KR20080049427A - Cleaning apparatus, cleaning method, cleaning system and operating method thereof - Google Patents

Abstract

A cleaning apparatus, a cleaning method, a cleaning system, and an operating method thereof are provided to remove foreign materials and to prevent a short circuit between patterns by causing a chemical and physical reaction using plasma. A plasma unit(10) is formed to produce a plasma source. An exhaust unit(50) is arranged around the plasma unit in order to exhaust byproducts separated from foreign materials of a target material in a plasma source reaction process. The plasma unit includes a plasma gun for producing and injecting the plasma source, a power supply part for supplying a voltage having a predetermined frequency to an electrode part, and a gas supply part for supplying a predetermined gas mixture to the electrode part.

Description

Cleaning apparatus, cleaning method, cleaning system and operating method thereof {Cleaning apparatus, cleaning method, cleaning system and operating method}

1 shows schematically a cleaning apparatus of the invention.

2 shows the plasma unit of FIG. 1;

3 shows the exhaust unit of FIG. 1;

Figure 4 is a view for explaining how to remove the foreign matter using the atmospheric pressure plasma method of the present invention.

5 is a block diagram illustrating a cleaning system of the present invention.

6 is a flow chart illustrating a method for operating the cleaning system of the present invention.

<Explanation of symbols for the main parts of the drawings>

10: plasma unit 11: electrode part

13: guide part 15: jetting part

17: plasma gun 19: injection hole

21: power supply 23: gas supply

25: gas passage pipe 30: object

50: exhaust unit 53: exhaust

55: pump 57: exhaust pipe

100: pretreatment cleaning unit 110: plasma cleaning apparatus

112: automatic checker 114: microscope

116: control unit 118: plasma cleaning unit

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a cleaning apparatus, and more particularly, to a cleaning apparatus, a cleaning method, a cleaning system, and a method of operating the same capable of completely removing foreign substances.

The semiconductor device or the display panel may be manufactured by vapor deposition or patterning. Before and after such deposition or patterning, a cleaning process is essentially required to prevent foreign particles.

A semiconductor device or a display panel causes problems such as a pattern not being formed by a foreign material or an electrical short between the patterns when the pattern is formed. Therefore, this foreign matter must be completely removed by the cleaning process.

As the cleaning process, an organic cleaning process, a brush cleaning process, and a DI water cleaning process are widely used. Typically, these three processes can be carried out in sequence to remove the foreign matter.

However, even when these three processes, that is, the organic cleaning process, the brush cleaning process and the DI water cleaning process, the foreign matter may not be completely removed.

For example, when a deposition process or a patterning process is performed under a high temperature and a high pressure, a foreign material adhered to the semiconductor element or the display panel is burned by the high temperature and completely adheres to the surface of the semiconductor element or the display panel. In such a case, there is a problem in that the foreign matter is not completely removed even if these three processes proceed.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a cleaning device, a cleaning method, a cleaning system and a method of operating the same, which can completely remove the foreign material by reacting the foreign material chemically and physically.

According to a first embodiment of the present invention for achieving the above object, the cleaning apparatus includes a plasma unit for generating a plasma source; And an exhaust unit disposed at the periphery of the plasma unit to exhaust the by-products separated from the foreign matter of the object by the reaction by the plasma source.

According to a second embodiment of the present invention, there is provided a cleaning method including a plasma unit and an exhaust unit disposed around the plasma unit, the method comprising: spraying a plasma source from the plasma unit; Reacting the plasma source with a foreign object; And evacuating the by-products produced by the reaction in the exhaust unit.

According to a third embodiment of the present invention, a cleaning system includes: a pretreatment cleaning unit including first and second foreign matters in an object and performing pretreatment cleaning to remove the first foreign matters; And a plasma cleaning apparatus for cleaning the second foreign matter not removed by the pretreatment cleaning by a reaction using a plasma source.

According to a fourth embodiment of the present invention, in a method of operating a cleaning system including a pretreatment cleaning unit and a plasma cleaning device, the object includes a first and a second foreign material and performs a pretreatment cleaning to remove the first foreign material. Doing; Detecting the second foreign object; Spraying a plasma source with the second foreign material to generate a by-product by reacting the second foreign material with the plasma source; And exhausting the by-product to the outside.

Hereinafter, with reference to the accompanying drawings will be described an embodiment of the present invention;

1 is a view schematically showing the cleaning apparatus of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a view showing the plasma unit of FIG. 1, and FIG. 3 is a view showing the exhaust unit of FIG.

1 to 3, the cleaning apparatus of the present invention includes a plasma unit 10 for providing a plasma source in one direction, and an exhaust unit 50 for exhausting a by-product removed by the plasma source. It is configured to include). Plasma source is a plasma product produced by plasma discharge. Such plasma products may include ionized ion gases and inert gases.

When an object having a predetermined foreign material, such as a substrate for a display panel or a wafer for a semiconductor element, is disposed in the downward direction of the plasma unit 10, the plasma source may be provided in the downward direction.

The plasma unit 10 is generated by discharging the gas mixture by a power supply 21 supplying a predetermined frequency and voltage, a gas supply 23 supplying a predetermined gas mixture, and the frequency and voltage. A plasma gun 17 providing a plasma source. The frequency may have a few kHz, and the voltage may have a few kV. The gas mixture includes a reactive gas capable of chemically and physically reacting with a foreign material and an inert gas for activating plasma generation. The reactive gas may include air, oxygen, nitrogen oxides, and the like, and the inert gas may include helium, neon argon, or the like.

The plasma gun 17 includes an electrode portion 11 including an anode electrode 11a and a cathode electrode 11b disposed to face each other, and a length direction of the anode electrode 11a and the cathode electrode 11b. And an induction part 13 connected to each other to guide the plasma source in one direction, and an injection part 15 connected to the induction part 13 in the longitudinal direction to inject the plasma source. The cathode electrode 11b is grounded, and the anode electrode 11a is supplied with a frequency and a voltage from the power supply 21. The electrode part 11, the induction part 13, and the injection part 15 have a long passage in one direction.

A gas passage pipe 25 through which the gas mixture supplied from the gas supply unit 23 passes is formed between the plasma gun 17 and the gas supply unit 23.

The electrode part 11 is connected to the gas passage pipe 25 at the upper part and to the induction part 13 at the lower part. The induction part 13 has an upper part connected to the electrode part 11 and a lower part connected to the injection part 15.

The anode electrode 11a and the cathode electrode 11b are insulated by a predetermined insulating material.

The upper part of the plasma gun 17 is connected to the gas passage pipe 25, whereas the lower part of the plasma gun 17 has a spray hole 19 for injecting the plasma source to the outside.

Since the plasma gun 17 is electrically connected to the outside through the injection hole 19, the plasma gun 17 has an atmospheric pressure inside thereof. Therefore, the plasma gun 17 generates plasma by an atmospheric pressure plasma method. Atmospheric pressure plasma method is a device for generating a plasma at atmospheric pressure, which does not require a vacuum system is effective in cost reduction. Thus, the present invention eliminates the need for a separate device for vacuuming the interior of the plasma gun 17.

The diameter of the injection hole 19 may have a range of 10um to 100um. The diameter of the injection hole 19 may or may not be the same as the diameter of the injection unit 15.

Since the diameter of the induction part 13 should be larger than the diameter of the injection part 15, the diameter of the induction part 13 may have a range of several hundred um to several thousand um. Although the induction part 13 is described as being composed of one step for convenience of description in the present invention, the induction part 13 may be composed of a plurality of steps including two or more steps as necessary. These multiple stages are preferably configured such that the diameter gradually decreases in the downward direction.

The induction part 13 and the injection part 15 may be made of a quartz material, a ceramic material, or a stainless steel material. In addition, the induction part 13 or the injection part 15 may be made of any material that can withstand a high temperature plasma source.

The gas mixture supplied to the space between the anode electrode 11a and the cathode electrode 11b is discharged by the voltage having the frequency supplied to the anode electrode 11a and the cathode electrode 11b. As a result, a plasma source is generated in which the reactive gas includes reactive ions and an inert gas. The plasma source generated as described above is injected by the injection hole 19 via the induction part 13 and the injection part 15. Since the diameter decreases toward the induction part 13 and the injection part 15, the plasma source may be accelerated and injected to the outside.

The exhaust unit 50 includes an exhaust 53 for introducing a by-product separated from the object by a plasma source provided from the plasma unit 10, and a pump for drawing the by-product introduced into the exhaust 53. And an exhaust pipe 57 connected between the pump 55 and the exhaust part 53 to guide the by-product.

The exhaust unit 50 may be disposed around the plasma unit 10. As such, the exhaust unit 50 may be disposed around the plasma unit 10, thereby rapidly exhausting a by-product separated from the object by the plasma source of the plasma unit. The periphery of the plasma unit 10 need not be determined, and an arrangement relationship between the plasma unit 10 and the exhaust unit 50 may be optimized through experiments.

The plasma unit 10 and the exhaust unit 50 may be horizontally moved or tilted. To this end, the plasma unit 10 and the exhaust unit 50 may be connected to a motor, respectively. The plasma unit 10 may be moved horizontally or at a tilt angle by the motor. The horizontal movement is for the plasma unit 10 to move to the foreign matter in the object, and the tilt movement is for giving directionality for optimal removal according to the shape of the foreign material in the object. Preferably, the plasma unit 10 and the exhaust unit 50 are moved in the same width at the same time. This is because the exhaust unit 50 is disposed around the plasma unit 10 to optimally remove foreign substances. That is, when the plasma unit 10 moves but the exhaust unit 50 does not move, the distance between the plasma unit 10 and the exhaust unit 50 is widened to facilitate the by-products separated from the foreign matter of the object. It will not be exhausted. Therefore, the plasma unit 10 and the exhaust unit 50 may be moved in the same width at the same time integrally. As long as the spirit of the present invention is not deviated, the plasma unit 10 and the exhaust unit 50 may be moved separately.

4 is a view for explaining how to remove the foreign matter using the atmospheric pressure plasma method of the present invention.

As shown in FIG. 4, the plasma unit 10 generates a discharge by supplying a high voltage to a gas mixture including a predetermined reactive gas such as oxygen, a predetermined inert gas, and argon. By this discharge, a plasma source including a plurality of oxygen ions and argon is generated and injected in the downward direction of the plasma unit 10.

The plasma source injected from the plasma unit 10 chemically and physically reacts with the foreign matter attached to the surface of the object 30 to separate the foreign material from the object 30.

Most of the foreign matter attached to the object 30 can be removed by a conventional cleaning process, but the foreign material consisting of the CH mixture is burned by the high temperature generated in the deposition process or the patterning process is hard to the surface of the object 30 To be fixed, and not easily removed.

In the present invention, foreign substances composed of such a C-H mixture can be easily and completely removed.

In the plasma source, oxygen is separated from the object 30 by combining with carbon (C) or hydrogen (H) of the foreign material. In this case, a by-product including water (H 2) bonded to two hydrogens in one oxygen and carbon dioxide (CO 2) bonded to two oxygens in one carbon is generated.

Since the plasma source is generated in the electrode part 11 and has a strong pressure via the induction part 13 and the injection part 15, the plasma source is strongly injected downward from the plasma unit 10. Therefore, argon of the plasma source is strongly injected downward and collides with the foreign matter. In this case, carbon or hydrogen of the foreign material may be separated from the object 30 by the argon.

The exhaust unit 50 may be disposed around the plasma unit 10 to quickly exhaust the by-product separated from the object 30 to the outside. In particular, the by-products can be quickly exhausted to the outside by the pump 55 provided in the exhaust unit 50.

The exhaust unit 50 may prevent the by-product from being attached to the object 30 again when the by-product is not exhausted to the outside.

In this way, foreign matter is separated from the object 30 by the plasma unit 10 to be generated as by-products, and these by-products are quickly exhausted to the outside by the exhaust unit 50, so that they are not easily removed from the object 30. Foreign material can be completely removed.

Therefore, short defects between patterns of semiconductor elements or display panels, pattern formation defects due to foreign substances, and the like can be prevented by more completely removing foreign substances, thereby improving product reliability.

In addition, by removing the foreign matter completely, it is possible to minimize the defect rate, improve the yield and further reduce the manufacturing cost.

5 is a block diagram illustrating a cleaning system of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 5, the cleaning system of the present invention includes a pretreatment cleaning unit 100 for performing pretreatment cleaning, and a plasma cleaning apparatus 110 for completely removing foreign substances not removed from the pretreatment cleaning unit 100. It is configured to include.

The pretreatment cleaning unit 100 performs an organic cleaning process, a brush cleaning process and a DI water cleaning process.

Even if the foreign material is removed by the pretreatment cleaning unit 100, some foreign material, for example, foreign material including C-H may be present in the object. In the present invention, foreign matters including C-H have been described for convenience of description, but other foreign matters other than foreign matters including C-H may be removed from the present invention without departing from the spirit of the present invention.

The foreign material including the C-H may be removed by the plasma cleaning apparatus 110.

The plasma cleaning apparatus 110 detects a foreign substance including CH from the object by inspecting an object having a foreign material including the CH, and checks whether the by-product of the foreign material has been removed from the object, and an automatic inspector 112. A microscope 114 for checking the size of the foreign matter detected by the automatic inspector 112, a control unit 116 which controls the plasma cleaning unit 118 to perform the plasma cleaning by moving the foreign matter to the position of the foreign matter; And a plasma cleaning unit 118 that generates by-products from the foreign substances by chemical and physical reactions by the plasma source under the control of the controller 116 and removes these by-products.

The plasma cleaning unit 118 means a cleaning apparatus including the plasma unit 10 and the exhaust unit 50 shown in FIG. 1. Thus, the plasma cleaning unit 118 may operate in the same manner as the cleaning apparatus.

The automatic tester 112 may be provided with a laser detector for detecting a foreign material. The laser detector may include a light emitting unit for generating a laser and a light receiving unit for receiving a beam generated from the laser. An object is positioned between the light emitting unit and the light receiving unit. Therefore, the beam generated from the laser passes through the object and is received by the light receiving unit. However, the foreign matter of the object is not transmitted by the beam through the laser, and thus the light receiving unit also does not receive the beam of the laser. Therefore, the laser detector may detect foreign matters depending on whether the laser beam is received.

The automatic tester 112 may divide the object into coordinates to obtain a coordinate value at which the foreign material is located when a foreign material of the object is detected.

The microscope 114 is a means for checking the size of the foreign material of the object, the user moves the microscope 114 to the position of the foreign material based on the coordinate value of the foreign material detected by the automatic inspection machine 112 Check the size of the foreign object. Subsequently, the user calculates data values for horizontal movement and tilt movement of the plasma unit 10 based on the size of the foreign material, and provides the data values to the controller 116. The cleaning system of the present invention may be provided with input means (not shown) for inputting the data values.

The plasma cleaning unit 118 is moved to a position where a foreign material of the substrate is under the control of the control unit 116, and is tilted to have a predetermined angle with respect to the foreign material. In the plasma cleaning unit 118, a plasma source is injected from the plasma unit 10, and the plasma source is chemically and physically reacted with the foreign material of the object to remove the foreign material from the object to generate a by-product. The by-products thus produced are exhausted to the outside by the exhaust unit 50.

Therefore, the cleaning system of the present invention is a semiconductor device or display panel by completely removing the foreign material of the object by using the chemical and physical reaction by the plasma source generated by the plasma discharge to remove the foreign material not completely removed by the pre-treatment cleaning Since short defects between patterns and defects in pattern formation due to foreign matter can be prevented, the reliability of the product can be improved.

In the cleaning system of the present invention, the foreign matter is completely removed, thereby minimizing the defective rate and improving the yield and further reducing the manufacturing cost.

6 is a flow chart illustrating a method for operating the cleaning system of the present invention.

As illustrated in FIGS. 5 and 6, the organic cleaning process, the brush cleaning process, and the DI water cleaning process are performed by the pretreatment cleaning unit 100 (S 120).

By checking the presence or absence of foreign matter on the object using the automatic checker 112 for the substrate on which the pretreatment cleaning is performed, if the foreign matter exists, the position of the foreign material is detected (S 122).

The user checks the size of the foreign material by moving the microscope 114 to the position of the foreign material, and then inputs a data value for moving the plasma cleaning unit 118 based on the size of the foreign material (S124).

The controller 116 controls the plasma cleaning unit 118 to move horizontally and tilt in accordance with the data value (S126). The plasma cleaning unit 118 generates a plasma discharge under the control of the controller 116 to inject the plasma source generated therefrom into the foreign material of the object. The plasma source reacts chemically and physically with the foreign material of the object. Activation departs the foreign material from the object to produce a byproduct. The plasma cleaning unit quickly exhausts the generated byproducts to the outside.

Subsequently, the removal of the foreign material can be confirmed by detecting whether the foreign material is removed using the automatic checker 112.

Therefore, foreign matter not removed by pretreatment cleaning can be completely removed by such an operation.

As described above, according to the present invention, a chemical source and a physical reaction are completely removed by using a plasma source to completely remove foreign substances, thereby preventing short defects between patterns of semiconductor elements or display panels, pattern formation defects due to foreign substances, and the like. Therefore, the reliability of the product can be improved.

According to the present invention, the foreign matter is completely removed, it is possible to minimize the defective rate and improve the yield and further reduce the manufacturing cost.

Those skilled in the art will appreciate that various changes and modifications can be made without departing from the technical spirit of the present invention. Therefore, the technical scope of the present invention should not be limited to the contents described in the detailed description of the specification but should be defined by the claims.

Claims (24)

A plasma unit for generating a plasma source; And And an exhaust unit disposed in the periphery of the plasma unit to exhaust the by-products which are separated from the foreign matter of the object by the reaction by the plasma source. The method of claim 1, wherein the plasma unit, A plasma gun generating and spraying the plasma source; A power supply unit supplying a predetermined frequency and voltage to the electrode unit; And And a gas supply part for supplying a predetermined gas mixture to the electrode part. The method of claim 2, wherein the plasma gun, An electrode portion including first and second electrodes facing each other and generating the plasma source between the first and second electrodes; An induction part connected in the length direction of the electrode to guide the plasma source in the length direction; And an injection unit connected in the length direction of the induction unit to inject the plasma source at a high pressure. The apparatus of claim 2, wherein the gas mixture comprises a reactive gas and an inert gas. The apparatus of claim 4, wherein the reactive gas comprises at least one of air, oxygen, and nitrogen oxides. The apparatus of claim 4, wherein the inert gas comprises at least one of helium, neon, and argon. 4. The cleaning apparatus of claim 3, wherein the first and second electrodes are insulated by a predetermined insulating material. The cleaning apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the induction part is configured by at least one stage or more. The cleaning apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the diameter decreases in the order of the electrode portion, the induction portion, and the injection portion. The cleaning apparatus as set forth in claim 3, wherein the spraying part has a diameter in a range of 10 μm to 100 μm. The cleaning apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the induction part and the spray part are made of any one of a quartz material, a ceramic material, and a stainless steel material. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the plasma source reacts chemically and physically with a foreign substance of the object. The method of claim 1, wherein the exhaust unit, An exhaust unit for introducing the by-products; And And a pump for rapidly evacuating the by-products of the exhaust. The cleaning apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein the plasma source is generated by an atmospheric pressure plasma method. A cleaning apparatus comprising a plasma unit and an exhaust unit disposed around the plasma unit, Spraying a plasma source in the plasma unit; Reacting the plasma source with a foreign object; And Exhausting the by-products produced by the reaction in the exhaust unit. The method of claim 15, wherein the plasma source is generated from a desired gas mixture. The method of claim 16, wherein the gas mixture comprises a reactive gas and an inert gas. 18. The method of claim 17, wherein the reactive gas comprises at least one of air, oxygen, and nitrogen oxides. 18. The method of claim 17, wherein the inert gas comprises at least one of helium, neon, and argon. The method of claim 15, wherein the plasma source reacts chemically and physically with a foreign substance of the object. A pretreatment cleaning unit including first and second foreign matters in the object and performing pretreatment cleaning to remove the first foreign matters; And And a plasma cleaning device for cleaning the second foreign matter not removed by the pretreatment cleaning by a reaction using a plasma source. The method of claim 21, wherein the plasma cleaning device, An automatic checker for detecting a position of the second foreign matter; A plasma cleaning unit for spraying a plasma source to react the plasma source with the foreign material to generate a byproduct, and to exhaust the byproduct; And And a control unit for controlling the plasma cleaning unit. 23. The cleaning system according to claim 22, wherein said automatic inspector includes a laser detector for detecting a position of a foreign object. A cleaning system comprising a pretreatment cleaning unit and a plasma cleaning device, The object comprises a first and second foreign material and performing a pretreatment cleaning to remove the first foreign material; Detecting the second foreign object; Spraying a plasma source with the second foreign material to generate a by-product by reacting the second foreign material with the plasma source; And Operating the cleaning system comprising evacuating the by-products to the outside.

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