JPH0536668A - Semiconductor substrate drying method - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] [Purpose] When a substrate supported by an arm, carrier, etc. is pulled up from the liquid into the air and dried, droplets remain at the contact point between the substrate and the support member and the gap in the vicinity, and the substrate is dried as it is. Then, that portion becomes a stain and dust in the liquid droplets adheres dryly, which impairs the homogeneity of the substrate surface and takes a long time to dry. The purpose is to solve this problem. According to a first aspect of the present invention, a plurality of supporting portions for supporting the substrate are provided.
A pulling method in which the substrate is temporarily separated from the substrate before and after passing through the gas-liquid interface and passes through the interface, and a plurality of substrate supporting parts are provided in two groups: an air supporting part and a liquid supporting part. It is a pulling method in which the substrate is transferred between both groups across the gas / liquid interface and the supporting part does not pass through the interface. Both can be dried without depositing droplets.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a method of manufacturing a semiconductor device, and more particularly, it is used for a method of pulling a semiconductor substrate (wafer) from a liquid into a gas and drying it.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art When a semiconductor substrate is cleaned or treated in a liquid, the substrate is contacted and supported by a supporting portion of a supporting member such as tweezers, a plurality of arms or a carrier, and is subjected to a cleaning treatment. When the cleaned and treated substrate is pulled out of the liquid tank into a gas and dried, the semiconductor substrate is generally pulled up while being in contact with the supporting portion.

For example, as shown in FIG. 10, a semiconductor substrate 100
Are inner support arms (inner support members) 101a, 101
b and outer supporting arms (outer supporting members) 102a, 10
It is sandwiched by 2b, immersed in a liquid, washed and treated. Contact points (support portions) 1a, 1 between each arm and the substrate
Grooves are formed in b, 2a, and 2b to support the substrate, and the material of the arm is made of, for example, quartz.

Further, as shown in FIG. 11, a plurality of semiconductor substrates 100 are housed in a carrier 200, immersed in a liquid, and washed. Reference numerals 3a, 3b, 3c, 3d are
Grooves are engraved to support the substrate at the support portion of the carrier 200 that contacts the substrate. After the processing is completed, the substrate 100 is pulled up while being placed in the carrier 200.

When a semiconductor substrate is pulled up from a liquid into a gas, generally, between the semiconductor substrate and the substrate supporting portion (contact portion) of the supporting member and in the vicinity of the end face thereof, due to the surface tension of the liquid and the capillary phenomenon, Liquid residue occurs.

For example, in FIG. 10, the supporting portions 1a, 1b, 2
Grooves for supporting the semiconductor substrate are engraved in a and 2b, and when the substrate is pulled out of the liquid, the liquid remains in the gap 105 (the inner area of the dotted line) including the contact portion between the substrate and the groove.
Also in FIG. 11, similarly, the supporting portions 3a, 3b, 3c and 3
The liquid remains in the gap near it including d. The residual liquid causes stains on the semiconductor substrate and leads to an increase in dust adhesion, so that uniform drying within the substrate surface is not performed. Also, the drying time is delayed.

[0007]

As described above, when a semiconductor substrate supported by a supporting member such as an arm or a carrier is pulled up from a liquid into a gas and dried, the conventional technique is used to pull the substrate. The liquid remains at the contact point with the support member and its vicinity. When the substrate is dried with the liquid remaining attached, that part remains as a stain, dust or foreign matter in the residual liquid dries and adheres,
It impairs the homogeneity of the substrate surface. In addition, if the residual liquid is attached, the time for drying the substrate becomes long.

The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and when a semiconductor substrate is pulled up from a liquid into a gas,
It is possible to provide a semiconductor substrate drying method capable of preventing adhesion of stains and dust of a semiconductor substrate due to a liquid remaining in a contact portion between the substrate and a supporting member and in the vicinity thereof, and capable of uniformly drying the substrate surface. To aim.

[0009]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method for drying a semiconductor substrate, wherein when a semiconductor substrate contacted and supported by a substrate supporting member is pulled up from a liquid into a gas and dried, a liquid of the substrate supporting member is used. In the state where the contact point inside is separated from the substrate when passing through the interface between liquid and gas,
It is characterized in that the substrate is pulled up into gas.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method for drying a semiconductor substrate, wherein when a semiconductor substrate contact-supported by a substrate supporting member is pulled up from a liquid into a gas and dried, the contact portion in the liquid of the substrate supporting member is contacted. However, the substrate is pulled up into the gas without passing through the interface between the liquid and the gas.

[0011]

The semiconductor substrate is supported by being contacted (pressed or abutted) with the supporting portion of the substrate supporting member, and cleaned or treated in a liquid. Generally, there is a gap between the substrate and the supporting part (contact part) and in the vicinity thereof, and liquid adheres to the supporting part due to capillary phenomenon, etc., and this liquid does not spontaneously flow out to the supporting part when the substrate is pulled up into gas. To remain.

In the substrate drying method of the present invention, when the substrate is pulled up through the interface between the liquid and the gas, the liquid remaining between the substrate and the supporting portion is eliminated.

That is, according to the method of claim 1, the plurality of supporting portions that come into contact with and support the substrate are temporarily separated from the substrate before and after passing through the liquid-gas interface, and the liquid remains. It is characterized in that the substrate is pulled up and dried in a state in which no generation occurs.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, a supporting portion that contacts and supports the substrate is a substrate supporting portion in gas.
It is divided into two parts: a substrate support part in a liquid. When the substrate is pulled up, first, the substrate support portion in the liquid is raised to expose only the substrate to a predetermined height above the liquid surface, and then the substrate portion exposed in the gas is transferred to the substrate by the substrate support portion in the gas. This is a method of pulling the whole into gas. That is, it is characterized in that the support portion in the liquid of the substrate supporting member does not pass through the liquid / gas interface to eliminate the generation of the liquid residue, and the substrate is pulled up and dried.

[0015]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

1 to 6 are views for explaining a substrate lifting method in an embodiment of a semiconductor substrate drying method according to claim 1 of the present invention.

In FIG. 1, a semiconductor substrate 100 includes six substrate support members (arms) 11a, 11b, 12a, 1
It is contacted and supported by 2b, 13a and 13b and immersed in a liquid. Reference numerals 4a, 4b, 5a, 5b, 6a,
6b, the substrate support members 11a to 13b are the substrate 10
A portion (also referred to as a supporting portion) that contacts 0 is shown. Although not shown, the substrate supporting members 11a to 13b are provided with grooves for supporting the substrate at their lower end contact portions, and the upper portions of the respective supporting members are connected to an automatic chucking mechanism. To be done. The automatic chucking mechanism is controlled by an attached control means, and causes each supporting member to perform an opening / closing operation for sandwiching / releasing the substrate and an ascending / descending operation for dipping / pulling in the liquid.

FIG. 2 shows a state in which the substrate 100 is pulled up from the liquid and contact points 4a and 4b between the substrate 100 and the supporting members 11a and 11b are separated from the substrate immediately before passing through the liquid-gas interface. .

FIG. 3 shows that the support members 11a and 11b are opened and the contact points 4a and 4b are separated from the substrate.
The state immediately after passing through the liquid / gas interface is shown.

FIG. 4 shows a contact point 4 which has passed through the interface at a distance.
a and 4b contact the substrate again by closing the supporting members 11a and 11b, and after supporting the substrate, contact points 5a and 5b next approaching the interface open the supporting members 12a and 12b, thereby Shows the state away from.

Next, the substrate 100 is supported by the supporting members 11a, 11b and 13a, 13b as shown in FIG. 4, and the contact points 5a and 5b pass through the liquid-gas interface while being separated from the substrate. FIG. 5 shows contact points 5a and 5b.
Is closed again after passing through the interface, and the substrate 100 has the support member 11a,
After being supported by 11b and 12a, 12b, the contact points 6a and 6b next approaching the interface are the supporting members 13a,
The state of being separated from the substrate 100 is shown by opening 13b.

In FIG. 6, the substrate 100 has the support members 11a,
11B, 12a and 12b are pulled up, the contact points 6a and 6b contact the substrate again after passing through the interface, and the substrate is supported in the gas by the six supporting members.

According to the method of pulling up the substrate from the liquid into the gas shown in FIGS. 1 to 6, before and after the supporting portion of the supporting member for contacting and supporting the substrate passes through the liquid-gas interface, Since it is temporarily separated from the substrate, no liquid remains in the contact portion and the gap in the vicinity thereof. Therefore, it is possible to uniformly dry the surface of the substrate after pulling it up into the gas.

The drying time of the substrate in the gas varies depending on the kind of the liquid to be wet. For example, it is desirable to raise the water temperature in pure water cleaning and force drying with hot air. In this embodiment, as described above, the contact portion is Since there is no liquid remaining in the gaps near and, good results were obtained by natural drying in a clean bench filled with dry clean air.

In the above embodiment, the case where the six supporting members (arms) support the contact at six points has been described, but the present invention is not limited to this. As long as the number of supporting members is two or more and the semiconductor substrate can be supported, it goes without saying that any number of supporting members can be used.

Next, an embodiment of the semiconductor substrate drying method according to the second aspect of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. 7 to 9. In FIG. 7, the semiconductor substrate 100 to be processed is
It is supported by the grooves of the supporting portions 23 a and 23 b of the substrate supporting member 23 in the liquid and is immersed in the liquid (processing liquid) 25 in the processing bath 20. The substrate support guide plates 24a and 24b are fixed in the processing tank, have vertical grooves facing each other at an interval substantially equal to the diameter of the substrate, and serve as guides for taking the substrate in and out of the liquid. In addition, the substrate support member 23
(Not shown) is connected to an elevating mechanism and moves up and down in the liquid 25 in the processing tank 20.

Reference numerals 21a, 21b, 22a and 22b are substrate supporting members in the gas, and although not shown, supporting portions 7a, 7b, 8a and 8b at the lower end have grooves for supporting the substrate. , Each supporting member 21a
The upper portions of the members 22b to 22b are connected to an automatic chucking mechanism to perform an opening / closing operation and a lifting operation for holding and releasing the substrate in the gas. Further, the automatic chucking mechanism and the elevating mechanism connected to the substrate supporting member 23 in the liquid are controlled in association with each other by the attached control means.

FIG. 8 shows a process of pulling the substrate 100 shown in FIG. 7 from a liquid into a gas. That is, the substrate 100 supported by the supporting portions 23a and 23b of the supporting member 23 in the liquid passes through the liquid-gas interface as the supporting member 23 moves upward, and a part thereof is exposed in the gas.
When the substrate 100 is pulled up from the predetermined height interface, the supporting member 23 stops rising in the liquid, the substrate supporting members 21a to 22b in the gas are closed, and the substrate 100 is dried on each supporting member of the supporting member. Contact-supported by 7a and 8b.

FIG. 9 shows a state in which the substrate 100 is supported by the supporting portions 7a and 8b in the gas and is completely lifted from the liquid to the gas by the ascending operation of the supporting members 21a and 22b. Substrate support member 2 in liquid
No. 3 stops without being exposed on the liquid surface and stands by.

According to the method of raising the substrate from the liquid to the gas shown in FIGS. 7 to 9, the substrate supporting portion of the supporting member is divided into a substrate supporting portion in the gas and a substrate supporting portion in the liquid. Therefore, when the substrate is pulled up, the substrate supporting portion in the liquid of the substrate supporting member does not pass through the liquid / gas interface. Therefore, in the substrate pulled up into the gas, no liquid remains in the contact portion and the gap in the vicinity of the contact portion, and uniform drying within the substrate surface becomes possible. Further, the substrate supporting portion in the gas in this embodiment is always in the gas and in a dry state, and the drying effect is better.

In the above embodiment, the case where the substrates are dried one by one has been described, but it is also possible to simultaneously pull up and dry a plurality of substrates. For example, referring to FIGS. Members 21a to 22
b and the substrate supporting member 23 in the liquid are combined, a plurality of sets are laminated in the direction perpendicular to the paper surface, and the respective substrate supporting members are integrated, and the same lifting and drying operation is performed to obtain a plurality of sheets. The semiconductor substrates can be processed simultaneously.

[0032]

As described above in detail, according to the present invention, when the semiconductor substrate is pulled up from the liquid into the gas, the liquid remaining at the contact portion between the substrate and the supporting member and in the vicinity thereof is eliminated. It was possible to provide a semiconductor substrate drying method capable of preventing an increase in stains and dust on a substrate due to a conventional residual liquid and uniformly drying the substrate surface in a short time.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic view for explaining a first (first) step of an embodiment of a semiconductor substrate drying method according to claim 1 of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram for explaining a second step of the embodiment of the method for drying a semiconductor substrate according to claim 1 of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram for explaining a third step of the embodiment of the method for drying a semiconductor substrate according to claim 1 of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram for explaining a fourth step of the embodiment of the method for drying a semiconductor substrate according to claim 1 of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram for explaining a fifth step of the embodiment of the method for drying a semiconductor substrate according to claim 1 of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram for explaining the final (sixth) step of the embodiment of the method for drying a semiconductor substrate according to claim 1 of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a schematic diagram for explaining the first (first) step of the embodiment of the method for drying a semiconductor substrate according to claim 2 of the present invention.

FIG. 8 is a schematic diagram for explaining a second step of the embodiment of the method for drying a semiconductor substrate according to claim 2 of the present invention.

FIG. 9 is a schematic view for explaining the final (third) step of the embodiment of the method for drying a semiconductor substrate according to claim 1 of the present invention.

FIG. 10 is a schematic view showing a first conventional example in which a substrate is supported by a substrate supporting member in a semiconductor substrate drying method.

FIG. 11 is a schematic view showing a second conventional example in which a substrate is supported by a substrate supporting member in a semiconductor substrate drying method.

[Explanation of symbols]

4a, 4b Contact point (supporting part) 5a, 5b Contact point (supporting part) 6a, 6b Contact point (supporting part) 7a, 7b Contact point in gas (supporting part) 8a, 8b Contact point in gas (support portion) 11a, 11b Substrate support member 12a, 12b substrate support member 13a, 13b Substrate support member 21a, 21b Substrate support member in gas 22a, 22b Substrate support member in gas 23 Substrate support member in liquid 23a, 23b Contact point in liquid (support portion) 100 semiconductor substrate

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. When pulling a semiconductor substrate, which is contact-supported by a substrate supporting member, from a liquid into a gas and drying the semiconductor substrate, when the contact point in the liquid of the substrate supporting member passes through an interface between the liquid and the gas, A method of drying a semiconductor substrate, which comprises pulling the substrate into a gas in a state of being separated from the substrate. 2. When pulling a semiconductor substrate, which is contact-supported by a substrate supporting member, from a liquid into a gas and drying the semiconductor substrate, the contact portion in the liquid of the substrate supporting member does not pass through an interface between the liquid and the gas. A method of drying a semiconductor substrate, which comprises pulling the substrate into a gas.