Substrate processing apparatus

Details Substrate processing apparatus Substrate processing apparatus

2002-10-25

2004-09-21

Mills, Gregory (Department: 1763)

Adhesive bonding and miscellaneous chemical manufacture

Differential fluid etching apparatus

With workpiece support

C134S033000

Reexamination Certificate

active

06793769

ABSTRACT:

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a substrate processing apparatus holding a substrate such as a glass substrate for a liquid crystal display or a semiconductor wafer and rotating the same about a vertical axis for performing required processing such as cleaning processing or drying processing.
2. Description of the Background Art
When a processing solution such as an etching solution is supplied to the lower surface of a substrate such as a semiconductor wafer horizontally rotated about a vertical axis, mist of the processing solution scattered during the processing may reach the upper surface of the substrate to adhere thereto or the processing solution supplied to the lower surface of the substrate may reach the upper surface of the substrate from the peripheral edge thereof.
In order to solve this problem, generally proposed is a substrate processing apparatus approaching a blocking member to the upper surface of the substrate for defining a narrow space between the upper surface of the substrate and the blocking member and introducing inert gas such as nitrogen gas into the space thereby preventing the mist of the processing solution or the processing solution from reaching the upper surface of the substrate.
FIG. 9
is a model diagram schematically showing the structure of a principal part of an exemplary conventional substrate processing apparatus having the aforementioned structure. A substrate W is positioned by a plurality of, e.g., three support pins
202
provided on a rotary base member
201
, to be horizontally supported. The rotary base member
201
, fixed to the upper end of a rotary spindle
203
rotatably supported and rotated about a vertical axis by a motor (not shown), is rotated while holding the substrate W.
A blocking member
204
consisting of a circular plate equivalent in size to the substrate W is arranged above the rotary base member
201
, mounted on a suspension arm
205
and horizontally held. The suspension arm
205
is vertically movably supported to be capable of approaching the blocking member
204
to the substrate W and upwardly separating the former from the latter. A gas outlet
206
is provided on the central portion of the blocking member
204
for injecting inert gas such as nitrogen gas toward the upper surface of the substrate W. The suspension arm
205
is formed on its axial portion with a gas introduction passage
207
, communicating with the gas outlet
206
, connected to a gas supply pipe (not shown).
A processing solution nozzle
208
is arranged under the rotary base member
201
for supplying a processing solution such as an etching solution, a developer or a detergent to the lower surface of the substrate W in response to the contents of processing. A cup (not shown) is vertically movably arranged around the rotary base member
201
for preventing the processing solution from scattering, and a discharge/exhaust pipe is provided on the bottom portion of this cap for discharging the processing solution recovered in the cup from the substrate processing apparatus and exhausting the cup.
In order to process the substrate W in the substrate processing apparatus having the aforementioned structure, the blocking member
204
is approached to the substrate W supported by the support pins
202
provided on the rotary base member
201
for rotating the substrate W and supplying the processing solution to the lower surface of the substrate W. At this time, the inert gas is injected toward the upper surface of the substrate W from the gas outlet
206
of the blocking member
204
to be introduced into and purge the space between the upper surface of the substrate W and the blocking member
204
.
The inert gas introduced into the space between the substrate W and the blocking member
204
flows toward the peripheral edge of the substrate W, and is injected outward from the peripheral edge of the substrate W. Therefore, mist of the processing solution scattered from the peripheral edge of the substrate W is forced back by the flow of the inert gas outwardly injected from the peripheral edge of the substrate W not to penetrate into the space between the substrate W and the blocking member
204
, and the processing solution supplied to the lower surface of the substrate W is prevented by the flow of the inert gas from reaching the upper surface of the substrate W from the peripheral edge of the substrate W.
However, the prior art having such a structure has the following problems: In the aforementioned substrate processing apparatus approaching the blocking member
204
to the upper surface of the substrate W for purging the space between the substrate W and the blocking member
204
by introducing the nitrogen gas, the blocking member
204
must be approached to the upper surface of the substrate W as close as possible in order to effectively prevent the scattered mist and the processing solution from reaching the upper surface of the substrate W. However, the distance capable of approaching the blocking member
204
to the upper surface of the substrate W without coming into contact with the rotated substrate W is limited due to mechanical accuracy of the blocking member
204
. In the structure approaching the blocking member
204
to the upper surface of the substrate W, therefore, the mist of the processing solution or the processing solution cannot necessarily be sufficiently prevented from reaching the upper surface of the substrate W.
Particularly when the substrate processing apparatus processes a large-diameter substrate and supplies the processing solution substantially to the central position of the lower surface of the substrate, the central portion of the substrate is convexly protruded due to the injection pressure of the processing solution. Such deformation of the substrate during processing makes approximation of the substrate W and the blocking member
204
further difficult.
The aforementioned substrate processing apparatus is also employed for substrate processing referred to as bevel etching. In this processing, a processing solution Q is discharged toward the lower surface, formed with no device, of a substrate W as shown in
FIG. 10
so that the processing solution Q transferred from the center to the periphery of the lower surface centrifugally reaches the upper surface for processing a peripheral area RA of the outer peripheral edge of the upper surface of the substrate W.
Thus, the substrate processing apparatus carries out a substrate processing method of processing the overall lower surface and the outer peripheral edge of the substrate W or the overall lower surface, the outer peripheral edge and the peripheral portion of the upper surface of the substrate W. In other words, the processing solution Q processes only the peripheral portion of the upper surface of the substrate W. More specifically, the substrate processing apparatus processes a substrate plated with copper on the overall upper surface, for removing the copper plating from the overall lower surface and only the peripheral portion of about 1 to 7 mm, for example, of the upper surface.
On the other hand, the conventional support pins
202
supporting the substrate W on the rotary base member
201
include mechanical chucks holding the outer peripheral edge of the substrate W with members consisting of pawls or rings so that the substrate W does not centrifugally spring out. Holding power of the mechanical chucks utilizes mechanical force of urging means consisting of springs or the like. This holding power is canceled by driving cancel means provided on the rotary base member
201
.
However, the bevel etching employing such mechanical chucks has the following problem: The plurality of support pins
202
hold the outer peripheral edge of the substrate W during the processing, and hence the processing solution does not reach a part, located in the vicinity thereof, of the peripheral portion of the upper surface of the substrate W. Therefore, the peripheral portion of the upper surface of the substr

Affiliated with

Also associated with

Rating

Substrate processing apparatus does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this patent.

If you have personal experience with Substrate processing apparatus, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Substrate processing apparatus will most certainly appreciate the feedback.

Rate now

Comments { 0 }

Profile ID: LFUS-PAI-O-3253451