JPH0897175A - Substrate processing device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: To provide a substrate processing device which allows carrying in/out of a carrier in small area and whose depth is small. CONSTITUTION: A substrate washing device 1 allows, in multiple processing liquids, processing of multiple substrates W carried in while housed in a carrier C, and has multiple processing parts 10, a carrying in/out part 2, a substrate carrier robot 7, a substrate moving/placing part 3 and a carrier moving/placing robot 4. The processing parts 10 are arrayed in horizontal direction for processing multiple substrates W with multiple processing liquids, sequentially. The carrying in/out part 2 places multiple carriers C on its top and bottom, and carriers C are carried in/out in the direction across that of the processing parts 10. The substrate moving/placing part 3 takes a substrates out of a pair of carriers C, and assigns them for facing each other. The carrier robot 4 carries the carriers between the carrying in/out part 2 and the substrate moving/placing part 3. The substrate carrier robot 7 carries the substrates between the substrate moving/placing part and the processing parts.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a substrate processing apparatus, and more particularly to
The present invention relates to a substrate processing apparatus that receives a plurality of substrates stored in a carrier, processes the substrates with a plurality of processing liquids, and returns the carriers to the loading position after processing.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art An immersion type substrate processing apparatus is used for cleaning the surface of a substrate to be processed such as a semiconductor substrate or a glass substrate for a liquid crystal display device. As a substrate processing apparatus of this type, there is known one which can carry out processing with a plurality of processing solutions continuously in one processing tank without a carrier. As shown in FIG. 6, the substrate processing apparatus includes a substrate cleaning unit 5a, a carrier loading / unloading unit 2, a substrate loading / unloading unit 3 for loading / unloading a substrate from / into the carrier, a loading / unloading unit 2, and a substrate loading / unloading unit. 3, a carrier transfer robot 4 that transfers a carrier to and from the substrate 3, a substrate drying unit 5b that is arranged side by side in the substrate cleaning unit 5a, and a substrate that transfers the substrate between the substrate transfer unit 3 and the substrate cleaning unit 5a. And a transfer robot 7. The substrate cleaning unit 5a has three processing units 10 in which processing baths capable of collectively immersing a plurality of substrates are arranged side by side. The substrate transfer robot 7 has a pair of transfer arms 16 for holding a substrate. The carry-in / carry-out unit 2 can carry in and carry out carriers in the same direction as the arrangement direction of the processing unit 10, and arrange the carriers side by side in the lateral direction.

[0003]

This type of substrate processing apparatus for semiconductor substrates is arranged between a plurality of diffusion furnaces for cleaning the substrate before the diffusion processing by the diffusion furnace, for example. Since the diffusion furnace usually has a large depth, the substrate processing apparatus arranged between such diffusion furnaces should have a large depth. Therefore, in the conventional device, the carrier is stored in the lateral direction and is carried in and out in the arrangement direction of the processing unit 10.

Even when the substrate processing apparatus is arranged on the side of the diffusion furnace in a new factory, it is possible to use a deeper one as in the conventional apparatus. However, when a new device is placed in the washing area of an existing factory, the washing area usually has a shallow depth from the passage, and thus a deep-deep device cannot be placed in some cases. In the conventional apparatus, the substrate is loaded and unloaded in the loading / unloading section 2 in the arrangement direction of the processing section 10. Therefore, when the device is arranged such that the arrangement direction is along the passage, a space for the carrier and the carrier to enter the carrier is required in front of the carry-in / carry-out section. Therefore, an extra space for carrying in and carrying out the carrier is required in the arrangement direction.

An object of the present invention is to provide a substrate processing apparatus having a shallow depth. Another object of the present invention is to provide a substrate processing apparatus that can carry in and carry out carriers in a narrow space.

[0006]

A substrate processing apparatus according to a first aspect of the present invention is an apparatus for receiving a plurality of substrates stored in a carrier and carrying them in, processing them with a plurality of processing liquids, and returning the carrier to the carrying-in position after the processing. In addition, a plurality of substrate processing units, a loading / unloading unit, and a transporting unit are provided. The plurality of substrate processing units have a processing tank in which the plurality of substrates can be immersed, and the plurality of substrates can be continuously processed with the plurality of processing liquids and are arranged side by side in the lateral direction. The carry-in / carry-out unit can accommodate a plurality of carriers vertically and can carry in / carry out the carrier in a direction intersecting with the arrangement direction of the substrate processing unit. The transport means is
The substrates stored in the carrier are transported between the loading / unloading unit and the substrate processing unit.

A substrate processing apparatus according to a second aspect is the first aspect.
In the apparatus described in (1), the carry-in / carry-out section includes a plurality of mounting sections for mounting a pair of carriers at intervals in the arrangement direction. A substrate processing apparatus according to a third aspect is the apparatus according to the second aspect, wherein the transfer means transfers the pair of carriers by changing the placement direction of the pair of carriers to a direction intersecting with the placement direction, and a carrier transfer section. A substrate transfer unit that extracts the substrates from the pair of carriers transferred by the carrier transfer unit and aligns the extracted substrates, and a substrate transfer unit that transfers the substrates aligned by the substrate transfer unit to the substrate processing unit. Is equipped with.

A substrate processing apparatus according to a fourth aspect is the first aspect.
In the apparatus according to any one of 1 to 3, a plurality of substrate processing units are arranged side by side on both sides of the loading / unloading unit. A substrate processing apparatus according to a fifth aspect is the apparatus according to any one of the first to fourth aspects, in which the substrate processing section performs the chemical treatment and the drying treatment on the substrate in the treatment tank.

[0009]

In the substrate processing apparatus according to the first aspect, when the carrier is carried into the carry-in / carry-out section in the direction intersecting with the arrangement direction of the substrate processing section, the carried-in carrier is vertically mounted on the carrier mounting section. To be done. Then, the transfer unit moves in the arrangement direction of the substrate processing unit to transfer the substrate in the carrier to any one of the plurality of substrate processing units. The substrate processing section performs continuous substrate processing with a plurality of processing liquids. The substrates for which the substrate processing has been completed are housed in the carrier by the carrying means, arranged vertically in the carrier housing section, and further carried out.

In the substrate processing apparatus according to the second aspect, when the carriers are vertically accommodated in the carrier mounting portion, a pair of carriers are mounted on the plurality of mounting portions at intervals in the arrangement direction. In the substrate processing apparatus according to claim 3, a pair of carriers is transferred by the carrier transfer unit from the carry-in / carry-out unit to the substrate transfer unit while changing the mounting direction to a direction intersecting the arrangement direction.
The substrate transfer unit removes the substrates from the pair of carriers transferred by the carrier transfer unit, and aligns the extracted substrates. Then, the substrates arranged by the substrate transfer unit are transferred to the substrate processing unit by the substrate transfer unit.

In the substrate processing apparatus according to the fourth aspect, the substrate in the carrier stored in the carry-in / carry-out section is transferred by the transfer means.
The substrates are sequentially transported to the plurality of substrate processing units on both sides. In the substrate processing apparatus according to the fifth aspect, the substrate processing section performs the chemical processing and the drying processing on the substrate in the processing tank.

[0012]

1 to 3, an immersion type substrate cleaning apparatus 1 according to an embodiment of the present invention is designed to have, for example, 25 substrates W.
A carrier C loading / unloading section 2, a substrate transfer section 3 for taking out a substrate W from the carrier C or loading a substrate W into the carrier C, a carrier C loading / unloading section 2 and a substrate transfer section. 3, a carrier transfer robot 4 for transferring the carrier C to and from the substrate 3, a pull-up type substrate cleaning / drying unit 5 for cleaning / drying a plurality of substrates collectively, and a substrate transfer unit 3
And a substrate cleaning / drying unit 5 and a substrate transfer robot 7 that holds and transfers the substrates W all together. In addition, the substrate cleaning apparatus 1 includes a vapor generator 23 that supplies IPA (isopropyl alcohol) vapor to the substrate cleaning / drying unit 5, and a substrate cleaning / drying unit 5 that stores a plurality of chemicals.
And a chemical solution supply section (not shown) for supplying the

The loading / unloading section 2 is arranged in the center of the front side of the substrate processing apparatus 1, and the substrate cleaning / drying section 5 is arranged on both sides thereof.
Are arranged. The carry-in / carry-out direction of the carrier C of the carry-in / carry-out unit 2 is a direction orthogonal to the arrangement direction of the substrate cleaning / drying unit 5. Therefore, the carrier C can be carried in and out from the front surface (the lower surface in FIG. 1) of the substrate cleaning apparatus 1. For example, a pair of (two) carriers C are provided in the carry-in / carry-out section 2 at intervals.
Seven carrier mounting portions 2a capable of mounting are provided at intervals in the vertical direction.

The carrier transfer robot 4 is shown in FIGS.
As shown in FIG.
While holding the pair of carriers C, they can be moved forward and backward, moved up and down, and rotated. The carrier transfer robot 4 rotates the carrier C carried into the carry-in / carry-out unit 2 by 90 degrees and rotates the carrier C.
Is transferred to the table 8 (described later). Further, the carrier C containing the cleaned substrate W or the empty carrier C is transferred from the table 8 to the loading / unloading section 2. Further, in the carry-in / carry-out section 2, the carrier C is transferred to and from the carrier placing section 2a.

The carrier transfer robot 4 includes a lifting mechanism 4a.
And a robot body 4b that is lifted and lowered by the lifting mechanism 4a. The elevating mechanism 4a has an elevating arm 9 that projects forward and ascends and descends. The elevating mechanism 4a elevates and lowers the robot body 4b so that the carrier C can be delivered to and from the seven carrier placement sections 2a. The robot body 4b includes an elevating frame 11 attached to the tip of the elevating arm 9.
A rotary frame 12 rotatably supported by the elevating frame 11, a front and rear frame 13 rotatably supported by the rotary frame 12, and two pairs of carrier holding arms 14a protruding forward from the front and rear frame 13. 14b.

The carrier holding arms 14a and 14b are round bar-shaped members, and a holding section 15 for the carrier C is formed by cutting out the upper half of the round bar to flatten it from the tip to the center. The carrier holding arms 14a and 14b are supported by the front and rear frame 13 so as to be rotatable about the axis by 90 degrees. Here, the carrier C is held by arranging the flat surface of the holder 15 horizontally, and the carrier C is delivered by arranging it vertically.

The substrate transfer section 3 is arranged on both sides of the carrier transfer robot 4 and has a table 8 which rotates 90 degrees. The substrate transfer section 3 is arranged so that the surfaces of, for example, 25 substrates W housed in the two carriers C face each other, and
The substrates are aligned on 0 and transferred to the substrate transfer robot 7. In the table 8, a substrate holding unit (not shown) that can move up and down and traverses is arranged.

The substrate transfer robots 7 are arranged on both sides of the loading / unloading section 2 and are opened / closed for holding the substrate W 1
It has a pair of holding arms 16. Substrate transfer robot 7
The holding arm 16 can collectively transport, for example, 50 substrates W. The substrate cleaning / drying unit 5 is arranged on both sides of the substrate transfer unit 3, and has three processing units 10 arranged side by side. As shown in FIG. 5, each processing unit 10 mainly includes a processing tank 17, an overflow receiving tank 18 for receiving the processing liquid overflowing from the processing tank 17, and a closed chamber 19 surrounding these.

A treatment liquid supply port 20 to which the chemical liquid or pure water from the chemical liquid supply unit is supplied is formed at the bottom of the processing tank 17, and a overflow portion 21 is formed above the treatment liquid supply port 20. The processing tank 17 contains, for example, 5 times the processing liquid contained therein.
It has an inner volume such that 0 substrates W can be completely immersed. An upper space of the processing tank 17 and the overflow receiving tank 18 is closed and enclosed by a closed chamber 19. On the upper surface side of the closed chamber 19, for example, 50
An opening 22 for taking in and out a holding member 28 (described later) holding a substrate W is formed, and a sealing lid 24 that can close the opening 22 in an airtight manner is arranged. The sealing lid 24 is divided into front and rear portions to open in the direction orthogonal to the plane of FIG. 5 (left-right direction).
A vapor supply port 26 is formed on the right side wall surface of the closed chamber 19 in FIG. The steam of the IPA generated in the steam generator 23 is supplied from the steam supply port 26. Further, a rubber heater 25 is provided on the outer wall surface of the closed chamber 19 so as to cover it, and a temperature for detecting the temperature of the inner wall surface of the closed chamber 19 is provided on the left wall surface of FIG. A total of 27 are mounted through the wall.

A holding member 28 for holding the substrate W is arranged in the closed chamber 19. The holding member 28 holds the substrate W with a large number of holding grooves (not shown) with the main surfaces thereof facing each other. The holding member 28 has a lifting drive mechanism 29.
Driven up and down. The lifting drive mechanism 29 includes a drive rod 30 having an upper end fixed to the holding member 28, and a bearing device 32 that supports the drive rod 30 slidably in the vertical direction.
Drive pulley 34 and driven pulley 36, and both pulleys 3
It is composed of a belt 38 spanned between Nos. 4 and 36, to which the lower end of the drive rod 30 is fixed, and a drive motor 40 for rotationally driving the drive pulley 34.

Next, the operation of the above embodiment will be described. When the pair of carriers C accommodating the substrates W are placed on the carrier placing section 2a of the loading / unloading section 2, the carrier transfer robot 4 receives them and places them on one of the substrate transferring sections 3. Place. When the two carriers C are placed on the substrate transfer unit 3, the two carriers C are rotated 90 degrees in opposite directions on the table 8 so that the surfaces of the substrates W face each other. Then, the substrate W placed on the table 8 is taken out from the carrier C by the substrate holding unit and held by the holding arm 16 of the substrate transfer robot 7. Then, it is transported to any one of the three processing units 10.

When the substrate W is transferred to any one of the processing units 10, in the processing unit 10, the sealing lid 24 is opened and the holding member 28 is moved to the position shown by the chain double-dashed line in FIG. To raise. Then, the holding member 28 receives the substrate W. The received substrate W is placed in the processing tank 17 by the lifting drive mechanism 29. The treatment tank 17 stores a chemical solution for a predetermined treatment in advance. Then, the substrate W is subjected to a predetermined chemical treatment. When the predetermined chemical liquid treatment is completed, the chemical liquid in the processing tank 17 is discharged, and subsequently, cleaning with pure water is performed. During this cleaning, pure water is supplied from the processing liquid supply port 20 for a predetermined time and overflows. Further, the wall surface in the closed chamber 19 is heated by the rubber heater 25. Here, by heating the inner wall surface of the closed chamber 19, condensation of water vapor on the inner wall surface of the closed chamber 19 or the like is caused during cleaning of the substrate or in a step of pulling the substrate W from pure water described later. It is hard to occur.

When the overflow of pure water is completed, IPA vapor is supplied from the vapor supply port 26. This IPA vapor is supplied from the vapor generator 23, and specifically, it is contained in about 3% in nitrogen gas as a carrier gas. Here, since the steam is gently generated to generate the vapor, it is difficult for droplets to be mixed in the generated vapor. Furthermore, since the heater 47 is heating immediately before supplying the generated IPA vapor, dew condensation of the IPA is unlikely to occur during vapor supply.

In this way, the IP is stored in the closed chamber 19.
The substrate W is gradually pulled up by the holding member 28 while the A vapor is supplied. As a result, the IPA vapor is supplied to the periphery of the substrate W being pulled up from pure water. The supply of the IPA vapor is continued until the substrate W is completely lifted from the pure water. During this pulling up, the interface of pure water comes into contact with the IPA vapor and the IPA vapor adheres to the surface of the substrate W. As a result, even if the hydrophilic surface and the water-repellent surface are mixed on the substrate W, a uniform water-repellent surface is obtained as a result, the surface tension is relaxed, and water droplets are less likely to remain on the substrate W. Therefore, the dry mark is less likely to occur on the substrate W.

When the substrate W is pulled up to the position shown by the alternate long and short dash line, the pure water stored in the processing bath 17 is discharged, and the pressure inside the closed chamber 19 is reduced by a vacuum pump (not shown) through the processing liquid supply port 20. . Due to this pressure reduction, IPA condensed on the surface of the substrate W and replaced with pure water is evaporated to dry the substrate W. At this time, a small amount of IPA vapor may be supplied from the vapor supply port 26.

When the drying is completed, the pressure in the closed chamber 19 is returned to atmospheric pressure. Then, the sealing lid 24 is opened, and the holding member 28 is arranged at the raised position shown by the chain double-dashed line.
Is held by the holding arm 16 of the substrate transfer robot 7 and returned to the substrate transfer section 3. The substrate transfer section 3 receives the transported substrate W and stores the substrates W in the two carriers C, respectively. The carrier C accommodating the processed substrate W is transported to the loading / unloading section 2 by the carrier transfer robot 4.
It is mounted on the vacant carrier mounting portion 2a.

In this case, the carrier C is the carrier mounting portion 2.
The depth of the device can be made shallower because it is arranged vertically at a. Further, since the carrier C is loaded and unloaded in a direction intersecting with the arrangement direction of the processing unit 10, a wasteful space for loading and unloading is unnecessary, and the carrier can be loaded and unloaded in a narrow space. Further, since the pair of carriers C are placed with a space in the arrangement direction, the substrates W accommodated in the two carriers C are placed.
Can be collectively processed, and the processing capacity can be improved. Further, since the substrates W are extracted and transported from the pair of carriers C, the substrates W stored in the two carriers C can be collectively processed, and the processing capacity can be improved. Further, since the processing units 10 are arranged on both sides of the carry-in / carry-out unit 2, one carrying-in / carrying-out unit 2 can double the processing capacity with a narrow depth. Further, since the single processing unit 10 can also perform the drying process, it is not necessary to separately provide a drying device, and the installation space of the device can be further reduced.

Other Embodiments (a) The substrate cleaning / drying unit 5 may be provided only on one side of the loading / unloading unit 2. (B) Instead of the substrate cleaning / drying unit 5, for example, two substrate cleaning units and one substrate drying unit may be provided.

[0029]

In the substrate processing apparatus according to the first aspect of the present invention, since the carriers are vertically arranged in the carrier accommodating portion, the depth of the apparatus can be reduced. Further, since the carrier is carried in and out in a direction intersecting with the arrangement direction of the substrate processing section, a useless space for carrying in and out is unnecessary, and the carrier can be carried in and out in a narrow space.

In the substrate processing apparatus according to the second aspect, the pair of carriers are placed at intervals in the arrangement direction.
The substrates stored in one carrier can be collectively processed, and the processing capacity can be improved. In the substrate processing apparatus according to claim 3, 1
Since the board is extracted from the pair of carriers and transported,
The substrates accommodated in the two carriers can be collectively processed, and the processing capacity can be improved.

In the substrate processing apparatus according to the fourth aspect, since the substrate processing units are arranged on both sides of the loading / unloading unit, the processing capacity can be doubled with a narrow depth in one loading / unloading unit. In the substrate processing apparatus according to the fifth aspect, since the drying processing can be performed in one processing tank, it is not necessary to separately provide a drying apparatus and the installation space of the apparatus can be further reduced.

[Brief description of drawings]

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

FIG. 2 is a schematic side view thereof.

FIG. 3 is a partial perspective view around the loading / unloading section.

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of a carrier transfer robot.

FIG. 5 is a schematic sectional view of a substrate cleaning / drying unit.

FIG. 6 is a schematic plan view of a conventional substrate processing apparatus.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Immersion type substrate cleaning apparatus 2 Carry-in / carry-out section 2a Carrier mounting section 3 Substrate transfer section 4 Carrier transfer robot 5 Substrate cleaning / drying section 7 Substrate transfer robot 10 Processing section 23 Vapor generator C Carrier W Substrate

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. A substrate processing apparatus which receives a plurality of substrates loaded and carried in a carrier, processes the substrates with a plurality of processing liquids, and returns the carrier to a loading position after the processing, wherein the plurality of substrates can be immersed. Having a processing tank, it is possible to continuously process the plurality of substrates with the plurality of processing liquids,
A plurality of substrate processing units arranged side by side in the lateral direction, a plurality of carriers are housed vertically, and a carry-in / carry-out unit capable of carrying in and carrying out the carriers in a direction intersecting the arrangement direction of the substrate processing units; A substrate processing apparatus, comprising: a transfer unit configured to transfer a substrate stored in the carrier between a loading / unloading unit and the substrate processing unit. 2. The substrate processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the carry-in / carry-out section includes a plurality of mounting sections for mounting a pair of carriers at intervals in the arrangement direction. 3. The carrier transfer section for transferring the pair of carriers by changing the mounting direction of the pair of carriers to a direction intersecting with the arrangement direction, and the carrier transferring section transferred by the carrier transferring section.
A substrate transfer unit for extracting the substrates from the pair of carriers and aligning the extracted substrates, and a substrate transfer unit for transferring the substrates aligned by the substrate transfer unit to the substrate processing unit, Item 3. The substrate processing apparatus according to item 2. 4. The substrate processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the plurality of substrate processing units are arranged side by side on both sides of the loading / unloading unit. 5. The substrate processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the substrate processing unit performs a chemical liquid process and a drying process on the substrate in the processing tank.