Coating apparatus – Gas or vapor deposition
Utility Patent
1998-05-27
2001-01-02
Ahmad, Nasser (Department: 1772)
Coating apparatus
Gas or vapor deposition
C118S719000, C118S720000, C118S724000, C414S935000, C414S937000, C414S940000, C414S941000
Utility Patent
active
06168667
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a resist-processing apparatus for performing a sequence of resist-processing steps on an object such as a semiconductor wafer or an LCD glass substrate.
In the manufacture of semiconductor devices, photolithography is effected to form circuit patterns. Photolithography comprises the steps of coating a resist on the surface of a substrate, baking the resist coated, exposes the resist to light, and developing the resist exposed to light. Such a sequence of processing a resist can be performed by, for example, the resist-processing apparatus (or system for coating and developing a resist) and the exposure apparatus, both disclosed in Jpn. Pat. Appln. KOKAI Publication No. 2-30194.
Recently, substrates are transported between such a resist-processing apparatus and such an exposure apparatus through an airtight interface section. The substrates are so transported so that they may not be affected by the atmosphere. The airtight interface section serves to prevent the substrates from being exposed to the clean-room atmosphere as the substrates are moved from the resist-processing apparatus to the exposure apparatus, and vice versa.
Air cleaned is introduced into the resist-processing apparatus and the exposure apparatus, in down-flow fashion, to prevent contaminators, such as particles and dust, form entering the apparatuses and to expel contaminators from the apparatuses. Since air thus is introduced into the apparatuses, the inner pressures of the apparatuses remain higher than the atmospheric pressure.
Usually, the exposure apparatus has a higher inner pressure than the resist-processing apparatus. Contaminators such as particles are therefore likely to move from the exposure apparatus into the resist-processing apparatus through the interface section. Consequently, the contaminators may stick onto the substrates located in the resist-processing apparatus. If contaminators stick to the substrates before, during or after the resist-coating step, or before, during or after the resist-developing step, the circuit patterns formed on the surface of each substrate will more likely have defects than otherwise.
As mentioned above, contaminators are likely to move into the conventional resist-processing apparatus from the exposure apparatus through the interface section. The use of the conventional resist-processing apparatus may lower the yield of manufacturing semiconductor devices.
In the conventional resist-processing apparatus, the cassette station, the arm mechanism for transporting substrates, and the like generate particles and dust. The particles and dust generated in the resist-processing apparatus may stick onto the substrates.
In the resist-processing apparatus, the resist is coated and developed while the temperature of the substrates is controlled with high precision. This is because the temperature of each substrate is one of the factors that greatly influence the thickness of the resist and the width of lines formed by using the resist as a mask. The temperature of each substrate is controlled more and more accurately in order to form finer circuit patterns on the substrate.
It is, therefore, increasingly demanded that the processing units using liquids, such as the resist-coating unit and the developing unit, be protected from the heat generated by the heat treatment unit (mainly, the baking unit).
BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
In view of the foregoing, an object of the present invention is to provide a resist-processing apparatus in which entry of a unit, such as an exposure unit, into a unit using liquid can be effectively suppressed, thereby to increase the yield of the manufacture of semiconductor devices.
Another object of the invention is to provide a resist-processing apparatus in which a unit using liquid is hardly affected by the heat generated in a unit of any other type.
According to a first aspect of the invention, there is provided a resist-processing apparatus comprising:
a plurality of first processing units for processing a substrate;
a second processing unit for processing the substrate;
a first transport unit having a first arm mechanism for loading and unloading the substrate into and from each of the first processing units;
a second transport unit opposing the first transport unit, with the first processing units located between the first transport unit and the second transport unit, and having a second arm mechanism for loading and unloading the substrate into and from at least one of the first processing units and into and from the second processing unit; and
an interface section to be provided adjacent to an external apparatus which is designed to process the substrate which has been processed in at least one of the first and second processing units, for transferring the substrate between the first transport unit and the external apparatus by using the first arm mechanism.
According to a second aspect of the invention, there is provided a resist-processing apparatus comprising:
a plurality of first processing units for processing a substrate;
a second processing units for processing the substrate;
a first transport unit having a first arm mechanism for loading and unloading the substrate into and from each of the first processing units;
a second transport unit opposing the first transport unit, with the first processing units located between the first transport unit and the second transport unit, and having a second arm mechanism for loading and unloading the substrate into and from at least one of the first processing units and into and from the second processing unit; and
pressure-adjusting means for rendering an inner pressure of the second transport unit higher than an inner pressure of the first transport unit.
According to a third aspect of this invention, there is provided a resist-processing apparatus comprising:
a plurality of first processing units for processing a substrate;
a second processing unit for processing the substrate;
a first transport unit having a first arm mechanism for loading and unloading the substrate into and from each of the first processing units;
a transfer section for receiving and supplying the substrate from and to an external apparatus; and
a second transport unit made airtight with respect to the transfer section, opposing the first transport unit, with the first processing units located between the first transport unit and the second transport unit, and having a second arm mechanism for loading and unloading the substrate into and from at least one of the first processing units and into and from the second processing unit.
According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a resist-processing apparatus comprising:
a plurality of first processing units for processing a substrate;
a second processing unit for processing the substrate;
a first transport unit having a first arm mechanism for loading and unloading the substrate into and from each of the first processing units;
a transfer section for receiving and supplying the wafer from and to an external apparatus; and
a second transport unit made airtight with respect to the transfer section, opposing the first transport unit, with the first processing units located between the first transport unit and the second transport unit, and having a second arm mechanism for loading and unloading the substrate into and from at least one of the first processing units and into and from the second processing unit.
According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a resist-processing apparatus comprising:
a plurality of first processing units for processing a substrate;
a second processing unit for processing the substrate;
a first transport unit having a first arm mechanism for loading and unloading the substrate into and from each of the first processing units;
a second transport unit opposing the first transport unit, with the first processing units located between the first transport unit and the second transport unit, and having a second arm mechanism for loading and
Ahmad Nasser
Oblon & Spivak, McClelland, Maier & Neustadt P.C.
Tokyo Electron Limited
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