JP3383033B2 - Substrate processing method - Google Patents

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION [0001] Field of the Invention The present invention is based plate processing method, a surface treatment relating to line power sale board processing method of a substrate by supplying a predetermined processing liquid especially substrate. 2. Description of the Related Art A substrate developing apparatus disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. H5-158055 discloses a spin chuck for holding a substrate horizontally, and a developer having a wider width than the substrate placed on the spin chuck. And a supply nozzle. The developer supply nozzle has a discharge unit close to the substrate surface, and in this state, the developer supply nozzle discharges the developer onto the substrate surface while relatively moving in parallel along the substrate surface. After the development is completed, the spin chuck is rotated at a high speed to shake off the developer on the substrate surface. [0003] The conventional Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No.
In order to reduce the consumption of the developing solution in the substrate developing device disclosed in Japanese Patent No. 158055, it is conceivable to reduce the amount of the developing solution supplied per substrate. However, in this case, the amount of the developing solution existing on the substrate surface during the development is reduced, and a portion of the substrate surface where the developing solution is insufficient is generated. When such a phenomenon is remarkable, a portion where the developing solution is insufficient becomes defective in developing. An object of the present invention is to make processing unevenness less likely to occur even with a small amount of processing liquid. [0005] The substrate processing method according to 請 Motomeko 1 Means for Solving the Problems] is a method for performing surface treatment of a substrate by supplying a predetermined processing solution to the substrate, the first step and the second And a third step. In the first step, the substrate is held horizontally with respect to the substrate holding section. The second step, while relatively moving the processing liquid supply unit includes a slit nozzle along the surface of the substrate held by the substrate holder, Surittono the surface of the substrate
Supplies processing liquid from the spill and fills it, and wets the surface of the substrate.
The Ru is improved. The third step, a puddle by the second step
While relatively moving the processing liquid supply unit along the surface of the substrate whose surface wettability has been improved by the processing ,
The processing liquid is further supplied from the lit nozzle . [0006] [action] In the substrate processing method according to 請 Motomeko 1, Surittono
The processing liquid supply unit containing the chir is moved relative to the substrate,
The processing liquid is supplied to the surface of the substrate from the slit nozzle and is liquid-filled. The substrate surface wettability due to this liquid filling process
Is improved. Subsequently, the processing liquid supply unit is moved relative to the substrate, and a slit nozzle is formed on the surface of the substrate having improved wettability.
Furthermore, the treatment liquid from the nozzle is Ru is re-puddle. In this manner, the processing liquid is divided into two portions, and the substrate is placed on the substrate in the preceding portion.
By improving the wettability of the surface , even if the amount of the processing liquid supplied is small, the processing liquid is completely supplied to the surface of the substrate, and processing unevenness is less likely to occur. FIG. 1 shows a substrate according to an embodiment of the present invention.
The substrate developing apparatus to which the processing method is applied mainly includes a development processing section 1 and a developer feeding section 2. The development processing section 1
A substrate holding unit 4 capable of holding a rectangular glass substrate P by a vacuum suction hole and holding the substrate horizontally is provided with a developing solution supply unit 5 for supplying a developing solution to the substrate P held by the substrate holding unit 4. I have. A cup 6 is disposed around the substrate holding unit 4 to prevent a developer or a rinsing liquid (pure water) from scattering. The substrate holding section 4 is rotated around a vertical axis by a motor mechanism 26. The developer supply section 5 has a nozzle section 7 extending along the upper surface of the substrate P in the lateral direction of the substrate P (the depth direction in FIG. 1). The nozzle unit 7 includes a nozzle support arm 8
It is fixed to the lower end of. The nozzle support arm 8 is an inverted L-shaped member, and is supported by the moving frame 9 so as to be vertically movable. The moving frame 9 is movably supported by a moving guide 10. The moving guide 10 is mounted on the substrate P
Along the longitudinal direction (the left-right direction in FIG. 1). As a result, the nozzle unit 7 can move along the upper surface of the substrate P in the longitudinal direction of the substrate P as shown in FIG. The nozzle section 7 is an inverted house-shaped member as shown in FIG. The bottom surface of the nozzle portion 7 is inclined so as to be lower from both ends in the longitudinal direction of the substrate P toward the center. The angle θ between the bottom surface of the nozzle 7 and the substrate P is, for example, about 5 °. The angle may be an angle at which the developing solution is pulled by the surface tension at the time of liquid filling and does not drip, preferably in the range of 1 ° to 30 °, and more preferably 3 ° to 1 °.
The angle may be in the range of 0 °. In the nozzle section 7, a slit nozzle 20 opening downward is formed. In the middle of the slit nozzle 20, a pair of liquid reservoirs 31, 32 arranged vertically are formed. The liquid reservoirs 31 and 32 are for uniformly dispersing the developer supplied from the developer supply pipe 16 in the longitudinal direction of the nozzle portion 7 (the depth direction in FIG. 3). As shown in FIG. 1, the developing solution pumping section 2 has a pressurized tank 11 which accommodates a poly tank 12 storing a developing solution and which is hermetically sealed. In the upper part of the pressurized tank 11, a pressurized pipe 13 to which a pressurized nitrogen gas is supplied from a nitrogen gas source (not shown) is opened.
A three-way intake / exhaust valve 14 and a regulator 15 are arranged in the pressure pipe 13 in this order from the pressure tank 11 side. The three-way valve 14 supplies nitrogen gas to the pressurized tank 11
Or exhaust to another. One end of the developer supply pipe 16 reaches near the bottom surface of the plastic tank 12, and the other end is connected to the nozzle unit 7. In the middle of the developer supply pipe 16, a flow meter 17 and a developer supply valve 18 are provided.
Are arranged in this order from the plastic tank 12 side. Further, as shown in FIG. 4, the substrate developing device includes a control unit 23 composed of a microcomputer. The control unit 23 is connected to the substrate holding unit 4 (vacuum chuck), the driving units of the nozzle support arm 8 and the moving frame 9, the three-way valve 14 for suction and discharge, and the developer supply valve 18. Further, various sensors (not shown) such as sensors for detecting the positions of the nozzle support arm 8 and the moving frame 9 and other input / output devices are connected to the control unit 23. Next, the operation of the substrate developing apparatus will be described with reference to the control flowchart shown in FIG. First, in step S1, initialization of the entire substrate developing apparatus is performed. In step S2, the process waits for the transport mechanism (not shown) to carry the substrate P into the substrate developing device. The substrate P has been previously coated with a photosensitive resin and exposed to a predetermined pattern. When the substrate P is loaded, the process proceeds to step S3, where the substrate P is vacuum-sucked by the vacuum chuck of the substrate holding unit 4. In step S4, the nozzle unit 7 is moved to the start position. Here, the nozzle unit 7 is arranged at the position indicated by the dotted line in FIG. 6 (that is, the left end of the substrate P). The gap between the bottom surface of the nozzle portion 7 and the substrate P is 0.5 to 2.0 mm
Is within the range. In step S5, a developing solution is discharged from the nozzle slit 20 of the nozzle unit 7 onto the substrate P. This discharge start operation is performed by switching the three-way valve 14 to the supply side, opening the developer supply valve 18, and supplying the developer from the poly tank 12 to the nozzle unit 7. In step S6, FIG.
As shown in (5), the nozzle unit 7 is horizontally moved in the forward direction along the substrate P. Nozzle portion 7, while moving as indicated by the arrows in FIGS. 2 and 3, to puddle developing solution D ₁ onto the substrate P. In step S7, the process waits until the nozzle unit 7 reaches the right end of the substrate P. When the nozzle unit 7 reaches the right end of the substrate P as shown in FIG. 6, the process proceeds to step S8, and the movement of the moving frame 9 is stopped. In the above-described first liquid filling operation, for example, the flow rate of the developing solution discharged from the nozzle unit 7 is 3.5 liter / min, and the moving speed of the nozzle unit 7 is 400 mm / sec. . The length of the long side of the substrate P is 40
If it is 0 mm, the first liquid replenishment operation takes one second. In step S9, the nozzle unit 7 is horizontally moved in the backward direction as shown in FIG. The moving speed at this time is
200 mm / sec, which is の of the first liquid filling speed. That is, the second liquid filling operation takes 2 seconds. In step S10, the process waits until the nozzle unit 7 reaches the left end of the substrate P. Meanwhile, as shown in FIG.
And then re-puddle of developer D ₂ on the developer D ₁ which is puddled on the first. When the nozzle unit 7 reaches the left end, the supply of the developer from the nozzle unit 7 is stopped in step S11. Here, the three-way valve 14 is switched to the exhaust side, and the developer supply valve 18 is closed. In step S12,
The movement of the nozzle unit 7 is stopped, and the second liquid replenishment process is terminated. In the second liquid replenishment process, the developer is quickly and evenly applied onto the substrate P because the surface wettability of the substrate P is improved during the first liquid replenishment process. . For this reason, even if the amount of the developer is small, uneven development is less likely to occur on the substrate P. In step S13, the nozzle unit 7 is retracted to a position where it does not hinder the loading and unloading of the substrate P. In step S14, a predetermined time is waited until the development is completed. When the development is completed, the process proceeds to step S15, where the substrate P is rinsed (cleaned) by a pure water supply nozzle (not shown). At the time of this rinsing, the substrate holding unit 4 is rotated at a low speed by the motor mechanism 26. Subsequently, the substrate holding unit 4 is rotated at a high speed by the motor mechanism 26, and the substrate P is drained and dried. When proceeding to step S16,
The suction of the substrate P by the vacuum chuck of the substrate holding unit 4 is released. In step S17, the process waits for the transport mechanism (not shown) to unload the substrate P for the next process. When the substrate P is unloaded, the process returns to step S2 and waits for the next substrate P to be loaded. In the present embodiment, the time for liquid processing is shortened. In the conventional substrate developing apparatus, it is necessary to move the nozzle unit 7 at a low speed of 100 mm / sec in order to reliably apply the developing solution onto the substrate P. Therefore, in the case of a substrate having a long side of 400 mm as in this embodiment, conventionally, it takes 4 seconds to perform the liquid filling process. This is reduced to 3 seconds for reciprocation in the liquid replenishment process of this embodiment. [Other Embodiments] In the second liquid filling process, 1
The developing solution may be supplied while a part of the developing solution is scraped out. To this end, in FIG. 5 of the embodiment, after the nozzle unit 7 stops moving at the right end of the substrate P in step S8, the nozzle unit 7 is slightly lowered. As a result, as shown in FIGS. 9 and 10, the nozzle portion 7 scrapes the upper portion of the _first developer D1 to the left end side of the substrate P during the second liquid filling process. At this time, it is preferable that the amount of the developing solution scraped is about half. If a new developer D ₂ on the developer D ₁ with its upper part scraped by the nozzle part 7 is puddled, the reaction rate of development is the developing solution D ₁ outdated already reactions are eliminated Maintained high. As a result, the development time is reduced. The developer spilling from the left end of the substrate P can be recovered by providing, for example, a gutter 21 as shown in FIG. The developer received by the gutter 21 is collected in the poly tank 12 by a developer collecting mechanism (not shown),
Can be reused. Further, the present invention is applicable not only to the developing solution but also to an etching apparatus and a peeling apparatus for processing the surface of a substrate by using a liquid level. [0021] In the engaging Ru board processing method to the present invention, slit
While the processing liquid supply unit including the nozzle is moved relative to the substrate, the liquid is added to the substrate from the slit nozzle and the surface of the substrate is
After improving the surface wettability , the processing liquid supply unit is further moved to the substrate from the slit nozzle while relatively moving, so that a small amount of the processing liquid is completely supplied to the substrate surface,
Processing unevenness is reduced.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 employs a substrate processing method according to an embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 2 is a schematic view of a block diagram of a substrate developing device. FIG. 2 is a partial perspective view of a nozzle portion during a liquid filling process. FIG. 3 is a sectional view taken along the line III-III of FIG. 2; FIG. 4 is a schematic block diagram showing a control configuration of the substrate developing device. FIG. 5 is a control flowchart of the substrate developing device. FIG. 6 is a longitudinal sectional view showing one state of a developing process. FIG. 7 is a schematic longitudinal sectional view showing one state of a developing process. FIG. 8 is an enlarged partial view of FIG. 7; FIG. 9 is a schematic longitudinal sectional view showing one state of a developing process according to another embodiment. FIG. 10 is an enlarged partial view of FIG. 9; [Description of Signs] 1 Development processing section 4 Substrate holding section 5 Developer supply section 20 Slit nozzle 23 Control section P Substrate

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continuation of the front page (56) References JP-A-5-19487 (JP, A) JP-A 5-158055 (JP, A) JP-A-57-192955 (JP, A) 45243 (JP, A) JP-A-4-124812 (JP, A) (58) Fields investigated (Int. Cl. ⁷ , DB name) H01L 21/027 B05C 11/08 G03F 7/30

Claims (1)

(57) [Claim 1] A substrate processing method for performing a surface treatment of a substrate by supplying a predetermined processing liquid to the substrate, wherein the substrate is horizontally held with respect to a substrate holding unit. a first step, along the surface of the substrate held by the substrate holder slit
While relatively moving the processing liquid supply unit comprising Tonozuru, supplying the process liquid from the slit nozzle to a surface of the substrate
Liquid and prime Te, a second step to improve the surface wettability of the substrate, the surface wettability by puddle process with the second step
A third step of further supplying a processing liquid from the slit nozzle to the surface of the substrate while relatively moving the processing liquid supply unit along the surface of the substrate being improved. .