WO2020179417A1

WO2020179417A1 - Substrate treatment brush cleaning method and substrate treatment device

Info

Publication number: WO2020179417A1
Application number: PCT/JP2020/005944
Authority: WO
Inventors: 広永田; 英隆篠原; 小原　隆憲
Original assignee: 東京エレクトロン株式会社
Priority date: 2019-03-01
Filing date: 2020-02-17
Publication date: 2020-09-10
Also published as: JP7221375B2; JPWO2020179417A1

Abstract

The substrate treatment brush cleaning method according to the present disclosure stores a heated cleaning liquid in a cleaning liquid storage tank (39) and cleans a contact member by immersing the contact member in the heated cleaning liquid before bringing the contact member of a substrate treatment brush (29, 50) into contact with a substrate in a substrate treatment device equipped with a substrate-holding unit for holding a substrate, a substrate treatment brush (29, 50) having a contact member for being brought into contact with a substrate to treat the substrate, an arm on which the substrate treatment brush (29, 50) can be mounted, a drive unit for moving the substrate treatment brush (29, 50) mounted on the arm between a treatment position for treating the substrate held by the substrate-holding unit and a standby position away from the treatment position, and a cleaning liquid storage tank (39) for storing cleaning liquid provided at the standby position.

Description

Substrate processing brush cleaning method and substrate processing apparatus

The present disclosure relates to a method for cleaning a substrate processing brush and a substrate processing apparatus.

For example, taking a semiconductor device manufacturing process as an example, the surface of a semiconductor wafer (hereinafter referred to as “wafer”) on which a semiconductor device such as an LSI is formed maintains extremely strict cleanliness during the process. May be required. Therefore, before and after various manufacturing and processing processes, the wafer surface may be cleaned as needed each time, and such cleaning is indispensable in, for example, a photolithography process.

Therefore, in the photolithography process, the wafer surface is cleaned with a scrub cleaning device. The scrub cleaning device supplies a cleaning liquid to the surface of a rotating wafer, rotates a substrate processing brush provided with a cleaning member such as a brush or a sponge, and brings the brush into contact with the surface of the wafer to scrape foreign matter adhering to the surface. Drop it. Since such a cleaning member has a reduced cleaning ability due to wear, it is necessary to periodically replace the worn cleaning member with a new cleaning member.

Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 08-010736

By the way, foreign matter mixed in the process of manufacturing the brush remains on the new brush, and there is a risk that the quality of the substrate cleaning process will deteriorate due to the foreign matter moving or adhering from the brush to the wafer. Therefore, a brush cleaning process for removing foreign matter from the brush may be performed before cleaning the product wafer. For example, the brush cleaning process involves contacting a new brush with a non-product wafer many times to clean the brush until the cleanliness applicable to cleaning the product wafer is obtained. Was there.

The present disclosure provides a technique for shortening the brush cleaning process time.

A substrate processing brush cleaning method according to an embodiment of the present disclosure includes a substrate holding unit that holds a substrate, a substrate processing brush that has a contact member that contacts the substrate to process the substrate, and an arm to which the substrate processing brush can be attached. A drive unit for moving the substrate processing brush mounted on the arm between the processing position for processing the substrate held by the substrate holding unit and the standby position distant from the processing position; and the cleaning liquid provided at the standby position. In a substrate processing apparatus provided with a cleaning liquid storage tank for storing the heating liquid, the heated cleaning liquid is stored in the cleaning liquid storage tank before the contact member of the substrate processing brush is brought into contact with the substrate, and the contact member is placed in the heated cleaning liquid. The contact member is cleaned by immersion.

According to the present disclosure, it is possible to provide a technique for shortening the brush cleaning process time.

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the substrate processing apparatus according to the first embodiment. FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the top surface cleaning device according to the first embodiment. FIG. 3 is a front view of a partial cross section of the substrate processing brush in the top surface cleaning device according to the first embodiment. FIG. 4 is a bottom view of the substrate processing brush in the top surface cleaning device according to the first embodiment. FIG. 5 is a front view of the substrate processing brush in the back surface cleaning device according to the first embodiment. FIG. 6 is a bottom view of the substrate processing brush in the back surface cleaning device according to the first embodiment. FIG. 7 is an explanatory view showing an example of a state in which the cleaning sponge and the wafer are in contact with each other. FIG. 8 is a diagram comparing the cleaning effect when the brush cleaning process according to the first embodiment is performed with the conventional brush cleaning process. FIG. 9 is a cross-sectional view of the cleaning member cleaning device according to the second embodiment.

Hereinafter, the method for cleaning the substrate processing brush and the embodiment for implementing the substrate processing apparatus according to the present disclosure (hereinafter, referred to as “the embodiment”) will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. It should be noted that this embodiment does not limit the method for cleaning the substrate processing brush and the substrate processing apparatus according to the present disclosure. In addition, each embodiment can be appropriately combined as long as the processing contents do not contradict each other. Further, in each of the following embodiments, the same parts are designated by the same reference numerals, and duplicate description is omitted.

(First embodiment)
FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the substrate processing apparatus according to the first embodiment. As shown in FIG. 1, the substrate processing apparatus 1 includes a carrier station 2 on which a carrier C containing a wafer W is placed. At the center of the carrier station 2, an auxiliary arm 3 having a function of positioning the carrier C at a predetermined position and carrying in / out the wafer W from the positioned carrier C is arranged. On the back of the auxiliary arm 3, a main arm 5 that transfers the wafer W to and from the auxiliary arm 3 and carries in / out the wafer W to each processing device is on standby.

The main arm 5 can move along the transport path 6 provided in the center of the substrate processing device 1. Various processing devices are arranged on both sides of the transport path 6. Specifically, for example, a top surface cleaning device 7 for cleaning the upper surface of the wafer W and a back surface cleaning device 8 for cleaning the back surface of the wafer W are arranged side by side on one side of the transport path 6. Further, on the other side of the transport path 6, four heating devices 9 are stacked and provided. The heating device 9 has a function of heating and drying the wafer W. Two wafer reversing devices 10 are stacked and provided at positions adjacent to the heating device 9.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the top surface cleaning device 7 according to the first embodiment. As shown in FIG. 2, the top surface cleaning device 7 includes a spin chuck 21, a nozzle 22, a scrubber main body 23, a cleaning member cleaning device 24, and a megasonic nozzle 26.

The spin chuck 21 is held in a horizontal state with the upper surface of the wafer W facing upward, for example, by utilizing the Bernoulli effect, and the wafer W is rotated. The nozzle 22 supplies a cleaning liquid (for example, pure water) to the upper surface of the wafer W held by the spin chuck 21. The scrubber body 23 cleans the surface of the wafer W rotated by the spin chuck 21. The cleaning member cleaning device 24 cleans the cleaning member itself provided in the scrubber main body 23. The megasonic nozzle 26 is arranged symmetrically with the scrubber main body 23 with the spin chuck 21 sandwiched inside the case 25 which is the exterior of the top surface cleaning device 7.

On the side surface of the case 25 facing the transport path 6, an opening / closing door 27 that moves up and down to open and close when the wafer W is carried in and out of the top surface cleaning device 7 is provided. The spin chuck 21 rotates the suction-held wafer W in the clockwise rotation direction CW (LockWise). A cup 28 is provided around the spin chuck 21 so as to move up and down in conjunction with opening and closing of the opening/closing door 27 and prevent the cleaning liquid or the like supplied to the surface of the wafer W from splashing around when cleaning the wafer W. ing.

The scrubber body 23 has a substrate processing brush 29 attached to the tip of the scrubber arm 30. FIG. 3 is a front view of a partial cross section of the substrate processing brush 29 in the top surface cleaning device 7 according to the first embodiment. As shown in an enlarged view in FIG. 3, a rotating shaft 31 that is rotated by the operation of a driving unit (not shown) is provided below the tip of the scrubber arm 30, and the substrate processing brush 29 has a mounting plate at the lower end of the rotating shaft 31. It is fixed via 32 and driven to rotate. The substrate processing brush 29 has a cleaning sponge 33 made of PVA sponge, which is a cleaning member, at the lower part, and by rotating the substrate processing brush 29 to bring the cleaning sponge 33 into contact with the surface of the wafer W, the surface of the wafer W To wash. Further, the upper portion of the substrate processing brush 29 is composed of a cleaning member holder 34 which is a hollow member having both ends open. As a result, the cleaning liquid (for example, pure water) supplied from the substrate processing brush nozzle 35 provided above the substrate processing brush 29 permeates from the inside of the cleaning sponge 33 through the inside of the cleaning member holder 34 and is discharged to the outside. It is supposed to do.

FIG. 4 is a bottom view of the substrate processing brush 29 in the top surface cleaning device 7 according to the first embodiment. As shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, the cleaning sponge 33 has a cylindrical shape. The mounting plate 32 for mounting the substrate processing brush 29 to the lower end of the rotating shaft 31 is provided with an appropriate number of cleaning holes 36, which are holes for passing the cleaning liquid. The cleaning liquid that has passed through the cleaning hole 36 passes through the cleaning liquid supply hole 37, permeates the cleaning sponge 33 from the center of the cleaning sponge 33, and is discharged to the outside of the cleaning sponge 33.

As shown in FIG. 2, the cleaning member cleaning device 24 is located at a position away from the cleaning position of the wafer W and is arranged at a standby position of the substrate processing brush 29. Then, as shown enlarged in FIG. 3, the cleaning member cleaning device 24 includes a heating mechanism 38, a cleaning liquid storage tank 39 for storing the cleaning liquid, and a cleaning tank nozzle 40 for supplying the cleaning liquid to the cleaning liquid storage tank 39. Equipped with. The cleaning liquid storage tank 39 is provided with a first liquid level detection unit 46 and a second liquid level detection unit 47 that detect the liquid level of the cleaning liquid in the cleaning liquid storage tank 39 in order from the top. Further, a drainage line 48 for discharging the cleaning liquid is connected to the bottom of the cleaning liquid storage tank 39. An on-off valve 49 is provided on the drain line 48. The cleaning sponge 33 described above can be immersed in the cleaning liquid stored in the cleaning liquid storage tank 39. The heating mechanism 38 is heated and controlled by the control unit 11, and the washing tank nozzle 40 is flow-controlled and open / closed controlled by the control unit 11. Further, the opening/closing valve 49 is opened/closed by the control unit 11.

On the other hand, as shown in FIG. 2, the base end of the scrubber arm 30 is supported by the upper end of the drive shaft 42 that is rotated by the operation of the drive means 41. The scrubber arm 30 is rotated by the rotation of the drive shaft 42, so that the substrate processing brush 29 arranged at the tip thereof can be reciprocated between the cleaning position and the standby position. Here, the standby position is a position above the cleaning member cleaning device 24 arranged outside the spin chuck 21. The cleaning position is a position for cleaning the wafer W held by the spin chuck 21.

The drive shaft 42 itself that supports the base end of the scrubber arm 30 is also configured to move up and down by the operation of the elevating means 43. The scrubber arm 30 and the substrate processing brush 29 at the tip thereof move up and down integrally according to the vertical movement of the drive shaft 42.

Further, the megasonic nozzle 26 has almost the same configuration as the scrubber main body 23 described above. At the tip of the megasonic arm 44, a nozzle body 45 capable of supplying a cleaning liquid excited by ultrasonic waves from an exciter (not shown) at a desired frequency is provided. The megasonic nozzle 26 has a function of cleaning the wafer W again with the excited cleaning liquid in order to further clean the upper surface of the wafer W after the scrubber cleaning by the scrubber main body 23.

On the other hand, the back surface cleaning device 8 incorporated in the substrate processing device 1 has basically the same configuration as the top surface cleaning device 7. The back surface cleaning device 8 includes the substrate processing brush 50 shown in FIGS. 5 and 6 instead of the substrate processing brush 29. FIG. 5 is a front view of the substrate processing brush 50 in the back surface cleaning device 8 according to the first embodiment, and FIG. 6 is a bottom view of the same. A bristle cleaning brush 51 is attached to the lower portion of the substrate processing brush 50 in a cross shape around a cleaning liquid supply hole 53 of the cleaning member holder 52. Further, four cleaning sponges 54 each having a cylindrical shape vertically divided into four are attached so as to avoid the cleaning brush 51.

The substrate processing apparatus 1 is configured as described above, and is controlled by the control unit 11 according to various programs stored in the storage medium 12 provided in the control unit 11 to process the wafer W. Here, the control unit 11 is, for example, a CPU (Central Processing Unit), an MPU (Micro Processor Unit), or the like included in a control device such as a computer. Further, the storage medium 12 stores various setting data and programs, and is known as a memory such as a ROM or RAM, or a disk-shaped storage medium such as a hard disk, a CD-ROM, a DVD-ROM, or a flexible disk. Composed of. The above program may be installed from the storage medium 12 in the storage unit of the control device.

In the substrate processing apparatus 1 configured as described above, when cleaning the wafer W by the upper surface cleaning apparatus 7 according to the first embodiment, first, the wafer W stored in the carrier C of the carrier station 2 is assisted. It is taken out by the arm 3. Subsequently, the auxiliary arm 3 moves to a position where the wafer W is delivered to the main arm 5, positions the wafer W, and then delivers the wafer W to the main arm 5. Subsequent steps differ depending on whether only the top surface cleaning of the wafer W or the top surface cleaning and the back surface cleaning are performed by continuous processing.

First, the wafer W conveyed by the main arm 5 is carried into the upper surface cleaning device 7 from the opened opening / closing door 27, the wafer W is moved above the spin chuck 21, and then the main arm 5 is lowered. The wafer W is delivered onto the spin chuck 21. After that, the main arm 5 exits from the inside of the upper surface cleaning apparatus 7, the opening/closing door 27 is closed, and at the same time, the cup 28 rises to surround the wafer W. Then, the spin chuck 21 attracts and holds the wafer W in a horizontal state with the upper surface of the wafer W facing upward by using, for example, the Bernoulli effect, and rotates the held wafer W.

Subsequently, the cleaning liquid is supplied from the nozzle 22 to a predetermined position near the center of the wafer W supported by the spin chuck 21. As a result, the cleaning liquid is evenly supplied to the entire surface of the wafer W by centrifugal force.

Next, the scrubber main body 23 is operated to scrub clean the entire surface of the wafer W. First, in the scrubber main body 23 in the standby state, the cleaning sponge 33 on the lower surface of the substrate processing brush 29 is lifted above the cleaning member cleaning device 24 as the drive shaft 42 rises. After that, the scrubber arm 30 is rotated in the counterclockwise rotation direction ACW (Anti Clockwise) by the rotation of the drive shaft 42, and the substrate processing brush 29 is moved above the wafer W. Then, the substrate processing brush 29 starts rotating at the center of the wafer W, and the cleaning sponge 33 at the lower part of the substrate processing brush 29 is lowered and brought into contact with the center of the surface of the wafer W.

Next, the substrate processing brush 29 is moved from the center of the rotating wafer W to the peripheral edge of the wafer W according to the rotation of the scrubber arm 30 in the clockwise rotation direction CW. In this way, the cleaning sponge 33 below the substrate processing brush 29 is brought into contact with the entire surface of the wafer W as shown in FIG. 7, whereby the entire surface of the wafer W is cleaned by the cleaning sponge 33 with the substrate processing brush 29. FIG. 7 is an explanatory view showing an example of a state in which the cleaning sponge 33 and the wafer W are in contact with each other.

When the scrub cleaning is completed as described above, the rotation of the substrate processing brush 29 is stopped, and the substrate processing brush 29 is lifted upward as the drive shaft 42 rises. Next, the scrubber arm 30 is swiveled in the clockwise rotation direction CW by the rotation of the drive shaft 42, and the substrate processing brush 29 is moved above the cleaning member cleaning device 24. Next, as the drive shaft 42 descends, the cleaning sponge 33 at the bottom of the substrate processing brush 29 returns to the standby state in which it is fitted inside the cleaning member cleaning device 24.

After the scrub cleaning is completed, the megasonic nozzle 26 is then operated to clean the entire surface of the wafer W again with a cleaning liquid excited by ultrasonic waves.

When the upper surface cleaning process of the wafer W is completed in this way, the cup 28 and the opening / closing door 27 are lowered at the same time, and the wafer W is taken out from the upper surface cleaning device 7 by the main arm 5. In this state, since the upper surface of the wafer W faces upward, the wafer W is carried into the wafer reversing device 10 and reversed. In this way, the wafer W having the back surface turned upside down is carried into the back surface cleaning device 8 and the same steps are repeated thereafter, so that the back surface of the wafer W is replaced with the cleaning brush 51 below the substrate processing brush 50. It is cleaned with the cleaning sponge 54.

After the cleaning process for the upper surface and the back surface of the wafer W is completed in this way, the cleaning liquid is spun off and dried by the high speed rotation of the spin chuck 21. After that, the wafer W is carried into the heating device 9 by the main arm 5, heated to 100 ° C. for 30 seconds to dry, and then the wafer W is delivered to the auxiliary arm 3 by the main arm 5. After that, the wafer W is returned from the auxiliary arm 3 to the carrier C.

As the product wafer W is processed, the cleaning sponge 33 of the substrate processing brush 29 and the cleaning brush 51 and the cleaning sponge 54 of the substrate processing brush 50 are worn and the cleaning ability is deteriorated. Need to be replaced. When replacing the substrate processing brush, the processing of the wafer W for the product is stopped, and the operator removes the worn substrate processing brush and replaces it with a new substrate processing brush. After replacing with a new substrate processing brush, a brush cleaning process is performed before processing the product wafer W.

The details of the brush cleaning process performed by the substrate processing device 1 will be described below. First, the control unit 11 closes the on-off valve 49 interposed in the drainage line 48 of the cleaning liquid storage tank 39, and cleans the cleaning liquid (here, pure water) at room temperature (20 ° C. to 26 ° C.) from the nozzle 40 for the cleaning tank. It is supplied to the cleaning liquid storage tank 39. Subsequently, the control unit 11 stops the supply of the cleaning liquid when the liquid level of the cleaning liquid is detected by the first liquid level detection unit 46. Next, the control unit 11 controls the heating mechanism 38 to heat the cleaning liquid to a preset temperature (30 ° C. to 50 ° C.) and maintain the temperature (storage step).

Then, the control unit 11 moves the scrubber arm 30 to the upper part of the cleaning liquid storage tank 39 by the rotation of the drive shaft 42, and then lowers the scrubber arm 30 until the cleaning sponge 33 of the substrate processing brush 29 is immersed in the cleaning liquid (immersion step). Then, the control unit 11 cleans the cleaning sponge 33 by immersing the cleaning sponge 33 in the heated cleaning liquid for a preset time (cleaning step).

Next, the control unit 11 opens the on-off valve 49 while maintaining the height of the cleaning sponge 33, and discharges the heated cleaning liquid. After that, when the liquid level of the cleaning liquid is detected by the second liquid level detecting unit 47, the control unit 11 closes the on-off valve 49 again, stops the heating mechanism 38, and removes the cleaning liquid at room temperature from the cleaning tank nozzle 40. Supply again. Subsequently, the control unit 11 stops the supply of the cleaning liquid when the liquid level of the cleaning liquid is detected by the first liquid level detecting unit 46. Then, the control unit 11 rinses and cools the cleaning sponge 33 by immersing the cleaning sponge 33 in the cleaning liquid at room temperature for a preset time (rinsing step). After that, the substrate processing brush 29 is raised by raising the drive shaft 42, and the substrate processing brush 29 is taken out from the cleaning liquid (pulling step).

Next, the control unit 11 brings the cleaning sponge 33 into contact with the non-product wafer W many times (aging step). The aging process is repeated until a cleanliness suitable for cleaning the product wafer W is obtained.

FIG. 8 is a diagram comparing the cleaning effect when the brush cleaning process according to the first embodiment is performed with the conventional brush cleaning process. Specifically, FIG. 8 shows a graph in which the number of processed wafers W is plotted on the horizontal axis and the amount of particle increase in the wafer W plane is plotted on the vertical axis. Further, in the graph shown in FIG. 8, the result of the conventional brush cleaning treatment is shown by a broken line, and the result of the brush cleaning treatment according to the first embodiment is shown by a solid line.

As shown in FIG. 8, according to the brush cleaning process according to the first embodiment, it is applicable to cleaning the product wafer W even if the number of non-product wafers W to be contacted is smaller than that of the conventional method. A possible cleanliness can be obtained. Further, according to the brush cleaning treatment according to the first embodiment, even if the substrate treatment brush 29 is washed with the heated cleaning liquid before the aging step, the time of the aging step can be shortened. As a whole, the brush cleaning process time can be shortened.

As described above, the substrate processing apparatus (as an example, the substrate processing apparatus 1) according to the first embodiment includes a substrate holding portion (as an example, a spin chuck 21) and a substrate processing brush (as an example, a substrate processing). A brush 29, 50), an arm (for example, a scrubber arm 30), a drive unit (for example, a drive shaft 42), and a cleaning liquid storage tank (for example, a cleaning liquid storage tank 39) are provided. The substrate holding portion holds a substrate (for example, a wafer W). The substrate processing brush has a contact member (for example, a cleaning member such as cleaning sponges 33 and 54) that processes the substrate by contacting the substrate held by the substrate holding portion. The arm can be equipped with a substrate processing brush. The drive unit moves the substrate processing brush attached to the arm between a processing position (for example, a cleaning position) for processing the substrate held by the substrate holding unit and a standby position separated from the processing position. The cleaning liquid storage tank is provided at a standby position and stores cleaning liquid (pure water as an example). The method of cleaning a substrate processing brush according to the first embodiment executed in such a substrate processing apparatus includes a cleaning step (brush cleaning processing as an example). In the cleaning step, the contact member is cleaned by storing the heated cleaning liquid in the cleaning liquid storage tank and immersing the contact member in the heated cleaning liquid before bringing the contact member of the substrate processing brush into contact with the substrate.

When the cleaning treatment is performed with the cleaning liquid heated in this way, the cleaning sponge 33 is heated, and the holes of the cleaning sponge 33 expand. Further, when the cleaning liquid is heated, the viscosity of the cleaning liquid is lowered as compared with the cleaning liquid at room temperature, so that the cleaning liquid easily reaches the inside of the cleaning sponge 33 and is easily discharged together with the foreign matter that has entered the inside. Therefore, since the cleaning efficiency is improved, the time for the brush cleaning process can be shortened.

The method for cleaning the substrate processing brush according to the first embodiment may include a rinsing step. In the rinsing step, the contact member after the cleaning step is washed with a cleaning liquid at room temperature. By using the cleaning liquid at room temperature in this way, the contact member can be rinsed and washed, and the warm contact member can be cooled to room temperature. Therefore, the next process can be performed immediately after the brush cleaning process is completed.

In the cleaning step, the contact member immersed in the cleaning liquid may be taken out from the cleaning liquid and immersed in the cleaning liquid again by repeatedly raising and lowering the substrate processing brush by the driving unit. As a result, the cleaning liquid that has entered the cleaning sponge 33 can be agitated, so that the cleaning efficiency is improved. Therefore, the time of the brush cleaning process can be further shortened.

The substrate processing brush may have a sponge as a contact member (for example, cleaning sponges 33 and 54) and a contact member holder for holding the sponge (for example, cleaning member holders 34 and 52). Further, in this case, the cleaning step may include a first cleaning step and a second cleaning step. In the first cleaning step, the sponge is immersed in the cleaning liquid stored in the cleaning liquid storage tank. In the second cleaning step, after the first cleaning step, the contact member holder is immersed in the cleaning liquid stored in the cleaning liquid storage tank.

In this way, after the cleaning of the sponge (first cleaning step) is completed, the contact member holder may be further lowered until it is immersed in the cleaning liquid, and the contact member holder may be cleaned (second cleaning step). This makes it possible to prevent foreign matter adhering to the contact member holder from being transferred to the substrate.

The second cleaning step may be performed by changing the liquid level of the cleaning liquid storage tank and the height of the substrate processing brush relative to the first cleaning step.

In this way, when cleaning the contact member holder, the liquid level of the cleaning liquid storage tank and the height of the substrate processing brush may be relatively changed. For example, the cleaning liquid is supplied from the cleaning tank nozzle 40 to the cleaning member holder 34. You may supply until it is immersed. Further, after opening the on-off valve 49 and discharging the cleaning liquid used for cleaning the cleaning sponge 33 from the drainage line 48 to empty the cleaning liquid storage tank 39, the cleaning liquid is discharged from the cleaning tank nozzle 40 and the cleaning member holder. It may be supplied until 34 is immersed in the cleaning liquid. As a result, the contact member holder can be cleaned with a cleaning liquid containing no foreign matter. Therefore, the cleaning efficiency of the contact member holder can be improved.

In the method of cleaning the substrate processing brush according to the first embodiment, the cleaning process and the rinsing process may be repeated multiple times. In this case, the cleaning effect of the substrate processing brush can be improved.

In the cleaning step, a cleaning liquid (for example, pure water) may be supplied into the cleaning member holder from a substrate processing brush nozzle (for example, the substrate processing brush nozzle 35) provided above the substrate processing brush. The contact member holder is provided with a cleaning liquid supply hole 37 through which the cleaning liquid is inserted, and the cleaning water is permeated from the inside of the sponge through the cleaning liquid supply hole 37 and is discharged to the outside. If the cleaning liquid is discharged from the inside of the sponge to the outside, dust and the like on the surface of the sponge can be effectively discarded.

In the above, the cleaning liquid supplied to the inside of the contact member holder may be accelerated by a carrier gas (for example, nitrogen gas which is an inert gas). As a result, the momentum of the cleaning liquid can be increased and the cleaning efficiency can be improved. In this case, by making the cleaning liquid into a mist form, it is possible to reduce the difference between the portion inside the sponge that the cleaning liquid always contacts and the portion that does not contact, and the cleaning efficiency can be improved.

The heating mechanism 38 may be provided on the upstream side of the cleaning tank nozzle 40.

Since the cleaning brush 51 and the cleaning sponge 54 of the substrate processing brush 50 are also worn and the cleaning ability is lowered, it is necessary to replace them with new substrate processing brush 50. Even in this case, the present brush cleaning process can be applied to the substrate processing brush 50.

When the wafer W for products is processed, the substrate processing brush 29 is contaminated by the foreign matter removed from the wafer W, and the foreign matter may be transferred or adhered to the wafer W to be processed next. In order to prevent this, this brush cleaning process can be applied during the cleaning process for the product wafer W. In this case, it may be performed for each preset number of sheets, or for each preset time elapse.

The substrate processing brush is not limited to cleaning the wafer W, and may be a brush for polishing the wafer W. In this case, a grindstone (for example, silicon carbide, diamond, etc.) is used instead of the PVA sponge.

In each of the above, examples of using pure water as the cleaning liquid have been described, but functional water such as ammonia water or ozone water may be used as the cleaning liquid.

(Second embodiment)
Next, the configuration of the cleaning member cleaning device in the second embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 9 is a cross-sectional view of the cleaning member cleaning device according to the second embodiment.

As shown in FIG. 9, the cleaning tank nozzle includes a first cleaning tank nozzle 40a for supplying a heated cleaning liquid and a second cleaning tank nozzle 40b for supplying a cleaning liquid at room temperature. In this case, the temperature measuring unit 55 is provided in the cleaning liquid storage tank 39a, and the nozzles 40a for the first cleaning tank and the nozzles 40b for the second cleaning tank are used to reach a preset temperature based on the measurement results of the temperature measuring unit 55. The flow rate of the supplied cleaning liquid may be controlled by a flow rate control mechanism (not shown).

Further, a heating mechanism 38a may be further provided in the cleaning liquid storage tank 39a. In this case, if the control unit 11 controls the heating mechanism 38a based on the measurement result of the temperature measurement unit 55, the control unit 11 can adjust to the preset temperature faster.

Although the example in which the wafer W is used as the substrate processing brush is described above, the LCD substrate may be used as the substrate processing brush. Further, if there is a substrate processing brush that is brought into contact with a substrate for cleaning, the present invention can be applied not only to a simple cleaning device but also to, for example, a coating / developing device, a plating device, and a polishing device.

The embodiments disclosed this time should be considered to be exemplary in all respects and not restrictive. Indeed, the above embodiments can be embodied in a variety of forms. Further, the above-described embodiments may be omitted, replaced, or modified in various forms without departing from the scope and spirit of the appended claims.

1 Substrate Processing Device 7 Top Surface Cleaning Device 21 Spin Chuck (Substrate Holding Unit)
29, 50 Substrate processing brush 30 Scrubber arm (arm)
38 heating mechanism 39 cleaning liquid storage tank 42 drive shaft W wafer

Claims

The board holding part that holds the board and
A substrate processing brush having a contact member for processing the substrate by contacting the substrate held by the substrate holding part;
An arm to which the substrate processing brush can be attached and
A drive unit for moving the substrate processing brush mounted on the arm between a processing position for processing the substrate held by the substrate holding unit and a standby position away from the processing position.
A cleaning liquid storage tank which is provided at the standby position and stores the cleaning liquid;
In the substrate processing apparatus equipped with
Before the contact member of the substrate processing brush is brought into contact with the substrate, the contact member is cleaned by storing the heated cleaning liquid in the cleaning liquid storage tank and immersing the contact member in the heated cleaning liquid. A method for cleaning a substrate processing brush, comprising a cleaning step.
The method for cleaning a substrate processing brush according to claim 1, further comprising a rinsing step of cleaning the contact member with a cleaning liquid at room temperature after the cleaning step.
The method for cleaning a substrate processing brush according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the cleaning step repeats taking out the contact member immersed in the cleaning liquid from the cleaning liquid and immersing the contact member in the cleaning liquid again.
The substrate processing brush
The sponge, which is the contact member,
A contact member holder that holds the sponge and
Have
The cleaning step is
A first cleaning step of immersing the sponge in the cleaning liquid stored in the cleaning liquid storage tank, and then a second cleaning step of immersing the contact member holder in the cleaning liquid stored in the cleaning liquid storage tank.
The method for cleaning a substrate processing brush according to any one of claims 1 to 3, further comprising:
The second cleaning step is
The method for cleaning a substrate processing brush according to claim 4, wherein the liquid level of the cleaning liquid storage tank and the height of the substrate processing brush are relatively changed with respect to the first cleaning step.
The method for cleaning a substrate processing brush according to claim 2, wherein the cleaning process and the rinsing process are repeated a plurality of times.
The board holding part that holds the board and
A substrate processing brush having a contact member for processing the substrate by contacting the substrate held by the substrate holding part;
An arm to which the substrate processing brush can be attached and
A drive unit for moving the substrate processing brush mounted on the arm between a processing position for processing the substrate held by the substrate holding unit and a standby position away from the processing position.
A cleaning liquid storage tank which is provided at the standby position and stores the cleaning liquid,
Before the contact member of the substrate processing brush is brought into contact with the substrate, the heated cleaning liquid is stored in the cleaning liquid storage tank, and the contact member is immersed in the heated cleaning liquid to clean the contact member. Control unit and
A substrate processing apparatus including.
A cleaning tank nozzle for supplying a cleaning liquid to the cleaning liquid storage tank,
A heating mechanism for heating the cleaning liquid stored in the cleaning liquid storage tank,
The substrate processing apparatus according to claim 7, further comprising:
A first cleaning tank nozzle for supplying heated cleaning liquid to the cleaning liquid storage tank;
A second cleaning tank nozzle for supplying a cleaning liquid at room temperature;
The substrate processing apparatus according to claim 7, further comprising:
A heating mechanism for heating the cleaning liquid stored in the cleaning liquid storage tank,
The substrate processing apparatus according to claim 9, further comprising: