JPH10256128A - Chemical solution discharge nozzle and resist coating device using the same - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a resist coating apparatus provided with a rinse nozzle for discharging a rinse liquid for removing a peripheral portion of a coated resist from a wafer when a rinse liquid discharged from the rinse nozzle hits a wafer surface. Of rinsing liquid that has hit the wafer surface and reduces the spread of the rinsing liquid, preventing the resist dissolved in the rinsing liquid from re-depositing and adhering to the wafer and leaving a whisker-like resist residue around the wafer. I do. SOLUTION: After a resist is spin-coated on a wafer 1, a nozzle for discharging a rinsing liquid to remove the resist in an edge portion has a base part 33 having a relatively large nozzle inner diameter.
And a narrow-diameter narrowed portion 34 provided at the tip thereof, and a discharge port 36 opened in a state of a trumpet at the forefront. The inner diameter of each portion is smoothly connected, and the flow of the rinsing liquid flows into the base portion 36. And a flow straightening plate 31 for adjusting the temperature.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a chemical solution discharge nozzle, and more particularly, to a method of rotating a resist on a semiconductor substrate (hereinafter, referred to as a wafer) and then discharging a rinse liquid to remove the resist at an edge portion of the wafer. Nozzles suitable for:

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A conventional resist coating apparatus and a nozzle used therein will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 2A is a side sectional view schematically showing an example of the coating apparatus. In the drawing, reference numeral 1 denotes a wafer, and 11 denotes a chuck which sucks and rotates the wafer. Reference numeral 10 denotes a motor for rotating the motor. Reference numeral 14 denotes a resist discharge unit, which is provided with a resist nozzle 13 as a resist discharge port at the tip and drops a resist onto the wafer 1. Reference numeral 12 denotes a cup for recovering excess resist spattered by rotating the wafer. Reference numeral 15 denotes a rinsing discharge unit for jetting a rinsing liquid toward a peripheral portion of the wafer.

The rinsing discharge section 15 is supported by a nozzle support jig 21 as shown in an enlarged view of FIG. 2 (b), and a rinsing nozzle 22 is directed in the tangential direction of rotation of the wafer 1 around the outer periphery of the wafer 1. The rinsing liquid is directed to be injected from above.

The inside of the nozzle 22 has a uniform pipe shape with an inner diameter of, for example, φ1 μm, as shown in an enlarged side sectional view of FIG.

In order to apply a resist with this apparatus, first, a resist is dropped on a wafer 1 from a resist nozzle 13. Next, the wafer 1 is rotated at a high speed. The number of rotations is determined in advance so that a required film thickness is obtained. Eventually, the resist spreads over the entire wafer surface, and the excess resist is shaken off to stabilize at a constant film thickness. The resist on the outermost peripheral portion of the wafer 1 applied in this manner comes into contact with a carrier or the like and causes dust. Therefore, the rinse discharge unit 1 is rotated while rotating the wafer at a slightly lower speed.
From 5, a rinse solution for dissolving the resist is discharged to the outer peripheral portion of the wafer 1 and removed.

At the same time, a rinsing liquid is discharged from a back rinse nozzle (not shown) also to the outer peripheral portion of the back surface of the wafer 1 to remove the resist that has reached the back surface.

[0007]

When the resist around the wafer is removed by the conventional resist coating apparatus using the above-mentioned edge rinsing nozzle, the rinsing liquid discharged from the rinsing nozzle is scattered when it hits the wafer surface. It is discharged at a small angle with respect to the surface of the wafer in the direction of rotation in the tangential direction around the rotating wafer with the expectation that it will flow smoothly out of the wafer, but the effect is not enough Absent. The flow of the rinsing liquid hitting the wafer surface spreads laterally, and the liquid from the inner side of the wafer flows outward due to centrifugal force caused by the rotation of the wafer and is shaken off. At this time, if the resist film thickness is particularly large, the resist dissolved in the rinsing liquid is deposited and adhered to the wafer again, and a whisker-like resist residue is generated around the wafer. In addition, the rinsing liquid that has hit the rotating wafer scatters and rebounds on the wafer surface, and scatters in all directions.
Then, the rinsing liquid that has splashed back falls on the applied wafer, dissolving the resist, and creating a poor appearance. This causes a short circuit and disconnection of the wiring.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention to solve such a problem, eliminate the remaining resist removal on the outer peripheral portion of a wafer, and reduce defects caused by splashing of a rinsing liquid.

[0008]

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, a chemical solution discharge nozzle according to the present invention comprises a method of spin-coating a resist on a semiconductor substrate and then rinsing to remove the resist at an edge portion of the semiconductor substrate. A nozzle for discharging liquid, having a base part having a relatively large inner diameter of the nozzle, a narrowed part with a narrower diameter at the tip thereof, and a discharge port opened in a state of a trumpet, and the inner diameter of each part is smooth. And a rectifying plate for adjusting the flow of the rinsing liquid in the base portion. According to the configuration described above, the supplied rinsing liquid passes through the rectifying plate provided at the nozzle base, so that the flow of the rinsing liquid is rectified, and tends to flow in a fixed direction. When the rinse liquid reaches the narrowed throttle portion, it enters while being adjusted in a certain direction. And
Since the discharge port is open in a trumpet shape, the rinsing liquid is discharged without receiving a force in a direction other than the flowing direction. The discharged rinsing liquid hits the outer peripheral portion of the rotating wafer and removes the resist. At this time, since the rinsing liquid is rectified in a certain direction, it does not scatter in all directions, but flows in a certain direction and is reflected. By providing a squeezing section and making the flow of the rinse liquid to be discharged thinner, the amount of liquid to be applied is also reduced, resist elution at the boundary surface between the resist and the wafer is reduced, and elbow elution toward the outer peripheral portion is eliminated. .

[0009]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS A resist coating apparatus according to the present invention and a nozzle used therefor will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 1A is a side sectional view schematically showing an example of the coating apparatus. 1 in the figure
Is a wafer, 11 is a chuck, 10 is a motor, 14 is a resist discharge section, 13 is a resist nozzle, and 12 is a cup, which may be the same as the conventional apparatus shown in FIG. Description is omitted.

The difference is that the rinse nozzle 32 of the rinse discharge section 35 is different. Rinse discharge unit 35
As shown in the enlarged view of FIG. 1B, the rinsing liquid is supported by the nozzle support jig 21, and the rinsing nozzle 32 applies the rinsing liquid obliquely from above in the tangential direction of rotation of the wafer 1 on the outer periphery of the wafer 1. It is similar to conventional devices in that it is directed to inject.

The inside of the rinsing nozzle 32 is shown in FIG.
As shown in the enlarged side sectional view shown in FIG.
3, a narrowing portion 34 having a tapered inner diameter, and a discharge port 36 which is opened like a trumpet at the forefront. The inner diameter of each part is smoothly connected, and a straightening plate 31 for adjusting the flow of the rinsing liquid is provided in the base part.

As shown in the cross-sectional view along the line AA in FIG. 1 (c), the current plate 31 divides the inside of the base into a plurality of areas in a honeycomb shape in cross section.

To apply a resist with this apparatus, first, a resist is dropped on the wafer 1 from a resist nozzle 13. Next, the wafer 1 is rotated at a high speed. The number of rotations is determined in advance so that a required film thickness is obtained. Eventually, the resist spreads over the entire wafer surface, and the excess resist is shaken off to stabilize at a constant film thickness. The resist on the outermost periphery of the wafer 1 applied in this manner contacts the carrier or the like and causes dust. Therefore, the rinse discharge unit 3 is rotated while rotating the wafer at a slightly lower speed.
From 5, a rinse solution for dissolving the resist is discharged to the outer peripheral portion of the wafer 1 and removed.

At this time, the nozzle 32 for discharging the rinsing liquid
Has a rectifying plate 31 inside, and has a narrowed portion 34 whose tip is thinned, and the most advanced discharge port 36 is formed in a trumpet shape so as to be opened outward. Because
The rinsing liquid supplied through the pipe passes through the rectifying plate 31, whereby the rinsing liquid that has been flowing in an irregular direction is rectified and adjusted in a certain direction to flow. When the rinse liquid reaches the throttle portion, it enters while being adjusted in a certain direction. Then, the rinsing liquid is discharged without receiving a force other than the flowing direction due to the trumpet shape at the discharge port 36, so that the flow is less likely to spread in the forward direction.

The discharged rinsing liquid hits the outer peripheral portion of the rotating wafer and removes the resist. At this time, since the rinsing liquid is rectified in a certain direction, when the rinsing liquid comes into contact with the resist on the wafer surface, the rinsing liquid does not scatter in any direction but flows in a certain direction. Conventionally, rinsing liquid has been applied on the applied resist, causing application unevenness.However, the rinsing liquid is adjusted in a certain direction, so that the rinsing liquid scattered on the resist is reduced, and the advantage that coating unevenness can be reduced. There is.

Furthermore, since the shape of the tip of the nozzle is narrowed down, the flow of the rinsing liquid is reduced. Even at the same speed, the amount of the rinsing liquid per unit time is reduced, thereby reducing the elution of the resist at the interface between the resist and the wafer. This eliminates elution in the form of a mustache toward the outer periphery.

In the above description, the chemical liquid discharge nozzle of the present invention is used for edge rinsing of a resist applied to a semiconductor substrate, but it is necessary to discharge the liquid by narrowing the flow even in other uses. Useful in some cases.

[0018]

As described above, the chemical liquid discharge nozzle of the present invention discharges the chemical liquid by aligning the flowing directions and narrowing down the liquid finely. Further, according to the resist coating apparatus using the chemical liquid discharge nozzle of the present invention, the flow of the rinse liquid is rectified, so that the rinse liquid is discharged onto the wafer and scattered, so that the rinse liquid is arranged in a certain direction. Until now, there is an effect that coating unevenness on the resist, which is generated by the rinsing liquid spattered at random, can be reduced. In addition, there is the effect that resist elution and re-adhesion at the edge, which has occurred when the resist on the outer peripheral portion of the wafer is removed from a wafer having a thick resist film, can be reduced, and the remaining of the whisker-like resist can be reduced.

[Brief description of the drawings]

1A is a side sectional view of one embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 1B is an enlarged view of a main part of the rinsing nozzle. FIG.

2A is a side sectional view of a conventional apparatus. FIG. 2B is an enlarged view of a main part of the rinsing nozzle. FIG. 2C is a side sectional view of a rinsing nozzle.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Wafer (semiconductor substrate) 11 Chuck 13 Resist nozzle 31 Rectifier plate 32 Rinse nozzle (chemical liquid discharge nozzle) 33 Base part 34 Narrow part 36 Discharge port

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A base portion having a relatively large inner diameter, a narrowed portion provided with a narrower inner diameter provided at an end thereof, and a discharge port opened in a state of a trumpet at the forefront, and an inner surface of each portion is smoothly formed. A chemical solution discharge nozzle, wherein a flow straightening plate for adjusting the flow of the chemical solution is arranged in the base part. 2. A nozzle for spin-coating a resist on a semiconductor substrate and then discharging a rinsing liquid to remove the resist at an edge portion of the semiconductor substrate. It has a narrowing portion with a narrow inner diameter provided, and a discharge port opened in a state of a trumpet at the forefront, and the inner diameter of each portion is smoothly connected, and a rectifying plate for adjusting the flow of the rinsing liquid in the base portion is provided. A chemical solution discharge nozzle characterized by the above-mentioned. 3. A chuck for chucking and rotating a wafer,
3. A resist coating apparatus comprising: a resist nozzle for dropping a resist; and a rinse nozzle for discharging a rinse liquid for removing a peripheral portion of the applied resist around the wafer, wherein the rinse nozzle is the chemical liquid discharge nozzle according to claim 2. A resist coating apparatus, characterized in that: