JP3340701B2 - Single wafer cleaning apparatus and single wafer cleaning method - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

The present invention relates to a substrate for a photo reticle (reticle: circuit original), a display panel substrate such as a substrate for a liquid crystal display panel and a substrate for a plasma display panel, a substrate for a hard disk, and an electronic device such as a semiconductor device. Related to the spin-type single-wafer cleaning technology used in the processing process for various substrates such as wafers. In particular, the in-plane uniformity of the substrate processing process and the reduction of processing time are realized with the minimum necessary amount of chemical solution, The present invention relates to a single-wafer cleaning apparatus and a single-wafer cleaning method for reducing the amount of waste liquid and improving environmental problems.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In an LSI manufacturing process, a substrate (wafer) is used.
Is generally performed by spraying a chemical solution with a spin type single wafer cleaning method. Chemical solutions used in such an LSI manufacturing process are high-purity products and the amount of foreign substances is reduced, so that they are expensive, and there are many special chemical solutions. Therefore, it is required to reduce the amount of chemical solution used, but in the spin-type single wafer cleaning method, the chemical solution is sprayed while rotating the wafer, so it is necessary to continue spraying for the time required for processing, As a result of using a large amount of chemical liquid more than required for processing, a large amount of chemical liquid is discarded, and the amount of chemical liquid used for spraying increases according to the amount of processing such as etching, resulting in lower manufacturing costs. And environmental problems.

Conventional techniques for solving such problems include, for example, a method of increasing the concentration of a chemical solution to reduce the amount of a chemical solution, and a method of shortening the processing time in a spin-type single wafer cleaning system. How to stop spinning during spin,
A method for promoting the processing of a wafer is disclosed.

[0004]

However, such a conventional technique has the following problems. First, the first problem is that the uniformity within the wafer surface is reduced. The reason is that it is difficult to maintain the chemical solution uniformly on the surface of the wafer, and problems such as uneven etching (in other words, non-uniformity) occur. The second problem is that it is necessary to treat a high-concentration chemical waste liquid, and there is a problem in terms of manufacturing cost and environment.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to solve the above problems, and realizes uniformity in the surface of the substrate processing process and reduction of the processing time with a minimum necessary amount of the chemical solution. An object of the present invention is to provide a single-wafer cleaning apparatus and a single-wafer cleaning method that reduce the amount of waste liquid and improve environmental problems.

[0006]

[SUMMARY OF Such single wafer cleaning apparatus in claim 1 of the present invention, when performing the chemical spray the upper and lower surfaces of the substrate which is the rotary while rotating the base plate The holding of the substrate is performed using wafer chucking means having pin-type wafer holding pins for holding the substrate horizontally with a minimum contact area on the side surface of the substrate, and rotating the wafer chucking means. This is performed using a holding pin rotating means, the chemical solution is stored using a chemical solution storage dish that stores the chemical solution only in an amount that allows the substrate to be immersed, and the chemical solution stored by the chemical spray on the lower surface of the substrate and / or
Or treatment you disposal waste to dish out as the chemical reservoir liquid waste liquid reservoir in chemical spray, performed using the pooled pan opening provided in the center portion of the chemical solution reservoir pan, the said wafer chucking means The operation of raising or lowering the substrate in a direction perpendicular to the substrate surface by penetrating an opening provided on the bottom surface of the chemical liquid reservoir and holding it at a predetermined moving position is performed using holding pin up / down driving means, and To prevent the chemical solution from leaking out of the chemical reservoir from the gap formed between the opening provided on the bottom surface and the side surface of the wafer chucking device, the wafer chucking is performed when the wafer chucking device is lowered. performed using reservoir fluid leakage prevention gasket for sealing on the sides of the unit, the substrate processing process in the dipping method, by using a spin cleaning section rotating means
It is configured to run by rotating the pre-Symbol chemical reservoir dish.

[0007]

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the single wafer cleaning apparatus according to the first aspect of the present invention, when the substrate is lowered to a predetermined moving position, the reservoir dish opening is closed using the lower surface of the substrate. It is configured as follows.

[0009]

[0010]

[0011]

[0012] Such single wafer cleaning apparatus in claim 3, in the invention described in the claim 1 or 2, wherein the chemical solution reservoir pan, the substrate processing at dipping method to clean the inner surface of the dish reservoir those liquid chemical It has means for preventing contamination during process execution.

[0013]

[0014]

[0015]

[0016]

[0017]

[0018]

[0019]

[0020]

[0021]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Embodiments described below are directed to a substrate for a photo reticle (reticle), a display panel substrate such as a liquid crystal display panel substrate or a plasma display panel substrate, a hard disk substrate, a semiconductor device, and the like. It can be applied to the spin-type single wafer cleaning technology used in the processing process for various substrates such as wafers for electronic devices, and achieves in-plane uniformity of substrate processing and reduction of processing time with the minimum necessary amount of chemical solution. It aims to reduce the cost of chemicals, reduce the amount of waste liquid, and improve environmental issues, and has the following features. First, the first feature is that by providing a means for executing processing with an appropriate amount of chemical solution by storing the sprayed chemical solution and performing dip processing, processing can be performed with a minimum amount of chemical solution required for wafer processing. is there. In the conventional spin-type single-wafer cleaning method, a chemical solution more than necessary in processing a wafer is sprayed. The second feature is that the dipping process is performed while continuing the substrate processing process in the spin-type single-wafer cleaning method, and the spin-type single-wafer cleaning method is provided with a means capable of re-executing the substrate processing process. The advantage of the single wafer cleaning system is that it can be maintained without deteriorating in-plane uniformity. The third feature is that by providing a means for exchanging a chemical solution for each wafer processing,
This is to avoid a substrate processing process in a state in which contaminants are accumulated, such as when only a substrate processing process in a dip method is used.

Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a sectional view of a single-wafer cleaning apparatus 20 according to one embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a top view of the single-wafer cleaning apparatus 20 of FIG. In FIG. 1, reference numeral 1 denotes a wafer (substrate), reference numeral 2 denotes a spray for performing chemical processing and cleaning processing (chemical liquid / cleaning processing spray), reference numeral 3 denotes a wafer holding pin (wafer chucking means), reference numeral 4 denotes a chemical storage dish, and reference numeral 5 denotes a storage. Dish opening, 6 is waste liquid waste, 7 is leakage prevention packing, 8 is a spin cleaning unit rotating means, 9 is a rotation mechanism (holding pin rotating means) of wafer holding pin 3 (wafer chucking means), and 10 is a chemical solution. A basin cleaning spray 12 indicates a vertical drive mechanism (holding pin vertical drive means) of the wafer holding pins 3 (wafer chucking means).

Referring to FIG. 1 and FIG.
0 is a pin type wafer holding pin 3 for holding the wafer 1 horizontally with a minimum contact area on the side surface of the wafer 1
(Wafer chucking means) and wafer holding pin 3
The holding pin rotating means 9 which is a rotating mechanism for rotating the (wafer chucking means) at a predetermined speed, and the wafer holding pins 3 (wafer chucking means) are raised or lowered in a direction perpendicular to the wafer surface (moved upward in the paper surface or moved in the paper surface). The wafer 1 is provided with a holding pin up / down driving means 12 which is an up / down driving mechanism for moving the wafer 1 in a downward direction and holding it at a predetermined moving position, and a reservoir dish opening 5 for discarding unnecessary chemical liquid as a liquid waste liquid 6. When the chemical solution storage plate 4 for storing the immersable liquid chemical and the wafer holding pins 3 (wafer chucking means) are lowered to a predetermined position (moved downward in the drawing), the wafer holding pins 3 (wafer chucking means) are used. ) And the wafer holding pins 3
(Wafer chucking means) and a liquid leakage prevention packing 7 for sealing the gap so as to prevent the liquid waste liquid 6 from leaking from a gap formed between the chemical liquid storage dish 4 and a spin cleaning unit for rotating the chemical liquid storage dish 4. Rotation means 8 is provided.
Reservoir opening 5 provided at the center of chemical solution reservoir 4
Is sealed using the lower surface (or the back surface) of the wafer 1 when the wafer 1 descends to a predetermined moving position. There are various types of wafer chucking means, and in the present embodiment, description will be made using a pin type.

Next, the operation of the single wafer cleaning apparatus 20 will be described. With reference to FIGS. 1 and 2, holding the wafer 1 when performing the chemical spray on the upper surface and the lower surface of the rotating wafer 1 in a state where the wafer 1 is rotated, minimizes the side surface of the wafer 1. This is performed using the wafer holding pins 3 (wafer chucking means) that hold the contact area. The rotation of the wafer holding pins 3 (wafer chucking means) is executed using the holding pin rotating means 9.
The vertical movement (up / down) of the wafer holding pins 3 (wafer chucking means) is executed using the holding pin vertical driving means 12. The chemical from the gap generated between the opening provided on the bottom surface of the chemical solution storage dish 4 and the side surface of the wafer retaining pin 3 (wafer chucking means) because the wafer holding pin 3 (wafer chucking means) penetrates the chemical solution. In order to prevent the leakage from the reservoir 4 to the outside, the reservoir liquid leakage prevention packing 7 is used to seal the side surface of the wafer retaining pin 3 (wafer chucking means) when the wafer retaining pin 3 (wafer chucking means) is lowered. Run. The chemical reservoir is performed using a chemical reservoir 4 having a reservoir opening 5 in the center. The process of discarding the chemical liquid stored in the lower surface (or the back surface) of the wafer 1 by the chemical liquid spray and / or the chemical liquid stored by the chemical liquid spray out of the plate as the storage liquid waste liquid 6 is performed using the reservoir plate opening 5. . In order to perform the substrate processing process by the spin type single wafer cleaning method, the wafer holding pins 3 (wafer chucking means) and the chemical solution storage dish 4 are rotated using the spin cleaning unit rotating means 8.

The operation of the single wafer cleaning apparatus 20 (single wafer cleaning method) will be described in more detail. Referring to FIGS. 1 and 2, in the present embodiment, first, the wafer holding pins 3
After chucking (holding) the wafer 1 by using (wafer chucking means), the chemical liquid storage dish 4 is rotated by using a spin cleaning unit rotating means 8 configured around a motor.
Of chemical solution / cleaning treatment spray 2
A chemical solution treatment or a cleaning treatment using is started. Whether the chemical spray is simultaneously performed on the upper surface (or the front surface) and the lower surface (or the back surface) of the wafer 1 can be arbitrarily selected depending on the conditions of the substrate processing process.

Next, the chemical processing or cleaning processing using the chemical / cleaning processing spray 2 is started, the wafer holding pins 3 (wafer chucking means) are lowered, and then the chemical liquid on the wafer 1 in the chemical storage dish 4 is discharged. Spray. At this time, the reservoir opening 5 provided at the center of the chemical reservoir 4 is closed using the lower surface (or the rear surface) of the wafer 1 when the wafer 1 descends to a predetermined moving position. After supplying the amount of chemical necessary for the substrate processing process (chemical treatment) of the wafer 1 and storing the amount of the chemical capable of immersing the wafer 1 in the chemical reservoir 4, the wafer 1 is kept in the dip state (immersion state) for a predetermined time. Just leave it alone. In this embodiment, the rotation of the chemical reservoir 4 using the spin cleaning unit rotating means 8 is continued even at this time, thereby further improving the in-plane uniformity of the substrate processing process in the dip method.

Next, after the completion of the substrate processing process in the dip method, the wafer holding pins 3 (wafer chucking means) are moved up to a predetermined moving position (moving upward in the drawing) to move the wafer 1 to the next position. Transfer to washing process. At this time, when the wafer holding pin 3 (wafer chucking means) is raised to a predetermined moving position (moves upward in the drawing), the reservoir opening 5 is opened. The chemical solution in the chemical reservoir 4 used in the above step is drained out of the chemical reservoir 4 as a reservoir waste 6 from the reservoir opening 5 in the open state, and the chemical reservoir is cleaned using the chemical reservoir cleaning spray 10. The cleaning of the inside of 4 is also performed.

As described above, according to the present embodiment, the following effects can be obtained. First, the first effect is that the in-plane uniformity of the substrate processing and the shortening of the processing time in the spin-type single wafer cleaning method can be realized with the minimum necessary amount of the chemical solution. The reason is that by taking advantage of the substrate processing process in the dip method, it is possible to minimize the supply of the chemical solution required for substrate processing such as etching of an oxide film in an LSI manufacturing process, and to perform spin-type single wafer cleaning. This is because a reduction in uniformity in the substrate surface can be avoided by taking advantage of the substrate processing process in the method.

The second effect is that by reducing the amount of the chemical solution by optimizing the amount of the chemical solution used in the spin-type single wafer cleaning system, it is possible to reduce the cost of the chemical solution and the amount of waste liquid. And that environmental problems can be improved. The reason is that the chemical used in the LSI manufacturing process is expensive because it is a high-purity product and the amount of foreign substances is reduced, and there are many special chemicals. This is because supply of a chemical solution required for substrate processing such as etching of an oxide film in a manufacturing process can be suppressed to a minimum.

Each of the above embodiments is not particularly limited to a wafer used for a semiconductor device, and includes a substrate for a photo reticle (reticle: circuit original), a substrate for a liquid crystal display panel, a substrate for a plasma display panel, and the like. The present invention is applicable to processing of various substrates such as display panel substrates, substrates for hard disks, and substrates for electronic devices such as semiconductor devices. Further, it is apparent that the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, and that the above-described embodiment can be appropriately modified within the scope of the technical idea of the present invention. Further, the number, position, shape, and the like of the constituent members are not limited to the above-described embodiment, but can be set to a number, position, shape, and the like suitable for carrying out the present invention. In each drawing, the same components are denoted by the same reference numerals.

[0031]

Since the present invention is configured as described above, the following effects can be obtained. First, the first effect is that the in-plane uniformity of the substrate processing process and the reduction of the processing time in the spin-type single wafer cleaning method can be realized with the minimum necessary amount of the chemical solution. The reason is that by utilizing the merit of the dip type processing, the supply of the chemical solution required for the substrate processing process such as the etching of the oxide film in the LSI manufacturing process can be suppressed to the minimum, and the spin type single wafer cleaning method can be used. This is because a reduction in uniformity in the substrate surface can be avoided by utilizing the merits of the processing.

The second effect is that, by reducing the amount of the chemical solution by optimizing the amount of the chemical solution in the spin-type single wafer cleaning method, it is possible to realize a reduction in the chemical solution cost and the waste liquid amount. And that environmental problems can be improved. The reason is that the chemical used in the LSI manufacturing process is expensive because it is a high-purity product and the amount of foreign substances is reduced, and there are many special chemicals. This is because supply of a chemical solution required for a substrate processing process such as film etching can be minimized.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is an apparatus cross-sectional view for explaining a single-wafer cleaning apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a top view of the single wafer cleaning apparatus of FIG.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 Wafer (substrate), 2 Chemical / cleaning spray, 3 Wafer holding pin (wafer chucking means), 4 Chemical reservoir, 5 Reservoir opening, 6 Reservoir waste liquid, 7 Reservoir leakage prevention packing, 8 Spin cleaning unit Rotating means, 9 holding pin rotating means, 10 chemical solution dish cleaning spray, 12 holding pin vertical driving means, 20 single-wafer cleaning apparatus.

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on the front page (58) Field surveyed (Int.Cl. ⁷ , DB name) H01L 21/304

Claims (3)

(57) [Claims] The method according to claim 1 holding a substrate when performing a chemical spray to the top and bottom surfaces of the substrate which is the rotated in a state of rotating the board, the board side of the substrate with minimal contact area The method is performed using wafer chucking means provided with pin-type wafer holding pins for holding horizontally, and the rotation of the wafer chucking means is performed using holding pin rotating means, and the amount of liquid capable of immersing the chemical in the substrate. by using a chemical reservoir pan for reserving only extent running reservoir chemical, disposal waste to dish out as the chemical reservoir liquid waste liquid reservoir in pooled chemical and / or chemical spray at the lower surface of the chemical solution spraying the substrate processing Is performed using a reservoir dish opening provided at the center of the chemical reservoir, and the wafer chucking means is made to pass through an opening provided on the bottom surface of the chemical reservoir, thereby allowing the substrate surface to be opened. The operation of vertically raising or lowering and holding at a predetermined moving position is performed using a holding pin up / down driving unit, and between the opening provided on the bottom surface of the chemical solution reservoir and the side surface of the wafer chucking unit. Preventing the chemical solution from leaking out of the gap generated from leaking out of the chemical solution reservoir using a reservoir liquid leakage prevention packing hermetically sealed on the side surface of the wafer chucking means when the wafer chucking means is lowered, the substrate processing process in the dipping method, characterized that the single wafer cleaning apparatus that is configured to run by rotating the pre-Symbol chemical reservoir dish using a spin cleaning unit rotating means. 2. The single wafer according to claim 1, wherein the storage dish opening is configured to be sealed using a lower surface of the substrate when the substrate is lowered to a predetermined moving position. Cleaning equipment. Wherein the chemical solution reservoir dish to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that it comprises means for preventing the substrate processing process execution contamination at our drug reservoir dipping method to clean the inner surface of the dish A single-wafer cleaning apparatus as described in the above.