Coating and developing apparatus and pattern forming method

Details Coating and developing apparatus and pattern forming method Coating and developing apparatus and pattern forming method

2001-12-07

2004-11-09

McPherson, John A. (Department: 1756)

Coating apparatus

Control means responsive to a randomly occurring sensed...

Temperature responsive

C118S665000, C118S052000, C335S068000, C427S009000, C427S008000

Reexamination Certificate

active

06814809

ABSTRACT:

FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a coating and developing apparatus for forming resist films on substrates such as semiconductor wafers, LCD substrates (glass substrates used for liquid crystal displays) and developing the substrates after exposure to form a desired pattern thereon and also a pattern forming method for forming a desired pattern with this apparatus.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Photolithographic techniques in process for manufacturing semiconductor devices and LCDs, etc., include the following steps.
Firstly, a substrate such as a semiconductor wafer (called wafer hereinafter) is applied a resist solution thereon to be coated with a resist film. The resist film is exposed to a desired pattern through a photomask. A resist film with the desired pattern is then formed through developing processing. A series of these processing are carried out in a system equipped with a coating and developing apparatus and an exposing apparatus connected to each other.
FIG. 1
is a plan view showing such a known system. A cassette C containing substrates, for example 25 semiconductor wafers W, is transferred into a carrier stage
1
on a carrier station A
1
. Connected to the carrier station A
1
is a processing block A
2
. Connected further to the processing block A
2
is an exposing apparatus A
4
via an interface block A
3
.
Each wafer W contained in the carrier C on the carrier stage
1
is picked up by a loading arm
11
and transferred to a coating unit
13
via a transfer mechanism of a shelf unit
12
A, for resist coating. The wafer W is then transferred to a cooling section
15
of a shelf unit
12
B by a wafer transfer mechanism
14
, as shown in FIG.
2
. The wafer W is received by a transfer arm
16
of the interface block A
3
and transferred to peripheral exposing apparatus
17
of the interface block A
3
.
The peripheral exposing apparatus
17
exposes the periphery of the wafer W to remove a resist on the periphery, which may otherwise cause generation of particles in the later processing. The wafer W that has been subjected to peripheral exposure is, for example, once transferred to a buffer cassette
18
of the block A
3
. The wafer W is then transferred, via the transfer arm
16
, onto a loading stage (not shown) on the exposing apparatus A
4
for exposure.
The exposed wafer W is transferred by the transfer arm
16
of the interface block A
3
to the processing block A
2
via a loading section
19
of the shelf unit
12
B of the processing block A
2
. After developed by a developing unit (not shown) provided under coating unit
13
, the wafer W is returned to the cassette C by the wafer transfer mechanism
14
and the loading arm
11
.
The transfer arm
16
provided on the interface block A
3
can move forward/backward and upward/downward, and rotate about a vertical axis, and further move in one horizontal-axis direction along a horizontal rail.
Peripheral exposure for the wafers W formed on which is a very narrow resist pattern in accordance with miniaturized semiconductors will cause temperature increase of, for example, 1° C. for the wafers W due to ultraviolet radiation. Moreover, loading the wafers W into the buffer cassette
18
before transfer to the exposing apparatus A
4
will cause generation of heat in the tight cassette
18
, the wafer temperature being thus hardly decreased because heat is hardly released.
It is a requirement for exposing processing that the wafers W are at a certain temperature set at the exposing apparatus A
4
. Temperature change outside the set temperature could cause wafer expansion or contraction with low accuracy of alignment in exposure, thus resulting in low pattern-size fidelity.
Recent trends in semiconductor fabrication are higher processing speed for the exposing apparatus A
4
and shorter waiting time for the wafers W in the buffer cassette
18
. These requirements do not allow sufficient decrease in wafer temperature raised due to peripheral exposure while the wafers W are waiting for exposing processing. This often causes temperature increase for the wafers W while being transferred to the exposing apparatus A
4
, which results in low yields due to effects of heat generated during exposure and thus causing low productivity.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
A purpose of the present invention is to provide a coating and developing apparatus and a pattern forming method for providing stable substrate temperature in exposure processing, thus achieving high yields, high transfer performance and high throughput.
The present invention provides a coating and developing apparatus comprising: a carrier table on which at least one carrier containing a plurality of substrates is set; a processor for applying a resist on each substrate taken out from the carrier set on the carrier table and developing the substrate after being subjected to exposing processing; and an interface section for transferring the resist-coated substrate between the processor and an exposing apparatus for applying the exposing processing to the resist-coated substrate, the interface section including; at least one temperature adjuster for adjusting a temperature of the substrate to an appropriate temperature for the exposing processing before the substrate is transferred to the exposing apparatus; and a transfer mechanism for transferring the substrate among the processor, the temperature adjuster and the exposing apparatus.
Moreover, the present invention provides a coating and developing apparatus comprising: a carrier table on which at least one carrier containing a plurality of substrates is set; a processor for applying a resist on each substrate taken out from the carrier set on the carrier table and developing the substrate after being subjected to exposing processing; and an interface section for transferring the resist-coated substrate between the processor and an exposing apparatus for applying the exposing processing to the resist-coated substrate, the interface section including; a shelf section having a plurality of processing units for containing or processing the substrate; a first transfer mechanism for transferring the substrate between the processor and the exposing apparatus; and a second transfer mechanism for receiving the substrate transferred from the processor by the first transfer mechanism and transferring the received substrate to any of the units of the shelf section.
Moreover, the present invention provides a method of forming a pattern comprising the steps of: applying a resist on a surface of a substrate; adjusting a temperature of the resist-coated substrate to an appropriate temperature for exposing processing; exposing the temperature-adjusted substrate; and developing the exposed substrate to form a resist pattern on the substrate surface.
Furthermore, the present invention provides a method of forming a pattern comprising the steps of: applying a resist on a surface of a substrate; exposing periphery of the resist-coated substrate outside a circuit-forming area thereon; adjusting a temperature of the peripheral-exposed substrate to an appropriate temperature for exposing processing; exposing the temperature-adjusted substrate; and developing the exposed substrate to form a resist pattern on the substrate surface.
Moreover, the present invention provides a method of forming a pattern comprising the steps of: applying a resist on a surface of a substrate; adjusting a temperature of the resist-coated substrate to an appropriate temperature for exposing processing; exposing the temperature-adjusted substrate; exposing periphery of the exposed substrate outside a circuit-forming area thereon; and developing the peripheral-exposed substrate to form a resist pattern on the substrate surface.
Furthermore, the present invention provides a method of forming a resist pattern on a surface of a substrate, for a coating and developing apparatus having a processor for applying a resist on a substrate and developing the substrate after being subjected to exposing processing and an interface section for transferring the

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