TW202040637A - Substrate processing apparatus and conveyance control method thereof - Google Patents

Abstract

A substrate processing device 1 which transfers a substrate with a substrate surface coated with a liquid film is provided with: a first processing unit 11A which, in order to prevent exposure of the substrate surface due to vibrations, evaporation of liquid and the like during transfer, supplies a liquid to the substrate S and coats the substrate surface with a liquid film; a transfer mechanism 15 which transfers the substrate carrying the liquid film; a second processing unit 13A which receives the substrate transferred by the transfer mechanism and performs a predetermined process; an image capture unit 157 which captures an image of the liquid film formed on the substrate surface; and a control unit 90 which controls the operation of the transfer mechanism on the basis of a difference between a plurality of images captured by the image capture unit at mutually different times between when the liquid film was formed and when the substrate is loaded into the second processing unit by the transfer mechanism.

Description

Substrate processing device and its transport control method

The present invention relates to a substrate processing apparatus that transports a substrate between a plurality of processing units, and particularly relates to the control of the transportation in a state where a liquid film is formed on the surface of the substrate.

In the manufacturing process of substrates such as semiconductor substrates or glass substrates for display panels, in order to perform different processes by individual processing units, it is necessary to transport the substrates between a plurality of processing units. In this case, it is necessary to prevent the following problems in advance, that is, surface oxidation due to exposure of the substrate surface during transport, or suspension of suspended matter on the transport path adhering to the substrate surface, and the collapse of the fine pattern formed on the substrate. Therefore, there are cases where the surface of the substrate is covered with a liquid film for transportation.

For example, in the prior art described in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2010-182817 (Patent Document 1), in the transfer between processing systems that process substrates by liquids, the substrates are immersed in the liquid accumulated in the transfer tray. It is transported in a state in which the entire surface is filled with liquid.

[The problem to be solved by the invention]

During the transfer of the substrate, due to acceleration, deceleration or vibration on the transfer path, and reduction of liquid due to volatilization, a part of the substrate surface may be exposed to the surrounding environment during the transfer. This phenomenon becomes the cause of defective products. Especially for a substrate with a fine pattern, the surface exposure will cause the pattern to collapse immediately, so even a short time is not allowed.

In the above-mentioned prior art, since the substrate is contained in the transfer tray, a certain degree of stable transfer can be expected, but it does not yet prevent the temporary exposure of the substrate surface due to the above-mentioned vibration, volatilization of liquid, etc. Function.

The present invention has been completed in view of the above-mentioned problems, and its purpose is to provide a technique for preventing the substrate from being caused by vibration during transportation or volatilization of liquid in a substrate processing apparatus that transports the substrate while the substrate surface is covered with a liquid film. The surface is exposed. [Technical means to solve the problem]

In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, one aspect of the substrate processing apparatus of the present invention includes: a first processing section that supplies a liquid to a substrate and covers the surface of the substrate with a liquid film; and a transport mechanism that transports the liquid film carrying the liquid film. Substrate; a second processing section, which receives the substrate transported by the transport mechanism and performs specific processing; an imaging section, which photographs the liquid film formed on the surface of the substrate; and a control section, which is based on the self-forming The operation of the transport mechanism is controlled by the difference between the plurality of images taken by the imaging section from the liquid film until the time when the substrate is transported into the second processing section by the transport mechanism.

In addition, another aspect of the present invention is a method for controlling the conveyance of a substrate processing apparatus, the substrate processing apparatus having: a first processing section that supplies liquid to a substrate and covers the surface of the substrate with a liquid film; and a second processing section , Which receives the above-mentioned substrate carrying the above-mentioned liquid film and performs specific processing; and a transport mechanism which transports the above-mentioned substrate between the above-mentioned first processing section and the above-mentioned second processing section; in order to achieve the above-mentioned object, the substrate processing apparatus The conveyance control method is to photograph the liquid film at different times from the formation of the liquid film until the time when the substrate is transferred into the second processing unit, and to control the liquid film based on the difference between the plural images taken. The movement of the transport mechanism.

In the invention thus constituted, the liquid film on the surface of the substrate being transported is photographed, and the action of the transport mechanism is controlled based on the difference between the images taken at different times. Therefore, the change in the state of the liquid film on the surface of the substrate can be detected and reflected in the transport control. For example, it is possible to suppress the conveying speed in order to reduce vibration, or to replenish the liquid if the thickness of the liquid film decreases. Thereby, the substrate surface can be stably conveyed in the state where the liquid film covers the substrate surface, and the substrate surface can be prevented from being exposed. [Effects of Invention]

As described above, according to the present invention, the liquid film on the substrate surface during transport is photographed and the change is reflected in the transport control, so that the substrate can be transported in a state where the liquid film on the substrate surface is stabilized. This prevents the surface of the substrate from being exposed due to vibration during transportation or volatilization of liquid.

The above-mentioned and other objects and novel features of the present invention can be more fully understood as long as they refer to the accompanying drawings and can read the following detailed description. However, the drawings are used exclusively for illustration and do not limit the scope of the present invention.

1A and 1B are diagrams showing a schematic configuration of an embodiment of the substrate processing apparatus of the present invention. More specifically, FIG. 1A is a plan view of the substrate processing apparatus 1 according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 1B is a side view of the substrate processing apparatus 1. Furthermore, these drawings do not show the appearance of the device, but are schematic diagrams that easily show the internal structure of the device by excluding the external wall panel or other parts of the device. The substrate processing device 1 is, for example, a device that is installed in a clean room and used to perform specific processing on a substrate.

Here, as the "substrate" of the present embodiment, semiconductor substrates, glass substrates for photomasks, glass substrates for liquid crystal display, glass substrates for plasma display, substrates for FED (Field Emission Display), optical discs can be applied. Various substrates such as substrates, substrates for magnetic disks, and substrates for optical magnetic disks. Hereinafter, a substrate processing apparatus used for processing semiconductor substrates will be mainly used as an example for description with reference to the drawings. However, the treatments for the various substrates exemplified above can also be similarly applied.

As shown in FIG. 1A, the substrate processing apparatus 1 includes a substrate processing section 10 that performs processing on a substrate S, and a transfer and transfer section 20 coupled to the substrate processing section 10. The transfer and transfer unit 20 includes a container holding unit 21 and a transfer and transfer robot 22. The transfer conveyor 20 can hold a plurality of containers C for storing the substrate S. As the container C, FOUP (Front Opening Unified Pod), SMIF (Standard Mechanical Interface) box, OC (Open Cassette, open crystal box) that contain multiple substrates S in a sealed state can be used. Box) etc. The transfer robot 22 enters and exits the container C held in the container holding portion 21, takes out the unprocessed substrate S from the container C, or stores the processed substrate in the container C. In each container C, a plurality of substrates S are stored in a substantially horizontal posture.

The transfer robot 22 includes a base portion 221, a multi-joint arm 222, and a hand 223. The base portion 221 is fixed to the device casing. The multi-joint arm 222 is provided to be able to rotate about a vertical axis with respect to the base portion 221. At the front end of the multi-joint arm 222, a hand 223 is installed. The hand 223 has a structure capable of placing and holding the substrate S on its upper surface. Such transfer robots with multi-joint arms and substrate holding hands are well known, so detailed descriptions are omitted.

The substrate processing unit 10 includes a center robot 15 which is arranged approximately in the center in a plan view, and a plurality of substrate processing units which are arranged so as to surround the center robot 15. Specifically, a plurality of (four in this example) substrate processing units 11A, 12A, 13A, and 14A are arranged facing the space in which the center robot 15 is arranged. The substrate processing units 11A-14A are those that perform specific processing on the substrate S, respectively. When the processing units have the same function, parallel processing of a plurality of substrates can be performed. In addition, it may be configured to combine processing units with different functions to sequentially perform different processing on one substrate.

As described below, the substrate processing apparatus 1 of this embodiment is used for a series of processing of drying the substrate S after subjecting the substrate S to wet processing with a specific processing liquid. For this purpose, two substrate processing units 11A and 12A among the four substrate processing units are responsible for the wet processing of the substrate S, and are provided with a structure to be able to perform the processing inside. In addition, the other two substrate processing units 13A and 14A are responsible for the process of removing residual liquid from the substrate S after the wet process and drying the substrate S (drying process), and are provided with a structure for performing the process inside.

In each of the substrate processing units 11A to 14A, the substrate processing main body that executes the processing of the substrate S is contained in a processing chamber provided with a baffle that can be opened and closed on the side facing the center robot 15. That is, the substrate processing unit 11A has a processing chamber 110 and a baffle 111 disposed in the processing chamber 110 facing the side of the center robot 15. The baffle 111 is provided to cover an opening (not shown) provided on the side of the processing chamber 110 facing the central robot 15. When the shutter 111 is opened, the opening is exposed, and the substrate S can be carried in and out through the opening. In addition, when the substrate S is processed in the processing chamber 110, the baffle 111 is closed to block the environment in the processing chamber 110 from the outside.

Similarly, the substrate processing unit 12A has a processing chamber 120 and a baffle 121 disposed in the processing chamber 120 facing the side of the central robot 15. In addition, the substrate processing unit 13A has a processing chamber 130 and a baffle 131 disposed in the processing chamber 130 facing the side of the center robot 15. In addition, the substrate processing unit 14A has a processing chamber 140 and a baffle plate 141 disposed in the processing chamber 140 facing the side of the center robot 15.

Furthermore, the components of the substrate processing unit arranged in the horizontal direction are arranged in a plurality of stages (two stages in this example) in the vertical direction. That is, as shown in FIG. 1B, a substrate processing unit 11B is provided below the substrate processing unit 11A. The structure and function of the substrate processing unit 11B are the same as those of the substrate processing unit 11A. Moreover, under the substrate processing unit 12A, a substrate processing unit 12B having the same structure and the same function as the substrate processing unit 12A is provided. Similarly, a substrate processing unit 13B (FIG. 2) is also provided under the substrate processing unit 13A, and a substrate processing unit (not shown) is also provided under the substrate processing unit 14A. In addition, the number of stages of the substrate processing unit is arbitrary, and is not limited to the two illustrated here. In addition, the number of substrate processing units per stage is not limited to the above.

Figure 2 is a diagram showing the structure and installation environment of the central robot. The central robot 15 can receive the unprocessed substrate S from the transfer robot 22 and can transfer the processed substrate S to the transfer robot 22. More specifically, the center robot 15 includes a base portion 151, an elevating portion 152, a rotating portion 153, a telescopic arm 154, and a hand 155. The base part 151 is fixed to the bottom frame of the substrate processing part 10 and supports various components of the central robot 15. The lifting part 152 is installed on the base part 151, and a rotating part 153 is installed on the upper part of the lifting part 152. The lifting part 152 is free to expand and contract in the vertical direction, and the rotating part 153 is raised and lowered by the expansion and contraction movement.

The rotating part 153 can rotate about a vertical axis with respect to the lifting part 152. The base of the telescopic arm 154 is mounted on the rotating part 153, and the hand 155 is mounted on the front end of the telescopic arm 154. The telescopic arm 154 expands and contracts in a specific range in the horizontal direction. The hand 155 has a structure in which the substrate S can be placed and held on the upper surface thereof, and the substrate S can be transferred to and from the hand 223 of the transfer robot 22. The mechanism of this structure is well known, so detailed description is omitted.

By extending and contracting the telescopic arm 154 in the horizontal direction, the substrate S held by the hand 155 can be moved in the horizontal direction. In addition, by rotating the rotating part 153 relative to the lifting part 152, the horizontal movement direction of the substrate S can be specified. In addition, the height of the substrate S, that is, the position in the vertical direction, can be adjusted by lifting the rotating part 153 by the lifting part 152.

The rotating part 153 is provided with a supporting member 156 extending upward. The supporting member 156 is installed on the side of the rotating part 153 opposite to the extension direction of the telescopic arm 154 so as not to interfere with the expansion and contraction of the hand 155. A CCD camera 157 is installed on the upper end of the supporting member 156. The optical axis direction of the CCD camera 157 faces slightly downward from the horizontal direction, and the substrate S held by the hand 155 is viewed from obliquely upward and falls into the shooting field of view. Thereby, the upper surface of the substrate S can be photographed. The shooting data is sent to the control unit 90.

In addition, a replenishing liquid nozzle 158 is provided in the rotating part 153. The replenishing liquid nozzle 158 opens upwardly and downward from the substrate S held by the hand 155. The replenishing liquid nozzle 158 is connected to a low surface tension liquid supply part (described below) not shown, and supplies the low surface tension liquid supplied from the low surface tension liquid supply part to the substrate S as necessary.

In the substrate processing apparatus 1 configured as described above, the processing of the substrate S is performed as follows. In the initial state, the unprocessed substrate S is contained in the container C placed on the container holding portion 21. The transfer robot 22 takes out one unprocessed substrate S from the container C and transfers it to the center robot 15. The central robot 15 carries the received substrate S into a substrate processing unit that is to perform processing on the substrate S.

For example, when the substrate S is loaded into the substrate processing unit 11A, as shown in FIG. 2, the center robot 15 adjusts the height of the rotating part 153 by the lifter 152, and positions the substrate S held by the hand 155 in the substrate processing unit 11A The height of the baffle 111 on the side of the processing chamber 110. When the baffle 111 is opened, the telescopic arm 154 extends toward the opening on the side of the processing chamber 110, thereby carrying the substrate S into the processing chamber 110. After the telescopic arm 154 retreats, the baffle 111 is closed, and the substrate S is processed in the processing chamber 110. The loading of the substrate S with respect to other substrate processing units can also be performed in the same manner.

On the other hand, when taking out the processed substrate S from the substrate processing unit 11A, the telescopic arm 154 enters the processing chamber 110 where the shutter 111 has been opened, and the processed substrate S is taken out. The taken-out substrate S can be carried into another substrate processing unit to perform a new process, and it can also be returned to the container C via the transfer robot 22. The specific processing procedure of this embodiment will be described in detail below.

As shown in FIG. 2, the center robot 15 is installed in the conveying space TS separated from the outside space by the partition wall 101 on the side and above. The substrate processing unit 11A is installed on the side of the partition wall 101 with the side surface of the processing chamber 110 provided with the baffle plate 111 facing the transport space TS. The same applies to other substrate processing units.

In addition to the above, the substrate processing apparatus 1 is provided with a control unit 90 for controlling the operation of each part of the apparatus. The control unit 90 at least includes a CPU (Central Processing Unit, central processing unit) 91 and a memory 92. The CPU 91 executes a pre-prepared control program to cause each part of the device to perform specific actions. In addition, the memory 92 stores the control program to be executed by the CPU 91, or the data generated by the execution. The actions related to the movement of the transfer robot 22 and the center robot 15 described above, the opening and closing of the baffle in each processing chamber, or the various processing of the substrate S, etc. are controlled by the CPU 91 executing the control program.

3A and 3B are diagrams showing a substrate processing unit performing wet processing. More specifically, FIG. 3A is a diagram showing the configuration of the substrate processing unit 11A, and FIG. 3B is a diagram for explaining the operation of the substrate processing unit 11A. Here, the structure of the substrate processing unit 11A will be described, and the structures of the other substrate processing units 11B, 12A, etc. that perform wet processing are also basically the same.

The substrate processing unit 11A includes a wet processing unit 30 as a substrate processing main body in the processing chamber 110. The wet processing unit 30 supplies the processing liquid to the upper surface of the substrate S to perform surface treatment or cleaning of the substrate S. In addition, in order to prevent the upper surface of the substrate S carried out after the wet processing from being exposed to the surrounding environment, the wet processing section 30 also performs the process of covering the upper surface of the substrate S after the wet processing with a liquid film of a low surface tension liquid The liquid film formation treatment.

For this purpose, the wet processing section 30 includes a substrate holding section 31, a splash cover 32, a processing liquid supply section 33, and a low surface tension liquid supply section 34. Their actions are controlled by the control unit 90. The substrate holding portion 31 has a disk-shaped rotating chuck 311 having a diameter approximately equal to that of the substrate S, and a plurality of chuck pins 312 are provided on the peripheral edge of the rotating chuck 311. The chuck pin 312 abuts against the peripheral edge of the substrate S and supports the substrate S, whereby the rotating chuck 311 can maintain the substrate S in a horizontal posture while being separated from the upper surface of the substrate S.

The rotating chuck 311 is supported by a rotating support shaft 313 extending downward from the center of the lower surface, and the upper surface is horizontal. The rotating support shaft 313 is rotatably supported by a rotating mechanism 314 installed at the bottom of the processing chamber 110. The rotating mechanism 314 is equipped with a rotating motor not shown in the figure. The rotating motor rotates according to a control command from the control unit 90, whereby the rotating chuck 311 directly connected to the rotating support shaft 313 is wound around a vertical axis represented by a single-dot chain line Spin. In FIGS. 3A and 3B, the up-down direction is the vertical direction. Thereby, the substrate S rotates around the vertical axis while maintaining the horizontal posture.

The splash guard 32 is provided so as to surround the substrate holding portion 31 from the side. The splash guard 32 has a substantially cylindrical shield 321 provided to cover the periphery of the rotating chuck 311 and a liquid receiving portion 322 provided below the outer periphery of the shield 321. The shield 321 moves up and down according to the control command from the control unit 90. The shield 321 moves up and down between the following positions, that is, as shown in FIG. 3A, the upper end of the shield 321 is lowered to a lower position than the peripheral edge of the substrate S held by the rotating chuck 311, as shown in FIG. The upper end of the shield 321 shown in 3B is located above the peripheral edge of the substrate S.

When the shield 321 is at the lower position, as shown in FIG. 3A, the substrate S held by the spin chuck 311 is exposed to the outside of the shield 321. Therefore, it is possible to prevent the shield 321 from becoming an obstacle when the substrate S is carried in and out of the spin chuck 311, for example.

In addition, when the shield 321 is at the upper position, as shown in FIG. 3B, it surrounds the peripheral edge of the substrate S held by the spin chuck 311. Thereby, it is possible to prevent the processing liquid thrown off from the peripheral portion of the substrate S during the liquid supply described below from scattering into the processing chamber 110, so that the processing liquid can be reliably recovered. That is, the liquid droplets of the processing liquid thrown off the periphery of the substrate S due to the rotation of the substrate S adhere to the inner wall of the shield 321 and flow downward, and are collected and collected by the liquid receiving portion 322 arranged below the shield 321. Recycling. In order to separately recover a plurality of treatment liquids, a plurality of stages of shields can also be arranged concentrically.

The processing liquid supply part 33 has a structure in which a rotating shaft 332 is rotatably provided on the base 331 fixed to the processing chamber 110, and further, at the front end of the arm 333 extending horizontally from the rotating shaft 332 A nozzle 334 is installed. The arm 333 is moved by rotating the pivot shaft 332 according to the control command from the control unit 90. Thereby, the nozzle 334 at the front end of the arm 333 moves between the retreat position from the upper side of the substrate S to the side as shown in FIG. 3A and the processing position above the substrate S as shown in FIG. 3B.

The nozzle 334 is connected to a processing liquid supply part (not shown) provided in the control unit 90. When an appropriate processing liquid is sent from the processing liquid supply unit, the processing liquid is ejected from the nozzle 334 toward the substrate S. As shown in FIG. 3B, the substrate S is rotated by rotating the spin chuck 311 at a relatively low speed, and the nozzle 33 positioned above the rotation center of the substrate S supplies the processing liquid Lq. Thereby, the upper surface Sa of the substrate S is processed by the processing liquid Lq. As the treatment liquid Lq, liquids having various functions such as developing liquid, etching liquid, cleaning liquid, and cleaning liquid can be used, and the composition thereof is arbitrary. Moreover, it is also possible to perform processing by combining a plurality of processing liquids.

The low surface tension liquid supply unit 34 also has a structure corresponding to the processing liquid supply unit 33. That is, the low surface tension liquid supply unit 34 has a base 341, a rotating shaft 342, an arm 343, a nozzle 344, and the like, and the configuration thereof is equivalent to that of the processing liquid supply unit 33. The arm 343 is moved by rotating the pivot shaft 342 according to the control command from the control unit 90. The nozzle 344 at the front end of the arm 343 supplies a low surface tension liquid for forming a liquid film to the upper surface Sa of the substrate S after wet processing.

The "treatment liquid Lq", "arm 333", and "nozzle 334" in the description of FIG. 3B are renamed "low surface tension liquid Lq", "arm 343", and "nozzle 344", respectively, to explain the low surface The operation of the tension fluid supply unit 34. The sprayed one is a low surface tension liquid, which is a different kind of liquid from the general treatment liquid.

When the upper surface Sa of the substrate to be processed is formed with a fine concavo-convex pattern (hereinafter referred to as "pattern"), during the process of drying the wet substrate S after the wet processing, there may be some cause to enter the pattern The surface tension of the liquid will cause the pattern to collapse. As a method to prevent this, there are the following methods: replacing the liquid in the pattern with a liquid with a lower surface tension and then drying; sublimation drying by covering the upper surface Sa of the substrate with a solid of a sublimation substance and sublimating the sublimation substance Method; and the supercritical drying method used in this embodiment.

In order to perform the supercritical drying process that requires high temperature and high pressure, another high pressure chamber is required that is different from the chamber for wet processing. Therefore, the wet-processed substrate S needs to be transported to the high-pressure chamber. In order to avoid pattern collapse due to exposure of the substrate surface during transportation, it is more desirable to cover the upper surface Sa of the substrate with liquid or solid. At this time, from the viewpoint of more reliably preventing pattern collapse caused by surface tension, the liquid covering the upper surface Sa of the substrate is preferably a liquid having a smaller surface tension than the treatment liquid. In this manual, liquids of this nature are called "low surface tension liquids".

In this embodiment, conveyance is performed in a state where the upper surface Sa of the substrate is covered with a liquid film of a low surface tension liquid. The liquid film is formed in the following manner. As shown in FIG. 3B, in a state where the substrate S is rotating at a specific rotation speed, the low surface tension liquid Lq supplied from the low surface tension liquid supply part (not shown) provided in the control unit 90 is ejected from the nozzle 343, Thereby, the upper surface Sa of the substrate becomes a state covered by the liquid film LF of the low surface tension liquid. As a low surface tension liquid, it is preferable to have a good miscibility with the treatment liquid used for wet processing and a surface tension lower than the treatment liquid. For example, when the treatment liquid contains water as the main component, isopropyl alcohol (IPA) can be preferably used. In this way, the entire upper surface Sa of the substrate is covered by the liquid film LF of the low surface tension liquid.

In addition, in the processing chamber 110, a CCD camera 351 and an illumination light source 352 are arranged above the substrate S held by the rotating chuck 311. The direction of the optical axis of the CCD camera 351 faces slightly downward from the horizontal direction. Therefore, the CCD camera 351 looks down on the substrate S held by the spin chuck 311 from an oblique upper side and makes it fall into the imaging field of view. The illumination light source 352 illuminates the substrate S with illumination light for shooting. Thereby, the upper surface of the substrate S is photographed. The shooting data is sent to the control unit 90.

The substrate S carried out from the substrate processing unit 11A in a state where the upper surface Sa is covered by the liquid film LF is transported to the substrate processing unit 13A and subjected to drying processing. That is, the substrate processing unit 13A has a function of performing a drying process as a substrate process that removes the liquid film LF formed on the upper surface Sa of the substrate S carried in in a horizontal position to dry the substrate S. As the drying process, supercritical drying is applied in which the substrate S is covered with a supercritical fluid and then the supercritical fluid is vaporized (not through the liquid phase) and removed. Here, the structure of the substrate processing unit 13A will be described, and the structures of the other substrate processing units 13B, 14A, etc. that perform the drying process are also basically the same.

Fig. 4 is a diagram showing a substrate processing unit that performs supercritical drying processing. More specifically, FIG. 4 is a side sectional view showing the internal structure of the substrate processing unit 13A. The principle of supercritical drying treatment and the basic structure required for this are well known, so detailed description is omitted here. The substrate processing unit 13A is provided with a high-pressure chamber 130, and a drying processing unit 40 as a main body of the drying processing is provided inside. In the drying processing part 40, a platform 41 for placing the substrate S is installed in the high pressure chamber 130. The platform 41 holds the substrate S whose upper surface Sa is covered by the liquid film by suction holding or mechanical holding. The high pressure chamber 130 is high pressure, so in order to withstand high pressure, a relatively simple internal structure and high pressure resistance component is used.

At the center of the lower surface of the platform 41, the pivot shaft 42 extends downward. The rotation support shaft 42 is inserted into the bottom surface of the high pressure chamber 130 via the high pressure seal rotation introduction mechanism 43. The rotating shaft 431 of the high-pressure seal rotating introduction mechanism 43 is connected to the rotating mechanism 432. Therefore, if the rotation mechanism 432 is actuated in accordance with the control command from the control unit 90, the substrate S and the stage 41 rotate together around the rotation axis in the vertical direction indicated by the single-dot chain line.

A fluid dispersion member 44 is arranged inside the high pressure chamber 130 and above the platform 41. The fluid dispersion member 44 is provided with a plurality of through holes 442 penetrating up and down with respect to the flat blocking plate 441. If necessary, carbon dioxide gas is supplied from the carbon dioxide supply part 45 to the upper part of the high pressure chamber 130, and the carbon dioxide gas is rectified by the fluid dispersing member 44, and is uniformly supplied from above the substrate S toward the substrate S.

In addition, nitrogen is introduced into the high pressure chamber 130 from the nitrogen supply unit 46 as necessary. If necessary, nitrogen is supplied in various forms, that is, as normal temperature or heated gas, or as liquid nitrogen that has been cooled and liquefied, according to the purpose of flushing the gas in the high-pressure chamber 130 or cooling the chamber.

Furthermore, a discharge mechanism 48 is connected to the high pressure chamber 130. The discharge mechanism 48 has a function of discharging various fluids such as gas or liquid introduced into the high pressure chamber 130. The discharge mechanism 48 is equipped with pipes, valves, pumps, and the like for this purpose. Thereby, the fluid in the high-pressure chamber 130 can be quickly discharged when necessary.

Although illustration is omitted, the control unit 90 has a configuration for detecting the pressure or temperature in the high-pressure chamber 130 and a configuration for controlling them to specific values. That is, the control unit 90 has a function of controlling the pressure and temperature in the high-pressure chamber 130 to specific target values.

Next, the operation of the substrate processing apparatus 1 configured as described above will be described. As described above, the substrate processing apparatus 1 is an apparatus that sequentially performs wet processing and drying processing on the substrate S. The main flow of this treatment is as follows. That is, after the substrate S is transported to a substrate processing unit that performs wet processing and the processing liquid is processed, a liquid film of a low surface tension liquid is formed, and the substrate S is transported to a substrate processing unit that performs drying processing and the liquid film is removed. The substrate S is dried. The specific processing content will be described below.

Here, it is assumed that the substrate processing unit 11A performs wet processing on one substrate S and the substrate processing unit 13A performs drying processing on the one substrate S. However, the combination of the substrate processing unit performing wet processing and the substrate processing unit performing dry processing is arbitrary, and is not limited to this. In addition, in the following description, in order to clearly show the role of each substrate processing unit, the substrate processing unit 11A that performs wet processing is referred to as "wet processing unit", and the substrate processing unit 13A that performs dry processing is referred to as It is the "dry processing unit".

Fig. 5 is a flowchart showing the operation of the substrate processing apparatus. This action is realized by the CPU 91 executing a pre-prepared control program to make each part of the device execute a specific action. First, the transfer robot 22 takes out one unprocessed substrate S from one of the containers C that accommodates the unprocessed substrate (step S101). Then, the substrate S is transferred from the transfer robot 22 to the center robot 15 (step S102). The center robot 15 carries the substrate S into the substrate processing unit (wet processing unit) 11A that performs wet processing (step S103).

The substrate processing unit 11A into which the substrate S is loaded performs wet processing on the substrate S (step S104). As described above, the content of wet processing is to supply the processing liquid to the substrate S to process or clean the upper surface Sa of the substrate. A liquid film forming process for forming a liquid film LF of a low surface tension liquid is performed on the substrate S after the wet process (step S105).

The substrate S with the liquid film LF formed on the upper surface Sa by the liquid film forming process is taken out from the substrate processing unit 11A by the central robot 15 and carried into the substrate processing unit (drying processing unit) 13A that performs the drying process. That is, the transfer process of transferring the substrate S from the substrate processing unit 11A to the substrate processing unit 13A is performed (step S106). Various aspects can be considered as the transfer process, so various aspects such as these are summarized and described in detail below.

The substrate processing unit 13A carrying the substrate S performs a drying process for removing the attached liquid to dry the substrate S (step S107). In the substrate processing unit 13A, a supercritical drying process using a supercritical fluid is performed. That is, carbon dioxide is introduced into the high pressure chamber 130 from the carbon dioxide supply part 45, and the pressure in the chamber is sufficiently increased, whereby the carbon dioxide is liquefied. Or, liquid carbon dioxide can also be introduced into the high pressure chamber 130. Liquid carbon dioxide covers the upper surface Sa of the substrate. The liquefied carbon dioxide fully dissolves the organic solvent. Therefore, the liquid such as IPA remaining in the pattern is replaced by liquid carbon dioxide.

Then, the temperature and pressure in the high-pressure chamber 130 are adjusted to make the carbon dioxide in a supercritical state. Thereby, the carbon dioxide in the high pressure chamber 130 becomes a supercritical fluid. The fluid in the supercritical state has extremely high fluidity and extremely low surface tension. Especially the supercritical fluid generated from carbon dioxide fully dissolves organic solvents such as IPA and acetone. Therefore, the supercritical fluid of carbon dioxide enters the depths of the fine pattern and removes the remaining organic solvent components from the pattern. The point at which it becomes a supercritical state at relatively low pressure and low temperature is also one of the reasons why carbon dioxide is used in supercritical drying treatment.

Then, the pressure in the high-pressure chamber 130 is suddenly reduced, whereby the supercritical fluid is directly vaporized and removed from the substrate S without passing through the liquid phase. Thereby, the substrate S is in a state where the liquid component is completely removed and dried. The liquid component remaining in the pattern is replaced by the supercritical fluid, and the supercritical fluid is directly vaporized to avoid the problem of pattern collapse caused by the surface tension of the liquid in the pattern.

The processed substrate S is taken out from the substrate processing unit 13A by the central robot 15 (step S108). The taken-out processed substrate S is transferred from the center robot 15 to the transfer robot 22 (step S109). The transfer robot 22 stores the substrate S in one of the containers C (step S110). The container C for accommodating the processed substrate S may be a container that once accommodated the substrate S in an unprocessed state, or other containers.

Furthermore, when there is a substrate to be processed (YES in step S111), the process returns to step S101, and the above-mentioned processing is performed on the next substrate S. If there is no substrate to be processed (No in step S111), the processing ends.

In the above, the flow in the case of processing one substrate S has been described, but the processing of a plurality of substrates is performed in parallel in an actual device. That is, while one substrate S is being processed in one substrate processing unit, the transfer of the transfer robot 22 and the center robot 15 to other substrates and the substrate processing performed by the other substrate processing units can be simultaneously executed in parallel. At least one.

More specifically, for example, after the substrate S is transferred from the transfer robot 22 to the center robot 15 in step S102, the transfer robot 22 can enter and exit the container C again and take out other substrates. In addition, for example, after one substrate S is loaded into the substrate processing unit 11A in step S103, the central robot 15 can transfer other substrates to other substrate processing units, or unload other substrates processed by the other substrate processing units.

Therefore, when a plurality of substrates S need to be processed sequentially, the processing of the plurality of substrates can be performed in parallel by appropriately adjusting the operation sequence of each part of the apparatus for processing each substrate S. In this way, the throughput of the processing as the entire substrate processing apparatus 1 can be improved. The specific sequence of actions should be appropriately determined according to the processing specifications, the time required for each of the above steps, or whether they can be processed simultaneously.

Next, several aspects of the transfer process (step S106 in FIG. 5) of the above-mentioned substrate process will be described. The purpose of the transfer process is to transport the substrate S with the liquid film LF formed on the upper surface Sa from the substrate processing unit 11A, while maintaining the liquid film LF, that is, without exposing the upper surface Sa of the substrate. To the substrate processing unit 13A. For this purpose, in this embodiment, images taken by the CCD camera 351 provided in the substrate processing unit 11A and the CCD camera 157 provided in the center robot 15 are used.

Fig. 6 is a flowchart showing the first aspect of the transfer process. First, in the processing chamber 110 of the substrate processing unit 11A, the CCD camera 351 photographs the substrate S just after the liquid film formation process (step S201). At this time, the liquid film LF formed to cover the upper surface Sa of the substrate is actually photographed. It is more desirable that the entire liquid film LF covering the upper surface Sa of the substrate falls into the image. The data of the captured image is stored in the memory 92 of the control unit 90 as reference data.

Then, the hand 155 of the center robot 15 enters the processing chamber 110 to hold the substrate S (step S202), and the transfer of the substrate S is started by the horizontal movement of the hand 155 (step S203). During the transportation, the liquid film LF on the upper surface Sa of the substrate is photographed at any time by the CCD camera 157 provided in the center robot 15 (step S204). Preferably, between the image captured by the CCD camera 157 and the image captured by the CCD camera 351, the position, size, and elevation angle of the substrate S in the image are the same.

The image obtained by shooting is compared with the reference image originally shot. That is, the difference between the image newly captured by the CCD camera 157 and the image captured by the CCD camera 351 in the processing chamber 110 is obtained (step S205). If the result is a significant difference between the two images, it is considered that the liquid film LF on the substrate S has some changes. For example, the absolute value of the difference of each pixel between the two images is accumulated in the image, and it can be judged whether there is a significant difference according to whether the value exceeds a preset reference amount (threshold value). The difference in the thickness of the liquid film appears as a change in surface reflectivity or a difference in the generation of interference fringes. This difference can be detected by finding the difference of the image.

As the changes that can be caused in the liquid film during transport, it is considered that the liquid level is shaken due to vibration, and the liquid drops or volatilizes and the amount of liquid decreases. In view of these situations, it is effective to supplement the substrate S with a low surface tension liquid. Therefore, when there is a significant change in the liquid film (Yes in step S206), a specific amount of low surface tension liquid is replenished from the replenishing liquid nozzle 158 provided in the central robot 15 (step S207). This prevents the liquid film from being damaged due to the decrease in the liquid volume. When no significant change is seen (No in step S206), no liquid replenishment is performed.

Before the substrate S reaches the target position, that is, in the high-pressure chamber 130 of the substrate processing unit 13A, the above steps S204 to S207 are repeatedly performed (No in step S208). Therefore, during the transfer of the substrate S, the state of the liquid film LF can be monitored from time to time, and the low surface tension liquid can be supplemented when necessary. Thereby, the liquid film on the substrate S can be stably maintained. If it reaches the target position (YES in step S208), the substrate S is transferred from the central robot 15 to the platform 41 in the high pressure chamber 130 (step S209), thereby completing the transfer of the substrate S.

Fig. 7 is a flowchart showing the second aspect of the transfer process. In this aspect, step S221 is provided instead of step S207 in the first aspect. The processing content other than this is the same as that of the first aspect, so the same processing is denoted by the same reference numerals and the description is omitted. In step S221 performed in the second aspect instead of the liquid replenishment in the first aspect, the conveying speed of the substrate S by the center robot 15 is changed.

For example, in the case where the low surface tension liquid falls from the substrate S due to vibration or sudden acceleration and deceleration, the liquid falling can be suppressed by transporting the substrate S more slowly. That is, in this case, it is only necessary to reduce the transport speed. For example, when the surface of the liquid film is corrugated, it can be regarded as shaking the liquid film LF due to vibration. On the other hand, the decrease in the liquid volume caused by the volatilization of the liquid appears as a decrease in the film thickness of the liquid film of the entire substrate S. In this case, it is preferable to increase the conveying speed to complete the conveying in a shorter time. Furthermore, when this aspect is implemented separately, the supplementary liquid nozzle 158 may also be omitted.

Fig. 8 is a flowchart showing the third aspect of the transfer process. In addition, FIG. 9 is a flowchart showing a substrate processing operation including the transfer processing. In this aspect, since the content of the transfer process is different, the operation of the substrate processing itself also needs to be changed. Here, the processing with the same content as the processing described previously is denoted by the same reference numerals and the description is omitted. As shown in FIG. 8, in the transfer process of the third aspect, when the image of the liquid film changes significantly in step S206, an exception flag is set to make the subsequent process different (step S231). In this case, the transfer of the substrate S is interrupted.

As shown in FIG. 9, in the substrate processing of this aspect, after the transfer processing (step S106), a step S121 of judging whether to set an exception flag is added. When a mark is provided (Yes in step S121), the center robot 15 puts the substrate S back into the wet processing unit 11A (step S122). Following this, the exception flag is reset (step S123). Then, after the liquid film formation process is performed again in the wet processing unit 11A (step S105), the transfer process is performed again (step S106).

In this aspect, when the liquid film LF on the substrate S changes, the liquid film LF is formed in the substrate processing unit 11A. If the exception flag is not set (No in step S121), the liquid film LF does not change significantly, so the drying process is continued (step S107). Thereby, it is possible to avoid being carried into the substrate processing unit 13A in a state where the liquid film LF is damaged. That is, the substrate S can be transferred while the liquid film LF is stably maintained. Furthermore, regarding this aspect, the replenishing liquid nozzle 158 may also be omitted in the case of separate implementation.

Fig. 10 is a flowchart showing the fourth aspect of the transfer process. In FIG. 10, the same content as the transfer process shown in FIG. 6 is also denoted by the same reference numerals, and the description is omitted. In this aspect, after the liquid film is photographed by the CCD camera 351 in step S201, the image is compared with the ideal image prepared in advance. That is, the difference between the captured image and the ideal image is calculated (step S241). The so-called ideal image is an image corresponding to an ideal state in which the upper surface Sa of the substrate S is uniformly covered by a liquid film LF of a specific thickness.

This process is used to verify whether an appropriate liquid film LF is formed on the substrate S. In other words, the substrate S after the wet processing has surface irregularities or changes in wettability as a result of the processing, so it is difficult to form a uniform liquid film. Especially if the surface of the substrate after processing is in a state with liquid repellency, it is difficult to support a uniform liquid film. In addition, depending on the abnormal operation of the device configuration for forming the liquid film or the holding state of the substrate S, there may be cases where a proper liquid film is not formed initially. Such an abnormality can be detected immediately by comparing the image of the substrate S just after the formation of the liquid film with the ideal image. In addition, the liquid supply amount for liquid film formation or the rotation speed of the substrate S may be adjusted based on the magnitude of the difference from the ideal image.

If there is a significant difference between the captured image and the ideal image (Yes in step S242), the transfer process is terminated after proper error processing (step S243). The content of error handling is arbitrary. For example, consider reporting the occurrence of an abnormality to the operator and displaying the image at this time. Ideally, even if the processing of the abnormal substrate S is stopped, the processing of the non-abnormal substrate can be continued.

If no abnormality is detected (No in step S242), the captured image is used as the reference image and the transfer processing after step S202 is executed. Here, it is assumed that the transfer processing of the first aspect is executed, but the processing of the second or third aspect can also be executed.

In addition, the above-mentioned various aspects of processing can also be appropriately combined. For example, it is also possible to set a plurality of reference quantities for the size of the difference between the image captured by the CCD camera 157 and the reference image, so that the subsequent processing changes according to the size of the difference.

In actual substrate processing, depending on the subsequent processing conditions, etc., there may be situations where the substrate S is placed in the processing chamber 110 and the liquid film LF is formed on the upper surface Sa until the substrate S starts to be transported. Long standby time. As a measure to cope with such a situation, for example, the processing shown in FIG. 10 may be partially changed and implemented as follows. The liquid film LF is photographed by the CCD camera 351 in the processing chamber 110 at a plurality of different moments from the formation of the liquid film LF on the substrate S to the start of the transportation. Comparing the other images and confirming that there is a significant difference in the liquid film between the latest image taken and the ideal image or the first image taken, liquid replenishment or appropriate error processing is performed (step S243).

In this way, in the substrate processing of this embodiment, the images of a plurality of liquid films taken at different times during the period from when the liquid film LF is formed on the substrate S to the end of the conveyance are compared, and the subsequent decisions are determined based on the results. The conveying action. Therefore, the change of the liquid film caused by the vibration or volatilization during transportation can be detected without delay, and the transportation action can be changed according to the situation. In this way, in this embodiment, the substrate can be conveyed in a state where a liquid film is stably formed on the surface. As a result, it is possible to prevent the surface of the substrate from being exposed due to vibration during transportation or volatilization of liquid.

As described above, in the above embodiment, the substrate processing unit 11A or the like as the wet processing unit functions as the "first processing unit" of the present invention, and the substrate processing unit 13A or the like as the dry processing unit as the "second processing unit" of the present invention "Play to function. Furthermore, the center robot 15 functions as the "transport mechanism" of the present invention. In addition, the processing chamber 110 functions as the "processing chamber" of the present invention.

In addition, in the above-mentioned embodiment, the hand 155 functions as the "holding member" of the present invention. In addition, the CCD cameras 157 and 351 function as the "second camera" and the "first camera" of the present invention, respectively, and they constitute the "imaging unit" of the present invention. In addition, the replenishing liquid nozzle 158 functions as the "liquid supply mechanism" of the present invention. In addition, the control unit 90 functions as the "control unit" of the present invention. Furthermore, the image of the liquid film taken by the camera 351 immediately after the liquid film is formed corresponds to the "image before transport" in the present invention.

In addition, the present invention is not limited to the above-mentioned embodiments, and various modifications other than the above can be made within the limits not departing from the gist. For example, in the above-mentioned embodiment, the substrate processing unit 11A, the substrate processing unit 13A, and the center robot 15 corresponding to the "first processing section", "second processing section", and "transport mechanism" of the present invention are housed in one housing The body constitutes an integrated processing system. However, the present invention can also be applied to a processing system having a first processing section and a second processing section that are provided independently of each other, and a transport mechanism for transporting substrates therebetween.

In addition, in the above-mentioned embodiment, the image of the liquid film taken by the CCD camera 351 in the processing chamber 110 is used as the reference image, but the reference image is not limited to this. For example, the image taken by the CCD camera 157 at the initial stage of transportation may be used as the reference image. In this case, the CCD camera 351 in the processing chamber 110 is not required for the purpose of observing the state of the liquid film during transportation. In addition, especially if the CCD camera 157 is configured to move integrally with the hand 155, the positional relationship between the substrate S on the hand 155 and the CCD camera 157 is maintained at each stage of the transportation. According to this structure, it is not necessary to align the positions of the images in comparison, and the accuracy of the difference calculation can be further improved.

Furthermore, in the above-mentioned embodiment, the CCD camera 157 is attached to the center robot 15 that moves with the substrate S when the substrate S is transferred. Alternatively, for example, a camera fixedly installed at a position where the conveying path of the substrate S can be seen completely can be used to photograph the conveyed substrate S. Especially for the substrate S provided with a fine pattern, in order to prevent the pattern from collapsing, the surface of the substrate is not allowed to be exposed even for a short time. Therefore, in this case, it is preferable that a plurality of cameras are arranged on the conveying path, and the liquid film conveyed with the substrate S can be photographed at a short time interval. Alternatively, a mechanism for making the camera follow the movement of the substrate S can also be provided.

In addition, the center robot 15 may be further provided with a structure for catching and recovering the liquid dropped from the substrate S being transported.

As described above, as an example of a specific embodiment, the present invention can be configured as follows. For example, the first processing section performs liquid film formation on the substrate in the processing chamber, and the imaging section has a first camera installed in the processing chamber . According to such a configuration, it is possible to photograph the liquid film immediately after formation, and for example, it is possible to evaluate the state of the liquid film thereafter based on the liquid film contained in the image.

In addition, for example, the transport mechanism may have a holding member that holds the substrate, and the imaging unit may have a second camera that is provided in the transport mechanism and moves together with the holding member. According to this structure, it is possible to take pictures at any time during transportation, so that changes in the liquid film on the substrate can be detected without delay and necessary countermeasures can be taken.

In addition, for example, the control unit may set the difference between the first processing unit and the second processing unit between when the difference obtained from the plurality of images exceeds a preset reference amount and when it does not exceed the preset reference amount. The time taken for transportation is different. As the cause of the change of the liquid film, there are vibrations during transportation, sudden acceleration and deceleration, volatilization of liquid components, etc., and the change of the liquid film can be suppressed by changing the transportation speed.

Also, for example, the transport mechanism has a liquid supply mechanism for supplying liquid to the substrate to be transported, and the control unit may be configured as follows: if the difference obtained from a plurality of images exceeds a preset reference amount, the liquid supply mechanism The substrate is supplied with liquid. According to this structure, by replenishing the liquid constituting the liquid film as needed, it is possible to maintain the liquid film on the substrate while continuing to transport. Especially when the liquid film is made of a material with higher volatility, the reduction in the thickness of the liquid film due to volatilization during transportation will cause the surface of the substrate to be exposed. This problem can be eliminated by providing a mechanism for replenishing liquid in the conveying part.

In addition, for example, the control unit may also be configured such that if the difference obtained from a plurality of images exceeds a preset reference amount, the transport mechanism returns the substrate to the first processing unit, and the first processing unit performs the liquid film reprocessing. form. According to this structure, the liquid film is re-formed in the first processing section equipped with the structure necessary to form the liquid film. Therefore, even if the structure for replenishing the liquid during transportation is not provided, it can prevent the liquid film from being transported. The damage.

In addition, for example, the liquid constituting the liquid film is an organic solvent, and the second processing unit may be configured to perform supercritical drying processing on the substrate. In order to perform supercritical drying under high pressure, a dedicated high-pressure environment is required. In addition, high-pressure resistant parts are required. Therefore, the reality is that it is performed in a place different from the wet process that can be performed under normal pressure. In this case, it is necessary to carry out the transfer of the substrate after wet processing. By applying the present invention, the transfer can be carried out without exposing the surface of the substrate. From the viewpoint of affinity with supercritical fluids, it is preferable to use organic solvents for liquid film formation, but organic solvents with higher volatility are easily lost during transportation. By observing the state of the liquid film by the application of the present invention, it is possible to reliably cover the surface of the substrate with the liquid film and carry it out in this case.

In addition, for example, a plurality of images may include a pre-transport image taken before the substrate is transported by the transport mechanism. According to this configuration, it is possible to grasp whether the substrate surface is properly covered with the liquid film at the time of the start of the transportation, and it is possible to take necessary measures depending on the situation. For example, the control unit may determine whether to start the transfer of the substrate by the transfer mechanism based on the difference between the ideal image corresponding to the substrate in the state where the liquid film is ideally carried and the image before transfer. In this way, it is possible to avoid transporting the substrate whose surface is not properly covered by the liquid film. [Industrial availability]

The present invention can be applied to the entire substrate processing technology in which the substrate is transported between processing sections that perform different processing in a state where the surface of the substrate is covered with a liquid film. For example, it is suitable for the process of drying the wet-processed substrate by supercritical drying process.

Above, the invention has been described based on specific embodiments, but the description is not intended to be interpreted in a limited sense. If referring to the description of the invention, as with other embodiments of the present invention, various modifications of the disclosed embodiments will be clear to those skilled in the art. Therefore, it is considered that the scope of the attached patent application does not deviate from the true scope of the invention, and includes the modification or embodiment.

1: Substrate processing equipment 10: Substrate Processing Department 11A: Wet processing unit, substrate processing unit (first processing section) 11B: Substrate processing unit 12A: Substrate processing unit 13A: Drying processing unit, substrate processing unit (second processing section) 13B: Substrate processing unit 14A: Substrate processing unit 15: Central robot (transfer mechanism) 20: Transfer and transfer department 21: Container holding part 22: Transfer robot 30: Wet treatment department 31: Board holding part 32: splash guard 33: Treatment liquid supply part 34: Low surface tension liquid supply part 41: Platform 42: Rotating fulcrum 43: High-pressure sealing rotary induction mechanism 44: fluid dispersion component 45: Carbon dioxide supply department 46: Nitrogen Supply Department 48: discharge mechanism 90: Control unit (control section) 91: CPU 92: memory 110: processing chamber (chamber) 111: bezel 120: processing chamber 121: bezel 130: high pressure chamber 131: Baffle 140: processing chamber 141: Baffle 151: Abutment 152: Lifting Department 153: Rotating part 154: Telescopic boom 155: Hand (holding member) 156: support member 157: CCD camera (photographing department, second camera) 158: Replenisher nozzle (liquid supply mechanism) 221: Base 222: Multi-joint arm 223: hand 311: Rotating Chuck 312: Chuck pin 313: Rotating Pivot 314: Rotating Mechanism 321: Guard 322: Liquid receiving part 341: Base 342: Rotating Pivot 343: arm 344: Nozzle 351: CCD camera (photographing department, the first camera) 352: Lighting source 431: Rotation Axis 432: Rotating Mechanism 441: occlusion plate 442: Through hole C: container LF: Liquid film Lq: Treatment liquid S: substrate Sa: upper surface S101: Step S102: Step S103: steps S104: Step S105: Step S106: Step S107: Step S108: Step S109: Step S110: Step S111: Step S121: Step S122: Step S123: Step S201: Step S202: Step S203: Step S204: Step S205: steps S206: Step S207: Step S208: Step S209: Step S221: Step S231: Step S241: Step S242: Step S243: Step TS: Transport space

Fig. 1A is a diagram showing a schematic configuration of an embodiment of the substrate processing apparatus of the present invention. Fig. 1B is a diagram showing a schematic configuration of an embodiment of the substrate processing apparatus of the present invention. Figure 2 is a diagram showing the structure and installation environment of the central robot. Fig. 3A is a diagram showing a substrate processing unit that performs wet processing. FIG. 3B is a diagram showing a substrate processing unit performing wet processing. Fig. 4 is a diagram showing a substrate processing unit that performs supercritical drying processing. Fig. 5 is a flowchart showing the operation of the substrate processing apparatus. Fig. 6 is a flowchart showing the first aspect of the transfer process. Fig. 7 is a flowchart showing the second aspect of the transfer process. Fig. 8 is a flowchart showing the third aspect of the transfer process. FIG. 9 is a flowchart showing a substrate processing operation including the transfer processing of the third aspect. Fig. 10 is a flowchart showing the fourth aspect of the transfer process.

1: Substrate processing equipment

10: Substrate Processing Department

11A: Substrate processing unit

11B: Substrate processing unit

13A: Substrate processing unit

13B: Substrate processing unit

15: Center Robot

90: control unit

91: CPU

92: memory

101: next wall

110: processing chamber

111: bezel

130: high pressure chamber

131: Baffle

151: Abutment

152: Lifting Department

153: Rotating part

154: Telescopic boom

155: Hand

156: support member

157: CCD camera

158: Replenisher nozzle

S: substrate

TS: Transport space

Claims (10)

A substrate processing device includes: The first processing part, which supplies liquid to the substrate and covers the surface of the substrate with a liquid film; A transport mechanism that transports the above-mentioned substrate carrying the above-mentioned liquid film; The second processing unit, which receives the substrate transported by the transport mechanism and performs specific processing; A photographing section which photographs the liquid film formed on the surface of the substrate; and The control unit is based on the difference between the plural images taken by the imaging unit at different times from the formation of the liquid film until the time when the substrate is transported into the second processing unit by the transport mechanism, And control the movement of the above-mentioned conveying mechanism. The substrate processing apparatus of claim 1, wherein the first processing section performs the liquid film formation on the substrate in the processing chamber, The imaging unit has a first camera installed in the processing chamber. The substrate processing apparatus of claim 1, wherein the transport mechanism has a holding member for holding the substrate, The imaging unit has a second camera installed in the conveying mechanism and moving together with the holding member. Such as the substrate processing apparatus of any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the control section is between when the difference obtained from the plurality of images exceeds a preset reference amount and when the difference does not exceed the preset reference amount , The time taken from the first processing unit to the second processing unit is different. The substrate processing apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the transport mechanism has a liquid supply mechanism that supplies the liquid to the substrate to be transported, The control unit causes the liquid supply mechanism to supply the liquid to the substrate when the difference obtained from the plurality of images exceeds a preset reference amount. The substrate processing apparatus of any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the control section causes the transport mechanism to return the substrate to the first when the difference obtained from the plurality of images exceeds a preset reference amount Processing part, and allowing the first processing part to reform the liquid film. The substrate processing apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the liquid is an organic solvent, and the second processing unit performs supercritical drying processing on the substrate. The substrate processing apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the plurality of images includes a pre-transport image of the substrate that is taken before the transportation by the transportation mechanism starts. The substrate processing apparatus of claim 8, wherein the control unit determines whether to start the transfer mechanism based on the difference between the ideal image corresponding to the substrate in the state where the liquid film is ideally supported and the image before the transfer The above-mentioned substrate transportation. A method for conveying control of a substrate processing apparatus, the substrate processing apparatus having: a first processing section that supplies a liquid to a substrate and covers the surface of the substrate with a liquid film; and a second processing section that receives the liquid film carrying the liquid film. The substrate performs specific processing; and a transport mechanism that transports the substrate between the first processing section and the second processing section; and The transport control method of the substrate processing apparatus is to photograph the liquid film at different times from the formation of the liquid film until the time when the substrate is carried into the second processing section, and to take a picture of the liquid film based on the plural images taken. , And control the action of the above-mentioned conveying mechanism.

Images