TWI838931B - Substrate processing equipment - Google Patents

Abstract

The control unit of the present invention supplies ozone gas into the chamber and processes the substrate with the first control valve open and the second control valve closed, then closes the first control valve and opens the second control valve, and causes the suction pipe to suck when supplying inert gas into the chamber. Therefore, the first filter in which ozone gas remains and the first control valve that easily generates particles are sucked through the suction pipe. Therefore, the flow of gas from the second branch point toward the chamber side will not occur in the first pipe. As a result, since the ozone gas can be prevented from mixing with the inert gas toward the chamber side, the replacement of the ozone gas can be completed in a short time, and contamination caused by particles can also be prevented.

Description

Substrate processing equipment

The present invention relates to a substrate processing device for performing predetermined processing on substrates such as semiconductor wafers, substrates for liquid crystal displays or organic EL (electroluminescence) display devices, glass substrates for photomasks, substrates for optical disks, substrates for magnetic disks, ceramic substrates, and substrates for solar cells (hereinafter referred to as substrates).

In order to form a pattern on a substrate, a photoresist coating is attached to the substrate and patterned, and then the patterned photoresist coating is used as a mask for etching. Afterwards, since no mask is required, the photoresist coating is removed. In order to remove the photoresist coating, for example, SPM (Sulfuric Hydrogen Peroxide Mixture) which is a mixed solution of sulfuric acid and hydrogen peroxide is used. SPM has a strong oxidizing power, and the photoresist coating is peeled off from the surface of the substrate and removed. However, for example, when ions are implanted into the photoresist coating, the surface of the photoresist coating is hardened. Therefore, in the process where only SPM is supplied, the consumption of SPM increases. In addition, there may be a situation where the photoresist coating cannot be removed well with SPM alone.

Therefore, before supplying SPM, ozone gas ( _O3 gas) is supplied to the photoresist coating and treated by oxidizing force. In this way, the surface of the photoresist coating hardened by ion implantation can be oxidized (ashed), and the photoresist coating becomes easy to peel off during the subsequent SPM treatment. In this way, the consumption of SPM can be suppressed.

As such a device for supplying ozone gas and processing a substrate, there is a known device (see, for example, Patent Document 1) that has a supply mechanism that switches SPM, nitrogen gas, pure water, and ozone gas and supplies them to the processing surface of the substrate. In such a device, an ozone gas supply source is connected to the supply mechanism to supply ozone gas while generating ozone gas. Such a device has a suction mechanism that sucks various gases such as ozone gas from a processing space where a substrate is arranged and exhausts them to the outside of the device.

In such a device, after the treatment by ozone gas and before the substrate is removed from the chamber for the SPM treatment, the ozone gas in the chamber is replaced with nitrogen gas. Therefore, as a supply mechanism, a supply mechanism having the following structure is known.

It is known that there is a device of "first structure", which comprises a first pipe, a second pipe, a first filter, a first control valve, a second control valve and a second filter. One end of the first pipe is connected to the chamber, and the other end of the first pipe is connected to the ozone gas supply source. One end of the second pipe is connected to a branch point at a part of the first pipe, and the other end of the second pipe is connected to the nitrogen gas supply source. The first filter is arranged in the first pipe from the branch point to the chamber side. The first control valve is arranged on the ozone gas supply source side of the branch point to control the flow of ozone gas in the first pipe. The second control valve is arranged on the branch point side in the second pipe to control the flow of nitrogen gas. The second filter is installed in the second piping on the nitrogen supply source side of the second control valve.

In addition, in an apparatus for processing using ozone gas, for example, a chamber for sealing a processing space for processing a substrate is provided with: a concave lower cover member that supports the lower part of a holding mechanism for holding the substrate; and an upper cover member that is configured to be able to rise and fall on the upper part of the holding mechanism to cover the lower cover member during processing. In such an apparatus, it is generally configured as follows: The inside of the chamber is sucked by a suction mechanism before processing the ozone gas so that harmful ozone gas does not leak to the surroundings, thereby increasing the airtightness of the chamber, and the suction is also maintained during the processing of the ozone gas.

[Prior Art Literature] [Patent Literature]

[Patent Document 1] Japanese Patent Publication No. 2008-66400.

However, in the case of the known example with such a structure, there is the following problem. That is, according to the first structure in the past, a branch point is provided on the upstream side of the first filter. Therefore, the ozone gas also passes through the first filter of the nitrogen gas. Therefore, when nitrogen gas is supplied from the second pipe after the treatment of the ozone gas and replaced, the ozone gas remaining in the first filter is mixed with the nitrogen gas supplied to the chamber. Therefore, there is a problem that the concentration of the ozone gas is difficult to reduce, resulting in a problem that the replacement by the nitrogen gas takes time.

Therefore, we consider adopting the following "second structure".

One end of the second pipe is connected to a branch point at a location on the chamber side of the first pipe, and the other end of the second pipe is connected to a nitrogen gas supply source. The first control valve and the first filter are arranged in this order from the branch point toward the ozone gas supply source. The second filter and the second control valve are arranged in this order from the branch point toward the nitrogen gas supply source.

According to this second configuration, there is no first filter from the branch point to the chamber. Therefore, the problem caused by the first configuration does not occur. However, since the first control valve is disposed on the chamber side of the first filter, there is a concern that particles generated by the first control valve are attracted to the flow of nitrogen gas flowing from the branch point to the chamber, thereby contaminating the substrate in the chamber.

In addition, in the case of a known example with such a structure, there is the following problem. That is, the conventional device requires, for example, about two minutes from the time when the generation of ozone gas has started in the ozone gas supply source to the time when ozone gas of a predetermined concentration required for the treatment is supplied. Therefore, since a waiting time is generated until the treatment by the ozone gas starts, it is difficult to shorten the treatment time by the ozone gas and thus it is impossible to increase the throughput.

Furthermore, in the case of a conventional example having such a structure, the following problem occurs. That is, since the suction mechanism of the conventional device is only one system, the suction force is set to a predetermined pressure. Therefore, while ozone gas is supplied to the chamber and the substrate is processed by ozone gas, a large amount of ozone gas is also exhausted. Therefore, there is a problem of increased consumption of ozone gas.

This invention was developed in view of this topic, and its purpose is to provide a substrate processing device that can complete the replacement of ozone gas in a short time and can also prevent contamination caused by particles.

This invention was developed in view of this topic, and its purpose is to provide a substrate processing device that can shorten the processing time of ozone gas and thus increase the processing volume.

This invention was developed in view of this problem, and its purpose is to provide a substrate processing device that can prevent the leakage of ozone gas and inhibit the consumption of ozone gas.

In order to achieve this purpose, the present invention adopts the following structure. That is, the invention claimed in scheme 1 is a substrate processing device, which is used to remove the coating film attached to the substrate, and is equipped with: a chamber, which accommodates the substrate and forms a closed processing space; a holding mechanism, which holds the substrate in the aforementioned chamber; an ozone gas supply source, which supplies ozone gas of a processing concentration to process the aforementioned substrate; a first piping, which is connected to the aforementioned chamber and the aforementioned ozone gas supply source; a first control valve, which is arranged in the aforementioned first piping, and is used to control the flow of ozone gas in the aforementioned first piping; a first filter, which is arranged in the aforementioned first piping on the side of the aforementioned chamber that is closer to the aforementioned first control valve; a second piping, which is connected to the first branch point in the aforementioned first piping at one end, and is supplied with an inert gas from the other end. The first branch point is connected to the first pipe on the side of the chamber that is closer to the first filter; the second control valve is provided in the second pipe to control the flow of the inert gas in the second pipe; the suction pipe is connected to the second branch point in the first pipe at one end and is sucked from the other end, the second branch point is connected between the first filter and the first control valve in the first pipe; and the control unit closes the first control valve and opens the second control valve after supplying ozone gas to the chamber and processing the substrate in a state where the first control valve is opened and the second control valve is closed, and the suction pipe is sucked when the inert gas is supplied to the chamber.

According to the invention described in the first scheme, the control unit supplies ozone gas to the chamber and processes the substrate while the first control valve is open and the second control valve is closed, and then the first control valve is closed and the second control valve is opened, and the suction pipe is sucked when the inert gas is supplied to the chamber. Therefore, the first filter with residual ozone gas and the first control valve that easily generates particles are sucked through the suction pipe. Therefore, the gas does not flow from the second branch point toward the chamber side in the first pipe. As a result, since the ozone gas can be prevented from mixing with the inert gas toward the chamber side, the replacement of the ozone gas can be completed in a short time, and the contamination caused by particles can also be prevented.

In addition, in the invention of scheme 2, it is preferred that the suction performed by the suction pipe is performed with a suction force that does not hinder the supply of the inert gas supplied from the second pipe to the chamber.

When the inert gas is supplied to the chamber, the first pipe performs suction at the first branch point. At this time, suction from the suction pipe is performed with suction force that does not hinder the supply of the inert gas supplied from the second pipe to the chamber via the first branch point. Therefore, the ozone gas in the chamber can be replaced with the inert gas reliably.

In addition, in the invention of scheme 3, it is preferred that a vacuum ejector is provided at the other end of the aforementioned suction pipe, which generates suction force by supplying compressed gas.

The vacuum extractor is smaller and cheaper than the vacuum pump. Therefore, it can contribute to the miniaturization of the device and also suppress the increase in cost.

In addition, in the invention of scheme 4, it is preferred that the aforementioned suction piping is equipped with: a suction control valve, which is operated by the aforementioned control unit to control the suction force in the aforementioned second branch point.

The suction control valve can be operated to reliably block the suction effect toward the second pipe at the second branch point.

In addition, in the invention of scheme 5, it is preferred that the second piping is provided with a second filter between the first branch point and the second control valve.

When supplying inert gas, it can prevent adverse effects caused by particles generated in the second control valve.

In addition, in the invention of scheme 6, it is further provided with: a processing liquid chamber for accommodating a substrate and performing processing by the processing liquid; and a transport mechanism for transporting a substrate; the substrate that has been treated by ozone gas in the chamber is transported to the processing liquid chamber by the transport mechanism, and the substrate is processed by the processing liquid in the processing liquid chamber.

The substrate that has been processed by ozone gas in the chamber is transported to the processing liquid chamber by a transport mechanism, and the substrate is processed by the processing liquid. In this way, the substrate can be processed by gas and liquid continuously. Therefore, the following processing can be efficiently performed: after the pre-processing by ozone gas, the processing by the processing liquid is performed.

In addition, the invention of scheme seven is a substrate processing device, which is used to remove the coating film attached to the substrate, and comprises: a chamber, which accommodates the substrate and forms a closed processing space; a holding mechanism, which holds the substrate in the aforementioned chamber; an ozone gas supply source, which normally generates ozone gas for processing the aforementioned substrate while supplying the aforementioned ozone gas; a supply pipe, which circulates the ozone gas supplied from the aforementioned ozone gas supply source; a circulation pipe, which is connected to the aforementioned supply pipe and the aforementioned chamber; a control valve, which is arranged on the aforementioned circulation pipe, and is used to control the circulation of the ozone gas flowing in the aforementioned circulation pipe; an auxiliary pipe, which is connected to the front The supply pipe and the exhaust port for exhausting gas are used to exhaust the ozone gas supplied from the ozone gas supply source to the exhaust port; the exhaust valve is provided in the auxiliary pipe to adjust the flow rate of the ozone gas flowing in the auxiliary pipe; and the control unit closes the control valve and opens the exhaust valve when the ozone gas is not supplied to the chamber for non-processing, so that the ozone gas supplied from the ozone gas supply source is discharged to the exhaust port, and when the ozone gas is supplied to the chamber and the substrate held by the holding mechanism is processed with the ozone gas, the control valve is opened while adjusting the flow rate of the exhaust valve.

According to the invention described in Scheme 7, since the control unit closes the control valve and opens the exhaust valve when not processing, the ozone gas generated by the ozone gas supply source is not supplied to the chamber but is discharged from the auxiliary piping to the exhaust port. Since the control unit opens the control valve while adjusting the flow rate of the exhaust valve during processing, the ozone gas is supplied from the ozone gas supply source that normally generates ozone gas to the substrate held by the holding mechanism in the chamber through the flow piping. Therefore, since there is no waiting time for the processing by the ozone gas, the processing time by the ozone gas can be shortened, thereby increasing the processing volume.

In addition, in the invention of scheme 8, it is preferred that the aforementioned chambers are plural; the aforementioned circulation pipes are plural; each of the aforementioned circulation pipes is branched from the aforementioned supply pipe and is connected to each of the aforementioned chambers; the aforementioned control valves are respectively provided in the plurality of aforementioned circulation pipes; during the aforementioned treatment, at least one of the plurality of aforementioned chambers is in a state of being supplied with ozone gas.

In a configuration where there are multiple chambers and multiple flow pipes, the state in which at least one of the multiple chambers is being supplied with ozone gas is the state during treatment. Thus, during treatment, ozone gas of a treatment concentration is supplied from the flow pipe to at least one chamber and the treatment performed by ozone treatment is performed.

In addition, in the invention of scheme 9, it is preferred that the control unit adjusts the flow rate of the exhaust valve in conjunction with the flow rate of each of the control valves during the processing so that the difference between the first flow rate of the ozone gas flowing through the supply pipe and the second flow rate of the ozone gas flowing through each of the circulation pipes is limited to a predetermined value.

The flow rate of ozone gas exhausted from the auxiliary pipe is adjusted by the exhaust valve in response to the flow rate of ozone gas to each chamber by each control valve so that the difference between the first flow rate and the second flow rate is within a predetermined value. Therefore, since a margin of a predetermined value can be left on the supply side so that the second flow rate does not exceed the first flow rate, ozone gas can be stably supplied to each chamber. In addition, when the flow rate of the exhaust valve is adjusted, the supply amount of ozone gas to multiple chambers can be adjusted collectively.

In addition, in the invention of scheme 10, it is preferred that the ozone gas supply source is provided with: a first on-off valve for allowing or blocking the flow of ozone gas toward the supply pipe; and a first pressure regulating mechanism for maintaining the pressure of the ozone gas in the supply pipe at a first pressure; the auxiliary pipe is provided with: a second on-off valve for allowing or blocking the flow of ozone gas discharged to the exhaust port as the exhaust valve; and a second pressure regulating mechanism for maintaining the pressure of the ozone gas in the auxiliary pipe at a second pressure that is smaller than the first pressure.

The second pressure regulating mechanism maintains the second pressure of the ozone gas in the auxiliary piping smaller than the first pressure of the ozone gas in the supply piping adjusted by the first pressure regulating mechanism. Therefore, since the pressure difference between the ozone gas supply source and the auxiliary piping can be ensured, the flow rate of the ozone gas supplied to each chamber can be stabilized. In addition, since the ozone gas can be prevented from concentrating in the auxiliary piping, the flow rate of the ozone gas required for processing in multiple chambers can be ensured. As a result, even if the structure has multiple chambers, the processing by the ozone gas can be stably performed.

In addition, in the invention of the eleventh scheme, it is preferred to further include: a processing liquid chamber for accommodating a substrate and performing processing by the processing liquid; and a transport mechanism for transporting a substrate; the substrate that has been treated by ozone gas in the chamber is transported to the processing liquid chamber by the transport mechanism, and the substrate is processed by the processing liquid in the processing liquid chamber.

The substrate that has been processed by ozone gas in the chamber is transported to the processing liquid chamber by a transport mechanism, and the substrate is processed by the processing liquid. In this way, the substrate can be processed by gas and liquid continuously. Therefore, the following processing can be performed efficiently: after the pre-processing by ozone gas, the processing by the processing liquid is performed.

In addition, the invention of scheme 12 is a substrate processing device, which is used to remove the coating film attached to the substrate, and has: a chamber, which has: a lower cover member, which is a holding mechanism for holding the substrate by supporting the lower part; an upper cover member, which abuts against the aforementioned lower cover member from above to form a processing space; and a lifting mechanism, which lowers the aforementioned upper cover member relative to the aforementioned lower cover member when the substrate is being processed, and raises the aforementioned upper cover member when the substrate is not being processed. The ozone gas supply source supplies ozone gas of a processing concentration to process the substrate; the first pipe is connected to the ozone gas supply source and the chamber; the first control valve is provided on the first pipe to control the flow of the ozone gas flowing through the first pipe; the exhaust pipe is connected to the chamber to exhaust the gas in the processing space to the exhaust port outside the device; the second control valve is provided on the front The exhaust pipe is used to control the exhaust in the exhaust pipe; the exhaust mechanism comprises: a first exhaust unit, which is arranged on the exhaust port side of the exhaust pipe relative to the second control valve, and exhausts at a first exhaust flow rate; and a second exhaust unit, which is arranged on the exhaust port side of the exhaust pipe relative to the second control valve, and exhausts at a second exhaust flow rate smaller than the first exhaust flow rate; and a control unit, which is arranged at the exhaust port side of the exhaust pipe relative to the second control valve, and exhausts at a second exhaust flow rate smaller than the first exhaust flow rate. Before the ozone supply source supplies ozone gas to the aforementioned chamber and performs ozone gas treatment, the aforementioned second control valve is opened, the aforementioned first exhaust unit is operated to exhaust the aforementioned chamber at the aforementioned first exhaust gas flow rate and the aforementioned upper cover member is closely attached to the aforementioned lower cover member. When the aforementioned first control valve is operated to supply ozone gas from the aforementioned ozone gas supply source to the aforementioned chamber, the aforementioned first exhaust unit is stopped and the aforementioned second exhaust unit is operated to exhaust the aforementioned chamber at the aforementioned second exhaust gas flow rate.

According to the invention described in Scheme 12, before supplying ozone gas to the chamber and performing ozone gas treatment, the control unit opens the second control valve, operates the first exhaust unit to exhaust the chamber at the first exhaust flow rate and makes the upper cover member close to the lower cover member. When the control unit operates the first control valve to supply ozone gas from the ozone gas supply source to the chamber, it stops the first exhaust unit and operates the second exhaust unit to exhaust the chamber at the second exhaust flow rate. Therefore, the degree of adhesion between the upper cover member and the lower cover member is increased to the first exhaust flow rate until the ozone gas is supplied, and is set to the second exhaust flow rate, which is smaller than the first exhaust flow rate, when the ozone gas is supplied. Therefore, the leakage of ozone gas can be prevented and the consumption of ozone gas can also be suppressed.

In the invention of the thirteenth scheme, it is preferred to further include: a second pipe, one end of which is connected to the first branch point in the first pipe and is supplied with inert gas from the other end; a third control valve, which controls the flow of inert gas in the second pipe; an auxiliary exhaust pipe, one end of which is connected to the second branch point in the exhaust pipe on the chamber side of the second control valve and the other end of which is connected to the exhaust port; and a fourth control valve, which is provided at the auxiliary exhaust pipe. The control unit is used to control the flow of gas in the auxiliary exhaust pipe; after the ozone gas is treated, the control unit operates the third control valve to supply inert gas to the chamber, and operates the first exhaust unit to replace the second exhaust unit to exhaust the chamber at the first exhaust flow rate. After the ozone gas in the chamber is replaced by the inert gas, the first exhaust unit is stopped, the second control valve is closed, and the fourth control valve is opened, and the upper cover member is raised by the lifting mechanism.

After the ozone gas treatment, the control unit supplies inert gas into the chamber, and operates the first exhaust unit to replace the second exhaust unit to exhaust the chamber with the first exhaust flow rate, and replaces the ozone gas in the chamber with the inert gas. After that, the control unit stops the first exhaust unit, closes the second control valve, and opens the fourth control valve. In this way, in the state where the exhaust by the exhaust mechanism is stopped, only the purge of the exhaust port by the inert gas is performed. Therefore, the processing space becomes positive pressure and the adhesion between the upper cover member and the lower cover member becomes weak. After that, since the upper cover member is raised by the lifting mechanism, the upper cover member can be easily raised by the lifting member.

In addition, in the invention of scheme 14, it is preferred that the control unit closes the fourth control valve and opens the second control valve after the upper cover member rises, and operates the second exhaust unit to exhaust the air in the chamber at the second exhaust flow rate.

During the period from when the upper cover member rises until the processing of the next substrate begins, the processing space is exhausted at the second exhaust gas flow rate. Therefore, the processing space can be maintained in a clean state.

In addition, in the invention of scheme 15, it is preferred that the aforementioned first exhaust unit and the aforementioned second exhaust unit are equipped with: a vacuum pump, which exhausts gas by supplying compressed gas.

The vacuum extractor is smaller and cheaper than the vacuum pump. Therefore, it can contribute to the miniaturization of the device and also suppress the increase in cost.

In addition, in the invention of the sixteenth scheme, it is further provided with: a processing liquid chamber for accommodating a substrate and performing processing by the processing liquid; and a transport mechanism for transporting a substrate; the substrate that has been treated by ozone gas in the chamber is transported to the processing liquid chamber by the transport mechanism, and the substrate is processed by the processing liquid in the processing liquid chamber.

The substrate that has been processed by ozone gas in the chamber is transported to the processing liquid chamber by a transport mechanism, and the substrate is processed by the processing liquid. In this way, the substrate can be processed by gas and liquid continuously. Therefore, the following processing can be performed efficiently: after the pre-processing by ozone gas, the processing by the processing liquid is performed.

According to the invention described in the first scheme, the control unit supplies ozone gas to the chamber and processes the substrate while the first control valve is open and the second control valve is closed, and then the first control valve is closed and the second control valve is opened, and the suction pipe is sucked when the inert gas is supplied to the chamber. Therefore, the first filter with residual ozone gas and the first control valve that easily generates particles are sucked through the suction pipe. Therefore, the gas does not flow from the second branch point toward the chamber side in the first pipe. As a result, since the ozone gas can be prevented from mixing with the inert gas toward the chamber side, the replacement of the ozone gas can be completed in a short time, and the contamination caused by particles can also be prevented.

According to the invention described in Scheme 7, since the control unit closes the control valve and opens the exhaust valve when not processing, the ozone gas generated by the ozone gas supply source is not supplied to the chamber but is discharged from the auxiliary piping to the exhaust port. Since the control unit opens the control valve while adjusting the flow rate of the exhaust valve during processing, the ozone gas is supplied from the ozone gas supply source that normally generates ozone gas to the substrate held by the holding mechanism in the chamber through the flow piping. Therefore, since there is no waiting time for the processing by the ozone gas, the processing time by the ozone gas can be shortened, thereby increasing the processing volume.

According to the invention described in Scheme 12, before supplying ozone gas to the chamber and performing ozone gas treatment, the control unit opens the second control valve, operates the first exhaust unit to exhaust the chamber at the first exhaust flow rate and makes the upper cover member close to the lower cover member. When the control unit operates the first control valve to supply ozone gas from the ozone gas supply source to the chamber, it stops the first exhaust unit and operates the second exhaust unit to exhaust the chamber at the second exhaust flow rate. Therefore, the degree of adhesion between the upper cover member and the lower cover member is increased to the first exhaust flow rate until the ozone gas is supplied, and is set to the second exhaust flow rate, which is smaller than the first exhaust flow rate, when the ozone gas is supplied. Therefore, the leakage of ozone gas can be prevented and the consumption of ozone gas can also be suppressed.

1: Substrate processing equipment

3: Index area

5: Processing area

7: Transportation area

9: Treatment fluid supply area

11: Ozone gas supply unit

13: Ozone gas decomposition unit

15: Processing unit

17: Carrier loading part

19: Path section

21: Ozone gas baking unit

23:SPM unit

25: Lower cover

27: Upper cover

29: Heat-treated board

31: Lifting mechanism

32: Chamber

33: Exhaust main pipe

35: Supply piping

41: Generate piping

43,57,67:Mass flow controller

45: Ozone gas generator

47,59,71:Filter

49,99: Automatic pressure regulator

51,55,69,74,101: Control valve

53: Circulation piping

61: First branch point

63: Second branch point

65: Inert gas supply piping

73: Suction piping

75,79: Vacuum extractor

77: Exhaust pipe

81: First drive tube

83,89: Flow regulating valve

85,91,93,95: Open/Close valve

87: Second drive tube

94: Blow clean pipe

97: Auxiliary piping

103: External exhaust pipe

111: Control Department

C:Carrier

CR: Center Robot

F1,Fa: First flow

F2, Fb: Second flow

P1: First pressure

P2: Second pressure

IR: Index Robot

TW1 to TW4: Tower

W: Substrate

X: front and back direction

XB:Rear

XF: Front

Y: width direction

YL: Left

YR: Right

Z: Up and down direction

△F: Flow rate

[Figure 1] is a three-dimensional diagram showing the overall structure of the substrate processing device of the embodiment.

[Figure 2] is a cross-sectional view taken along line 101-101 in Figure 1.

[Figure 3] is a cross-sectional view taken along line 103-103 in Figure 1.

[Figure 4] schematically shows a top view of a substrate processing device.

[Figure 5] is a graph showing changes in ozone gas concentration in the ozone gas supply unit.

[Figure 6] is a diagram showing the ozone gas baking unit and the gas supply and exhaust systems.

[Figure 7] is a diagram used to illustrate the effects of ozone gas when it is not being treated.

[Figure 8] is a diagram used to illustrate the treatment of ozone gas.

[Figure 9] is a flowchart showing an example of the action.

[Figure 10] A schematic diagram for explaining the state of ozone gas being supplied.

[Figure 11] is a schematic diagram for explaining the state of nitrogen gas being supplied.

[Figure 12] is a schematic diagram used to illustrate weak exhaust before treatment.

[Figure 13] is a schematic diagram for explaining the strong exhaust when the upper hinge is closed.

[Figure 14] is a schematic diagram used to illustrate weak exhaust in ozone gas treatment.

[Figure 15] is a schematic diagram used to illustrate the strong exhaust in the displacement by nitrogen gas.

[Figure 16] is a diagram used to illustrate the blowing when the upper cover is open.

[Figure 17] is a schematic diagram used to illustrate the weak exhaust after treatment.

The following describes various embodiments of the present invention.

[Implementation Example 1]

Below, the first embodiment of the present invention is described with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a three-dimensional diagram showing the overall structure of a substrate processing device of an embodiment. FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view taken along line 101-101 in FIG. 1. FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view taken along line 103-103 in FIG. 1. FIG. 4 is a schematic top view showing a substrate processing device.

The substrate processing device 1 of the embodiment is, for example, a device for removing a photoresist coating from a substrate W having a photoresist coating formed thereon. In particular, it is very suitable for curing the photoresist coating. Specifically, the substrate processing device 1 is suitable for sequentially performing ozone gas treatment on the substrate W and SPM treatment after the ozone gas treatment.

The substrate processing device 1 has an indexer block 3, a processing area 5, a transport area 7, a processing liquid supply area 9, an ozone gas supply unit 11, and an ozone gas decomposition unit 13.

The index area 3 receives and transfers the substrate W belonging to the processing object between the index area 3 and the transport area 7. The transport area 7 transports the substrate W between the index area 3 and the processing area 5 and between the processing area 5 and the processing area 5. The processing area 5 has a plurality of processing units 15. The processing liquid supply area 9 supplies the processing area 5 with various processing liquids used in the processing area 5. The ozone gas supply unit 11 supplies ozone gas used in the processing area 5. The ozone gas decomposition unit 13 takes in the ozone gas exhausted from the processing area 5, and then exhausts it after detoxifying the ozone gas. The gas exhausted from the ozone gas decomposition unit 13 is, for example, exhausted to the exhaust port provided in the clean room. The exhaust port is, for example, connected to the exhaust equipment of the factory.

As shown in FIG. 1 , the substrate processing device 1 is sequentially configured with an index area 3, a processing area 5, a transport area 7, and a processing liquid supply area 9.

In the following description, the direction in which the index area 3, the processing area 5, the transport area 7, and the processing liquid supply area 9 are arranged is referred to as the "front-rear direction X" (horizontal direction). In particular, the direction from the processing area 5 and the transport area 7 toward the index area 3 is referred to as the "front XF", and the direction opposite to the front XF is referred to as the "back XB". The direction orthogonal to the front-rear direction X in the horizontal direction is referred to as the "width direction Y". Furthermore, when viewed from the front of the index area 3, one direction of the width direction Y is appropriately referred to as the "right YR", and the other direction opposite to the right YR is referred to as the "left YL". In addition, the vertical direction is referred to as the "up-down direction Z" (height direction, vertical direction). In addition, the abbreviations "side" or "lateral direction" are not limited to the front-rear direction X and the width direction Y.

The index area 3 is provided with a carrier loading unit 17 and an indexer robot IR. The substrate processing device 1 in this embodiment is provided with, for example, four carrier loading units 17. Specifically, four carrier loading units 17 are arranged in a row in the width direction Y. Each carrier loading unit 17 is provided with a carrier C. The carrier C is used to stack and accommodate a plurality of (for example, twenty-five) substrates W; each carrier loading unit 17 is used, for example, to receive and transfer the carrier C between the carrier loading unit 17 and an OHT (Overhead Hosit Transport; a suspended transport device, also known as a ceiling-mounted unmanned transport tool) not shown in the figure. The OHT uses the ceiling of the clean room to transport the carrier C. As the carrier C, for example, a FOUP (Front Opening Unified Pod; front-opening wafer transfer box) can be cited.

The index area 3 is provided with an index robot IR at the rear XB of the carrier loading section 17. The index robot IR receives and transfers the substrate W between the index robot IR and the carrier C, and receives and transfers the substrate W between the index robot IR and the path section 19. The path section 19 is arranged between the index area 3 and the transport area 7 in the front-rear direction X. Only one index robot IR is arranged in the index area 3. The position of the index robot IR is fixedly installed so that the base of the index robot IR does not move in the width direction Y. The index robot IR has, for example, a multi-joint arm that can be raised and lowered in the up-down direction Z. The index robot IR is configured to be able to access the path section 19 and the four carriers C.

The path section 19 has a plurality of support pins (for example, three) on the support platform. The path section 19 abuts against and supports the substrate W in a horizontal position. The path section 19 is used by the index robot IR to load unprocessed substrates W and take out processed substrates W. The path section 19 is used by the center robot CR of the transport area 7 to take out unprocessed substrates W and load processed substrates W. The path section 19 is configured in multiple levels in the vertical direction Z. Therefore, the path section 19 can load multiple substrates W at the same time.

The transport area 7 is equipped with a center robot CR. The center robot CR is configured to be movable in the front-rear direction X and to be able to rise and fall in the up-down direction Z. In addition, the center robot CR is configured to be able to rotate in a horizontal plane with the up-down direction Z as an axis. The center robot CR is configured to receive and transfer substrates W between the center robot CR and the processing area 5 arranged on the right YR and the left YL in the width direction Y based on the position of the center robot CR. The center robot CR can receive and transfer substrates W between the center robot CR and the index robot IR via the path portion 19.

The processing area 5 is arranged on the right YR and the left YL in the width direction Y, sandwiching the transfer area 7. Here, the structure arranged in the vertical direction Z in the front XF and the left YL in the processing area 5 when viewed from above is called tower TW1. Similarly, the structure arranged in the vertical direction Z in the rear XB and the left YL is called tower TW2. Furthermore, the structure arranged in the vertical direction Z in the front XF and the right YR is called tower TW3. In addition, the structure arranged in the vertical direction Z in the rear XB and the right YR is called tower TW4.

The towers TW1 and TW3 in the processing area 5 are constructed by, for example, stacking four processing units 15 in the up-down direction Z. The towers TW1 and TW3 are provided with, for example, an ozone gas baking unit 21 (also described as _O3 baking in FIG. 2 ) as the processing unit 15. The ozone gas baking unit 21 heats the substrate W at a predetermined temperature while supplying ozone gas to process the substrate W. The detailed description of this structure will be described later. The ozone gas baking unit 21 cools the substrate W after the treatment by the ozone gas is completed. The cooled substrate W is transported to the processing unit 15 of the towers TW2 and TW4 by the central robot CR.

The towers TW2 and TW4 in the processing area 5 are constituted by, for example, stacking three processing units 15 in the vertical direction Z. The towers TW2 and TW4 are, for example, provided with an SPM unit 23 (also described as HT SPM in FIG. 3 ) as the processing unit 15. The SPM unit 23 supplies SPM heated to a predetermined temperature to the substrate W for processing. The SPM is a mixed liquid of sulfuric acid and hydrogen peroxide. The substrate W processed by the ozone gas baking unit 21 is transported to the SPM unit 23 by the central robot CR. The substrate W processed in the SPM unit 23 is transported to the path portion 19 by the central robot CR after the SPM is removed by pure water.

In addition, the SPM unit 23 is equivalent to the "processing liquid chamber" in the present invention, and the central robot CR is equivalent to the "transportation mechanism" in the present invention.

As shown in FIG. 4 , two ozone gas supply units 11 and two ozone gas decomposition units 13 are additionally provided in the substrate processing device 1. The ozone gas supply unit 11 supplies ozone while generating ozone of a processing concentration used in the ozone gas baking unit 21. When the ozone gas supply unit 11 starts the device by setting the target concentration as the processing concentration from a stop state where ozone gas is not generated, for example, the concentration of the ozone gas supplied from the ozone gas supply unit 11 changes as shown in FIG. 5 . In addition, FIG. 5 is a graph showing the change of the ozone gas concentration in the ozone gas supply unit 11 .

Thus, it can be known that the ozone gas supply unit 11 has the following characteristics: if it is not nearly two minutes after starting the device, the treatment concentration will not be reached. Ozone gas of the treatment concentration is supplied from one ozone gas supply unit 11 to the four ozone gas baking units 21 of the tower TW1 described above. In addition, ozone gas of the treatment concentration is also supplied from one ozone gas supply unit 11 to the four ozone gas baking units 21 of the tower TW3.

The ozone gas decomposition unit 13 takes in the gas containing ozone gas discharged from the ozone gas baking unit 21 and performs harmless treatment on the ozone gas. The harmless treated gas is, for example, exhausted to the exhaust port provided in the clean room. One of the two ozone gas decomposition units 13 processes the exhaust gas from the four ozone gas baking units 21 of the tower TW1. The remaining ozone gas decomposition unit 13 processes the exhaust gas from the four ozone gas baking units 21 of the tower TW3.

In addition, the ozone gas supply unit 11 is equivalent to the "ozone gas supply source" in the present invention.

Here, refer to Figure 6. In addition, Figure 6 is a diagram showing the ozone gas baking unit 21 and the gas supply system and exhaust system. Although the ozone gas baking unit 21 of tower TW1 is used as an example in the following description, the ozone gas baking unit 21 of tower TW3 also has the same structure.

Each ozone gas baking unit 21 constituting the tower TW1 is provided with a chamber 32, and the chamber 32 is provided with a lower cover 25, an upper cover 27, a heat treatment plate 29, and a lifting mechanism 31. The lifting mechanism 31 is provided with: a connection portion connected to the upper cover 27; and a motor for moving the connection portion. The lower cover 25 is arranged at the lower part in the up-down direction Z. The lower cover 25 is a frame body having an opening portion at the upper part. The upper cover 27 is a frame body having an opening portion at the lower part. The lower cover 25 is provided with a heat treatment plate 29. The heat treatment plate 29 abuts against and supports the substrate W. The heat treatment plate 29 heats the substrate W to a predetermined temperature. The upper cover 27 descends and abuts against the lower cover 25. The opening of the upper cover 27 and the opening of the lower cover 25 are formed in a substantially same shape; the upper cover 27 and the lower cover 25 can be joined and separated by a lifting mechanism 31; the upper cover 27 and the lower cover 25 are joined, thereby forming a closed space inside the upper cover 27 and the lower cover 25. The closed space including the heat treatment plate 29 becomes a processing space for processing the substrate W. The upper cover 27 is raised and lowered relative to the lower cover 25 by the lifting mechanism 31. The lifting mechanism 31 lowers the upper cover 27 to the lower cover 25 when the substrate W is processed. On the other hand, the lifting mechanism 31 receives and transfers the substrate W between the lifting mechanism 31 and the processing space and raises the upper cover 27 to the top of the lower cover 25 during non-processing.

Tower TW1 is provided with an exhaust pipe 33. The exhaust pipe 33 is arranged from the lowest layer to the highest layer of tower TW1. The lower part of the exhaust pipe 33 is connected to the ozone gas decomposition unit 13. Tower TW1 is provided with a supply pipe 35. The supply pipe 35 is also arranged from the lowest layer to the highest layer in tower TW1. One end of the supply pipe 35 is connected to the ozone gas supply unit 11. Ozone gas of a treatment concentration is supplied from the ozone gas supply unit 11 to the supply pipe 35.

In addition, the heat treatment plate 29 is equivalent to the "holding mechanism" in the present invention.

Here, refer to Figure 7. In addition, Figure 7 is a diagram used to illustrate the non-processing of ozone gas.

The ozone gas supply unit 11 includes a generation pipe 41, a mass flow controller 43, an ozone gas generator 45, a filter 47, an automatic pressure regulator 49, and a control valve 51.

One end of the generation pipe 41 is connected to an oxygen supply source (not shown) that is one of the utilities provided in the clean room. The other end of the generation pipe 41 is connected to the supply pipe 35. A mass flow controller 43, an ozone gas generator 45, a filter 47, an automatic pressure regulator 49, and a control valve 51 are sequentially installed on the generation pipe 41 from the oxygen supply source side toward the supply pipe 35 side.

The mass flow controller 43 controls the flow rate of oxygen supplied to the generating pipe 41 to a predetermined flow rate. The ozone gas generator 45 is constituted by, for example, arranging four ozone gas generating modules in parallel. Each ozone gas generating module generates ozone gas from oxygen. The ozone gas generated in the ozone gas generator 45 is removed of particles and the like by the filter 47. The ozone gas that has passed through the filter 47 is adjusted to a predetermined first pressure P1 (for example, 200 kPa) by the automatic pressure regulator 49. The control valve 51 controls the flow of the ozone gas adjusted to the first pressure P1 toward the supply pipe 35.

The ozone gas supply unit 11 described above can supply ozone gas at a maximum flow rate of 100 liters/minute. Since the adjustment pressure of the automatic pressure regulator 49 described above is set to the first pressure P1, the pressure in the most downstream portion of the generating pipe 41 (the connecting portion connected to the supply pipe 35) is adjusted to the first pressure P1 (for example, 200 kPa in the embodiment). In addition, the flow rate of ozone gas in the supply pipe 35 is the maximum first flow rate F1 (for example, 100 liters/minute) according to the performance of the ozone gas supply unit 11.

Return to Figure 6. The supply pipe 35 at the other end of the generation pipe 41 connected to the ozone gas supply unit 11 is branched to each ozone gas baking unit 21. The circulation pipe 53 is connected to the ozone gas baking unit 21, and the circulation pipe 53 is configured to branch from the supply pipe 35 to each chamber 32. Specifically, one end of the circulation pipe 53 is connected to the supply pipe 35, and the other end of the circulation pipe 53 is connected to each chamber 32. In detail, the other end of the circulation pipe 53 is installed on the upper cover 27 and is connected to the processing space formed in the chamber 32.

The circulation piping 53 is provided with a control valve 55, a mass flow controller 57 and a filter 59 in order from the supply piping 35 toward the chamber 32. The control valve 55 controls the flow of ozone gas from the supply piping 35 toward the chamber 32. The mass flow controller 57 controls the flow rate of ozone gas flowing through the circulation piping 53 and supplied to the chamber 32. The filter 59 removes particles contained in the ozone gas flowing through the circulation piping 53.

For example, the mass flow controller 57 is set to a maximum ozone gas flow rate of 20 liters/minute, and is set to 10 liters/minute as the processing flow rate.

The circulation piping 53 is provided with a first branch point 61 and a second branch point 63. The first branch point 61 is provided between the chamber 32 and the filter 59 in the circulation piping 53. In other words, the first branch point 61 is provided on the chamber 32 side of the filter 59 in the circulation piping 53. The second branch point 63 is provided between the filter 59 and the mass flow controller 57 and the control valve 55 in the circulation piping 53.

One end of the inert gas supply piping 65 is connected to the first branch point 61. The other end of the inert gas supply piping 65 is connected to, for example, a nitrogen gas supply source, which is one of the public facilities belonging to the clean room. The inert gas supply piping 65 is sequentially installed with a mass flow controller 67, a control valve 69, and a filter 71 from the nitrogen gas supply source side toward the first branch point 61. The mass flow controller 67 adjusts the flow rate of the nitrogen gas supplied to the inert gas supply piping 65. The control valve 69 controls the flow of the nitrogen gas in the inert gas supply piping 65. The filter 71 removes particles contained in the nitrogen gas flowing in the inert gas supply piping 65. In addition, the inert gas supply pipe 65 is preferably provided with a check valve, for example, between the control valve 69 and the mass flow controller 67, so that ozone gas does not flow into the circulation pipe 53.

In addition, the circulation piping 53 is equivalent to the "first piping" in the present invention, the control valve 55 is equivalent to the "first control valve" in the present invention, and the filter 59 is equivalent to the "first filter" in the present invention. In addition, the inert gas supply piping 65 is equivalent to the "second piping" in the present invention, the control valve 69 is equivalent to the "second control valve" in the present invention, and the filter 71 is equivalent to the "second filter" in the present invention.

One end of the suction pipe 73 is connected to the second branch point 63. The other end of the suction pipe 73 is connected to the suction port of the vacuum pump 75. The discharge port of the vacuum pump 75 is connected to the exhaust main pipe 33. When the supply port of the vacuum pump 75 is supplied with compressed air, a gas flow from the suction port to the discharge port is formed. The suction pipe 73 is equipped with a control valve 74 for controlling the flow of the sucked gas.

In addition, the control valve 74 is equivalent to the "attraction control valve" in the present invention.

The suction of the suction pipe 73 described above is performed, for example, in the following manner.

After supplying ozone gas to the chamber 32 from the circulation piping 53, the ozone gas is replaced by nitrogen gas. At this time, nitrogen gas is supplied to the first branch point 61 from the inert gas supply piping 65. At this time, the suction piping 73 is sucked. In this way, the ozone gas remaining in the filter 59 and the mass flow controller 57 can be controlled not to be sucked into the chamber 32 by the flow of nitrogen gas. Therefore, the time required for nitrogen gas to replace ozone gas can be shortened. In addition, it can prevent the suspected particles generated in the mass flow controller 57 and the control valve 55 containing mechanical actions from being sucked into the flow of nitrogen gas and flowing into the chamber 32.

The vacuum extractor 75 is smaller and cheaper than a vacuum pump, etc. Therefore, it can contribute to the miniaturization of the substrate processing device 1 and also suppress the increase in cost.

One end of the exhaust pipe 77 is connected to the chamber 32. The suction port of the vacuum pump 79 is connected to the other end of the exhaust pipe 77. The exhaust port of the vacuum pump 79 is connected to the exhaust main pipe 33. One end of the first drive pipe 81 is connected to the supply port, which is used to supply compressed air to the vacuum pump 79 and form an exhaust flow from the suction port of the vacuum pump 79 to the exhaust port. The other end of the first drive pipe 81 is connected to a compressed air source such as one of the public facilities belonging to the clean room.

The first drive pipe 81 is provided with a flow regulating valve 83 and an on-off valve 85 in sequence from the compressed air source toward the vacuum pump 79 side. The flow regulating valve 83 regulates the flow of compressed air so that the compressed air flows through the first drive pipe 81 at a first flow Fa. The on-off valve 85 controls the flow of compressed air set to the first flow Fa in the first drive pipe 81. Both ends of the second drive pipe 87 are connected to a portion of the first drive pipe 81 upstream of the flow regulating valve 83 and a portion between the on-off valve 85 and the vacuum pump 79 in the first drive pipe 81. The second drive pipe 87 is provided with a flow regulating valve 89 and an on-off valve 91 in sequence from the compressed air source side toward the vacuum pump 79 side. The flow regulating valve 89 regulates the flow of compressed air so that the compressed air flows through the second drive pipe 87 at the second flow rate Fb. The on-off valve 91 controls the flow of compressed air set to the second flow rate Fb in the second drive pipe 87. The second flow rate Fb is set by the flow regulating valves 83 and 89 in a manner that becomes smaller than the first flow rate Fa.

The exhaust pipe 77 is provided with an on-off valve 93. The exhaust pipe 77 is connected to one end of a purge pipe 94 between the on-off valve 93 and the chamber 32. The other end of the purge pipe 94 is connected to the main exhaust pipe 33. The purge pipe 94 is provided with an on-off valve 95. The on-off valve 95 controls the flow of gas in the purge pipe 94.

The exhaust pipe 77 described above is used for exhaust in the following manner.

When only the on-off valves 93 and 85 among the on-off valves 85, 89, 93, and 95 are opened, the vacuum pump 79 operates at the first flow rate Fa. As a result, the gas in the chamber 32 is strongly sucked out through the exhaust pipe 77, thereby performing strong exhaust. When only the on-off valves 91 and 93 are opened, the vacuum pump 79 operates at the second flow rate Fb (less than the first flow rate Fa). As a result, the gas in the chamber 32 is weakly sucked out through the exhaust pipe 77, thereby performing weak exhaust. In the case where nitrogen gas is supplied to the chamber 32 from the inert gas supply pipe 65, when only the on-off valve 95 is opened, the gas in the chamber 32 is pushed out only by nitrogen gas through the exhaust pipe 77 and the purge pipe 94.

The supply piping 35 is provided with an auxiliary piping 97. One end of the auxiliary piping 97 is connected to the supply piping 35. The other end of the auxiliary piping 97 is connected to the exhaust main pipe 33. The auxiliary piping 97 is provided with an automatic pressure regulator 99 and a control valve 101 from the supply piping 35 toward the exhaust main pipe 33. The automatic pressure regulator 99 adjusts the pressure of the ozone gas in the auxiliary piping 97 branched from the supply piping 35 to a predetermined second pressure P2 (for example, 100 kPa). Here, the flow rate of the ozone gas in the supply piping 35 is a first flow rate F1; the ozone gas in the supply piping 35 flowing to each chamber 32 side other than the auxiliary piping 97 is set to a second flow rate F2. In this case, when the difference between the first flow rate F1 and the second flow rate F2 is defined as ΔF, the auxiliary pipe 97 flows with the difference flow rate ΔF.

Each ozone gas baking unit 21 is equipped with an external exhaust pipe 103, which is outside the chamber 32 and is used to exhaust the gas in each ozone gas baking unit 21. The external exhaust pipe 103 exhausts the gas around the chamber 32 and the various pipes and valves described above to, for example, an exhaust port provided in a clean room.

As shown in FIG. 4 , the substrate processing device 1 is provided with a control unit 111. The control unit 111 is provided with a CPU (Central Processing Unit) and a memory. The control unit 111 controls the operation of each unit based on the operation of the operator by operating a control console (not shown). Specifically, the control unit 111 controls the transport control of the index robot IR in the index area 3, the transport control of the central robot CR in the transport area 7, the processing control of each processing unit 15 in the processing area 5, the delivery control of various processing liquids in the processing liquid supply area 9, and the operation control of the ozone gas supply unit 11 and the ozone gas decomposition unit 13.

The control unit 111 operates each unit in the following manner for the flow rate of ozone gas. In addition, the ozone gas supply unit 11 has been activated and is in a state where it can supply ozone gas of a treatment concentration, and the control valve 51 has been opened. The control unit 111 described above adjusts the flow rate of ozone gas provided by the automatic pressure regulator 99 and the control valve 101 in conjunction with the flow rate provided by each mass flow controller 57 and the control valve 55, so that the difference △F of the flow rate described below is limited to a predetermined value.

As shown in FIG. 7 , when the ozone gas is not used in the chamber 32, each control valve 55 is closed and the control valve 101 is opened. Thus, the ozone gas is not supplied from the supply pipe 35 to each chamber 32. The ozone gas supplied from the ozone gas supply unit 11 to the supply pipe 35 is discharged to the exhaust main pipe 33 via the auxiliary pipe 97. In this state, the pressure of the ozone gas in the generation pipe 41 of the ozone gas supply unit 11 is the first pressure P1 (equal to 200 kPa), and the pressure of the ozone gas in the auxiliary pipe 97 is the second pressure P2 (equal to 100 kPa). In addition, regarding the flow rate, for example, the first flow rate F1 in the generation pipe 41 is 100 liters/minute, and the second flow rate F2 in the supply pipe 35 is 0 liters/minute. Therefore, the difference △F of the flow rate belonging to the difference between the first flow rate F1 and the second flow rate F2 becomes 100 liters/minute.

Here, refer to Figure 8. In addition, Figure 8 is a diagram used to illustrate the treatment of ozone gas.

When the treatment is performed by ozone gas in the chamber 32, specifically, when ozone gas is supplied to at least one of the four chambers 32 and the treatment is performed in the chamber 32, the control valve 55 of the chamber 32 to be treated is opened. At this time, although the control valve 101 is open, the flow rate has been adjusted.

For example, in the case where ozone gas is processed in all four chambers 32, ozone gas is supplied at a flow rate of a maximum of 20 liters/minute in accordance with the required amount of processing in each chamber 32. Therefore, the second flow rate F2 is a maximum of 80 liters/minute. Since the first flow rate F1 is 100 liters/minute, the difference in flow rate △F becomes a minimum of 20 liters/minute. In this way, the automatic pressure regulator 99 and the control valve 101 are controlled in such a way that the difference in flow rate △F becomes within a predetermined value. Therefore, since a margin of a predetermined value component can be left on the side of the ozone gas supply unit 11 in such a way that the second flow rate F2 does not exceed the first flow rate F1, ozone gas can be stably supplied to each chamber 32. Furthermore, conversely, the second flow rate F2 can be increased or decreased by adjusting the flow difference ΔF by the automatic pressure regulator 99 and the control valve 101. As a result, the flow rate of the ozone gas can be changed in general for all four chambers 32. In this way, the flow rate control can be simplified compared to operating the mass flow controller 57 in each chamber 32.

Next, the processing in the substrate processing device 1 described above is described with reference to FIG. 9 . FIG. 9 is a flowchart showing an example of an action. In addition, in the following description, only the ozone gas treatment and SPM treatment are described in detail, and other actions are simplified or omitted. In addition, in order to easily understand the present invention, only the process of a substrate W is described.

[Step S1]

The operator starts the substrate processing device 1. Furthermore, the ozone gas supply unit 11 and the ozone gas decomposition unit 13 are also started in conjunction with this action. Thus, under the control of the control unit 111, the ozone gas supply unit 11 starts to generate ozone gas of the processing concentration. As shown in FIG5, it takes about two minutes to generate ozone gas of the processing concentration.

[Step S2]

The control unit 111 monitors whether a predetermined time has passed until ozone gas of the treatment concentration is generated by the ozone gas supply unit 11, and moves to the next step S3 at the time point when the predetermined time has passed. In addition, even before the concentration of the ozone gas reaches the treatment concentration, the generated ozone gas is completely exhausted through the auxiliary piping 97 and the exhaust main pipe 33, just like the non-treatment state of the ozone gas shown in FIG. 7 .

[Step S3]

The operator uses a control console (not shown) to instruct the start of processing.

[Step S4]

The substrate W to be processed contained in the carrier C is transported to the path section 19 via the index area 3 and is moved into the ozone gas baking unit 21 by the central robot CR. In addition, before the substrate W is moved into the chamber 32 for processing in the next step S5, the control unit 111 operates the control valve 69 and the mass flow controller 67 to supply nitrogen gas to the chamber 32. Furthermore, the control unit 111 operates the vacuum exhauster 79 through the flow regulating valve 59 and the on-off valve 91. Thereby, the chamber 32 is weakly exhausted, and the processing space is kept clean by the inert gas.

[Step S5]

When the substrate W is accommodated in the chamber 32, the control unit 111 moves the upper cover 27 to the lower cover 25 by means of the lifting mechanism 31. Thus, the chamber 32 is sealed. At this time, the control unit 111 operates the flow regulating valve 89 and the opening and closing valve 91 to stop the operation of the vacuum pump 79 of the second drive pipe 87. Furthermore, the control unit 111 operates the vacuum pump 79 by means of the flow regulating valve 83 and the opening and closing valve 85. In addition, the flow rate of the suction port of the vacuum pump 79 is greater than the flow rate of the nitrogen gas supplied from the inert gas supply pipe 65. Thus, since the chamber 32 is strongly exhausted, the processing space becomes negative pressure. Therefore, the upper cover 27 is tightly attached to the lower cover 25, and the chamber 32 is completely sealed relative to the surroundings.

Afterwards, the control unit 111 waits until the temperature of the substrate W placed on the heat treatment plate 29 rises to a predetermined temperature (e.g., 100°C to 300°C). When the temperature of the substrate W reaches the predetermined temperature, the control unit 111 starts the treatment with ozone gas.

Specifically, the control unit 111 operates the mass flow controller 57 and the control valve 55 so that ozone gas of a processing concentration is supplied to the chamber 32 at a required flow rate. Furthermore, ozone gas of a processing concentration is supplied to the processing space on which the substrate W is placed. The state in which ozone gas is being supplied is the state indicated by the dashed arrow in FIG. 10 .

At this time, the control unit 111 operates the flow regulating valve 83 and the on-off valve 85 to stop strong exhaust. Furthermore, the control unit 111 operates the flow regulating valve 89 and the on-off valve 91 to switch to weak exhaust. In this way, since the ozone gas of the treatment concentration is retained in the treatment space, the treatment of the ozone gas can be fully carried out. When the predetermined ozone gas treatment time has passed, the control unit 111 operates the mass flow controller 57 and the control valve 55 to stop supplying ozone gas to the chamber 32.

Next, the control unit 111 replaces the ozone gas in the chamber 32 with nitrogen gas. Specifically, the control unit 111 operates the control valve 69 and the mass flow controller 67 to supply nitrogen gas to the chamber 32 from the inert gas supply pipe 65 in FIG. 6 . The state of supplying nitrogen gas is shown by the dotted arrow in FIG. 11 .

In addition, the control unit 111 activates the vacuum pump 75 and opens the control valve 74 to suck the second branch point 63 of the suction pipe 73. The state in which the second branch point 63 is being sucked is the state shown by the two-point chain with an arrow in Figure 11. Furthermore, the control unit 111 operates the flow regulating valve 89 and the on-off valve 91 to stop the weak exhaust. At the same time, the control unit 111 operates the flow regulating valve 83 and the on-off valve 85 to set it to strong exhaust. Since the chamber 32 is set to strong exhaust, the ozone gas in the processing space is efficiently replaced with nitrogen gas. Therefore, the time required for replacement can be shortened. At this time, as shown by the two-point chain with arrows in FIG. 11, since the second branch point 63 is sucked at the same time, the ozone remaining in the filter 59 can be prevented from mixing into the processing space. Therefore, the replacement efficiency of the nitrogen gas can be improved. Furthermore, since the second branch point 63 is set between the filter 59 and the mass flow controller 57 and the control valve 55, the particles that are easily generated in the mass flow controller 57 and the control valve 55 can be prevented from flowing into the processing space. Therefore, the substrate W can be cleanly processed.

In addition, the suction of the suction pipe 73 is performed with a suction force that does not hinder the supply of nitrogen gas supplied to the chamber 32 through the first branch point 61. Therefore, the ozone gas in the chamber 32 can be replaced with nitrogen gas reliably.

When the replacement by nitrogen gas is finished, the control unit 111 operates the flow regulating valve 83 and the on-off valve 85 to stop the strong exhaust. The control unit 111 opens the on-off valve 95. In this way, the inert gas is discharged only at the supply pressure through the purge pipe 94. At this time, since the chamber 32 becomes a positive pressure, the lifting action of the upper cover 27 by the lifting mechanism 31 is carried out smoothly. The control unit 111 closes the on-off valve 95 after the upper cover 27 rises, and operates the flow regulating valve 89 and the on-off valve 91 to set it to weak exhaust. In this way, the processing space is kept clean by the inert gas. The control unit 111 moves the substrate W to a cooling unit (not shown) to return the substrate W to normal temperature.

[Step S6]

The control unit 111 operates the central robot CR to take out the substrate W from the ozone gas baking unit 21 and transport the substrate W to the SPM unit 23.

[Step S7]

The control unit 111 is set to supply SPM to the surface of the substrate W while heating the substrate W. Thus, the photoresist coating on the surface of the substrate W is removed by SPM. At this time, since the surface of the photoresist coating is ashed to a certain extent by the pre-treatment of the ozone gas, the photoresist coating can be easily removed by a small amount of SPM even if the surface of the photoresist coating is hardened. The control unit 111 performs a cleaning process with pure water and a drying process after completing the treatment of the substrate W by SPM.

[Step S8]

The control unit 111 operates the center robot CR to transport the substrate W to the path unit 19, and operates the index robot IR to carry out the substrate W to return it to the carrier C. Through this series of actions, the photoresist coating of the substrate W is removed.

According to this embodiment, the control unit 111 supplies ozone gas to the chamber 32 and processes the substrate W in a state where the control valve 55 is opened and the control valve 69 is closed, and then the control valve 55 is closed and the control valve 69 is opened, and the suction pipe 73 is sucked when nitrogen gas is supplied to the chamber 32. Therefore, the filter 59, the mass flow controller 57 and the control valve 55 in which ozone gas remains are sucked through the suction pipe 73. Therefore, the gas does not flow from the second branch point 63 toward the chamber 32 side in the circulation pipe 53. As a result, since the ozone gas can be prevented from mixing with the nitrogen gas on the chamber 32 side, the replacement of the ozone gas can be completed in a short time, and contamination caused by particles can also be prevented.

The present invention is not limited to the above-mentioned implementation form and can be implemented in the following ways.

(1) In the above embodiment, a substrate processing apparatus 1 having four chambers 32 and four flow pipes 53 is used as an example for explanation. However, the present invention does not necessarily need to constitute a plurality of chambers 32 and a plurality of flow pipes 53. That is, the present invention can also be applied to a substrate processing apparatus 1 having one chamber 32 and one flow pipe 53.

(2) In the above embodiment, nitrogen is used as the inert gas. However, the present invention is not limited to nitrogen as the inert gas, and can also be applied to argon, for example.

(3) In the above-mentioned embodiment, a structure is adopted in which the suction pipe 73 is sucked by a vacuum exhauster 75. However, the present invention is not limited to such a structure. For example, it can also be configured so that the suction pipe 73 is sucked by a suction unit such as a vacuum pump.

(4) In the above embodiment, although the substrate processing device 1 is equipped with an ozone gas decomposition unit 13, the present invention does not necessarily require the ozone gas decomposition unit 13.

(5) In the above embodiment, although the substrate processing device 1 is equipped with the SPM unit 23, the present invention does not necessarily require the SPM unit 23. For example, it can also be configured to process the substrate W that has been processed by the ozone gas baking unit 21 by using the SPM unit 23 equipped by other devices.

(6) In the above embodiment, the following structure is adopted: the substrate processing device 1 has an index area 3, a transport area 7, a carrier loading unit 17 and a path unit 19, etc., which continuously transports a plurality of substrates W and processes them efficiently; however, the present invention is not limited to such a structure. That is, the present invention can also be applied to a substrate processing device that does not have a transport system, etc. but has a structure for processing with ozone gas of a processing concentration.

[Implementation Example 2]

Next, the second embodiment of the present invention is described with reference to the drawings.

The same component symbols are attached to the common structures of the above-mentioned embodiments and detailed descriptions are omitted.

As shown in FIG5 , the ozone gas supply unit 11 has the following characteristics: if nearly two minutes have not passed after the device is started, the target predetermined concentration will not be reached. The ozone gas supply unit 11 supplies ozone gas of a predetermined treatment concentration to the supply pipe 35 described above.

In addition, the corresponding relationship between each structure in Scheme 7 to Scheme 11 of the present invention is as follows.

The SPM unit 23 is equivalent to the "processing liquid chamber", and the central robot CR is equivalent to the "transportation mechanism". The ozone gas supply unit 11 is equivalent to the "ozone gas supply source". The heat treatment plate 29 is equivalent to the "holding mechanism". The automatic pressure regulator 49 is equivalent to the "first pressure adjustment mechanism", the control valve 55 is equivalent to the "control valve", and the control valve 51 is equivalent to the "first opening and closing valve". The control valve 101 is equivalent to the "exhaust valve", the automatic pressure regulator 99 is equivalent to the "second pressure adjustment mechanism", and the control valve 101 is equivalent to the "second opening and closing valve".

Next, the processing in Example 2 is explained with reference to Figure 9.

[Step S1]

The operator starts the substrate processing device 1. Furthermore, the ozone gas supply unit 11 and the ozone gas decomposition unit 13 are also started in conjunction with this action. Thus, under the control of the control unit 111, the ozone gas supply unit 11 starts to generate ozone gas of the processing concentration. As shown in FIG5, it takes about two minutes to generate ozone gas of the processing concentration.

[Step S2]

The control unit 111 monitors whether a predetermined time has passed until ozone gas of the treatment concentration is generated by the ozone gas supply unit 11, and moves to the next step S3 when the predetermined time has passed. In addition, even before the concentration of the ozone gas reaches the treatment concentration, the generated ozone gas is completely exhausted through the auxiliary piping 97 and the exhaust main pipe 33, just like the non-treatment state of the ozone gas shown in FIG. 7 .

[Step S3]

The operator uses a control console (not shown) to instruct the start of processing.

[Step S4]

The substrate W to be processed contained in the carrier C is transported to the path section 19 via the index area 3 and is carried into the ozone gas baking unit 21 by the central robot CR. In addition, before the substrate W is carried into the chamber 32 for processing in the next step S5, the control section 111 operates the control valve 69 and the mass flow controller 67 to supply nitrogen gas to the chamber 32. Furthermore, the control section 111 operates the vacuum exhauster 79 through the flow regulating valve 89 and the on-off valve 91. Thereby, the chamber 32 is weakly exhausted, and the processing space is kept clean by the inert gas.

[Step S5]

When the substrate W is accommodated in the chamber 32, the control unit 111 moves the upper cover 27 to the lower cover 25 by means of the lifting mechanism 31. Thus, the chamber 32 is sealed. At this time, the control unit 111 operates the flow regulating valve 89 and the opening and closing valve 91 to stop the operation of the vacuum pump 79 of the second drive pipe 87. Furthermore, the control unit 111 operates the vacuum pump 79 by means of the flow regulating valve 83 and the opening and closing valve 85. In addition, the flow rate of the suction port of the vacuum pump 79 is greater than the flow rate of the nitrogen gas supplied from the inert gas supply pipe 65. Thus, since the chamber 32 is strongly exhausted, the processing space becomes negative pressure. Therefore, the upper cover 27 is tightly attached to the lower cover 25, and the chamber 32 is completely sealed relative to the surroundings.

Afterwards, the control unit 111 waits until the temperature of the substrate W placed on the heat treatment plate 29 rises to a predetermined temperature (e.g., 100°C to 300°C). When the temperature of the substrate W reaches the predetermined temperature, the control unit 111 starts the treatment with ozone gas.

Specifically, the control unit 111 operates the mass flow controller 57 and the control valve 55 so that the ozone gas of the processing concentration is supplied to the chamber 32 at the required flow rate. Furthermore, the ozone gas of the processing concentration is supplied to the processing space carrying the substrate W. At this time, the control unit 111 operates the flow adjustment valve 83 and the on-off valve 85 to stop the strong exhaust. Furthermore, the control unit 111 operates the flow adjustment valve 89 and the on-off valve 91 to switch to weak exhaust. Thus, since the ozone gas of the processing concentration is retained in the processing space, the processing performed by the ozone gas can be fully performed. When the predetermined ozone gas processing time has passed, the control unit 111 operates the mass flow controller 57 and the control valve 55 to stop supplying ozone gas to the chamber 32.

Next, the control unit 111 replaces the ozone gas in the chamber 32 with nitrogen gas. Specifically, the control unit 111 operates the control valve 69 and the mass flow controller 67 to supply nitrogen gas from the inert gas supply pipe 65 in FIG. 6 to the chamber 32. In addition, the control unit 111 activates the vacuum pump 75 and opens the control valve 74 to suck the second branch point 63 of the suction pipe 73. Furthermore, the control unit 111 operates the flow regulating valve 89 and the on-off valve 91 to stop the weak exhaust. At the same time, the control unit 111 operates the flow regulating valve 83 and the on-off valve 85 to set it to strong exhaust. Since the chamber 32 is set to strong exhaust, the ozone gas in the processing space is efficiently replaced with nitrogen gas. Therefore, the time required for replacement can be shortened. At this time, since the second branch point 63 is sucked at the same time, the ozone remaining in the filter 59 can be prevented from mixing into the processing space. Therefore, the replacement efficiency of the nitrogen gas can be improved. Furthermore, since the second branch point 63 is set between the filter 59 and the mass flow controller 57 and the control valve 55, it is possible to prevent particles that are easily generated in the mass flow controller 57 and the control valve 55 from flowing into the processing space. Therefore, the substrate W can be cleanly processed.

When the replacement by nitrogen gas is finished, the control unit 111 operates the flow regulating valve 83 and the on-off valve 85 to stop the strong exhaust. The control unit 111 opens the on-off valve 95. In this way, the inert gas is discharged only at the supply pressure through the purge pipe 94. At this time, since the chamber 32 becomes a positive pressure, the lifting action of the upper cover 27 by the lifting mechanism 31 is carried out smoothly. The control unit 111 closes the on-off valve 95 after the upper cover 27 rises, and operates the flow regulating valve 89 and the on-off valve 91 to set it to weak exhaust. In this way, the processing space is kept clean by the inert gas. The control unit 111 moves the substrate W to a cooling unit (not shown) to return the substrate W to normal temperature.

[Step S6]

The control unit 111 operates the central robot CR to take out the substrate W from the ozone gas baking unit 21 and transport the substrate W to the SPM unit 23.

[Step S7]

The control unit 111 is set to supply SPM to the surface of the substrate W while heating the substrate W. Thus, the photoresist coating on the surface of the substrate W is removed by SPM. At this time, since the surface of the photoresist coating is ashed to a certain extent by the pre-treatment of the ozone gas, the photoresist coating can be easily removed by a small amount of SPM even if the surface of the photoresist coating is hardened. The control unit 111 performs a cleaning process with pure water and a drying process after completing the treatment of the substrate W by SPM.

[Step S8]

The control unit 111 operates the center robot CR to transport the substrate W to the path unit 19, and operates the index robot IR to carry out the substrate W to return it to the carrier C. Through this series of actions, the photoresist coating of the substrate W is removed.

According to the present embodiment, since the control unit 111 closes the control valve 55 and opens the control valve 101 when the ozone gas is not being processed, the ozone gas of the processing concentration generated by the ozone gas supply unit 11 is not supplied to the chamber 32 but is discharged from the auxiliary pipe 97 to the exhaust main pipe 33. Since the control unit 111 opens the control valve 55 while adjusting the flow rate of the control valve 101 when the ozone gas is being processed, the ozone gas is supplied from the ozone gas supply unit 11 that normally generates the ozone gas of the processing concentration through the flow pipe 53 to the substrate W held by the heat treatment plate 29 in the chamber 32. Therefore, since there is no waiting time for the ozone gas treatment, the ozone gas treatment time can be shortened, thereby increasing the treatment volume.

The present invention is not limited to the above-mentioned implementation form and can be implemented in the following ways.

(1) In the above embodiment, a substrate processing apparatus 1 having four chambers 32 and four flow pipes 53 is used as an example for explanation. However, the present invention does not necessarily need to constitute a plurality of chambers 32 and a plurality of flow pipes 53. That is, the present invention can also be applied to a substrate processing apparatus 1 having one chamber 32 and one flow pipe 53.

(2) In the above embodiment, the flow rate of the control valve 101 is adjusted in conjunction with the flow rates of each control valve 55 and each mass flow controller 57 so that the difference ΔF between the first flow rate F1 and the second flow rate F2 is limited to a predetermined value. However, the present invention does not necessarily require that a predetermined amount of ozone gas remain on the ozone gas supply unit 11 side. Therefore, the maximum supply amount of the ozone gas supply unit 11 can also be supplied to all chambers 32.

(3) In the above embodiment, the ozone gas supply unit 11 is equipped with an automatic pressure regulator 49, and the auxiliary pipe 97 is equipped with an automatic pressure regulator 99, but the present invention does not necessarily require such a structure. That is, when these structures are equipped, since the treatment of ozone gas can be stably performed even if a structure with a plurality of chambers 32 is equipped, it is not necessary to have such a structure in the case where the chamber 32 is singular, or in the case where the number of chambers 32 is such that the total supply amount is significantly less than the maximum supply amount of the ozone gas supply unit 11, it is not necessary to have such a structure.

(4) In the above embodiment, although the substrate processing device 1 is equipped with an ozone gas decomposition unit 13, the present invention does not necessarily require an ozone gas decomposition unit 13.

(5) In the above embodiment, although the substrate processing device 1 is equipped with the SPM unit 23, the present invention does not necessarily require the SPM unit 23. For example, it can also be configured to process the substrate W that has been processed by the ozone gas baking unit 21 by using the SPM unit 23 equipped by other devices.

(6) In the above embodiment, the following structure is adopted: the substrate processing device 1 has an index area 3, a transport area 7, a carrier loading unit 17 and a path unit 19, etc., which continuously transports a plurality of substrates W and processes them efficiently; however, the present invention is not limited to such a structure. That is, the present invention can also be applied to a substrate processing device that does not have a transport system, etc. but has a structure for processing with ozone gas of a processing concentration.

[Implementation Example 3]

Next, the third embodiment of the present invention is described with reference to the drawings.

The same component symbols are attached to the common structures of the above-mentioned embodiments and detailed descriptions are omitted.

In addition, the corresponding relationship between each structure in Scheme 12 to Scheme 16 of the present invention is as follows.

The SPM unit 23 is equivalent to the "processing liquid chamber", and the central robot CR is equivalent to the "transportation mechanism". The ozone gas supply unit 11 is equivalent to the "ozone gas supply source". The heat treatment plate 29 is equivalent to the "holding mechanism", the lower cover 25 is equivalent to the "upper cover member", and the upper cover 27 is equivalent to the "lower cover member". The supply piping 53 is equivalent to the "first piping", the control valve 55 is equivalent to the "first control valve", the inert gas supply pipe 65 is equivalent to the "second piping", the on-off valve 69 and the mass flow controller 67 are equivalent to the "third control valve". The suction piping 73 is equivalent to the "auxiliary exhaust pipe", and the control valve 74 is equivalent to the "fourth control valve". The exhaust pipe 77 is equivalent to the "exhaust pipe".

The on-off valve 93 is equivalent to the "second control valve", the flow regulating valve 83, the on-off valve 85 and the vacuum pump 79 are equivalent to the "first exhaust unit", the flow regulating valve 89, the on-off valve 91 and the vacuum pump 79 are equivalent to the "second exhaust unit", and the flow regulating valves 83, 89, the on-off valves 85, 91 and the vacuum pump 79 are equivalent to the "exhaust mechanism". The first flow Fa is equivalent to the "first exhaust flow", and the second flow Fb is equivalent to the "second exhaust flow".

Here, the treatment in Example 3 is explained with reference to Figure 9 and Figures 12 to 17. Figure 12 is a schematic diagram for explaining weak exhaust before treatment. Figure 13 is a schematic diagram for explaining strong exhaust in the state of closing the upper cover. Figure 14 is a schematic diagram for explaining weak exhaust in ozone gas treatment. Figure 15 is a schematic diagram for explaining strong exhaust in the displacement by nitrogen gas. Figure 16 is a schematic diagram for explaining the blowing when the upper cover is open. Figure 17 is a schematic diagram for explaining weak exhaust after treatment.

[Step S1]

The operator starts the substrate processing device 1. In conjunction with this action, the ozone gas supply unit 11 and the ozone gas decomposition unit 13 are also started. Thus, under the control of the control unit 111, the ozone gas supply unit 11 starts to generate ozone gas of a treatment concentration. As shown in FIG5 , it takes about two minutes to generate ozone gas of a treatment concentration.

[Step S2]

The control unit 111 monitors whether a predetermined time has passed until ozone gas of the treatment concentration is generated by the ozone gas supply unit 11, and moves to the next step S3 when the predetermined time has passed. In addition, even before the concentration of the ozone gas reaches the treatment concentration, the generated ozone gas is completely exhausted through the auxiliary piping 97 and the exhaust main pipe 33, just like the non-treatment state of the ozone gas shown in FIG. 7 .

[Step S3]

The operator uses a control console (not shown) to instruct the start of processing.

[Step S4]

The substrate W to be processed contained in the carrier C is transported to the path section 19 via the index area 3 and is moved into the ozone gas baking unit 21 by the central robot CR. In addition, before the substrate W is moved into the chamber 32 for processing in the next step S5, the control unit 111 operates the control valve 69 and the mass flow controller 67 to supply nitrogen gas to the chamber 32. Furthermore, as shown in FIG. 12 , the control unit 111 operates the vacuum exhauster 79 through the flow regulating valve 89 and the on-off valve 91. Thereby, the chamber 32 is weakly exhausted, and the processing space is kept clean by the inert gas.

[Step S5]

When the substrate W is accommodated in the chamber 32, the control unit 111 moves the upper cover 27 to the lower cover 25 by means of the lifting mechanism 31. Thus, the chamber 32 is sealed. At this time, the control unit 111 operates the flow regulating valve 89 and the opening and closing valve 91 to stop the operation of the vacuum pump 79 of the second drive pipe 87. Furthermore, as shown in FIG. 13, the control unit 111 operates the vacuum pump 79 by means of the flow regulating valve 83 and the opening and closing valve 85. In addition, the flow rate of the suction port of the vacuum pump 79 is greater than the flow rate of the nitrogen gas supplied from the inert gas supply pipe 65. Thus, since the chamber 32 is strongly exhausted, the processing space becomes negative pressure. Therefore, the upper cover 27 is tightly attached to the lower cover 25, and the chamber 32 is completely sealed relative to the surroundings.

Afterwards, the control unit 111 waits until the temperature of the substrate W placed on the heat treatment plate 29 rises to a predetermined temperature (e.g., 100°C to 300°C). When the temperature of the substrate W reaches the predetermined temperature, the control unit 111 starts the treatment with ozone gas.

Specifically, the control unit 111 operates the mass flow controller 57 and the control valve 55 so that the ozone gas of the processing concentration is supplied to the chamber 32 at the required flow rate. Furthermore, the ozone gas of the processing concentration is supplied to the processing space on which the substrate W is placed. At this time, the control unit 111 operates the flow regulating valve 83 and the on-off valve 85 to stop the strong exhaust. Furthermore, as shown in FIG. 14 , the control unit 111 operates the flow regulating valve 89 and the on-off valve 91 to switch to weak exhaust. Thus, since the ozone gas of the processing concentration is retained in the processing space, the processing performed by the ozone gas can be fully performed. When the predetermined ozone gas treatment time has passed, the control unit 111 operates the mass flow controller 57 and the control valve 55 to stop supplying ozone gas to the chamber 32.

Next, the control unit 111 replaces the ozone gas in the chamber 32 with nitrogen gas. Specifically, the control unit 111 operates the control valve 69 and the mass flow controller 67 to supply nitrogen gas from the inert gas supply pipe 65 in Figure 6 to the chamber 32. In addition, the control unit 111 activates the vacuum pump 75 and opens the control valve 74 to suction the second branch point 63 of the suction pipe 73. Furthermore, the control unit 111 operates the flow regulating valve 89 and the on-off valve 91 to stop the weak exhaust. At the same time, as shown in Figure 15, the control unit 111 operates the flow regulating valve 83 and the on-off valve 85 to set it to strong exhaust. Since the chamber 32 is set to strong exhaust, the ozone gas in the processing space is efficiently replaced with nitrogen gas. Therefore, the time required for replacement can be shortened. At this time, since the second branch point 63 is sucked at the same time, the ozone remaining in the filter 59 can be prevented from mixing into the processing space. Therefore, the replacement efficiency of the nitrogen gas can be improved. Furthermore, since the second branch point 63 is set between the filter 59 and the mass flow controller 57 and the control valve 55, it is possible to prevent particles that are easily generated in the mass flow controller 57 and the control valve 55 from flowing into the processing space. Therefore, the substrate W can be cleanly processed.

When the replacement by nitrogen gas is finished, the control unit 111 operates the flow regulating valve 83 and the on-off valve 85 to stop the strong exhaust. As shown in FIG16 , the control unit 111 opens the on-off valve 95. In this way, the inert gas is discharged only with the supply pressure through the purge pipe 94. At this time, since the chamber 32 becomes a positive pressure, the lifting action of the upper cover 27 by the lifting mechanism 31 is carried out smoothly. The control unit 111 closes the on-off valve 95 after the upper cover 27 rises, and operates the flow regulating valve 89 and the on-off valve 91 to set it to weak exhaust as shown in FIG17. In this way, the processing space is kept clean by the inert gas. The control unit 111 moves the substrate W to a cooling unit (not shown) to return the substrate W to normal temperature.

[Step S6]

The control unit 111 operates the central robot CR to take out the substrate W from the ozone gas baking unit 21 and transport the substrate W to the SPM unit 23.

[Step S7]

The control unit 111 is set to supply SPM to the surface of the substrate W while heating the substrate W. Thus, the photoresist coating on the surface of the substrate W is removed by SPM. At this time, since the surface of the photoresist coating is ashed to a certain extent by the pre-treatment of the ozone gas, the photoresist coating can be easily removed by a small amount of SPM even if the surface of the photoresist coating is hardened. The control unit 111 performs a cleaning process with pure water and a drying process after completing the treatment of the substrate W by SPM.

[Step S8]

The control unit 111 operates the center robot CR to transport the substrate W to the path unit 19, and operates the index robot IR to carry out the substrate W to return it to the carrier C. Through this series of actions, the photoresist coating of the substrate W is removed.

According to the present embodiment, before ozone gas is supplied to the chamber 32 and ozone gas treatment is performed, the control unit 111 opens the on-off valve 93 and operates the flow regulating valve 83 and the on-off valve 85 to operate the vacuum pump 79, thereby strongly exhausting the chamber 32 and making the upper cover 27 closely attached to the lower cover 25. When the control valve 55 is operated to supply ozone gas from the ozone gas supply unit 11 to the chamber 32, the control unit 111 stops the strong exhaust and operates the flow regulating valve 89 and the on-off valve 91 to operate the vacuum pump 79, thereby weakly exhausting the chamber 32. Therefore, the degree of adhesion between the upper cover 27 and the lower cover 25 is increased to strong exhaust until the ozone gas is supplied, and is set to weak exhaust during the supply of ozone gas. Therefore, the leakage of ozone gas can be prevented and the consumption of ozone gas can be suppressed.

The present invention is not limited to the above-mentioned implementation form and can be implemented in the following ways.

(1) In the above embodiment, a substrate processing apparatus 1 having four chambers 32 and four flow pipes 53 is used as an example for explanation. However, the present invention does not necessarily need to constitute a plurality of chambers 32 and a plurality of flow pipes 53. That is, the present invention can also be applied to a substrate processing apparatus 1 having one chamber 32 and one flow pipe 53.

(2) In the above embodiment, a purge is performed to supply an inert gas to the chamber 32, and the upper cover 27 is removed from the lower cover 25 after the chamber 32 is set to a positive pressure. However, the present invention does not necessarily require such a structure. In addition, in the above embodiment, although there are a suction pipe 73 and an inert gas supply pipe 65 for supplying an inert gas, the present invention does not necessarily require these components.

(3) In the above embodiment, the first drive pipe 81 and the second drive pipe 87 for supplying compressed air to the vacuum pump 79 are switched to switch the exhaust flow rate in the exhaust pipe 77. However, the present invention does not necessarily require such a structure. For example, it can also be configured to have a drive pipe, an on-off valve and a mass flow controller, and the mass flow controller is adjusted according to the exhaust flow rate. In addition, in the above embodiment, although exhaust and suction are performed by vacuum pumps 75 and 79, the present invention does not necessarily require such a structure. For example, it can also be configured to exhaust and suction by a vacuum pump.

(4) In the above embodiment, although the substrate processing device 1 is equipped with an ozone gas decomposition unit 13, the present invention does not necessarily require an ozone gas decomposition unit 13.

(5) In the above embodiment, although the substrate processing device 1 is equipped with the SPM unit 23, the present invention does not necessarily require the SPM unit 23. For example, it can also be configured to process the substrate W that has been processed by the ozone gas baking unit 21 by using the SPM unit 23 equipped by other devices.

(6) In the above embodiment, the following structure is adopted: the substrate processing device 1 has an index area 3, a transport area 7, a carrier loading unit 17 and a path unit 19, etc., which continuously transports a plurality of substrates W and processes them efficiently; however, the present invention is not limited to such a structure. That is, the present invention can also be applied to a substrate processing device that does not have a transport system, etc. but has a structure for processing with ozone gas of a processing concentration.

[Industry Availability]

As described above, the present invention is applied to a substrate processing device for performing a predetermined treatment on a substrate using ozone gas.

11: Ozone gas supply unit

21: Ozone gas baking unit

25: Lower cover

27: Upper cover

29: Heat-treated board

31: Lifting mechanism

32: Chamber

33: Exhaust main pipe

35: Supply piping

57,67:Mass flow controller

59,71:Filter

55,69,74: Control valve

53: Circulation piping

61: First branch point

63: Second branch point

65: Inert gas supply piping

73: Suction piping

75: Vacuum extractor

TW1,TW3:Tower

W: Substrate

Claims (16)

A substrate processing device is used to remove a coating film attached to a substrate, and comprises: a chamber for accommodating the substrate and forming a closed processing space; a holding mechanism for holding the substrate in the chamber; an ozone gas supply source for supplying ozone gas of a processing concentration to process the substrate; a first pipe for communicating with the chamber and the ozone gas supply source; a first control valve provided in the first pipe for controlling the flow of ozone gas in the first pipe; a first filter provided in the first pipe on the chamber side beyond the first control valve; a second pipe, one end of which is communicated with a first branch point in the first pipe and is supplied with an inert gas from the other end, wherein the first control valve is provided in the first pipe to control the flow of ozone gas in the first pipe; The first branch point is connected to the chamber side of the first pipe beyond the first filter; the second control valve is provided in the second pipe to control the flow of the inert gas in the second pipe; the suction pipe is connected to the second branch point in the first pipe at one end and is sucked from the other end, and the second branch point is connected between the first filter and the first control valve in the first pipe; and the control unit closes the first control valve and opens the second control valve after supplying ozone gas to the chamber and processing the substrate in a state where the first control valve is opened and the second control valve is closed, and the suction pipe is sucked when the inert gas is supplied to the chamber. The substrate processing device as recited in claim 1, wherein the suction performed by the suction pipe is performed by a suction force that does not hinder the supply of the inert gas supplied from the second pipe to the chamber. The substrate processing device described in claim 1 or 2, wherein the other end of the aforementioned suction pipe is provided with: a vacuum exhauster, which generates suction force by supplying compressed gas. The substrate processing device as described in claim 1 or 2, wherein the suction piping is provided with: a suction control valve, which is operated by the control unit to control the suction force in the second branch point. A substrate processing device as described in claim 1 or 2, wherein the second pipe is provided with a second filter between the first branch point and the second control valve. The substrate processing device as described in claim 1 or 2 further comprises: a processing liquid chamber for accommodating a substrate and performing processing by the processing liquid; and a transport mechanism for transporting the substrate; the substrate that has been treated by ozone gas in the chamber is transported to the processing liquid chamber by the transport mechanism, and the substrate is processed by the processing liquid in the processing liquid chamber. A substrate processing device is used to remove a coating film attached to a substrate, and comprises: a chamber that accommodates the substrate and forms a closed processing space; a holding mechanism that holds the substrate in the chamber; an ozone gas supply source that normally generates ozone gas for processing the substrate while supplying the ozone gas; a supply pipe that circulates the ozone gas supplied from the ozone gas supply source; a circulation pipe that connects the supply pipe and the chamber; a control valve that is disposed on the circulation pipe and controls the circulation of the ozone gas flowing through the circulation pipe; an auxiliary pipe that is connected to the supply pipe and an exhaust port for exhausting gas, for exhausting ozone gas supplied from the ozone gas supply source to the exhaust port; an exhaust valve, which is provided in the auxiliary piping, for adjusting the flow rate of ozone gas flowing in the auxiliary piping; and a control unit, which closes the control valve and opens the exhaust valve when ozone gas is not supplied to the chamber for non-processing, thereby exhausting ozone gas supplied from the ozone gas supply source to the exhaust port, and opens the control valve while adjusting the flow rate of the exhaust valve when ozone gas is supplied to the chamber and the substrate held by the holding mechanism is processed with ozone gas. The substrate processing device as described in claim 7, wherein the aforementioned chambers are plural; the aforementioned circulation pipes are plural; each of the aforementioned circulation pipes is branched from the aforementioned supply pipe and is connected to each of the aforementioned chambers; the aforementioned control valves are respectively provided in the plurality of aforementioned circulation pipes; during the aforementioned processing, at least one of the plurality of aforementioned chambers is in a state of being supplied with ozone gas. The substrate processing device as described in claim 8, wherein the control unit adjusts the flow rate of the exhaust valve in conjunction with the flow rate of each of the control valves during the processing, so that the difference between the first flow rate of the ozone gas flowing through the supply pipe and the second flow rate of the ozone gas flowing through each of the circulation pipes is limited to a predetermined value. The substrate processing apparatus as recited in claim 8 or 9, wherein the ozone gas supply source is provided with: a first on-off valve for allowing or blocking the flow of ozone gas toward the supply pipe; and a first pressure regulating mechanism for maintaining the pressure of the ozone gas in the supply pipe at a first pressure; the auxiliary pipe is provided with: a second on-off valve for allowing or blocking the flow of ozone gas discharged to the exhaust port as the exhaust valve; and a second pressure regulating mechanism for maintaining the pressure of the ozone gas in the auxiliary pipe at a second pressure that is smaller than the first pressure. A substrate processing device as recited in any one of claims 7 to 9, further comprising: a processing liquid chamber for accommodating a substrate and performing processing by the processing liquid; and a transport mechanism for transporting a substrate; the transport mechanism transports the substrate that has been treated by ozone gas in the chamber to the processing liquid chamber, and the substrate is processed by the processing liquid in the processing liquid chamber. A substrate processing device is used for removing a coating film attached to a substrate, and comprises: a chamber, comprising: a lower cover member, a holding mechanism for holding the substrate by supporting the lower part; an upper cover member, which abuts against the lower cover member from above to form a processing space; and a lifting mechanism, which lowers the upper cover member relative to the lower cover member when the substrate is being processed, and raises the upper cover member from the lower cover member when the substrate is not being processed. liters; The ozone gas supply source supplies ozone gas of a processing concentration to process the substrate; the first piping is connected to the ozone gas supply source and the chamber; the first control valve is arranged on the first piping to control the flow of the ozone gas flowing through the first piping; the exhaust piping is connected to the chamber to exhaust the gas in the processing space to the exhaust port outside the device; the second control valve is arranged on the exhaust piping, The exhaust mechanism comprises: a first exhaust unit, which is arranged on the exhaust port side of the exhaust pipe relative to the second control valve, and exhausts at a first exhaust flow rate; and a second exhaust unit, which is arranged on the exhaust port side of the exhaust pipe relative to the second control valve, and exhausts at a second exhaust flow rate smaller than the first exhaust flow rate; and a control unit, which controls the exhaust flow rate of the ozone gas supplied from the ozone gas supply pipe. Before the ozone source supplies ozone gas to the chamber and performs ozone gas treatment, the second control valve is opened, the first exhaust unit is operated to exhaust the chamber at the first exhaust flow rate and the upper cover member is closely attached to the lower cover member. When the first control valve is operated to supply ozone gas from the ozone gas supply source to the chamber, the first exhaust unit is stopped and the second exhaust unit is operated to exhaust the chamber at the second exhaust flow rate. The substrate processing apparatus as recited in claim 12 further comprises: a second pipe, one end of which is connected to the first branch point in the first pipe and is supplied with inert gas from the other end; a third control valve, which controls the flow of inert gas in the second pipe; an auxiliary exhaust pipe, one end of which is connected to the second branch point in the exhaust pipe on the chamber side beyond the second control valve and the other end of which is connected to the exhaust port; and a fourth control valve, which is provided at the auxiliary exhaust pipe. The exhaust pipe is used to control the flow of gas in the auxiliary exhaust pipe; the control unit operates the third control valve to supply inert gas to the chamber after the ozone gas treatment, and operates the first exhaust unit to replace the second exhaust unit to exhaust the chamber with the first exhaust flow rate. After the ozone gas in the chamber is replaced with the inert gas, the first exhaust unit is stopped, the second control valve is closed, and the fourth control valve is opened, and the upper cover member is raised by the lifting mechanism. The substrate processing device described in claim 13, wherein the control unit raises the upper cover member, closes the fourth control valve and opens the second control valve, and operates the second exhaust unit to exhaust the air in the chamber at the second exhaust flow rate. A substrate processing device as described in any one of claim items 12 to 14, wherein the first exhaust unit and the second exhaust unit are equipped with: a vacuum pump that exhausts gas by supplying compressed gas. A substrate processing device as recited in any one of claim items 12 to 14, further comprising: a processing liquid chamber for accommodating a substrate and performing processing by the processing liquid; and a transport mechanism for transporting the substrate; the substrate that has been treated by ozone gas in the chamber is transported to the processing liquid chamber by the transport mechanism, and the substrate is processed by the processing liquid in the processing liquid chamber.

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