KR20100052658A - Substrate cleaning apparatus and method - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: An apparatus and a method for cleaning substrates are provided to prevent operational defects by checking the output of ultrasonic waves when a sonic-rod is standing-by. CONSTITUTION: A substrate support unit(200) including a spin head(210). A process container(100) collects a processing solution which is scatted on a substrate. A supply nozzle supplies the processing solution on the substrate. A sonic rod(310) vibrates the processing solution. An arm transfers the sonic rod. A measurement unit checks the operational condition of the sonic rod.

Description

Substrate cleaning apparatus and method {SUBSTRATE CLEANING APPARATUS AND METHOD}

The present invention relates to a substrate cleaning apparatus, and more particularly, to a substrate cleaning apparatus and method for cleaning a substrate.

In general, as semiconductor devices become more dense, highly integrated, and higher in performance, micronization of circuit patterns proceeds rapidly, and contaminants such as particles, organic contaminants, and metal contaminants remaining on the surface of the substrate have a great effect on device characteristics and production yield. Will be affected. For this reason, the cleaning process for removing various contaminants and unnecessary films adhering to the substrate surface is very important in the semiconductor manufacturing process, and the process for cleaning the substrate is performed at the front and rear stages of each unit process for manufacturing the semiconductor. .

Currently, the cleaning method used in the semiconductor manufacturing process is roughly divided into dry cleaning and wet cleaning, and wet cleaning is a bath for removing contaminants by chemical dissolution by depositing a substrate in a chemical solution. Type and a sheet type which removes contaminants by supplying a chemical to the surface of the substrate while the substrate is placed on the spin chuck and the substrate is rotated.

In the single wafer type cleaning apparatus, the substrate is cleaned using a sonic nozzle, and there is no method of confirming the presence or absence of ultrasonic output (normal operation) of the sonic nozzle during the process.

Therefore, the conventional substrate cleaning apparatus does not have a sonic nozzle failure diagnosis function even when the sonic nozzle fails in the process, so that the failure state can be diagnosed only when the cleaning apparatus is stopped (or at regular inspection). Therefore, there is a problem in that the operation efficiency of the cleaning device is lowered and a lot of time and cost are inevitable for troubleshooting. As such, the inspection of the sonic nozzle required stopping the substrate cleaning apparatus and man-made work. Accordingly, there is a difficulty in efficiently operating the substrate cleaning apparatus, and there is a problem in that the labor and time consumption are increased.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to provide a substrate cleaning apparatus and method capable of checking the failure of a sonic nozzle at any time while the substrate cleaning process is in progress.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to provide a substrate cleaning apparatus and method that can prevent a process accident caused by a failure of a sonic nozzle in advance.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a substrate cleaning apparatus and method which can save cost and time in increasing cleaning efficiency and repair thereof.

The object of the present invention is not limited thereto, and other objects not mentioned will be clearly understood by those skilled in the art from the following description.

According to an aspect of the present invention, there is provided a sheet type substrate cleaning apparatus comprising: a substrate support member including a spin head on which a substrate is placed; A processing vessel installed to wrap around the spin head to recover a processing fluid scattered on a substrate; A chemical liquid supply nozzle for providing a processing fluid onto the substrate; A sonic rod for vibrating a processing fluid provided on the substrate; An arm coupled with the sonic rod to move the sonic rod; And a sonic measuring member for checking whether the sonic rod operates normally.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, the substrate cleaning apparatus further includes a home port on which the sonic rod waits.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, the sonic measuring member is installed in the home port and checks the sonic rod waiting at the home port.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, the home port may include an inner tank in which a cleaning liquid is filled to partially lock the sonic rod; And it is installed to surround the inner tank, and includes an outer tank containing the cleaning liquid overflowed from the inner tank.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, the sonic measuring member includes a sensor installed in the inner tank to measure the output and sound pressure of the soybean rod; And a display unit which receives a signal from the measurement sensor and informs the presence or absence of output of the vertical rod and a sound pressure measurement value.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, the hop port is connected to a cleaning solution supply pipe for supplying a cleaning solution so that the cleaning solution always flows into the inner tank.

Substrate cleaning apparatus for solving the above problems is a chemical liquid supply nozzle for providing a processing fluid on the substrate; A sonic rod for providing ultrasonic waves to the processing fluid provided on the substrate; A home port on which the sonic load waits; And a sensor installed at the home port and measuring the presence or absence of the output of the sonic rod and the sound pressure while waiting at the home port.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, the home port may include: an inner tank in which a cleaning liquid for cleaning the sonic rod is filled and in which the measurement sensor is installed; And it is installed to surround the inner tank, and includes an outer tank containing the cleaning liquid overflowed from the inner tank.

According to an embodiment of the invention, the sonic rod waits in the state contained in the inner tank.

A substrate cleaning method for solving the above problems is to supply a processing fluid to the substrate to form a cleaning liquid layer on the substrate; Cleaning the substrate by transferring ultrasonic waves generated through a sonic rod to the cleaning liquid layer; Placing the sonic rod in the home port when substrate cleaning is complete; And operating the sonic rod waiting at the home port to measure the presence or absence of the output of the soybean rod and the sound pressure.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, the measuring step is performed while the sonic rod is immersed in the cleaning liquid filled in the home port.

According to an embodiment of the invention, the sonic rod is cleaned with a cleaning liquid while waiting for the home port.

According to the present invention, when the sonic rod waits at the home port, by checking the presence or absence of the ultrasonic output, it is possible to identify and repair the failure of the sonic rod at an early stage.

Moreover, according to this invention, a process defect can be prevented beforehand by checking the presence or absence of the failure of a sonic rod before processing a board | substrate.

Further, according to the present invention, it is possible to save cost and time in increasing efficiency and repairing the cleaning device using the sonic rod.

Hereinafter, a sheet type substrate cleaning apparatus according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. First, in adding reference numerals to the components of each drawing, it should be noted that the same reference numerals are assigned to the same components as much as possible, even if shown on different drawings. In the following description of the present invention, a detailed description of known functions and configurations incorporated herein will be omitted when it may make the subject matter of the present invention rather unclear.

In the following examples, an apparatus for cleaning a substrate using processing fluids such as alkaline chemical liquid (including ozone water), acidic chemical liquid, rinse liquid, and dry gas (gas containing IPA) will be described as an example. However, the technical idea of the present invention is not limited thereto, and the present invention may be applied to all kinds of apparatuses that perform a process while rotating a substrate such as an etching process.

(Example)

1 is a plan view showing the configuration of a substrate cleaning apparatus according to the present invention. Figure 2 is a side cross-sectional view showing the configuration of the substrate cleaning apparatus according to the present invention.

Although the semiconductor substrate is illustrated and described as an example of the substrate processed by the sheet type substrate cleaning apparatus 1 in the present embodiment, the present invention is not limited thereto and may be applied to various kinds of substrates such as glass substrates.

1 and 2, the substrate cleaning apparatus 1 according to the present invention is a device for removing foreign matter and film remaining on the surface of the substrate using a variety of processing fluids, the chamber 10, the processing container 100 , The substrate support member 200, the sonic nozzle 300, and the processing fluid supply nozzle 320. Although not shown, a plurality of treatment fluid supply nozzles may be provided.

The chamber 10 provides a sealed inner space, and a fan filter unit 12 is installed at the top. The fan filter unit 12 generates vertical airflow inside the chamber 10. The fan filter unit 12 is a unit in which the filter and the air supply fan are modularized into one unit, and filter the clean air to supply the inside of the chamber. The clean air passes through the fan filter unit 12 and is supplied into the chamber to form vertical airflow. The vertical airflow of the air provides a uniform airflow over the substrate, and contaminants (fumes) generated in the process of treating the substrate surface by the processing fluid are discharged through the suction ducts of the processing container 100 together with the air. It is removed to maintain high cleanliness inside the processing vessel.

As shown in FIG. 2, the chamber 10 is partitioned into a process region 16 and a maintenance region 18 by horizontal partitions 14. Although only a part is shown in the drawing, the maintenance area 18 includes the driving unit of the elevating unit and the moving nozzle of the moving nozzle member 300 in addition to the discharge lines 141, 143, 145 and the sub-exhaust line 410 connected to the processing container 100. It is preferable that the maintenance area 18 is isolated from the process area where the substrate treatment is performed.

The processing container 100 has a cylindrical shape with an open upper portion, and provides a process space for processing the substrate w. An open upper surface of the processing container 100 serves as a carrying-out and carrying-in passage of the substrate w. The substrate support member 200 is positioned inside the processing container 100. The substrate supporting member 200 supports the substrate W during the process and rotates the substrate.

Referring to FIG. 2, the processing container 100 is divided into an upper space 132a in which the spin head 210 is located, and an upper space 132a by the spin head 210, and is provided at a lower end thereof to allow forced exhaust. The exhaust duct 190 provides a lower space 132b to which the exhaust duct 190 is connected. The first, second, and third suction ducts 110, 120, and 130 of the annular inlet and inlet, which flow and inhale the processing fluid and the gas and the fume scattered on the rotating substrate, are provided in the upper space 132a of the processing container 100. Is placed.

The annular first, second and third suction ducts 110, 120, 130 have exhaust ports H communicating with one common annular space (corresponding to the lower space of the vessel). An exhaust duct 190 connected to the exhaust member 400 is provided in the lower space 132b.

In detail, the first to third suction ducts 110, 120, and 130 each have a bottom surface having an annular ring shape and a sidewall extending from the bottom surface and having a cylindrical shape. The second suction duct 120 surrounds the first suction duct 110 and is spaced apart from the first suction duct 110. The third suction duct 130 surrounds the second suction duct 120 and is spaced apart from the second suction duct 120.

The first to third suction ducts 110, 120, and 130 provide first to third recovery spaces RS1, RS2, and RS3 into which the gas containing the treatment fluid and the fume scattered from the substrate w flows. . The first recovery space RS1 is defined by the first suction duct 110, and the second recovery space RS2 is defined by the separation space between the first suction duct 110 and the second suction duct 120. The third recovery space RS3 is defined by the separation space between the second suction duct 120 and the third suction duct 130.

On the other hand, the processing container 100 is coupled with the lifting unit 600 for changing the vertical position of the processing container 100. The lifting unit 600 linearly moves the processing container 100 in the vertical direction. As the processing container 100 is moved up and down, the relative height of the processing container 100 with respect to the spin head 210 is changed. The elevating unit 600 has a bracket 612, a moving shaft 614, and a driver 616. The bracket 612 is fixedly installed on the outer wall of the processing container 100, and the movement shaft 614, which is moved in the vertical direction by the driver 616, is fixedly coupled to the bracket 612. When the substrate W is loaded onto the spin head 210 or unloaded from the spin head 210, the processing container 100 descends such that the spin head 210 protrudes above the processing container 100. In addition, when the process is in progress, the height of the processing container 100 is adjusted to allow the processing liquid to flow into the predetermined suction ducts 110, 120, and 130 according to the type of the processing liquid supplied to the substrate W. Accordingly, the relative vertical position between the processing container 100 and the substrate w is changed. Therefore, the processing container 100 may vary the types of the processing liquid and the contaminated gas recovered for each of the recovery spaces RS1, RS2, and RS3.

In this embodiment, the substrate processing apparatus 1 changes the relative vertical position between the processing container 100 and the substrate supporting member 200 by vertically moving the processing container 100. However, the substrate processing apparatus 1 may change the relative vertical position between the processing container 100 and the substrate supporting member 200 by vertically moving the substrate supporting member 200.

The substrate support member 200 is provided inside the processing container 100. The substrate support member 200 supports the substrate W during the process and may be rotated by the driver 240 to be described later during the process. The substrate support member 200 has a spin head 210 having a circular top surface, and the support pins 212 and chucking pins 214 supporting the substrate W are formed on the top surface of the spin head 210. Have The support pins 212 are disposed in a predetermined arrangement at a predetermined interval spaced apart from the upper surface edge of the spin head 210, and are provided to protrude upward from the spin head 210. The support pins 212 support the bottom surface of the substrate W so that the substrate W is supported while being spaced upward from the spin head 210. The chucking pins 214 are disposed on the outer side of the support pins 212, and the chucking pins 214 are provided to protrude upward. The chucking pins 214 align the substrate W such that the substrate W supported by the plurality of support pins 212 is placed in position on the spinhead 210. During the process, the chucking pins 214 are in contact with the side of the substrate W to prevent the substrate W from being displaced from its position.

A support shaft 220 supporting the spin head 210 is connected to the lower portion of the spin head 210, and the support shaft 220 is rotated by the driving unit 230 connected to the lower end thereof. The driving unit 230 may be provided by a motor or the like. As the support shaft 220 rotates, the spin head 210 and the substrate W rotate.

The exhaust member 400 is to provide an exhaust pressure (suction pressure) to the first to third suction ducts (110, 120, 130) during the process. The exhaust member 400 includes a sub exhaust line 410 and a damper 420 connected to the exhaust duct 190. The sub exhaust line 410 receives exhaust pressure from an exhaust pump (not shown) and is connected to the main exhaust line embedded in the bottom space of the semiconductor production line (fab).

The sonic nozzle 300 includes a sonic rod 310, an arm 312 and a driver 314. Sonic rod 310 is designed to vibrate by vibration or oscillation energy. Sonic rod 310 is installed at one end of the movable arm 312. The tip of the sonic rod 310 is in contact with the processing liquid provided on the substrate. Accordingly, the vibration of the sonic rod 310 is transmitted to the chemical liquid to vibrate the chemical liquid. The treatment liquid is injected from the chemical liquid supply nozzle 320 and provided on the upper surface of the substrate. The treatment liquid may be provided to an upper surface of the substrate, specifically, a center portion of the upper surface of the substrate. The sonic rod 310 is moved onto the substrate during the process, and waits at the home port 330 before and after the process.

The chemical liquid herein may be, for example, deionized water (H ₂ O) used for the purpose of removing foreign particles adhering to the wafer W and rinsing of the previously used cleaning liquid remaining on the surface of the wafer W. have. In addition to ultrapure water, various kinds of chemicals may be used as the cleaning liquid. For example, the chemical is a mixture of ammonium hydroxide (NH ₄ OH), hydrogen peroxide (H ₂ O ₂ ) and ultrapure water (H ₂ O), a mixture of hydrofluoric acid (HF) and ultrapure water (H ₂ O), and ammonium fluoride (NH). ₄ F) and a mixture of hydrofluoric acid (HF) and ultrapure water (H ₂ O), and a mixture of phosphoric acid (H ₃ PO ₄ ) and ultrapure water (H ₂ O). The chemical may be selected as an appropriate cleaning liquid depending on the cleaning conditions. Alternatively, the above-described various cleaning solutions may use only one of them, some of them may be mixed, or may be used sequentially according to the kind of foreign matter to be removed.

The chemical liquid supply nozzle 320 may continuously or intermittently provide the processing liquid to the upper surface of the substrate during the substrate cleaning process. The substrate supported on the spin head 210 rotates during the substrate cleaning process. When the chemical liquid is injected from the chemical liquid supply nozzle 320 and provided on the upper surface of the substrate, the arm 312 is moved to contact the processing liquid provided on the substrate. At this time, when the sonic rod 310 is vibrated, the vibration is transmitted to the processing liquid. The substrate rotates when cleaning the substrate using Sonic. The treatment liquid is preferably provided to the center of the substrate so that the treatment liquid is spread evenly over the upper surface of the substrate by the centrifugal force due to the rotation of the substrate. Particles are dropped from the substrate by the vibration of the processing liquid, and the processing liquid containing the particles is pushed out of the substrate by the centrifugal force due to the rotation of the substrate. Accordingly, the treatment liquid is finally discharged through the discharge pipe.

In the substrate cleaning process, the substrate rotates and the arm 312 slides in parallel, so that the sonic rod 310 may move from the center of the substrate to the outer surface or from the outer surface to the center. In this way, the sonic rod 310 can sweep the entire upper surface of the substrate, which in turn enables uniform cleaning treatment over the entire substrate.

When the substrate cleaning using the sonic is completed, the sonic rod 310 waits at the home port 330. In the home port 330, a cleaning process for removing foreign substances such as a treatment liquid from the sonic rod while the sonic rod 310 is waiting, and a check process for detecting whether the sonic rod 310 operates normally are performed.

3 is a diagram showing a sonic rod waiting at a home port.

As shown in FIG. 3, the home port 330 is composed of an inner tub 332 and an outer tub 334, and a washing liquid is filled in the inner tub 332, and a washing liquid supply pipe supplies one side of the inner tub 332. 336 is connected. The washing liquid filled in the inner tank 332 overflows so as not to stagnate. The washing liquid flowing down from the inner tank 332 is collected in the outer tank 334 and discharged to the discharge pipe 338 connected to the outer tank. The inner tank 332 filled with the cleaning liquid contains the tip portion of the sonic rod 310. As such, the sonic rod 310 is washed by the cleaning liquid supplied to the inner tank 332.

On the other hand, the inner tank 332 is provided with a sensor 352 of the sonic measuring member 350 for checking whether the sonic rod 310 operates normally. The sonic measuring member 350 is installed in the inner tank 332 of the home port 330 to measure the output and sound pressure of the sonic rod 310 waiting at the home port 330, and the sensor 352. The display unit 354 has an alarm function to notify the operator of the output and the sound pressure measurement value of the output of the small rod 310 by receiving a signal from the signal, and informs the operator when an abnormality occurs.

In other words, before and after the sonic cleaning process, the sonic measuring member 350 performs sound pressure measurement such as whether the sonic rod 310 normally outputs ultrasonic waves and its output value is normal knee, and so on. Checking for defects prior to substrate processing can prevent process bonding in advance.

The sonic nozzle 300 described above is a method of providing ultrasonic waves to the treatment liquid injected onto the substrate, but there are also sonic nozzles that spray ultrasonic waves to the substrate by directly supplying ultrasonic waves to the cleaning liquid. These sonic nozzles are slightly different in shape of the groove pot. 4 is a view showing a sonic nozzle and a home port for spraying the ultrasonic cleaning solution onto the substrate.

As shown in FIG. 4, the sonic nozzle 300a waits at the home port 330, and the home port 330 has a single bath shape to clean the tip of the sonic rod 310a of the sonic nozzle 300a on one side. Spray nozzle 339 is provided. On the other hand, the sonic nozzle 310a is sprayed a predetermined amount of the ultrasonic wave applied processing liquid from the home port 330 so that the sensor 352 of the sonic measuring member 350 can measure the presence or absence of the output and the sound pressure. The sensor 352 measures the ultrasonic output and the sound pressure from the processing liquid (processing liquid having ultrasonic energy) sprayed from the sonic nozzle 310a.

The foregoing description is merely illustrative of the technical idea of the present invention, and various changes and modifications may be made by those skilled in the art without departing from the essential characteristics of the present invention. Therefore, the embodiments disclosed in the present invention are not intended to limit the technical idea of the present invention but to describe the present invention, and the scope of the technical idea of the present invention is not limited by these embodiments. The protection scope of the present invention should be interpreted by the following claims, and all technical ideas within the equivalent scope should be interpreted as being included in the scope of the present invention.

1 is a plan view showing the configuration of a substrate cleaning apparatus according to the present invention.

Figure 2 is a side cross-sectional view showing the configuration of the substrate cleaning apparatus according to the present invention.

3 is a diagram showing a sonic rod waiting at a home port.

4 is a view showing a sonic nozzle and a home port for spraying a cleaning solution applied with ultrasonic waves to a substrate.

<Description of Symbols for Main Parts of Drawings>

10 chamber 100 processing container

200: substrate support member 300: sonic nozzle

310: Sonic Road 330: Home Port

350: Sonic measuring member

Claims (12)

In the substrate cleaning apparatus: A substrate support member including a spin head on which the substrate is placed; A processing vessel installed to wrap around the spin head to recover a processing fluid scattered on a substrate; A chemical liquid supply nozzle for providing a processing fluid onto the substrate; A sonic rod for vibrating a processing fluid provided on the substrate; An arm coupled with the sonic rod to move the sonic rod; And And a sonic measuring member for checking whether the sonic rod is operating normally. The method of claim 1, The substrate cleaning device And a home port on which the sonic rod waits. The method of claim 2, The sonic measuring member And cleaning the sonic rod installed in the home port and waiting at the home port. The method of claim 2, The home port is An inner tank in which a cleaning liquid is filled to partially lock the sonic rod; And The substrate cleaning apparatus is installed to surround the inner tank, the outer tank containing a cleaning liquid overflowed from the inner tank. The method of claim 4, wherein The sonic measuring member A sensor installed in the inner tank to measure an output and sound pressure of the small rod; And And a display unit configured to receive a signal from the measuring sensor and to indicate whether or not an output of the vertical rod is output and a sound pressure measurement value. The method of claim 1, The hop port is The cleaning solution supply pipe for supplying the cleaning solution so that the cleaning solution always flows into the inner tank is characterized in that the connection In the substrate cleaning apparatus: A chemical liquid supply nozzle for providing a processing fluid onto the substrate; A sonic rod for providing ultrasonic waves to the processing fluid provided on the substrate; A home port on which the sonic load waits; And And a sensor installed at the home port, the sensor configured to measure the presence or absence of the output of the sonic rod and the sound pressure while waiting at the home port. The method of claim 7, wherein The home port is An inner tank in which a cleaning liquid for cleaning the sonic rod is filled and in which the measuring sensor is installed; And The substrate cleaning apparatus is installed to surround the inner tank, the outer tank containing a cleaning liquid overflowed from the inner tank. The method of claim 7, wherein And the sonic rod waits in the state contained in the inner tank. In the substrate cleaning method: Supplying a processing fluid to the substrate to form a cleaning liquid layer on the substrate; Cleaning the substrate by transferring ultrasonic waves generated through a sonic rod to the cleaning liquid layer; Placing the sonic rod in the home port when substrate cleaning is complete; And Operating the sonic rod waiting at the home port to measure the presence or absence of the output of the soybean rod and the sound pressure. The method of claim 10, The measuring step And the sonic rod is immersed in the cleaning liquid filled in the home port. The method of claim 10, And the sonic rod is cleaned with a cleaning liquid while waiting at the home port.

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