JP7583541B2 - SUBSTRATE PROCESSING METHOD AND SUBSTRATE PROCESSING SYSTEM - Google Patents

Description

This disclosure relates to a substrate processing method and a substrate processing system.

Conventionally, a coating liquid has been applied to the edge of a substrate such as a semiconductor wafer (hereinafter sometimes simply referred to as a wafer) to protect the edge.

In this regard, Patent Document 1 describes a peripheral coating device that applies a coating liquid to the peripheral portion of a substrate, the peripheral coating device comprising: a rotating holding unit that holds the substrate horizontally and rotates it; a coating liquid supply unit that is positioned above the substrate and has a coating liquid nozzle that ejects the coating liquid downward and supplies the coating liquid to the surface of the substrate; a horizontal transport unit that moves the coating liquid nozzle horizontally; and a coating control unit that controls the rotating holding unit, the coating liquid supply unit, and the horizontal transport unit.
The coating control unit performs scan-in control, which controls the rotating and holding unit to rotate the substrate, and the coating liquid supply unit to eject the coating liquid from the coating liquid nozzle, while controlling the horizontal transport unit to move the coating liquid nozzle from outside the periphery of the substrate to above the periphery of the substrate; and scan-out control, which controls the rotating and holding unit to rotate the substrate, and controls the coating liquid supply unit to eject the coating liquid from the coating liquid nozzle, while controlling the horizontal transport unit to move the coating liquid nozzle from above the periphery of the substrate to outside the periphery of the substrate, and is configured to move the coating liquid nozzle at a speed slower than the speed at which the coating liquid moves toward the periphery of the substrate when performing the scan-out control.

JP 2014-110386 A

The technology disclosed herein improves the uniformity of the film thickness of the coating liquid applied to the peripheral edge of the substrate.

One aspect of the present disclosure is a substrate processing method for processing a substrate, comprising the steps of forming an inhibitory film having water repellency or hydrophobicity that inhibits diffusion of a coating liquid on at least a peripheral portion of a surface of the substrate; holding the substrate on which the inhibitory film has been formed horizontally and rotating it, and while ejecting a processing liquid for removing the inhibitory film from a nozzle, moving the nozzle from the outside of the peripheral portion of the substrate to the peripheral portion to remove a portion of the inhibitory film on the peripheral portion; and then holding the substrate horizontally and rotating it, and while ejecting a coating liquid from the coating liquid nozzle, moving the coating liquid nozzle from the outside of the peripheral portion of the substrate to the peripheral portion to form a coating film in the area from which the inhibitory film has been removed.

According to the present disclosure, it is possible to improve the uniformity of the film thickness of the coating liquid applied to the peripheral portion of the substrate.

1A to 1C are explanatory diagrams showing a conventional method for applying a coating liquid to a peripheral edge portion of a substrate. 1 is a plan view showing a schematic outline of a configuration of a substrate processing system equipped with various devices for performing a substrate processing method according to an embodiment; 3 is a front view showing a schematic configuration of the substrate processing system of FIG. 2. FIG. 3 is a rear view diagrammatically illustrating an outline of the configuration of the substrate processing system of FIG. 2. FIG. FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram showing a schematic outline of the configuration of an adhesion device that forms an inhibitory film. FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram illustrating a schematic outline of the configuration of a peripheral edge removing device. FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram showing a schematic outline of the configuration of a peripheral edge coating device. 1A to 1C are explanatory diagrams in plan view showing the process of forming and partially removing an inhibition film. 5A to 5C are explanatory views showing a method of applying a coating liquid to a peripheral edge of a substrate in the substrate processing method according to the embodiment; 11 is a graph comparing the film thickness of a coating liquid applied to the peripheral portion of a substrate in the conventional technique and the embodiment.

In the manufacturing process of semiconductor devices, etc., a series of photolithography steps are carried out, including a resist coating process in which a resist liquid is supplied onto a wafer to form a resist film, and a predetermined resist pattern is formed on the wafer. The above series of processes are carried out in a coating and developing processing system equipped with various liquid processing devices for processing the wafer, heat processing devices, and a transport device for transporting the wafer. In addition, after the photolithography process, the wafer is then subjected to an etching process, etc., and the photolithography series of processes may be carried out again.

In such processes, a coating liquid may be applied to the peripheral portion of a substrate such as a wafer to form a coating film and protect the peripheral portion. Such peripheral portion coating processes are conventionally performed through a process such as that shown in FIG. 1.

That is, first, a nozzle N for applying the coating liquid is placed on the outside of the target wafer W (FIG. 1(a)), and the coating liquid (e.g., resist liquid) R is discharged from the nozzle N while moving it toward the center (inner side) of the rotating wafer W (FIG. 1(b)). Then, the movement of the nozzle N is stopped at a predetermined position (landing point P) (FIG. 1(c)). After a predetermined time has elapsed, the nozzle N is retracted to the outside of the wafer W (FIG. 1(d)).

However, with this method, as shown in Figure 1(c), a ring-shaped hump H may be formed inside the landing point P. A hump is a coating film that is extremely thick compared to other areas. When this type of hump H is formed, it remains as a residue in subsequent processes, reducing the yield.

The inventor believes that the cause of the formation of the hump H is as follows. That is, in the coating process for the edge portion of the wafer, the coating liquid R discharged from the nozzle N penetrates inside the landing point P (the point where the discharged coating liquid reaches the surface of the wafer W) during the formation of the coating film. The coating liquid R is not supplied inside the landing point P, so drying proceeds, but the coating liquid R continues to be supplied outside the landing point P, so it does not dry. Therefore, it is considered that this drying time difference is one of the causes of the occurrence of the hump H. The reason why the coating liquid discharged from the nozzle N penetrates inside the landing point P is because the discharge angle of the nozzle N with respect to the wafer W is not radial in a plan view, but has an angle of, for example, about 30 to 40 degrees with respect to the tangent direction of the wafer W, so a vector acts in the inward direction.

To remedy this, attempts have been made to reduce the drying time difference by increasing the rotation speed of the wafer W or changing the composition of the coating liquid R, but this resulted in a lack of robustness in the coating film formed by the coating liquid R, and there was also a limit to how much the hump H could be reduced.

Therefore, the technology disclosed herein prevents the occurrence of the above-mentioned humps when applying coating liquid to the peripheral edge of a substrate, improving the uniformity of the coating liquid film thickness on the peripheral edge of the substrate.

The present embodiment will be described below with reference to the drawings. Note that in this specification, elements having substantially the same functional configuration are designated by the same reference numerals to avoid redundant description.

<Substrate Processing System>
Fig. 2 is a schematic diagram showing an internal configuration of the substrate processing system 1 equipped with various devices for carrying out the substrate processing method according to the embodiment, and Figs. 3 and 4 are a front view and a rear view, respectively, showing the internal configuration of the substrate processing system 1.

As shown in FIG. 2, the substrate processing system 1 has a cassette station 10 where a cassette C containing multiple wafers W is loaded and unloaded, and a processing station 11 equipped with multiple processing devices that perform predetermined processing on the wafers W. The substrate processing system 1 has a configuration in which the cassette station 10, the processing station 11, and an interface station 13 that transfers the wafers W between the processing station 11 and an exposure device 12 adjacent to the processing station 11 are integrally connected.

The cassette station 10 is provided with a cassette placement table 20. The cassette placement table 20 is provided with a plurality of cassette placement plates 21 on which the cassettes C are placed when the cassettes C are loaded or unloaded from the outside of the substrate processing system 1.

The cassette station 10 is provided with a wafer transport device 23 that is movable on a transport path 22 that extends in the X direction in the figure. The wafer transport device 23 is also movable in the vertical direction and around the vertical axis (θ direction), and can transport wafers W between the cassettes C on each cassette mounting plate 21 and the transfer device of the third block G3 of the processing station 11, which will be described later.

The processing station 11 is provided with multiple, for example, four, blocks G1, G2, G3, and G4 equipped with various devices. For example, a first block G1 is provided on the front side of the processing station 11 (negative side in the X direction in FIG. 2), and a second block G2 is provided on the rear side of the processing station 11 (positive side in the X direction in FIG. 2). A third block G3 is provided on the cassette station 10 side of the processing station 11 (negative side in the Y direction in FIG. 2), and a fourth block G4 is provided on the interface station 13 side of the processing station 11 (positive side in the Y direction in FIG. 2).

As shown in FIG. 4, the first block G1 is provided with a plurality of liquid processing devices, such as a development processing device 30, a lower anti-reflective film forming device 31, a resist film forming device 32, an upper anti-reflective film forming device 33, a peripheral portion removing device 34, and a peripheral portion coating device 35. The development processing device 30 develops the wafer W. The lower anti-reflective film forming device 31 forms an anti-reflective film (hereinafter referred to as "lower anti-reflective film") on the lower layer of the resist film of the wafer W. The resist film forming device 32 supplies resist liquid to the wafer W to form a resist film. The upper anti-reflective film forming device 33 forms an anti-reflective film (hereinafter referred to as "upper anti-reflective film") on the upper layer of the resist film of the wafer W.

The number and arrangement of the developing treatment device 30, lower anti-reflective coating device 31, resist film forming device 32, upper anti-reflective coating device 33, edge removal device 34, and edge coating device 35 can be selected as desired.

In the developing treatment device 30, the lower anti-reflective coating forming device 31, the resist film forming device 32, the upper anti-reflective coating forming device 33, the edge removal device 34, and the edge coating device 35, for example, spin coating is performed on the wafer W using a predetermined processing liquid or coating liquid. In spin coating, for example, the processing liquid or coating liquid is ejected from a nozzle onto the wafer W, and the wafer W is rotated to spread the processing liquid or coating liquid over the surface of the wafer W.

As shown in FIG. 4, the second block G2 has a heat treatment device 40, an adhesion device 41, and an edge exposure device 42 arranged vertically and horizontally. The heat treatment device 40 performs heat treatment such as heating and cooling the wafer W. The adhesion device 41 supplies HMDS or the like in a vapor state onto the wafer W to uniformly form a hydrophobic film on the wafer W in order to improve the adhesion between the resist liquid and the wafer W. The edge exposure device 42 exposes the outer periphery of the wafer W. The number and arrangement of the heat treatment devices 40, adhesion devices 41, and edge exposure devices 42 can be selected arbitrarily.

For example, in the third block G3, multiple transfer devices 50, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55, and 56 are provided in order from the bottom. In addition, in the fourth block G4, multiple transfer devices 60, 61, and 62 are provided in order from the bottom.

As shown in FIG. 4, a wafer transport area D is formed in the area surrounded by the first block G1 to the fourth block G4. A wafer transport device 70 is disposed in the wafer transport area D.

Each wafer transport device 70 has a transport arm 70a that can move, for example, in the Y direction, X direction, θ direction, and up and down. Multiple wafer transport devices 70 are arranged one above the other, and each wafer transport device 70 moves within the wafer transport area D and can transport the wafer W to a specified device at approximately the same height in each of blocks G1 to G4, for example.

In addition, a shuttle transfer device 80 is provided in the wafer transfer area D to transfer the wafer W linearly between the third block G3 and the fourth block G4.

The shuttle transfer device 80 is movable linearly, for example, in the Y direction in FIG. 4. The shuttle transfer device 80 moves in the Y direction while supporting the wafer W, and can transfer the wafer W between the transfer device 52 in the third block G3 and the transfer device 62 in the fourth block G4.

As shown in FIG. 2, a wafer transfer device 90 is provided next to the third block G3 on the positive side in the X direction. The wafer transfer device 90 has a transfer arm 90a that can move, for example, in the X direction, the θ direction, and the vertical direction. The wafer transfer device 90 can move up and down while supporting a wafer W, and transfer the wafer W to each transfer device in the third block G3.

The interface station 13 is provided with a wafer transfer device 100 and a transfer device 101. The wafer transfer device 100 has a transfer arm 100a that is movable, for example, in the Y direction, the θ direction, and the up and down directions. The wafer transfer device 100 can support a wafer W on the transfer arm 100a, for example, and transfer the wafer W between each transfer device in the fourth block G4, the transfer device 101, and the exposure device 12.

The substrate processing system 1 described above is provided with a control unit 200. The control unit 200 is configured by a computer equipped with, for example, a CPU, a memory, etc., and has a program storage unit (not shown). The program storage unit stores programs that control various processes in the substrate processing system 1. The above programs may be recorded on a computer-readable storage medium and installed in the control unit 200 from the storage medium.

The various devices installed in the substrate processing system 1 having the above configuration for carrying out the substrate processing method according to the embodiment will be described below in detail.

<Adhesion device>
As described above, the adhesion device 41 is originally intended to supply HMDS to the entire surface of the wafer W before applying the resist liquid for pattern formation in order to improve the adhesion between the resist liquid and the wafer W. However, HMDS is known to have water repellency. Therefore, this adhesion device 41 is used in the process of forming the inhibition film in the embodiment.

As shown in FIG. 5, the adhesion device 41 has a processing vessel 110. A mounting table 111 on which a wafer W is placed is provided within the processing vessel 110. A heater 112 for heating is provided within the mounting table 111. The mounting table 111 has a plurality of through holes 113 formed therein. Lift pins 114a that move up and down within these through holes 113 are provided on a lift pin support portion 114. The lift pin support portion 114 is raised and lowered by a lift mechanism 115.

An air inlet 116 is provided in the center of the ceiling of the processing vessel 110, and a supply path 117 is connected to the air inlet 167. The supply path 117 is connected to a source of HMDS vapor (not shown). On the other hand, an exhaust port 118 is provided on the outside of the mounting table 111 at the bottom of the processing vessel 110, and an exhaust path 119 is connected to the exhaust port 118. The exhaust path 119 is connected to an exhaust device M.

With the above configuration, the HMDS vapor supplied from the air inlet 116 is uniformly supplied to the upper surface of the wafer W heated to a predetermined temperature by the heater 112 on the mounting table 111, and a water-repellent HMDS film is formed as an inhibitor film over the entire surface of the wafer W.

<Edge Removal Device>
The peripheral edge removal device 34 has the configuration shown in Fig. 6. That is, the peripheral edge removal device 34 has a processing vessel 120, and a spin chuck 121 is provided in the center thereof as a rotation holding mechanism that horizontally holds and rotates the wafer W by suction. The spin chuck 121 is supported by a rotation support member 122. The rotation support member 122 is connected to a rotation drive mechanism 123 such as a motor. The rotation support member 122 is configured to be movable up and down.

A filter device 124 is provided on the ceiling of the processing vessel 120, and a downflow of purified air is formed inside the processing vessel 120 via the air supply section 125.

A cup 126 is disposed around the spin chuck 121 so as to surround the wafer W held by the spin chuck 121. A drain pipe 127 and an exhaust pipe 128 are provided at the bottom of the cup 126. The exhaust pipe 128 is connected to an exhaust device 129.

In the processing vessel 120, nozzles 130 and 131 are disposed for discharging a processing liquid capable of removing the HMDS film, such as an alkaline processing liquid, such as a developing liquid. That is, the peripheral portion removal device 34 has a nozzle 130 for discharging a developing liquid from the upper surface side of the wafer W held by the spin chuck 121 toward the peripheral portion of the wafer W, and a nozzle 131 for discharging a developing liquid from the rear surface side of the wafer W toward the rear surface of the peripheral portion of the wafer W. The nozzle 130 located on the upper side can be moved by a support arm (not shown), and moves between the position during discharging shown in FIG. 6 and a retreated position outside the cup 126 when the wafer W is loaded and unloaded. Furthermore, when discharging, the nozzle 130 can be moved within an arbitrary range from the outside to the inside of the peripheral portion of the held wafer W. The nozzle 131 is for removing the HMDS melt liquid and processing liquid that have wrapped around to the rear surface side, and is usually fixedly disposed at a fixed position.

<Edge Coating Device>
The peripheral coating device 35 has the configuration shown in Fig. 7. This peripheral coating device 35 basically has the same configuration as the peripheral removal device 34 described above. That is, the peripheral coating device 35 has a processing vessel 140, and a spin chuck 141 is provided in the center thereof. The spin chuck 141 is supported by a rotation support member 142 that can move up and down, and the rotation support member 142 is connected to a rotation drive mechanism 143.

A filter device 144 is provided on the ceiling of the processing vessel 140, and a downflow of purified air is formed inside the processing vessel 140 via an air supply section 145. A cup 146 is also arranged around the spin chuck 141. A drain pipe 147 and an exhaust pipe 148 are provided at the bottom of the cup 146, and the exhaust pipe 148 is connected to an exhaust device 149.

In the processing vessel 140, a coating liquid nozzle 150 for ejecting a coating liquid for protecting the peripheral portion of the wafer W, such as a resist liquid, toward the peripheral portion, and a solvent nozzle 151 for ejecting a solvent for removing the coating liquid, can be arranged. That is, the peripheral portion coating device 35 has a coating liquid nozzle 150 for ejecting a coating liquid from the upper surface side of the wafer W held by the spin chuck 141 toward the peripheral portion of the wafer W, and a solvent nozzle 151 from the back side of the wafer W toward the back surface of the peripheral portion of the wafer W.

The coating liquid nozzle 150 located at the top can be moved by a support arm (not shown) and can move between the position shown in FIG. 7 during dispensing and a retracted position outside the cup 146 when loading and unloading the wafer W. Furthermore, when dispensing the coating liquid, the coating liquid nozzle 150 can move within any range from the outside to the inside of the peripheral edge of the held wafer W. The solvent nozzle 151 is for removing the coating liquid that has leaked onto the back side, and is usually fixed in a fixed position.

<Substrate Processing Method>
The adhesion device 41, edge removal device 34 and edge coating device 35 mounted on the substrate processing system 1 have the above-described configurations, and next, a substrate processing method according to an embodiment using each of these devices will be described.

First, the wafer W, the edge of which is to be protected by applying a coating liquid to it, is carried into the adhesion device 41 by the wafer transfer device 70 and placed on the mounting table 111. The wafer W is then heated by the heater 112 to a predetermined temperature, for example, 90 to 200°C. When the processing temperature is reached, HMDS vapor is supplied from the air supply port 116 to the wafer W, as shown in FIG. 5. As a result, the wafer W before the HMDS supply shown in FIG. 8(a) has an HMDS film S formed as an inhibitor film over the entire surface, as shown in FIG. 8(b).

After the HMDS film S is formed as an inhibitor film in this manner, the wafer W is removed from the adhesion device 41 by the wafer transfer device 70 and then loaded into the heat treatment device 40 where it is cooled to a predetermined temperature, for example 23°C.

The wafer W thus cooled is removed by the wafer transport device 70 and then loaded into the edge removal device 34. As shown in FIG. 6, the nozzles 130 and 131 are placed at the discharge position relative to the wafer W held by the spin chuck 121, and the developer is discharged onto the edge of the wafer W while the wafer W is rotated at, for example, 100 to 2000 rpm. In this case, it is preferable that the nozzle 130 is moved from the outside edge of the wafer W toward the inside edge while discharging the developer to remove the edge of the film S.

As a result, the peripheral portion of the HMDS film S that had been formed as an inhibitory film over the entire surface of the wafer W is removed, and as shown in FIG. 8(c), an annular region WE appears on the outer periphery of the wafer W from which the film S has been removed. The radial length of the region WE is, for example, 0.5 to 5.0 mm.

The wafer W having the area WE from which the film S has been removed on the outer peripheral edge of the surface of the wafer W in this manner is removed by the wafer transport device 70 and then transferred into the peripheral coating device 35. In the peripheral coating device 35, the wafer W is held by suction on the spin chuck 141 as shown in FIG. 7, and then rotated by the spin chuck 141 at, for example, 100 to 1500 rpm. In this state, a coating liquid, for example a resist liquid, is ejected from the coating liquid nozzle 150 onto the area WE of the wafer W, and a solvent is ejected from the solvent nozzle 151 on the back side onto the back surface of the peripheral edge of the wafer W.

The peripheral coating process performed by the peripheral coating device 35 will be described below with reference to FIG. 9. First, as shown in FIG. 9(a), the coating liquid nozzle 150 discharges the coating liquid R at the outer peripheral portion of the wafer W held by the spin chuck 141. Next, as shown in FIG. 9(b), the coating liquid nozzle 150 is moved toward the center of the wafer W, that is, toward the inner peripheral portion of the wafer W. As a result, the coating liquid R is discharged toward the region WE. Then, as shown in FIG. 9(c), when the landing point P reaches the interface (boundary) So of the HMDS film S as the inhibiting film, the movement of the coating liquid nozzle 150 is stopped. In that state, for example, after 0.3 to 5.0 seconds have elapsed, the coating liquid nozzle 150 is moved to the outer peripheral portion of the wafer W as shown in FIG. 9(d). As a result, a film of the coating liquid R is formed on the peripheral portion of the wafer W.

In the above edge coating process, as shown in FIG. 9, the occurrence of humps in the coating liquid R that previously occurred on the edge of the wafer W is suppressed. This is because the HMDS film S formed by the adhesion device 41 is water repellent, so the coating liquid, which previously flowed around the landing point P, is suppressed by the film S, reducing the difference in drying time between the inside and outside of the landing point P. Therefore, the coating liquid R applied to the area WE outside the interface So of the film S can be made into a coating film with a uniform thickness.

The inventors actually conducted an experiment and obtained the results shown in Figure 10. In Figure 10, the horizontal axis indicates the distance from the edge of the wafer W, and the vertical axis indicates the film thickness of the coating liquid R. According to this, with the conventional method shown by the dashed line, a hump with a film thickness of more than 1.5 mm was formed between 1.9 mm and 2.0 mm from the edge, whereas with the example in which a water-repellent inhibitor film was formed according to the embodiment shown by the solid line, a slightly thicker film thickness occurred between 1.9 mm and 2.0 mm, but the thickness was about 0.75 mm.

Comparing the film thickness at 1.85 mm from the edge with the maximum film thickness of the formed coating film, the conventional method reached 2.47 times the thickness, whereas the example in which the water-repellent inhibitor film was formed according to the embodiment was able to reduce this to 1.45 times. Therefore, a 41% reduction in humps was achieved compared to the conventional method. In addition, the uniformity of the film thickness of the coating film applied to this type of peripheral portion is required to be reduced to 1.5 times or less the film thickness at 1.85 mm, and it was confirmed that the substrate processing method according to the embodiment meets this requirement.

In the above embodiment, the film S as the inhibitor film is formed from HMDS, but of course this is not limited to this, and other film-forming materials can be used as long as they have water repellency and hydrophobicity in relation to the coating liquid R. Also, in the above embodiment, the inhibitor film is formed on the entire surface of the wafer W by the adhesion device 41, but this is not limited to this, and the inhibitor film may be formed on the entire surface of the wafer W by other formation methods, for example, spin coating.

Furthermore, in terms of the purpose of the inhibitor film, it is not necessarily necessary to form the inhibitor film on the entire surface of the wafer W. It is sufficient that the inhibitor film is formed inside the area of the coating liquid that protects the peripheral portion during the peripheral portion coating process. For example, the inhibitor film may be formed in a ring shape on the peripheral portion of the wafer W.

In the peripheral coating film formation process, the position of the landing point P of the coating liquid discharged from the coating liquid nozzle 150 was set at the same position as the outer interface So of the film S serving as an inhibitor film in the above embodiment, but it may be inside the interface So, i.e., on the film S. Since the film S itself is water repellent, even if the coating liquid R is discharged onto the film S, it is likely to be expelled to the outside due to the centrifugal force generated when the wafer W rotates, so that the coating liquid R is prevented from being left on the film S and drying there to form a hump.

In the above embodiment, the process of removing the HMDS film S as an inhibitor film and the process of forming the peripheral coating film are each performed in separate processing vessels, i.e., the processing vessels 120, 140 of the peripheral removal device 34 and the peripheral coating device 35. This is because the liquid discharged in the peripheral removal device 34 is an alkaline processing liquid such as a developer, while the coating liquid R applied in the peripheral coating device 35 is a resist liquid and its solvent, which is an organic chemical liquid, and therefore it is not preferable to discharge them directly from the same drain pipe. This has the advantage that the waste liquid treatment can be performed using existing devices and facilities as is.

However, from the viewpoint of improving the uniformity of the film thickness applied to the peripheral portion, it is not necessarily necessary to perform the inhibitor film removal process and the peripheral portion coating film formation process in separate processing vessels, and they may be performed in a single processing vessel if the equipment has separate drainage systems.

In addition, in the above embodiment, a water-repellent film, for example, HMDS film S, was used as the inhibition film, but the thickness d of film S formed by the normal adhesion process shown in Figure 9 is several nm to several tens of nm, whereas the thickness D of coating film R formed by coating liquid R is 100 nm to 200 nm. Even if there is a significant difference in film thickness, if film S is water-repellent and hydrophobic, it is possible to suppress the diffusion and wraparound of coating liquid R and prevent the occurrence of humps.

However, even if a film that is not water-repellent or hydrophobic is used as the inhibitory film, it is possible to suppress the diffusion and wrap-around of the coating liquid R and prevent the occurrence of humps. In other words, by forming the thickness of the film S to be at least half the thickness of the coating liquid R, the interface can be made to function as a wall that prevents the coating liquid R from wrapping around or diffusing inward. Therefore, the inhibitory film in this disclosure is not necessarily limited to a film that is hydrophobic or water-repellent.

The embodiments disclosed herein should be considered to be illustrative and not restrictive in all respects. The above embodiments may be omitted, substituted, or modified in various ways without departing from the scope and spirit of the appended claims.

REFERENCE SIGNS LIST 1 Substrate processing system 34 Edge removal device 35 Edge coating device 41 Adhesion device 120, 140 Processing vessel 121, 141 Spin chuck 130 Nozzle 150 Coating liquid nozzle 200 Control unit P Landing point R Coating liquid S Film So Interface W Wafer WE Area

Claims (8)

A substrate processing method for processing a substrate, comprising the steps of:
forming a water-repellent or hydrophobic inhibition film on at least the periphery of the surface of the substrate to inhibit diffusion of the coating liquid;
a step of horizontally holding and rotating the substrate on which the inhibitor film has been formed, and discharging a treatment liquid for removing the inhibitor film from a nozzle while moving the nozzle from the outside of the peripheral portion of the substrate to the peripheral portion to remove a part of the inhibitor film on the peripheral portion;
Thereafter, while holding the substrate horizontally and rotating the substrate, a coating liquid nozzle is moved from the outside of the peripheral portion of the substrate to the peripheral portion while discharging a coating liquid from the coating liquid nozzle, thereby forming a coating film in the region from which the inhibitor film has been removed;
The substrate processing method comprises: The substrate processing method according to claim 1, wherein in the step of forming the inhibitor film, the inhibitor film is formed on the entire surface of the substrate. The substrate processing method according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the inhibition film is a hydrophobic film. The substrate processing method according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the processing liquid is an alkaline processing liquid. The substrate processing method according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein in the step of forming the coating film, the position where the coating liquid discharged from the coating liquid nozzle lands on the substrate is at the boundary of the inhibitor film from which the portion has been removed or inside the boundary. The substrate processing method according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein the step of removing a portion of the inhibitor film and the step of forming a coating film are each performed in separate processing vessels. The substrate processing method according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein the process of removing a portion of the inhibitor film and the process of forming a coating film are performed in the same processing vessel. A substrate processing system for processing a substrate, comprising:
an apparatus for forming a water-repellent or hydrophobic inhibiting film that inhibits diffusion of a coating liquid at least on the peripheral portion of the surface of the substrate;
A device for removing an inhibitor film from the peripheral portion of the surface of the substrate;
a device for applying a coating liquid to a peripheral portion of a surface of the substrate;
A control unit for controlling each of the devices,
The control unit is
forming an inhibitory film that inhibits diffusion of a coating liquid on at least a peripheral portion of a surface of the substrate; and then removing a portion of the inhibitory film on the peripheral portion;
thereafter, applying the coating liquid to the area from which the inhibitor film has been removed to form a coating film.

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