WO2022196120A1

WO2022196120A1 - Substrate coating apparatus and substrate coating method

Info

Publication number: WO2022196120A1
Application number: PCT/JP2022/003054
Authority: WO
Inventors: 裕滋安陪
Original assignee: 株式会社Ｓｃｒｅｅｎホールディングス
Priority date: 2021-03-18
Filing date: 2022-01-27
Publication date: 2022-09-22
Also published as: JP2022143661A

Abstract

In this invention, a slit nozzle moves relative to a substrate while a notch in the substrate is located at a terminal-end position in a moving direction. As a result, processing liquid is coated on the substrate. Subsequently, the slit nozzle relatively moves away from the substrate. At this time, a liquid reservoir formed at the terminal-end position is drained, and most of the processing liquid forming the liquid reservoir remains on the notch, causing a film thickness defect. This way, the film thickness defect occurs only at the notch, and the other area is uniformly coated with the processing liquid.

Description

SUBSTRATE COATING APPARATUS AND SUBSTRATE COATING METHOD

The present invention is applied to precision substrates such as glass substrates for FPDs such as liquid crystal display devices and organic EL display devices, semiconductor wafers, glass substrates for photomasks, substrates for color filters, substrates for recording disks, substrates for solar cells, and substrates for electronic paper. The present invention relates to a substrate coating technique for supplying and coating a processing liquid from a slit nozzle onto a substrate for an electronic device or a substrate for a semiconductor package (hereinafter simply referred to as "substrate").

The disclosures in the specification, drawings and claims of the following Japanese application are hereby incorporated by reference in their entirety:
Japanese Patent Application 2021-044303 (filed on March 18, 2021).

A substrate coating apparatus is known that applies a processing liquid to a substrate by discharging the processing liquid from the slit nozzle while moving the slit nozzle relative to the substrate. Among them, there has been proposed a substrate coating apparatus capable of coating a processing liquid not only on a rectangular substrate but also on a circular semiconductor wafer, for example. As typical examples, a capillary type substrate coating apparatus (see Patent Document 1) and a slit width adjustment type substrate coating apparatus (see Patent Document 2) are known.

JP 2017-148769 A Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2017-164700

For example, when applying a processing liquid to a semiconductor wafer using the conventional apparatus described above, the following problems occur. In these apparatuses, the contact area of the processing liquid supplied from the ejection port changes continuously according to the position of the slit nozzle moving along the upper surface of the substrate. As shown in FIG. 4, which will be described later, the wetted area gradually widens immediately after the start of coating and reaches a maximum when approaching the center of the substrate. After passing through it, the wetted area gradually narrows. When the slit nozzle reaches the end position of the semiconductor wafer in the moving direction of the slit nozzle, the coating process is completed and the slit nozzle is separated from the substrate. At this time, the processing liquid is in contact with the discharge port of the slit nozzle to the end at the end position, forming a liquid pool. When the slit nozzle is separated from the substrate in this state, the last liquid pool is cut off, and most of the processing liquid forming the liquid pool remains on the substrate side. As a result, a film thickness defect occurs at the end position, which may adversely affect the treatment with the treatment liquid performed after the coating treatment.

On the other hand, when a notch such as an orientation flat or a notch exists at the end position, even if film thickness defects occur in the notch and its surroundings, the above-mentioned adverse effects do not actually occur. This is because the notch is formed in the non-effective area. The "non-effective area" means an area located outside the effective area to be processed with the processing liquid and not to be processed. Therefore, when a slit nozzle is used to apply a processing liquid to a substrate having a notch, it is desirable to perform coating processing after considering the position of the notch. Coating processing was performed by a substrate coating device. As a result, the coating process is performed while a part of the effective area is positioned at the terminal position, so that the part of the effective area (the terminal position) can be favorably processed by the process executed after the coating process. However, there is a problem that the effective area is narrowed.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and provides a substrate coating apparatus and a substrate coating method that use a slit nozzle to supply a processing liquid to a substrate having a notch, and expands the effective area in which the processing liquid is uniformly coated. , is intended to increase the productivity of the treatment with the treatment liquid.

One aspect of the present invention is a substrate coating apparatus that coats a substrate with a processing liquid, in which a notch portion is provided in an ineffective region that is located outside an effective region that is to be processed with the processing liquid and that is not to be processed. a slit nozzle that supplies a processing liquid from a slit-shaped ejection port; a moving unit that moves the slit nozzle relative to the substrate; an attitude adjustment mechanism that adjusts the attitude of the substrate with respect to the slit nozzle; The slit nozzle is moved relative to the substrate in the direction of movement perpendicular to the extending direction of the ejection port while supplying the processing liquid from the ejection port toward the substrate, and the coating process is performed, and the liquid is discharged to the end position of the substrate in the movement direction. After the exit arrives, a coating control unit moves the slit nozzle relatively away from the substrate, a notch position acquiring unit acquires positional information of the notch, and a coating process is performed based on the positional information acquired by the notch position acquiring unit. and a posture control unit that controls the posture adjustment mechanism to position the notch at the terminal position before the start of.

Another aspect of the present invention is a substrate coating method, which comprises a substrate having a notch provided in a non-effective region which is located outside an effective region to be processed with a processing liquid and which is not to be processed. is positioned with respect to a slit nozzle having a slit-shaped discharge port at its tip, and a movement perpendicular to the extending direction of the discharge port while supplying the processing liquid from the discharge port toward the positioned substrate. a second step of relatively moving the slit nozzle with respect to the substrate in the direction of movement; a third step of relatively separating the slit nozzle from the substrate after the discharge port reaches the end position of the substrate in the moving direction; and a fourth step of adjusting the posture of the substrate with respect to the slit nozzle so that the notch is positioned at the end position before the second step is started.

In the invention configured in this manner, the slit nozzle moves relative to the substrate while the cutout portion of the substrate remains positioned at the terminal position in the moving direction of the slit nozzle. Thereby, the processing liquid is applied to the substrate. At the end of this coating process, the slit nozzle is positioned above the terminal position, but after that the slit nozzle is relatively separated from the substrate. At this time, the liquid pool formed at the end position is cut off, and most of the processing liquid forming the liquid pool remains in the notch, resulting in film thickness defects. In this way, the location where the film thickness defect occurs is limited to the notch, and the treatment liquid can be uniformly applied to the other regions.

As described above, according to the present invention, it is possible to avoid the occurrence of film thickness defects in the effective area and improve the productivity of processing using the processing liquid.

All of the plurality of components of each aspect of the present invention described above are not essential, and in order to solve some or all of the above problems, or some or all of the effects described in this specification In order to achieve the above, it is possible to appropriately change, delete, replace with new other components, and partially delete the limited content for some of the plurality of components. In addition, in order to solve part or all of the above-described problems or achieve part or all of the effects described in this specification, the technical features included in one aspect of the present invention described above It is also possible to combine some or all of the technical features included in other aspects of the present invention described above to form an independent form of the present invention.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS It is a figure which shows the structure of 1st Embodiment of the board|substrate coating device which concerns on this invention. FIG. 2 is a perspective view schematically showing the configuration of a coating unit installed in the substrate coating apparatus of FIG. 1; It is a schematic diagram which shows the whole board|substrate coating apparatus shown in FIG. 1 operation|movement. FIG. 10 is a diagram showing the progress of coating processing by the coating unit; It is a figure which shows the structure of 3rd Embodiment of the board|substrate coating device which concerns on this invention. 6A and 6B are diagrams schematically showing operations performed in the substrate coating apparatus shown in FIG. 5; FIG.

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing the configuration of the first embodiment of the substrate coating apparatus according to the present invention. 2 is a perspective view schematically showing the configuration of a coating unit installed in the substrate coating apparatus of FIG. 1. As shown in FIG. In FIG. 2, an XYZ orthogonal coordinate system in which the Z direction is the vertical direction and the XY plane is the horizontal plane is appropriately attached in order to clarify the directional relationship of each part of the coating unit. Also, for the purpose of facilitating understanding, the dimensions and numbers of each part are exaggerated or simplified as necessary. This substrate coating apparatus 1 is an apparatus for coating a processing liquid on the upper surface of a substrate W having a notch (in this embodiment, a notch) Wn formed in a part of the peripheral portion thereof. This substrate coating apparatus 1 includes a notch detection unit 2 that detects a notch Wn, a coating unit 3 that applies a processing liquid to the upper surface of the substrate W, and a transport robot that transports the substrate W from the notch detection unit 2 to the coating unit 3. 4 and a control unit 5 for controlling the entire device.

The notch detection unit 2 includes a stage 21 that holds an unprocessed substrate W brought into the substrate coating apparatus 1 from outside the apparatus, and a stage rotation mechanism 22 that rotates the stage 21 around a rotation axis RX extending in the vertical direction Z. and a notch detector 23 for detecting the notch Wn of the substrate W. The stage 21 has a substantially disk-shaped outer shape. A plurality of suction holes (not shown) are dispersedly provided on the upper surface of the stage 21 . These suction holes are connected to a vacuum pump or the like. Then, the atmosphere in the suction holes is exhausted by the operation of the vacuum pump. Thereby, the stage 21 holds the substrate W placed on the upper surface of the stage 21 in a horizontal posture. The stage rotation mechanism 22 has a rotation shaft 221 extending vertically downward from the central lower surface of the stage 21 and a motor 222 connected to the lower end of the rotation shaft 221 . Then, the stage 21 and the substrate W held on the stage 21 are rotated around the rotation axis RX parallel to the vertical direction Z by the operation of the motor 222 in response to the rotation command from the control unit 5 . Note that this stage rotation is performed in a state in which the rotation center axis CX of the substrate W is aligned with the rotation axis RX.

The notch detector 23 has a light projector 231 arranged at a position higher than the substrate W held on the stage 21 and a light receiver 232 arranged at a position lower than the substrate W. The notch detector 23 can be horizontally moved with respect to the stage 21 by a detection movement mechanism (not shown). For example, as shown in FIG. 1, when the notch detector 23 is moved closer to the stage 21, the light projector 231 and the light receiver 232 are arranged so as to sandwich the peripheral edge of the substrate W from above and below. In this state, the notch portion Wn is detected while the substrate W makes one rotation by the motor operation according to the rotation command from the control unit 5 . That is, at the timing when the notch Wn is positioned between the light projector 231 and the light receiver 232, a signal indicating the position of the notch Wn is output to the control unit 5 as the positional information of the notch Wn.

The transport robot 4 is arranged between the notch detection unit 2 and the application unit 3 . The transport robot 4 includes a base portion 41 fixed to an apparatus housing, an articulated arm 42 provided rotatably about a vertical axis with respect to the base portion 41, and a hand attached to the tip of the articulated arm 42. 43. The hand 43 has a structure in which the substrate W can be placed and held on its upper surface. Therefore, the articulated arm 42 extends to the notch detection unit 2 so that the hand 43 can receive the substrate W from the stage 21 . Further, the transport robot 4 can move the hand 43 holding the substrate W to the coating unit 3 and transfer the substrate W to the coating unit 3 . During these receiving, transporting, and passing operations, the transport robot 4 changes the direction of the hand 43 around the rotation center axis CX of the substrate W, thereby arbitrarily adjusting the position of the notch Wn in plan view from above. do. This point will be detailed later. A transfer robot having such an articulated arm and a hand for holding a substrate is well known, so a detailed description thereof will be omitted.

The coating unit 3 is a device called a slit coater that uses a slit nozzle 32 to coat the upper surface Wu of the substrate W with the processing liquid. The treatment liquid includes, for example, a resist liquid, a color filter liquid, polyimide, silicon, nanometal ink, slurry containing a conductive material, and the like. The coating unit 3 includes a stage 31 capable of holding a substrate W by suction in a horizontal position, a slit nozzle 32 discharging a processing liquid onto the substrate W held on the stage 31, and a processing liquid supplying the processing liquid to the slit nozzle 32. A supply unit 33 and a nozzle moving mechanism 34 for moving the slit nozzle 32 with respect to the substrate W in the Y direction are provided.

The stage 31 is made of stone material such as granite having a substantially rectangular parallelepiped shape, and the (+Y) side of its upper surface (+Z side) is processed into a substantially horizontal flat surface to hold the substrate W. 311. A large number of vacuum suction ports (not shown) are dispersedly formed on the holding surface 311 . By sucking the substrate W by these vacuum suction ports, the substrate W is held substantially horizontally at a predetermined position during the coating process. The manner in which the substrate W is held is not limited to this. For example, the substrate W may be held mechanically.

The slit nozzle 32 has a slit-shaped discharge port 321 (FIG. 1) extending in the X direction. A processing liquid supply unit 33 is connected to the slit nozzle 32 . In this embodiment, since the substrate W is a substantially circular semiconductor wafer, a capillary system is adopted as in the apparatus described in Patent Document 1. That is, the slit nozzle 32 is moved relative to the substrate W from the (−Y) direction side to the (+Y) direction side by the nozzle moving mechanism 34 while bringing the discharge port 321 close to the upper surface Wu of the substrate W. FIG. The treatment liquid is ejected from the ejection port 321 by the surface tension of the treatment liquid (bead of the treatment liquid) generated between the ejection port 321 and the substrate W during this movement. For this reason, the processing liquid is discharged from the portion of the discharge port 321 extending in the X direction that faces the substrate W, but the processing liquid is not discharged from the portion where the substrate W does not exist. Such a change in ejection state occurs as the slit nozzle 32 is moved in the Y direction with respect to the substrate W by the nozzle moving mechanism 34 . When the application of the processing liquid to the substrate W is completed in this manner, the slit nozzle 32 moves upward from the substrate W and then returns from the (+Y) direction to the (−Y) direction.

The nozzle moving mechanism 34 has a bridge structure nozzle support 341 that traverses above the stage 31 in the X direction and supports the slit nozzle 32, and a nozzle moving unit 342 that horizontally moves the nozzle support 341 in the Y direction. Therefore, the slit nozzle 32 supported by the nozzle support 341 can be horizontally moved in the Y direction by the nozzle moving part 342 .

The nozzle support 341 has a fixed member 341a to which the slit nozzle 32 is fixed, and two elevating mechanisms 341b that support and lift the fixed member 341a. The fixing member 341a is a rod-shaped member having a rectangular cross section with its longitudinal direction in the X direction, and is made of carbon fiber reinforced resin or the like. The two elevating mechanisms 341b are connected to both ends of the fixed member 341a in the longitudinal direction, and each have an AC servomotor, a ball screw, and the like. By these elevating mechanisms 341b, the fixing member 341a and the slit nozzle 32 are integrally elevated in the vertical direction (Z direction), and the distance between the discharge port of the slit nozzle 32 and the upper surface Wu of the substrate W, that is, the substrate W The relative height of the ejection port with respect to the upper surface Wu is adjusted. The position of the slit nozzle 32 in the Z direction can be detected by a linear encoder (not shown).

The nozzle moving unit 342 includes two guide rails 343 that guide the movement of the slit nozzle 32 in the Y direction, two linear motors 344 that are driving sources, and a nozzle for detecting the position of the ejection port of the slit nozzle 32. 2 linear encoders 345 are provided.

The two guide rails 343 are arranged at both ends of the stage 31 in the X direction so as to sandwich the mounting range of the substrate W from the X direction, and extend in the Y direction so as to include the mounting range of the substrate W. ing. The slit nozzle 32 moves in the Y direction above the substrate W held on the stage 31 by guiding the lower ends of the two lifting mechanisms 341b along the two guide rails 343, respectively.

Each of the two linear motors 344 is an AC coreless linear motor having a stator 344a and a mover 344b. The stators 344a are provided on both sides of the stage 31 in the X direction along the Y direction. On the other hand, the mover 344b is fixed to the outside of the lifting mechanism 341b. The linear motor 344 functions as a drive source for the nozzle moving mechanism 34 by magnetic force generated between the stator 344a and the mover 344b.

Also, each of the two linear encoders 345 has a scale portion 345a and a detection portion 345b. The scale portion 345a is provided along the Y direction under the stator 344a of the linear motor 344 fixed to the stage 31. As shown in FIG. On the other hand, the detector 345b is fixed further outside the mover 344b of the linear motor 344 fixed to the lifting mechanism 341b, and arranged to face the scale 345a. The linear encoder 345 detects the position of the ejection port of the slit nozzle 32 in the Y direction (corresponding to the nozzle movement direction or relative movement direction) based on the relative positional relationship between the scale portion 345a and the detection portion 345b.

A control unit 5 is provided to control the notch detection unit 2, coating unit 3, and transport robot 4 configured as described above. As shown in FIG. 1, the control unit 5 includes an arithmetic unit 51 (for example, a CPU) that performs various kinds of arithmetic processing, and a storage unit 52 (for example, a ROM, a RAM, etc.) that stores basic programs and various information. It has the configuration of a general computer system connected to The bus line further includes a fixed disk 53 (for example, hard disk drive) for storing application programs, a display unit 54 (for example, display) for displaying various information, and an input unit 55 (for example, keyboard, mouse, etc.) are appropriately connected via an interface (I/F) or the like. For example, a touch panel display in which the functions of the display unit 54 and the input unit 55 are integrated may be used.

In the control unit 5, the application program stored in advance in the fixed disk 53 is copied to the storage unit 52 (for example, RAM), and the calculation unit 51 executes calculation processing according to the application program in the storage unit 52, Acquisition of notch position information from the notch detection unit 2, posture control of the substrate W by the transfer robot 4, and coating of the treatment liquid by the coating unit 3 are executed. In this way, the calculation section 51 of the control unit 5 functions as the "notch position acquisition section", the "posture control section" and the "application control section" of the present invention, and controls each section of the device to perform the operations described below. Run.

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram showing the overall operation of the substrate coating apparatus shown in FIG. 1, and FIG. 4 is a diagram showing the progress of coating processing by the coating unit. While the upper part of each drawing shows a plan view as seen from above, the lower part shows a side view. Processing by the substrate coating apparatus 1 is started by loading the coating target substrate W onto the stage 21 . That is, when the substrate W is placed on the stage 21 of the notch detection unit 2 in a state in which the rotation center axis CX of the substrate W is aligned with the rotation axis RX of the stage 21, the substrate W is moved by the operation of a vacuum pump (not shown). W is held on the stage 21 in a so-called face-up posture in which the upper surface Wu faces upward. It should be noted that the notch detector 23 is positioned at a retracted position away from the stage 21 while this loading process is being performed. This avoids interference between the substrate W being carried in and the notch detector 23 .

After the loading process is completed, the notch detector 23 moves to the vicinity of the stage 21 and is positioned at the detection position as shown in column (a) of FIG. As a result, the light projector 231 and the light receiver 232 are arranged so as to sandwich the peripheral portion of the substrate W from above and below. Subsequently, the stage rotation mechanism 22 starts rotating the stage 21 . Then, the notch detector 23 detects the notch Wn before the substrate W rotates once. That is, at the timing when the notch Wn is positioned between the light projector 231 and the light receiver 232, a signal indicating the position of the notch Wn is output to the control unit 5 as positional information (notch position information) of the notch Wn. Further, after the stage 21 rotates one round or more, the rotation is stopped and the notch detector 23 is retracted from the stage 21 .

On the other hand, upon receiving this signal, the calculation section 51 of the control unit 5 acquires the position of the notch Wn in the rotation direction R about the rotation axis RX. Thereby, the direction in which the notch Wn of the substrate W faces can be accurately grasped. For example, in column (a) of FIG. 4, the notch Wn is held on the stage 21 in a posture in which the slit nozzle 32 is positioned on the (−Y) direction side in the moving direction Y (the coating start side as described later). The calculation unit 51 recognizes that the

When the acquisition of the notch position information is completed in this way, the transport robot 4 extends the articulated arm 42 to the stage 21 of the notch detection unit 2 and receives the substrate W with the hand 43 . Subsequently, as shown in column (b) of the figure, the transfer robot 4 extends the multi-joint arm 42 to the stage 31 of the coating unit 3 via the upper side of the base portion 41 to support the substrate W. The hand 43 is positioned above the stage 31 . That is, the transfer of the substrate W by the transfer robot 4 is executed. At this time, in the example shown in FIG. 3, the computing unit 51 moves the hand 43 from the (+Y) direction to the (−Y) direction while moving the hand 43 from the upper position of the stage 21 to the upper position of the stage 31. The transfer robot 4 is controlled so as to change to . Thereby, the posture of the substrate W is adjusted so that the notch Wn is positioned in the (+Y) direction (fourth step). In this state, a lift pin (not shown) rises from the central portion of the stage 31 to support the lower surface of the substrate W. As shown in FIG. Following this, the hand 43 retreats in the (+Y) direction. As a result, the substrate W is transferred from the hand 43 to the lift pins. After that, the lift pins descend into the stage 31 to place the substrate W on the stage 31 and hold it on the stage 31 of the coating unit 3 by a suction mechanism (not shown).

In the coating unit 3, the slit nozzle 32 is moved to a position suitable for coating processing, and the slit nozzle 32 is positioned at the pre-coating position as shown in column (a) of FIG. 4 (first step). Then, while the slit nozzle 32 moves in the (+Y) direction, the treatment liquid supplied from the treatment liquid supply unit 33 is ejected from the ejection port 321 to coat the upper surface Wu of the substrate W with the treatment liquid. That is, in the present embodiment, the posture of the substrate W is adjusted before the coating process as described above, and the notch Wn is located at the end position Pe of the substrate W in the movement direction Y of the slit nozzle 32, that is, in the (+Y) direction. is doing. As shown in column (b) of FIG. 4, while the substrate is in such a posture, the processing that occurs between the peripheral edge portion on the opposite side of the notch portion Wn with respect to the rotation center axis CX of the substrate W and the discharge port 321. The treatment liquid is ejected from the ejection port 321 by the surface tension of the liquid (bead of the treatment liquid). Then, as the slit nozzle 32 moves in the (+Y) direction, the treatment liquid ejection width (liquid contact range) gradually widens (second step). Then, it becomes maximum when the slit nozzle 32 reaches the central portion of the substrate W (see column (d) in the figure). In addition, in FIG. 1, the area to which the treatment liquid is applied is schematically indicated by hatching.

When the slit nozzle 32 passes through the central portion of the substrate W and further moves in the (+Y) direction, the treatment liquid discharge width gradually narrows, and the final application of the treatment liquid is performed at the notch Wn. In this way, the notch Wn is positioned at the end position Pe of the substrate W, and after the slit nozzle 32 reaches above the end position Pe, the supply of the processing liquid is stopped, and (f) in FIG. As shown in the column, the slit nozzle 32 is separated from the substrate W in the (+Y) direction to complete the coating process (third step). At this time, the liquid pool formed at the end position Pe is cut off, and most of the processing liquid forming the liquid pool remains on the substrate side, that is, in the notch Wn, causing a film thickness defect (( f) See bold line in column). However, the notch Wn is a so-called non-effective area. In this way, the film thickness defects that occur in the final stage of the coating process are limited to the non-effective area of the substrate W. FIG. Therefore, the area of the substrate W other than the cutout portion Wn can be used as an effective area, and the processing liquid can be uniformly applied to the effective area. In other words, due to the above limitation, a so-called chamfered area (effective area) in which a device or the like can be built in the substrate W can be expanded.

In the above embodiment, the nozzle moving mechanism 34 corresponds to an example of the "moving section" of the present invention. The transport robot 4 corresponds to an example of the "attitude adjusting mechanism" of the present invention. The X direction and the Y direction respectively correspond to the "extending direction" and the "moving direction" of the invention, and the inside of the XY plane corresponds to the "inside the plane parallel to the substrate" of the invention. The stage 31 corresponds to an example of the "substrate holder" of the present invention.

By the way, in the above-described first embodiment, the notch detecting unit 2 performs the step of acquiring the positional information of the notch Wn, while the position of the substrate W is adjusted so that the notch Wn is positioned at the end position Pe based on the positional information. is performed by the transport robot 4 . However, the two steps described above may be performed by the notch detection unit 2 (second embodiment). That is, the notch detection unit 2 not only detects the notch Wn in the same manner as in the first embodiment, but also rotates the stage 21 in the rotation direction R so that the notch Wn is positioned at the end position Pe. You may adjust the attitude|position of the board|substrate W immediately. In this second embodiment, the stage rotating mechanism 22 functions as the "rotating section" of the present invention. Further, in the second embodiment, the transport robot 4 transports the substrate W toward the stage 31 of the coating unit 3 while maintaining the attitude adjusted by the notch detection unit 2 . Thus, in the second embodiment, the transport robot 4 functions as the "transport unit" of the present invention. However, since the posture of the substrate W is not changed during transport, instead of the transport robot 4, a transport mechanism of a roller transport system or a shuttle system may be used as the "transport unit" of the present invention.

Further, in the above-described embodiment, notch detection and attitude adjustment are performed by a unit other than the coating unit 3, but notch detection, attitude adjustment, and coating processing may be performed collectively in the coating unit 3 (third embodiment).

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing the configuration of the third embodiment of the substrate coating apparatus according to the present invention. The major difference between the third embodiment and the first embodiment is that the spin chuck mechanism of the first embodiment is adopted instead of the stage 31 and that the notch detector of the first embodiment is installed in the coating unit 3. The difference is that the notch detection unit 2 and the transfer robot 4 are omitted in accordance with the above configuration, and the other configurations are basically the same as those of the first embodiment. Therefore, in the following description, while focusing on the differences, the same reference numerals are given to the same configurations, and the description of the configurations will be omitted.

In the substrate coating apparatus 1 according to the third embodiment, a stage 35 is provided as a substrate holding portion for holding the substrate W. The stage 35 is configured in the same manner as the stage 21 of the first embodiment, and can hold the substrate W with the upper surface Wu facing upward. A stage rotation mechanism 36 is connected to the stage 35 . The stage rotation mechanism 36 has a rotation shaft 361 extending vertically downward from the center lower surface of the stage 35 and a motor 362 connected to the lower end of the rotation shaft 361 . Then, the stage 35 and the substrate W held on the stage 35 are rotated around the rotation axis RX parallel to the vertical direction Z by the operation of the motor 362 in response to the rotation command from the control unit 5 .

The notch detector 37 has a light projector 371 arranged at a position higher than the substrate W held on the stage 35 and a light receiver 372 arranged at a position lower than the substrate W. The notch detector 37 can be moved horizontally with respect to the stage 35 by a detection movement mechanism (not shown). For example, as shown in FIG. 5, when the notch detector 37 is moved closer to the stage 35, the light projector 371 and the light receiver 372 are arranged so as to sandwich the peripheral edge of the substrate W from above and below. In this state, the notch portion Wn is detected while the substrate W makes one rotation by the motor operation according to the rotation command from the control unit 5 . That is, at the timing when the notch Wn is positioned between the light projector 371 and the light receiver 372, a signal indicating the position of the notch Wn is output to the control unit 5 as the positional information of the notch Wn.

Next, notch detection, posture adjustment, and application processing in the third embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 6 is a diagram schematically showing operations performed by the substrate coating apparatus shown in FIG. In addition, while the plan view seen from above is shown in the upper part of the figure, the side view is shown in the lower part.

In the third embodiment, processing by the substrate coating apparatus 1 is started by loading the substrate W to be coated onto the stage 35 . That is, when the substrate W is placed on the stage 35 with the rotation center axis CX of the substrate W aligned with the rotation axis RX of the stage 21, a vacuum pump (not shown) operates to move the substrate W upward. It is held on the stage 35 in a so-called face-up posture in which Wu faces upward. During this loading process, the slit nozzle 32 and the notch detector 37 are positioned at a retracted position away from the stage 35 . This avoids interference between the substrate W being carried in and the notch detector 37 .

After the loading process is completed, the notch detector 37 moves to the vicinity of the stage 35 and is positioned at the detection position as shown in column (a) of the figure. As a result, the light projector 371 and the light receiver 372 are arranged so as to sandwich the peripheral portion of the substrate W from above and below. Subsequently, the stage rotation mechanism 36 starts rotating the stage 35 . Then, the notch detector 37 detects the notch Wn before the substrate W rotates once. That is, when the notch Wn is positioned between the light projector 371 and the light receiver 372, a signal indicating the position of the notch Wn is output to the control unit 5 as positional information (notch position information) of the notch Wn. Further, the notch detector 37 is retracted from the stage 35 after detecting the notch Wn.

On the other hand, upon receiving this signal, the calculation section 51 of the control unit 5 acquires the position of the notch Wn in the rotation direction R about the rotation axis RX. Thereby, the direction in which the notch Wn of the substrate W faces can be accurately grasped. For example, column (a) of the figure shows an example of a state in which the substrate W is rotated one or more rounds for detection of the notch Wn and then stopped. Then, based on the signal from the notch detector 37, the calculator 51 recognizes that the notch Wn is held by the stage 35 at a position shifted from the end position Pe in the rotation direction of the substrate W. FIG.

When the acquisition of the notch position information is completed in this way, the calculation unit 51 gives the stage rotation mechanism 36 a rotation instruction to rotate the notch Wn by an angle corresponding to the amount of deviation from the end position Pe. In response to this rotation command, the motor 362 operates to rotate the stage 35 around the rotation axis RX. As a result, the posture of the substrate W is adjusted so that the notch Wn is positioned at the end position Pe, as shown in column (b) of the figure (fourth step). In the present embodiment, since the detection position of the notch Wn by the notch detector 37 is matched with the end position Pe, the rotation of the substrate W may be stopped simultaneously with the detection of the notch Wn. In this case, notch detection and posture adjustment can be performed collectively.

When the posture adjustment is completed in this way, the rotation of the stage 35 is stopped, and the slit nozzle 32 is moved from the standby position on the (-Y) direction side of the stage 35 to the position suitable for the coating process while the notch Wn is positioned at the end position Pe. moved to a position. Thus, the slit nozzle 32 is positioned at the pre-coating position (first step). Then, as in the first embodiment, the slit nozzle 32 moves in the (+Y) direction and ejects the processing liquid supplied from the processing liquid supply unit 33 from the ejection port 321 to dispense the processing liquid onto the upper surface Wu of the substrate W. Apply (see (c) in the figure). Further, following the final coating of the processing liquid in the notch Wn, the supply of the processing liquid is stopped and the slit nozzle 32 moves away from the substrate W in the (+Y) direction to complete the coating process (third step). At this time, the liquid pool formed at the end position Pe is cut off, and most of the processing liquid forming the liquid pool remains on the substrate side, that is, in the notch Wn, causing a film thickness defect (( f) See bold line in column). However, the notch Wn is a so-called non-effective area, and the area of the substrate W other than the notch Wn is regarded as an effective area, and the processing liquid can be uniformly applied to the effective area. Thus, the third embodiment has the same effects as those of the first embodiment.

It should be noted that the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments, and various modifications other than those described above can be made without departing from the spirit of the present invention. For example, the present invention is applied to a semiconductor wafer having notches, but the present invention can also be applied to substrates having notches other than notches, such as orientation flats.

Further, in the above-described embodiment, the processing liquid is applied to the substrate W by the capillary method. The present invention can also be applied to

In addition, in the above-described embodiment, while the substrate W is fixed, the slit nozzle 32 is moved in the moving direction Y to apply the treatment liquid, but the application mode is not limited to this. For example, the substrate W may be moved while the slit nozzle 32 is fixed. Moreover, both the slit nozzle 32 and the substrate W may be moved to apply the treatment liquid. In short, the present invention can be applied to general substrate coating techniques in which the slit nozzle 32 is moved relative to the substrate W to perform the coating process.

In the above embodiment, when the slit nozzle 32 reaches the end position Pe, the supply of the treatment liquid is stopped and the liquid is drained by separating the slit nozzle 32 from the substrate W at the same time. , the supply of the processing liquid may be stopped. That is, the processing liquid may be supplied to the terminal position Pe using a liquid pool formed near the terminal position Pe. In this case, the residual amount of the processing liquid at the end position Pe can be suppressed.

Further, in the above-described embodiment, the method of detecting the notch Wn in the

notch detectors

23 and 37 is not limited to the transmission method described above, and may be arbitrary. For example, the notch Wn may be detected by a reflection method. .

In the above embodiment, the notch Wn is detected by the

notch detectors

23 and 37, and the detection results are sent to the control unit 5 as notch position information. may be obtained. For example, if the notch position information has already been acquired by an external device other than the substrate coating apparatus 1, the control unit 5 may receive the notch position information from the external device via a communication line or the like.

Although the invention has been described in accordance with specific embodiments, this description is not intended to be construed in a limiting sense. Various modifications of the disclosed embodiments, as well as other embodiments of the invention, will become apparent to persons skilled in the art upon reference to the description of the invention. It is therefore intended that the appended claims cover any such variations or embodiments without departing from the true scope of the invention.

The present invention can be applied to general substrate coating techniques in which a processing liquid is supplied from a slit nozzle to a substrate having a notch formed in a non-effective area.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1... Substrate coating device 2... Notch detection unit 3... Coating unit 4... Transport robot (posture adjustment mechanism)
5... Control unit (notch position acquisition unit, posture control unit, application control unit)
21...

Stage

22, 36... Stage rotation mechanism (rotating part)
23, 37... Notch detector 32... Slit nozzle 34... Nozzle moving mechanism (moving part)
51 ... calculation unit (notch position acquisition unit, posture control unit, application control unit)
321...Ejection port (of slit nozzle) CX...Rotation center axis Pe...Terminal position RX...Rotating axis W...Substrate Wn...Notch (of substrate) Y...Moving direction

Claims

A substrate coating apparatus for coating a substrate with the processing liquid, wherein a notch is provided in an ineffective region that is not the target of processing and is located outside an effective region that is the target of processing with the processing liquid,
a slit nozzle that supplies the treatment liquid from a slit-shaped ejection port;
a moving unit that relatively moves the slit nozzle with respect to the substrate;
an attitude adjustment mechanism that adjusts the attitude of the substrate with respect to the slit nozzle;
While supplying the treatment liquid from the ejection port toward the substrate, the slit nozzle is moved relative to the substrate in a movement direction perpendicular to the extension direction of the ejection port to perform coating processing, a coating control unit that relatively separates the slit nozzle from the substrate after the ejection port reaches the end position of the substrate in the movement direction;
a notch position acquisition unit that acquires position information of the notch;
a posture control unit that controls the posture adjustment mechanism to position the cutout portion at the end position before starting the coating process based on the position information acquired by the cutout position acquisition unit;
A substrate coating device comprising:
The substrate coating apparatus according to claim 1,
A substrate holding part that holds the substrate during the coating process,
The posture adjustment mechanism has a hand that holds the substrate rotatably about the rotation center axis of the substrate, and transports the substrate held by the hand and before being subjected to the coating process to the substrate holding unit. have a robot,
The substrate coating apparatus, wherein the posture control section positions the notch portion at the end position by rotating the hand in a plane parallel to the substrate while the substrate is being conveyed to the substrate holding section.
The substrate coating apparatus according to claim 1,
a substrate holder that holds the substrate during the coating process;
a transport unit that transports the substrate to the substrate holding unit;
The posture adjustment mechanism includes a stage that rotatably holds the substrate before the coating process, a rotating section that rotates the substrate held on the stage, and a period during which the substrate is rotated by the rotating section. and a detection unit that detects the notch and outputs a signal related to the position information to the notch position acquisition unit, according to a command from the attitude control unit after the detection of the notch by the detection unit. rotating the stage to position the notch at the terminal position;
The substrate coating apparatus, wherein the transport unit transports the substrate to the substrate holding unit while maintaining the posture adjusted by the posture adjustment mechanism.
The substrate coating apparatus according to claim 1,
The attitude adjustment mechanism is
a substrate holder that holds the substrate;
a rotating part that rotates the substrate held by the substrate holding part,
The attitude adjustment mechanism is
before the coating process, rotating the substrate holding unit according to a command from the attitude control unit to position the notch at the terminal position;
A substrate coating apparatus that holds the substrate while the notch is positioned at the end position during the coating process.
The substrate coating apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 4,
the substrate is a semiconductor wafer;
The substrate coating apparatus, wherein the notch is an orientation flat or notch provided in the semiconductor wafer.
A slit nozzle having a slit-shaped discharge port at the tip of a substrate, which is located outside an effective area to be processed with the processing liquid and provided with a notch in an ineffective area not to be processed, is placed against the slit nozzle. a first step of positioning with
a second step of moving the slit nozzle relative to the substrate in a movement direction orthogonal to the extending direction of the ejection port while supplying the treatment liquid from the ejection port toward the positioned substrate;
a third step of relatively separating the slit nozzle from the substrate after the ejection port reaches the end position of the substrate in the moving direction;
a fourth step of adjusting the posture of the substrate with respect to the slit nozzle so that the notch is positioned at the terminal position before the second step is started;
A substrate coating method comprising: