JPH11333355A - Formation of film and substrate treating device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To stably remove an outer peripheral part of a film with uniform width by supplying a coating liquid on a substrate to form the film having a prescribed thickness and after heating the fig, supplying a liquid to remove the outer peripheral part of the film. SOLUTION: A substrate W supplied to a coating unit by a transporting unit is held on a substrate holding part 11 and a resist liquid is discharged to the surface of the substrate W. And the protective film 9 is formed by rotating the substrate W at a high speed with the rotation of a motor 14. After the formation of the protective film 9, the substrate W is transported to a heating unit to be heated and to dry and solidify the protective film 9. After that, the substrate W is transported to an edge rinse unit and the outer peripheral part of the protective film 9 is dissolved and removed with the uniform width by rotating the substrate W as it is held on the substrate holding part 11 and discharging a rinsing liquid toward the outer peripheral part of the protective film 9 in this state from an edge rinse nozzle 13.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

[0001] 1. Field of the Invention [0002] The present invention relates to a film forming method for forming a film on a substrate and removing an outer peripheral portion of the film, and a substrate processing apparatus used in the method.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A substrate processing apparatus is used to supply a processing liquid to a substrate such as a semiconductor wafer, a glass substrate for a photomask, and a glass substrate for an optical disk to perform predetermined processing.

FIG. 7 is a schematic plan view showing the structure of a conventional substrate processing apparatus. The substrate processing apparatus 1 includes a loading / unloading area 2 and a processing area 5. The loading / unloading area 2 includes a cassette mounting portion 4 on which a plurality of cassettes 8 storing the substrates W are mounted, and a transfer robot 3 for loading and unloading the substrates W.

In the processing area 5, a rotary coating unit (spin coater) SC for forming a coating film on a substrate and a rotary developing unit (spin developer) SD for performing a developing process on the substrate are arranged in parallel. Heating units (hot plates) HP1-HP1 for performing a heat treatment on the substrate are provided on the opposite side of the rotary coating unit SC or the like via the transfer area 6.
HP3, cooling units (cooling plates) CP1 and CP2 for performing a cooling process on the substrate, and an adhesion strengthening unit HD for performing the adhesion strengthening process on the substrate W are stacked and arranged in a plurality of stages.

In a semiconductor device manufacturing process, a conductive layer or an insulating layer having a predetermined pattern is laminated on a surface of a semiconductor wafer to form an element. Further, a protective film made of a resist, polyimide, or the like is formed on the surface of the device.

[0006] This protective film is formed on the substrate processing apparatus 1 shown in FIG.
The thickness is larger than the thickness of a conductive layer, an insulating layer or a resist mask for pattern formation below the protective film. Therefore, formation of a thin film such as a conductive layer or a resist mask is referred to as thin film coating, and formation of a film having a large thickness such as a protective film is referred to as thick film coating.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart showing a thick film coating process. 7 and 8, a substrate W on which a thick film is to be applied is placed on a cassette mounting portion 4 in a carry-in / carry-out area 2 in a state of being housed in a cassette 8, and is transferred to a processing area 5 by a transfer robot 3. It is passed to the transport unit 7. The transport unit 7 supplies the substrate W to the rotary coating unit SC (Step ID).

In the rotary coating unit SC, a resist liquid or a polyimide liquid is supplied to the surface of the substrate W and spread over the entire surface of the substrate W. Thereby, a protective film is formed on the surface of the substrate W.

After the formation of the protective film, an edge rinsing process is subsequently performed in the rotary coating unit SC. In the edge rinsing process, the outer peripheral portion of the protective film applied on the entire surface of the substrate W is removed with a constant width. This edge rinsing process is performed for the following purposes.

That is, the substrate W on which the protective film is formed is
The peripheral portion is gripped by the substrate transfer means of the transfer unit 7 and transferred between various processing units. For this reason,
When the substrate transport means grips the peripheral portion of the substrate W, the protective film spread over the peripheral portion of the substrate peels off and scatters, contaminating the surface of the protective film in the central portion of the substrate or adhering to the substrate transport means. In some cases, the yield of the thick film coating process may be reduced by contaminating the surface of another substrate. For this reason, the edge of the protective film on the substrate W is removed at a constant width by performing an edge rinsing process, thereby preventing contact between the substrate transfer means and the protective film.

FIG. 9 is a schematic diagram of the edge rinsing process. The substrate W on which the protective film 9 is formed is held by the substrate holding unit 11 of the rotary coating unit, and is rotated around the rotation shaft 12 of the motor. An edge rinse nozzle 13 is arranged above the outer peripheral portion of the substrate W, and the edge rinse liquid 14 is discharged from the edge rinse nozzle 13 toward the outer peripheral portion of the protective film 9 on the substrate W. The protective film 9 from which the edge rinse solution 14 has been discharged is dissolved and removed by the edge rinse solution 14.

When the edge rinsing process is completed, the surface of the substrate W is washed with pure water, and is further rotated at a high speed to perform a drying process (step SCQ).

Further, the substrate W which has been subjected to the thick film coating process and the edge rinsing process is transported to the heating unit HP1 and is heated at a temperature of 90 to 110.degree. Thus, the protection film 9 is pre-baked (step H).
P). Thereafter, the wafer is transported to the cooling unit CP1 and subjected to a temperature lowering process to a normal temperature (step CP). Then, it is delivered again from the transport unit 7 to the transfer robot 3 and stored in the cassette 8 (step ID). With the above processing, the substrate W
A thick protective film 9 is formed on the surface of the substrate.

[0014]

In the conventional thick film coating process, after the protective film is spin-coated in the rotary coating unit SC, an edge rinsing process is subsequently performed.
In the edge rinsing process, it is desired that the protective film is uniformly removed at a constant width along the outer peripheral edge of the substrate W. Especially,
In recent years, as the diameter of the substrate W has increased, the element region on the substrate has expanded to the vicinity of the outer periphery of the substrate, and the width of the outer periphery of the protective film to be removed by edge rinsing has been reduced.

In such a situation, in the conventional edge rinsing process, if the outer peripheral portion of the protective film 9 is removed by discharging a rinsing liquid, and then the rotary drying process is performed, the end face of the protective film 9 receives centrifugal force. And the end face is deformed in a wavy shape. For this reason, there has been a possibility that the protection film projecting in a wavy shape on the outer peripheral end side of the substrate may come into contact with the substrate transfer means and cause contamination.

An object of the present invention is to provide a film forming method and a substrate processing apparatus capable of removing an outer peripheral portion of a film coated with a thick film with a uniform width.

[0017]

Means for Solving the Problems and Effects of the Invention A film forming method according to a first aspect of the present invention is a method for forming a film on a substrate and then removing an outer peripheral portion of the film. A step of supplying a coating liquid to form a film of a predetermined thickness, a step of heating the film formed on the substrate, and a solution for dissolving film components in the outer peripheral portion of the film after the step of heating is completed. Supplying and removing the outer peripheral portion of the film.

In the film forming method according to the first invention,
After forming the film on the substrate, the temperature of the film is raised before removing the outer peripheral portion of the film. When the temperature of the film is raised, the evaporation of the solvent in the film is promoted, and the film is appropriately dried and solidified. Therefore, the outer peripheral portion of the film in the subsequent step can be easily removed, and the end surface of the outer peripheral portion of the removed film can be maintained in a uniform circumferential surface.

The film forming method according to a second aspect of the present invention is the film forming method according to the first aspect, wherein the temperature of the film in the step of increasing the temperature is such that the solvent in the coating solution is volatilized and the film is chemically treated. The temperature at which no change occurs.

In this case, the solvent on the substrate can be volatilized from the coating solution supplied onto the substrate without changing the quality of the film, and the film on the substrate can be dried and solidified appropriately.

In the film forming method according to a third aspect of the present invention, in the film forming method according to the first or second aspect, the temperature of the film in the step of raising the temperature is 50 ° C. or more and 60 ° C. or less. By raising the temperature of the film in such a temperature range, the solvent can be volatilized from the coating liquid formed on the substrate, and the film can be dried and solidified appropriately.

A substrate processing apparatus according to a fourth aspect of the present invention is a substrate processing apparatus having a plurality of processing units for performing predetermined processing on a substrate, forming a film on the substrate, and removing an outer peripheral portion of the film. A processing unit for supplying a coating liquid on the substrate to form a film having a predetermined thickness, a processing unit for heating the film formed on the substrate, and a processing unit for heating formed on the substrate. A film removal processing unit for supplying a solution for dissolving the film components to the outer periphery of the film to remove the outer periphery of the film, a substrate transport unit for transporting the substrate between the respective processing units, and a substrate processing unit for the film formation , A substrate transfer means and a control means for controlling each of the processing units so as to be transferred and processed in the order of the temperature raising processing unit and the film removing processing unit.

In the substrate processing apparatus according to the fourth aspect of the present invention, after a film having a predetermined thickness is formed in the film forming processing section, the substrate is transported to the temperature increasing processing section, and the film on the substrate rises. Warmed up. This heating process promotes evaporation of the solvent in the film, and the film is appropriately dried and solidified. Thereafter, the substrate is transported to a film removal processing section, and the outer peripheral portion of the film is removed. At this time, since the film is appropriately dried and solidified, the outer peripheral portion of the film can be easily removed with a uniform width, and the outer peripheral end surface of the film can be formed into a uniform circumferential surface.

According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a substrate processing apparatus having a plurality of processing units for performing predetermined processing on a substrate, forming a film on the substrate, and removing an outer peripheral portion of the film. A film forming means for supplying a coating liquid on the substrate to form a film of a predetermined thickness, and a film removing means for supplying a solution for dissolving film components to an outer peripheral portion of the film on the substrate to remove the outer peripheral portion of the film. A film processing unit having means, a heating unit for heating a film formed on the substrate, a substrate transport unit for transporting the substrate between the processing units, and a film forming unit of the film processing unit. And a control unit for controlling each of the processing units so as to be conveyed and processed in the order of the temperature raising processing unit and the film removing unit of the film processing unit.

In the substrate processing apparatus according to a fifth aspect, the film processing section includes a film forming means for forming a film on the substrate and a film removing means for removing an outer peripheral portion of the film. For this reason, the configuration of the substrate processing apparatus can be simplified. Further, after a film having a predetermined thickness is formed by the film forming means, the substrate is conveyed to a temperature raising processing section, where the film on the substrate is heated and appropriately dried and solidified. Thereafter, the substrate is transported again to the film processing section, and the outer peripheral portion of the film is removed by the film removing means. This makes it possible to easily form a film having a uniform width from which the outer peripheral portion has been removed on the substrate.

[0026]

FIG. 1 is a schematic plan view showing the structure of a substrate processing apparatus according to a first embodiment of the present invention. The substrate processing apparatus 1 includes a loading / unloading area 2 and a processing area 5. The loading / unloading area 2 includes a cassette mounting section 4 on which a plurality of cassettes 8 storing the substrates W are mounted, and a transfer robot 3 for loading / unloading the substrates W.

The transfer robot 3 in the carry-in / out area 2 has an arrow A
Then, the substrate W is taken out of the cassette 8 and transferred to the transfer unit 7 of the processing unit 5, and the substrate W subjected to the series of processing is received from the transfer unit 7 and returned to the cassette 8.

At the center of the processing area 5, a transport area 6 is formed. In the transfer area 6, a transfer unit 7 that moves in the direction of arrow B and transfers a substrate is arranged.

On one side of the transport area 6, a rotary coating unit (spin coater) SC1 for forming a coating film on the substrate and an edge rinsing unit SC2 for performing edge rinsing processing on the substrate are provided. FIG. 3 is a schematic sectional view of a main part of the rotary coating unit and the edge rinse unit. In FIG. 3A, the rotary coating unit SC1
Includes a substrate holding unit 11 that holds the substrate W, and a motor 14 that rotates the substrate holding unit 11 attached to the tip of the rotating shaft 12. Further, above the center of the substrate W held by the substrate holding unit 11, a discharge nozzle 15 for discharging a resist liquid or a polyimide liquid onto the surface of the substrate W is provided. The discharge nozzle 15 is formed to be movable between a position above the center of the substrate W and a position outside the substrate W.

In FIG. 3B, the edge rinse unit SC2 includes a substrate holder 11 for holding the substrate W,
A motor 14 is provided for rotating the substrate holding unit 11 held at the tip of the rotating shaft 12. Further, an edge rinse nozzle 13 for discharging a rinse liquid is provided on the outer peripheral portion of the substrate W.
The edge rinse nozzle 13 is formed to be movable between a position above the outer peripheral portion of the substrate W and a position outside the substrate W.

On the other side of the transfer area 6, heating units (hot plates) HP1 to HP1 for performing a heat treatment on the substrate are provided.
HP3, cooling units (cooling plates) CP1 and CP2 for performing a cooling process on a substrate, and an adhesion strengthening unit HD for performing an adhesion strengthening process on the substrate W are arranged in a plurality of layers.

Further, the substrate processing apparatus 1 has a control unit 16 for controlling the operations of the transfer robot 3, the transport unit 7, and the respective units in the processing area 5.

Here, the rotary coating unit SC1 corresponds to a film forming processing section of the present invention, the heating unit HB1 corresponds to a temperature raising processing section, and the edge rinse unit SC2 corresponds to a film removing processing section. The transfer unit 7 corresponds to a substrate transfer unit, and the control unit 16 corresponds to a control unit.

The substrate processing apparatus 1 shown in FIG. 1 forms a protective film made of a resist or polyimide on a semiconductor wafer (substrate).
For example, it is used for coating a thick film having a thickness of 10 μm or more.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing a thick film coating process. Hereinafter, the thick film coating process will be described with reference to FIGS.

The substrate W on which the thick film is to be applied is stored in the cassette 8 and is mounted on the cassette mounting portion 4 in the carry-in / out area 2. The transfer robot 3 takes out the substrate W from the cassette 8 and transfers it to the transport unit 7 in the processing area 5. The transport unit 7 supplies the substrate W to the rotary coating unit SC1 (Step ID).

As shown in FIG. 3A, in the rotary coating unit SC1, the substrate W is held on the substrate holding portion 11, and the surface of the substrate W is discharged from the discharge nozzle 15 provided above the center of the substrate W. A resist liquid or a polyimide liquid is discharged. Then, the rotation of the motor 14 drives the substrate W to rotate at a high speed, and a resist or the like is spread over the entire surface of the substrate W. Thereby, the protective film 9 is formed. Protective film 9
Is formed to a thickness of, for example, 10 μm or more (Step SCQ).

In FIG. 2, when the protective film 9 is formed,
The substrate W is moved from the rotary coating unit SC1 to the heating unit H.
It is transported to P1. In the heating unit HP1, the temperature of the substrate W on which the protective film 9 is formed is maintained at 50 to 60 ° C. for about 1 minute. A solvent (solvent) such as MMP (methyl 3-methoxypropionate) contained in a resist or polyimide has low volatility at room temperature. Further, since the protective film 9 is formed to be a thick film, the solvent hardly volatilizes from the protective film 9 at normal temperature. Therefore, when the protective film 9 is heated, the volatilization of the solvent is promoted, and the protective film 9 is appropriately dried and solidified. (Step HP).

Further, the substrate W is transported from the heating unit HP1 to the cooling unit CP1, and is cooled to room temperature (step CP). By the processing so far, the thick protective film 9 is formed on the entire surface of the substrate W.

Next, the substrate W is placed in the edge rinse unit SC.
2 is transferred. As shown in FIG. 3B, the substrate W is held on the substrate holding unit 11, and is driven to rotate by rotation of the motor 14. In this state, a rinse liquid (a liquid that dissolves the protective film) is discharged from the edge rinse nozzle 13 disposed above the outer periphery of the substrate W toward the outer peripheral portion of the protective film 9 on the substrate W. Therefore, the outer peripheral portion of the protective film 9 is dissolved and removed with a uniform width by discharging the rinsing liquid. Also, the protective film 9
Is in an appropriate dry state due to the evaporation of the solvent by the heat treatment in the heating unit HP1. Therefore, even when a centrifugal force acts during the subsequent pure water washing and shake-off drying, the outer peripheral end surface of the protective film 9 maintains a uniform circumferential surface (step SC).

The substrate W having been subjected to the thick film coating and the edge rinsing is further transported to the heating unit HP2,
Heat treatment (pre-bake) is performed at 0 to 110 ° C. (Step HP). Thereafter, the wafer is conveyed to the cooling unit CP2, subjected to a temperature lowering process to room temperature (step CP), and then transferred again from the conveyance unit 7 to the transfer robot 3 and stored in the cassette 8 (step ID). By the above processing,
Protective film 9 whose outer peripheral portion is removed at a constant width on the surface of substrate W
Is formed.

In the above thick film coating process, the protection film 9 is subjected to a heating process before the edge rinsing process. By performing this heat treatment, the solvent in the protective film 9 is volatilized and removed,
The protective film 9 is dried. Thereby, the end face of the outer peripheral portion of the protective film 9 removed by the edge rinsing process can be maintained at a uniform circumferential surface. In the heat treatment before the edge rinsing treatment, the temperature is set to such a level that the volatilization of the solvent can be promoted without causing a chemical change of the protective film 9.

As shown in FIGS. 3A and 3B, the rotary coating unit SC1 and the edge rinsing unit SC2 in the first embodiment have a discharge nozzle 15 and an edge rinsing nozzle 13, respectively. Not only the dedicated unit provided but also a rotary coating unit having both nozzles may be selectively used for thick film coating and edge rinsing.

FIG. 4 is a schematic plan view showing the structure of a substrate processing apparatus according to a second embodiment of the present invention. The substrate processing apparatus according to the second embodiment is different from the substrate processing apparatus according to the first embodiment in that the thick film coating processing and the edge rinsing processing are performed using the same unit.

FIG. 6 is a schematic sectional view of a main part of the rotary coating unit. In FIG. 6, the rotary coating unit S
3C has a substrate holding portion 11 and a motor 14 as in FIGS. 3A and 3B, and further has a discharge nozzle 15.
And an edge rinse nozzle 13.

Here, the rotary coating unit SC corresponds to the film processing section of the present invention, and includes the discharge nozzle 15 and the substrate holding section 1.
1. The motor 14 corresponds to a film forming unit, the edge rinse nozzle 13, the substrate holding unit 11, and the motor 14 correspond to a film removing unit, and the control unit 16a (see FIG. 6) corresponds to a control unit.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing a thick film coating process using the substrate processing apparatus of FIG. In the substrate processing apparatus 1 shown in FIG. 4, after the substrate W taken out of the cassette 8 is subjected to a predetermined process in each unit, the cassette W
Is set so that the substrate W is supplied only once to each unit.

Therefore, the control unit 16a uses the rotary coating unit SC according to the flow shown in FIG. 5A to execute the thick film coating process (step SCQ) and the heating unit HP1.
Is performed (step HP) for volatilization of the solvent in the processing film 9 using.

Thereafter, in the flow shown in FIG. 5B, the substrate W on which the protective film 9 has been formed is again supplied to the rotary coating unit SC to perform edge rinsing (step SC).
Is performed. After that, the pre-baking process is performed by the heating unit HP2, and the temperature is lowered by the cooling unit CP2 to complete the film thickness coating process and the edge rinsing process.

As described above, in the substrate processing apparatus according to the second embodiment, the pressure film coating process and the edge rinsing process can be performed using the same rotary coating unit SC. Therefore, the number of rotary coating units in the substrate processing apparatus can be reduced, and the size of the entire substrate processing apparatus can be reduced.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic plan view showing a configuration of a substrate processing apparatus according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing steps of a thick film coating process using the substrate processing apparatus of FIG.

FIG. 3 is a schematic sectional view of a main part of a rotary coating unit (a) and an edge rinse unit (b).

FIG. 4 is a schematic plan view illustrating a configuration of a substrate processing apparatus according to a second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing a configuration of a thick film coating process by the substrate processing apparatus of FIG. 4;

FIG. 6 is a schematic sectional view of a main part of a rotary coating unit of the substrate processing apparatus of FIG.

FIG. 7 is a schematic plan view showing a configuration of a conventional substrate processing apparatus.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart showing steps of a conventional thick film coating process.

FIG. 9 is an explanatory diagram illustrating an operation of an edge rinsing process.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Substrate processing apparatus 2 Loading / unloading area 5 Processing area 9 Protective film 13 Edge rinse nozzle 15 Discharge nozzle SC, SC1 Rotary coating unit CP1-CP3 Cooling unit SC2 Edge rinse unit HP1-HP3 Heating unit

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. A film forming method for forming a film on a substrate and then removing an outer peripheral portion of the film, comprising: supplying a coating liquid on the substrate to form a film having a predetermined thickness; A step of raising the temperature of the film formed on the substrate; and a step of supplying a liquid for dissolving a film component to an outer peripheral portion of the film after the step of raising the temperature and removing the outer peripheral portion of the film. A film forming method. 2. The film according to claim 1, wherein the temperature of the film in the step of raising the temperature is a temperature at which a solvent in the coating solution is volatilized and a chemical change does not occur in the film. Forming method. 3. The film forming method according to claim 1, wherein the temperature of the film in the step of increasing the temperature is 50 ° C. or more and 60 ° C. or less. 4. A substrate processing apparatus having a plurality of processing units for performing predetermined processing on a substrate, forming a film on the substrate, and removing an outer peripheral portion of the film, wherein the coating liquid is applied to the substrate. A processing unit for supplying a film having a predetermined thickness to form a film having a predetermined thickness; a processing unit for heating to raise the temperature of the film formed on the substrate; and a film on an outer peripheral portion of the film formed on the substrate. A film removal processing unit for supplying a liquid for dissolving the components to remove an outer peripheral portion of the film, a substrate transporting unit for transporting a substrate between the processing units, and the substrate, wherein the substrate is the film forming processing unit, A substrate processing apparatus, comprising: a substrate transporting unit and a control unit that controls each processing unit so that the substrate is transported and processed in the order of a temperature raising processing unit and the film removing processing unit. 5. A substrate processing apparatus having a plurality of processing units for performing predetermined processing on a substrate, forming a film on the substrate, and removing an outer peripheral portion of the film, wherein the coating liquid is applied to the substrate. A film processing unit having a film forming means for supplying and forming a film having a predetermined thickness and a film removing means for supplying a liquid for dissolving a film component to an outer peripheral portion of the film on the substrate and removing the outer peripheral portion of the film; A temperature-raising processing unit that raises the temperature of a film formed on the substrate; a substrate transport unit that transports the substrate between the processing units; and the substrate is a film-forming unit of the film processing unit; Transported in the order of the processing unit and the film removing means of the film processing unit,
A substrate processing apparatus, comprising: the substrate transporting unit and a control unit that controls each processing unit so as to be processed.