Photography – Fluid-treating apparatus – Fluid application to one side only of photographic medium
Reexamination Certificate
2000-03-23
2001-07-24
Rutledge, D. (Department: 2851)
Photography
Fluid-treating apparatus
Fluid application to one side only of photographic medium
C396S611000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06264381
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a process system for forming a resist film on a semiconductor wafer and developing an exposed resist film.
2. Description of the Related Art
In a photo-resist step of a semiconductor fabrication process, a resist is coated on the front surface of for example a semiconductor wafer (hereinafter referred to as wafer). As a result, a resist film is formed. After a pattern is exposed on a wafer, with a developing solution, a developing process is performed. To perform such a process, a coating and developing process system is used.
In the coating and developing process system, various units are used. For example, a unit that coats a resist on a wafer, a unit that supplies a developing solution to the wafer that has been exposed, a unit that cools the wafer, and a unit that heats the wafer are used. In addition, a conveying unit that transfers a wafer among these units is disposed.
To compactly structure the coating and developing process system, a vertical conveying unit that conveys a wafer in the vertical direction and the direction is disposed at a center portion of the system. A plurality of multi-staged unit blocks are disposed around the conveying unit.
However, such a coating and developing process system cannot be dynamically expanded or reduced. In other words, to expand such a system, the number of stages of units or the number of unit blocks can be increased. However, it is impossible to dynamically expand the system for example two times or three times. Thus, conventionally, to dynamically expand the system, for example, the number of coating and developing process systems are increased.
When the number of units of the system is increased, the following problem will take place. In other words, in the coating and developing process system, a substrate loading/unloading portion is disposed between process stations each of which is composed of a unit block and a conveying unit. The substrate loading/unloading portion is composed of for example an interface portion that transfers a wafer between a cassette station and an exposing unit. The cassette station loads and unloads a cassette accommodating many wafers with an AGV (Automatic Guided Vehicle). Thus, when the number of units of the system is increased, the number of substrate loading/unloading portions is increased. However, since the process performance of the entire system depends on the process performance of each process station, the expanded substrate loading/unloading portions become redundant.
In addition, in such a coating and developing process system, unit blocks are disposed around a conveying unit. Thus, it is difficult to perform a maintenance work for the conveying unit.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
An object of the present invention is to provide a process system that can dynamically and effectively expand or reduce the system.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a process system of which a maintenance work for a conveying portion can be easily performed.
A first aspect of the present invention is a process system, comprising a plurality of process stations whose side surfaces are successively connected, and two substrate loading/unloading portions, disposed adjacent to the outer side surfaces of two process stations at both ends of said plurality of process stations, for loading and unloading a substrate to/from each of said plurality of process stations, wherein each of said plurality of process stations has a first process unit block, disposed on one side of each of said plurality of process stations, having multi-staged first process units including a process unit for performing at least a heating process for a substrate, a substrate transferring table, disposed on the other side of each of said plurality of process stations, for transferring a substrate with at least adjacent one of said plurality of process stations, a second process unit, disposed on the front or the rear of each of said plurality of process stations, for supplying at least a predetermined solution to a substrate, and a conveying unit, disposed at a nearly center portion of each of said plurality of process stations, for conveying a substrate among the first process unit block, the second process unit, the local process station, and the substrate transferring table of the adjacent process station.
According to the present invention, since a plurality of process stations having the same structure are disposed between substrate loading/unloading portions, the system can be dynamically and effectively performed. When the process performance is improved for example two times or three times, the number of process stations disposed between the substrate loading/unloading portions is increased two time or three times. In contrast, it is not necessary to increase the number of substrate loading/unloading portions. In addition, according to the present invention, since the conveying unit can be easily accessed, the maintenance work for the conveying portion can be easily performed.
A second aspect of the present invention is a process system, comprising a plurality of process stations whose side surfaces are successively connected, and two substrate loading/unloading portions, disposed adjacent to the outer side surfaces of two process stations at both ends of said plurality of process stations, for loading and unloading a substrate to/from each of said plurality of process stations, wherein each of said plurality of process stations has a first process unit block, disposed on one side of each of said plurality of process stations, having multi-staged first process units including a process unit for performing at least a heating process for a substrate, a substrate transferring table, disposed on the other side of each of said plurality of process stations, for transferring a substrate with at least adjacent one of said plurality of process stations, a second process unit, disposed on the front or the rear of each of said plurality of process stations, the second process unit having a cooling process portion for performing a cooling process for a substrate, a process unit for supplying at least a predetermined solution to a substrate, and an inner-unit conveying unit for conveying a substrate between the process unit and the cooling process portion, and a conveying unit, disposed at a nearly center portion of each of said plurality of process stations, for conveying a substrate among the first process unit block, the cooling process portion of the second process unit, the substrate transferring table of the local process station, and the substrate transferring table of the adjacent process station.
According to the present invention, since a plurality of process stations having the same structure are disposed between substrate loading/unloading portions, the system can be dynamically and effectively performed. In addition, according to the present invention, since the conveying unit can be easily accessed, the maintenance work for the conveying portion can be easily performed. Moreover, according to the present invention, in particular, the second process unit block has the cooling process portion that cools a substrate and a process unit that supplies at least a predetermined solution to a substrate (namely, the cooling process portion and the process unit are disposed in the same unit block), the cooling process portion and the process unit can be operated in the same environment. Thus, the process unit can stably perform a predetermined process.
A third aspect of the present invention is a process system, comprising a plurality of process stations whose side surfaces are successively connected, and two substrate loading/unloading portions, disposed adjacent to the outer side surfaces of two process stations at both ends of said plurality of process stations, for loading and unloading a substrate to/from each of said plurality of process stations, wherein each of said plurality of process stations has a first process unit block, disposed
Rader Fishman & Grauer
Rutledge D.
Tokyo Electron Limited
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