Photography – Fluid-treating apparatus – Fluid application to one side only of photographic medium
Reexamination Certificate
2000-07-27
2001-06-05
Rutledge, D. (Department: 2851)
Photography
Fluid-treating apparatus
Fluid application to one side only of photographic medium
C396S611000, C396S627000, C118S052000, C427S240000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06241402
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a developing apparatus and method thereof for performing developing processing for, for example, substrates.
2. Description of the Related Art
A mask for forming a predetermined pattern on a top surface of a glass substrate (LCD substrate) of a liquid crystal display or a semiconductor wafer (hereinafter referred to as “a wafer” ) is obtained by applying a resist onto a top surface of a substrate such as a wafer, thereafter applying light, electron beams, ionic beams or the like, to the resist surface, and performing development.
The developing processing here is performed by dissolving the portions to which light or the like has been radiated or the portions without such radiation with use of an alkaline solution or the like, and is conventionally performed, for example, as follows. Initially, as shown in
FIG. 25A
, a substrate, for example, a wafer W is vacuum-held on a spin chuck
10
having, for example, a vacuum-suction function, and a bar-shaped supply nozzle
11
having a number of discharging apertures is disposed above a center portion of the wafer W. Then as shown in
FIG. 25B
, the wafer is rotated 180 degrees while a developing solution D is supplied onto the top surface of the wafer from the supply nozzle
11
, and thereby the developing solution D is heaped on the resist film. Subsequently, as shown in
FIG. 25
C, after the wafer W is left standing for 60 seconds with the rotation of the wafer W being stopped, a rinse solution is supplied onto the top surface of the wafer to remove the developing solution, and thus the development is performed.
Though the developing solution D is controlled at a temperature of, for example, about 23° C., water contained in the developing solution D vaporizes while the wafer W and is left standing with the solution-heaping being performed, thereby depriving the latent heat of the developing solution D, and as a result, the temperature of the developing solution D decreases with time as shown in FIG.
26
.
Meanwhile, the spin chuck
10
for holding an area close to a center of the wafer W has some dimensions, since it vertically moves, and rotates, while holding the wafer W. The spin chuck
10
is maintained at the temperature of, for example, about 23° C. by, for example, temperature-adjusting water so that the influence of the temperature from a motor not illustrated for driving the spin chuck
10
is eliminated. Accordingly, the spin chuck
10
has a large thermal capacity, which brings about the difference in the degree of the temperature reduction of the developing solution D between the portion of the wafer W in contact with the spin chuck
10
and the portion not in contact therewith, and thus the temperature of the area close to the center of the wafer does not easily decrease compared with that of a peripheral portion.
Consequently, the temperature difference in the developing solution D of about 1° C. occurs between the area close to the center and the peripheral portion of the wafer at the time of starting rinse. When such temperature distribution occurs on the wafer, the temperature difference in the developing solution D has an effect on the progress of the development, thus bringing about an uneven sate of development and causing a disadvantage of varying the finished dimensions. In concrete, with use of an I beam resist, if the temperature difference is 1°C., line width differs by about 4 nm, and thus if the line width in the area close to the center of the wafer is about 0.4 micrometers, the line width in the peripheral portion becomes about 0.396 micrometers.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
An object of the present invention is to provide a developing apparatus and method thereof, which prevent the occurrence of inconsistent development caused by the temperature difference in a developing solution by making the temperature of the developing solution almost uniform within the plane of the substrate, and which increase uniformity of the developing processing.
In order to attain the above object, a developing apparatus of the present invention comprises a substrate holding section for holding a substrate, a substrate holding protrusion section provided to be vertically movable relatively to the substrate holding section so that it does not interfere with the aforementioned substrate holding section, for holding the substrate with the substrate being spaced from the aforementioned substrate holding section, and a supply section for supplying a developing solution onto a processed surface, wherein development is performed for the processed surface of the substrate in the state in which the substrate with the developing solution being heaped thereon is spaced from the aforementioned substrate holding section by the aforementioned substrate holding protrusion section, with the developing solution remaining heaped. In this situation, for example, the aforementioned substrate holding section holds an area close to a center on a surface opposite to the processed surface of the substrate, and the aforementioned substrate holding protrusion section holds a peripheral area outside the area held by the aforementioned substrate holding section on the surface opposite to the processed surface of the substrate.
In the above apparatus, in a developing method of supplying a developing solution onto a substrate to perform development, a developing method is carried out, which comprises the steps of allowing a substrate holding section to hold the substrate to allow a developing solution to be heaped on a processed surface of the substrate, subsequently, vertically moving a substrate holding protrusion section relatively to the substrate holding section so that the substrate holding protrusion section does not interfere with the substrate holding section, transferring the substrate to the substrate holding protrusion section from the aforementioned substrate holding section, and performing development of the processed surface of the substrate, with the substrate being spaced from the aforementioned substrate holding section by means of the substrate holding protrusion section, with the developing solution remaining heaped thereon.
In doing as above, the development of the processed surface of the substrate is performed in the state in which the substrate to which the developing solution has been supplied is spaced from the aforementioned substrate holding section by means of the aforementioned substrate holding protrusion section, with the developing solution remaining heaped thereon, and therefore the temperature influence is difficult to be transmitted to the substrate from the substrate holding section, thus making the temperature variation of the developing solution on the substrate almost uniform within the plane of the substrate, preventing the occurrence of unevenness in the processing caused by the temperature difference in the developing solution, and making it possible to increase uniformity of the developing processing.
It may be suitable that the aforementioned substrate holding protrusion section holds an area close to the outside of the area held by the aforementioned substrate holding section, which is a peripheral area outside the area held by the aforementioned substrate holding section, of the surface opposite to the processed surface of the substrate, and an area close to an outer edge of the substrate. In this case, the substrate is held by the substrate holding protrusion section to prevent a warp from occurring within the plane, and thus the height of the developing solution in the plane of the substrate is difficult to be nonuniform, which makes the degree of the progress of the development uniform within the plane.
As for the aforementioned substrate holding protrusion section, it is preferable that a contact area between the substrate holding protrusion section and the substrate is smaller than a contact area between the aforementioned substrate holding section and the substrate. Further, the aforementioned substrate holding prot
Nagamine Shuichi
Sakamoto Kazuo
Rader Fishman & Grauer
Rutledge D.
Tokyo Electron Limited
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