JP2002001240A - Spin processing device - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) Abstract: An object of the present invention is to provide a spin processing apparatus in which liquid scattered from a substrate to be processed while being rotated is prevented from re-adhering. SOLUTION: In a spin processing apparatus for performing a cleaning process and a drying process by rotating a substrate 11, a spin cup 16 is provided.
A rotary table 8 provided in the spin cup and holding and rotating the substrate; and a rotary table provided radially outside the rotary table and above the substrate held by the rotary table. And an anti-reflection nozzle body 42 for injecting gas in a direction intersecting with the liquid scattered from the rotating substrate to prevent the liquid from being reflected by the spin cup and attached to the substrate.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a spin processing apparatus for processing a substrate by rotating a substrate using a rotating table.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art For example, in a process of manufacturing a liquid crystal display device or a semiconductor device, there are a film forming process and a photo process for forming a circuit pattern on a substrate such as a glass substrate or a semiconductor wafer. In these processes, processing of the substrate with a processing liquid, cleaning and drying of the cleaned substrate are performed. When performing such processing on a substrate, a spin processing apparatus is used which holds the substrate on a rotating table, rotates the substrate with the rotating table, and utilizes the centrifugal force generated thereby.

In general, a spin processing apparatus has a processing tank,
A spin cup is arranged in the processing tank. The spin cup has an open upper surface, and a rotary table is provided inside. The substrate is held on the turntable.

[0004] A discharge pipe is connected to the bottom of the cup body. The discharge pipe penetrates the bottom wall of the processing tank and is led out to the outside, and is connected to an exhaust pump via a gas-liquid separator.

Therefore, if the exhaust pump is operated,
The air and the processing liquid in the cup body are discharged to the outside from the discharge pipe.

In the case of drying a substrate, for example, which has been washed by the spin processing apparatus, the substrate is held on a rotary table and the rotary table is rotated at a high speed, whereby the processing liquid attached to the substrate is scattered by centrifugal force. And let it dry. The processing liquid scattered from the substrate is discharged from the inside of the cup by the suction force generated in the discharge pipe.

[0007]

When the substrate is rotated at a high speed to scatter the processing liquid in the circumferential direction (almost tangential direction) of the substrate, the processing liquid collides with the inner peripheral surface of the cup body. To reflect and become mist-like.

[0008] Even if the inside of the cup is sucked by the exhaust pipe, the processing liquid reflected by the inner peripheral surface of the cup and formed into a mist is reliably exhausted to the exhaust pipe by the suction force. However, some of them return to the substrate and re-attach, thus causing contamination of the substrate.

According to the present invention, when spin-treating a substrate,
An object of the present invention is to provide a spin processing apparatus in which liquid scattered from a substrate is prevented from being reflected and re-attached by a spin cup and causing contamination of the substrate.

[0010]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a spin processing apparatus for performing a cleaning process and a drying process by rotating a substrate, a spin cup, a substrate provided in the spin cup, and holding and rotating the substrate. Injects gas in a direction intersecting with the liquid that is scattered from the driven rotary table and the substrate that is provided radially outward of the rotary table and above the substrate held by the rotary table and that rotates with the rotary table. And an anti-reflection nozzle for preventing the liquid from being reflected by the spin cup and adhering to the substrate.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the anti-reflection nozzle body, a plurality of nozzle holes for injecting gas are formed in an annular shape along the circumferential direction of the rotary table and in a plurality of annular shapes along the radial direction. The spin processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the spin processing apparatus is formed.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the spin processing apparatus according to the first aspect, the amount of gas supplied to the anti-reflection nozzle body is increased in accordance with an increase in the number of rotations of the rotary table. is there.

According to the first aspect of the present invention, most of the liquid scattered from the substrate or the liquid reflected on the inner peripheral surface of the spin cup by the gas ejected from the anti-reflection nozzle body flows in the same direction as the gas, Redeposition to the substrate is prevented.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, since the nozzle holes for injecting gas into the anti-reflection nozzle body are formed in a plurality of rings along the radial direction, the liquid scattered from the substrate or the liquid reflected by the spin cup is formed. Therefore, the probability that the gas from the nozzle body collides with the liquid becomes high, so that the liquid scattered from the substrate hardly adheres to the substrate.

According to the third aspect of the invention, when the number of rotations of the turntable increases and the centrifugal force at which the liquid scatters from the substrate increases, the pressure of the gas ejected from the anti-reflection nozzle body also increases. The traveling direction of the liquid scattered from the substrate can be changed by the gas from the antireflection nozzle body.

[0016]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIGS. 1 to 3 show a first embodiment of the present invention. The spin processing apparatus shown in FIG. The gantry 1 has a lower plate 2 and an upper plate 4 held at a predetermined interval in the upper direction of the lower plate 2 by a leg 3 erected on the upper surface of the lower plate 2. Has a treatment tank 5
Is installed.

The processing tank 5 has a rectangular cylindrical shape with an open upper surface, and its peripheral wall is formed as a tapered wall 5a whose outer dimensions gradually decrease from a middle part in the height direction toward the upper end. A clean air unit 7 is attached to an upper wall 6 of the processing tank 5.

The clean air unit 7 is for purifying a downflow (indicated by an arrow in the drawing) blown down from a ceiling of a clean room in which a spin processing device is installed, and introducing the downflow into the processing tank 5. Further, the clean air in the clean room is further purified by a filter such as HEPA and introduced into the processing tank 1.

A rotary table 8 is provided inside the processing tank 5. A plurality of support members 9 are provided on the upper surface of the turntable 8 at predetermined intervals in a circumferential direction, and a substrate 11 such as a semiconductor wafer is detachably held on the support members 9.

An opening 12 is formed at the bottom of the processing tank 5, and a drive shaft 13a, which is driven to rotate by a motor 13, is inserted through the opening 12, and the rotary table 8 is mounted on the upper end of the drive shaft 13a. Are linked.

The motor 13 is mounted on a vertical drive mechanism 14. Thereby, the turntable 8 becomes
It is rotationally driven by the motor 13 and is further vertically driven by the vertical drive mechanism 14 together with the motor 13. In addition, the vertical drive mechanism 14 is a lower plate 2
It is installed on a mounting member 15 above.

A spin cup 1 is provided on the inner bottom of the processing tank 5.
6 are provided. The rotating table 8 is accommodated in the spin cup 16, that is, in the processing space 17.

A discharge pipe 2 is provided at the bottom of the spin cup 16.
2 are connected. This discharge pipe 22 is connected to a gas-liquid separator 23.
Is connected to a discharge pump (not shown). The gas-liquid separator 23 separates gas and liquid, and the liquid is
The gas is exhausted through, for example, the atmosphere 4. Therefore, when the discharge pump operates, the gas and liquid in the spin cup 16 are discharged through the discharge pipe 22.

Although only one exhaust pipe 22 is shown in FIG. 1, a plurality of exhaust pipes 22 are provided at predetermined intervals in the circumferential direction of the spin cup 16, and the exhaust in the spin cup 16 is uniformly distributed in the circumferential direction. Can do it.

The opening 1 formed at the bottom of the processing tank 5
2, a cylindrical shielding wall 25 is provided.
The upper end of the shielding wall 25 is opposed to the inner peripheral surface of a ring-shaped member 26 provided around the lower surface of the turntable 8 with a slight gap. This prevents the processing liquid scattered in the processing space 17 through the opening 12 from flowing out to the outer bottom of the processing tank 5.

The bottom of the processing space 17 of the processing tank 5
The inclined surface 27 is formed to be gradually lower as going from the radial center portion to the peripheral portion, and the discharge pipe 22 is connected to the lowest position of the inclined surface 27.

When the rotary table 8 is driven in the ascending direction by the vertical drive mechanism 14, the substrate 11 held on the rotary table 8 projects above the upper end surface of the spin cup 16.

An access port 32 is formed on one side of the processing tank 5. This inlet / outlet 32 is a cylinder 3
The shutter 3 is opened and closed by a shutter 34 driven in the vertical direction by the shutter 3.

When the rotary table 8 is driven in the ascending direction and the access port 32 is opened, the access port 3 is opened.
The unprocessed substrate 11 held on the turntable 8 can be taken out or the unprocessed substrate 11 can be supplied by a hand of a robot (not shown) capable of entering the apparatus 2. The processing liquid is sprayed onto the unprocessed substrate 11 from a cleaning nozzle body 35 provided above the turntable 8. Examples of the processing liquid include a cleaning liquid, an etching liquid, a stripping liquid for stripping the resist, and the like. In this embodiment, a cleaning liquid for cleaning the substrate 11 is supplied.

The upper part of the peripheral wall of the spin cup 16 is formed on an annular inclined wall 41 inclined inward in the radial direction. The inner diameter of the inclined wall 41 is formed to be larger than the outer dimension of the turntable 8, and an antireflection nozzle body 42 is provided on the lower surface over the entire length in the circumferential direction.

A large number of nozzle holes 43 are formed in the anti-reflection nozzle body 42 as shown in FIGS.
Each nozzle hole 43 is provided on the substrate 11 held on the turntable 8.
Are formed in a substantially vertical direction that intersects with the horizontal direction formed by the plate surfaces.

The nozzle hole 43 is provided in the rotary table 8.
A first nozzle group 43a arranged annularly radially outward from the outer peripheral surface of the second nozzle group; a second nozzle group 43b arranged annularly sequentially radially outward of the first nozzle group 43; It comprises a third nozzle group 43c. The nozzle holes 43 of the first nozzle group 43a and the nozzle holes 43 of the second nozzle group 43b are arranged so as to be displaced in the circumferential direction, and similarly, the second nozzle group 43b and the third nozzle group 43c The nozzle holes 43 are also formed with their positions shifted in the circumferential direction.

The antireflection nozzle body 42 has an annular communication passage 44 communicating with the nozzle holes 43 of the nozzle groups 43a to 43c. A supply pipe 45 for supplying a pressurized gas such as air containing no nitrogen or particles is connected to the communication path 44. The supply pipe 45 has an opening / closing control valve 4 whose opening is controlled by a control device (not shown).
6 are provided. The opening degree of the opening / closing control valve 46 is automatically controlled by the control device according to the rotation speed of the turntable 8. That is, as the rotation speed of the turntable 8 increases, the opening degree of the opening / closing control valve 46 increases, whereby the nozzle hole 43
The pressure of the pressurized gas injected from is increased.

A flange 45 is formed on the inner peripheral surface of the anti-reflection nozzle body 42. This flange 45
This prevents the cleaning liquid injected from the cleaning nozzle 35 from entering the nozzle hole 43 and prevents the direction of gas injection from the nozzle hole 43 from being affected by the cleaning liquid.

Next, the operation in the case where the substrate 11 is cleaned with the processing liquid by the spin processing apparatus having the above configuration and then dried is described.

Processing tank 5 closed by shutter 34
The opening 32 is opened and the vertical drive mechanism 1 is opened.
4 is operated to raise the turntable 8 to a position protruding upward from the upper end of the spin cup 16.

Next, when the substrate 11 is supplied to the rotary table 8 by a robot (not shown), the rotary table 8 is lowered to close the slot 32. Next,
After the suction pump is operated to generate a suction force in the discharge pipe 22, the rotary table 8 is rotated by the motor 13. Further, a cleaning liquid is supplied from the cleaning nozzle body 35 toward the upper surface of the substrate 11. Thereby, the upper surface of the substrate 11 is cleaned by the cleaning liquid.

After the cleaning, the rotary table 8 is rotated at a high speed without supplying the cleaning liquid from the cleaning nozzle body 35, and a pressurized gas is supplied to the antireflection nozzle body 42 so as to be directed downward from the nozzle hole 43. And spray it.

From the substrate 11 which rotates at high speed together with the rotary table 8, the cleaning liquid attached to the substrate 11 is scattered in the tangential direction of the substrate 11 by centrifugal force. Substrate 1
The liquid scattered from the nozzle 1 is provided with the anti-reflection nozzle body 42.
The gas injected downward from the nozzle hole 43 collides. Thereby, the flow direction of the liquid ejected from the substrate 11 is changed by the gas, falls with the gas to the bottom of the spin cup 16, and is sucked and discharged from the discharge pipe 22.

The liquid that has reached the inner peripheral surface of the spin cup 16 without colliding with the gas ejected from the nozzle hole 43 of the antireflection nozzle body 42 is reflected by the inner peripheral surface of the spin cup 16. The liquid reflected on the inner peripheral surface of the spin cup 16 is returned to the nozzle hole 4 of the antireflection nozzle body 42 before returning to the substrate 11.
3 collides with the pressurized gas ejected from 3 and changes its direction in the flow direction of the gas and falls on the inner bottom of the spin cup 16,
It is discharged from the discharge pipe 22.

Therefore, when the substrate 11 is dried, most of the liquid scattered from the substrate 11 and the liquid reflected on the inner peripheral surface of the spin cup 16 are compressed gas jetted from the nozzle hole 43 of the antireflection nozzle body 42. Is changed in the same direction as the flow direction of the liquid and discharged from the drain pipe 28,
It does not reattach to the substrate 11 and contaminate the substrate 11.

The antireflection nozzle body 42 has a plurality of annular (in this embodiment, triple) nozzle holes 43. Therefore, most of the liquid scattered from the substrate 11 collides with the gas ejected from the nozzle holes 43, and does not reach the inner peripheral surface of the spin cup 16,
Even if a part of the liquid reaches the inner peripheral surface of the spin cup 16 and is reflected, the liquid is likely to collide with the gas ejected from the nozzle hole 43 after the reflection, so that the liquid returns to the substrate 11 and adheres again. There is almost no.

As the rotational speed of the substrate 11 increases, the speed of the liquid scattered from the substrate also increases. When the rotation speed of the substrate 1 increases, the opening degree of the open / close control valve 46 increases, and the pressure of the gas injected from the nozzle hole 43 increases. Therefore, even if the force of the liquid scattered from the substrate 1 increases, the pressure of the gas also increases.
The liquid scattered from the gas can flow in the same direction as the gas.

Further, by injecting the gas downward from the nozzle hole 43 of the antireflection nozzle body 42, a vortex generated by the stagnation of the airflow in the spin cup 16 is less likely to occur. As a result, even if mist is generated in the spin cup 16 by the liquid scattered from the substrate 11, the mist hardly stays in the inside, so that the mist adheres to the substrate 11 after the drying process, thereby causing contamination. Can also be prevented.

Although the pressurized gas is injected from the nozzle hole 43 of the antireflection nozzle body 42 only when the substrate 11 is dried, the gas is also injected from the nozzle hole 43 when the substrate 1 is cleaned. You may make it inject.

As a result, the cleaning liquid containing particles, which is scattered by cleaning the substrate 1, is supplied to the spin cup 1.
6 can be prevented from being reflected on the inner peripheral surface and re-adhering to the substrate 11 and contaminating the substrate 11.

FIG. 4A shows a spin cup 16 according to the present invention.
4 (b) shows the flow of gas in the conventional spin cup 16. FIG. FIG. 4 (a)
In (b), the arrow A indicates a downflow from the clean unit 7, and the arrow B indicates an internal airflow through which the downflow A flows in the spin cup 16. In the case of the related art shown in FIG. 4B, the vortex C in which the airflow generated by the rotation of the turntable 8 stays is easily generated in the upper portion of the inner peripheral surface of the spin cup 16.

On the other hand, in the case of the present invention shown in FIG. The generated gas generates an antireflection airflow.

[0050] Therefore, the air flow C ₁ flowing toward the upper part of the inner circumferential surface of the spin cup 16 by the rotation of the rotary table 8, because the flow directed downwards by the flow of the antireflection airflow D, spin like a conventional The vortex C is prevented from being generated in the upper part of the inner peripheral surface of the cup 16. Therefore, it is possible to prevent the mist from staying in the spin cup 16 and the mist from adhering to the upper surface of the substrate 11 after the drying processing, thereby preventing the occurrence of dirt.

[0051]

According to the first aspect of the present invention, most of the liquid scattered from the substrate or the liquid reflected on the inner peripheral surface of the spin cup by the gas ejected from the anti-reflection nozzle body collides with the gas, The gas is prevented from flowing in the same direction as the gas and re-adhering to the substrate.

Therefore, it is possible to prevent the liquid scattered from the substrate from re-adhering to the substrate and contaminating the substrate.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, the plurality of nozzle holes for injecting gas into the anti-reflection nozzle body are formed along the radial direction.

As a result, the probability that the gas from the nozzle body collides with the liquid scattered from the substrate or the liquid reflected by the spin cup increases, so that the liquid scattered from the substrate is prevented from re-adhering to the substrate. can do.

According to the third aspect of the present invention, the pressure of the gas injected from the nozzle hole of the anti-reflection nozzle body is increased in accordance with the increase in the rotation speed of the turntable.

Therefore, even if the force of the liquid scattered from the substrate is increased by increasing the number of rotations of the rotary table, it is possible to prevent the force of the gas ejected from the nozzle holes from losing to the force. Can change the direction of the liquid from the substrate.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a longitudinal sectional view of a schematic configuration of a spin processing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view of an anti-reflection nozzle provided at an upper portion of the inner periphery of a spin cup.

FIG. 3 is a plan view showing a lower surface of the anti-reflection nozzle body where a nozzle hole is formed.

FIG. 4A is an explanatory diagram showing an airflow in a spin cup according to the present invention, and FIG. 4B is an explanatory diagram showing an airflow in a conventional spin cup.

[Explanation of symbols]

 Reference Signs List 8 rotating table 11 substrate 16 spin cup 17 processing space 22 discharge pipe 42 anti-reflection nozzle body 43 nozzle hole

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A spin processing apparatus for performing a cleaning process and a drying process by rotating a substrate, comprising: a spin cup; a rotary table provided in the spin cup for holding the substrate and driven to rotate; A gas is ejected radially outward and in a direction intersecting with the liquid scattered from the substrate that is provided above the substrate held on the rotary table and rotates with the rotary table, and the liquid is reflected by the spin cup. A spin processing apparatus comprising: an anti-reflection nozzle body for preventing the nozzle body from adhering to the substrate. 2. The anti-reflection nozzle body, wherein a plurality of nozzle holes for injecting gas are formed in an annular shape along the circumferential direction of the rotary table and in a plurality of annular shapes along the radial direction. The spin processing device according to claim 1, wherein: 3. The spin processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the amount of gas supplied to the anti-reflection nozzle body is increased in accordance with an increase in the number of rotations of the turntable.