Coating apparatus – With treatment of coating material – Of recirculated coating material
Reexamination Certificate
2000-01-27
2001-11-13
Lund, Jeffrie R. (Department: 1763)
Coating apparatus
With treatment of coating material
Of recirculated coating material
C210S521000, C210S167050
Reexamination Certificate
active
06315832
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a semiconductor processing apparatus, and in particular, to a single chamber processing apparatus having multi-chamber functions.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
In a manufacturing process of semiconductor devices or liquid crystal displays (LCD), including wet etching, cleaning, wet spin etching, coating, and developing, various kinds of chambers are utilized. A conventional chamber (for example, a processing chamber disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,611,886) only performs a single function. If a series of multi-processing steps are required in processing wafers or glass substrate, various kinds of chemical liquid or other liquids have to be used. Therefore, the qualities of the products can be varied or other hazards can be caused as a result of mixing different chemical liquids or other liquids.
In addition, the conventional chamber is of an open type, and cannot be stacked together. If the wafer or the glass substrate is to be undergone a series of multi-processing steps, a plurality of chambers have to be used. In this case, the processing apparatus can be very large and occupies a lot of space, this can increase the production cost.
Further, the wafer or glass substrate cannot be quickly transferred from one chamber to another during the continuous and multi-processing steps for processing the wafer or glass substrate. This is because the chamber performs only a single function and the chamber is of an open type. Therefore, the productivity is low and the quality of the wafer or the glass substrate varies due to the fact that the wafer or the glass substrate comes into contact with certain components in the air.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a single chamber processing apparatus having multi-chamber functions. The processing apparatus avoids chemical reaction of the processing material on a substrate, and performs the function of recycling multiple kinds of processing material. Besides, the substrate within the chamber can be processed with multi-steps and avoid the problem of unstable quality incurred during the delivery of substrates between different chambers.
In accordance with one aspect of the invention, a single chamber processing apparatus employs a plurality of kinds of processing material to process a substrate in a chamber and selectively recycle the remaining processing material. The processing apparatus includes a grouping recovery device for selectively recycling the remaining processing material.
In accordance with another aspect of the invention, a single chamber processing apparatus employing n (“n” is an integer greater than or equal to one) kinds of processing material to process a spinning substrate in a chamber and selectively recycle the remaining processing material. The processing apparatus includes a base, a lower chamber, a grouping recovery device, a recovery line, a controlling baffle ring, 1st to nth recovery pipelines, and a waste-liquid pipeline.
The lower chamber is formed in the base. The grouping recovery device is mounted on an external side of the lower chamber for selectively recycling the remaining processing material. The recovery line communicates the grouping recovery device with the lower chamber so as to deliver the remaining processing material from the spinning substrate to the grouping recovery device. The controlling baffle ring is mounted at one side of the lower chamber which communicates with the recovery line for controlling the ON/OFF status of the recovery line.
When the recovery line is opened, the remaining processing material thrown from the spinning substrate flows to the grouping recovery device. When the recovery line is closed, the remaining processing material thrown from the spinning substrate is guided by the controlling baffle ring and flows to the lower chamber.
The 1st to nth recovery pipelines are respectively in communication with the grouping recovery device for recycling the corresponding one of the n kinds of remaining processing material. The waste-liquid pipeline communicates the lower chamber with the grouping recovery device to let the remaining processing material not to be recycled flow out.
With respect to the single chamber processing apparatus described above, a plurality of processing steps can be performed and this makes the product quality uniform. In addition, the remaining processing material can be selectively recycled in the processing apparatus.
The grouping recovery device includes a shelf, 1st to nth recovery chambers, 1st to (n+1)th guiding holes, an outlet, 1st to nth recovery units, 1st to the nth collecting pipelines, and 1st to nth drain pipelines.
The shelf includes a top portion, a bottom portion, The top portion is located at the uppermost end of the shelf. The bottom portion is located at the lowermost end of the shelf.
The 1st to nth recovery chambers are mounted in sequence from the top to the bottom in between the top portion and the bottom portion. The 1st guiding hole penetrates through the top portion, the (n+1)th guiding hole penetrates through the bottom portion, and the 2nd to nth guiding holes communicate the 1st to nth recovery chambers with one another in a substantially linear type, from the top to the bottom.
The outlet is formed on the bottom portion of the shelf and communicates with the waste-liquid pipeline and the (n+1)th guiding hole. The 1st to nth recovery units are mounted in sequence in the 1st to the nth recovery chamber. Each of the 1st to nth recovery units is selectively, within the first to the nth recovery chamber, moved in between a recovery position and a standby position.
The recovery position is the position for each of the 1st to nth recovery units to recycle the remaining processing material. The standby position is the position for each of the 1st to nth recovery units not to recycle the remaining processing material. The 1st to nth collecting pipelines are mounted in sequence in the 1st to nth recovery units. The 1st to nth drain pipelines communicate the 1st to nth recovery chambers with the 1st to nth recovery pipelines one to one.
When the 1st to nth recovery units are at the standby position, the remaining processing material from the recovery line flows through the 1st to (n+1)th guiding holes, and then flow out from the outlet to the waste-liquid pipeline.
When the kth recovery unit (1≦k≦n) is at the recovery position, the rest of the recovery units are located at the standby position, the remaining processing material from the recovery line flows to the kth recovery pipeline via the kth collection pipeline and the kth drain pipeline.
Furthermore, the single chamber processing apparatus in accordance with the invention further comprises an upper cover for covering the base, and an exhausting pipeline provided on the upper cover for discharging vapor or exhausted gas of the remaining processing material via the recovery line.
REFERENCES:
patent: 4197000 (1980-04-01), Blackwood
patent: 6145519 (2000-11-01), Konishi et al.
patent: 6248398 (2001-06-01), Talieh et al.
Baker & Daniels
Lund Jeffrie R.
MacArthur Sylvia R.
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