KR20060012081A - Apparatus for removing wafer edge bead - Google Patents

Abstract

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a wafer edge bead removal device for removing edge beads formed at the edge of a wafer in the process of forming a coating layer on the wafer by spin coating, wherein the wafer is fixed to a spindle chuck during spin coating. A nozzle for ejecting the edge bead removal liquid to the edge beads generated in the nozzle, a horizontal arm for forming the nozzle and moving the nozzle to the edge bead, and a vertical arm at a position spaced a predetermined distance from the spindle chuck. An edge bead removal device comprising a cylinder connected to rotate and raise and lower a horizontal arm, wherein the cylinder is provided with a locking block that rotates and lifts with the cylinder, and the lowering of the locking block when the nozzle is located other than the edge bead. It characterized in that having a bracket for supporting to limit. According to this, it is possible to prevent the breakage of the nozzle by physically preventing the horizontal arm lowering in the lowering prohibited area due to the operator's malfunction and system error, and occurs when the edge bead removal liquid is ejected from the nozzle after the horizontal arm is lowered in the lowering prohibited area To prevent contamination of the equipment.

Wafer, Spindle Chuck, Edge Bead, Nozzle, Cylinder, Hang Block, Bracket

Description

Wafer edge bead removal device {Apparatus for removing Wafer edge bead}

1 is a schematic configuration diagram of a spin coating apparatus provided with a wafer edge bead removal apparatus according to the prior art.

2 is an operational state diagram of the wafer edge bead removal device according to the prior art.

3 is a schematic configuration diagram of a spin coating apparatus provided with a wafer edge bead removing apparatus according to the present invention.

4 is an operational state diagram of the wafer edge bead removal device according to the present invention.

* Explanation of Signs of Major Parts of Drawings *

10a, 20a: spin coating apparatus 10b, 20b: bead removing apparatus

12a, 22a: wafer 13, 23: spindle chuck

15, 25: coat bowl 18, 28: cylinder

16, 26: horizontal arm 17, 27: nozzle

30b: bracket 30a: locking block

30c: bump

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a semiconductor chip manufacturing apparatus, and more particularly, wafer edge beads for removing edge beads formed at the edges of a wafer in the process of forming a coating layer on the wafer by spin coating. Relates to a removal device.

In general, in the semiconductor manufacturing process, the wafer is mounted on and fixed on a spindle chuck to form a photoresist or a planarization film on the wafer, and then a coating solution is dropped on the surface of the wafer rotated by the rotational force of the spindle chuck. A spin coating apparatus for uniformly coating a coating solution is widely used.

However, the spin-coated wafer has the coating solution concentrated and cured at the edge portion of the wafer due to the interaction between the centrifugal force and the surface tension due to the rotation of the wafer, thereby generating edge beads. The edge bead of such a wafer refracts light upon exposure to form a pattern such as a circuit wiring, generates particles by contact with the cassette when drawing in or out of a wafer storage cassette. It causes a defect in the subsequent process.

For this reason, a wafer edge bead removal device is installed in the spin coating device to remove edge beads of the wafer. An example of the edge bead de-icing device will be introduced with reference to FIGS. 1 and 2. However, hereinafter, a case in which a photoresist is used as the coating solution will be described for convenience of description.

1 is a schematic configuration diagram of a spin coating apparatus in which a wafer edge bead removing device according to the prior art is installed, and FIG. 2 is an operation state diagram of the wafer edge bead removing device according to the prior art.

1 and 2, the wafer edge bead removal device 10b is installed around the spindle chuck 11 of the spin coating device 10a, and the bead removal liquid is applied to the edge beads 12b of the wafer 12a. The nozzle 17 for ejecting, the horizontal arm 16 on which the nozzle 17 is mounted, and the horizontal arm 16 so that the bead removal liquid can be ejected to the bead 12b at the edge of the wafer 12a properly. And a cylinder 18 for moving the upper portion of the edge bead 12b in close proximity, and a cylinder driving portion 19 for driving the cylinder 18.

The cylinder 18 is configured to rotate and vertically move the horizontal arm 16 by the cylinder drive 19. In accordance with the operation of the cylinder 18, the movement of the nozzle 17 from the standby position to the position close to the edge bead 12b of the wafer 12a is made.

The nozzle 17 is a nozzle to which edge bead removal liquid, such as a thinner, is injected, and the edge bead removal liquid is injected to the edge bead 12b for a predetermined time through the nozzle 17.

Referring to the operation, when the wafer 12a placed and fixed on the spindle chuck 11 is rotated in accordance with the rotation of the spindle chuck 11, the photoresist 12c is supplied onto the wafer 12a to perform spin coating. After spin coating, the nozzle 17 of the edge bead removing device 10b on the wafer 12a is moved above the edge bead 12b in accordance with the rotation of the cylinder 18 according to the driving of the cylinder drive 19 in the standby position. The lowering of the cylinder 18 moves the nozzle 17 to the position close to the edge bead 12b. In this state, as the spindle chuck 11 is rotated, edge bead removal liquid, for example, thinner, is injected through the nozzle 17 to form the edge bead 12b.

The coat bowl 15a installed around the spindle chuck 11 in the process of removing the edge bead prevents the outer surface from splashing in the process of spraying the edge bead removing liquid. The anti-reflection portion 15b formed on the inner wall surface of the coat bowl 15a prevents the thinner hitting the coat bowl 15a wall surface from being re-reflected to bounce off to the portion where the edge bead 12b of the wafer 12a is not generated. .

However, the wafer edge bead removal device 10b according to the related art as described above is a nozzle bead edged by a malfunction due to a malfunction of the operator and a system error when the process is in progress manually by the operator or during the process by the automatic system There was a problem that the horizontal arm 16b is lowered at a position (b) other than the generation site (a) so that the nozzle 17 mounted on the horizontal arm 16b hits the coat bowl 15 and is broken. In addition, when the thinner is ejected from the nozzle 17 after the horizontal arm 16 is lowered in the region (b), which is not a proper position, there is also a problem of causing contamination of the equipment.

Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a wafer edge bead removal device capable of physically preventing the horizontal arm from falling in the drop prohibition area due to operator malfunction and system error.

In order to achieve the above object, the wafer edge bead removal device according to the present invention comprises a nozzle for ejecting the edge bead removal liquid to the edge bead generated in the wafer fixed to the spindle chuck during spin coating, the nozzle is formed and the edge bead Edge bead includes a horizontal arm for moving the shaft and a cylinder vertically connected to the horizontal arm at a distance apart from the spindle chuck to rotate and raise and lower the horizontal arm. The wafer edge bead removal device, characterized in that it has a bracket for supporting to limit the falling of the engaging block when located.

Hereinafter, a wafer edge bead removing device according to the present invention with reference to the accompanying drawings will be described in detail.

3 is a schematic configuration diagram of a spin coating apparatus provided with a wafer edge bead removing device according to the present invention, and FIG. 4 is an operational state diagram of the wafer edge bead removing device according to the present invention.

3 and 4, the wafer edge bead removal device 20b according to the present invention is installed on the outer peripheral portion of the spindle chuck 21 of the spin coating device 20a as in the prior art, the edge of the wafer 22a A nozzle 27 for ejecting the bead removal liquid to the beads 22b, a horizontal arm 26 on which the nozzle 27 is mounted. A cylinder 28 for moving the horizontal arm 26 closer to the top of the edge bead 22b so that the bead removal liquid can be properly ejected to the bead 22b at the edge of the wafer 22a, and to drive the cylinder 28 In addition to the cylinder drive unit 29, and further comprises a locking block (30a) and a bracket (30b) to prevent the nozzle (27) from falling in the prohibition of lowering zone.                     

The locking block 30a is fixedly coupled to the cylinder 28 to rotate and move up and down together with the cylinder 28. The bracket 30b is fixed to a support (not shown) spaced a predetermined distance from the cylinder 28. The bracket 30b has a locking projection 30c protruding to a predetermined length, and the locking projection 30c is positioned below the locking block 30a and catches the lowering of the cylinder 28 in the lowering prohibition area b. It is provided so as to limit by supporting the block 30a. The protruding length of the locking projections 30c is preferably such that the horizontal arm 26a does not overlap with the locking block 30a in the case where the horizontal arm 26a is located at the right center, but the horizontal arm 26a has a slight tolerance range (a). It is also possible to adjust the length so as not to overlap in the direct direction with the locking block (30a) when located within.

Here, the bracket 30b physically prevents the cylinder 28 from descending as the locking protrusion 30c of the bracket 30b supports the locking block 30a in the lowering prohibition area (b) when an operator malfunctions or a system error occurs. To prevent the horizontal arm 26b from falling.

And when the cylinder 28 is moved to the upper side of the edge bead 22b, which is a normal position without the operator's malfunction and system error, the cylinder 28 is lowered normally and the locking portion 30a and the bracket It is comprised so that the latching projection 30c of 30b may not overlap each other in the direct direction.

When the horizontal arm 26c is lowered and the nozzle 27 mounted on the horizontal arm 26 approaches the bead generation portion 22b of the edge of the wafer 22a, the edge bead removal liquid is ejected through the nozzle 27. The wafer chuck 22 is rotated by the spindle chuck 23 to remove the edge beads 22b. In the removal process of the edge bead 22b, splashing to parts other than the edge bead 22b is prevented by the anti-reflection portion 25b on the inner wall surface of the coat bowl 25. The removed edge bead 22b and the edge bead removal liquid are discharged through an outlet formed between the lower cup 24 and the coat bowl 25.

According to the wafer edge bead removal device according to the present invention as described above, physically prevent the falling of the horizontal arm in the drop prohibition area according to the operator's malfunction and system error to prevent the nozzle mounted on the horizontal arm from hitting the coat bowl do. This prevents nozzle breakage, saving time on parts replacement and lowering operating costs. In addition, contamination of the equipment caused by ejecting the wafer edge bead removal liquid from the nozzle after the horizontal arm is lowered in the lowering prohibition area is prevented.

Claims (1)

Nozzle for ejecting the edge bead removal liquid to the edge bead generated on the wafer fixed to the spindle chuck plate during spin coating, and a horizontal arm for forming the nozzle and moving the nozzle to the edge bead And a cylinder connected vertically with the horizontal arm at a position spaced apart from the spindle chuck by a vertical distance to rotate and raise and lower the horizontal arm. The cylinder is provided with a locking block that is rotated and raised and lowered together with the cylinder, and the wafer edge bead removal device characterized in that it has a bracket for supporting to limit the falling of the locking block when the nozzle is located other than the edge bead .

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