JP4050180B2 - Substrate processing method - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a substrate processing method capable of keeping a time, required for cleaning a substrate after a film forming process is finished, constant, uniformly cleaning the substrate, and transferring the substrate subjected to a film forming process as keeping it clean. <P>SOLUTION: The substrate processing method comprises a first process of transferring the substrate from an indexer unit 75 equipped with a loading/unloading table 73 to the processing unit of a film forming device 12, a second process of making the substrate undergo a film forming process, a third process of transferring the substrate to cleaning units 6 and 7 for cleaning its surface, a fourth process of cleaning the surface of the substrate, a fifth process of transferring the substrate to a reversing/cleaning unit 8 for cleaning its rear, a sixth process of cleaning the rear of the substrate, and a seventh process of transferring the substrate to the indexer unit 75. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2004,JPO

Description

[0001]
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a substrate processing method in which a substrate such as a semiconductor wafer, a glass substrate for a liquid crystal display panel, or a mask substrate for a semiconductor manufacturing apparatus is subjected to a film forming process and then cleaned.
[0002]
[Prior art]
In a film forming apparatus that performs a film forming process such as CVD (Chemical Vapor Deposition), PVD (Physical Vapor Deposition), or sputtering, the substrate is likely to be contaminated particularly in the transfer process. For this reason, the substrate that has been subjected to the film forming process by the film forming apparatus needs to be transported to the substrate cleaning apparatus and cleaned before the photolithography process.
[0003]
Conventionally, in order to perform such substrate cleaning, substrates that are sequentially discharged after film formation processing from the film formation processing apparatus are stored in a substrate transfer cassette that can store, for example, about 25 substrates. And transported to the substrate cleaning device. That is, the substrates discharged from the film forming apparatus are sequentially stored in a substrate transport cassette disposed in the indexer unit of the film forming apparatus. When the substrate transport cassette is full of substrates, the substrate transport cassette is transported manually or by the cassette transport device to the indexer section of the substrate cleaning device. Thereafter, the substrates in the cassette for transporting substrates are sequentially taken out and loaded into a substrate cleaning apparatus, thereby cleaning the substrates.
[0004]
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
According to such a conventional configuration, the time required for cleaning after completion of the film forming process differs for each substrate. That is, in the indexer unit of the film forming apparatus, after the film forming process is finished, the substrate first stored in the substrate transport cassette and the substrate finally stored in the substrate transport cassette are The time until cleaning is greatly different. In addition, in the indexer section of the substrate cleaning apparatus, after the film formation process is completed, the substrate that is first taken out from the substrate transport cassette and cleaned is processed, and the substrate that is finally removed from the substrate transport cassette and cleaned is processed. The time until cleaning is greatly different. Further, when a plurality of substrate transfer cassettes are collectively transferred from the film forming apparatus to the substrate cleaning apparatus, the time difference becomes more prominent. When such a time difference occurs, the substrate cannot be processed uniformly. Such a problem is a problem that has arisen with the recent miniaturization of patterns.
[0005]
A first object of the present invention is to provide a substrate processing method capable of processing a substrate uniformly by making the time until the cleaning is completed after the film forming process is completed.
[0006]
In addition, when the substrate transfer cassette containing the substrate after film formation processing is transferred from the indexer unit of the film formation processing device to the indexer unit of the substrate cleaning device using a manual or a cassette transfer device, the entire transfer path is sufficient. If it is not kept clean, the substrate after film formation will be contaminated.
[0007]
A second object of the present invention is to provide a substrate processing method capable of transporting a substrate after film formation processing from a film formation processing apparatus to a substrate cleaning apparatus in a clean state.
[0008]
[Means for Solving the Problems]
The invention described in claim 1 is a substrate processing method for performing a film forming process and a cleaning process on a substrate, and includes an indexer unit including a loading / unloading table on which a substrate transfer cassette is placed. A step of transporting the substrate to a processing unit of the film forming apparatus; a step of performing a film forming process of the substrate by the processing unit of the film forming apparatus; A step of transporting to the first cleaning unit for cleaning, a step of supplying a cleaning liquid to the surface of the substrate by the first cleaning unit to clean the surface of the substrate, and a surface of the substrate being cleaned by the first cleaning unit; Transporting the substrate to a second cleaning unit for cleaning the back surface of the substrate, supplying a cleaning liquid to the back surface of the substrate by the second cleaning unit, and cleaning the back surface of the substrate, and the second cleaning By unit And a step of conveying the substrate with its back surface is cleaned to the indexer, the first cleaning unit has a plurality of arranged, received a substrate has been completed the deposition process from the processing unit of the film deposition apparatus Thereafter, the time required for transporting the substrate to the first cleaning unit and starting the cleaning is the same between the first cleaning units .
[0009]
According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the first aspect of the invention, the step of inverting the substrate of the substrate upside down between the step of cleaning the surface of the substrate and the step of transporting the substrate to the second cleaning unit. Prepare.
[0010]
According to a third aspect of the invention, in the first or second aspect of the invention, the film forming apparatus performs a film forming process by CVD, PVD, or sputtering.
[0011]
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a plan view showing the substrate cleaning apparatus 1 together with the CVD processing apparatus 2.
[0012]
The CVD processing apparatus 2 includes an indexer unit 75 including a carry-in / carry-out table 73 and a substrate transport mechanism 74.
[0013]
The carry-in / carry-out table 73 of the CVD processing apparatus 2 is configured such that a plurality of substrate transport cassettes 12 can be placed thereon. The substrate transport cassette 12 storing a large number of substrates is transported by a cassette transport device or the like from the previous processing step, and is placed on the loading / unloading table 73. Further, the substrate that has been subjected to the CVD process by the CVD processing apparatus 2 and cleaned by the substrate cleaning apparatus 1 is stored in the substrate transport cassette 12 mounted on the carry-in / out table 73.
[0014]
The substrate transport mechanism 74 of the CVD processing apparatus 2 is for transporting the substrate between the carry-in / out table 73 and the CVD processing unit (not shown) and the transfer unit 31 of the CVD processing apparatus 2. The substrate transport mechanism 74 is movable in the front-rear direction with respect to the base 77 that can reciprocate along the carry-in / out table 73, a support base 78 that can rotate and move up and down on the base 77. And a pair of upper and lower transfer arms 79 (only the upper one is shown in FIG. 1). For this reason, the substrate transport mechanism 74 moves to a position facing each of the substrate transport cassettes 12 and the delivery unit 31 placed on the carry-in / out table 73, and at that position, the pair of upper and lower transport arms 79. The board can be delivered. In addition, the transfer mechanism 74 reverses the transfer arm 79 from the state shown in FIG. 1 by 180 °, so that the substrate is connected to a CVD processing unit (not shown) of the CVD processing apparatus 2 or a transfer mechanism inside the CVD processing apparatus. Can be passed between.
[0015]
The substrate cleaning apparatus 1 includes a substrate transport mechanism 4 and a cleaning unit 9 including cleaning units 6 and 7 and a reverse cleaning unit 8.
[0016]
The substrate transport mechanism 4 is for transporting the substrate between the cleaning unit 9 and the transfer unit 31 of the CVD processing apparatus 2. The substrate transport mechanism 4 includes a base 13 that can reciprocate along the cleaning unit 9, a support base 14 that can rotate and move up and down on the base 13, and a vertical base that can move in the front-rear direction with respect to the support base 14. A pair of transfer arms (only the upper one is shown in FIG. 1) 15 is provided. For this reason, the substrate transport mechanism 4 moves to a position facing the cleaning units 6 and 7 and the reverse cleaning unit 8 of the cleaning unit 9 and each of the transfer units 31 in the CVD processing apparatus 2, and at that position, a pair of upper and lower The substrate can be delivered by the transfer arm 15.
[0017]
More specifically, the substrate placed on the cleaning units 6 and 7, the reverse cleaning unit 8 or the transfer unit 31 is received by one of the upper and lower pair of transfer arms 15, and the other transfer arm 15 receives the substrate. The substrate is transferred by placing the held substrate on the substrate transport cassette 12, the cleaning units 6, 7 or the transfer unit 31.
[0018]
The substrate transport mechanism 4 transports the substrate from the transfer unit 31 of the CVD processing apparatus 2 to the cleaning unit 6 and the transport time T6 required for transporting the substrate from the transfer unit 31 of the CVD processing apparatus 2 to the cleaning unit 7. The transport operation is controlled so that the transport time T7 required for this is the same.
[0019]
More specifically, since the transfer time T6 to the cleaning unit 6 that does not require time for transfer because it is close to the transfer unit 31 of the CVD processing apparatus 2 is separated from the transfer unit 31, its transfer. The base 13 of the substrate transport mechanism 4 is stopped for a short time after the transport arm 15 receives the substrate from the transfer section 31 so that the transport time T7 is the same as the transport time T7 to the cleaning unit 7 which takes time. Is moved to the cleaning unit 6 to carry the substrate.
[0020]
FIG. 2 is a front view showing a main part of the cleaning unit 6. The cleaning unit 7 has the same configuration as the cleaning unit 6.
[0021]
The cleaning unit 6 includes a spin chuck 21 that rotates while holding the substrate W, and a brush mechanism 22 that cleans the surface of the substrate W that rotates while being held by the spin chuck 21.
[0022]
The spin chuck 21 has a support base 26 connected to a rotating shaft 25 of a motor 24. A plurality of substrate holding pins 27 that are in contact with only the edge of the substrate W are disposed on the support base 26. An inner cup 23 is disposed around the spin chuck 21 to prevent the cleaning liquid scattered from the substrate W from being scattered by the centrifugal force accompanying the rotation of the substrate W. The inner cup 23 is configured to be movable in the vertical direction by lifting means (not shown).
[0023]
The brush mechanism 22 has an arm 28 that can swing between a standby position indicated by a solid line and a cleaning position indicated by a two-dot chain line in FIG. 2 around a support shaft disposed outside the inner cup 23. Further, a cleaning brush 29 is provided at the tip of the arm 28 in a downward state. The cleaning brush 29 rotates around the axis that faces in the vertical direction. The arm 28 is configured to be movable up and down between a position where the lower end portion of the cleaning brush 29 abuts on the substrate W held by the spin chuck 21 and a position apart from the position by a lifting means (not shown). .
[0024]
When cleaning the substrate W by the cleaning unit 6, the substrate W is rotated while being held by the spin chuck 21. A cleaning liquid such as pure water is supplied to the surface of the substrate W from a nozzle (not shown). Then, the arm 28 is moved to the cleaning position and then lowered to bring the cleaning brush 29 into contact with the rotating substrate W held by the spin chuck 21 and rotate the cleaning brush 29 itself. Then, the surface of the substrate W held on the spin chuck 21 is cleaned by moving the cleaning brush 29 to the edge of the substrate W. When cleaning of the substrate W is completed, nitrogen gas is blown onto the substrate W from a nozzle (not shown) and the substrate W is rotated at high speed to dry the substrate W.
[0025]
The reverse cleaning unit 8 is for cleaning the back surface of the substrate W carried therein by inverting the substrate W around the horizontal axis.
[0026]
FIG. 3 is a plan view of the reverse cleaning unit 8, FIG. 4 is a front view thereof, and FIG. 5 is a side view showing a main part of the reverse mechanism 42. The substrate reversal cleaning unit 8 includes a cleaning mechanism 41 and a reversing mechanism 42.
[0027]
The cleaning mechanism 41 has the same configuration as the cleaning unit 6 shown in FIG. That is, the cleaning mechanism 41 includes a spin chuck 21 that rotates while holding the substrate W, and a brush mechanism 22 that cleans the rotating substrate W held by the spin chuck 21 from above. 3 and 4, the same members as those in the cleaning unit 6 shown in FIG.
[0028]
The spin chuck 21 has a support base 26 connected to a rotating shaft 25 of a motor 24. A plurality of substrate holding pins 27 that are in contact with only the edge of the substrate W are disposed on the support base 26. An inner cup 23 is disposed around the spin chuck 21 to prevent the cleaning liquid scattered from the substrate W from being scattered by the centrifugal force accompanying the rotation of the substrate W. The inner cup 23 is configured to be movable in the vertical direction by lifting means (not shown).
[0029]
The brush mechanism 22 has an arm 28 that can swing between a standby position indicated by a solid line and a cleaning position indicated by a two-dot chain line in FIG. 4 around a support shaft disposed outside the inner cup 23. Further, a cleaning brush 29 is provided at the tip of the arm 28 in a downward state. The cleaning brush 29 rotates around the axis that faces in the vertical direction. The arm 28 is configured to be movable up and down between a position where the lower end portion of the cleaning brush 29 abuts on the substrate W held by the spin chuck 21 and a position apart from the position by a lifting means (not shown). .
[0030]
The reversing mechanism 42 has a pair of substantially arc-shaped chucks 51 for holding the edge of the substrate W. The base portions of the pair of chucks 51 are respectively supported by a pair of support bodies 53, and each chuck 51 is disposed at a slightly different height. The chuck 51 is provided with two fluororesin support members 52 that contact only the edge of the substrate W. The pair of supports 53 is configured to be movable in the horizontal direction along a guide member 55 attached to the rotating plate 54. And these support bodies 53 are urged | biased by the direction which adjoins mutually by the spring which is not shown in figure.
[0031]
As shown in FIG. 5, the rotating plate 54 has a pair of link mechanisms 50 arranged symmetrically with respect to each other. As shown in FIG. 3, the link mechanism 50 includes a first link 56 that rotates about an axis that is connected to the rotating plate 54, one end connected to the first link 56, and the other end that is one support body. 53 and a third link 58 having one end connected to the first link 56 and the other end connected to the other support 53. Then, when the cylinder rod of the air cylinder 59 presses the connecting portion between the first link 56 and the third link 58, each link 56, 57, 58 shifts from the bent state to the extended state, thereby making a pair. The chucks 51 move in directions away from each other. Further, when the cylinder rod of the air cylinder 59 is contracted, the pair of chucks 51 are moved toward each other by the action of a spring (not shown).
[0032]
A rotating plate 54 connected to a support 53 that supports the pair of chucks 51 is fixed to a rotating shaft of the motor 61. Therefore, by rotating the rotating shaft of the motor 61 by 180 °, the pair of chucks 51 can be rotated by 180 ° together with the substrate W held there. Further, the pair of chucks 51 move up and down by driving an elevating air cylinder 62 shown in FIG.
[0033]
When the reverse surface of the substrate W is cleaned by the reversal cleaning unit 8, the substrate W transported by the transport arm 15 of the substrate transport mechanism 4 with its surface facing upward is temporarily held on the spin chuck 21. Then, the pair of chucks 51 in the reversing mechanism 42 are lowered, and after holding the substrate W by the chucks 51, the chucks 51 are raised. When the chuck 51 rises to a predetermined height, the rotating plate 54 is rotated 180 ° together with the chuck 51 by driving the motor 61. As a result, the substrate W held on the chuck 51 is reversed. Subsequently, after the chuck 51 is lowered to hold the substrate W on the spin chuck 21, the chuck 51 is retracted upward.
[0034]
Then, the arm 28 is moved to the cleaning position and then lowered to bring the cleaning brush 29 into contact with the rotating substrate W held by the spin chuck 21 and rotate the cleaning brush 29 itself. Then, the back surface of the substrate W held on the spin chuck 21 is cleaned by moving the cleaning brush 29 to the edge of the substrate W. When the cleaning of the substrate W is completed, the substrate W is dried by blowing nitrogen gas from the pair of nozzles 44 to the substrate W and rotating the substrate W at a high speed. The substrate W whose back surface has been cleaned is reversed again by the reversing mechanism 42 and is received by the transport arm 15 of the substrate transport mechanism 4 with its front surface facing upward.
[0035]
Next, the cleaning operation by the substrate cleaning apparatus 1 will be described. In addition, this board | substrate cleaning apparatus 1 has a control part which abbreviate | omitted illustration. The following cleaning operation is executed by a command from this control unit.
[0036]
The substrate transfer cassette 12 transferred from the previous processing step by a cassette transfer device or the like is placed on the loading / unloading table 73 of the CVD processing apparatus 2. A large number of substrates W are stored in the substrate transport cassette 12.
[0037]
In this state, the transfer arm 79 of the substrate transfer mechanism 74 in the CVD processing apparatus 2 takes out the substrates W in the substrate transfer cassette 12 one by one, and reverses the transfer arm 79 by 180 °, thereby subjecting the substrate W to the CVD process. It is conveyed to a CVD processing unit (not shown) of the apparatus 2.
[0038]
Instead of using the substrate transport mechanism 74 that transports the substrates W in the substrate transport cassette 12 one by one to the CVD processing unit (not shown) of the CVD processing apparatus 2, a large number of substrates in the substrate transport cassette 12 are used. The substrate W in the substrate transfer cassette 12 may be transferred into the CVD processing apparatus 2 using a substrate transfer mechanism that transfers the substrates W to the boat of the CVD processing apparatus 2 at once.
[0039]
Further, the substrate W may be cleaned in advance before the substrate W is subjected to the CVD process in the CVD processing apparatus 2.
[0040]
The substrate W that has been subjected to the CVD process in the CVD processing apparatus 2 is placed on the support pins 32 of the transfer section 31 by the transport arm 79 of the substrate transport mechanism 74 in the CVD processing apparatus 2. The substrate W is transported to the cleaning unit 6 or 7 by the transport arm 15 of the substrate transport mechanism 4 in the substrate cleaning apparatus 1. The substrate W transferred to the cleaning unit 6 or 7 is cleaned of contamination generated during the CVD process in the cleaning unit 6 or 7.
[0041]
At this time, since the substrate W that has been subjected to the CVD process is immediately transported to the cleaning processing unit 6 or 7 and cleaned, the time until the substrate W is cleaned after the end of the CVD process is constant. For this reason, it becomes possible to process the board | substrate W uniformly. Similarly, since the substrate W that has been subjected to the CVD process is immediately transported to the cleaning processing unit 6 or 7 and cleaned, particles and the like attached to the substrate W during the CVD process can be easily removed. Further, since the substrate W is directly transferred between the substrate cleaning apparatus 1 and the CVD processing apparatus 2, the substrate W is contaminated while being transferred from the CVD processing apparatus 2 to the substrate cleaning apparatus 1 as in the prior art. Can be prevented.
[0042]
The substrate W whose surface has been cleaned by the cleaning unit 6 or 7 is transported to the reverse cleaning unit 8 by the transport arm 15 of the substrate transport mechanism 4 in the substrate cleaning apparatus 1 and the back surface thereof is cleaned. The substrate W whose back surface has been cleaned is placed on the support pins 32 of the delivery unit 31 by the transport arm 15 of the substrate transport mechanism 4. Then, the substrate W is stored in the substrate transfer cassette 12 on the loading / unloading table 73 by the transfer arm 79 of the substrate transfer mechanism 74 in the CVD processing apparatus 2.
[0043]
In the above-described embodiment, the indexer unit 75 for transferring the substrate transport cassette 12 to and from the cassette transport device that transports the substrate transport cassette 12 from the previous processing step is provided with the substrate cleaning apparatus 1 and the CVD process. Since it can be shared with the apparatus 2, the configuration of these entire apparatuses can be simplified.
[0044]
In the above-described embodiment, since the substrate cleaning apparatus 1 and the CVD processing apparatus 2 are arranged so as to correspond to each other, the cleaning of the substrate W and the CVD processing process can be rectified.
[0045]
In each of the above-described embodiments, the case where the CVD processing apparatus 2 that performs the CVD process on the substrate W is used as the film formation processing apparatus has been described. However, for example, other film formation processes such as PVD and sputtering are performed. A membrane processing apparatus may be used.
[0046]
In the above-described embodiment, the cleaning unit using the brush mechanism 22 is exemplified. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and the cleaning mechanism is a mechanism for discharging and cleaning a high-pressure cleaning liquid onto the substrate, It is also possible to use a mechanism in which a cleaning liquid that oscillates ultrasonic waves is discharged onto the substrate for cleaning.
[0047]
【The invention's effect】
According to the first and second aspects of the present invention, the time required until the substrate is cleaned after the substrate film forming process is completed can be made constant. For this reason, it becomes possible to process a board | substrate uniformly. In addition, since it is not necessary to transfer the substrate after the film formation process to the cleaning device via another transfer device other than the substrate transfer mechanism of the substrate processing apparatus, the substrate after the film formation process is kept in a clean state. It can be transferred to a substrate cleaning apparatus.
[0048]
In addition , even when a plurality of cleaning units are used, the substrate can be processed more uniformly between the processing units.
[0049]
According to invention of Claim 3 , the board | substrate after the film-forming process by CVD, PVD, or sputtering can be conveyed in a clean state to a board | substrate washing | cleaning apparatus.
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 is a plan view showing a substrate cleaning apparatus 1 together with a CVD processing apparatus 2. FIG.
FIG. 2 is a front view showing a main part of a cleaning unit 6;
3 is a plan view showing a main part of the reverse cleaning unit 8. FIG.
4 is a front view showing a main part of the reverse cleaning unit 8. FIG.
5 is a side view showing a main part of a reversing mechanism 42. FIG.
[Explanation of symbols]
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Substrate cleaning apparatus 2 CVD processing apparatus 4 Substrate transfer mechanism 6 Cleaning unit 7 Cleaning unit 8 Reverse cleaning unit 9 Cleaning unit 12 Substrate transfer cassette 15 Transfer arm 21 Spin chuck 22 Brush mechanism 29 Cleaning brush 31 Delivery unit 36 Control unit 41 Cleaning Mechanism 42 Reversing mechanism 73 Loading / unloading table 74 Substrate transport mechanism 75 Indexer section W Substrate

Claims (3)

A substrate processing method for performing a film forming process and a cleaning process on a substrate,
A step of transporting the substrate from the indexer unit having a loading / unloading table on which the substrate transport cassette is placed to the processing unit of the film forming apparatus;
Performing a film forming process on the substrate by the processing unit of the film forming apparatus;
Transporting the substrate film-formed by the processing unit of the film-forming apparatus to a first cleaning unit for cleaning the surface of the substrate;
Cleaning the surface of the substrate by supplying a cleaning liquid to the surface of the substrate by the first cleaning unit;
Transporting the substrate, the surface of which has been cleaned by the first cleaning unit, to a second cleaning unit for cleaning the back surface of the substrate;
Supplying a cleaning solution to the back surface of the substrate by the second cleaning unit to clean the back surface of the substrate;
Transporting the substrate whose back surface is cleaned by the second cleaning unit to the indexer unit,
A plurality of the first cleaning units are arranged,
After receiving the substrate after the film formation process from the processing unit of the film formation apparatus, the time required for the substrate to be transferred to the first cleaning unit and to start cleaning is determined as the time required for each first cleaning unit. A substrate processing method characterized in that it is the same . The substrate processing method according to claim 1,
A substrate processing method comprising a step of inverting a substrate between the step of cleaning the surface of the substrate and the step of transporting the substrate to a second cleaning unit. In the substrate processing method of Claim 1 or Claim 2 ,
The film forming apparatus is a substrate processing method for performing a film forming process by CVD, PVD or sputtering.

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