CN119002196A

CN119002196A - Liquid processing method, liquid processing apparatus, and computer program product

Info

Publication number: CN119002196A
Application number: CN202410576245.2A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 山口隆大
Original assignee: Tokyo Electron Ltd
Current assignee: Tokyo Electron Ltd
Priority date: 2023-05-17
Filing date: 2024-05-10
Publication date: 2024-11-22
Also published as: JP2024165518A; KR20240166412A

Abstract

The present invention provides a liquid processing method, a liquid processing device, and a computer program product capable of increasing the degree of freedom in adjusting the drying condition of a processing liquid supplied to a substrate. The liquid processing method of the present invention comprises: a storage step, in which a substrate is stored in the cup-shaped body with an opening area of the cup-shaped body being a first area; a processing step, in which a processing liquid is supplied to the substrate held by a substrate holding portion provided in the cup-shaped body, and then the substrate is rotated together with the substrate holding portion to remove the processing liquid and dry the substrate; and a changing step, in which the opening area of the cup-shaped body is changed so that during the processing step, a period in which the opening area of the cup-shaped body becomes a second area smaller than the first area is formed.

Description

Liquid processing method, liquid processing apparatus, and computer program product

Technical Field

The invention relates to a liquid processing method, a liquid processing apparatus, and a computer program product.

Background

In a semiconductor device manufacturing process, various processing liquids are supplied to a semiconductor wafer (hereinafter, referred to as a wafer) as a substrate to be processed. Patent document 1 discloses the following: when a resist is supplied to a wafer to form a resist film, a gas is supplied to the peripheral edge portion of the wafer to increase the drying speed of the resist film, thereby adjusting the film thickness of the peripheral edge portion.

Prior art literature

Patent literature

Patent document 1: japanese patent laid-open No. 2008-60462

Disclosure of Invention

Technical problem to be solved by the invention

The present invention provides a technique capable of improving the degree of freedom in adjusting the drying condition of a processing liquid supplied to a substrate.

Means for solving the technical problems

The liquid treatment method of the present invention comprises: a housing step of housing a substrate in a cup-shaped body with an opening area of the cup-shaped body being a first area; a processing step of supplying a processing liquid to the substrate held by a substrate holding portion provided in the cup-shaped body, and then drying the substrate by rotating the substrate together with the substrate holding portion to remove the processing liquid; and a changing step of changing an opening area of the cup-shaped body so that an opening area of the cup-shaped body is formed during the processing step to be a second area smaller than the first area.

Effects of the invention

The invention can improve the degree of freedom of adjusting the drying condition of the processing liquid supplied to the substrate.

Drawings

Fig. 1 is a longitudinal sectional side view of a cleaning device according to a first embodiment of the liquid treatment apparatus of the present invention.

Fig. 2 is a plan view of the above-described cleaning device.

Fig. 3 is a plan view showing the arrangement of the moving member in the cleaning apparatus.

Fig. 4 is a plan view showing the arrangement of the moving member in the cleaning apparatus.

Fig. 5 is a graph showing a change in the rotational speed of the wafer during the cleaning process.

Fig. 6 is an explanatory diagram showing a processing procedure in the cleaning apparatus.

Fig. 7 is an explanatory diagram showing a processing procedure in the cleaning apparatus.

Fig. 8 is an explanatory diagram showing a processing procedure in the cleaning apparatus.

Fig. 9 is an explanatory diagram showing a control example of the moving member in the cleaning apparatus.

Fig. 10 is an explanatory view showing another processing step in the above-described cleaning apparatus.

Fig. 11 is an explanatory view showing another processing step in the above-described cleaning apparatus.

Fig. 12 is a longitudinal sectional side view of a resist film forming apparatus of a second embodiment of a liquid processing apparatus.

Fig. 13 is a plan view of the resist film forming apparatus.

Fig. 14 is a graph showing a change in the rotational speed of the wafer at the time of film formation processing.

Fig. 15 is an explanatory diagram showing a processing procedure in the resist film forming apparatus.

Fig. 16 is an explanatory diagram showing a processing procedure in the resist film forming apparatus.

Fig. 17 is an explanatory diagram showing a processing procedure in the resist film forming apparatus.

Fig. 18 is an explanatory diagram showing another processing step in the resist film forming apparatus.

Fig. 19 is an explanatory diagram showing still another processing step in the resist film forming apparatus.

Fig. 20 is an explanatory diagram showing still another processing step in the resist film forming apparatus.

Fig. 21 is a block diagram of a system including the above-described resist film forming apparatus.

Fig. 22 is an explanatory diagram showing a control example of a moving member in the resist film forming apparatus.

Fig. 23 is a perspective view showing another example of the moving member.

Fig. 24 is a plan view showing the arrangement of the moving member.

Fig. 25 is a plan view showing the arrangement of the moving member.

Description of the reference numerals

W wafer, 11 spin chuck, 3 cup, L1 pure water.

Detailed Description

(First embodiment)

A cleaning device 1 according to a first embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to a longitudinal cross-sectional side view of fig. 1 and a plan view of fig. 2. The cleaning apparatus 1 is an example of a liquid processing apparatus, and is capable of performing a cleaning process by supplying a cleaning liquid as a processing liquid to the front and back surfaces of a wafer W, which is a substrate in a circular shape. The cleaning liquid is, for example, pure water. The wafer W transported to the cleaning apparatus 1 has a resist film formed on a surface, for example. The resist film is exposed to light in accordance with a predetermined circuit pattern, and is in a state before development.

Next, the device structure will be described using an XYZ orthogonal coordinate system. The X direction and the Y direction are horizontal directions, and the Z direction is vertical direction. The X direction is sometimes referred to as the front-rear direction and the Y direction is sometimes referred to as the left-right direction. The cleaning apparatus 1 includes a nozzle moving mechanism 2, a cup 3, a spin chuck 11, a rotating mechanism 13, and a wafer W delivery mechanism 15, and is capable of cleaning a wafer W accommodated in the cup 3 having an upper opening and enclosed therein.

A spin chuck 11 is provided in the cup-shaped body 3. The spin chuck 11 is a circular substrate holding portion, and is capable of holding the wafer W horizontally by sucking a central portion of a lower surface (back surface) of the wafer W to be placed thereon. The spin chuck 11 is connected to a rotation mechanism 13 via a shaft 12 extending in the Z direction. The wafer W held by the spin chuck 11 can be rotated about the vertical axis together with the spin chuck 11 by the rotation mechanism 13. The point P in fig. 2 is the rotation center point of the spin chuck 11. Further, since the wafer W is placed such that its center overlaps with the rotation center point of the spin chuck 11, the point P is also the center point of the wafer W placed on the spin chuck 11.

The wafer transfer mechanism 15 includes 3 pins 16 and a lift mechanism 17. The 3 pins 16 surround the shaft 12 and extend in the Z direction, respectively, and can be lifted and lowered by the lifting mechanism 17. The upper ends of the pins 16 can protrude above the cup-shaped body 3 when ascending, and the wafer W can be transferred between the spin chuck 11 and a not-shown transport mechanism. In order to perform this transfer, the conveying mechanism is movable from the front side to the rear side with respect to the cup-shaped body 3 and is positioned above the cup-shaped body 3.

Next, the nozzle moving mechanism 2 will be described. The nozzle moving mechanism 2 as a processing liquid supply mechanism includes a nozzle 21, a pure water supply section 22, an arm 23, a moving mechanism 24, and a guide rail 25. The nozzle 21 can discharge the deionized water pumped from the deionized water supply unit 22 vertically downward. The deionized water supply section 22 includes a pump and/or a valve, and can supply deionized water to the nozzle 21 at a desired timing. The nozzle 21 is supported on the front end side (rear end side) of the arm 23, and the base end side of the arm 23 is connected to the moving mechanism 24. The moving mechanism 24 is movable along the guide rail 25 in the Y direction, and can raise and lower the arm 23.

Further, a standby portion 26 formed as a container with an upper opening is provided outside the cup-shaped body 3 in a plan view, and the nozzle 21 is standby in the standby portion 26 when not in use. The nozzle 21 is movable between the standby portion 26 and the inside of the cup-shaped body 3 by the above-described moving mechanism 24. The nozzle 21 is movable in the radial direction of the wafer W, and is capable of supplying pure water to a region from the center portion to the peripheral portion of the wafer W. In fig. 1, reference numeral 27 denotes an atmosphere supply unit which is provided above the cup-shaped body 3 so as not to interfere with the movement of the arm 23 and the nozzle 21, and which can supply clean atmosphere downward.

Next, the cup-shaped body 3 will be described. The cup 3 is constituted by a cup main body 31 and 2 opening changing units 5. As will be described in detail later, the opening changing unit 5 includes a moving member 61 that can form the opening 30 of the cup-shaped body 3 and move relative to the cup-shaped body main body 31, constituting a changing mechanism of the opening of the cup-shaped body 3. By the movement of the moving member 61, the opening area of the cup-shaped body 3 in a plan view can be changed.

The cup body 31 includes a guide portion 32, a cylindrical portion 33, a bottom 34, side walls 35, and an upper wall 36. The guide portion 32 is a circular member arranged below the wafer W in a plan view, and the center portion is penetrated by the shaft 12. The longitudinal section of the guide portion 32 is formed in a mountain shape and the peripheral edge portion of the guide portion 32 extends downward so that the cleaning liquid flowing down from the wafer W during the process can be guided toward the bottom 34 of the wafer W. The guide portion 32 is provided with a rear side nozzle 41. The pure water can be supplied from the pure water supply unit 22 to the back surface side nozzle 41, and can be released from the back surface side nozzle 41 to the peripheral edge portion of the back surface (lower surface) of the wafer W. The pure water supply unit 22 can supply pure water to each of the back side nozzles 41 and 21.

The guide portion 32 has a radially central portion extending downward to form a cylindrical portion 33. The lower end of the cylindrical portion 33 extends outward of the cup-shaped body 3 to form a bottom 34 of the cup-shaped body 3. A drain port 42 is opened in the bottom 34, and a raised exhaust pipe 43 is provided. During operation of the apparatus, the exhaust gas from the exhaust pipe 43 and the atmosphere from the atmosphere supply unit 27 can be supplied, and thus the mist generated around the wafer W during processing can be removed by flowing the mist into the exhaust pipe 43 along with the flow of the exhaust gas from the atmosphere to the exhaust pipe 43 in the cup 3. The treatment liquid flowing down into the cup-shaped body 3 can flow into the liquid discharge port 42 and be removed.

The peripheral edge of the bottom 34 extends vertically upward to form a raised cylindrical sidewall 35, and the sidewall 35 surrounds the spin chuck 11 and the wafer W held by the spin chuck 11. The upper end of the side wall 35 extends in a substantially horizontal direction toward the center of the cup-shaped body 3, and forms an annular upper wall 36, and a circular opening formed by the upper wall 36 is referred to as an upper wall opening 37. The center point of the upper wall opening 37 coincides with the rotation center point P of the spin chuck 11 in plan view. The upper wall opening 37 is formed slightly larger than the wafer W in plan view so that the wafer W can be fed into and out of the cup 3.

Next, the opening changing unit 5 will be described. The opening changing unit 5 is composed of a moving mechanism 51 and moving members 61, and 2 are provided on the cup-shaped body 3. The opening changing units 5 are provided on the left and right sides of the cup-shaped body 3, respectively. Further, the opening changing unit 5 on the left side and the opening changing unit 5 on the right side are symmetrically arranged with respect to a virtual straight line L passing through the rotation center point P of the spin chuck 11 and along the X axis in plan view. The moving mechanism 51 of each opening changing unit 5 is provided on the upper surface of the central portion in the front-rear direction of the upper wall 36. A moving member 52 is provided on the upper wall opening 37 side with respect to the moving mechanism 51, and the moving member 52 is connected to the moving mechanism 51.

The moving mechanism 51 is configured as, for example, a single-acting cylinder, and the moving member 61 is connected to a piston 55 provided in a space within the moving mechanism 51 via a rod 53 extending horizontally in the left-right direction (Y direction). The moving member 61 can horizontally move in the left-right direction by the movement of the piston 55. The piston 55 can be biased toward the peripheral edge of the cup-shaped body 3 by a spring 56 provided in the moving mechanism 51. When the portion of the space in the moving mechanism 51 located on the peripheral edge portion side of the cup-shaped body 3 with respect to the piston 55 is defined as the pressure chamber 57, one ends of the pipes 58 and 59 are connected to the pressure chamber 57. The other ends of the pipes 58 and 59 are connected to the gas supply source 18 and the gas discharge source 19 of the semiconductor manufacturing plant in which the cleaning apparatus 1 is installed, respectively, and the movement mechanism 51 is operated by supplying gas and discharging gas to the movement mechanism 51 by using plant resources. Air can be supplied from the air supply 18. The exhaust source 19 is constituted by, for example, an exhaust path of a factory capable of forming negative pressure.

The pipes 58 and 59 are provided with solenoid valves 65, and supply and discharge air to and from the pressure chamber 57 are performed by opening and closing the solenoid valves 65. By this supply and discharge of air, the pressure in the pressure chamber 57 changes, and the piston 55 moves against the urging force of the spring 56 to a position corresponding to the pressure in the pressure chamber 57. This makes it possible to make the moving member 56 stationary at an arbitrary position in the left-right direction. Further, on the downstream side of the electromagnetic valve 65 of the pipe 58, an adjusting portion 66 for adjusting the flow rate of the air supplied to the pressure chamber 57 is provided, and by adjusting the flow rate of the air, the moving speed of the moving member 61 toward the center side of the cup-shaped body 3 can be set to a desired speed. The supply flow rate of the regulator 66 can be changed by the control unit 10.

The moving member 61 is constituted by a base 62 and a hanging portion 63. The base 62 is formed in a plate shape that is in contact with or in proximity to the upper surface of the upper wall 36, and extends along the upper surface from the outer periphery of the upper wall opening 37 to the peripheral edge of the upper wall opening 37, and is disposed at the center of the cup 3 in the front-rear direction. The hanging portion 63 is formed in a plate shape bent to be vertically downward at the front end side of the base portion 62, and enters the upper wall opening 37. The lower end of the hanging portion 63 is located below the height H of the lower end of the upper wall opening 37 (the height of the lower end of the front end portion of the upper wall 36).

By driving the moving mechanism 51, the moving member 61 can move between a position (referred to as a reference position) where the suspended portion 63 contacts the edge of the upper wall opening 37 and does not overlap the wafer W in a plan view, and a position (referred to as an airflow control position) where the suspended portion 63 is separated from the edge of the upper wall opening 37 and overlaps the wafer W in a plan view. The lower end of the hanging portion 63 of the moving member 61 at the air flow adjustment position is formed in an arc shape so as to be close to the upper surface of the wafer W and so as to extend along the periphery of the wafer W therebelow in a plan view. Fig. 3 is a plan view of the state where each moving member 61 is located at the reference position, and fig. 4 is a plan view of the state where each moving member 61 is located at the airflow control position. Thus, the gas flow control position is a position closer to the center of the wafer W than the reference position in plan view.

In addition, there is no difference in distance between the moving mechanism 51 and the moving member 61 of each of the reference position and the airflow control position between the opening changing unit 5 on the left side and the opening changing unit 5 on the right side. Therefore, the left and right moving members 61 shown in fig. 3 and 4 are symmetrically arranged with respect to the virtual straight line L. In this example, the hanging portion 63 of the moving member 61 located at the air flow control position is set to be located slightly closer to the center of the wafer W than the position of the peripheral end of the wafer W, but the air flow control position is not limited to this setting and may be set to be located at the peripheral end, for example.

Since the moving member 61 is configured as described above, a region of the circular upper wall opening 37 provided in the cup body main body 31, which does not overlap with the moving member 61 in a plan view, is the opening 30 of the cup body 3, and the opening 30 is formed by the upper wall 36 of the cup body main body 31 and the moving member 61. The moving member 61 is located at a reference position as a first position at the time of transfer of the wafers W between the cup 3 and the transfer mechanism of the wafers W so as not to interfere with the transfer, and is located at an air flow control position as a second position to control the air flow at the peripheral edge of the wafers W at the time of processing the wafers W in the cup 3. The process of the wafer W is not limited to the process liquid supply, and includes a drying process of the wafer W after the process liquid supply.

The opening area (second area) when the moving member 61 is located at the airflow control position is smaller than the opening area (first area) when the moving member 61 is located at the reference position because a part of the peripheral edge of the opening 30 protrudes toward the center of the opening 30. That is, the moving member 61 is moved to the airflow control position, whereby the opening area of the opening 30 in a plan view can be reduced. In addition, a part of the peripheral edge of the opening 30 protruding toward the center of the opening 30 covers the peripheral edge of the wafer W, and the hanging portion 63 is close to the upper surface of the wafer W as described above.

The peripheral edge portion of the wafer W is covered with the moving member 61 in this way, so as to increase the drying speed of the peripheral edge portion of the wafer W. Specifically, the atmosphere flowing into the cup 3 during the process by exhausting the inside of the cup 3 as described above flows from the center portion side to the peripheral portion side on the upper surface of the wafer W rotated by the process. When a member for covering the wafer W is disposed above the wafer W, the drying speed is high because the speed of the air flow flowing toward the peripheral edge portion side on the upper surface of the wafer W is high when the gap between the cover member and the wafer W is small. When the wafer W after cleaning was rotated and dried, it was confirmed that liquid residue was relatively easily generated at the peripheral edge portion of the wafer W, and in order to prevent this liquid residue, the cleaning apparatus 1 was covered with the moving member 61 described above. Further, in order to reduce the gap formed at the peripheral edge portion of the wafer W and improve the drying property, a hanging portion 63 is formed at the moving member 61.

A camera 29 as an imaging unit is provided outside the cup-shaped body 3 and above the cup-shaped body 3 in a plan view. The optical axis of the camera 29 is inclined obliquely downward with respect to the X direction, the Y direction, and the Z direction, and the inside of the cup-shaped body 3 can be imaged at a depression angle. Therefore, the upper surface of the wafer W and the nozzles 21 disposed on the wafer W can be photographed. The image data acquired by the shooting by the camera 29 is transmitted to the control unit 10 described later. The control unit 10 can determine whether or not there is an abnormality in the surface of the wafer W and an abnormality in the operation of the nozzle 21 based on the image data. As will be described later, this image data can also be used for feedback control of the operation of the opening changing means 5.

The cleaning device 1 includes a control section 10. The control unit 10 is constituted by a computer and includes a program. When the program is executed by the processor, a series of operations (step group) in the cleaning device 1 can be realized. By executing this program, the control unit 10 can output control signals to the respective units of the cleaning apparatus 1, and control the operations of the respective units. Specifically, the operations of the rotation speed of the spin chuck 11 rotated by the rotation mechanism 13, the lifting and lowering of the pins 16 by the lifting and lowering mechanism 17, the supply of pure water from the pure water supply unit 22 to the nozzle 21 and the rear side nozzle 41, the movement of the nozzle 21 by the movement mechanism 24, the movement of the moving member 61 by the opening and closing of the solenoid valve 65, and the adjustment of the supply flow rate of air to the pressure chamber 57 by the adjustment unit 66 can be controlled by the control signals described above, and the wafer W can be processed as described below. The detection and judgment of the wafer W in the image data for performing feedback control described later can also be performed by this program. The program may be stored in a storage medium such as an optical disk, a hard disk, or a DVD, for example, and installed in the control unit 10.

Next, the process of the wafer W by the cleaning apparatus 1 will be described with reference to fig. 5 to 8. Fig. 5 is a diagram showing a change in the rotational speed of the wafer W during processing, and fig. 6 to 8 are explanatory diagrams showing the operation of the cleaning apparatus 1. The arrows around the wafer W in fig. 6 to 8 indicate the air flow.

In a state where the moving member 61 of each opening changing unit 5 is located at the reference position, the wafer W is transported to the upper side of the cup-shaped body 3 by the transport mechanism, and is placed on and sucked by the spin chuck 11 by the lifting operation of the pins 16. When the nozzle 21 moves from the standby unit 28 to above the center of the wafer W and the rotation of the wafer W is started to reach the predetermined rotation speed R1, the pure water L1 starts to be discharged from the nozzle 21 and the back-side nozzle 41 to the front and back surfaces of the wafer W (time t1 in the figure). The nozzle 21 moves to the peripheral edge of the wafer W while the pure water L1 is released, and the cleaning process is performed (fig. 6).

After that, the discharge of pure water L1 from the nozzle 21 and the back-side nozzle 41 is stopped (time t 2), and the nozzle 21 is moved to the standby unit 28. Then, in order to spin the pure water L1 off the wafer W, the rotation speed of the wafer W is increased (time t 3) to a predetermined rotation speed R2. By increasing the rotation speed in this way, pure water L1 flows from the center portion to the peripheral edge portion of the wafer W on the wafer W, and is scattered from the wafer W and removed (fig. 7).

After a predetermined time has elapsed from time t3, the moving member 61 moves to the air flow control position, the opening area of the opening 30 of the cup 3 becomes smaller (time t 4), and the suspended portion 63 is disposed on the peripheral edge portion of the wafer W (fig. 8). Thereby, the flow velocity of the air flow at the peripheral edge portion of the wafer W increases, and the drying speed at the peripheral edge portion increases. Then, the rotation speed of the wafer W is reduced (time t 5), and the moving member 61 moves to the reference position. Then, the rotation of the wafer W is stopped (time t 6), and the wafer W is sent out from the cup 3 and delivered to the transport mechanism in a reverse operation to the process of storing the wafer W in the cup 3. The process steps correspond to the time t1 from the start of the supply of pure water to the time t6 from the end of drying to the stop of the rotation.

According to the cleaning apparatus 1, after the rotation speed of the wafer W is increased from R1 to R2 when the cleaning liquid is supplied in order to dry the wafer W, the moving member 61 is moved to reduce the opening area of the opening 30 of the cup-shaped body 3, and the hanging portion 63 of the moving member 61 is disposed on the peripheral edge portion of the wafer W. This increases the drying speed of the peripheral edge portion of the wafer W, and prevents pure water L1 from remaining in the peripheral edge portion after the end of the process. Therefore, a reduction in yield of semiconductor products manufactured from the wafer W can be prevented. Further, by increasing the drying speed in this way, the time required until the drying of the pure water L1 is completed can be prevented from becoming long, and the productivity of the apparatus can be improved.

In the process described in the above-described figures, a predetermined interval (interval between times t3 and t 4) is provided between the time when the rotation speed is increased to R2 and the time when the movement of the moving member 61 to the airflow control position is started in order to dry the wafer W. This is to suppress occurrence of a defect caused by pure water L1 remaining on the wafer W immediately after the rotational speed increases. Specifically, when the moving member 61 moves to the air flow control position in a state where the deionized water L1 remains on the wafer W in a large amount, the deionized water L1 scattered from the wafer W due to the centrifugal force of the rotation of the wafer W collides with the side wall 35 of the cup-shaped body 3 and bounces back, and drops as droplets after adhering to the moving member 61. In a state where the moving member 61 is located at the air flow control position, the liquid droplets may fall down to the peripheral edge of the wafer W to become foreign matters. Therefore, the movement member 61 is moved after the removal of the pure water L1 with the above-described interval, and the occurrence of such a defect can be prevented, and the reduction of the yield of the semiconductor product can be further prevented.

Further, a predetermined interval (interval between times t2 and t 4) is provided between the time when the pure water L1 stops being discharged from the nozzle 21 and the time when the moving member 61 starts to move to the air flow control position, and by using this interval, the nozzle 21 and the arm 23 supporting the nozzle 21 can be retracted from the cup-shaped body 3 so as not to interfere with the moving member 61.

However, if the timing at which the moving member 61 starts to move to the air flow control position is too early, there is a possibility that the liquid may drop down toward the peripheral edge of the wafer W, but in order to sufficiently increase the dryness of the peripheral edge of the wafer W, it is preferable to move the moving member 61 to the air flow control position at an early timing. In the processing of the above-described diagram, by performing feedback control using the image data of the camera 29, the time t4 at which the moving member 61 starts to move to the airflow control position can be made more appropriate. Next, this method will be described with reference to fig. 9. Among the wafers W, the wafer that is first transferred to the cleaning apparatus 1 and processed and then transferred to the cleaning apparatus 1 and processed are referred to as wafers W1 and W2, respectively.

First, the wafer W1 is processed as described with reference to fig. 5 to 8. In this process, at least after time t3 when the rotation speed of the wafer W1 increases, the camera 29 performs imaging. After time t3, the liquid film of pure water L1 moves on the surface of the wafer W1 toward the peripheral edge of the wafer W by the rotation of the wafer W1. The control unit 10 detects the time when the liquid film reaches the peripheral end of the wafer W and disappears from the acquired image data (t 4').

Then, the wafer W2 stored in the cup-shaped body 3 is processed similarly to the wafer W1, but the time t4 when the moving member 61 moves to the airflow control position is shifted from the time t4 when the wafer W1 is processed so as to coincide with the time t 4'. Therefore, when the time t4' is later than the time t4 during the processing of the wafer W1, the time t4 is delayed from the time of the processing of the wafer W1 during the processing of the wafer W2, and the interval between the time t3 and the time t4 at which the rotation speed is increased is prolonged (right side of fig. 9). On the other hand, when the time t4' is earlier than the time t4 during the processing of the wafer W1, the time t4 is earlier than the time during the processing of the wafer W1 during the processing of the wafer W2, and the interval between the time t3 and the time t4 at which the rotation speed is increased is shortened (left side in fig. 9). Even if the time t4 is shifted in this way, the interval between the time t3 when the rotation speed is increased and the time t5 when the rotation speed is reduced is constant and does not change. By the feedback control described above, the peripheral edge portion of the wafer W can be sufficiently dried while preventing the liquid from dropping down to the peripheral edge portion of the wafer W.

After the wafer W is accommodated in the cup-shaped body 3, the moving member 61 may be moved to a position slightly closer to the center side of the wafer W from the reference position. Further, the moving member 61 may be moved from the position near the center to the airflow control position at time t 4. In the case of performing the feedback control described above, the movement speed from the position near the center may be controlled.

The same operation is performed for the left and right opening changing means 5 in the above example, but a different operation may be performed. The differences from the processing described in fig. 5 to 8 will be mainly described with reference to fig. 10 to 11. Pure water L1 is released from the nozzle 21 and the back side nozzle 41 at time t1, and the nozzle 21 is moved toward the peripheral edge of the wafer W. At this time, when the nozzle 21 is moved rightward, the moving member 61 of the opening changing unit 5 on the left side is moved to the airflow control position. The moving member 61 of the opening changing unit 5 on the right side stays at the reference position (fig. 10) in order to prevent interference with the nozzle 21 and the arm 23.

Then, the discharge of the pure water L1 from the nozzle 21 is stopped, the nozzle 21 is retracted from the cup-shaped body 3, and then the left moving member 61 is moved to the air flow control position at time t4 after the rotational speed of the wafer W is increased (fig. 11). Therefore, the left moving member 61 is moved to the airflow control position at the same timing as in fig. 5 to 8.

The processing in fig. 10 and 11 will be described in detail, and the moving member 61 is moved from the reference position to the air flow control position after the start of the processing as described above, also to prevent interference with the nozzle 21 and the arm 23. In the opening changing unit 5, the moving member 61 on the opposite side to the moving direction of the nozzle 21 moving in the radial direction of the wafer W is moved to the air flow control position before the moving member 61 in the moving direction because the above-described interference does not occur even in the state where the nozzle 21 is positioned in the cup-shaped body 3. Accordingly, after stopping the release of the pure water L1 to the wafer W, the drying of the peripheral edge portion of the wafer W by the air flow having a relatively high velocity is started rapidly, and therefore, the peripheral edge portion can be dried reliably in a shorter time.

(Second embodiment)

The resist film forming apparatus 7 according to the second embodiment will be described with reference to a longitudinal cross-sectional side view of fig. 12 and a plan view of fig. 13 centering on a point different from the cleaning apparatus 1. The resist film forming apparatus 7 can form a resist film by sequentially applying a thinner and a resist to the surface of the wafer W by spin coating. The thinner is a modifying liquid that improves wettability of the surface of the wafer W with respect to the resist by being applied to the surface of the wafer W before the resist is applied. The resist film forming apparatus 7 can perform a resist film removal process for defining a peripheral edge portion of the wafer W to be rotated, which is called EBR (Edge Bead Remover: edge removal), by supplying a thinner to the peripheral edge portion after forming the resist film.

The nozzle moving mechanism 2 in the resist film forming apparatus 7 will be described. Nozzles 71 and 72 are supported on the distal end side of the arm 23 instead of the nozzle 21, and the nozzle 71 is connected to a resist supply unit 73, and the nozzle 72 is connected to a thinner supply unit 74. The resist supply unit 73 and the thinner supply unit 74 have substantially the same configuration as the pure water supply unit 22, but press-feed the resist and the thinner to the nozzles 71 and 72, respectively, instead of pure water. The nozzles 71 and 72 can be moved to the center of the wafer W, respectively, and resist and thinner can be released to the center. The diluent supply unit 74 may press-feed the diluent to the back side nozzle 41 and the EBR nozzle 76 described later, and the diluent may be separately press-fed to the back side nozzle 41, the nozzle 72, and the EBR nozzle 76.

The resist film forming apparatus 7 is provided with a nozzle moving mechanism 75 having substantially the same configuration as the nozzle moving mechanism 2. The nozzle moving mechanism 75 is provided for EBR, and as a point different from the nozzle moving mechanism 2, an EBR nozzle 76 is provided in the arm 23 instead of the nozzles 71 and 72. The EBR nozzle 76 is connected to the diluent supply portion 74, and the diluent can be pumped from the diluent supply portion 74 to the EBR nozzle 76. The EBR nozzle 76 is movable to a peripheral edge portion of the wafer W, and supplies the thinner to the peripheral edge portion. The nozzles 71 and 72 stand by in the standby section 26 when not in use. The resist film forming apparatus 7 is provided with a standby section 77 for standby of the EBR nozzle 76 when not in use. The standby portion 77 is provided outside the cup-shaped body 3 in a plan view, similarly to the standby portion 26.

Next, the processing of the wafer W by the resist film forming apparatus 7 will be described with reference to fig. 14 to 17. Fig. 14 is a view showing a change in the rotational speed of the wafer W as in fig. 5, and fig. 15 to 17 are explanatory views showing the operation of the resist film forming apparatus 7. The operation of the apparatus at time t11' shown in the figure is not performed in this example, and the operation will be described later as an operation of another processing example.

In a state where the moving member 61 of each opening changing unit 5 is positioned at the reference position, the wafer W is sucked and held by the spin chuck 11, and the nozzle 72 is positioned at the center portion of the wafer W to release the thinner. When the release of the thinner is stopped, the wafer W rotates, and the thinner is coated over the entire surface of the wafer W. Next, in a state where the nozzle 71 is positioned at the center portion of the wafer W and the rotational speed of the wafer W is set to a predetermined rotational speed R11 (first rotational speed), the resist L2 as the processing liquid is released from the nozzle 71 (time t 11), and the resist L2 is applied so as to spread over the entire surface of the wafer W (fig. 15). Next, the release of the resist L2 is completed, and the rotation speed of the wafer W is reduced (time t 12) to a predetermined rotation speed R12 (second rotation speed). By rotating the wafer W at a relatively low rotation speed in this way, the film thickness distribution of the resist L2 on the wafer W in the radial direction of the wafer W can be made uniform.

Thereafter, the rotation speed of the wafer W is increased (time t 13) to a predetermined rotation speed R13 (third rotation speed), and the resist L2 is dried by the increase in the rotation speed, thereby forming a resist film L3 as a coating film. The rotation speed R13 is lower than the rotation speed R11. On the other hand, the nozzles 71 and 72 located in the cup-shaped body 3 move from the wafer W toward the standby section 28. Next, each moving member 61 moves to the air flow control position (time t 14), and the flow velocity of the air flow increases at the peripheral edge portion of the wafer W, and the resist film L3 is rapidly dried at the peripheral edge portion (fig. 16). Further, by drying in this manner, the film thickness of the resist film L3 on the peripheral edge side of the wafer W becomes larger than in the case where the moving member 61 is not disposed at the airflow control position.

Then, the rotation speed of the wafer W is reduced, and the moving member 61 moves to the reference position (time t 15) to reach the predetermined rotation speed R14. The rotational speed R14 is greater than the rotational speed R12. The rotation speed changes in this way, and the EBR nozzle 76 moves from the standby portion 77 to the peripheral edge portion of the wafer W, and the diluent L4 starts to be discharged from the EBR nozzle 76 and the back side nozzle 41 (time t 16), and the EBR nozzle 76 moves in the radial direction of the wafer W toward the peripheral edge of the wafer W. Thereby, the release position of the thinner L4 on the front surface of the wafer W is moved toward the peripheral edge of the wafer W, and the portion of the peripheral edge of the wafer W where the resist film L3 is not required is removed (fig. 17). The back surface of the wafer W is cleaned by the diluent L4 discharged from the back surface side nozzle 41. Thereafter, the release of the diluent from the EBR nozzle 76 and the back side nozzle 41 is stopped (time t 17), and the EBR nozzle 76 returns to the standby section 77, while the wafer W continues to be rotated, and the peripheral edge portion of the wafer W is dried. Thereafter, the rotation of the wafer W is stopped (time t 18), and the wafer W is sent out from the cup 3. In this example, the processing steps correspond to the time t11 from the start of resist supply to the time t15 when the drying of the resist is completed and the rotational speed is changed for EBR as the next processing.

As described above, even when the processing liquid is a coating liquid for forming a coating film such as a resist, drying of the peripheral edge portion of the wafer W can be promoted, and thus, productivity of the apparatus can be improved. In addition, when the coating liquid is used as the processing liquid, the film thickness distribution of the resist film L3 in the surface of the wafer W can be adjusted by using the fact that the drying speed of the peripheral edge portion of the wafer W is increased by disposing the moving member 61 at the air flow control position.

In this processing example, after the time point (t 14) midway between the period in which the wafer W rotates at the rotation speed R11 and the period in which the wafer W rotates at the rotation speed R13, the moving member 61 is positioned at the airflow control position, whereby the opening area is made to be the relatively small second area. Before a time point (t 14) between the period of rotation at the rotation speed R12 and the period of rotation at the rotation speed R13, the moving member 61 is disposed at a reference position which is a position at which the wafer W is fed into and fed out from the cup-shaped body 3, and thereby the opening area is made larger than the second area. However, the arrangement is not limited to the reference position, and may be arranged slightly closer to the gas flow control position than the reference position as long as the processing of the wafer W is not affected.

Next, another example of the process of the resist film forming apparatus 7 will be described with reference to the above-described fig. 14, focusing on the differences from the example of the process described in fig. 15 to 17. The nozzle 71 is positioned at the center of the wafer W, and the resist L2 is released from the nozzle 71 in a state where the rotational speed of the wafer W is set to the predetermined rotational speed R11 (time t 11), and the moving member 61 is moved to the air flow adjustment position during the release (time t11', fig. 18). By reducing the opening area of the opening 30 in this manner, the released resist L2 can be more reliably prevented from leaking out of the cup-shaped body 3 due to the collision with the wafer W and the scattered mist. At the next time t12, the movement member 61 is moved to the reference position in addition to stopping the release of the resist L2 from the nozzle 71 and reducing the rotation speed. Thereafter, the processing is performed in the same manner as the processing described with reference to fig. 15 to 17. Therefore, after time t12, the moving member 61 moves again between the air flow adjustment position and the reference position.

The moving member 61 may be disposed at the gas flow control position from before the resist L2 is released at time t11, but there is a case where disturbance of the flow of the released resist L2 is relatively large immediately after the start of the release, and the resist L2 may splash on the surface of the wafer W and adhere to the moving member 61 moved to the gas flow control position. In this case, since the resist L2 may drop as a droplet and fall as a foreign matter onto the wafer W, it is preferable to move the moving member 61 after the start of the release of the resist L2 as described above.

In the process described in fig. 18, the moving member 61 moved to the air flow control position is returned to the reference position at time t12, and in addition to suppressing the scattering of mist after time t12 when the release of the resist L2 from the nozzle 71 is stopped, fluidity of the resist film L3 is sufficiently ensured from time t12 to time 13 when the film thickness distribution of the resist film L3 is adjusted. Specifically, when the peripheral edge portion of the wafer W is covered with the moving member 61 for too long a period of time from when the resist L2 is applied to the entire surface of the wafer W to the time t13 when the adjustment of the film thickness distribution in the surface of the wafer W is completed, the fluidity of the resist L2 at the peripheral edge portion is reduced. As a result, since the film thickness distribution may not be sufficiently adjusted, the moving member 61 is returned to the reference position at time t12 as described above, and fluidity of the resist L2 is ensured.

The movement of the moving member 61 to the air flow control position at the time of releasing the resist L2 shown in fig. 18 is referred to as fog movement, and the movement of the moving member 61 to the air flow control position for drying the resist film L3 shown in fig. 16 is referred to as drying movement. The moving speed (first speed) of the moving member 61 for mist movement may be made different from the moving speed (second speed) of the moving member 61 for drying movement. Specifically, the movement speed during the movement for mist is made larger than the movement speed during the movement for drying.

The reason for this change in the moving speed will be described. In the case of the mist movement, the resist L2 is not substantially dried during the release of the resist L2, and the resist L2 is in a state of high fluidity, so that even if the air flow around the resist film is disturbed by the movement of the moving member 61, the influence on the surface shape and film thickness of the resist film L3 is small. The moving speed of the moving member 61 is made relatively high from the standpoint of reducing the influence of the air flow and rapidly preventing the mist from leaking out of the cup-shaped body 3. In the movement for drying, the resist film L3 is dried to some extent, and the surface shape of the resist film is easily affected by the surrounding air flow. Therefore, in order to suppress disturbance of the air flow, the moving speed of the moving member 61 is made relatively small. In view of the above, it is effective to make the moving speed during the mist movement greater than the moving speed during the drying movement.

Further, the air flow control position (first air flow control position) to which the moving member 61 moves during the mist movement may be different from the air flow control position (second air flow control position) to which the moving member 61 moves during the drying movement. In fig. 16 and 18, the moving member 61 is shown as being moved to the different air flow control position, and the first air flow control position is closer to the center of the upper wall opening 37 of the cup-shaped body 31 (closer to the center of the wafer W in plan view) than the second air flow control position. Therefore, the opening area of the opening portion 30 of the cup-shaped body 3 is smaller in the case of being located at the first airflow control position than in the case of being located at the second airflow control position. The opening area of the opening 30 when the moving members 61 are positioned at the second airflow control position by the movement for drying is one area, and the opening area of the opening 30 when the moving members 61 are positioned at the first airflow control position by the movement for mist is the other area.

The reason for this change in the airflow control position will be described. The second air flow control position is set to be located above a portion where the film thickness of the resist film L3 is smallest at the peripheral edge portion of the wafer W when the processing is performed with the moving member 61 located at the reference position. That is, the second air flow control position is determined to be a preferable position in accordance with the film thickness distribution formed on the wafer W. On the other hand, from the viewpoint of preventing mist from leaking from the opening 30 during the mist movement, the closer the first airflow control position is to the center of the opening 30 of the cup-shaped body 3, the more preferably, the position closest to the center of the upper wall opening 37 is set, for example, in the movable range of the moving member 61. From the above, the first airflow control position is preferably set to a position where the opening area of the cup-shaped body 3 is smaller than the second airflow control position.

In addition, the moving member 61 may be disposed at the air flow control position at the time of EBR, so that the drying of the thinner L4 supplied to the peripheral edge portion of the wafer W is accelerated. In this case, as described as one of examples in the first embodiment, only one moving member 61 of the left and right moving members 61 is moved to the air flow control position so that interference with the nozzle and the arm is prevented. Specifically, when it is assumed that the movement direction of the EBR nozzle 76 that discharges the diluent is rightward as shown in fig. 19 from time t16 to t17 in the diagram of fig. 14, the right-side moving member 61 in the left-right opening changing unit 5 is positioned at the reference position so as to avoid interference with the EBR nozzle 76 and the arm 23 that supports the EBR nozzle 76, and the left-side moving member 61 is arranged at the airflow control position.

By such movement of the left moving member 61 to the airflow control position, the peripheral edge portion of the wafer W can be quickly dried after stopping the release of the diluent from the EBR nozzle 76 at time t 17. After stopping the release of the diluent at time t17 and the EBR nozzle 76 is retracted from the cup-shaped body 3 so as not to interfere with the EBR nozzle 76, the right moving member 61 can be moved to the airflow control position as shown in fig. 20, thereby further promoting drying.

Next, a processing system 8 including the resist film forming apparatus 7 will be described with reference to fig. 21. In the processing system 8, feedback control of the moving speed of the moving member 61 that moves to the second airflow control position is performed. The processing system 8 includes: a stage for placing a transport container 81 for accommodating wafers W, a transport mechanism 83, and a film thickness measuring device 82. The transport mechanism 83 is capable of transporting the wafer W taken out from the transport container 81 in the order of the resist film forming apparatus 7 and the film thickness measuring apparatus 82, and returning the wafer W to the transport container 81. In the figure, the solid arrows indicate the transport path of the wafer W, and the broken arrows indicate the transmission and reception of data. The film thickness measuring device 82 includes: a light projecting section for projecting light to each section of the surface of the wafer W; and a light receiving unit that receives the light irradiated by the light projecting unit and reflected by the film on the surface of the wafer W, and the light receiving unit transmits a detection signal corresponding to the light reception to the control unit 10. The control unit 10 performs film thickness measurement of the portion irradiated with light based on the detection signal.

Here, the wafer W which is first stored in the cup 3 of the resist film forming apparatus 7 and processed, and the wafer which is then stored in the cup 3 and processed will be referred to as W1 and W2, respectively, will be described. A resist film L3 is formed on the wafer W1 by the resist film forming apparatus 7, and a detection signal corresponding to the film thickness of each part is sent to the control part 10 by the film thickness measuring apparatus 82. The control unit 10 measures the film thickness of the resist film L3 at the peripheral edge portion thereof based on a detection signal obtained by irradiating light to the peripheral edge portion of the resist film L3. Then, when the wafer W2 is processed in the resist film forming apparatus 7, feedback control of the moving speed of the moving member 61 to the second air flow control position is performed.

This feedback control will be specifically described. When the detected film thickness of the peripheral edge portion of the wafer W1 is smaller than the predetermined reference value, the moving member 61 is moved at a movement speed that is increased by a predetermined amount with respect to the movement speed of the moving member 61 when the wafer W1 is processed to the second air flow control position. By disposing the moving member 61 at the second air flow control position at a timing earlier than the processing of the wafer W1 in this manner, the film thickness at the peripheral edge portion of the wafer W2 can be increased than the film thickness at the peripheral edge portion of the wafer W1. On the other hand, when the detected film thickness of the peripheral edge portion of the wafer W1 is larger than the predetermined reference value, the moving member 61 is moved at a movement speed that is lower by a predetermined amount than the movement speed of the moving member 61 when the wafer W1 is moved to the second air flow control position during the processing of the wafer W2. By disposing the moving member 61 at the second airflow control position at a timing later than the processing time of the wafer W1 in this manner, the film thickness at the peripheral edge portion of the wafer W2 can be reduced from that at the peripheral edge portion of the wafer W1.

Instead of changing the moving speed in this way, the timing at which the moving member 61 starts to move to the second airflow control position (timing t14 in fig. 14) may be changed. That is, the timing t14 is shifted while keeping a constant state between the timings t13 to t15 in the diagram described in fig. 14. A specific description will be given with reference to fig. 22 showing a change in rotational speed.

When the detected film thickness of the peripheral edge portion of the wafer W1 is smaller than the predetermined reference value, as shown in the left side of fig. 22, the time t14 of the moving member 61 when moving to the second air flow control position during the processing of the wafer W1 is advanced by a predetermined time during the processing of the wafer W2. This can lengthen the time for which the moving member 61 is located at the second air flow control position, and can increase the film thickness at the peripheral edge of the wafer W2 more than the film thickness at the peripheral edge of the wafer W1.

On the other hand, when the detected film thickness of the peripheral edge portion of the wafer W1 is larger than the predetermined reference value, as shown in the right side of fig. 22, the time t14 of the moving member 61 to the second air flow control position in the processing of the wafer W1 is delayed by a predetermined time in the processing of the wafer W2. This shortens the time for which the moving member 61 is positioned at the second air flow control position, and reduces the film thickness at the peripheral edge of the wafer W2 compared with the film thickness at the peripheral edge of the wafer W1. Further, it is also possible to perform feedback control that changes not only one of the moving speed of the moving member 61 and the timing of starting the movement (the timing at the second air flow control position), but also both.

In the resist film forming apparatus 7, after the wafer W is accommodated in the cup-shaped body 3, the moving member 61 may be moved from the reference position to a position slightly closer to the center side of the wafer W, and the moving member 61 may be moved from the position closer to the center side to the air flow control position at time t 14. In the case of performing the feedback control, the movement speed from the position near the center and/or the timing of starting the movement may be controlled.

In the first embodiment and the second embodiment, the opening changing unit 5 may be provided with only 1. However, in order to improve the uniformity of the processing in the circumferential direction of the wafer W, it is preferable that the plurality of opening changing units 5 be provided as described above, and that the moving members 61 be formed and arranged so as to be symmetrical with respect to the center of the wafer W in a plan view. As in the case of forming the annular ring 93 by the moving member described later, it is preferable to provide a plurality of opening changing means 5 in order to further improve the uniformity of the process in the circumferential direction by covering the entire peripheral edge portion of the wafer W. Further, in the case of providing a plurality of opening changing units 5 including the moving member 61, it is not limited to providing 2. For example, 4 rotation center points P of the spin chuck 11 may be provided in the front-rear direction and the left-right direction, respectively.

In the case of providing 2 opening changing units 5, the opening changing units 5 are not limited to the above-described examples, and may be provided on the left and right sides of the cup-shaped body 3, or may be provided on the front and rear sides of the cup-shaped body 3. However, as described above, the transport mechanism for the wafer W moves in the front-rear direction and is located on the cup-shaped body 3. The opening changing means 5 is provided on the left and right sides of the cup-shaped body 3, and the overlapping area of the opening changing means 5 and the movement path of the conveying mechanism can be made smaller than that provided on the front and rear sides of the cup-shaped body 3, so that it is preferable in terms of easy design in suppressing interference with each other at a limited height above the cup-shaped body 3.

The moving member is not limited to the above examples. Fig. 23 is a perspective view showing another example of the moving member. The moving member 91 shown in fig. 23 is different from the moving member 61 in that it includes a base 92 instead of the base 62. The base 92 is formed in a band shape forming an arc in a plan view, and a hanging portion 63 is formed at a central portion in the longitudinal direction of the band so as to protrude downward at a portion near the central portion of the cup-shaped body 3.

Fig. 24 and 25 show the cup-shaped body 3 including the opening changing unit 5 provided with the moving member 91 instead of the moving member 61, fig. 24 shows a state in the reference position, and fig. 25 shows a state in the air flow control position. The moving member 91 at the reference position does not overlap the wafer W in a plan view, as in the case of the moving member 61 at the reference position. The moving members 91 are connected to each other at the ends of the base 92 of the moving member 91 to form a circular ring 93 when they are positioned at the air flow control position. The ring 93 extends along the rim of the upper wall opening 37 and extends from a position closer to the center of the cup 3 than the rim to a position outside the rim in a plan view. Therefore, no gap is formed between the ring 93 and the upper wall opening 37 in plan view.

The entire peripheral edge of the wafer W is covered with the ring 93 in plan view. By covering the entire peripheral edge portion in this manner, the drying speed can be further increased, and also, when each process is performed on the wafer W using the processing liquid, the process variation in the circumferential direction can be more reliably suppressed, which is preferable.

The hanging portion 63 may not be provided in the moving member. However, as described above, in order to increase the drying rate of the processing liquid on the wafer W, the hanging portion 63 is preferably provided. In the above-described example, the hanging portion 63 is provided, but the lower end of the hanging portion 63 is located below the height H of the lower end of the upper wall opening 37.

The moving mechanism 51 of the opening changing unit 5 is not limited to an air cylinder, and may be a hydraulic cylinder. May be a gas other than air. Therefore, the fluid that adjusts the pressure in the moving mechanism 51 to move the moving member 61 is not limited to air. Further, the cylinder is not limited to a single-acting cylinder. The present invention is not limited to the use of the moving mechanism 51 that uses pressure change caused by supply and removal of fluid, and the moving member 61 may be moved by a moving mechanism having a drive source operated by electric power such as a motor.

In the second embodiment, an example of forming a resist film as a coating film is shown, but the coating film is not limited to the resist film, and may be an antireflection film or an insulating film, for example. Therefore, the coating liquid for forming each of these films can be used as the treatment liquid. In the second embodiment, the moving member 61 is preferably moved to the air flow control position after the start of the release of the resist L2 as described above, but the nozzle 71 may be moved from the standby unit 28 to the wafer W in the Y direction after the moving member 61 is moved to the air flow control position, so that the start of the release of the resist L2 may be started. In the case of moving the nozzles 71 in this way, when the opening changing means 5 is arranged in the front-rear direction (X direction) on the cup-shaped body 3 as described above, the nozzles 71 move between the opening changing means 5 in a plan view. That is, there is no need to move above the opening changing unit 5. Because of this, the interference of the opening changing unit 5 with the nozzle 71 can be suppressed, preventing an increase in the apparatus.

In each of the embodiments, the substrate to be processed is not limited to a wafer, and may be, for example, a substrate (substrate) for manufacturing a flat panel display or a mask substrate (mask substrate) for manufacturing a mask for exposure. Thus, square substrates can also be processed.

The presently disclosed embodiments are considered in all respects as illustrative and not restrictive. The above-described embodiments may be omitted, substituted, altered, and combined in various ways without departing from the appended claims and the gist thereof.

Claims

1. A liquid treatment method, comprising:

a receiving step, making the opening area of the cup-shaped body a first area and receiving the substrate in the cup-shaped body;

a processing step of supplying a processing liquid to the substrate held by a substrate holding portion provided in the cup-shaped body, and then rotating the substrate together with the substrate holding portion to remove the processing liquid and dry the substrate; and

The changing step changes the opening area of the cup-shaped body so that the opening area of the cup-shaped body becomes a second area smaller than the first area during the period of performing the processing step.

2. The liquid treatment method according to claim 1, characterized in that:

The cup-shaped body comprises:

a cup-shaped body including a side wall surrounding the substrate holding portion, and an upper wall extending from the side wall toward the center of the cup-shaped body above the substrate holding portion; and

a moving member that can be driven by a moving mechanism to move relative to the cup-shaped body and forms an opening of the cup-shaped body,

The moving member is provided with a hanging portion, which hangs down from the upper wall opening surrounded by the inner edge of the upper wall and has a lower end that is the same height as or lower than the lower end of the upper wall opening.

The changing step includes the following steps: moving the plurality of movable components which are relatively arranged with the center of the substrate in between when viewed from above, respectively, from a first position forming the first area to a second position forming the second area which is closer to the center of the substrate than the first position when viewed from above.

3. The liquid treatment method according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that:

The changing step is performed after starting to supply the processing liquid to the substrate.

4. The liquid treatment method according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that:

The processing liquid is supplied to the substrate in a state where the opening area is the second area.

5. The liquid treatment method according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that:

The second area includes: an area; and another area smaller than the one area,

The changing step includes the steps of making the opening area the other area during the process of releasing the processing liquid onto the substrate, and making the opening area the one area after releasing the processing liquid onto the substrate to dry the substrate.

6. The liquid treatment method according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that:

The treatment liquid is a coating liquid for forming a film on the surface of the substrate.

The processing steps include the following steps:

In the process of releasing the processing liquid onto the substrate, the rotation speed of the substrate is set to a first rotation speed,

Next, after the release of the processing liquid is completed, the rotation speed of the substrate is set to a second rotation speed lower than the first rotation speed,

Next, the substrate is rotated at a third rotation speed higher than the second rotation speed to dry the processing liquid.

The changing step comprises the following steps:

The opening area is set to the second area during a period after a time point midway between a period of rotation at the first rotation speed and a period of rotation at the third rotation speed,

The opening area is made larger than the second area during a period from the period of rotation at the second rotation speed to the midpoint of the period of rotation at the third rotation speed.

7. The liquid treatment method according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that:

The changing steps include:

A first moving step of causing a moving member that can be moved by a moving mechanism and forms the opening of the cup-shaped body to move to a position where the second area is formed at a first speed so as to release the processing liquid toward the substrate in a state where the opening area is the second area;

Next, a second moving step of moving the moving member from a position where the second area is formed so that the opening area is larger than the second area; and

Next, the moving member is moved to a position where the second area is formed at a second speed lower than the first speed, so that a third moving step of drying the substrate is performed with the opening area being the second area.

8. The liquid treatment method according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that:

The substrate comprises: a first substrate which is first received in the cup-shaped body and processed; and a second substrate which is received in the cup-shaped body and processed after the first substrate.

The changing steps include:

a moving step of causing a moving member that can be moved by a moving mechanism and forms the opening of the cup-shaped body to move from a position where an opening area larger than the second area is formed to a position where the second area is formed after the processing liquid is supplied to the substrate,

The liquid treatment method comprises:

a step of photographing the first substrate during the processing step using a photographing unit; and

A step of determining, based on a result of the imaging, a timing or a moving speed at which the moving member starts moving to a position where the second area is formed in a processing step of the second substrate.

9. The liquid treatment method according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that:

The substrate comprises: a first substrate which is first fed into the cup-shaped body and processed; and a second substrate which is fed into the cup-shaped body and processed after the first substrate.

The changing steps include:

a moving step of moving a moving member that can be moved by a moving mechanism and forms the opening of the cup-shaped body from a position where an opening area larger than the second area is formed to a position where the second area is formed,

The liquid treatment method comprises:

a measuring step of measuring a thickness of the film formed on the first substrate; and

A step of determining, based on the measurement result obtained in the measuring step, a timing or a moving speed at which the moving member starts moving to a position where the second area is formed in the processing step of the second substrate.

10. A liquid processing device, comprising:

A cup-shaped body, whose opening area is a first area for receiving the substrate;

A substrate holding portion, which is used to hold the substrate in the cup-shaped body and rotate the substrate;

a processing liquid supplying portion for supplying a processing liquid to the substrate held by the substrate holding portion; and

A changing mechanism capable of changing the opening area of the cup-shaped body so that during the period in which a processing liquid is supplied to the substrate held by the substrate holding portion arranged in the cup-shaped body and then the substrate is rotated together with the substrate holding portion to remove the processing liquid and dry the substrate, the opening area of the cup-shaped body becomes a second area smaller than the first area.

11. A computer program product, characterized in that:

The invention comprises a computer program which, when executed by a processor, can implement a liquid treatment method comprising the following steps: