Coating apparatus – Control means responsive to a randomly occurring sensed... – Temperature responsive
Reexamination Certificate
2003-01-28
2004-12-07
Fiorilla, Chris (Department: 1734)
Coating apparatus
Control means responsive to a randomly occurring sensed...
Temperature responsive
C118S302000, C118S323000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06827782
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
(1) Field of the Invention
This invention relates to chemical treating apparatus for performing a required treatment of substrates such as semiconductor wafers, glass substrates for photo masks, glass substrates for liquid crystal displays or substrates for optical disks, by supplying surfaces of the substrates with a treating solution such as a resist solution, developer or rinse solution. More particularly, the invention relates to a technique for controlling the temperature of a treating solution efficiently without enlarging an apparatus.
(2) Description of the Related Art
A known example of the chemical treating apparatus noted above is a spin coating apparatus which delivers a treating solution to the surface of a substrate to form a film thereon. The known spin coating apparatus will be described with reference to
FIGS. 1 and 2
.
FIG. 1
is a sectional view of a treating solution supply arm
110
of the known spin coating apparatus.
FIG. 2
is a side view of the known spin coating apparatus. As shown in
FIGS. 1 and 2
, this spin coating apparatus includes a turntable
100
for supporting and spinning a wafer W in horizontal posture, and the treating solution supply arm
110
for delivering a treating solution to the wafer W.
The treating solution supply arm
110
is connected at a proximal end thereof to a support block
111
, and has a nozzle
112
attached to a distal end to be movable in X, Y and Z directions. The treating solution supply arm
110
has an arm portion
113
of triple pipe construction including a treating solution pipe
114
, a temperature control pipe
115
and a metal pipe
116
. The nozzle
112
is connected to the distal end of the treating solution supply arm
110
for delivering the treating solution to the wafer W. The treating solution pipe
114
is connected at a forward end thereof to the nozzle
112
, and at the other end to a treating solution source (not shown).
Where the treating solution is a resist solution, for example, it is known that, depending on the temperature of the resist solution, the resist film formed on the wafer W is variable in thickness in the direction of the plane of wafer W. Thus, the spin coating apparatus has the temperature control pipe
115
surrounding the treating solution pipe
114
to adjust the temperature of the treating solution in the treating solution pipe
114
.
Specifically, with the temperature control pipe
115
interposed between the treating solution pipe
114
and metal pipe
116
, a forward passage
117
for temperature control water is formed between the treating solution pipe
114
and temperature control pipe
115
, and a return passage
118
for the temperature control water between the temperature control pipe
115
and metal pipe
116
. The temperature control water (i.e. water adjusted to a constant temperature) supplied from an external thermostatic tank is caused to flow through the forward passage
117
along the treating solution pipe
114
toward the nozzle
112
, thereby to adjust the treating solution in the treating solution pipe
114
to a predetermined temperature. The temperature control water having reached the nozzle
112
is directed into the return passage
118
to flow back to the thermostatic tank. With this construction, the treating solution delivered from the nozzle
112
is adjusted to the predetermined temperature to form a film in uniform thickness over the surface of wafer W.
The conventional construction noted above has the following drawbacks.
Where, as shown in
FIGS. 1 and 2
, the temperature control water is circulated along the temperature control pipe
115
surrounding the treating solution pipe
114
having the nozzle
112
attached to the forward end, the large diameter of the temperature control pipe
115
allows only a limited curvature for the treating solution pipe
114
in time of movement of the nozzle
112
. Consequently, a large vertical space is required above the wafer W, which rules out the possibility of making the apparatus vertically compact.
With an increasingly refined structure of semiconductor devices and larger diameter of substrates of recent years, new types of treating solutions have been developed and substrates are now supplied with a greater variety of treating solutions. Thus, it is necessary to provide a temperature control pipe
115
for every type of treating solution. Piping paths become complicated. The number of circulators must also be increased to adjust the temperature of the temperature control water in each temperature control pipe
115
. All this requires an enlarged and complicated apparatus.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
This invention has been made having regard to the state of the art noted above, and its object is to provide a chemical treating apparatus having a compact construction and yet is capable of controlling the temperature of a treating solution efficiently.
The above object is fulfilled, according to this invention, by a chemical treating apparatus for performing a predetermined treatment of a principal surface of a substrate by delivering a treating solution thereto, the apparatus comprising a treating solution delivery nozzle for delivering the treating solution to the principal surface of the substrate, the nozzle including a treating solution reservoir adjacent a tip end thereof for storing the treating solution, and a temperature control device for holding the treating solution reservoir to control temperature of the treating solution in the treating solution reservoir through heat exchange with the treating solution.
According to this invention, the treating solution reservoir adjacent the tip of the nozzle is held to control the temperature of the treating solution in the reservoir by heat exchange. The temperature-controlled treating solution in the reservoir is delivered to the substrate for treatment. It is therefore possible to dispense with the temperature control pipe extending along the treating solution pipe as provided in the conventional apparatus, thereby allowing the treating solution supply system to be compact. An effective heat exchange of the treating solution in the treating solution reservoir is provided to control the temperature of the treating solution efficiently.
Preferably, the temperature control device comprises a temperature control container for receiving the treating solution delivery nozzle, and holding the treating solution reservoir to control temperature of the treating solution in the treating solution reservoir through heat exchange with the treating solution.
With this construction, the temperature control container receives the treating solution delivery nozzle, and holds the treating solution reservoir to control the temperature of the treating solution in the treating solution reservoir through heat exchange with the treating solution. This construction dispenses with the temperature control pipe extending along the treating solution pipe as provided in the conventional apparatus, thereby allowing the treating solution supply system to be compact. An effective heat exchange of the treating solution in the treating solution reservoir is provided to control the temperature of the treating solution efficiently.
Preferably, the temperature control device comprises a nozzle temperature controlling and moving device for holding the treating solution reservoir to control temperature of the treating solution in the treating solution reservoir through heat exchange with the treating solution, and for moving the treating solution delivery nozzle to a predetermined position over the principal surface of the substrate while holding the treating solution reservoir.
With this construction, the nozzle temperature controlling and moving device moves the treating solution delivery nozzle to the predetermined position over the principal surface of the substrate while holding the treating solution reservoir. Thus, this construction dispenses with the temperature control pipe extending along the treating solution pipe as provided in the conventional a
Goto Shigehiro
Matsunaga Minobu
Yoshioka Katsushi
Dainippon Screen Mfg. Co,. Ltd.
Fiorilla Chris
Ostrolenk Faber Gerb & Soffen, LLP
Tadesse Yewebdar
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