JP2000002484A - Heat treatment equipment - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] [PROBLEMS] To uniformly heat-treat a substrate without using a large mounting table. SOLUTION: A groove 52 surrounding the outer periphery of an LCD substrate G is provided on the upper surface of a heating table 42, and the outer periphery of the LCD substrate G is formed so as to be arranged at a certain distance from the groove 52. Then, a lid 54 capable of sealing the inside of the groove 52 is attached to the heating table 42. Since the amount of heat transferred to the outer periphery of the heating table 42 is smaller than before, the heating table 42
The heat radiation from the outer periphery can be suppressed more than before.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a heat treatment apparatus for heat treating a substrate such as a mounted LCD substrate.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Generally, in a manufacturing process of a liquid crystal display device (LCD), for example, an ITO
In order to form a thin film (Indium Tin Oxide) and an electrode pattern, a photolithography technique is used as in the case of the semiconductor manufacturing process. This photolithography technique includes a resist coating step of applying a resist solution to the surface of an LCD substrate, an exposure step of exposing a circuit pattern to the formed resist film, and an L step after the exposure processing.
It has various processing steps such as a development processing step of supplying a developing solution to the CD substrate.

[0003] Among these processing steps, between the resist coating step and the exposure processing step, a heat treatment step of evaporating and removing a solvent in the resist film is performed in order to improve the adhesion between the LCD substrate and the resist film. Have been done. The heat treatment apparatus used in this step is provided with elevating pins that can move up and down while supporting the LCD substrate, and a rectangular heating table that can heat the LCD substrate. A heating element such as a heater is built in the heating mounting table, and the LCD substrate carried into the heat processing apparatus is heated by the heat from the heating mounting table.

In order to improve the yield, it is necessary to uniformly supply heat to the entire surface of the LCD substrate and to uniformly evaporate and remove the solvent contained in the resist film from the LCD substrate. However, the conventional heating mounting table has a large amount of heat radiation from the peripheral portion, and heat may not be uniformly supplied to the LCD substrate. Therefore, conventionally, in order to reduce such an influence, a large-sized heating mounting table capable of supplying heat capable of evaporating and removing the solvent from the resist film to the LCD substrate has been used.

[0005]

However, when a large heating table is used, the size of the heating apparatus cannot be reduced. In addition, the cost for manufacturing and assembling the heating mounting table increases.

The present invention has been made in view of the above, and an object of the present invention is to provide a heat treatment apparatus capable of uniformly heat treating a substrate without using a large mounting table.

[0007]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a heat treatment apparatus for mounting a substrate on a mounting table and performing heat treatment on the mounting table. And a groove surrounding the outer periphery of the substrate.

According to the heat treatment apparatus of the first aspect, since the atmosphere inside the groove blocks the propagation of heat, the amount of heat transmitted to the outer periphery of the mounting table is smaller than in the prior art. Therefore, the amount of heat radiation from the outer periphery of the mounting table is smaller than in the related art. As a result, the in-plane temperature distribution of the mounting table is made more uniform, and a uniform heat treatment can be performed on the substrate without using a large mounting table.

By the way, the in-plane temperature near the groove of the mounting table is lower than the uniform in-plane temperature near the center of the mounting table due to heat radiation from the inner surface of the groove. Claim 2 has been made in view of this point, and in the heat treatment apparatus of Claim 1, the groove is provided at a predetermined interval from the outer periphery of the substrate mounted on the upper surface of the mounting table. And
According to this configuration, since a predetermined interval is provided between the outer periphery of the substrate and the groove, a uniform amount of heat near the center of the mounting table is supplied to the mounted substrate. Therefore, a more uniform heat treatment can be performed on the substrate.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the heat treatment apparatus of the first or second aspect, a lid for sealing the groove is provided. According to this configuration, since the atmosphere in the groove is sealed by the lid, the amount of heat released from the groove of the mounting table is further reduced.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, in the heat treatment apparatus of the first, second or third aspect, a heat insulating material is disposed in the groove. According to this configuration, the amount of heat transmitted to the outer periphery of the mounting table is further reduced due to the heat insulating material arranged in the groove. Therefore, the amount of heat radiation from the outer periphery of the mounting table is further reduced.

[0012]

Preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings. This embodiment is embodied as a heat treatment device incorporated in a coating and developing treatment device. 1 is a perspective view of the coating and developing apparatus, and FIG. 2 is a plan view of the coating and developing apparatus.

The coating and developing apparatus 1 is, for example, a rectangular L
A loader unit 2 for loading / unloading the CD substrate G, a first processing unit 3 for processing the LCD substrate G, and a second processing unit connected via the first processing unit 3 and the relay unit 4 5 and this second
LC between the processing unit 5 and, for example, an exposure apparatus (not shown)
And an interface unit 7 for transmitting and receiving the D board G.

The loader section 2 is provided with a cassette mounting table 10 which stores cassettes 11 for storing unprocessed LCD substrates G and processed LCD substrates G, for example. Cassettes 12, 12
Are placed in a line with the entrance of the LCD substrate G facing the first processing unit 3 side. The loader unit 2 is provided with a sub-transport device 13 that can transport the LCD substrate.

The sub-transport device 13 is provided with a direction (Y direction) along the transport rail 13a and an LCD in each of the cassettes 11 and 12.
It is movable in the storage direction (Z direction) of the substrate G, and θ
It is configured to be rotatable in any direction. The sub-transport device 13 is configured to be able to access the transfer table 14 on which the LCD substrate G can be placed.

In the first processing section 3, various processing apparatuses for performing predetermined processing on the LCD substrate G are arranged on both sides of the transport rail 16 of the main transport apparatus 15. That is,
On one side of the transport rail 16, a scrubber cleaning device 17 for cleaning the LCD substrate G taken out of each of the cassettes 11, 11 and a developing device 18 for performing a developing process on the LCD substrate G are arranged side by side. On the other side of the transport rail 16, an ultraviolet / ozone cleaning device 19, cooling devices 20 and 21 for cooling the LCD substrate G, and a heat processing device 22 for heating the LCD substrate G are appropriately arranged in multiple stages. I have. The loading and unloading of the LCD substrate G to and from these various processing apparatuses is performed by a transfer arm 15a provided in the main transfer device 15. Note that the relay unit 4 formed between the first processing unit 3 and a second processing unit 5 described later includes:
A delivery table 23 on which the LCD substrate G can be placed is provided.

The second processing section 5 includes, on one side of the main transfer device 25 with the transfer rail 26 interposed therebetween, the coating / peripheral portion removal device 2.
7 is disposed, and on the other side of the transfer rail 26,
Hydrophobizing device 28 for performing hydrophobizing treatment on LCD substrate G
And a cooling processing device 29 for cooling the LCD substrate G and heat processing devices 30 and 30 for heating the LCD substrate G after resist application. The main transfer device 25 is provided with a transfer arm 25a for transferring the LCD substrate G into and out of various processing devices belonging to the second processing unit 5.

In order to adjust the tact time between the coating and developing apparatus 1 and the exposure apparatus (not shown), the interface section 7 has cassettes 31 for temporarily storing and waiting the LCD substrate G, and an LCD substrate G A transfer table 32 on which G can be placed, and a sub-transfer device 33 that can transfer the LCD substrate G to each of the cassettes 31, 31, the transfer table 32, and an exposure device (not shown) are provided.

The coating and developing apparatus 1 is configured as described above. Next, the heat treatment apparatus 3 according to the present embodiment
0 will be described.

As shown in FIG. 3, the heat treatment device 30
A processing chamber 40 for heating the CD substrate G is formed. The processing chamber 40 has a rectangular heating mounting table 42 made of a material such as aluminum and a heating element 41 such as a heater, and a heating mounting table 42. A shutter 43 surrounding the shutter 42 is provided.

The shutter 43 is vertically movable by an elevating cylinder 44. When the shutter 43 is lifted, the shutter 43 comes into contact with a stopper 47 which is suspended from a cover 46 having an exhaust port 45 at the upper center. Thus, the processing chamber 40 is formed. Stopper 47
Is provided with an air supply port (not shown), and the air flowing into the processing chamber 40 from the air supply port (not shown) is exhausted from the exhaust port 45.

The processing chamber 40 is provided with elevating pins 48 capable of supporting the LCD substrate G. Lifting pin 48
Is formed so as to be vertically movable by driving a motor 49, and is formed so as to be able to support the LCD substrate G at a position indicated by a two-dot chain line. Then, when the lifting pins 48 are lowered from this state, the LCD substrate G is mounted on the heating mounting table 42 as shown by a solid line. Note that LC
When the D substrate G is mounted on the heating mounting table 42, it is supported by the proximity pins 51.

As shown in FIGS. 4 and 5, the heating table 42 is provided with a groove 52 surrounding the entire periphery of the mounted LCD substrate G. When the LCD substrate G is mounted on the heating mounting table 42, a predetermined interval is formed between the outer periphery of the LCD substrate G and the groove 52.

Further, as shown in FIG. 6, a hollow lid 54 made of, for example, fluororesin having low thermal conductivity is attached to the heating mounting table 42. The lid 54 is fixed to the heating table 42 by fixing means such as a clamp (not shown). When the lid 54 is fixed to the heating table 42, the inside of the groove 52 can be kept airtight.

The heat treatment apparatus 30 according to the embodiment of the present invention is configured as described above. Next, the operation and effect of the heat treatment device 30 will be described.

When the cassette 11 containing the unprocessed LCD substrate G is mounted on the cassette mounting table 10, the sub-transport device 13 accesses the cassette 11 and removes the LCD substrate G by one.
Remove the sheets. Next, the sub-transport device 13 transports the LCD substrate G to the transfer table 14 provided in the loader unit 2 and transfers the LCD substrate G to the transfer table 14.

Next, the LCD substrate G is mounted on the main transfer device 1
The organic contaminants adhered to the LCD substrate G are transported to the ultraviolet / ozone cleaning device 19 while being held by the transport arm 15a. After that, the ozone cleaning is completed.
The CD substrate G is transferred to the scrubber cleaning device 17 by the main transfer device 15 and subjected to scrub cleaning processing, and then transferred to the transfer table 23 while being held by the transfer arm 15a again.

The LCD substrate G transferred to the transfer table 23 is transferred to the hydrophobizing device 28 while being held by the transfer arm 25a of the main transfer device 25. Then, the LCD substrate G that has been subjected to the hydrophobizing process is again transferred to the transfer arm 25
While being held at a, it is transported to the coating / peripheral part removing device 27.

The LCD substrate G from which the resist solution has been applied by the coating / periphery removing device 27 and the unnecessary resist film on the peripheral portion has been removed is heated by the transfer arm 25a.
Transported to

At this time, the LCD substrate G is moved from above the lowered shutter 43 to the transfer arm 25a as shown in FIG.
At the same time, it enters the processing chamber 40 and is supported on the ascending and descending pins 48 indicated by the dashed line. And the transfer arm 25
After retracting a from the processing chamber 40, the shutter 43 is raised to make the processing chamber 40 airtight. Thereafter, the LCD substrate G is lowered from the position shown by the dashed line in FIG. 8 to the position shown by the solid line in FIG. 8 together with the lifting pins 48, and the LCD substrate G is supported on the proximity pins 51. Proximity pin 5
The LCD substrate G supported on 1 is heated by heat from the heating mounting table 42.

After the completion of the heating process, the lift pins 48 are raised and the shutter 43 is lowered. Next, the transfer arm 25a enters the processing chamber 40 and receives the LCD substrate G from the elevating pins 48, and then exits from the processing chamber 40 while holding the LCD substrate G. Heat treatment device 30
The LCD substrate G carried out from the
It is transferred to the upper side, and is then transferred to the exposure device (not shown) by the sub-transport device 33.

In the heat treatment apparatus 30 according to the embodiment of the present invention, since the grooves 52 are provided on the surface of the heating mounting table 42, the amount of heat moving to the outer periphery of the heating mounting table 42 is smaller than in the prior art. Therefore, since the amount of heat radiation from the outer periphery of the heating table 42 is reduced, the in-plane temperature distribution of the heating table 42 becomes more uniform. As a result, it is possible to perform a uniform heating process on the LCD substrate G without using a large heating mounting table as in the related art.

Further, due to heat radiation from the inner peripheral surface of the groove 52, the in-plane temperature of the heating table 42 near the groove 52 is reduced.
Although the temperature is lower than the uniform in-plane temperature at the center, in the present embodiment, since the LCD substrate G is mounted at a position spaced from the groove 52 by a predetermined distance, the LCD substrate G is uniformly heated from the heating mounting table 42. Heat is supplied. Therefore, it is possible to perform a uniform heating process on the LCD substrate G.

The atmosphere inside the groove 52 is
, The amount of heat released from the groove 52 of the heating table 42 is further reduced. Therefore, the heating table 4
Since the in-plane temperature distribution of No. 2 becomes more uniform, the heat treatment on the LCD substrate G can be performed more uniformly.

In the above embodiment, the amount of heat moving to the outer periphery of the heating table 42 in the atmosphere inside the groove 52 is reduced. However, in the present invention, the heating according to another embodiment is replaced with this. It is also possible to propose a processing device 60.

As shown in FIG. 9, in the heat treatment apparatus 60, a heat insulating material 61 having a low thermal conductivity, such as a fluororesin, is disposed inside the groove 52. According to such a configuration, the amount of heat transmitted to the outer periphery of the heating mounting table 42 is blocked by the heat insulating material 61 and reduced. Accordingly, since the amount of heat radiation from the outer periphery of the heating table 42 becomes smaller,
The temperature distribution in the plane becomes more uniform. As a result, similar to the above embodiment, even if a large heating table is not used,
It is possible to perform a uniform heating process on the LCD substrate G.

The heat insulating material 6 to be arranged inside the groove 52
1 may be arranged so as to protrude from the upper surface of the heating table 42 as shown in FIG.

According to this configuration, the flow of air around the LCD substrate G inside the processing chamber 40 is blocked by the heat insulating material 61. As a result, a change in the in-plane temperature of the LCD substrate G can be prevented, and uniform heating of the LCD substrate G can be performed more reliably.

In the above embodiment, the heat treatment apparatus 30 for heating the LCD substrate G after resist application has been described as an example. However, the present invention is not limited to such an example.
The present invention can be applied not only to the heat treatment device 22 after the development process but also to, for example, the hydrophobic treatment device 28. Although the lid 54 is described as having a hollow rectangular shape, the groove 52
It may be formed in any shape as long as the inside can be made airtight.

Further, the heat insulating material 61 may be arranged inside the groove 52 and the cover 54 may be attached to the heating table 42. According to this configuration, the heating mounting table 42
Can further reduce the amount of heat transmitted to the outer periphery.
The substrate that can be used in the present invention is not limited to the LCD substrate G as in the above embodiment, but may be, for example, a CD substrate or a semiconductor wafer.

[0041]

According to the first to fourth aspects of the present invention, since the amount of heat radiation from the outer periphery of the mounting table is reduced, the in-plane temperature of the mounting table becomes more uniform than before. Therefore, a uniform heat treatment can be performed on the substrate without using a conventional large mounting table.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, since the substrate is placed at a predetermined distance from the groove, a uniform amount of heat is supplied to the substrate without being affected by heat generated from the groove. Therefore, uniform heat treatment of the substrate can be performed more reliably.

According to the third aspect of the present invention, since the amount of heat released from the grooves provided in the mounting table is reduced, the in-plane temperature distribution of the mounting table becomes more uniform.

According to the fourth aspect of the present invention, the amount of heat transmitted to the outer periphery of the mounting table is further reduced because of the heat insulating material disposed in the groove. Therefore, the amount of heat radiation from the outer periphery of the mounting table is further reduced.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing the appearance of a coating and developing apparatus having a heat processing apparatus according to an embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a plan view of the coating and developing apparatus of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view of the heat treatment apparatus according to the embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a perspective view showing a configuration of a heating mounting table and a lid provided in the heat treatment apparatus of FIG. 3;

FIG. 5 is a sectional view of the heating stage of FIG. 4;

FIG. 6 is a cross-sectional view showing a state in which the inside of the heating mounting table of FIG. 4 is sealed with a lid.

FIG. 7 is an explanatory view showing a state in which an LCD substrate is carried into the heat treatment apparatus of FIG. 3;

FIG. 8 is an explanatory diagram showing a state where the LCD substrate is placed on the heating placing table from the state of FIG. 7;

FIG. 9 is a cross-sectional view of a heat treatment apparatus according to another embodiment.

FIG. 10 is an explanatory diagram showing a state in which the flow of air supplied into the processing chamber is blocked by a heat insulating material protruding from the upper surface of the heating mounting table.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Coating development processing apparatus 30 Heat processing apparatus 42 Heating mounting table 52 Groove 54 Cover body 61 Insulation material G LCD board

 ──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on the front page F term (reference) 2H090 HB07X HC18 3L113 AA01 AB06 AC08 AC45 AC46 AC48 AC49 AC52 AC53 AC54 AC63 AC64 AC75 AC76 AC90 BA34 DA02 DA04 DA06 DA11 DA14 DA20 5F046 KA04 KA07

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A heat treatment apparatus for mounting a substrate on a mounting table and performing heat treatment, wherein a groove surrounding an outer periphery of the substrate mounted on the upper surface of the mounting table is provided. 2. The heat treatment apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the groove is provided at a predetermined interval from an outer periphery of the substrate mounted on the upper surface of the mounting table. 3. The heat treatment apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a lid for sealing the groove. 4. The heat treatment apparatus according to claim 1, wherein a heat insulating material is disposed in the groove.