JPH0642332Y2 - Substrate cleaning equipment - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed description of the device]

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION This invention is, for example, a semiconductor wafer, a glass plate for a photomask, etc. (hereinafter simply referred to as a substrate).
The present invention relates to a substrate cleaning device for cleaning substrates.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art As a substrate cleaning apparatus of this type, a swing type vertical cleaning apparatus disclosed in, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 57-90941 has been conventionally known. It consists of a suction chuck that holds and rotates the substrate, a rotating brush that is in vertical contact with the cleaning surface of the substrate, a motor that rotates the rotating brush, and a rotating brush that moves the rotating brush forward and backward along the diametrical direction of the substrate. (Swing) drive mechanism,
While horizontally rotating the cleaning brush that is in vertical contact with the substrate surface, the forward / backward drive mechanism moves the rotating brush at the forward / backward speed that has the maximum value at the center of the substrate surface and the minimum value at the peripheral edge, and It is configured to clean the surface.

[0003]

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention]
If the substrate is cleaned while the cleaning brush is in vertical contact with the surface of the substrate, fine scratches may be formed on the surface of the substrate during cleaning. This invention makes it a technical subject to prevent the generation of the fine scratches described above.

[0004]

In order to prevent the occurrence of the above-mentioned minute scratches, the present invention supplies a cleaning liquid to the surface of a substrate while horizontally rotating the cleaning brush, and the peripheral direction from the center of the rotating substrate surface. In a substrate cleaning apparatus for cleaning a substrate surface by moving a cleaning brush to a substrate, an elevating and lowering drive means for raising and lowering the cleaning brush in a direction perpendicular to the substrate surface, and cleaning at a position where a lower end of the cleaning brush floats slightly above the substrate surface A cleaning means for restricting the lowering of the brush, and the lower end portion of the cleaning brush is floated above the substrate surface and rotated.

[0005]

In the present invention, the cleaning brush is lowered by the elevating drive means, the cleaning brush is horizontally rotated, the cleaning liquid is supplied to the substrate surface, and the cleaning brush is moved in the peripheral direction from the center of the rotating substrate surface to move the substrate. Clean the surface. At that time, the regulating means regulates the lowering of the cleaning brush at the position where the lower end of the cleaning brush is slightly above the surface of the substrate. In other words, by rotating the cleaning brush slightly above the substrate surface and forcibly moving the cleaning liquid on the substrate surface with the cleaning brush to clean the substrate surface, fine scratches on the substrate during cleaning can be eliminated. It prevents the occurrence.

[0006]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The present invention is provided with a regulating means for regulating the lowering of the cleaning brush at the position where the lower end of the cleaning brush is slightly above the surface of the substrate, and the lower end of the cleaning brush is floated above the substrate surface and rotated. There is a feature in making it
A detailed description will be given with reference to FIGS. 1 and 2. Here, FIG.
2 is a side view for explaining the function of the substrate cleaning apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a perspective view thereof.

In the apparatus of this embodiment, a cleaning brush 2 rotatably supported is suspended, and a swing arm 1 horizontally swingably supported, and the swing arm 1 is supported at its upper end portion to rotate and lift. Arm support shaft 5 and arm support shaft 5
A rotation drive means 11 for rotationally driving the arm support shaft 5, a lift drive means 17 for lifting and lowering the arm support shaft 5, and an arm load receiving plate 7 fixed to the arm support shaft 5 for receiving the load of the swing arm 1. , A weight placing plate 21 on which a weight 22 for decelerating and descending the arm 1 is placed and which can be moved up and down, and both arm levers 25 whose both ends are supported to be vertically swingable.
And a deceleration cylinder 3 for decelerating the rising speed of the weight mounting plate 21.
1 and a stopper 32 that regulates the rising position of the weight mounting plate 21 so that the lifting position of the weight mounting plate 21 can be finely adjusted. The arm load receiving plate 7 is placed on one arm 25a of both arm levers 25, and
The weight mounting plate 21 is placed on the other arm 25b to reduce the descending speed of the arm support shaft 5, and the lower end portion of the cleaning brush 2 is slightly moved from the surface of the substrate onto the substrate 41 held on the upper surface of the spin chuck 42. It is configured to clean the substrate while being floated on the substrate. Reference numeral 43 in FIG. 1 is a cleaning liquid supply nozzle for pure water or the like.

The cleaning brush 2 is rotatably supported on the tip end side of the swing arm 1 and is rotationally driven by a drive motor 3 disposed on the base end side of the swing arm 1 via a transmission belt 4. The swing arm 1 has its base end fixed to the upper end of the arm support shaft 5, is horizontally rotatable about the arm support shaft 5, and is vertically movable by raising and lowering the arm support shaft 5. Has been.

The arm support shaft 5 is supported by a support shaft boss 6 fixed on a base 40 so as to be rotatable and movable up and down. The arm support shaft 5 has an arm load at a position above the boss 6. The receiving plate 7 is fixed, and the driven pulley 1 is provided below the penetrating base 40 via a spline sleeve 8.
0s are connected. That is, the lower part of the arm support shaft 5 is a spline shaft 5b. A spline sleeve 8 is fitted onto the spline shaft 5b, and the spline sleeve 8 is rotatably supported on a base 40 via a bearing 9, The driven pulley 10 is fixed to the pulley fixing shaft 8b of the sleeve 8.

The rotation driving means 11 of the arm support shaft 5 is driven by a driven pulley 10 via a driving pulley 13 and a transmission belt 14.
Is provided with a drive motor 12 for driving forward and backward, and sensors 15A, 15B, 15C for position control. Regarding the position of the cleaning brush 2 attached to the tip of the swing arm 1, the standby position A and the substrate 41 The center position B and the peripheral position C of the substrate 41 are detected and the position is controlled. Reference numerals 16A, 16B, and 16C are discs having slits at predetermined positions.

The lifting drive means 17 fixes the air cylinder 18 to the lower side of the base 40, and pushes the output rod 19 of the air cylinder 18 against the lower end (spline shaft 5b) of the arm support shaft 5 to move it forward and backward. The swing arm 1 is configured to be moved up and down. 20A and 20B
Is a sensor that detects the forward / backward position of the output rod 19, and is attached along the forward / backward stroke of the output rod 19.

At the standby position A, the swing arm 1 is stopped with the arm load receiving plate 7 resting on the upper surface of the spindle boss 6, and when cleaning the substrate 41, the swing arm 1 is first moved to the standby position A. The output rod 19 of the air cylinder 18 is advanced to push up the arm support shaft 5 to lift the swinging arm 1, and then the drive motor 12 is normally rotated to swing the swinging arm 1.
By moving the cleaning brush 2 attached to the tip of the base plate to the central position B of the substrate 41, retracting the output rod 19 of the air cylinder 18 and lowering the swing arm 1 at the central position B, the arm load is received. The plate 7 is adapted to rest on a roller 26 attached to one short arm 25a of the both arm levers 25.

The weight mounting plate 21 is for reducing the descending speed of the swing arm 1 via the both arm levers 25, and the base 4
No. 0 is provided so as to move up and down along an elevating guide rod 24 erected via a fixture 23, and is configured to rest on a roller 27 attached to the other long arm 25b of the both arm levers 25. ing. The weight 22 mounted on the weight mounting plate 21 is provided so that the weight can be adjusted as appropriate, and the couple moment due to the sum of at least the load of the swing arm 1 and the load of the arm support shaft 5 is the weight. It is set to be slightly larger than the couple moment due to the weight of the ball 22. Both ends of the both arm levers 25 are supported by the support shaft boss 6 so as to be swingable in the vertical direction within the heavy plane about the support shaft 28.

Further, on the fixing metal fitting 30 provided upright on the base 40, a deceleration cylinder 31 for appropriately reducing the rising speed of the weight mounting plate 21 and a regulating means (stopper) for defining the upper limit position of the weight mounting plate 21. 32 is provided, and the deceleration cylinder 31
By appropriately adjusting the orifice (not shown) of the cleaning brush 2, the descending speed of the cleaning brush 2 descending via the both arm levers 25 can be reduced to a desired speed, and the micrometer 33 serves as a stopper serving as a restricting means. The regulation position of 32 can be set as appropriate, whereby the lower end of the cleaning brush 2 is regulated to a position slightly above the surface of the substrate 4.

A brush rotation start sensor 36 is provided on the support boss 6 of the arm support shaft 5 via a support 35, while a test plate 37 is erected on the weight mounting plate 21. , The weight mounting plate 21 rises to a certain height, and the sensor 36 detects the plate 37 to be inspected.
However, it is configured to start rotating before coming into contact with the substrate 41.

The operation of the apparatus of the above embodiment will be briefly described below. Before starting the substrate cleaning operation, the swing arm 1
Stands by at the standby position A, and at this position A, the arm load receiving plate 7 rests on the upper surface of the spindle boss 6. When the substrate 41 is cleaned, the arm support shaft 5 is first pushed up by the output rod 19 of the air cylinder 18 at the standby position A, and then the drive motor 12 rotates the arm support shaft 5 around its axis for cleaning. The brush 2 is moved to the center position B of the substrate 41.

Next, at that position B, the output rod 19 of the air cylinder 18 is retracted to lower the arm support shaft 5, thereby placing the arm load receiving plate 7 on one roller 26 of the lever 25. . At this time, the brush rotation start sensor 36 operates and the cleaning brush 2 starts to rotate.

On the other hand, the weight mounting plate 21 rests on the other roller 27 of the both arm levers 25 and is pushed up via the both arm levers 25 as the arm support shaft 5 descends. At this time, the weight 22 on the weight mounting plate 21 and the deceleration cylinder 31
Output rod 31a acts to reduce the ascending speed of the weight mounting plate 21, so that the descending speed of the arm load receiving plate 7 resting on the short arm 25a side is further reduced. Then, the cleaning brush 2 descends while rotating, and the weight mounting plate 21 comes into contact with the stopper 32 that is the regulating means to stop descending.
As a result, the lower end portion of the cleaning brush 2 is restricted to a position slightly above the surface of the substrate 4, the cleaning brush 2 is prevented from rotating in contact with the surface of the substrate, and fine scratches are formed on the surface of the substrate. It can be prevented from occurring.

Next, by rotating the drive motor 12 of the swing arm 1 in the reverse direction, the cleaning brush 2 is moved from the central position B of the substrate 41 toward the peripheral position C, and at the same time, the cleaning liquid is discharged from the cleaning liquid supply nozzle 43. The entire surface of the substrate 41 is washed. While the cleaning brush 2 moves from the B position to the C position, the arm load receiving plate 7 is maintained on the roller 26. If necessary, for example, when the cleaning of the substrate is insufficient, the cleaning brush 2 is lifted, moved to the substrate center position B, and the cleaning brush 2 is softly attached.
A series of operations of moving to the substrate peripheral edge position C is repeated a necessary number of times.

[0020]

As is apparent from the above description, according to the substrate cleaning apparatus of the present invention, the cleaning brush is prevented from rotating in contact with the surface of the substrate, and fine scratches are generated on the surface of the substrate. It can be prevented from occurring.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a side view for explaining a function showing an embodiment of a substrate cleaning apparatus according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of a substrate cleaning apparatus according to the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Oscillating arm, 2 ... Washing brush, 3 ... Rotation drive motor for washing brush, 17 ...
Elevating / driving means, 32 ... regulating means (stopper),
41 ... Substrate, 42 ... Spin chuck,
43 ... Cleaning liquid supply nozzle.

Claims (1)

[Scope of utility model registration request] 1. A substrate cleaning apparatus for cleaning a substrate surface by supplying a cleaning liquid to the substrate surface while horizontally rotating the cleaning brush, and moving the cleaning brush from the center of the rotating substrate surface toward the peripheral direction. The lower end of the cleaning brush is provided with a raising / lowering drive unit that moves up and down in a direction perpendicular to the substrate surface, and a regulating unit that regulates the lowering of the cleaning brush at a position where the lower end of the cleaning brush is slightly above the surface of the substrate. A substrate cleaning device characterized by being floated from the surface and rotated.