of a substrate processing apparatus according to the present invention. FIG.
Fig. 1B is a plan view of the applicator removed from Fig. 1A.
Fig. 2 is a block diagram showing a control mechanism for controlling the coating apparatus shown in Fig. 1A; Fig.
3A is a plan view of a floating mechanism.
3B is a side view schematically showing the relationship between the floating mechanism and the coating mechanism.
4 is a side view of the coating device shown in Fig.
Fig. 5 is a view showing an operation (embodiment) and a comparative example of the applicator shown in Fig. 1a.
6A to 6F are diagrams schematically showing the operation of each part of the apparatus.
7 is a view showing the operation of a coating apparatus according to a second embodiment of the substrate processing apparatus according to the present invention.
8 is a view showing the operation of the coating apparatus according to the third embodiment of the substrate processing apparatus according to the present invention.
9 is a view showing the operation of a coating apparatus according to a fourth embodiment of the substrate processing apparatus according to the present invention.

FIG. 1A is a plan view of a coating apparatus according to a first embodiment of the present invention; FIG. 1B is a plan view of the coating apparatus removed from FIG. 1A. FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a control mechanism for controlling the application device shown in Fig. 1A. 1A, 1B and the following drawings, in order to clarify the arrangement relationship of each part of the apparatus, the conveying direction of the substrate W is defined as "X direction", and the left side of FIGS. 1A and 1B Quot; + X direction ", and the reverse direction is referred to as " -X direction ". In the horizontal direction (Y) orthogonal to the X direction, the front side of the apparatus is referred to as "-Y direction" and the back side of the apparatus is referred to as "+ Y direction". The upward and downward directions in the vertical direction Z are referred to as a "+ Z direction" and a "-Z direction", respectively.

The application device 1 is a slit coater for receiving a rectangular substrate W in a horizontal posture conveyed from a roller conveyor 100 and applying a coating liquid to the surface Wf of the substrate W. In this coating device 1, a transfer mechanism 2 is formed adjacent to the roller conveyor 100. [ The transfer mechanism 2 receives the substrate W from the roller conveyor 100 and transfers it to the floating mechanism 3. [

The lifting mechanism 3 has three lifting units 3A to 3C. These floating units 3A to 3C are arranged in the carrying direction X of the substrate W as shown in Fig. 1B. More specifically, on the most upstream side, that is, on the (-X) direction side, the upstream floating unit 3A is disposed adjacent to the transfer mechanism 2, and the downstream floating unit 3C) are disposed. A center floating unit 3B is disposed between the upstream floating unit 3A and the downstream floating unit 3C.

Fig. 3A is a plan view of the lifting mechanism, and Fig. 3B is a side view schematically showing the relationship between the lifting mechanism and the coating mechanism. In these drawings, all of the center floating unit 3B and a part of the upstream floating unit 3A and the downstream floating unit 3C are schematically shown.

The upstream floating unit 3A and the downstream floating unit 3C are formed such that a large number of air blowing holes 31 are dispersed in a matrix over the entire surface of the single plate surface 32 of the plate. The compressed air is applied to each of the ejection holes 31, so that the substrate W floats by the gas pressure generated by the ejection of the compressed air from each ejection hole 31. Thereby, in the upstream floating unit 3A and the downstream floating unit 3C, the substrate W floats from the stage surface 32 by a predetermined flying height, for example, 10 to 500 micrometers. Further, in order to supply compressed air to each of the ejection holes 31, for example, the configuration disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 2010-227850 can be used.

Although not shown in Figs. 3A and 3B, the downstream floating unit 3C has a plurality of lift pins and a lift pin lifting mechanism in addition to the above-mentioned jetting holes 31. [ The plurality of lift pins are formed so as to be opposed to the entire back surface Wb of the substrate W at a predetermined interval across the gap of the ejection holes 31. Then, the lift pins are lifted and lowered in the vertical direction (Z-axis direction) by the lift pin lifting mechanism provided below the stage surface 32. In other words, the tip of the lift pin descends to the (-Z) direction side of the stage surface 32 of the downstream float unit 3C at the time of descent, and the tip of the lift pin moves to the moving robot (Not shown). The lower surface of the substrate W is supported and lifted by the raised lift pins in this manner, so that the substrate W rises from the stage surface 32 of the downstream floating unit 3C. This enables unloading of the substrate W from the coating device 1 by the living robot.

On the other hand, the center floating unit 3B is constituted as follows and has a higher floating accuracy than the upstream floating unit 3A and the downstream floating unit 3C. That is, the central floating unit 3B has a plate-like stage surface 33 in a rectangular shape. The stage surface 33 is formed with a plurality of holes dispersed in a matrix shape at a pitch narrower than that of the ejection holes 31 formed in the upstream floating unit 3A and the downstream floating unit 3C. In the center floating unit 3B, half of the holes function as the compressed air ejection holes 34a and the other half of the holes function as the suction holes 34b, unlike the upstream floating unit 3A and the downstream floating unit 3C. . That is, compressed air is ejected from the ejection holes 34a toward the back surface Wb of the substrate W, and the space SP between the stage surface 33 and the back surface Wb of the substrate W The compressed air is fed. On the other hand, air is sucked from the space SP through the suction hole 34b. In this way, by blowing and sucking air to the space SP, the air flow of the compressed air ejected from each ejection hole 34a in the space SP is diffused in the horizontal direction, The pressure balance in the air layer (pressure base layer) diffused into the space SP becomes more stable and the height of the floating height of the substrate W can be controlled with high precision Road, and can be controlled stably. Further, in order to supply compressed air to each of the ejection holes 34a and to suck air from the suction holes 34b, for example, the configuration disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 2010-227850 can be used.

The coating device 1 is provided with a transport mechanism 4 for intermittently transporting the substrate W in a floating state by the upstream floating unit 3A in the transport direction X. Hereinafter, the configuration of the transport mechanism 4 will be described with reference to Figs. 1A, 1B, and 4. Fig.

 4 is a side view of the coating device shown in Fig. The transfer mechanism 4 is configured to move the substrate W by the lifting mechanism 3 while sucking and holding the both side ends in the Y direction of the substrate W supported by the lifting mechanism 3 in the floating state, In the conveying direction (X) while floating. As shown in Fig. 1B, the transport mechanism 4 has a plurality of chuck portions 41 for sucking and holding the substrate W. As shown in Fig. Here, two chuck members 41a are arranged in the X direction and one chuck unit 41 which can move integrally in the X direction is provided on the (+ Y) side and the (-Y) However, each of the chuck members 41a may be formed as a chuck portion 41. [ In this embodiment, the two chuck portions 41 are symmetrical in the left-right direction (symmetrical on the + Y side and -Y side), and hold the substrate W by suction on the left and right sides. The transport mechanism 4 includes a transporting chuck traveling guide 42, a transporting chucking linear motor 43, a transporting chucking linear scale 44 and a chucking lifting cylinder 45. The chuck portion 41 can be raised and lowered by the operation of the chuck lift cylinder 45. The chuck portion 41 is moved upward to move the substrate W on the (+ Y) side and (-Y) side by the operation of the chuck lifting cylinder 45 in accordance with the maintenance instruction from the control unit 9 for controlling the entire apparatus, So that the adsorbent is held. The conveying chuck travel guide 42 extends in the X direction on the base 10 of the application device 1. The conveying chuck linear motor 43 is operated in accordance with the conveyance instruction from the control unit 9, The chuck portion 41 is reciprocally driven along the conveying chuck travel guide 42 in the conveying direction X. [ Thereby, the substrate W held by the chuck portion 41 is transported in the transport direction X. [ In this embodiment, the position of the substrate W in the carrying direction X can be detected by the conveying chuck linear scale 44, and the control unit 9 can detect the position of the substrate W in the conveying chuck linear scale 44 And drives and controls the transport chuck linear motor 43 on the basis of the detection result.

The substrate W is conveyed in the conveying direction X in a so-called face-up state in which the surface Wf is directed vertically upward by the above-described conveying mechanism 4, but the substrate W is conveyed in the conveying direction X during the conveyance, For application to the surface Wf, a coating mechanism 5 is formed. As shown in Figs. 1A and 2, the application mechanism 5 includes a nozzle unit 51 movable in the carrying direction X with respect to the base 10, a nozzle unit 51 movable in the carrying direction X, , A coating liquid supply unit 58 for supplying the coating liquid to the nozzle unit 51 and a coating liquid supply unit 58 for supplying the coating liquid to the nozzle unit 51. The coating liquid supply unit 58 is provided on the upstream side And has a replenishing unit 59.

4, the nozzle unit 51 includes a slit nozzle 511 extending in the Y direction so as to face the surface Wf of the substrate W and a nozzle support member 511 for supporting the slit nozzle 511 512), and a lift portion 513 having a left-right symmetry (symmetrical on the + Y side and -Y side) formed on the outer side of the transport mechanism 4 in the Y direction. In this embodiment, the slit nozzle 511 is configured to be raised and lowered in the vertical direction Z by the pair of elevating portions 513 through the nozzle supporting member 512. [ More specifically, each elevating portion 513 includes a columnar member 514, a ball screw 515 mounted on the columnar member 514 in a state extending parallel to the vertical direction Z, A rotary motor 516 connected to the upper end of the screw 515 and a bracket 517 screwed to the ball screw 515. When the rotation motor 516 is operated in accordance with the rotation command from the control unit 9, the ball screw 515 rotates and the bracket 517 moves up and down in the vertical direction Z according to the rotation amount. Both ends of the nozzle support member 512 are mounted to the brackets 517 on the (+ Y) direction side and the (-Y) direction side configured as described above, and are supported so as to be able to ascend and descend through the nozzle support member 512.

4, each elevating portion 513 is reciprocally moved in the carrying direction X by the moving mechanism 518 of the applying mechanism 5. [ 4, the moving mechanism 518 includes a base portion 518a for supporting the elevating portion 513 from below, a traveling guide 518b, and a linear motor 518c. As shown in Figs. 1A and 1B, the travel guide 518b extends in the X direction on the base 10 of the coating device 1. The linear motor 518c is operated in accordance with the movement command from the control unit 9 to reciprocate the lift portion 513 in the carrying direction X along the travel guide 518b, (511) can be positioned at the maintenance position and the discharge position. Here, the " maintenance position " means a position for performing a maintenance operation including preliminary ejection in the nozzle cleaning waiting unit 52, and " ejection position " means an operation for ejecting a coating liquid toward the substrate W Position, that is, the position directly above the central floating unit 3B.

A slit nozzle 511 is attached to the lower end of the nozzle support member 512 with the discharge port 511a facing downward. The slit nozzle 511 is raised and lowered by the control of the rotation motor 516 by the control unit 9 so that the discharge port 511a is brought into contact with the surface Wf of the substrate W conveyed by the conveying mechanism 4 It is possible to bring it close to each other or vice versa. The control section 9 controls the rotation motor 516 based on the output of a flying height detecting sensor 53 shown in Fig. 3B to be described later. By this, the surface Wf of the substrate W and the discharge port 511a, Can be adjusted with high accuracy. When the coating liquid is fed from the coating liquid supply unit 58 to the slit nozzle 511 in a state in which the discharge port 511a is brought close to the surface Wf of the substrate W and the substrate W is discharged from the discharge port 511a, And is discharged toward the surface Wf. 3B), a flying height detection sensor (reference numeral 53 in FIG. 3B), and a vibration sensor (reference numeral 6B2 in FIG. 3B) are mounted on the slit nozzle 511 for protecting the nozzle tip .

As shown in Fig. 4, this coating liquid supply unit 58 is a pressurization source for feeding the coating liquid to the slit nozzle 511. The liquid is supplied to the coating liquid supply unit 58 by a tube pump or a bellows pump A pump 581 is used. One end of a pipe 582 is connected to the output side of the pump 581. 4, one of the pipes 583 is connected to the end of the slit nozzle 511 on the -Y side, and the other end of the pipe 583 is connected to the , And the other pipe 584 is connected to the end of the slit nozzle 511 on the (+ Y) direction side. Opening valves 585 and 586 are inserted into the pipes 583 and 584 respectively and opened and closed in response to an opening and closing instruction from the control unit 9, thereby feeding and discharging the coating liquid to the slit nozzle 511 Stop can be switched.

In addition, the proportion of the coating liquid filled in the pump 581 by the supply of the coating liquid to the slit nozzle 511, in other words, the pump filling rate is reduced. Thus, a coating liquid replenishment unit 59 is formed. 3B, the coating liquid replenishing unit 59 includes a reservoir tank 591 for reserving the coating liquid, a pipe 592 for connecting the reservoir tank 591 to the pump 581, Closing valve 593 interposed in the valve body 592. The on-off valve 593 is opened from the control unit 9 in accordance with the replenishment command, and the coating liquid in the reservoir tank 591 can be replenished to the pump 581. On the contrary, the control unit 9 closes in response to the supplementary stop command, and regulates replenishment of the coating liquid from the reservoir tank 591 to the pump 581. In addition, in the present embodiment, the replenishing operation of the coating liquid is performed while controlling the opening / closing of the opening / closing valves 585 and 586 of the coating liquid supply unit 58 as well as the opening / closing valve 593 described above. In short, the opening / closing valve 593 is closed and the inflow of the coating liquid from the reservoir tank 591 to the pump 581 is restricted while the replenishing operation is not performed. On the other hand, while the open / close valves 585 and 586 are closed and the pump 581 is operated with the open / close valve 593 opened, the coating liquid in the reservoir tank 591 is drawn into the pump 581 and charged . In the present embodiment, regarding the preliminary ejection operation, which is one of the maintenance operations in the nozzle cleaning waiting unit 52, as the preparatory operation (operation for ejecting the coating liquid to the next substrate well), thereafter As described in detail, the coating liquid is replenished to the pump 581 by dividing the coating liquid two times before the preparatory operation and after the preparatory operation, thereby recovering the charged state in which the pump filling rate is 100% or almost 100%.

The nozzle cleaning waiting unit 52 is an apparatus for cleaning and removing the resist liquid from the tip end of the slit nozzle 511 which supplies the coating liquid to the surface Wf of the substrate W. By the cleaning treatment, 511 are arranged in a state suitable for the following coating process. As shown in Figs. 3B and 4, the nozzle cleaning waiting unit 52 is mainly composed of a roller 521, a cleaning unit 522, a roller bat 523, and the like, and performs nozzle cleaning and preliminary ejection And a cleaning base portion 524. In this cleaning standby portion 524, the discharge port 511a of the slit nozzle 511 after the coating process is performed is cleaned. When a predetermined coating liquid is discharged from the discharge port 511a in a state in which the slit nozzle 511 is brought close to the outer peripheral surface of the roller 521, liquid droplets of the coating liquid are formed on the discharge port 511a (preliminary discharge operation). When the liquid droplets are uniformly formed on the discharge port 511a as described above, the subsequent coating process can be performed with high accuracy. In this manner, the discharge port 511a of the slit nozzle 511 is initialized and prepared for the next coating process. The rotation of the roller 521 is performed by driving a roller rotation motor (not shown) in accordance with a rotation command from the control unit 9. [ The coating liquid adhered to the roller 521 is removed by immersing the lower end in the cleaning liquid stored in the roller bat 523 when the roller 521 rotates.

As described above, in the present embodiment, the slit nozzle 511 is brought close to the surface Wf of the substrate W to perform the coating process. Therefore, if foreign substances are present on the surface Wf, 511 may be damaged by the collision of the slit nozzle 511 with the slit nozzle 511. In addition, if an error occurs in the position of the slit nozzle 511 due to the collision, the subsequent coating process can not be continued. Thus, in the present embodiment, two kinds of foreign matter detecting mechanisms 6A and 6B are formed in order to detect foreign matter existing on the surface Wf of the substrate W.

The foreign substance detecting mechanism 6A detects the foreign matter in a non-contact manner on the upstream side of the slit nozzle 511 formed in the coating mechanism in the carrying direction X and has a light transmitting portion 6A1 and a light receiving portion 6A2 have. The transparent portion 6A1 and the light receiving portion 6A2 are arranged so as to sandwich the center floating unit 3B from the outside in the Y direction as shown in Fig. 1B. The transparent portion 6A1 and the light receiving portion 6A2 are mounted on the upper end portion of a support member (not shown) formed upright from the upper surface of the base 10 in the vertical direction Z, and the transparent portions 6A1 and 6A2 of the light- The height position is adjusted. More specifically, as shown in Fig. 3B, the laser beam irradiated from the light projecting portion 6A1 passes through the surface Wf of the substrate W and is incident on the light receiving portion 6A2. The light projecting portion 6A1 and the light receiving portion (6A2). Then, the transparent portion 6A1 irradiates laser light toward the light-receiving portion 6A2. On the other hand, the light-receiving unit 6A2 receives the laser light emitted from the light-projecting unit 6A1, measures the amount of received light, and outputs it to the control unit 9. Then, the control unit 9 performs foreign matter detection based on the received light amount.

The other foreign substance detecting mechanism 6B detects the foreign substance in a contact manner, and in this embodiment, it is attached to the slit nozzle 511 of the applying mechanism 5. [ The foreign matter detecting mechanism 6B is provided with a protective member 6B1 mounted on the slit nozzle 511 on the upstream side of the discharge port 511a in the carrying direction X and a vibration detecting member 6B1 detecting vibration of the slit nozzle 511 And a sensor 6B2. The protective member 6B1 is a plate member extended in the horizontal direction Y to protect the tip of the nozzle of the slit nozzle 511 and is arranged so that the plate surface is orthogonal to the surface Wf of the substrate W . Therefore, when foreign matter exists on the substrate W when the substrate W is transported immediately below the nozzle unit 51, the protective member 6B1 is moved to the tip of the nozzle of the slit nozzle 511 The breakage of the slit nozzle 511 due to the contact of foreign matter is suppressed. When the foreign matter is present, the protective member 6B1 comes into contact with the foreign matter, and the protective member 6B1 vibrates and is transmitted to the slit nozzle 511. [ This vibration is detected by the vibration sensor 6B2 and outputted to the control unit 9. [ Then, the control unit 9 performs foreign matter detection based on the vibration. The slit nozzle 511 is also provided with a sensor for detecting the floating height of the substrate W in a noncontact manner at a position where the slit nozzle 511 enters the region above the substrate W in advance of the protection member 6B1 in addition to the foreign matter detecting mechanism 6B A floating height detecting sensor 53 for detecting a flying height is provided. It is possible to measure the distance between the floating substrate W and the upper surface of the stage surface 33 of the center floating unit 3B by the floating height detecting sensor 53. With the detection value, The position where the slit nozzle 511 descends can be adjusted through the control unit 9. [ As the flying height detection sensor 53, an optical sensor, an ultrasonic sensor, or the like can be used.

As described above, in the present embodiment, foreign matter can be reliably detected by forming two kinds of foreign matter detecting mechanisms 6A and 6B. Further, at the time of foreign matter detection, the control unit 9 forcibly stops the conveyance of the substrate W to prevent damage to the slit nozzle 511, damage to the substrate W, and the like in advance.

The control unit 9 has a function of controlling each unit of the coating device 1 as described above. The control unit 9 is provided with a CPU 91 for executing predetermined processing programs and controlling the operations of the respective units, a memory (not shown) for storing and storing processing programs executed by the CPU 91, 92, and a display unit 93 for notifying the user of the progress of the process, foreign matter detection, and the like as needed. Then, in the application device 1, the CPU 91 performs the coating process by controlling each part of the apparatus according to the processing program as follows.

Next, the operation of applying the coating liquid to the surface Wf of the substrate W by the coating device 1 will be described with reference to Figs. 3B, 5, 6A to 6F. Here, the application of the coating liquid to the next (n + 1) -th substrate W (n + 1) at the end of the application of the coating liquid to the nth substrate Wn (timing t11 in FIG. 5) The operation up to the start (timing (t16) in Fig. 5) will be described. In order to clarify the technical significance of various operations in the present embodiment, the coating apparatus 1 shown in FIG. 1A is provided with a preliminary ejection as a preparation operation after recovering to the charged state of the pump 581 As a comparative example is shown in Fig. 5 (a).

Fig. 5 is a view showing an operation (first embodiment) and a comparative example of the application device shown in Fig. 1a. 6A to 6F are diagrams schematically showing the operation of each part of the apparatus. 6A to 6F, " CLOSE " and " OPEN " show the opening and closing states of the opening / closing valves 585, 586 and 593 provided in the coating liquid supply unit 58 and the coating liquid replenishing unit 59, respectively. "Discharge" and "replenishment" indicate whether the dispensing of the coating liquid is performed by feeding the coating liquid by the pump 581, or whether the dispensing liquid is replenished. In addition, the percentage in parentheses indicates the pump filling rate.

In the coating process for the nth substrate Wn, the substrate Wn is lifted and transported in the X direction while the slit nozzle 511 is located at a position immediately above the central floating unit 3B (discharge position). 6A, the open / close valves 585, 586, and 593 are opened, opened, and closed, respectively. The coating liquid is transported by the pump 581 to the slit nozzles 511, The coating liquid is discharged toward the surface of the substrate Wn. Thus, the coating layer CL is formed on the surface of the substrate Wn. Then, at the timing when the application of the coating liquid to the substrate Wn is completed (timing t11), the pump filling rate is reduced to about 0% or several%.

After the coating process for the nth substrate Wn is completed, the open / close valves 585, 586 and 593 are switched to the closing, closing and opening, respectively, and then the slit nozzles 511 Is started. By switching the open / close valves 585, 586 and 593 as described above, it is possible to effectively prevent the coating liquid from leaking from the discharge port 511a during the movement of the slit nozzle 511 and to replenish the coating liquid to the pump 581 Conduct. Therefore, the pump charging rate gradually increases with the lapse of time. For example, at the timing t12, as shown in Figs. 5 and 6B, the pump charging rate rises to about 30%.

The comparative example is completely the same as that in which the coating liquid is replenished in parallel with the movement of the slit nozzle 511 before the preliminary ejection is performed. However, in the comparative example, the timing at which the pump 581 is restored to the charged state t03) to start the preliminary ejection, in the present embodiment, the replenishment of the coating liquid is stopped at the timing t13 earlier than the timing t03, and the replenishment of the coating liquid is stopped at the time t3 (= t03 - t13) The preliminary ejection is started early. The preliminary ejection operation and the movement operation of the slit nozzle 511 after the preliminary ejection are the same in the embodiment of the comparative example as well as in the ejection operation of the next substrate W (n + 1) from the start of preliminary ejection in the comparative example and the embodiment The time until the application is started, that is,

Comparative Example: Time = t06 - t03

Embodiment: Time = t16 - t13

Are the same. However, as will be described later, in this embodiment, the coating liquid is supplemented after the preliminary ejection, whereas the comparative example is different in that no supplement is performed.

Returning to the graph at the bottom of Fig. 5 (b), description will be continued. In this embodiment, the timing at which the slit nozzle 511 reaches the maintenance position, that is, the position at which the discharge port 511a is close to the outer peripheral surface of the roller 521 of the nozzle cleaning waiting unit 52, (t13). As shown in the upper graph of Fig. 5 (b), during the time from the start of movement of the slit nozzle 511 to the nozzle cleaning waiting unit 52 to the timing t13, Is replenished to the pump 581, and the slit nozzle 511 does not reach the charged state, but the pump filling rate reaches, for example, 80% (see Fig. 6C).

At the timing t13, the open / close valves 585, 586 and 593 are switched to open, open and close, respectively, and the supply of the coating liquid to the pump 581 is stopped. The coating liquid of the predetermined amount M3 is pressure-fed from the pump 581 to the slit nozzle 511. Thereby, as shown in Fig. 6D, the coating liquid is discharged from the discharge port 511a and the liquid droplet LD of the coating liquid is formed on the discharge port 511a (preliminary discharge operation). Here, the pump filling rate is reduced from 80% to 70% by the preliminary ejection.

After the preliminary discharge is performed using the roller 521, the slit nozzle 511 is kept in a state in which the discharge port 511a is brought close to the roller 521 for a predetermined time (= t15 - t14) Then, the slit nozzle 511 starts to move to the discharge position.

On the other hand, the open / close valves 585, 586 and 593 are switched to the closing, closing and opening respectively at the timing t14 when the preliminary discharge is completed, and replenishment of the coating liquid to the pump 581 is resumed. The coating liquid of the amount M2 (= 100 - M1 + M3) is supplied to the pump 581 (t1 to t3) by using the waiting period (t14 to t15) and the moving period (t15 to t16) to the discharging position of the slit nozzle 511 (See Fig. 6E). In this embodiment, since the replenishment amount M2 of the coating liquid after the preliminary ejection is smaller than the replenishment amount M1 of the coating liquid before the preliminary ejection, the replenishment rate after preliminary ejection (the slope of the graph ) Is set smaller than that before the preliminary ejection. Therefore, it is possible to effectively prevent the occurrence of cavitation due to the negative pressure of the coating liquid in the replenishment step after the preliminary ejection.

While the slit nozzles 511 are moved to the discharge position (t15 to t16), since both of the opening and closing valves 585 and 586 are closed, the following actions and effects are obtained. 4, the pump 581 is disposed at a position higher than the discharge port 511a, so that leakage of the coating liquid from the discharge port 511a is a problem due to the difference in the water level. However, It is possible to effectively prevent leakage of the coating liquid by closing the openings 585 and 586.

Closing valves 585, 586 and 593, as shown in Fig. 6F, when the pump 581 is restored to the charged state and the slit nozzle 511 is positioned at the discharge position (timing t16) (N + 1) -th substrate W (n + 1) where the coating liquid is transported from the pump 581 to the slit nozzle 511 and is lifted and transported in the X direction, The coating liquid is discharged toward the surface Wf of the substrate W, and the coating layer CL is formed.

As described above, in the first embodiment, as shown in Fig. 5, the coating liquid equal to or larger than the amount necessary for starting the preliminary ejection operation (the amount of the coating liquid M2 used in the preliminary ejection operation) The preliminary discharge is performed as the preparatory operation as soon as the time t is reached than when the pump 581 is restored to the charged state (timing t03). Therefore, it is possible to shorten the tact time by the above-described time (? T) than the conventional technique (the technique of waiting for the pump 581 to be charged and performing the preliminary discharge). This means that when the viewpoint is changed, the following operational effects are obtained. In order to obtain a tact time equivalent to that of the present embodiment in the comparative example, it is necessary to increase the replenishment rate of the coating liquid. However, there is a risk that the coating liquid becomes negative pressure due to the increase of the replenishing speed, and cavitation occurs in the coating liquid. On the other hand, in the present embodiment, the coating liquid can be replenished at the same speed as in the prior art, and the advantageous effect is obtained that the tact time can be shortened while avoiding the above list.

Closing valves 585 and 586 are interposed in the pipes 583 and 584 connecting the pump 581 and the slit nozzle 511 so that the open / close valves 585 and 586 are closed during the movement of the slit nozzle 511 It is possible to effectively prevent the coating liquid from leaking from the discharge port 511a during the movement.

In the prior art, since the coating liquid can not be replenished after the preliminary discharge, the pump filling rate at the start of the next coating liquid is a value obtained by subtracting the consumed amount (M3) from the preliminary discharge from 100%. In other words, it is necessary to use a pump having a little ability in consideration of the consumption amount (M3). On the other hand, in the present embodiment, the consideration is not necessary, and a pump 581 smaller than the conventional technique can be used, and the weight and cost of the apparatus can be reduced.

As described above, in the present embodiment, the nozzle cleaning waiting unit 52 corresponds to an example of the "maintenance portion" of the present invention. The moving mechanism 518 corresponds to an example of the " moving part " of the present invention. And the coating liquid replenishing unit 59 corresponds to an example of the " replenishing portion " of the present invention. The amounts M1 and M2 of the coating liquid correspond to examples of the "first amount" and "second amount" of the present invention, respectively. Closing valves 585 and 586 correspond to an example of the " switching portion " of the present invention. The replenishment operation performed between the timing t11 and timing t13 in Fig. 5 corresponds to an example of the "first replenishing operation" and the "first replenishing step" of the present invention, and the timing t14) corresponds to an example of the "preliminary ejection process" and the "preparation process" of the present invention, and the replenishment operation performed between the timing t14 and the timing t16 Quot; second replenishing operation " and " second replenishing step " of the present invention.

The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments, and various modifications other than those described above can be made without departing from the spirit of the present invention. For example, in the first embodiment described above, the coating apparatus 1 for performing the preliminary discharging process as a preparatory operation by bringing the discharge port 511a of the slit nozzle 511 close to the roller 521 of the nozzle cleaning waiting unit 52, But the present invention can be applied as it is to the coating apparatus 1 carrying the scraper treatment by the cleaning unit 522 at the timing (t14 to t15).

In the first embodiment, the pump filling rate is restored to 80% by the first replenishing operation (timings t11 to t13), and the pump filling rate is reduced by 10% by the preliminary discharging operation (the timing (t13 to t14) And the pump filling rate is restored to the charged state (100%) by the second replenishing operation (the timing (t14 to t16)). These numerical values are, by way of example, numerical values depending on the amount and physical properties of the coating liquid to be applied . However, in order to reliably perform the preliminary ejection as described above, it is necessary to replenish the coating liquid of the amount (M3) or more in the first replenishing operation.

Closing valves 585 and 586 are provided in order to prevent leakage of the coating liquid from the discharge port 511a of the slit nozzle 511 when moving from the discharge position to the nozzle cleaning waiting unit 52. In the first embodiment, It is possible to further prevent the leakage of the coating liquid by executing the so-called quenching operation at the timing t11 when the coating process for the nth substrate is completed. In this case, bubbles may be swept away in the vicinity of the discharge port 511a of the slit nozzle 511 along with the quenching operation. Therefore, when the quenching operation is used in combination, it is preferable to perform the bubble removing operation as a preparatory operation in addition to the preliminary discharging operation (second embodiment), as will be described later.

7 is a view showing the operation of a coating apparatus according to a second embodiment of the substrate processing apparatus according to the present invention. In this second embodiment, the so-called quenching operation is performed at the timing t21 when the coating process for the nth substrate is completed. Therefore, as shown in the figure, the bubble removing operation and the preliminary ejecting operation are performed at the maintenance position As a preparatory operation in this order. The replenishing of the coating liquid itself is not directly related to the preparatory operation, but the replenishment of the coating liquid, that is, the intermediate replenishment, is included in the preparatory operation by using the time for shifting from the bubble removing operation to the preliminary ejection operation.

In this second embodiment, the time at which the slit nozzle 511 reaches the maintenance position, that is, the position at which the discharge port 511a is close to the outer peripheral surface of the roller 521 of the nozzle cleaning waiting unit 52 is stopped (T22). The coating liquid is replenished to the pump 581 while the slit nozzle 511 reaches the charging state while the slit nozzle 511 reaches the timing t22 from the start of movement of the slit nozzle 511 to the nozzle cleaning waiting unit 52 The amount of the coating liquid to be supplied to the bubble removing operation (the amount of the coating liquid fed toward the slit nozzle 511 during the bubble removing operation) at the timing (t22 to t23) .

At the timing t22, the open / close valves 585, 586 and 593 are switched to open, open and closed, respectively, and the supply of the coating liquid to the pump 581 is stopped. A certain amount of the coating liquid is fed from the pump 581 to the slit nozzle 511 and the coating liquid is not discharged from the discharge port 511a but the coating liquid exists so as to permeate the discharge port 511a, The bubble that was present in the vicinity of the discharge port 511a is removed from the discharge port 511a by the feeding operation (air bubble removing operation).

On the other hand, the open / close valves 585, 586 and 593 are switched to the closing, closing and opening respectively at the timing t23 when the bubble removing operation is completed, and replenishment of the coating liquid to the pump 581 is resumed . Then, at the timing (t24) at which the preliminary ejection becomes possible, the preliminary ejection operation is performed in the same manner as in the first embodiment. In this way, similarly to the first embodiment, by using the waiting period and the moving period of the slit nozzle 511 to the discharging position, the preparatory operation (= bubble removing operation + preliminary discharging operation) is completed (timing (t25) The replenishment of the coating liquid to the pump 581 is resumed, and the pump 581 is returned to the charged state. When the pump 581 is restored to the charged state and the slit nozzle 511 is positioned at the discharge position (timing t26), the open / close valves 585, 586 and 593 are opened, opened and closed And is applied to the surface Wf of the (n + 1) -th substrate W (n + 1) to which the coating liquid is transferred from the pump 581 to the slit nozzle 511 and is lifted and transported in the X- And the coating layer CL is formed.

As described above, in the second embodiment, bubbles are reliably removed from the discharge port 511a of the slit nozzle 511 and the bubbles are removed from the substrate W The coating liquid can be satisfactorily applied. Thus, in the second embodiment, the operation performed at the timing (t22 to t25) corresponds to an example of the " preparation process " of the present invention.

In the second embodiment, the bubble removing operation is performed at the maintenance position. For example, as shown in Fig. 8, while the slit nozzle 511 is moving from the discharge position to the nozzle cleaning waiting unit 52 (The timing (t32 to t33)) (third embodiment). At the timing (t32), although the pump filling rate is lower than that in the second embodiment, the amount of the coating liquid more than necessary for executing the bubble removing operation is already stored in the pump 581. [ Signs t31 and t34 to t36 in FIG. 8 indicate the same timings as the timings t21 and t24 to t26 in the second embodiment, respectively.

Although the preliminary discharge operation and the bubble removal operation are included as the preparatory operations in the second embodiment and the third embodiment, only the bubble removal operation may be performed as a preparatory operation as shown in Fig. 9 4 embodiments). Signs t41 to t43 and t46 in Fig. 9 indicate the same timings as timings t21 to t23 and t26 in the second embodiment, respectively.

In the first to fourth embodiments, the present invention is applied to the coating apparatus 1 which applies the coating liquid as the processing liquid to the surface of the substrate W while the substrate W is lifted and conveyed However, the application of the present invention is not limited to this, and the present invention may be applied to a substrate processing apparatus including a device described in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2015-66482, can do.

INDUSTRIAL APPLICABILITY The present invention can be applied to a substrate processing apparatus and a substrate processing method in which a processing solution for processing a substrate is fed from a pump to a nozzle and is discharged from the nozzle to the substrate.

1: Coating apparatus (substrate processing apparatus)
5: dispensing mechanism
9:
52: nozzle cleaning waiting unit (maintenance part)
59: Coating liquid replenishing unit (replenishing unit)
511: (Slit) Nozzle
511a:
518: Moving mechanism (moving part)
581: Pump
582 to 584: Piping
585, 586: opening / closing valve (switching portion)
M1: Replenishment amount (first amount)
M2: Replenishment amount (second amount)
W: substrate

Claims (10)

The processing liquid is fed from the pump in a charged state filled with the processing liquid to the nozzle while the nozzle having undergone maintenance in the maintenance section is moved relative to the substrate at the discharge position and the processing liquid is discharged from the nozzle to the substrate Wherein:
A replenishing portion for replenishing the processing liquid to the pump,
A moving part for relatively moving the nozzle to the maintenance part and the discharge position,
And a process for discharging the processing liquid to the next substrate by feeding the processing liquid from the pump to the nozzle while moving the nozzle from the discharging position to the discharging position via the maintenance section by the moving section And a control unit for performing an operation,
Wherein the controller is configured to perform a first replenishing operation to replenish the first amount of the processing liquid to the pump before the preparation operation and a second replenishing operation to replenish the second amount of the processing liquid to the pump, Performing a second replenishing operation for restoring the replenishing unit,
Wherein the first amount is an amount that is larger than an amount of the processing liquid necessary for starting the preparation operation and smaller than an amount of the processing liquid to be discharged onto the substrate. The method according to claim 1,
The preparation operation is a preliminary discharge operation for preliminarily discharging the process liquid from the nozzle in the maintenance section,
Wherein the amount of the processing liquid required to start the preparation operation is the amount of the processing liquid consumed in the preliminary ejecting operation. The method according to claim 1,
Wherein the preparation operation is a bubble removing operation for removing bubbles present in the vicinity of the discharge port of the nozzle from the discharge port by feeding the treatment liquid to the nozzle,
Wherein the amount of the processing liquid required to start the preparation operation is an amount of the processing liquid to be fed in the bubble removing operation. The method according to claim 1,
Wherein the preparing operation includes a bubble removing operation for removing bubbles present in the vicinity of the discharge port of the nozzle by feeding the processing liquid to the nozzle from the discharge port and a bubble removing operation for removing bubbles from the nozzle And a preliminary discharge operation for preliminarily discharging the treatment liquid,
Wherein the amount of the processing liquid required to start the preparation operation is an amount of the processing liquid to be fed in the bubble removing operation. The method according to claim 3 or 4,
Wherein the bubble removing operation is performed during movement from the discharge position to the maintenance section or at the maintenance section. 5. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 4,
Wherein the control section relatively moves the nozzle by the moving section during the first replenishing operation and the second replenishing operation. The method according to claim 6,
And the control section moves the nozzle relative to the maintenance section from the discharge position by the moving section during the first replenishing operation. The method according to claim 6,
And the control section moves the nozzle relative to the discharge position from the maintenance section by the moving section during the second replenishing operation. 5. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 4,
A pipe for guiding the treatment liquid fed from the pump to the nozzle;
Further comprising a switching portion interposed in the pipe for switching the feeding of the treatment liquid from the pump to the nozzle and stopping the feeding of the treatment liquid,
Wherein the control section controls the switching section in accordance with the position of the nozzle to switch the feeding and feeding stop of the processing liquid. There is provided a substrate processing method for transferring a process liquid from a pump in a charged state filled with a process liquid to the nozzle while relatively moving a nozzle relative to a substrate at a discharge position and discharging the process liquid from the nozzle to the substrate,
A preparatory operation for discharging the processing liquid to the next substrate by feeding the processing liquid from the pump toward the nozzle while moving the nozzle from the discharging position to the discharging position via the maintenance part and,
A first replenishing step of replenishing the processing liquid to the pump in a first amount which is larger than the amount of the processing liquid necessary for starting the preparation operation and smaller than the amount of the processing liquid to be discharged onto the substrate, The process,
And a second replenishing step of replenishing the second amount of the processing liquid to the pump after the preparation step to restore the pump to a charged state.

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