JP2002028582A - Cleaning method for substrate processing apparatus and cleaning sheet used therefor - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) Abstract: The present invention provides a cleaning method and a cleaning sheet for a substrate processing apparatus that does not like foreign substances, such as a manufacturing apparatus and an inspection apparatus for semiconductors, flat panel displays, printed boards, and the like. SOLUTION: In a method for cleaning and removing foreign substances adhered in a substrate processing apparatus by transporting a substrate provided with a cleaning function substance, the thickness of the substrate provided with the cleaning function substance is reduced in the substrate processing apparatus. This cleaning method is characterized in that the thickness is 140% or less of the original thickness of the substrate to be processed.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a method for cleaning various kinds of substrate processing apparatuses and a cleaning sheet used therefor, for example, a manufacturing apparatus for a semiconductor, a flat panel display, a printed circuit board, and an inspection apparatus.
The present invention relates to a cleaning method and a cleaning sheet for a substrate processing apparatus that dislikes foreign matter.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Various substrate processing apparatuses transport substrates while physically contacting each transport system with a substrate. At this time, if foreign matter is attached to the substrate or the transport system, the subsequent substrate is contaminated one after another, and it is necessary to stop the apparatus periodically and perform a cleaning process. For this reason, there has been a problem that the operation rate is reduced and a large amount of labor is required. In order to solve these problems, a method of cleaning and removing adhered foreign matter in a substrate processing apparatus by transporting a substrate to which an adhesive substance is adhered (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 10-154686) and a method of transporting a plate-like member are disclosed. (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 11-87458) has been proposed.

[0003]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION A method for cleaning and removing adhered foreign matter in a substrate processing apparatus by transporting a substrate to which an adhesive substance is fixed, and a method for removing foreign matter by transporting a plate-like member. Is an effective way to overcome the aforementioned problems. However, in these methods, the thickness of the adhesive material or the plate-shaped member varies, and it is difficult to control the thickness. If the thickness is large, there is a possibility that the adhesive cannot be transported in the substrate processing apparatus. In particular, in semiconductor-related devices, many devices have a very small clearance with respect to the thickness of a substrate (wafer) to be processed in a transfer system. There is a problem that the substrate and the transport path are damaged. The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and has as its object to provide a cleaning method that can reliably transport a cleaning substrate into a substrate processing apparatus and that can easily and reliably remove foreign substances attached to the apparatus. I have.

[0004]

Means for Solving the Problems The present inventors have conducted intensive studies to achieve the above object, and as a result, when transporting a substrate provided with a cleaning functional material, a substrate provided with the cleaning functional material was provided. By controlling the thickness of the cleaning sheet or the thickness of the cleaning sheet used therein within a specific range, it has been found that the above-mentioned problem does not occur, and that the foreign matter can be more easily and reliably peeled off, thereby completing the present invention. I got it.

That is, the present invention relates to a method for cleaning and removing foreign matter adhering in a substrate processing apparatus by transporting a substrate provided with a cleaning functional material.
A method for cleaning a substrate processing apparatus, wherein the thickness of the substrate provided with the cleaning function material is 140% or less of the original thickness of the substrate to be processed in the substrate processing apparatus. 2. The method for cleaning a substrate processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the substance is in the form of a sheet, wherein the cleaning functional substance is in the form of a laminated sheet comprising a cleaning layer and a normal pressure-sensitive adhesive layer. 3. The method for cleaning a substrate processing apparatus according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the cleaning functional material is provided with a cleaning layer on one side of the support and a normal adhesive layer on the other side. 3. The method for cleaning a substrate processing apparatus according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the cleaning method has a laminated sheet shape. Use substrate (claim 5), the cleaning sheet (claim 6-9) is relates to the like.

[0006]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS In the cleaning method of the present invention, the thickness of a substrate provided with a cleaning functional material must be 140% or less of the original thickness of a substrate to be processed in a substrate processing apparatus. More preferably, it is desirable to be 120% or less. If the thickness exceeds 140%, the substrate may come into contact with the apparatus and damage the substrate and the transport path. On the other hand, the lower limit of the thickness is not particularly limited as long as the substrate can be transported.

[0007] The original substrate to be processed in the present invention is not particularly limited. For example, a semiconductor substrate (wafer), an LC
Substrates for flat panel displays such as D and PDP,
Other examples include substrates such as compact disks and MR heads.

In the present invention, the shape of the cleaning function substance provided on the substrate is not limited as long as it has a cleaning function. However, the cleaning function substance has a sheet shape (hereinafter, sometimes referred to as a cleaning sheet) from the viewpoint of handleability and transportability. preferable. Such a cleaning sheet,
The configuration, thickness, material, and the like are not particularly limited as long as the overall thickness of the substrate on which it is provided is within the range of the above-described specific value. As a specific configuration example of the cleaning sheet,
For example, a laminated sheet shape including a cleaning layer and a normal pressure-sensitive adhesive layer, a laminated sheet shape in which a cleaning layer is provided on one side of a support and a normal pressure-sensitive adhesive layer is provided on the other side, and the like can be given. The cleaning layer can be fixed to the substrate by such a normal pressure-sensitive adhesive layer.

The thickness of the cleaning sheet itself is not particularly limited as long as the overall thickness of the cleaning substrate on which the cleaning sheet is provided is within the range of the above-mentioned specific value. Usually less than 40% of the thickness of the substrate,
Preferably, it is not more than 20%. That is, the thickness of the cleaning sheet itself can be arbitrarily controlled according to the thickness of the substrate to be processed. For example, when the substrate to be processed is a semiconductor wafer, the substrate to be conveyed for cleaning is the original. In the case of a reclaimed wafer that is thinner than the wafer to be processed, the overall thickness of the cleaning wafer is adjusted to be the same as that of the original treated wafer by increasing the thickness of the cleaning sheet provided on the thinned reclaimed wafer, and the It is also possible to avoid transfer troubles caused by wafers.

[0010] As long as the thickness of the cleaning layer of the cleaning sheet is controlled within the above specified range,
The material and the like are not particularly limited, for example, polypropylene, polyethylene terephthalate, polyethylene naphthalate, polyvinylidene fluoride, vinylidene fluoride, vinylidene trifluoride, polymers such as polytetrafluoroethylene, and ultraviolet and heat described below. Curable pressure-sensitive adhesive compositions in which a crosslinking reaction and curing have been promoted by an active energy source are exemplified.

In the present invention, the crosslinking reaction and the curing are promoted by an active energy source such as ultraviolet rays and heat.
Those which can increase the tensile strength are preferred. Further, it is preferable that the portion to be cleaned is less likely to be wet with the portion to be cleaned in the apparatus. If the sheet is easily wet, the cleaning sheet may adhere to the portion to be cleaned at the time of conveyance, which may cause a conveyance trouble. The thickness of the cleaning layer is not particularly limited as long as the thickness of the entire substrate provided with the cleaning layer is within the specific range of the present invention, but is generally about 5 to 100 μm.

As a specific example of such a cleaning layer,
For example, a pressure-sensitive adhesive polymer containing at least a compound having at least one unsaturated double bond in a molecule and a polymerization initiator is subjected to a polymerization curing reaction by active energy to substantially eliminate tackiness. What is.
Examples of such a pressure-sensitive adhesive polymer include acrylic polymers having a main monomer of (meth) acrylic acid and / or (meth) acrylic ester selected from acrylic acid, acrylic ester, methacrylic acid, and methacrylic ester. Can be In synthesizing this acrylic polymer, a compound having two or more unsaturated double bonds in the molecule is used as a copolymerization monomer, or a compound having an unsaturated double bond in the molecule is synthesized from the synthesized acrylic polymer. By introducing an unsaturated double bond into the molecule of the acrylic polymer, for example, by chemically bonding through a reaction between functional groups, the polymer itself can be involved in the polymerization curing reaction by active energy. Can also.

Here, the compound having one or more unsaturated double bonds in the molecule (hereinafter referred to as a polymerizable unsaturated compound) is a low molecular weight compound which is nonvolatile and has a weight average molecular weight of 10,000 or less. In particular, to make the three-dimensional networking of the cleaning layer at the time of curing efficient,
It preferably has a molecular weight of 00 or less.

The polymerization initiator to be added to the cleaning layer is not particularly limited, and any known initiator can be used. For example, when heat is used as an active energy source, benzoyl peroxide, azobisisobutyronitrile, etc. When a thermal polymerization initiator or light is used, benzoyl, benzoin ethyl ether, cibenzyl, isopropyl benzoin ether, benzophenone, Michler's ketone chlorothioxanthone, dodecylthioxanthone, dimethylthioxanthone, acetophenone diethyl ketal, benzyl dimethyl ketal, α-hiddle Examples thereof include photopolymerization initiators such as xycyclohexylphenyl ketone, 2-hydroxydimethylphenylpropane, and 2,2-dimethoxy-2-phenylacetophenone.

In the present invention, the cleaning layer has a tensile strength of 1 to 3000 MPa, preferably 100 to 3000 MPa.
The design within the range of 2,000 MPa is preferable in that a transport trouble can be minimized and foreign matter can be easily and reliably removed. Here, the tensile strength is measured according to the test method JIS K7127.

According to the present invention, there is provided a cleaning sheet having a pressure-sensitive adhesive layer provided on one side of the specific cleaning layer (claim 7), and a specific cleaning layer provided on one side of a support. A cleaning sheet having a pressure-sensitive adhesive layer provided on a surface thereof is also provided. The material and the like of the pressure-sensitive adhesive layer are not particularly limited as long as the pressure-sensitive adhesive function is satisfied, and a general pressure-sensitive adhesive (for example, acrylic or rubber-based) can be used. With this configuration, the cleaning sheet is adhered to a transport member such as various substrates or other tapes / sheets using the adhesive layer, and is transported into the apparatus as a substrate with a cleaning function (Claim 5). Cleaning can be performed by contacting the cleaning portion.

In the present invention, when the substrate is peeled off from the pressure-sensitive adhesive layer after cleaning in order to reuse the above-mentioned substrate or the like, the pressure-sensitive adhesive force of the pressure-sensitive adhesive layer is 180 ° peeling off from the silicon wafer (mirror surface). Adhesive strength is 0.98N / 10mm or less, especially 0.20 to 0.98N
If it is about / 10 mm, it does not peel off during transport,
In addition, it is preferable because it can be easily removed again after cleaning.

The support of the cleaning sheet provided with a cleaning layer on one side of the support (claim 8) is not particularly limited. For example, polyethylene, polyethylene terephthalate, acetylcellulose, polycarbonate, polypropylene, polyamide, polyimide,
Plastic films such as polycarbodiimide and the like can be mentioned. The thickness of the entire substrate on which the cleaning sheet is provided is also the same as the thickness of the cleaning layer.
There is no particular limitation as long as it is within the specific range of the present invention, but it is usually about 10 to 100 μm.

[0019]

EXAMPLES The present invention will be described below with reference to examples, but the present invention is not limited to these examples. Hereinafter, “parts” means “parts by weight”. Example An acrylic polymer (weight average molecular weight 70) obtained from a monomer mixture consisting of 75 parts of 2-ethylhexyl acrylate, 20 parts of methyl acrylate, and 5 parts of acrylic acid
100 parts of dipentaerythrol hexaacrylate (manufactured by Nippon Synthetic Chemical Co., Ltd .: trade name UV1700)
150 parts of B), 5 parts of benzyldimethyl ketanol, and 3 parts of diphenylmethane diisocyanate were uniformly mixed to obtain an ultraviolet-curable pressure-sensitive adhesive solution.

On the other hand, a pressure-sensitive adhesive solution obtained in the same manner as described above except that benzyldimethylketanol was removed from the above-mentioned pressure-sensitive adhesive was placed on one side of a polyethylene terephthalate film having a width of 250 mm and a thickness of 25 μm, and the thickness after drying was changed. 10μ
m, a normal pressure-sensitive adhesive layer was provided, and a 38 μm-thick polyester release film was stuck on the surface. On the other side of the film, the above-mentioned UV-curable pressure-sensitive adhesive solution was applied so as to have a thickness after drying of 40 μm to provide a pressure-sensitive adhesive layer as a cleaning layer, and a similar release film was stuck on the surface thereof. Was. Ultraviolet light having a center wavelength of 365 nm is applied to this sheet at an integrated light amount of 2000 mJ / cm ^2.
Irradiation gave the cleaning sheet of the present invention. The thickness of this cleaning sheet (excluding the release film) is 7
It was 5 μm. Further, the tensile strength of the cleaning layer after ultraviolet curing measured according to the test method JIS K7127 was 1980 MPa. In addition, the normal pressure-sensitive adhesive layer on the other side was adhered to the mirror surface of the silicon wafer with a width of 10 mm, and the 180 ° peeling adhesion to the silicon wafer was measured according to JIS Z0237.
It was 0.25 N / 10 mm.

The release film on the ordinary pressure-sensitive adhesive layer side of the obtained cleaning sheet was peeled off, and a 725 μm thick 8
A cleaning roller with a cleaning function (thickness = 110% of the wafer) having a thickness of 800 μm (not including the release film on the cleaning layer side) was attached to the back surface (mirror surface) of the silicon wafer of the inch with a hand roller.

On the other hand, with a laser type foreign matter measuring apparatus, the mirror surface of two new 8-inch silicon wafers was 0.2 μm thick.
When the above foreign substances were measured, the number of the foreign substances was 11 for the first sheet and 10 for the second sheet. After transporting these wafers to a substrate processing apparatus having separate electrostatic chucking mechanisms with the mirror surface facing downward, the mirror surfaces were measured with a laser type foreign matter measuring device. The number was 25632.

Next, the release film on the cleaning layer side of the cleaning wafer obtained above was peeled off, and the above-mentioned 320 was removed.
When the wafer was transported into the substrate processing apparatus having the wafer stage to which the four foreign particles had adhered, the wafer was successfully transported.
Thereafter, a new 8-inch silicon wafer having 10 foreign substances having a size of 0.2 μm or more was transported with the mirror surface facing downward, and foreign substances having a size of 0.2 μm or more were measured by a laser type foreign substance measuring apparatus. This process was performed five times, and the results are shown in Table 1.

Comparative Example In the example, the thickness of the cleaning layer was 100 μm,
75μ thick polyethylene terephthalate film
m, the thickness of the normal pressure-sensitive adhesive layer is 155 μm, and the total thickness of the cleaning sheet (excluding the release film) is 330
A cleaning sheet was obtained in the same manner as in the example except that the thickness was set to μm. From this cleaning sheet, a cleaning wafer with a cleaning function (thickness = 146% of the wafer) was prepared in the same manner as in the example.

When the cleaning wafer was transported in a substrate processing apparatus having a wafer stage to which 25632 foreign substances adhered, the cleaning wafer came into contact with the inside of the apparatus during the transportation and could not be transported.

[0026]

[Table 1]

[0027]

As described above, according to the cleaning method of the present invention, it is possible to reliably transfer the inside of the substrate processing apparatus,
Foreign matter adhering to the apparatus can be easily and reliably removed.

Claims (9)

[Claims] 1. A method for cleaning and removing foreign matter adhering in a substrate processing apparatus by transporting a substrate provided with a cleaning function substance, wherein the thickness of the substrate provided with the cleaning function substance is reduced. A method for cleaning a substrate processing apparatus, wherein the thickness is 140% or less of the original thickness of the substrate to be processed. 2. The cleaning method for a substrate processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the cleaning functional substance has a sheet shape. 3. The method for cleaning a substrate processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the cleaning functional substance has a laminated sheet shape including a cleaning layer and a normal pressure-sensitive adhesive layer. 4. The cleaning function material according to claim 1, wherein the cleaning material is in the form of a laminated sheet in which a cleaning layer is provided on one side of the support and a normal pressure-sensitive adhesive layer is provided on the other side. Cleaning method for a substrate processing apparatus. 5. A substrate for use in a method of cleaning and removing foreign matter adhering in a substrate processing apparatus by transporting a substrate provided with a cleaning function material, wherein the thickness of the substrate provided with the cleaning function material is Wherein the thickness is 140% or less of the original thickness of the substrate to be processed in the substrate processing apparatus. 6. A sheet for use in a method of cleaning and removing foreign matter adhering in a substrate processing apparatus by transporting a substrate provided with a cleaning sheet, wherein the thickness of the sheet is equal to that of the substrate processing apparatus. A cleaning sheet having a thickness of 40% or less of the thickness of the substrate to be processed. 7. The cleaning sheet according to claim 6, wherein the cleaning sheet has a laminated sheet shape including a cleaning layer and a normal pressure-sensitive adhesive layer. 8. The cleaning sheet according to claim 6, wherein the cleaning sheet has a laminated sheet shape in which a cleaning layer is provided on one side of a support and a normal pressure-sensitive adhesive layer is provided on the other side. . 9. The 180 ° peel adhesive strength of a normal adhesive layer to a silicon wafer (mirror surface) is 0.98.
The cleaning sheet according to claim 7, wherein the cleaning sheet has a thickness of N / 10 mm or less.