JPH077067A - Resist processing apparatus and resist processing method - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To enable a resist processing apparatus to selectively change resist processing processes so as to improve the processing throughput of the apparatus by providing at least two of photoresist applying stations, developing solution applying stations, and photoresist heating stations along the passage of a carrying apparatus. CONSTITUTION:A passage 102 is extended in the direction shown by the arrow Y at the central part of the pedestal 101 of a photoresist film applying and developing apparatus 100 and a wafer carrying apparatus 110 is installed to the passage 102. Two photoresist heating stations 105 and 106 are provided on one side of the passage 102 and two applying stations 107 and 108 are provided on the other side of the passage 102 in such a way that one of the stations 107 and 108 can be used for applying a photoresist and the other can be used for applying a developing solution so that the device 100 can be used for both the formation and development of photoresist films. Therefore, the apparatus 100 can cope with various kinds of processes and, at the same time, the processing throughput of the apparatus can be improved.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a resist processing apparatus and a resist processing method.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art The manufacture of semiconductor devices such as ICs involves numerous microfabrication steps in order to form elements such as transistors on a wafer of semiconductor single crystal such as silicon. Among them, PEP (photo-engraving) for forming a predetermined resist pattern on the surface of a wafer.
process) occupies a very important position. This is because the resist pattern formed by PEP is used as an etching mask or the like and provides the basis for the current fine processing technology.

The formation of a resist pattern in PEP includes the steps of applying a photoresist on the surface of a wafer to form a photoresist film having a uniform film thickness, and selectively exposing a predetermined region of the photoresist film. And developing the exposed photoresist film to form a desired resist pattern. Of these, the exposure step is performed using an exposure device such as a step-and-repeat aligner (called a stepper). On the other hand, the step of forming the photoresist film on the surface of the substrate is performed using, for example, the apparatus described below.

FIG. 7 is a flow chart showing a processing procedure in a photoresist film forming apparatus called a track system. As shown in the figure, this device has a preheating step 4,
The processing station has a cooling step 5, a coating step 6, and a heating step 8. A semiconductor wafer 1 on which a photoresist film is to be formed is housed in a cassette-shaped container 2 and introduced into this apparatus. The semiconductor wafers 1 are taken out one by one from the cassette 2, and sequentially conveyed to each processing station by the belt transfer mechanism 3 and subjected to a predetermined processing. In the preheating step 4, the water content of the wafer 1 is removed by heating. The preheated wafer 1 is cooled in the cooling step 5 and then sent to the coating step 6. In the coating step 6, for example, a spinner coater (spinner)
A photoresist is uniformly applied to the surface of the wafer 1 by a coating device such as a coat-er). The wafer 1 coated with the photoresist is sent to a heating process 8 including a carrying mechanism 7 called a walking beam system. By being heated in this heating step 8, the photoresist liquid applied to the wafer is stabilized in a film form.
The wafer 9 on which the initial photoresist thin film is formed on the surface after the heating step 8 is completed
It is stored in a cassette 10 for storing processed wafers.

[0005]

As described above, in the conventional apparatus, each independent processing station is arranged in series, and the semiconductor wafer to be processed passes through these stations in a predetermined order and in one way. There is always a way to go, and you have to receive the treatment regardless of whether it is necessary or not. For this reason, the processing order once set cannot be arbitrarily changed, and it is also impossible to selectively pass a certain processing station.

On the other hand, the processing steps required to form semiconductor elements on the semiconductor wafer 1 vary depending on the type of IC formed on the wafer 1, including the order thereof. Nevertheless, in the above-mentioned conventional photoresist film forming apparatus, all processing steps have to be carried out even on a semiconductor wafer that does not require a certain processing step, which is an obstacle to improving the throughput.

Therefore, according to the type of the semiconductor wafer 1 to be processed, among the processing stations provided in the apparatus,
It is desired to have a device that can arbitrarily change which processing stations are used in which order.

The present invention has been made in consideration of the above-mentioned conventional circumstances, and an object of the present invention is to provide a manufacturing apparatus capable of selectively changing processing steps as required and having high processing throughput.

[0009]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a resist processing apparatus for unloading unprocessed objects one by one from an object storage container and performing resist processing.

In the resist processing, at least two stations out of a resist solution spin coating station, a resist developing solution spin coating station, and a resist heating station are moved along a moving path of a carrier device that holds the object to be processed and moves linearly. It is characterized by being provided by.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the resist processing apparatus for holding the object to be processed, reciprocatingly moving the linear transfer path, and transferring it to a plurality of processing stations in a predetermined process order for resist processing, The feature is that the order can be changed.

A third aspect of the invention is a step of unloading the untreated resist-treated objects one by one from the container.

A step of aligning the object to be processed carried out in this step,

The object to be processed aligned by this step is moved linearly and conveyed to the first processing station, and the object is moved at least in the direction orthogonal to the linear shape and in the vertical direction. And a step of loading the first resist processing station into the first resist processing station.

[0015]

According to the resist processing apparatus and the resist processing method of the present invention, the processing steps corresponding to the type of the object to be processed are carried out by the resist processing apparatus capable of transporting the object to be processed by selecting between a plurality of steps arranged opposite to each other. Can be selected.

[0016]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment in which the resist processing apparatus of the present invention is applied to a coating and developing apparatus will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a plan view showing a photoresist film coating / developing apparatus 100. In the figure, 101 is a main body base. A passage 102 extending in the direction of the arrow Y (lateral direction) is provided at the center of the base 101. One side of this passage 102 is accompanied by an HMDS treatment for heating an untreated semiconductor wafer to remove moisture or the like.
Alternatively, a preheating station 103 for simply heating, a cooling station 1 for cooling a preheated wafer
04, for example, a wafer having a photoresist solution applied thereto is heated to form a dried photoresist film. The first heater has two heating devices each in the vertical direction.
And second heating stations 105, 106 are provided. Further, on the other side of the passage 102, first and second coating stations 107 and 108 used for coating, for example, a photoresist solution on the surface of the wafer which has been preheated and cooled are provided. In addition,
In the figure, a cooling station 104, a preheating station 103, first and second heating stations 105,
Although 106 is described as being arranged in a plane, this is for convenience, and in fact, a laminated structure in which two heating devices of the preheating station 103 are provided above and below the cooling station 104. Has become.

In the passage 102, the inside of the passage 102 is driven by a drive mechanism (not shown) such as a ball screw.
A handling means that moves in the direction, for example, a wafer transfer device 110 is provided. The transfer device 110 has a carriage 111, and vacuum tweezers 112, 113 for sucking and holding a wafer W, for example, two tweezers 112, 113 are attached to the carriage 111 so as to be vertically stacked. The tweezers 112 and 113 are independently movable in the X direction (vertical direction) and the Y direction (horizontal direction),
The superimposed tweezers 112 and 113 can simultaneously move in parallel in the Z direction (vertical direction) and can rotate in the θ direction. In order to enable such parallel movement and rotation of the tweezers 112 and 113, the carriage 1
A driving mechanism (not shown) such as a stepping motor and a ball screw connected to the stepping motor is provided at 11. The tweezers 112 and 113 hold the wafer with one of the tweezers and convey the wafer to the processing station. When a processed wafer is present in this processing station, the processed wafer is picked up by the other tweezers to set the wafer. The transfer device 110 is used to transfer the wafer W to the processing stations 103 to 108 described above.

A wafer loading / unloading mechanism 120 is provided on the left side of the base 101. This loading / unloading mechanism 120
There is provided a wafer cassette 122 containing the unprocessed semiconductor wafer W _B and a wafer cassette 123 containing the processed wafer W _F. Further, the loading / unloading mechanism 120 includes tweezers 121 for holding the back surface of the wafer W by suction. This tweezers 12
1 has a configuration similar to that of the tweezers 112 and 113 described above, and can be translated in the X and Y directions. This tweezers 121 is used to load the unprocessed wafer W _B into the cassette 1
The processed wafer W _F is taken out of the wafer cassette 22 and stored in the wafer cassette 123.

Tweezers 121 of the loading / unloading mechanism 120
Passes the unprocessed wafer W _B to the tweezers 112 and 113 of the transfer device 110, and receives the processed wafer W _F from the tweezers 112 and 113. An interface that enables this delivery is provided at the boundary between the passage 102 and the loading / unloading mechanism 120.

The tweezers 11 of the carrier device 110
Reference numerals 2 and 113 transfer the wafer W to and from the processing stations 103 to 108. As a result, the wafer W is processed by the processing stations 103 to 103 in a predetermined order.
The process at 108 is received. The operation of the carrier device 110 is controlled by a control system (not shown). Therefore, by changing the program of the control system, the processing stations 103 ...
The process in 108 can be set arbitrarily. That is, it is possible to carry out only some of the processes in the processing stations 103 to 108 or change the order of the processes.

2 and 3 (A) to 3 (C), the tweezers 112, 113, 121 are described in detail. In these figures, 21 is a tweezer body. The main body 21 is provided with three fulcrums 22, 23, and 24, and the semiconductor wafer W is supported by these fulcrums at three points. This three-point support is effective in preventing dust from adhering to the surface of the tweezers 21. At 24 of these fulcrums 22 to 24, there is provided a suction port for vacuum suction, which is opened at the top surface thereof. Further, for alignment of the wafer W, an arc-shaped guide member 25 corresponding to the peripheral edge of the wafer W and a stopper member 26 are provided. The semiconductor wafer W is first placed on the tweezers in the state shown in FIG. In this state, the wafer W is not aligned and is not vacuum-sucked. Then, as shown in FIG. 3 (B), it is moved horizontally toward the tweezers stopper member 26, orientation flat W _a of the wafer W is brought into contact with the stopper member 26. After that, by continuing the horizontal movement, the semiconductor wafer W slides on the fulcrums 22 to 24 of the tweezers, and finally contacts the guide member 25 and stops.
Therefore, even if the position of the wafer W deviates from the center of the tweezers in the state of FIG. 3A, the wafer W can be aligned with a predetermined position in the center of the tweezers by being guided by the guide member 25.

FIG. 4 shows the interface mechanism 3 provided at the boundary between the passage 102 and the wafer loading / unloading mechanism 120.
0 is shown. The interface mechanism 30 has a function of temporarily holding the semiconductor wafer W delivered between the tweezers 121 and the tweezers 112 and 113, and holds the semiconductor wafer W by the vacuum suction mechanism and the holding member 31. And a drive device (for example, an air cylinder) 32 for moving up and down. When the tweezers 121 of the carry-in / carry-out mechanism 120 carry the semiconductor wafer W to the position shown in the figure, the holding member 32 moves up and lifts and holds the semiconductor wafer W as shown in the figure. Next, the wafer transfer device 110 on the resist coating / developing device 100 side moves to the position of the interface mechanism 30 shown in the figure. Then, as the holding member 31 descends, the semiconductor wafer W held by the holding member 31.
Is placed on the tweezers 112 or 113. The delivery of the semiconductor wafer W from the tweezers 112 and 113 to the tweezers 121 is also performed in the same manner as above.

Next, by the apparatus 100 of the above embodiment,
The process of forming a photoresist film on the surface of the semiconductor wafer W will be described step by step. This step is performed based on the pre-stored program of the control system described above.

First, the tweezers 1 of the loading / unloading mechanism 120.
One wafer W is taken out from the cassette 122 by 21 and conveyed to the position of the interface mechanism 30. The transferred semiconductor wafer W is, via the interface mechanism 30, one of the tweezers of the carrier device 110 waiting at the left end of the passage 102, for example, the tweezers 11.
2, and is adsorbed and held. One cassette 1
When only semiconductor wafers of the same type are stored in 22, the ID code is displayed on the cassette 122 and this I
You may make it read D and select a manufacturing process program.

Hereinafter, the preheating station 103, the cooling station 104, the first coating station 107,
The case where the processing in the first heating station 105 is selected in this order will be described.

First, the tweezers 1 that received the wafer W
12 is moved toward the preheating station 103, and the wafer W is set in the preheating station 103 and preheated. The preheating is composed of a heater plate, and the wafer W is placed on the heater plate. At this time, if the wafer W is not brought into direct contact with the plate but is floated by about 0.3 mm by three-point support, a countermeasure against dust is good. During this time, the tweezers 121 is moved to take out the second wafer W from the cassette 122 and make the interface mechanism 30 stand by. After the first wafer is loaded into the preheating station 103, the transfer device 110 receives the second wafer W from the interface mechanism 30 with the tweezers 112, and then the tweezers 112.
Hold by adsorption on top. And the preheating station 10
The process waits until the processing of the first wafer in 3 is completed.

When the preheating process for the first wafer W is completed, the transfer device 110 performs the following operation. That is, first, by moving the tweezers 113 that does not hold a wafer, the first wafer after the preheating process is taken out from the preheating station 103. After emptying the preheating station 103 in this way, the tweezers 112 holding the second wafer are operated to set the second wafer in the preheating station 103. Then, the tweezers 112 and 113 are moved in the Y direction, the θ direction, and the Z direction to the cooling station 104 position, and the tweezers 113 holding the substrate are operated in the X direction to set the first wafer in the cooling station 104. To do. From this operation, two tweezers 112, 1
The advantage of providing 13 is understood. That is, tweezers is 1
If there is only one, the transfer device 110 first takes out the first wafer from the preheating station 103, sets it in the cooling station 104, and then receives the second wafer from the interface mechanism 30 to receive it. This is because the operation of setting to 103 must be performed. While the above operation is being performed, in the loading / unloading mechanism 120, the third wafer to be processed next by the tweezers 121 is kept waiting in the interface mechanism 30.

Next, the transfer device 110 holds the third wafer from the interface mechanism 30 in the tweezers 112. Then, the cooling station 104 waits until the processing is completed. When the first wafer cooling process is completed, the transfer device 110 takes out the wafer in the cooling station 104 with the tweezers 113 that does not hold the wafer, and then performs the first photoresist coating process. The coating station 107 is set. When the processing of the second wafer in the preheating station 103 is completed during this coating process,
The transfer device 110 takes out the wafer from the preheating station 103 by using the tweezers 113 that does not hold the wafer. Then, the third wafer held by the tweezers 112 is moved to the preheating station 10
At the same time as setting to 3, the second wafer held by the tweezers 113 is set in the cooling station 104. This operation is the same as described above.

If the preheating process for the second wafer is completed before the completion of the cooling process for the first wafer, it is possible to program the following operation. That is, first, while holding the third unprocessed wafer in the tweezers 112, the second wafer is taken out from the preheating station 103 by the tweezers 113. Subsequently, the third wafer held by the tweezers 112 is moved to the preheating station 103.
After setting to, wait. Then, after the cooling process of the first wafer in the cooling station 104 is completed, the first wafer is tweezers 112 or 113.
And set in the first coating station 107. This application is performed by, for example, a resist solution dropping spin coating apparatus.

When the coating process of the photoresist on the first wafer is completed in the first coating station 107, the carrier device 110 takes out the wafer from the first coating station 107 with tweezers 113. Subsequently, the wafer is moved to the right along the Y direction, the first wafer taken out is set in the first heating station 105, and heat treatment is performed. When the cooling process of the second wafer in the cooling station 104 is completed during this heating process, the transfer device 110 takes out this wafer with the tweezers 113, and further, the first coating station 1
Set to 07 to start coating the photoresist.

When the processing of the first wafer is completed in the first heating station 105 and a desired photoresist film is formed, the transfer device 110 takes out the first wafer with tweezers 113. Then, the transport device 11
0 moves to the left side in the Y direction, and transfers the wafer held by the tweezers 113 to the interface mechanism 30. During standby in the interface mechanism 30, it is effective in terms of dust prevention that the interface section 30 is placed in a slightly floating state without directly contacting the placing section. Further, it is more advantageous that the standby mechanism is composed of a carrier cassette. When the processed semiconductor wafer W _F is put on standby by the interface mechanism 30, the tweezers 121 of the carry-in / carry-out mechanism 120 receives the wafer and stores it in the cassette 123. The series of processing operations described above is continued until there is no unprocessed wafer W _B in the cassette 122.

Although the first coating station 107 and the first heating station 105 are used in the above description of the operation, instead of these, the second coating station 1 is used.
08 and a second heating station 106 may be used. It is also possible to use two coating stations 107, 108 and / or two heating stations 105, 106 at the same time if the photoresist coating and / or heating steps take more time than other steps. Is.

By the way, when carrying out the above-mentioned photoresist film forming step, in order to confirm whether or not the programmed process is appropriate, it is advisable to perform trial processing on one wafer. It is normal. In this case, the test wafer W _{T for} which the trial process has been completed needs to be taken out from the cassette 121 for inspection. In order to facilitate this removal, as shown in FIG.
It is preferable to provide a retractable receiver 40 at the base of 23. A handle 41 is provided at one end of the receiver 40,
A wafer mounting table 42 is provided inside. The test wafer W _T for which the trial processing has been completed is inserted from the opening 43 by the tweezers 121 and placed on the mounting table 42. Therefore, this test wafer W _T can be easily taken out by pulling out the receiver 40 as shown.

Although the first coating station 107 and the first heating station 105 are used in the above description of the operation, instead of these, the second coating station 1 is used.
08 and a second heating station 106 may be used. It is also possible to use two coating stations 107, 108 and / or two heating stations 105, 106 at the same time if the photoresist coating and / or heating steps take more time than other steps. Is.

As is clear from the above description of the operation, according to the apparatus of the above-described embodiment, the plurality of steps necessary for forming the photoresist film on the surface of the semiconductor wafer can be arbitrarily performed, including the order thereof. The best process can be programmed in combination. Therefore, the most efficient combination process can be selected according to the type of semiconductor wafer to be processed, and the maximum throughput can be obtained.

Further, since the carrying device 110 has the two tweezers 112 and 113 and operates independently, the degree of freedom of processing is high. For example, if there is a wafer in the station of the next process, there is no inconvenience that the wafer in the process cannot be replaced. In addition, the tweezers of the transport mechanism 110 do not necessarily have to be two,
There may be three or more.

Further, since the processing stations are arranged along the passage 102 on both sides thereof, the degree of freedom in changing the operation program of the transfer device 110 is extremely high. Therefore, it is easy to change the processing program. Further, since the preheating station 103 and the cooling station 104 are vertically stacked, the floor area required for installation can be reduced.

The apparatus of the above embodiment can also be used as an apparatus for developing a photoresist film exposed in a predetermined pattern to form a resist pattern. In that case, a device for applying the developing solution to the application stations 107 and 108 is also provided. The developing device has a structure in which, for example, a developing solution is jetted and developed on a wafer that is rotating at a variable speed.

Also, the two coating stations 107, 1
By using either one of 08 for coating the photoresist and the other for coating the developing solution, it can be used as an apparatus for both forming and developing the photoresist film. At that time, the interface mechanism 30 as shown in FIG. 4 is provided at the right end of the passage 102 so that the wafer can be delivered to and from the exposure apparatus, so that the resist coating to the development are performed as a continuous process. be able to.

When a plurality of processing units are desired to be provided in series, the next passage is formed on the extension of the passage 102, and a wafer standby mechanism, for example, a carrier station is provided at this connection portion. .

For example, as shown in FIG. 6, the cassette 12
Wafer W in 2, 123 or cassette 12
Each process is performed by the above-described operations by the carry-in / carry-out mechanism 120 having the arm 120a for carrying into the 2, 123 and the first processing system 150 having the carrier device 110a for delivering the wafer W by the interface mechanism 30. For example, in this first processing system 150, an HMDS (hexamethyldisilazane) processing station 151, a first heating station 152, a first cooling station 153,
A first coating station 154 for spin-coating the first-layer resist and a second coating station 155 for spin-coating the second-layer resist are provided, and wafers are selectively transported to these stations for processing. To do. Furthermore, a plurality of processing stations, for example the second heating station 15
6, a second cooling station 157, a third coating station 158 for coating and forming a surface coating layer such as a CEL film on the upper surface of the resist in order to prevent diffused reflection during the exposure step, and these are arranged to face each other. A second processing system 159 having a transfer device 110b for transferring a wafer is provided in each station, and a standby mechanism 160 is arranged between the second processing system 159 and the first processing system 150. The stand-by mechanism 160 is provided with a mounting table 161 on which one wafer W can be mounted. As with the delivery of the wafer W in the interface mechanism 30, the mounting table 161 is used to transfer the first processing system 150. The wafer W is transferred between the apparatus 110a and the transfer apparatus 110b of the second processing system 159.
To deliver. The structure of the standby mechanism 160 may be such that a buffer cassette (not shown) is provided without providing the mounting table 161, and a plurality of wafers W can be standby by this cassette. This buffer cassette makes it possible to reduce the waiting time of one of the transport mechanisms even if there is a difference in the work amount between the transport mechanism 110a and the transport mechanism 110b.

As described above, by using the two transfer mechanisms via the standby mechanism 160, it is possible to easily cope with an increase in the number of processing stations and to realize high throughput processing.

The above-mentioned transport mechanism is not limited to two systems, but may be two or more systems and can be increased with the addition of a standby mechanism.

In the above embodiment, the example applied to the coating and developing process of the resist has been described, but the present invention is not limited to this, and similar effects can be obtained by etching process, CVD process, ashing process and the like.

[0046]

As described above, according to the present invention, it is possible to deal with various processes and increase the throughput of processing.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram of a coating and developing apparatus for explaining an embodiment of the apparatus of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory view of the tweezers of FIG.

3 is an explanatory view of the tweezers of FIG. 1. FIG.

FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram of an interface mechanism of the apparatus shown in FIG.

5 is an explanatory view of the cassette of FIG. 1. FIG.

FIG. 6 is an explanatory view of another embodiment of the device of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a configuration diagram of a conventional coating device.

[Explanation of symbols]

 110 transport device 112, 113 tweezers 120 loading / unloading mechanism 160 standby mechanism

─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁶ Identification number Internal reference number FI Technical indication 7352-4M H01L 21/30 566 7352-4M 569 (72) Inventor Osamu Hirakawa Kikuyo-cho, Kikuchi-gun, Kumamoto Prefecture 2655 Tsugure Teru Kyushu Co., Ltd. (72) Inventor Yoshio Kimura 2655 Tsukurei Kikuyo-cho, Kikuchi-gun, Kumamoto Teru Kyushu Co., Ltd.

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A resist processing apparatus for carrying out resist processing by carrying out unprocessed objects one by one from an object storage container, wherein the resist processing is a resist solution spin coating station, a resist developer spin coating station, a resist. At least 2 of the heating stations
A resist processing apparatus, characterized in that one station is provided along a moving path of a transfer device which holds an object to be processed and moves linearly. 2. A resist processing apparatus that holds an object to be processed and reciprocates along a linear transfer path to transfer the resist to a plurality of processing stations in a predetermined process order to perform resist processing, wherein the process order can be changed. A resist processing apparatus characterized in that 3. A step of unloading the objects to be processed one by one from a container in which the unprocessed objects of the resist are stored, a step of aligning the objects to be processed carried out by this step, and The aligned object is linearly moved and conveyed to the first processing station, and the object is moved in at least a direction orthogonal to the linear shape and the vertical direction to move the first resist. And a step of loading the resist into a processing station.