JP2003282408A - High pressure substrate processing equipment - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Problem] To provide a high-pressure substrate processing apparatus which is compact and capable of performing a series of substrate processing from development processing to drying processing with excellent throughput and at low cost. SOLUTION: An upper lid 13 is movable up and down with respect to a container body 12, and when the upper lid 13 is raised, the upper lid 1 is moved.
3 moves upward from the container body 12 and the spin chuck 41
, The substrate W can be carried in and out. In this separated state, the developing nozzle 61 moves between the outside of the pressure vessel 1 and the position above the substrate W held by the spin chuck 41.
Is movable, and while the developing nozzle 61 moves to a position above the substrate W, the developing solution is transferred from the nozzle tip to the substrate W.
And the developing process is performed on the substrate W. On the other hand, when the upper lid 13 descends and comes into contact with the container main body 12, the processing chamber 11 is formed, and the SC is formed there.
By introducing F, a high-pressure drying process is performed on the substrate W.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to a semiconductor wafer,
After supplying the developing solution to various substrates such as glass substrate for photomask, glass substrate for liquid crystal display, glass substrate for plasma display, substrate for optical disk (hereinafter simply referred to as "substrate"), and then performing a developing process, high-pressure fluid Alternatively, the present invention relates to a high-pressure substrate processing apparatus in which a mixture of a high-pressure fluid and a chemical is used as a processing fluid, and the processing fluid is supplied to the substrate and dried under high pressure.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Miniaturization of semiconductor devices has been rapidly progressed in recent years, but with the miniaturization, new problems have arisen in substrate processing. For example, when the resist applied on the substrate is patterned to form a fine pattern, the developing process, the rinsing process, and the drying process are performed in this order. Here, for example, in the alkali developing treatment for developing the resist applied to the substrate, an alkaline aqueous solution is used to remove unnecessary resist, and in the rinse treatment to remove the alkaline aqueous solution (to stop the development. ) A rinse liquid such as pure water is used. In the drying process, the substrate is rotated to apply a centrifugal force to the rinse liquid remaining on the substrate to remove the rinse liquid from the substrate and dry (spin dry). In the drying process, the interface between the rinse liquid and the gas appears on the substrate as the drying progresses, and when this interface appears in the gap between the fine patterns of the semiconductor device, the fine patterns are attracted to each other by the surface tension of the rinse liquid. There was a problem of collapse.

In addition, the collapse of the fine pattern is caused by the fluid resistance when the rinse liquid is shaken off, the printing pressure generated when the rinse liquid is discharged from the fine pattern, and 3000 rpm.
It is thought that air resistance and centrifugal force due to ultra-high speed rotation are also involved.

In order to solve this problem, a substrate is held in a pressure vessel, and a supercritical fluid (hereinafter referred to as "SCF") having a property of low viscosity, high diffusivity and no surface tension is used in the pressure vessel. A supercritical drying process for introducing a substrate into a substrate to supercritically dry it has been conventionally proposed. As a conventional technique, there is a supercritical drying device described in, for example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2000-223467. This supercritical drying device can hold a substrate that has been subjected to development processing and rinsing processing in the reaction chamber, and while holding the substrate, operate the pump unit to react a certain amount of liquefied carbon dioxide from the cylinder. The pressure of carbon dioxide in the reaction chamber is controlled to 7.38 to 8 MPa by automatically controlling the pressure of carbon dioxide in the reaction chamber with a pressure control bubble, and the carbon dioxide in the reaction chamber is used as a supercritical fluid. . After that, the pressure in the reaction chamber is reduced by discharging supercritical carbon dioxide from the reaction chamber, and the substrate is dried.

[0005]

By the way, the above-mentioned supercritical drying device is a device for performing only the drying process, and the developing process and the rinsing process are executed by another developing device different from the drying device. Therefore, conventionally, in order to perform a series of substrate processing from development processing to drying processing on a substrate, after performing development processing and rinsing processing in the developing device, the substrate wet with the rinse liquid is supercritically dried. It is necessary to transport it to the equipment. If the substrate is naturally dried while being conveyed from the developing device to the supercritical drying device, the fine patterns will be attracted to each other by the surface tension of the rinsing liquid and will collapse, resulting in supercritical drying. Because the meaning of doing is gone.

However, when the substrate is transported from the developing device to the supercritical drying device while the substrate is wet as described above, the rinse liquid accumulated on the substrate may drip or scatter during the transportation of the substrate. Therefore, there is a problem that a device provided along the substrate transfer path is contaminated.
In addition, there are problems that particles in the air are mixed into the rinse liquid accumulated on the substrate during the transportation of the substrate, or gas components are dissolved to contaminate the rinse liquid.

In order to solve such a problem, the rinse liquid is prevented from dripping and splashing, and the rinse liquid is prevented from coming into contact with the atmosphere. It is conceivable to provide an enclosing member for storing. However, adding such a configuration not only causes the device to become complicated and increase in size, but also becomes one of the main factors that increase the device cost.

Further, since the developing device and the supercritical drying device are separate modules, and a transfer device for transferring the substrate is required between the both devices, the developing process to the drying process are executed. There is also a problem in that the size and cost of the substrate processing apparatus used are increased. Also,
Transferring the substrate from the developing device to the supercritical drying device has been one of the factors that lower the throughput.

The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and provides a high-voltage substrate processing apparatus which is compact and can perform a series of substrate processing from development processing to drying processing with excellent throughput and low cost. The purpose is to do.

[0010]

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides a pressure vessel having a processing chamber inside, a substrate holding means for holding a substrate in the processing chamber, and an outside of the pressure vessel. And a position above the substrate held by the substrate holding means,
A developing nozzle that moves to a position above the substrate and supplies a developing solution to the substrate, and a processing fluid introducing unit that introduces a high-pressure fluid or a mixture of a high-pressure fluid and a chemical as a processing fluid into the processing chamber to dry the substrate under high pressure. It has and.

In the invention thus constituted, the developing nozzle is moved to a position above the substrate held by the substrate holding means, the developing solution is supplied to the substrate, and the developing process is executed in the processing chamber. Then, the processing fluid introducing means introduces the processing fluid into the processing chamber to dry the substrate subjected to the development processing under high pressure. In this way, a series of processes from the developing process to the high pressure drying is performed in the processing chamber. Therefore, a dedicated device for performing the developing process, that is, a developing device is not required, and a transport device for transporting the substrate in a liquid-filled state between the developing device and the drying device is also unnecessary.

Further, a rinsing liquid introducing means may be further provided, and the rinsing liquid may be introduced into the processing chamber to replace the developing solution adhering to the substrate with the rinsing liquid. By controlling the timing of supplying the rinse liquid to the chamber, the developing time can be accurately controlled. A single rinse liquid may be used, or a plurality of different rinse liquids may be used.

Here, carbon dioxide is preferable as the high-pressure fluid used in the present invention in terms of safety, cost, and easy supercritical state. Besides carbon dioxide, water, ammonia, nitrous oxide, ethanol or the like can be used. The high-pressure fluid is used because it has a high diffusion coefficient and can dissolve dissolved pollutants in the medium, and when it is made into a supercritical fluid at a higher pressure, it has an intermediate property between gas and liquid. This is because it becomes possible to further penetrate into the fine pattern portion and the surface tension is not generated. Further, the density of the high-pressure fluid is close to that of a liquid, and can contain a much larger amount of additives (medicines) than a gas.

The high pressure fluid in the present invention means 1M.
It is a fluid with a pressure of Pa or higher. The high-pressure fluid that can be preferably used is a fluid that has properties of high density, high solubility, low viscosity, and high diffusivity, and more preferable is a fluid in a supercritical state or a subcritical state. In order to use carbon dioxide as a supercritical fluid, it may be carried out at 31 ° C. and 7.1 MPa or higher. Particularly, it is preferable to use a subcritical (high pressure fluid) or a supercritical fluid of 5 to 30 MPa in the drying step. It is more preferable to perform these treatments at 0.1 to 20 MPa.

In addition to using only the high-pressure fluid as the processing fluid as described above, when the rinse liquid component is incompatible with the high-pressure fluid, the rinse liquid component is dissolved or uniformly dispersed in carbon dioxide. It is preferable to use a compatibilizer that can be an agent as a drug, that is, to use a mixture of supercritical carbon dioxide and a drug as a processing fluid.

Although various developing nozzles can be used, particularly when a slit nozzle is used, the developing solution is applied more uniformly to the substrate held by the substrate holding means. Therefore, it is preferable to use a slit nozzle as the developing nozzle.

Further, as the pressure container, a container provided with an upper lid capable of moving up and down with respect to the container body can be used. In the pressure vessel thus configured, the processing chamber is formed by lowering the upper lid and integrating it with the vessel body. Further, when the upper lid is lifted and separated from the container body, the container body is opened upward, and the developing nozzle can be easily moved.

[0018]

1 is a diagram showing the overall configuration of an embodiment of a high-voltage substrate processing apparatus according to the present invention.
FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing an electrical configuration of the high-voltage substrate processing apparatus of FIG. This high-voltage substrate processing apparatus rotatably holds a substrate W inside a pressure container 1, that is, in a processing chamber 11. More specifically, as shown in FIG. 1, the pressure vessel 1 is provided in a container body 12 fixedly mounted on a pedestal F of the apparatus, and provided above the vessel body 12 so as to be movable up and down with respect to the vessel body 12. And an upper lid 13. Further, the upper lid driving unit 2 is connected to the upper lid 13, and the upper lid driving unit 2 is responsive to an operation command from a control unit 3 that controls the entire apparatus.
Is operated, the upper lid 13 is moved up and down. For example,
When the upper lid 13 is lowered by the upper lid drive unit 2, the upper lid 13
The upper lid 13 comes into contact with the upper peripheral edge of the container body 12 with the seal member 14 attached to the lower peripheral edge of the container sandwiched therebetween (FIG. 4 described later). As a result, the recess formed in the center of the upper surface of the container body 12 and the recess formed in the center of the lower surface of the upper lid 13 are integrated to form the processing chamber 11. On the other hand, when the upper lid 13 is lifted by the upper lid driving unit 2, the upper lid 13 is separated from the container body 12 upward as shown in FIG. 1, and the substrate is held against the spin chuck (substrate holding means) 41 located in the processing chamber 11. W can be loaded and unloaded.

The spin chuck 41 is arranged near the center of the upper surface of the container body 12, and a suction port (not shown) provided on the upper surface of the spin chuck 41 can suck and hold the center of the lower surface of the substrate W. A rotation shaft 42 rotated by a motor 5 is connected to the spin chuck 41, and the spin chuck 41 and the rotation chuck 42 are rotated by the rotation of the motor 5 which receives an operation command from the control unit 3. The held substrate W rotates integrally in the processing chamber 11. The holding of the substrate W by the spin chuck 41 is not limited to adsorption, but may be mechanically held.

Further, in this embodiment, in order to supply the developing solution to the surface of the substrate W held by the spin chuck 41,
A developing nozzle 61 is provided. In this embodiment,
As the developing nozzle 61, any movable nozzle may be adopted, but in the present embodiment, a movable slit nozzle is adopted for the reason described later. The developing nozzle 61 is movable between the outside of the pressure vessel 1 and the upper position of the substrate W held by the spin chuck 41, and the developing nozzle 61 is a nozzle according to an operation command from the control unit 3. By operating the drive unit 62, the developing nozzle 61 is moved to a position above the substrate W, and the developing solution supplied from the developing solution supply unit 63 is discharged from the nozzle tip toward the surface of the substrate W. As a result, the developing solution is deposited on the entire surface of the substrate W, and the developing process on the substrate W is started. It should be noted that reference numeral 64 in FIG. 1 denotes a tray for receiving the developing solution falling from the developing nozzle 61 at the standby position of the developing nozzle 61.

In the pressure vessel 1, as shown in FIG. 1, the container body 12 is provided with two through holes 121 and 122 communicating with the processing chamber 11, while the upper lid 13 is provided with a through hole 131 communicating with the processing chamber 11. It is provided.
The processing chamber 1 of the through hole 121 among these through holes
The end on the first side is provided so as to face the lower edge of the substrate W held by the spin chuck 41, and the other ends are connected to the rinse liquid supply unit 71 and the SCF supply unit 81 via the valves V1 and V2. Each is connected. Therefore, by opening the valve V1 and closing the valve V2 based on the opening / closing command from the control unit 3, the rinse liquid is discharged to the edge portion of the lower surface of the substrate W, and so-called back rinse processing can be executed. On the contrary, by closing the valve V1 and opening the valve V2 based on the opening / closing command from the control unit 3, the processing fluid is supplied from the SCF supply unit 81 to the processing chamber 1.
1, so that the pressure inside the processing chamber 11 can be adjusted. Although pure water DIW is used as the rinse liquid in this embodiment, the type of rinse liquid is not limited to this. Further, although SCF of supercritical carbon dioxide is used as a processing fluid, a mixture of supercritical carbon dioxide and a chemical may be introduced into the processing chamber 11 as a processing fluid, and a rinse suitable as a chemical suitable for a drying process. It is preferable to use a compatibilizing agent that can be an auxiliary agent for dissolving or uniformly dispersing the liquid component in SCF, and it is not particularly limited as long as the rinse liquid component can be compatibilized with SCF, but alcohols such as methanol, ethanol, and isopropanol, Alkyl sulfoxides such as dimethyl sulfoxide, which is a so-called surfactant, are preferred.

Further, the processing chamber 11 of the through hole 131
The end portion on the side is provided so as to face the central portion of the upper surface of the substrate W held by the spin chuck 41, and the other end portion is provided with the rinse liquid supply unit 71 via the valves V3 and V4, similarly to the through hole 121. And the SCF supply unit 81, respectively. Therefore, by opening the valve V3 and closing the valve V4 based on the opening / closing command from the control unit 3, the pure water DIW as the rinse liquid is discharged onto the entire upper surface of the substrate W, and the rinsing process on the substrate W can be executed. ing. On the contrary, based on the opening / closing command from the control unit 3, the valve V
By closing 3 and opening the valve V4, supercritical carbon dioxide is supplied from the SCF supply unit 81 to the processing chamber 11 as a processing fluid, and supercritical drying, which is high-pressure drying processing, can be executed.

As described above, in the present embodiment, the "rinse solution introducing means" of the present invention is constituted by the rinse solution supply section 71 and the valves V1, V3, and the SCF supply section 81 and the valves V2, V4 form the main unit. The "processing fluid introducing means" of the invention is configured.

The remaining through holes 122 are connected to the drainage recovery section 91 and the SCF recovery section 92 via valves V5 and V6, respectively, and the processing chamber 11 is operated as described above.
It is possible to discharge and collect the rinse liquid and SCF introduced into the inside, as well as pollutants generated by the rinse treatment and the supercritical drying treatment (high pressure drying treatment) to the outside of the pressure vessel 1. A plurality of through holes 121, 122, 131 may be installed.

Next, the operation of the high-voltage substrate processing apparatus configured as described above will be described with reference to FIGS. 1, 3 and 4.

FIG. 3 is a flow chart showing the operation of the high-voltage substrate processing apparatus of FIG. When the substrate W that has been subjected to the exposure processing is conveyed to this high-voltage substrate processing apparatus, the control unit 3 operates according to a program stored in advance in a memory (not shown) of the control unit 3 that controls the entire apparatus. Each part is controlled to receive the substrate W, and the substrate W is subjected to a developing process, a rinsing process and a supercritical drying process in this order. The operation is as follows.

In the initial state of this high-voltage substrate processing apparatus, the upper lid 13 is lowered to be integrated with the container body 12, and all the valves V1 to V6 are closed. And
When the substrate W before development is carried by a substrate carrying robot (not shown), the substrate carrying robot sets the substrate W on the spin chuck 41 in response to the upper lid 13 rising (step S1). Then, after the substrate transfer robot retreats, as shown in FIG.
While the developing nozzle 61 standing by (outside of the above) moves to a position above the spin chuck 41, the developing solution is pressure-fed from the developing solution supply section 63 to the developing nozzle 61 at an appropriate timing, and the developing nozzle 61 transfers the substrate W to the substrate W. A developing solution is supplied toward the surface of the substrate W to apply a liquid film of the developing solution. As a result, the developing process is started (step S2). In addition,
In the present embodiment, the developing nozzle 61 passes through the position above the substrate W and then goes straight on to move to the opposite side of the origin position with the pressure vessel 1 in between and wait (see FIG. 4).

The developing nozzle 61 passes the position above the substrate W at the same time or thereafter, as shown in FIG.
The upper lid 13 descends and the upper lid 13 comes into contact with the upper peripheral edge portion of the container body 12 with the seal member 14 attached to the lower peripheral edge portion of the upper lid 13 interposed therebetween (step S3). As a result, the processing chamber 11 sealed by the container body 12, the upper lid 13 and the sealing member 14 is formed.

Then, after a predetermined developing time elapses after the development processing is started as described above, the valve V1,
V3 is opened and the rinse liquid pressure-fed from the rinse liquid supply unit 71 is introduced into the processing chamber 11 to start the rinse process on the substrate W, and the valve V5 is opened to start the drainage from the process chamber 11. (Step S
4). As a result, the developing solution attached to the substrate W is replaced with the rinsing solution, and the developing process is stopped. Therefore, the developing time can be accurately controlled by controlling the timing of supplying the rinse liquid by the control unit 3. Further, in the present embodiment, not only the rinse liquid is supplied to the processing chamber 11 from the front surface side of the substrate, but also the rinse liquid is supplied from the rear surface side of the substrate W, so that the so-called back rinse is simultaneously performed. The rinsing process on the substrate W can be performed better.

When the rinsing process is completed, the valves V1 and V
3, V5 is closed to stop the introduction of the rinse liquid into the processing chamber 11 and the recovery of the drainage liquid from the processing chamber 11, while the valves V2, V4, and V6 are opened to open the processing chamber 11.
The supercritical drying process is performed by introducing SCF into and recovering SCF (step S5). Note that step S4
Is ended in a liquid wet state on both the front and back surfaces of the substrate W, and the process proceeds to the next step S5. Here, the valve V6 is a pressure regulating valve, and the valve V6 keeps the internal pressure of the processing chamber 11 at a predetermined value. While supplying SCF to the processing chamber 11 from the SCF supply unit 81, the pressure and temperature in the processing chamber 11 are maintained at predetermined values by collecting them in the SCF recovery unit 92 via the valve V6, and then the valves V2 and V4.
Is closed to stop the introduction of SCF and the SCF is recovered from the processing chamber 11 in the SCF recovery unit 92 to reduce the pressure inside the processing chamber 11 to dry the substrate W. However, the valve V6 is initially closed to close the SCF. After containing the gas in the processing chamber 11, the valve V2,
The V4 may be closed to stop the introduction of the SCF, and the valve V6 may be opened to collect the SCF in the processing chamber 11 in the SCF recovery part 92 to perform supercritical drying. Simultaneously with the supply of SCF to the processing chamber 11, the motor 5 is rotationally driven to rotate the spin chuck 41 and the substrate W held thereby.

When a series of processes from the developing process to the drying process is completed in this way, the rotation of the spin chuck 41 is stopped and the valve V6 is closed, and then the upper lid 13 is raised in step S6 to carry out the substrate W. In this state, a substrate transfer command is given to the substrate transfer robot. Then, the substrate transfer robot having received the transfer command receives the substrate W from the spin chuck 41, carries it out from the high-voltage substrate processing apparatus, and transfers it to the next step (step S7).

On the other hand, in this high-voltage substrate processing apparatus, the developing nozzle 61 is moved from the standby position to the spin chuck 4 after the substrate is unloaded.
1 returns to the original position after passing through 1 and returns to the original position, and the upper lid 13 descends and is integrated with the container body 12 to return to the initial state. Then, each time the next pre-development substrate W is transported by the substrate transport robot, the series of operations (steps S1 to S8) described above are executed to perform the development process, the rinse process and the drying process on each substrate W. Give.

As described above, according to the high pressure substrate processing apparatus of this embodiment, the SC is simply placed in the processing chamber 11.
In addition to introducing F to perform supercritical drying, a developing nozzle 61, which moves to a position above the substrate W held by the spin chuck 41 and supplies a developing solution to the substrate W, is further provided. It is possible to execute a series of processing from development processing to supercritical drying processing. Therefore, a dedicated device (developing device) for performing the developing process, which is indispensable in the conventional technology, is not required, and a transport device for transporting the substrate in a liquid-filled state between the developing device and the drying device is also unnecessary. In addition, the cost of the apparatus can be significantly reduced, and the apparatus that executes a series of processes from the developing process to the supercritical drying process can be downsized.

Further, the above apparatus does not require a substrate transfer step between the rinsing process and the supercritical drying process, and the transfer of the substrate to the device is so-called dry-in (= dry-in),
It is dry-out. For this reason,
Not only the problems such as the liquid dripping and the complication of the transfer device, which have been problems in the past, have not occurred, but also the throughput has been significantly improved.

Further, in the conventional developing apparatus, the splash guard is provided so as to surround the periphery of the substrate in order to prevent the processing liquid from splashing to the periphery of the apparatus when performing the rinse treatment. According to this configuration, after the developing solution is applied, the upper lid 13 is lowered to form the processing chamber 11, and the rinsing processing is performed in the processing chamber 11, so the processing chamber 11 also functions as a splash guard. And has an efficient configuration.

Further, since this high-voltage substrate processing apparatus can execute a series of processing from development processing to high-pressure drying processing in the same apparatus, a plurality of modules are arranged in a semiconductor manufacturing factory, a liquid crystal manufacturing factory or the like. Even in this case, it is possible to flexibly and reasonably arrange the factory layout and existing equipment.

Further, in the above embodiment, the developing nozzle 6
Since the slit nozzle is used as 1, the substrate W
The liquid film of the developing solution applied to the film has a substantially uniform thickness, and the in-plane uniformity of the developing process can be improved.

The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, and various modifications other than those described above can be made without departing from the spirit of the present invention. For example, in the above embodiment, the upper lid 13 is the container body 12
The substrate W is configured to be loaded and unloaded to and from the spin chuck 41 by being raised with respect to the spin chuck 41. For example, as shown in FIG. 5, the opening 15 for loading and unloading the substrate W is provided in the upper lid 13. Alternatively, the substrate W may be loaded and unloaded through the opening 15 with the upper lid 13 integrated with the container body 12. In this case, in order to secure the airtightness of the processing chamber 11, the shutter mechanism 16 may be provided for the opening 15.

Further, since the container body opening moves up and down with respect to the upper lid 13, the substrate W with respect to the spin chuck 41 is moved.
It may be configured so that it can be loaded and unloaded.

In the above embodiment, the developing nozzle 61 is also used.
Although a slit nozzle is used as the above, a spray type nozzle whose position is fixed at the time of discharge may be moved to the discharge position to spray the organic developer.

In the above embodiment, the substrate W is started to rotate at the same time when the SCF is supplied to the processing chamber 11, but the rotation may be started during the introduction of the SCF.

Alternatively, the rotation starts at the same time as the introduction of the rinse liquid in step S4 and continues until the end of the drying process in step S5, or the rotation is stopped only during the introduction of the rinse liquid and stopped during the introduction of SCF. You may comprise.

In the above embodiment, the rinse liquid is supplied from the rinse liquid supply unit 71 to the processing chamber 11 to perform the rinse process. However, the process is performed by using SCF alone or mixing SCF with a chemical. When the fluid has a rinsing function, the "processing fluid introducing means" of the present invention can be configured to have not only the supercritical drying function but also the rinsing function without providing the rinsing liquid supply unit 71.

Further, in the above embodiment, the rinsing process is executed by using the pure water DIW as the rinsing liquid. However, the rinsing liquid supply unit 71 can be supplied with a plurality of different chemical liquids to supply the pure water DIW. After the process is completed, pure water on the front and back surfaces of the substrate W is obtained by supplying a solvent having excellent affinity for supercritical carbon dioxide with a low vapor pressure such as an organic solvent and having a low vapor pressure, for example, a fluorocarbon chemical. The SCF may be introduced after replacing the DIW. This eliminates the need to use a compatibilizing agent for SCF.

[0045]

As described above, according to the present invention, in the same apparatus, the developing nozzle is moved to a position above the substrate held by the substrate holding means to supply the developing solution to the substrate. And a processing fluid introducing means for introducing a processing fluid into the processing chamber, and the processing from the developing processing to the high pressure drying processing can be executed in the processing chamber. Therefore, a dedicated device for performing the developing process, that is, a developing device is not required, and a transport device for transporting the substrate in a liquid-filled state between the developing device and the drying device is not required, so that the device can be downsized. It is also possible to significantly reduce the device cost. Further, since it is not necessary to transfer the substrate from the developing device to the drying device, the throughput can be significantly improved as compared with the conventional technique in which the substrate is transferred between the developing device and the drying device.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an overall configuration of an embodiment of a high-voltage substrate processing apparatus according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing an electrical configuration of the high-voltage substrate processing apparatus of FIG.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing an operation of the high-voltage substrate processing apparatus of FIG.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a configuration of a high-pressure substrate processing apparatus when performing a rinsing process and a supercritical drying process.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing an overall configuration of another embodiment of the high-voltage substrate processing apparatus according to the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 ... Pressure vessel 11 ... Processing chamber 12 ... Container body 13 ... Top lid 41 ... Spin chuck (substrate holding means) 61 ... Developing nozzle 71 ... Rinse solution supply unit (rinse solution introduction means) 81 ... SCF supply section (processing fluid introduction means) V1, V3 ... Valve (rinse liquid introduction means) V2, V4 ... Valve (processing fluid introduction means) W ... substrate

   ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continued front page    (72) Inventor Yusuke Muraoka             4 Horikawa-dori Teranouchi, Kamigyo-ku, Kyoto City, Kyoto Prefecture             No. 1 at Tenjin Kitamachi             Manufacturing Co., Ltd. (72) Inventor Kimitsugu Saito             4 Horikawa-dori Teranouchi, Kamigyo-ku, Kyoto City, Kyoto Prefecture             No. 1 at Tenjin Kitamachi             Manufacturing Co., Ltd. (72) Inventor Tomomi Iwata             4 Horikawa-dori Teranouchi, Kamigyo-ku, Kyoto City, Kyoto Prefecture             No. 1 at Tenjin Kitamachi             Manufacturing Co., Ltd. (72) Inventor Takashi Miyake             4 Horikawa-dori Teranouchi, Kamigyo-ku, Kyoto City, Kyoto Prefecture             No. 1 at Tenjin Kitamachi             Manufacturing Co., Ltd. (72) Inventor Kazuo Mizobata             4 Horikawa-dori Teranouchi, Kamigyo-ku, Kyoto City, Kyoto Prefecture             No. 1 at Tenjin Kitamachi             Manufacturing Co., Ltd. F-term (reference) 2H096 AA25 AA27 GA17 GA20 GA29                 3L113 AA04 AB08 AC68 AC75 BA34                       DA14                 5F046 LA04 LA14 LA19

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A pressure vessel having a processing chamber inside, a substrate holding means for holding a substrate in the processing chamber, an outside of the pressure vessel, and a substrate held by the substrate holding means. The processing is performed by using a developing nozzle that is movable between an upper position and a position above the substrate and supplies a developing solution to the substrate, and a high-pressure fluid or a mixture of a high-pressure fluid and a chemical as a processing fluid. A high-pressure substrate processing apparatus, comprising: a processing fluid introducing unit that is introduced into a chamber to dry the substrate under high pressure. 2. The high-pressure substrate processing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a rinse liquid introducing unit that introduces a rinse liquid into the processing chamber to replace the developing liquid adhering to the substrate with the rinse liquid. 3. The high-voltage substrate processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the developing nozzle is a slit nozzle. 4. The processing chamber, wherein the pressure container includes a container body and an upper lid that is movable up and down with respect to the container body, and the upper lid is lowered to be integrated with the container body. The developing nozzle is movable between the outside of the pressure container and the upper position of the substrate by raising the upper lid and separating it from the container body. The high-voltage substrate processing apparatus according to.