JP5497599B2 - Substrate processing apparatus and substrate processing method - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a substrate processing apparatus for removing contaminants such as particles adhering to various substrate surfaces such as a semiconductor wafer, a glass substrate for a photomask, a glass substrate for liquid crystal display, a glass substrate for plasma display, and an optical disk substrate, and the like. The present invention relates to a substrate processing method.

  Conventionally, a freeze cleaning technique is known as one of the processes for removing contaminants such as particles adhering to the substrate surface. In this technique, after the liquid film formed on the substrate surface is frozen, the frozen film is removed to remove particles and the like from the substrate surface together with the frozen film. For example, in the technique described in Patent Document 1, after DIW (deionized water) as a cleaning liquid is supplied to the substrate surface to form a liquid film, a nozzle that discharges a cooling gas is scanned near the substrate surface. Thus, the liquid film is frozen, and DIW is supplied again to thaw and remove the frozen film, thereby removing particles from the substrate surface.

JP 2008-071875 A (FIG. 5)

  As a result of various experiments, the present inventors have found that there is a certain correlation between the temperature of the frozen film and the particle removal rate. That is, it is possible not only to freeze the liquid film but also to further improve the particle removal rate by further lowering the temperature of the frozen film. Therefore, it is conceivable to reduce the temperature of the frozen film by changing various conditions for cooling the liquid film, that is, the temperature and flow rate of the cooling gas, the scan mode of the nozzle, the atmosphere, and the like.

  However, if the liquid film cooling condition is changed from the start of the liquid film freezing with the cooling gas to increase the ability to cool the liquid film (hereinafter referred to as “cooling capacity”), another problem may occur. For example, if the liquid film is cooled with a higher cooling capacity by increasing the flow rate of the cooling gas, which is one of the liquid film cooling conditions, the liquid film frozen by the cooling gas (also called a frozen film or a solidified film) Although the temperature can be rapidly decreased, the liquid film is not frozen at the initial stage of supplying the cooling gas, so the liquid film is blown away by supplying a large amount of cooling gas, and the substrate surface is partially dried and exposed. In other words, the film thickness distribution is not uniform due to the wind pressure and the uniformity of the processing cannot be ensured, resulting in a reduction in processing performance.

  Further, when the cooling capacity is set within a range where the above problem does not occur, another problem occurs. For example, in the conventional apparatus, in order to sufficiently reduce the temperature of the frozen liquid film, it is necessary to repeat scanning of the cooling gas many times, which increases the processing time and increases the consumption of the cooling gas. However, there was room for further improvement in this respect.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and in a substrate processing apparatus and a substrate processing method for removing contaminants such as particles adhering to a substrate surface, high throughput can be obtained and particles can be obtained with excellent processing performance. It aims at providing the technique which can remove etc.

  In order to achieve the above object, a substrate processing apparatus according to the present invention is formed on a substrate holding means for holding a substrate having a liquid film of a liquid to be solidified formed on the surface, and a surface of the substrate held by the substrate holding means. The solidification means for cooling the liquid film of the liquid to be solidified to form a solidified body, the temperature measurement means for measuring the temperature of the liquid film formed on the substrate surface, and the thawed removal of the solidified body formed on the substrate surface It is characterized by comprising a thawing and removing means and a control means for increasing the cooling capacity of the solidifying means according to the temperature of the liquid film measured by the temperature measuring means and cooling the solidified body to lower the temperature of the solidified body. .

  Further, in order to achieve the above object, the substrate processing method according to the present invention includes a solidification step of forming a solidified body by cooling a liquid film of a liquid to be solidified formed on the surface of the substrate by a solidifying means, and a substrate surface. A thawing / removing step for thawing and removing the formed solidified body. The solidifying step increases the cooling capacity of the solidifying means according to the temperature of the liquid film formed on the substrate surface, and cools the solidified body to cool the solidified body. It is characterized by lowering the temperature.

  In the invention thus configured (substrate processing apparatus and substrate processing method), the liquid film of the liquid to be solidified formed on the surface of the substrate by the solidifying means is cooled to form a solidified body on the substrate surface. Thus, the solidified body is formed by freezing the liquid film, and the formation of the solidified body can be confirmed based on the temperature of the liquid film. And after this confirmation, while the cooling capacity of the solidification means is increased, the solidification body is cooled by this solidification means, and the temperature of the solidification body decreases. Thus, the following effect is obtained by performing formation of a solidified body and further temperature reduction while changing the cooling capacity of the solidifying means.

  This “cooling capacity of the solidifying means” means the amount of heat taken from the liquid film per unit time, and the technical significance of switching this cooling capacity is to freeze the liquid film of the liquid to be solidified. Therefore, the processing conditions for cooling and the processing conditions for cooling the solidified body formed by freezing the liquid film are individually optimized. That is, the processing conditions required until the liquid film is frozen are different from the processing conditions required after the liquid film is frozen. For example, in the case of freezing the liquid film, it is required that the liquid film is not blown off during the freezing and that the thickness of the liquid film is kept uniform. On the other hand, after freezing of the liquid film, there is no such limitation, but it is required to cool the solidified body in a shorter time to lower the temperature. It is difficult to make these requests compatible in a single processing mode. Therefore, by separating the stage of freezing the liquid film and the stage of further cooling the solidified body formed by liquid film freezing, the processing conditions for each can be set individually, reducing the time required for processing. However, particles and the like can be removed with excellent processing performance.

  In the present invention, since the temperature of the liquid film is measured and the formation of the solidified body is confirmed based on the measurement result, this confirmation can be performed accurately, and the cooling capacity of the solidifying means can be improved at an appropriate timing. Can be changed. Therefore, it is possible to cool the solidified body by increasing the cooling capacity at a relatively early timing after the solidified body is formed, and the processing time can be shortened more reliably. The “temperature of the liquid film” in the present invention includes the temperature of the liquid film before being cooled and frozen and the temperature of the solidified body formed by freezing the liquid film.

  Here, various types of solidification means can be adopted, but it is preferable to use the solidification means in a form in which a gas having a temperature lower than the freezing point of the liquid to be solidified is supplied to the liquid film formed on the substrate surface. Is preferred. Moreover, when cooling by gas supply in this way, a cooling capability can be switched by changing the flow volume and temperature of gas.

  Moreover, when cooling by gas supply, the whole board | substrate surface can be cooled with gas by discharging gas from the nozzle provided so that it was movable relatively with respect to the board | substrate surface. In addition, the cooling capacity of the solidifying means can be easily and accurately controlled by changing the distance of the nozzle to the substrate surface.

  In addition, in order to cool the liquid film or solidified body of the liquid to be solidified formed on the surface of the substrate, not only the liquid film or solidified body of the liquid to be solidified is directly cooled as described above, The liquid film or the solidified body may be cooled indirectly and auxiliaryly by supplying the substrate and cooling the substrate. Even when auxiliary cooling using a refrigerant is performed in this way, the amount and temperature of the refrigerant supplied per unit time from the back surface cooling means to the back surface of the substrate based on the temperature of the liquid film measured by the temperature measuring means. May be changed. As a result, it is possible to further promote freezing of the liquid film and a decrease in the temperature of the solidified body, thereby further increasing the throughput.

  Further, an exhaust means for exhausting the atmosphere around the substrate may be further provided, and the exhaust flow rate exhausted from the periphery of the substrate may be changed based on the temperature of the liquid film measured by the temperature measuring means. That is, the ambient temperature can be adjusted by controlling the exhaust of the atmosphere around the substrate, and the cooling capacity can be changed by changing the ambient temperature.

  According to the present invention, the cooling capacity of the solidification means is increased in accordance with the temperature of the liquid film formed on the substrate surface, and the solidification body is cooled by the solidification means to lower the temperature of the solidification body. It is possible to remove particles and the like with a high throughput without lowering.

It is a graph which shows the relationship between the temperature of the liquid film in a freeze cleaning technique, and particle removal efficiency. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS It is a figure which shows 1st Embodiment of the substrate processing apparatus concerning this invention. It is a figure which shows the supply aspect of nitrogen gas and DIW in the substrate processing apparatus of FIG. It is a figure which shows the operation | movement aspect of the arm in the substrate processing apparatus of FIG. It is a figure which shows typically operation | movement of the substrate processing apparatus of FIG. It is a figure which shows 2nd Embodiment of the substrate processing apparatus concerning this invention. It is a figure which shows 5th Embodiment of the substrate processing apparatus concerning this invention.

<Relationship between liquid film temperature and particle removal efficiency>
Although the conventional freeze-cleaning technique freezes the liquid film, the temperature of the liquid film after freezing has not been considered much. However, according to the experiments of the present inventors using a liquid film by DIW, as shown in FIG. 1, not only the liquid film is simply frozen, but the particle removal efficiency becomes lower as the temperature reached by the liquid film after freezing becomes lower. It became clear that the increase. Here, the temperature of the liquid film before freezing and the temperature of the solidified body formed by freezing the liquid film are collectively referred to as “liquid film temperature”.

  FIG. 1 is a graph showing the relationship between the temperature of the liquid film and the particle removal efficiency in the so-called freeze cleaning technique, and is specifically obtained by the following experiment. In this experiment, a Si wafer (wafer diameter: 300 mm) in a bare state (state in which no pattern is formed) is selected as a representative example of the substrate. In addition, evaluation is performed for the case where the substrate surface is contaminated with Si scrap (particle size: 0.08 μm or more) as particles.

  First, the wafer is forcibly contaminated using a single wafer processing apparatus (Dainippon Screen Mfg. Co., Ltd., spin processor SS-3000). Specifically, while the wafer is rotated, a dispersion liquid in which particles (Si scraps) are dispersed is supplied to the wafer from a nozzle disposed opposite to the wafer. Here, the liquid amount of the dispersion, the wafer rotation speed, and the processing time are appropriately adjusted so that the number of particles adhering to the wafer surface is about 10,000. Thereafter, the number (initial value) of particles adhering to the wafer surface is measured. The number of particles is measured by using the wafer inspection apparatus SP1 manufactured by KLA-Tencor and removing the peripheral area from the outer periphery of the wafer to 3 mm (edge cut) and evaluating the remaining area.

  Next, the following cleaning process is performed on each wafer. First, DIW whose temperature has been adjusted to 0.5 ° C. is discharged onto a wafer rotating at 150 rpm for 6 seconds to cool the wafer. Thereafter, the discharge of DIW is stopped and the rotation speed is maintained for 2 seconds, and excess DIW is shaken to form a liquid film. After forming the liquid film, the wafer rotation speed is reduced to 50 rpm, and while maintaining the rotation speed, nitrogen gas having a temperature of −190 ° C. is discharged to the wafer surface at a flow rate of 90 [L / min] by the scan nozzle. The nozzle scan is performed by reciprocating the center of the wafer and the edge of the wafer in 20 seconds. The black squares in FIG. 1 correspond to the number of scans, and the results of up to 5 scans in the order of 1 scan and 2 scans from the left in FIG. 1 are displayed. Thus, the temperature after freezing of the liquid film is changed by changing the number of scans.

  After the above cooling is completed, the rotation speed of the wafer is set to 2000 rpm, DIW whose temperature is adjusted to 80 ° C. is discharged at a flow rate of 4.0 [L / min] for 2 seconds, the rotation speed of the wafer is set to 500 rpm, A normal temperature DIW is supplied as a rinsing liquid at a flow rate of 1.5 [L / min] for 30 seconds to rinse the wafer. Thereafter, the wafer is rotated at a high speed and spin-dried.

  Thus, the number of particles adhering to the surface of the wafer subjected to a series of cleaning processes is measured. Then, the removal rate is calculated by comparing the number of particles after freeze cleaning with the number of particles measured earlier (before the freeze cleaning process). A plot of the data thus obtained is the graph shown in FIG.

  As is clear from the figure, not only the liquid film is simply frozen, but the particle removal efficiency increases as the temperature reached by the liquid film after freezing decreases. In other words, after the DIW liquid film on the substrate is frozen with the cooling gas, the solidified film (solidified body) formed by freezing the liquid film is further cooled to lower the final temperature, thereby enhancing the cleaning effect. Is possible.

  Next, let us consider the process of liquid film freezing. When the supply of the cooling gas to the wafer on which the liquid film is formed starts, the liquid film temperature starts to gradually decrease. When the liquid film temperature reaches 0 ° C., freezing of the liquid film starts, and the liquid film temperature is maintained at approximately 0 ° C. until the entire liquid film is frozen. Here, in the initial stage of the liquid film freezing, the cooling gas is supplied to the unfrozen liquid film, so it is necessary to suppress the flow rate so as not to blow off the liquid film or expose the wafer surface. If the supply of the cooling gas is continued even after the entire liquid film is frozen while the flow rate is suppressed in this way, the liquid film temperature further decreases, but the liquid film temperature decrease due to the cooling gas becomes relatively gradual. It takes a long time to lower the film temperature.

  Here, after the entire liquid film is frozen, the liquid film is less likely to be blown away, and the thickness of the liquid film does not vary. For this reason, after the liquid film is completely frozen, that is, after the liquid film temperature reaches 0 ° C., the liquid film cooling condition suitable for lowering the liquid film temperature is switched to make the liquid film in a shorter time. The film temperature can be lowered.

  Therefore, in view of the above knowledge, in the following embodiment, the temperature of the liquid film formed on the surface of the substrate is measured, and the liquid film cooling condition (cooling capacity of the solidifying means) is adjusted according to the liquid film temperature to The goal has been achieved. Hereinafter, embodiments will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

<Embodiment>
FIG. 2 is a view showing a first embodiment of the substrate processing apparatus according to the present invention. FIG. 3 is a view showing a supply mode of nitrogen gas and DIW in the substrate processing apparatus of FIG. Further, FIG. 4 is a view showing an operation mode of an arm in the substrate processing apparatus of FIG. This apparatus is a single-wafer type substrate processing apparatus capable of executing a substrate cleaning process for removing contaminants such as particles adhering to the surface Wf of a substrate W such as a semiconductor wafer. More specifically, a liquid film is formed on the surface Wf on which the fine pattern is formed, and the liquid film is frozen to form a coagulated film (coagulated body), and then the coagulated film is thawed and removed. Thus, the substrate processing apparatus executes a freeze cleaning process for removing particles and the like from the substrate surface together with the solidified film. Since there are many known documents regarding the freeze cleaning technique including the above-mentioned Patent Document 1, detailed description thereof is omitted in this specification.

  This substrate processing apparatus has a processing chamber 1, and a spin chuck 2 for rotating the substrate W in a state where the surface Wf of the substrate W is held in a substantially horizontal position inside the processing chamber 1. Have. As shown in FIG. 3, a disk-shaped spin base 23 is fixed to the upper end portion of the central shaft 21 of the spin chuck 2 by fastening parts such as screws. The central shaft 21 is connected to a rotation shaft of a chuck rotation mechanism 22 including a motor. When the chuck rotation mechanism 22 is driven in accordance with an operation command from the control unit 4 that controls the entire apparatus, the spin base 23 fixed to the central shaft 21 rotates about the rotation center AO.

  In addition, a plurality of chuck pins 24 for holding the peripheral portion of the substrate W are provided in the vicinity of the peripheral portion of the spin base 23. Three or more chuck pins 24 may be provided to securely hold the circular substrate W, and are arranged at equiangular intervals along the peripheral edge of the spin base 23. Each of the chuck pins 24 includes a substrate support portion that supports the peripheral portion of the substrate W from below, and a substrate holding portion that holds the substrate W by pressing the outer peripheral end surface of the substrate W supported by the substrate support portion. ing. Each chuck pin 24 is configured to be switchable between a pressing state in which the substrate holding portion presses the outer peripheral end surface of the substrate W and a released state in which the substrate holding portion is separated from the outer peripheral end surface of the substrate W.

  Then, when the substrate W is delivered to the spin base 23, each chuck pin 24 is in a released state, and when performing a cleaning process on the substrate W, each chuck pin 24 is in a pressed state. When each chuck pin 24 is in a pressed state, each chuck pin 24 grips the peripheral edge of the substrate W, and the substrate W is held in a substantially horizontal posture at a predetermined interval from the spin base 23. As a result, the substrate W is held with the front surface Wf facing upward and the back surface Wb facing downward.

  A blocking member 9 is arranged above the spin chuck 2 configured as described above. The blocking member 9 is formed in a disk shape having an opening at the center. Further, the lower surface of the blocking member 9 is a substrate facing surface that faces the surface Wf of the substrate W substantially in parallel, and is formed to have a size equal to or larger than the diameter of the substrate W. The blocking member 9 is attached to the lower end portion of the support shaft 91 substantially horizontally. The support shaft 91 is rotatably held around a vertical axis passing through the center of the substrate W by an arm 92 extending in the horizontal direction. The arm 92 is connected to a blocking member rotation / lifting mechanism 93.

  The blocking member rotating / elevating mechanism 93 rotates the support shaft 91 around the vertical axis passing through the center of the substrate W in response to an operation command from the control unit 4. Further, the control unit 4 controls the operation of the blocking member rotation / lifting mechanism 93 so that the blocking member has the same rotational direction as the substrate W and substantially the same rotational speed according to the rotation of the substrate W held by the spin chuck 2. 9 is rotated. Further, the blocking member rotating / lifting mechanism 93 moves the blocking member 9 close to the spin base 23 or conversely, in accordance with an operation command from the control unit 4. Specifically, the control unit 4 controls the operation of the blocking member rotation / lifting mechanism 93 so that the blocking member 9 is separated above the spin chuck 2 when the substrate W is loaded into and unloaded from the substrate processing apparatus. While the substrate W is raised to the position (the position shown in FIG. 2), when the substrate W is subjected to a predetermined process, the blocking member 9 is set to be close to the surface Wf of the substrate W held by the spin chuck 2. Lower to position.

  As shown in FIG. 3, the support shaft 91 of the blocking member 9 is hollow, and a gas supply pipe 95 that opens on the lower surface (substrate facing surface) of the blocking member 9 is inserted through the support shaft 91. The gas supply pipe 95 is connected to the dry gas supply unit 61. The dry gas supply unit 61 supplies nitrogen gas supplied from a nitrogen gas supply source (not shown) to the substrate W, and includes a mass flow controller (MFC) 611 and an opening / closing valve 612. The mass flow controller 611 can adjust the flow rate of nitrogen gas with high accuracy in accordance with the flow rate command from the control unit 4. Further, the open / close valve 612 is opened / closed according to an open / close command from the control unit 4 to switch supply / stop of nitrogen gas whose flow rate is adjusted by the mass flow controller 611. For this reason, the control unit 4 controls the dry gas supply unit 61 so that the nitrogen gas whose flow rate has been adjusted is suitable as a dry gas for drying the substrate W between the blocking member 9 and the surface Wf of the substrate W. The gas is supplied from the gas supply pipe 95 toward the space formed therebetween. In this embodiment, nitrogen gas is supplied as the dry gas from the dry gas supply unit 61. However, air or other inert gas may be supplied.

  A liquid supply pipe 96 is inserted into the gas supply pipe 95. A lower end portion of the liquid supply pipe 96 is opened at the lower surface of the blocking member 9, and a liquid discharge nozzle 97 is provided at the tip thereof. On the other hand, the upper end of the liquid supply pipe 96 is connected to the DIW supply unit 62. The DIW supply unit 62 supplies normal temperature DIW supplied from a DIW supply source (not shown) to the substrate W as a rinsing liquid, and supplies high temperature DIW heated to about 80 ° C. to the substrate W for thawing removal processing. It is configured as follows. Here, two piping paths are provided for the DIW supply source. A flow rate adjusting valve 621 and an opening / closing valve 622 are inserted in a piping path for rinsing processing, which is one of them. The flow rate adjusting valve 621 can adjust the flow rate of the room temperature DIW with high accuracy in accordance with a flow rate command from the control unit 4. Further, the open / close valve 622 is opened / closed according to an open / close command from the control unit 4 to switch supply / stop of the room temperature DIW whose flow rate is adjusted by the flow rate adjustment valve 621.

  Further, a flow rate adjustment valve 623, a heater 624, and an opening / closing valve 622 are inserted in the other defrosting / removal processing piping path. The flow rate adjustment valve 623 adjusts the flow rate of the room temperature DIW with high accuracy in accordance with the flow rate command from the control unit 4 and sends it to the heater 624. Then, the heater 624 heats the fed normal temperature DIW to about 80 ° C., and sends the heated DIW (hereinafter referred to as “high temperature DIW”) through the opening / closing valve 625. The open / close valve 625 opens and closes in response to an open / close command from the control unit 4 to switch supply / stop of the high temperature DIW. Thus, the normal temperature DIW and the high temperature DIW sent from the DIW supply unit 62 are discharged from the liquid discharge nozzle 97 toward the surface Wf of the substrate W at an appropriate timing.

  The central axis 21 of the spin chuck 2 is hollow with a cylindrical cavity, and a cylindrical liquid supply tube 25 for supplying a rinsing liquid to the back surface Wb of the substrate W is provided inside the central axis 21. Is inserted. The liquid supply tube 25 extends to a position close to the back surface Wb, which is the lower surface side of the substrate W held by the spin chuck 2, and is a liquid that discharges a rinsing liquid toward the center of the lower surface of the substrate W at the tip thereof. A discharge nozzle 27 is provided. The liquid supply pipe 25 is connected to the above-described DIW supply unit 62 and supplies DIW as a rinsing liquid toward the back surface Wb of the substrate W.

  Further, a gap between the inner wall surface of the central shaft 21 and the outer wall surface of the liquid supply pipe 25 is a gas supply passage 29 having a ring-shaped cross section. The gas supply path 29 is connected to a dry gas supply unit 61, and nitrogen gas is formed in a space formed between the spin base 23 and the back surface Wb of the substrate W via the gas supply path 29 from the dry gas supply unit 61. Is supplied.

  As shown in FIG. 2, in this embodiment, the spin guard 2 rotates so that the splash guard 51 surrounds the periphery of the substrate W held in a horizontal posture on the spin chuck 2. It is provided so as to be movable up and down with respect to the shaft. The splash guard 51 has a substantially rotationally symmetric shape with respect to the rotation axis. Then, the splash guard 51 is lifted and lowered stepwise by driving the guard lifting mechanism 52, so that the liquid film forming DIW scattered from the rotating substrate W, the rinsing liquid, and the process supplied to the substrate W for other purposes are used. The liquid or the like can be separated and discharged from the processing chamber 1 to a drainage processing unit (not shown).

  In addition, a plurality of exhaust ports 11 are provided on the bottom surface of the processing chamber 1, and the internal space of the processing chamber 1 is connected to the exhaust unit 63 via the exhaust ports 11. The exhaust unit 63 has an exhaust damper and an exhaust pump, and the exhaust amount by the exhaust unit 63 can be adjusted by controlling the degree of opening and closing of the exhaust damper. The control unit 4 controls the temperature, humidity, and the like in the internal space by adjusting the exhaust amount from the processing chamber 1 by giving a command related to the opening / closing amount of the exhaust damper to the exhaust unit 63.

  In this substrate processing apparatus, the cooling gas discharge nozzle 7 is provided so as to be able to discharge the cooling gas for freezing the liquid film toward the surface Wf of the substrate W held by the spin chuck 2. That is, the cooling gas discharge nozzle 7 is connected to a cooling gas supply unit 64 configured as follows. The cooling gas supply unit 64 has a heat exchanger 641 as shown in FIG. The container 642 of the heat exchanger 641 has a tank shape that stores liquid nitrogen therein, and is formed of a material that can withstand the liquid nitrogen temperature, such as glass, quartz, or HDPE (High Density Polyethylene). ing. In addition, you may employ | adopt the double structure which covers the container 642 with a heat insulation container. In this case, in order to suppress heat transfer between the atmosphere outside the processing chamber and the container 642, the external container is made of a highly heat-insulating material such as foamable resin or PVC (polyvinyl chloride). It is preferable to form by.

  The container 642 is provided with a liquid nitrogen inlet 643 for taking in liquid nitrogen. The liquid nitrogen introduction port 643 is connected to a liquid nitrogen supply source (not shown) via an opening / closing valve 644. When the opening / closing valve 644 is opened in response to an opening command from the control unit 4, the liquid nitrogen supply source 643 is sent from the liquid nitrogen supply source. Liquid nitrogen to be introduced is introduced into the container 642. Further, a liquid level sensor (not shown) is provided in the container 642, and the detection result by the liquid level sensor is input to the control unit 4, and the opening / closing of the opening / closing valve 644 is controlled by feedback control by the control unit 4. Thus, the liquid level of liquid nitrogen in the container 642 can be controlled with high accuracy. In the first embodiment, feedback control is performed so that the liquid level of liquid nitrogen becomes constant, thereby stabilizing the temperature of the cooling gas.

  In addition, a coil-shaped heat exchange pipe 645 formed of a metal pipe such as stainless steel or copper is provided as a gas delivery path inside the container 642. The heat exchange pipe 645 is immersed in liquid nitrogen stored in a container 642, and one end of the heat exchange pipe 645 is connected to a nitrogen gas supply source (not shown) via a mass flow controller (MFC) 646. Is supplied with nitrogen gas. As a result, the nitrogen gas is cooled by liquid nitrogen to a temperature lower than the freezing point of DIW in the heat exchanger 641 and is sent as a cooling gas from the other end of the heat exchange pipe 645 to the cooling gas discharge nozzle 7 via the opening / closing valve 647. Is done.

  As shown in FIG. 2, the cooling gas discharge nozzle 7 that is the destination of the cooling gas created in this manner is attached to the tip of the first arm 71 that extends horizontally. The rear end portion of the first arm 71 is rotatably supported around the rotation center axis J1 by a rotation shaft 72 that hangs down from the ceiling portion of the processing chamber 1. The first arm lifting / lowering mechanism 73 is connected to the rotating shaft 72, and the rotating shaft 72 is rotationally driven around the rotation center axis J1 in accordance with an operation command from the control unit 4, and is also vertically moved. As a result, the cooling gas discharge nozzle 7 attached to the tip of the first arm 71 is moved above the substrate surface Wf as shown in FIG.

  In the present embodiment, similarly to the cooling gas discharge nozzle 7, the cold water discharge nozzle 8 is configured to be movable above the substrate surface Wf. The cold water discharge nozzle 8 is a liquid that forms a liquid film toward the surface Wf of the substrate W held by the spin chuck 2 (corresponding to the “coagulation target liquid” of the present invention) that is lower than room temperature, for example, 0 to 2 DIW cooled to about 0.degree. C., preferably about 0.5.degree. C. is supplied. In other words, the cold water discharge nozzle 8 is connected to the cold water supply unit 65, and the cold water supply unit 65 cools the DIW at room temperature to about 0.5 ° C. and then sends it to the cold water discharge nozzle 8. The cold water supply unit 65 includes a flow rate adjustment valve 651, a cooler 652, and an opening / closing valve 653 as shown in FIG. The flow rate adjusting valve 651 adjusts the flow rate of the room temperature DIW with high accuracy in accordance with a flow rate command from the control unit 4 and sends it to the cooler 652. The cooler 652 cools the fed room temperature DIW to about 0.5 ° C., and feeds the cold water (cooled DIW) through the opening / closing valve 653.

  Thus, the rear end portion of the second arm 81 extending horizontally is rotated by the rotation shaft 82 in order to rotate the nozzle 8 receiving cold water supply around the rotation center axis J2 and to move up and down in the vertical direction. It is rotatably supported around the axis J2. On the other hand, the cold water discharge nozzle 8 is attached to the tip of the second arm 81 with the discharge port (not shown) directed downward. Further, a second arm lifting / lowering mechanism 83 is connected to the rotating shaft 82, and the rotating shaft 82 is driven to rotate around the rotation center axis J2 in accordance with an operation command from the control unit 4, and is also moved in the vertical direction. As a result, the cold water discharge nozzle 8 attached to the tip of the second arm 81 moves above the substrate surface Wf as follows.

  The cooling gas discharge nozzle 7 and the cold water discharge nozzle 8 can be moved relative to the substrate W independently. That is, as shown in FIG. 4, when the first arm lifting / rotating mechanism 73 is driven based on the operation command from the control unit 4 and the first arm 71 swings around the rotation center axis J1, the first arm 71 The attached cooling gas discharge nozzle 7 moves horizontally along the movement trajectory T1 between the rotation center position Pc corresponding to the rotation center of the spin base 23 and the standby position Ps1 retracted laterally from the facing position of the substrate W. Moving. That is, the first arm lifting / lowering mechanism 73 moves the cooling gas discharge nozzle 7 relative to the substrate W along the surface Wf of the substrate W.

  Further, when the second arm raising / lowering / rotating mechanism 83 is driven based on the operation command from the control unit 4 and the second arm 81 swings around the rotation center axis J <b> 2, the cold water discharge nozzle 8 attached to the second arm 81. Moves horizontally along a movement track T2 between another standby position Ps2 different from the standby position Ps1 of the first arm 71 and the rotation center position Pc. That is, the second arm lifting / lowering / rotating mechanism 83 moves the cold water discharge nozzle 8 relative to the substrate W along the surface Wf of the substrate W.

  Furthermore, in this embodiment, the radiation thermometer 5 is attached to the second arm 81 to which the cold water discharge nozzle 8 is attached as described above. More specifically, as shown in FIG. 4, the radiation thermometer 5 is fixed to the front end side surface of the second arm 81 on the standby position Ps2 side (the right hand side in the figure). Is moved and positioned along substantially the same locus as the movement locus T2. For example, as shown by the dotted line in the figure, when the second arm 81 is moved and positioned to the rotation center position Pc, the radiation thermometer 5 is also positioned substantially on the rotation center of the spin base 23, as will be described later. The liquid film of the solidification target liquid (DIW in this embodiment) formed on the substrate surface Wf and the temperature at the center of the surface of the solidified body can be measured without contact. As the second arm 81 swings, the radiation thermometer 5 is positioned at a position away from the center of the substrate surface Wf by the distance D, and a liquid film (liquid film) of the liquid to be solidified existing below the position. The temperature of the solidified body (including the frozen solidified body) is measured without contact. In this specification, in order to specify the measurement position by the radiation thermometer 5, the position corresponding to the central portion of the substrate surface Wf is referred to as “P (0)” and the distance D from the central portion of the substrate surface Wf. The position separated by a distance is referred to as “P (D)”. For example, in an apparatus for processing a substrate W having a diameter of 300 mm, the maximum value of the distance D is 150 mm, and the temperature of the liquid film can be measured in the range from the position P (0) to the position P (150). Yes.

  FIG. 5 is a diagram schematically showing the operation of the substrate processing apparatus of FIG. In this apparatus, when an unprocessed substrate W is carried into the apparatus, the control unit 4 controls each part of the apparatus to execute a series of cleaning processes on the substrate W. Here, the substrate W is loaded into the processing chamber 1 in advance with the surface Wf facing upward, and is held by the spin chuck 2, while the blocking member 9 faces the lower surface as shown in FIG. It is retracted to an upper position where it does not interfere with the arms 71 and 81 while being kept.

  After loading the substrate W, the control unit 4 drives the chuck rotating mechanism 22 to rotate the spin chuck 2 and drives the second arm lifting / lowering mechanism 83 to move the second arm 81 to the rotation center position Pc. Position. As a result, the cold water discharge nozzle 8 is positioned above the central portion of the substrate surface Wf as shown in FIG. Then, the control unit 4 opens the open / close valve 657 of the cold water supply unit 65 and supplies low-temperature DIW from the cold water discharge nozzle 8 to the substrate surface Wf. A centrifugal force accompanying the rotation of the substrate W acts on the DIW supplied to the substrate surface Wf, and the DIW is uniformly spread outward in the radial direction of the substrate W, and a part thereof is shaken off the substrate. Thereby, the thickness of the liquid film is uniformly controlled over the entire surface of the substrate surface Wf, and a liquid film (water film) having a predetermined thickness is formed on the entire surface of the substrate Wf. When forming the liquid film, it is not an essential requirement to shake off part of the DIW supplied to the substrate surface Wf as described above. For example, the liquid film may be formed on the substrate surface Wf without shaking the DIW from the substrate W with the rotation of the substrate W stopped or with the substrate W rotated at a relatively low speed.

  In this state, a paddle-like liquid film LF having a predetermined thickness is formed on the surface Wf of the substrate W. Thus, when the liquid film formation is completed, the control unit 4 drives the second arm raising / lowering / rotating mechanism 83 to move the second arm 81 to the standby position Ps2 side so that the radiation thermometer 5 is moved by a distance of 140 mm from the center of the substrate. Position to a distant position P (140). As a result, the temperature of the liquid film LF at the periphery of the surface of the substrate W can be measured by the radiation thermometer 5 in a non-contact manner. The temperature of the liquid film LF measured by the radiation thermometer 5 is sent to the control unit 4 in real time.

  Further, after the second arm 81 moves or in conjunction with the movement, the control unit 4 drives the first arm elevating / rotating mechanism 73 to move the first arm 81 to the rotation center position Pc for positioning. Then, as shown in FIG. 5B, the cooling gas discharge nozzle 7 is gradually moved to the edge position of the substrate W while discharging the cooling gas from the cooling gas discharge nozzle 7 toward the surface Wf of the rotating substrate W. Move towards. As a result, the liquid film LF formed in the surface region of the substrate surface Wf is cooled and partially frozen, and a solidified body FR (a part of the solidified film FF) is formed in the central portion of the substrate surface Wf. When freezing the liquid film LF in this way, the control unit 4 controls the mass flow controller 646 of the cooling gas supply unit 64 to control the flow rate of the cooling gas (that is, the amount of cooling gas per unit time). The value is suitable for freezing. In this way, by suppressing the flow rate of the cooling gas, there is a problem that the substrate surface Wf is partially dried and exposed, and a problem is that the film thickness distribution is non-uniform due to the wind pressure and the uniformity of the processing cannot be ensured. It is prevented from occurring.

  Then, the frozen region, that is, the solidified body FR is expanded from the central portion to the peripheral portion of the substrate surface Wf by the scanning of the nozzle 7 in the direction Dn1, for example, as shown in FIG. The entire liquid film is frozen to form a coagulated film FF. The entire surface freezing timing can be accurately obtained by monitoring the measurement result of the radiation thermometer 5. That is, when the liquid film LF is entirely frozen to form the coagulation film FF, the measurement value at the position P (140) by the radiation thermometer 5 becomes approximately 0 ° C. Therefore, in the present embodiment, the control unit 4 determines that the freezing of the entire liquid film on the substrate surface Wf has been completed when the measured value of the radiation thermometer 5 reaches zero, and is shown in FIG. Thus, even during the scanning of the nozzle 7, the control unit 4 controls the mass flow controller 646 of the cooling gas supply unit 64 to increase the flow rate of the cooling gas to increase the cooling capacity and discharge the cooling gas to the solidified film FF. To do. As a result, the temperature of the coagulation film FF rapidly decreases. When the flow rate of the cooling gas is increased, if the substrate W is rotated at the same rotational speed as that during freezing, the substrate temperature distribution is likely to be non-uniform. Therefore, in this embodiment, the substrate W is increased as the flow rate is increased. The number of rotations is increased.

  When the temperature of the solidified film FF measured by the radiation thermometer 5 reaches a preset value, for example, −30 ° C., the control unit 4 stops the discharge of the cooling gas from the nozzle 8, and the first arm 71 and the second arm The arm 81 is moved to the standby positions Ps1 and Ps2, respectively, so that the nozzles 7 and 8 are retracted from the substrate surface Wf. Thereafter, the blocking member 9 is disposed close to the substrate surface Wf, and high temperature DIW heated to about 80 ° C. is supplied from the nozzle 97 provided on the blocking member 9 toward the frozen liquid film on the substrate surface Wf. The coagulated film (coagulated body) FF is thawed and removed (thaw-removing treatment). Subsequently, room temperature DIW is supplied as a rinsing liquid to the substrate surface W, and the substrate W is rinsed.

  At the time when the processes so far are executed, DIW is supplied to the surface of the substrate W in a state where the substrate W rotates while being sandwiched between the blocking member 9 and the spin base 23. Here, the high temperature DIW and the room temperature DIW may be supplied from the nozzle 27 in parallel with the supply of the high temperature DIW and the room temperature DIW to the substrate surface Wf. Subsequently, the supply of DIW to the substrate W is stopped, and a spin drying process for drying the substrate W by high-speed rotation is performed. That is, the substrate W is rotated at a high speed while discharging the drying nitrogen gas supplied from the drying gas supply unit 61 from the nozzle 97 provided on the blocking member 9 and the lower surface nozzle 27 provided on the spin base 23. Thus, the DIW remaining on the substrate W is shaken off and the substrate W is dried. When the drying process is completed in this manner, the processed substrate W is carried out to complete the process for one substrate.

  As described above, according to the present embodiment, the particle removal efficiency can be increased by lowering the temperature reached by the liquid film LF after freezing, that is, the coagulation film FF. Moreover, since the flow rate of the cooling gas is changed before and after the solidified film FF is formed on the entire substrate surface Wf, the following effects can be obtained, that is, as described above, until the liquid film LF is frozen. Although the required processing conditions are different from the processing conditions required after freezing of the liquid film LF, the cooling gas flow rate is set so that the liquid film LF is frozen and the frozen liquid film LF (that is, the coagulated film FF) is further cooled. By switching between these steps, the processing conditions for each can be set individually, and particles and the like can be removed with excellent processing performance while reducing the time required for processing. In particular, as described above, the flow rate of the cooling gas at the stage of freezing the liquid film LF needs to be suppressed to such an extent that the liquid film LF on the substrate surface Wf is not blown off, but the solidified film FF is formed on the entire surface. Since there is no such problem with the cooling gas at a later stage, the flow rate can be increased, and the cooling capacity can be increased.

  Further, since the temperatures of the liquid film LF and the coagulated film FF at the position P (140) are measured in a non-contact manner by the radiation thermometer 5, and the entire formation of the coagulated film FF is confirmed based on the measurement result, this The confirmation can be performed accurately, and the cooling capacity can be changed by switching the flow rate of the cooling gas at an appropriate timing.

  Thus, in the first embodiment, the solidified film FF corresponds to the “solidified body” of the present invention, the spin chuck 2 corresponds to the “substrate holding means” of the present invention, and the radiation thermometer 5 corresponds to “ The control unit 4 corresponds to “temperature measuring means” and the “control means” of the present invention. Further, the cooling gas discharge nozzle 7 and the cooling gas supply unit 64 function as the “solidifying means” of the present invention. Further, the nozzle 97 and the DIW supply unit 62 function as the “thawing and removing means” of the present invention.

  FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a second embodiment of the substrate processing apparatus according to the present invention. The second embodiment is greatly different from the first embodiment in the arrangement position of the radiation thermometer 5 and the flow rate switching timing of the cooling gas, and other configurations and operations are basically common. In other words, in the second embodiment, as shown in FIG. More specifically, the radiation thermometer 5 is fixed to the front end side surface of the first arm 71 on the standby position Ps1 side (left hand side in the figure), and the first arm 71 moves as described above. Accordingly, the positioning is performed by moving along substantially the same locus as the movement locus T1. Further, since the radiation thermometer 5 is arranged in parallel with the nozzle 7 in this way, it is always in a region near the discharge port (not shown) of the nozzle 7, that is, in a region where the cooling gas discharged from the nozzle 7 is supplied. It is possible to measure the temperature of the liquid film LF. Therefore, the control unit 4 monitors the measurement result of the radiation thermometer 5 to accurately detect in real time whether or not the region to which the cooling gas is supplied (hereinafter referred to as “gas supply region”) is frozen. be able to.

  Therefore, in this embodiment, when the liquid film LF is formed by the cold water from the nozzle 8 as shown in FIG. 5A, the control unit 4 drives the second arm lifting / lowering mechanism 83 to drive the second arm 81. Is moved to the standby position Ps2 or in conjunction with the movement, the first arm lifting / lowering mechanism 73 is driven to move the first arm 81 to the rotation center position Pc for positioning. Then, the cooling gas discharge nozzle 7 is gradually moved toward the edge position of the substrate W while discharging the cooling gas from the cooling gas discharge nozzle 7 toward the surface Wf of the rotating substrate W. As a result, the liquid film LF formed in the surface region of the substrate surface Wf is cooled and partially frozen, and the frozen solidified body FR is formed in the central portion of the substrate surface Wf ((b) in the figure). At this stage, the control unit 4 controls the mass flow controller 646 of the cooling gas supply unit 64 to keep the flow rate of the cooling gas at a value suitable for freezing the liquid film LF.

  Further, the control unit 4 performs the freezing of the liquid film LF as described above, and the temperature of the liquid film measured by the radiation thermometer 5, that is, the gas affected by the flow rate of the cooling gas immediately below the discharge port of the nozzle 7. Detect the temperature in the supply area. Therefore, for example, as shown in FIG. 3C, when the liquid film LF is frozen in the gas supply region to form the solidified body FR, the temperature of the liquid film reaches 0 ° C. Therefore, in this embodiment, the solidified body FR is formed in the gas supply region based on the temperature of the liquid film LF regardless of whether the entire liquid film LF is frozen and the solidified film FF is formed. When the control unit 4 is confirmed, the control unit 4 controls the mass flow controller 646 and the on-off valve 647 of the cooling gas supply unit 64 to increase the cooling gas flow rate and increase the cooling capacity in the same manner as in the first embodiment. A large flow rate of cooling gas is discharged. Accordingly, the temperature of the solidified body FR immediately below the discharge port of the nozzle 7 is rapidly decreased without waiting for the entire liquid film LF to be frozen and the solidified film FF to be formed.

  As described above, in the second embodiment, the cooling capacity is increased by increasing the flow rate of the cooling gas before the entire surface of the liquid film LF is frozen, so that the throughput is improved compared to the first embodiment. Can do. Of course, as described above, the flow rate of the cooling gas is increased after confirming that the gas supply region affected by the flow rate of the cooling gas immediately below the discharge port of the nozzle 7 is the solidified body FR. There is a problem that the substrate surface Wf is partially dried and exposed without supplying a large flow rate of cooling gas to the frozen liquid film LF, and the film thickness distribution becomes non-uniform due to wind pressure. There is no problem that uniformity is not ensured.

  In the above embodiment, the cooling capacity is changed by controlling the flow rate of the cooling gas. However, the cooling capacity is changed by controlling the temperature of the cooling gas separately from or together with the flow rate control. (Third Embodiment). That is, as shown in FIG. 3, in the cooling gas supply unit 64, the liquid level of the liquid nitrogen in the container 642 can be controlled with high accuracy by opening / closing control of the opening / closing valve 644. The ratio of the heat exchange pipe 645 immersed in liquid nitrogen in the container 642 can be adjusted by changing the liquid level, and as a result, the temperature of the cooling gas can be controlled. Therefore, the temperature of the liquid film LF has reached zero by the radiation thermometer 5 arranged at the position P (140) as in the first embodiment, and is fixed to the first arm 71 as in the second embodiment. When the radiation thermometer 5 confirms that the temperature of the gas supply region has reached zero, the cooling gas temperature may be lowered accordingly to increase the cooling capacity.

  In the above embodiment, the cooling capacity is changed by controlling the flow rate and temperature of the cooling gas. However, even if the cooling capacity is changed by controlling the distance between the nozzle 7 and the substrate W in the vertical direction. Good (fourth embodiment). That is, in the apparatus shown in FIG. 2, the height position of the nozzle 7 relative to the substrate W can be controlled by moving the first arm 71 up and down by the first arm lifting and rotating mechanism 73. Therefore, the control unit 4 can change the cooling capacity by switching the height position of the nozzle 7 based on the measurement result of the radiation thermometer 5 as in the above embodiment.

  In the above embodiment, the cooling gas is supplied to the substrate surface Wf to freeze the liquid film LF to form the solidified film FF. For example, as shown in FIG. In addition to simply supplying the cooling gas to the liquid film LF, it is supplied to the back surface Wb of the substrate W via the gas supply path 29 to cool the substrate W in an auxiliary manner, thereby promoting freezing of the liquid film LF. be able to. In the substrate processing apparatus adopting such a configuration, the cooling capacity can be changed by controlling the flow rate and temperature of the cooling gas supplied to the substrate back surface Wb (fifth embodiment).

  Thus, in the fifth embodiment, the cooling gas supply unit 64 also functions as the “back surface cooling means” of the present invention. The coolant that can be supplied to the substrate back surface Wb is not limited to the cooling gas described above. For example, the cooling liquid is supplied from the nozzle 27 to the substrate back surface Wb and the flow rate and temperature of the cooling liquid are controlled. You can change the cooling capacity. That is, a back surface cooling means for supplying a coolant to the back surface of the substrate to cool the substrate is provided, and the coolant is supplied from the back surface cooling means to the back surface of the substrate per unit time based on the temperature of the liquid film measured by the temperature measuring means. You may comprise so that the quantity and temperature of this may be changed.

  Further, the control unit 4 controls the cooling capacity by controlling the exhaust flow rate from the atmosphere of the processing chamber 1, that is, the exhaust amount per unit time, by controlling the opening / closing amount of the exhaust damper provided in the exhaust unit 63. May be. That is, by reducing the exhaust flow rate from the processing chamber 1 by restricting the exhaust damper, cold air from the cooling gas in the atmosphere of the substrate W is accumulated on the substrate surface Wf, and the temperature of the liquid film LF can be lowered. Therefore, the cooling capacity may be changed by controlling the flow rate of the exhaust gas instead of or in parallel with the flow rate of the cooling gas based on the measurement result by the radiation thermometer 5 (the sixth). Embodiment). Thus, in the sixth embodiment, the exhaust unit 63 functions as the “exhaust means” of the present invention.

  Further, in the above embodiment, the liquid film LF is frozen and the coagulation film FF is set to a predetermined temperature (the above embodiment) while the first arm 71 to which the cooling gas discharge nozzle 7 is fixed is moved one scan from the position Pc to the standby position Ps1. In this case, the temperature measured by the radiation thermometer 5 while the cooling gas discharge nozzle 7 is scanned a plurality of times along the movement trajectory T1 reaches a predetermined temperature, even during the scanning. The scan may be terminated and the first arm 71 may be moved to the standby position Ps1. In this way, the temperature of the solidified film (solidified body) FF is measured by the radiation thermometer 5 and the cooling process is terminated based on the measurement result, so that the temperature difference of the solidified film FF is prevented from occurring for each substrate. And stable substrate processing can be performed.

  In the second embodiment, the nozzle 7 and the radiation thermometer 5 are attached to the first arm 71, and the temperature of the region where the cooling gas discharged from the nozzle 7 is supplied, that is, the temperature of the gas supply region is measured. Therefore, the scan movement of the first arm 71 may be intermittently moved according to the measurement result of the radiation thermometer 5. That is, the first arm 71 may be moved by scanning so that the scanning movement of the first arm 71 is stopped until the temperature of the gas supply region reaches a desired temperature. Further, the scan speed of the first arm 71 may be feedback controlled based on the measurement result of the radiation thermometer 5. Even if the temperature of the cooling gas fluctuates by these controls, the temperature of the liquid film LF can be stably lowered to a predetermined temperature.

  In the first embodiment, the radiation thermometer 5 is arranged at the tip of the second arm 81. However, the arrangement position of the radiation thermometer 5 is not limited to this. For example, the second arm 81 is arranged. It may be fixed to the rear end side surface of the standby position Ps2 side (right hand side in FIG. 4). Further, in the substrate processing apparatus in which the nozzles 7 and 8 are arranged in parallel on the first arm 71, a nozzle that discharges room temperature DIW (or hot water) may be attached to the second arm instead of the nozzle provided on the blocking member 9. In such an apparatus, the radiation thermometer 5 may be attached to the front end side surface of the first arm on the standby position Ps1 side (left hand side in FIG. 4), or the second arm on the standby position Ps2 side (FIG. 4). It may be attached to the side of the right hand side). In the first embodiment, a nozzle that discharges room temperature DIW or warm water may be attached to the second arm 81, and in this case also, on the side surface of the second arm 81 on the standby position Ps 2 side (right hand side in FIG. 4). It may be attached.

  Furthermore, in the above embodiment, the radiation thermometer is attached to the first arm 71 and the second arm 81 and the temperature measurement position is changed as the arm moves. However, the temperature measurement position is changed as the arm moves, and the substrate surface Wf is attached to the inner wall surface of the processing chamber 1. Alternatively, the temperature of the liquid film LF may be measured from a position that is obliquely upward. In this case, the temperature measurement position is fixed. In order to accurately measure the temperature of the liquid film LF with the radiation thermometer 5, it is necessary to attach the radiation thermometer 5 so as to form an angle smaller than 45 ° with respect to the inner wall of the processing chamber 1.

  The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, and various modifications other than those described above can be made without departing from the spirit of the present invention. For example, in the above embodiment, the “liquid film” of the present invention is formed by DIW, but the liquid constituting the liquid film is not limited to this. For example, carbonated water, hydrogen water, dilute ammonia water (for example, about 1 ppm), dilute hydrochloric acid or the like, or DIW added with a small amount of surfactant may be used.

  Moreover, in the said embodiment, although dry gas (nitrogen gas) is supplied to the dry gas supply unit 61 and the cooling gas supply unit 64 from the same nitrogen gas supply source, these are not limited to nitrogen gas. For example, the dry gas and the cooling gas may be different gas types.

  In addition, the substrate processing apparatus of the above embodiment incorporates a nitrogen gas supply source, a DIW supply source, and a liquid nitrogen supply source inside the apparatus, but these supply sources may be provided outside the apparatus. For example, an existing supply source in the factory may be used. Further, when there are existing facilities for cooling them, liquid or gas cooled by the facilities may be used.

  Moreover, although the substrate processing apparatus of the said embodiment has the shielding member 9 arrange | positioned close to the upper direction of the board | substrate W, this invention is applicable also to the apparatus which does not have a shielding member. In the apparatus of this embodiment, the substrate W is held by the chuck pins 24 that come into contact with the peripheral edge thereof. However, the substrate holding method is not limited to this, and the substrate is held by another method. The present invention can also be applied to an apparatus.

  In the above embodiment, the temperature of the liquid film is measured by the radiation thermometer 5, but the temperature of the liquid film may be measured in a non-contact manner by another temperature measuring device.

  The present invention relates to a semiconductor wafer, a glass substrate for photomask, a glass substrate for liquid crystal display, a glass substrate for plasma display, a substrate for FED (Field Emission Display), a substrate for optical disk, a substrate for magnetic disk, a substrate for magneto-optical disk, etc. The present invention can be applied to a substrate processing apparatus and a substrate processing method for freezing a liquid film formed on the entire surface of a substrate including the substrate.

2 ... Spin chuck (substrate holding means)
4. Control unit (control means)
5. Radiation thermometer (temperature measuring means)
7 ... Cooling gas discharge nozzle (solidification means)
62 ... DIW supply unit (thawing and removing means)
63 ... Exhaust unit (exhaust means)
64 ... Cooling gas supply unit (solidification means, back surface cooling means)
97 ... Nozzle (defrosting and removing means)
FF ... Coagulated membrane (coagulated body)
FR ... Solidified body LF ... Liquid film W ... Substrate Wf ... Substrate surface

Claims (10)

A substrate holding means for holding a substrate having a liquid film of the liquid to be solidified formed on the surface;
Coagulation means for cooling the liquid film of the liquid to be coagulated formed on the surface of the substrate held by the substrate holding means to form a solidified body;
Temperature measuring means for measuring the temperature of the liquid film formed on the substrate surface;
Thawing and removing means for thawing and removing the solidified body formed on the substrate surface;
Control means for increasing the cooling capacity of the solidification means according to the temperature of the liquid film measured by the temperature measurement means and cooling the solidification body by the solidification means to lower the temperature of the solidification body. A substrate processing apparatus. The substrate processing apparatus according to claim 1,
The said coagulation | solidification means is a substrate processing apparatus which supplies the gas of the temperature lower than the freezing point of the said coagulation | solidification object liquid to the liquid film and solidification body of the said coagulation | solidification object liquid formed on the said substrate surface. The substrate processing apparatus according to claim 2,
The substrate processing apparatus, wherein the control means changes the flow rate of the gas based on the temperature of the liquid film measured by the temperature measuring means. The substrate processing apparatus according to claim 2 or 3,
The substrate processing apparatus, wherein the control means changes the temperature of the gas based on the temperature of the liquid film measured by the temperature measuring means. A substrate processing apparatus according to any one of claims 2 to 4,
The coagulation means has a nozzle that is provided to be movable relative to the substrate surface and discharges the gas,
The substrate processing apparatus, wherein the control means changes the distance of the nozzle to the substrate surface based on the temperature of the liquid film measured by the temperature measuring means. A substrate processing apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 5,
The solidifying means has a back surface cooling means for cooling the substrate by supplying a coolant to the back surface of the substrate,
The said control means is a substrate processing apparatus which changes the quantity of the refrigerant | coolant supplied per unit time from the said back surface cooling means to the said substrate back surface based on the temperature of the said liquid film measured by the said temperature measurement means. A substrate processing apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 5,
The solidification means further comprises a back surface cooling means for cooling the substrate by supplying a coolant to the back surface of the substrate,
The said control means is a substrate processing apparatus which changes the temperature of the refrigerant | coolant supplied to the said substrate back surface from the said back surface cooling means based on the temperature of the said liquid film measured by the said temperature measurement means. A substrate processing apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 9,
An exhaust means for exhausting the atmosphere around the substrate;
The substrate processing apparatus, wherein the control means changes a flow rate of exhaust gas exhausted from the periphery of the substrate based on a temperature of the liquid film measured by the temperature measuring means. A solidification step of forming a solidified body by cooling a liquid film of the liquid to be solidified formed on the surface of the substrate by a solidifying means;
A thawing and removing step of thawing and removing the solidified body formed on the substrate surface,
The solidification step increases the cooling capacity of the solidification means according to the temperature of the liquid film formed on the substrate surface, and cools the solidification body by the solidification means to lower the temperature of the solidification body. A substrate processing method. The substrate processing method according to claim 9, comprising:
In the solidification step, a gas having a temperature lower than the solidification point of the liquid to be solidified is supplied to the liquid film of the liquid to be solidified formed on the surface of the substrate to form the solidified body, and then supplied to the solidified body. The substrate processing method which raises the flow volume of the said gas and reduces the temperature of the said solidified body.

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