Adhesive bonding and miscellaneous chemical manufacture – Differential fluid etching apparatus – With workpiece support
Reexamination Certificate
2001-03-08
2003-04-22
Mills, Gregory (Department: 1763)
Adhesive bonding and miscellaneous chemical manufacture
Differential fluid etching apparatus
With workpiece support
C156S345520, C118S728000, C118S725000, C118S724000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06551448
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a heat processing apparatus of a substrate.
2. Description of the Related Art
In a process of photo resist processing in fabricating a semiconductor device, various heat processings are operated such as heat processing after coating a resist solution onto a surface of a semiconductor wafer (hereinafter referred to as “wafer”) (prebaking), heat processing after an exposure of a pattern (post-exposure baking) and so on.
These heat processings are usually operated in heat processing apparatuses. The heat processing apparatus has a circular-shaped heating plate
150
to mount and heat the wafer W thereon in a process container (not-shown) as shown in FIG.
13
and
FIG. 14
, and a heater (not-shown) is embedded in the heating plate
150
. The heating plate
150
is usually supported by an annular-shaped supporting member
151
which is excellent in heat insulting property and supports a lower surface of a periphery thereof, and the supporting member
151
has a stepped portion
151
a
which surrounds an outer peripheral surface of the heating plate
150
for positioning the heating plate
150
. Further, the supporting member
151
is supported by a supporting table
152
which supports a lower surface of the supporting member
151
, and the supporting member
151
is fixed to the supporting table
152
by a plurality of bolts
153
which penetrate through the stepped portion
151
a
in a vertical direction.
The heat processing of the wafer W is operated by thuss-structured apparatus at a predetermined temperature, but the temperature of the heating plate
150
may be changed in changing a recipe of the process and the like. In the case like this, the heating plate
150
is usually cooled temporarily. At this moment, the supporting member
151
which is expanded outwardly by heat of the heating plate
150
when being heated is cooled to shrink inwardly.
However, as described above, since the supporting member
151
is fixed to the supporting table
152
by the bolts
153
, areas which are not fixed by the bolts
153
(the diagonally shaded areas in
FIG. 15
) as shown in
FIG. 15
are expanded more than fixed areas when it is heated. Thereafter, when it is cooled, the areas which are not fixed by the bolts
153
shrink to these original positions, but at the areas which are fixed by the bolts
153
, parts
151
a
of the supporting member
151
which are placed on inner sides of the bolts
153
shrink inwardly, as shown in FIG.
16
. Therefore, there are cases in which the heating plate
150
is partially compressed by the shrinking of the parts
151
a
of the supporting member
151
to distort its shape. In this case, harmful effects such as uneven temperature on a surface of the heating plate
150
occur, and there is a possibility that the heating of the wafer W is not operated preferably.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention is made in view of the above circumstances, and its object is to prevent an occurrence of distortion of a heating plate by being partially compressed, even when a supporting member shrinks when it is cooled in a heat processing apparatus of a substrate.
To attain the above-mentioned object, according to a first aspect of the present invention, the present invention is an apparatus for operating heat processing to a substrate, comprising a heating plate to mount and heat the substrate thereon, a supporting member to support a lower surface of a periphery of the heating plate, and a supporter to support the supporting member, wherein the supporting member has a stepped portion to surround an outer peripheral surface of the heating plate, wherein the supporting member is fixed to the supporter by a fixing member penetrating through the stepped portion in a vertical direction, and wherein a peripheral surface of the fixing member on a side to be opposed to the outer peripheral surface of the heating plate is exposed toward a heating plate side.
According to another aspect of the present invention, the present invention is an apparatus for operating heat processing to a substrate, comprising a heating plate to mount and heat the substrate thereon, a supporting member to support a lower surface of a periphery of the heating plate, and a supporter to support the supporting member, wherein the supporting member has a stepped portion to surround an outer peripheral surface of the heating plate, wherein the supporting member is fixed to the supporter by a fixing member penetrating through the stepped portion in a vertical direction, and wherein the fixing member is provided between an inner peripheral surface of the stepped portion and the outer peripheral surface of the heating plate.
According to still another aspect of the present invention, the present invention is an apparatus for operating heat processing to a substrate, comprising a heating plate to mount and heat the substrate thereon, a supporting member to support a lower surface of a periphery of the heating plate, and a supporter to support the supporting member, wherein the supporting member has a stepped portion to surround an outer peripheral surface of the heating plate, wherein the supporting member is fixed to the supporter by a fixing member penetrating through the stepped portion in a vertical direction, and wherein the fixing member is adjacently provided outside the outer peripheral surface of the heating plate. Incidentally, providing the fixing member adjacently outside the outer peripheral surface of the heating plate means that a part of the supporting member does not exist between the fixing member and the outer peripheral surface of the heating plate as its consequence.
According to yet another aspect of the present invention, the present invention is an apparatus for operating heat processing to a substrate, comprising a heating plate to mount and heat the substrate thereon, a supporting member having a stepped portion to surround an outer peripheral surface of the heating plate, to support a lower surface of a periphery of the heating plate, and a supporter to support the supporting member, the supporting member including a through-hole penetrating in a horizontal direction from an outside of the stepped portion toward an inside thereof, and the apparatus further comprising a fixing member being fixed to the supporting member by penetrating through the through-hole to fix the heating plate by pressing its outer peripheral surface.
According to the present invention, by providing the fixing member with its peripheral surface exposed to the heating plate side, the part of the supporting member does not exist between the outer peripheral surface of the heating plate and the fixing member, contrary to the conventional art, and even when the heating plate is cooled, the part of the supporting member does not shrink toward the heating plate side, contrary to the conventional art. Thus, it is prevented that the part of the supporting member partially compresses the heating plate to distort the heating plate.
According to the present invention, by providing the fixing member between the outer peripheral surface of the heating plate and the inner peripheral surface of the stepped portion, the supporting member does not exist between the fixing member and the outer peripheral surface of the heating plate, and even when the heating plate is cooled, the part of the supporting member does not shrink toward the heating plate side, contrary to the conventional art. Thus, it is prevented that the part of the supporting member partially compresses the heating plate to distort the heating plate.
According to the present invention, by adjacently providing the fixing member outside the outer peripheral surface of the heating plate, the outer peripheral surface of the heating plate is not partially compressed by the shrinking of the supporting member. Therefore, even when the heating plate is cooled, the heating plate is prevented from distorting.
According to the present invention, by providing the fixing member horizo
Kuga Yasuhiro
Tanaka Kouichirou
Tanoue Mitsuhiro
Hassanzadeh P.
Mills Gregory
Tokyo Electron Limited
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