JP2008277682A - Substrate processing apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To prevent a processing liquid adhering to a nozzle member from dropping onto a substrate. <P>SOLUTION: A substrate processing apparatus 1 includes a liquid knife 16 for discharging a rinse liquid obliquely from upstream to downstream of the carrying direction of a substrate S on an upper surface of the substrate which is being carried, and gas jetting means having an air nozzle 32 for jetting air toward the liquid knife 16. Under control of a controller 40, air is blown from the air nozzle 32 to the liquid knife 16 when the substrate S does not exist under the liquid knife 16. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2009,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a substrate processing apparatus for supplying a processing liquid to a substrate such as an LCD, a glass substrate for PDP, and a semiconductor substrate and performing various processes.

  2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, predetermined processing is performed on a substrate by supplying various processing liquids to the surface of the substrate while transporting the substrate. For example, Patent Document 1 discloses that a substrate after chemical processing is transported. Further, there is disclosed a technique in which a cleaning liquid is sequentially supplied to a substrate by a liquid knife (slit nozzle) and a shower nozzle to perform a cleaning process.

In this apparatus, a belt-like cleaning liquid is first discharged in a slanting direction from the upstream side to the downstream side in the transport direction with a liquid knife on the substrate that is carried in, so that the chemical reaction is rapidly performed in order from the front side of the substrate. In addition, the substrate is terminated uniformly in the width direction of the substrate, and then the substrate is subjected to finish cleaning with the cleaning liquid discharged from the shower nozzle.
JP 2004-273984 A

  By the way, it is empirically known that when the cleaning liquid is discharged from the liquid knife, some dripping occurs until the flow rate of the cleaning liquid is stabilized to some extent. In this case, the cleaning liquid flowing down along the knife surface is liquid. If it remains on the lower surface of the knife or the like, it may be dropped on the substrate being transported to deteriorate the quality of the substrate. That is, when the cleaning liquid is dropped from the liquid knife, a part of the chemical liquid is replaced at an early stage at a position upstream of the original spraying (supply) position, and as a result, the uniformity of the chemical reaction time within the substrate surface is achieved. May be damaged. In addition, if the cleaning liquid is continuously discharged for a long period of time, it is considered that the mist of the cleaning liquid adheres to the liquid knife, which becomes a trap and drops from the liquid knife onto the substrate. It causes the quality of the board to deteriorate. Therefore, it is required to avoid such inconvenience.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and prevents unnecessary processing liquid from dripping onto a substrate from a nozzle member such as a liquid knife, thereby contributing to the improvement of the quality of the substrate. Objective.

  In order to solve the above-described problems, a substrate processing apparatus of the present invention includes a nozzle member that discharges a processing liquid in an oblique direction from the upstream side to the downstream side in the transport direction on the upper surface of a substrate being transported. In the apparatus, gas injection means for injecting gas toward the nozzle member, and control means for controlling the gas injection means to inject the gas when there is no substrate below the nozzle member. (Claim 1).

  According to this substrate processing apparatus, the processing liquid adhering to the surface of the nozzle member, such as soaking of the processing liquid due to liquid dripping, is removed by blowing the gas onto the nozzle member by the gas jetting means. This prevents the treatment liquid adhering to the nozzle member from dropping on the substrate. The gas injection is controlled so as to be performed when there is no substrate below the nozzle member, so that the processing liquid removed from the nozzle member is not scattered on the substrate.

  As a specific configuration, the control unit injects the gas, for example, from the start of the discharge of the processing liquid by the nozzle member until a predetermined stabilization condition for stabilizing the discharge amount of the processing liquid is satisfied. Thus, the gas injection means is controlled (claim 2).

  According to this configuration, dripping of the processing liquid from the nozzle material due to liquid dripping immediately after the start of discharging of the processing liquid can be effectively prevented.

  The control means may control the gas injection means so as to inject the gas for a predetermined time immediately before the substrate to be processed reaches below the nozzle member.

  According to this configuration, it is possible to remove mist-like processing liquid and the like attached to the nozzle member immediately before processing the substrate.

  In the above configuration, it is preferable that the gas jetting unit jets the gas from the upstream side to the downstream side of the transport path with respect to the nozzle member. .

  According to this configuration, since the processing liquid attached to the nozzle member can be blown downstream, it is possible to effectively prevent the removed processing liquid from being scattered on the substrate before processing.

  In this case, a backflow prevention means for preventing the flow of the processing liquid on the substrate to the upstream side by injecting gas toward the upper surface of the substrate on the upstream side in the transport direction from the nozzle member is provided. The backflow prevention means may be configured to be capable of injecting the gas to both the substrate and the nozzle member, so that the backflow prevention means is also used as the gas injection means. Item 5).

  According to this configuration, it is possible to remove the processing liquid adhering to the surface of the nozzle member with a rational configuration that also serves as the backflow preventing unit as the gas injection unit.

  According to the substrate processing apparatus which concerns on Claims 1-5, it can prevent effectively that an unnecessary process liquid dripping on a board | substrate from a nozzle member, and can contribute to the quality improvement of a board | substrate by this. In particular, according to the configuration of claim 2, it is possible to effectively prevent dripping of the processing liquid due to liquid dripping immediately after the start of discharge of the processing liquid, and according to the configuration of claim 3, it adheres to the nozzle member. The dripping of the processing liquid resulting from the mist processing liquid can be effectively prevented. Further, according to the configuration of claim 4, it is possible to effectively prevent the processing liquid removed from the nozzle member from being scattered on the substrate before processing. Further, according to the configuration of claim 4, While enjoying the effect, it is possible to achieve a rational configuration that also serves as the backflow preventing means as the gas injection means.

  A preferred embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

  FIG. 1 schematically shows a cross-sectional view of a substrate processing apparatus according to a first embodiment of the present invention. The substrate processing apparatus 1 shown in this figure is directed to the substrate S that has been subjected to a chemical process (for example, a photoresist solution peeling process) in the previous process while transporting the substrate S in a horizontal posture in the direction of the arrow in the figure. A cleaning process is performed.

  The substrate processing apparatus 1 has a processing chamber 10 that is substantially sealed as shown in FIG. In the processing chamber 10, a plurality of transport rollers 14 are arranged at predetermined intervals, and the substrate S is transported in a horizontal posture along a transport path constituted by the transport rollers 14. In addition, the code | symbol 12a in the figure shows the carrying-in port of the board | substrate S formed in the side wall of the process chamber 10, and the code | symbol 12b has shown the carrying-out port.

  Two kinds of liquid nozzles for supplying a rinsing liquid (in this example, pure water; corresponding to the processing liquid of the present invention) to the substrate S are provided in the processing chamber 10. Specifically, a liquid knife 16 (corresponding to a nozzle member according to the present invention) is provided in the immediate vicinity of the carry-in port 12a, and shower nozzles 18a and 18b are provided downstream of the liquid knife 16 (right side in the figure). Has been deployed.

  The liquid knife 16 is fixed to the wall surface of the processing chamber 10 via an attachment arm (not shown). The liquid knife 16 is elongated in the width direction of the transport path of the substrate S (the direction orthogonal to the transport direction of the substrate S; the direction orthogonal to the paper surface in the figure) and continuously extends in the longitudinal direction. It consists of a so-called slit nozzle having a discharge port, and is arranged on the upper portion of the transport roller 14 with the discharge port inclined downward as shown in FIG. Thus, the rinsing liquid is discharged from the liquid knife 16 to the substrate S in a strip shape (layered) obliquely downward from the upstream side to the downstream side in the transport direction.

  On the other hand, the shower nozzles 18a and 18b are arranged on both upper and lower sides with the conveying roller 14 in between. For example, the shower nozzles 18a and 18b are configured to discharge the rinse liquid in the form of droplets from the nozzle openings arranged in a matrix and spray the liquid onto the substrate S, for example. It has become.

  The rinsing liquid is stored in a tank 20 disposed below the processing chamber 10 as shown in the figure, and is led out from the tank 20 through the outlet pipe 24 by the operation of the pump 22, and is branched from the outlet pipe 24. The supply pipes 26 to 28 are supplied to the liquid knife 16 and the shower nozzles 18a and 18b, respectively. The supply pipes 26 to 28 are provided with opening / closing valves V1 to V3, respectively, and the operation of the opening / closing valves V1 to V3 controls the supply / stop of the rinse liquid by the liquid knife 16 or the like, or the supply amount. .

  The processing chamber 10 is provided with a funnel-shaped recovery pan (not shown) at its inner bottom, and the used rinse liquid is returned to the tank 20 through the recovery pipe 30 while being collected by the recovery pan. It is supposed to be. That is, in the substrate processing apparatus 1, a rinse liquid supply / discharge system is configured so that the rinse liquid is repeatedly used while circulating between the tank 20 and the liquid knife 16. The recovery pipe 30 is provided with a waste liquid pipe branched from the middle portion thereof, and is configured so that the deteriorated rinse liquid is discarded through the waste liquid pipe. The tank 20 can be supplied through a new liquid supply pipe.

  An air nozzle 32 for blowing gas (air in this example) toward the liquid knife 16 is further provided in the processing chamber 10. The air nozzle 32 is an elongated nozzle extending along the liquid knife 16 and having a plurality of circular discharge ports arranged in the longitudinal direction, or an elongated discharge extending continuously (or intermittently) in the longitudinal direction. It consists of a slit nozzle having an outlet, and is disposed in a portion between the pair of transport rollers 14 in the vicinity of the transport inlet 12a. As a result, as shown in FIG. 2, when the substrate S does not exist below the liquid knife 16, it is obliquely upward from the lower side of the transport path toward the tip of the liquid knife 16, specifically, slightly upstream in the transport direction of the substrate S. It is the structure which can inject air from the air nozzle 32 diagonally upward toward the downstream from the side.

  As shown in FIG. 1, the air nozzle 32 is connected to an air supply source (not shown) via an air supply pipe 36, and air by the air nozzle 32 is operated by operating an open / close valve V <b> 4 provided in the air supply pipe 36. The injection / stop of the engine is controlled.

  The substrate processing apparatus 1 is provided with a controller 40 (corresponding to the control means of the present invention) having a CPU or the like as a component, and drives the transport roller 14 and switches the open / close valves V1 to V4. Are controlled by the controller 40 in a centralized manner. In particular, in the apparatus 1, as shown in FIG. 1, sensors that detect the substrate S on the slightly upstream side of the carry-in port 12a outside the processing chamber 10 and in the vicinity of the carry-out port 12b in the processing chamber 10, respectively. (Referred to as the first sensor 42 and the second sensor 44) are arranged, and the controller 40 controls the open / close valves V1 to V4 based on the detection of the substrate S by the sensors 42 and 44.

  Next, the control of the on-off valves V1 to V4 by the controller 40, that is, the rinsing liquid supply control by the liquid knife 16 and the air injection control by the air nozzle 32 will be described together with the operation thereof.

  FIG. 4 is a timing chart showing an example of control of the on-off valves V1 to V4 by the controller 40. As shown in the figure, the controller 40 controls the opening and closing valves V1 to V4 to be closed until the first sensor 42 detects the substrate S, thereby discharging the rinsing liquid from the liquid knife 16 and the like. Air injection from the air nozzle 32 is stopped.

  When the substrate S is transported and the front end thereof is detected by the first sensor 42 (at time t1), the controller 40 switches the open / close valves V1 to V3 from the closed state to the open state, thereby the liquid knife 16 and the shower. The discharge of the rinsing liquid from the nozzles 18a and 18b is started. At the same time, the on-off valve V4 is opened for a predetermined time to inject air from the air nozzle 32 (at time t1 to t2). As a result, after the start of the discharge of the rinse liquid by the liquid knife 16, air is blown against the tip portion of the air nozzle 32 for a certain time.

  When air is blown in this way, immediately after the start of discharge, the rinse liquid (liquid dripping) flowing down from the discharge port through the liquid knife 16 and the mist-like rinse liquid adhering to the liquid knife 16 are removed by the air pressure. Thus, for example, as shown in FIG. 3, the rinse liquid is prevented from accumulating in a bowl shape (indicated by reference sign D) at the lower end of the tip of the liquid knife 16 or the like.

  In addition, after the front end of the substrate S is detected by the first sensor 42, the air injection time (time t1 to t2) is a specific point between the liquid knife 16 and the carry-in port 12a. The time to reach is set. That is, by setting the air injection period to a period in which the substrate S does not exist below the liquid knife 16, the air injected from the air nozzle 32 is blocked by the substrate S or removed from the liquid knife 16 by air pressure. The rinsing liquid is prevented from scattering on the substrate S. The air injection time is sufficiently longer than the time from when the opening / closing valve V1 is switched to the open state until the discharge amount of the rinse liquid discharged from the liquid knife 16 is stabilized.

  After the ejection of air from the air nozzle 32 is stopped in this way, the substrate S is transported below the liquid knife 16, so that the rinsing liquid discharged from the liquid knife 16 is separated from the tip side of the substrate S as the substrate S is transported. Sequentially, the chemical solution reaction is promptly terminated uniformly in the width direction of the substrate S. At this time, as described above, the air is sprayed on the liquid knife 16 in advance, and the rinse liquid adhering to the liquid knife 16 is removed. Therefore, as shown in FIG. It is possible to effectively prevent the liquid soot (symbol D) from dropping at a position P2 upstream of the original supply position P1 of the rinse liquid.

  When the substrate S passes the position of the liquid knife 16, a large amount of rinse liquid discharged from the shower nozzles 18a and 18b is then supplied to the upper and lower surfaces of the substrate S, whereby the substrate S is finished and cleaned.

  When the substrate S is further transported and the leading edge of the substrate S is detected by the second sensor 44 (at time t3), the controller 40 switches the open / close valve V1 from the open state to the closed state, whereby the liquid knife 16 When the second sensor 44 detects the rear end of the substrate S (at time t4), the open / close valves V2 and V3 are switched from the open state to the closed state, whereby the shower nozzle The discharge of the rinse liquid from 18a and 18b is stopped. Thus, a series of cleaning processes for the substrate S is completed.

  As described above, in this substrate processing apparatus 1, the rinsing liquid (liquid dripping) that flows down from the discharge port through the liquid knife 16 by blowing air onto the tip portion of the air nozzle 32, or the mist shape attached to the liquid knife 16. The rinsing liquid is removed so that unnecessary rinsing liquid is prevented from dripping from the liquid knife 16 onto the substrate S. Therefore, the liquid knife is placed at a position P2 upstream of the original supply position P1. It is possible to effectively prevent the occurrence of inconvenience that the rinsing liquid is dripped from 16 and the chemical reaction is partially terminated early, and as a result, the uniformity of the chemical processing is impaired. Accordingly, the chemical liquid treatment can be more uniformly performed on the substrate S as much as such inconvenience can be avoided, and the quality of the substrate can be further improved.

  Next, a second embodiment of the present invention will be described.

  FIG. 5 schematically shows a substrate processing apparatus according to the second embodiment in a cross-sectional view. In the substrate processing apparatus 2 of the second embodiment, as shown in the figure, an air nozzle 32 is provided above the conveyance path, and the air nozzle 32 and the like are also used as a backflow preventing means for rinsing liquid. In this respect, the configuration is different from the substrate processing apparatus 1 of the first embodiment.

  Specifically, an air nozzle 32 is arranged at the lower part of the rear end of the liquid knife 16 (lower left end in FIG. 5), and air is injected obliquely downward from the upstream side toward the downstream side toward the lower end of the liquid knife 16. The air nozzle 32 is arranged to do this.

  As shown in FIG. 6, this air nozzle 32 injects air toward the lower end of the liquid knife 16, and when the substrate S is below the liquid knife 16, etc., the upstream side from the upstream side to the downstream side thereof. The injection angle is set so that air can be injected toward the air. That is, by controlling the opening / closing valve V4 by the controller 40, during the processing of the substrate S, air is blown to the tip of the air nozzle 32 through the liquid knife 16 from the discharge port as in the first embodiment. While the rinsing liquid (drip) flowing down and the mist-like rinsing liquid adhering to the liquid knife 16 are removed, the processing chamber 10 and the processing chamber on the upstream side thereof are straddled due to, for example, a transport problem of the substrate S. When the transport of the substrate S is stopped in the state (the state shown by the two-dot chain line in FIG. 6), the backflow of the rinse liquid on the substrate S is performed by ejecting air from the air nozzle 32 toward the upper surface of the substrate S. That is, the rinse liquid supplied onto the substrate S is prevented from flowing into the upstream processing chamber along the substrate S.

  According to the substrate processing apparatus 2 of the second embodiment, it is possible to effectively prevent unnecessary rinsing liquid from dropping from the liquid knife 16 onto the substrate S, as in the first embodiment. There is an advantage that the air nozzle 32 and the like can achieve a rational configuration that has a function of injecting air to the liquid knife 16 and a function of preventing the back flow of the rinsing liquid.

  The above-described substrate processing apparatuses 1 and 2 are exemplifications of a preferred embodiment of the substrate processing apparatus according to the present invention, and the specific configuration thereof, for example, the shape and arrangement of the air nozzle 32, the air injection direction (angle) ), The injection timing and the like are not necessarily limited to the example of the embodiment, and can be appropriately changed without departing from the gist of the present invention.

  For example, in the above embodiment, the air nozzle 32 is fixedly provided. However, by incorporating a swing mechanism, the air nozzle 32 can be swung around an axis parallel to the transport roller 14, and the air nozzle 32 can be moved toward the liquid knife 16. You may make it obtain a change in the spraying direction, spraying. In particular, in the case of the second embodiment, the optimum air blowing angle for removing the droplets of the liquid knife 16 and the optimum air blowing angle for preventing the backflow of the rinse liquid do not necessarily overlap. In some cases, when the air nozzle 32 is fixedly provided, it may be difficult to obtain an optimal air injection angle for both applications. In such a case, if the air nozzle 32 is provided so as to be swingable as described above and the angle of the air nozzle 32 (air injection angle) is controlled according to the application by the controller 40, it can be used for any application. It becomes possible to inject air onto the liquid knife 16 or the substrate S at an optimum angle.

  Further, regarding the air injection timing by the air nozzle 32, the air injected from the air nozzle 32 is blocked by the substrate S (in the case of the first embodiment), or the rinse liquid removed from the liquid knife 16 by the air pressure is removed. Since it is necessary to prevent scattering on the substrate S, it is necessary to avoid a period in which the substrate S exists below the liquid knife 16 at a minimum. It may be. However, during the period from when the discharge of the rinse liquid by the liquid knife 16 is started until the discharge amount of the rinse liquid is stabilized, the bowl-shaped rinse liquid is likely to remain in the liquid knife 16 due to liquid dripping. As described above, blowing air to the liquid knife 16 during this period is effective in preventing dripping of the rinse liquid.

  In this case, the time (stabilization condition) until the flow rate of the rinse liquid in the supply pipe 26 reaches a predetermined value (flow rate at which the rinse liquid is stably discharged) after the discharge of the rinse liquid is started is measured in advance. In addition to controlling the air injection time based on the time, for example, the flow rate of the rinsing liquid in the supply pipe 26 is detected in real time, and after the discharge of the rinsing liquid is started, the flow rate becomes the predetermined value. It is also possible to detect the time point when the (stabilization condition) is reached and stop the air injection based on the detection. In short, a stabilization condition that stabilizes the discharge state of the rinse liquid discharged from the liquid knife 16 is determined in advance, and from the start of discharge of the rinse liquid until the stabilization condition is satisfied, the air nozzle 32 Air may be jetted to the liquid knife 16.

  Further, when the rinsing liquid is continuously discharged from the liquid knife 16 or the shower nozzles 18 a and 18 b during the processing period of the plurality of substrates S, a large amount of mist is generated in the processing chamber 10. As a result, the liquid knife 16 is liable to cause rinsing of the rinse liquid. Therefore, in such a case, it is possible to remove the soot from the liquid knife 16 immediately before the processing of the substrate S by injecting air for a certain period of time immediately before the substrate S reaches below the liquid knife 16. It is valid.

  In the above embodiment, the example in which the present invention is applied to the substrate processing apparatuses 1 and 2 that perform the cleaning process on the substrate S has been described. Of course, the present invention is not limited to the cleaning process, and the substrate process that performs the chemical process It can also be applied to devices.

It is sectional drawing which shows 1st Embodiment of the substrate processing apparatus which concerns on this invention. It is a principal part expanded sectional view of a substrate processing apparatus. It is a figure which shows the relationship between a liquid knife and the supply position of the rinse liquid supplied on a board | substrate from the said knife. It is a timing chart which shows control of the on-off valve by a controller. It is sectional drawing which shows 2nd Embodiment of the substrate processing apparatus which concerns on this invention. It is a principal part expanded sectional view of a substrate processing apparatus.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1, 2 Substrate processing apparatus 10 Processing chamber 14 Conveyance roller 16 Liquid knife 18a, 18b Shower nozzle 32 Air nozzle S Substrate

Claims (5)

In the substrate processing apparatus provided with a nozzle member that discharges the processing liquid in an oblique direction from the upstream side to the downstream side in the transport direction on the upper surface of the substrate being transported,
Gas injection means for injecting gas toward the nozzle member;
Control means for controlling the gas injection means to inject the gas when there is no substrate below the nozzle member;
A substrate processing apparatus comprising: The substrate processing apparatus according to claim 1,
The control unit is configured to inject the gas from the start of discharge of the processing liquid by the nozzle member until a predetermined stabilization condition for stabilizing the discharge state of the processing liquid is satisfied. The substrate processing apparatus characterized by controlling. In the substrate processing apparatus according to claim 1 or 2,
The substrate processing apparatus, wherein the control unit controls the gas injection unit to inject the gas only for a predetermined time immediately before the substrate to be processed reaches below the nozzle member. The substrate processing apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 3,
The said gas injection means injects the said gas toward the downstream from the upstream of the said conveyance path with respect to the said nozzle member, The substrate processing apparatus characterized by the above-mentioned. The substrate processing apparatus according to claim 4,
Backflow prevention means is provided on the upstream side in the transport direction from the nozzle member to prevent the processing liquid on the substrate from flowing upstream by injecting gas toward the upper surface of the substrate. A substrate processing apparatus, wherein the prevention means is configured to be capable of injecting the gas to both the substrate and the nozzle member, whereby the backflow prevention means is also used as the gas injection means.

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