Substrate processing apparatus and method

Details Substrate processing apparatus and method Substrate processing apparatus and method

2000-07-27

2001-12-25

Mathews, Alan A. (Department: 2851)

Photography

Fluid-treating apparatus

Heating, cooling, or temperature detecting

C396S611000, C396S627000, C134S105000, C134S902000

Reexamination Certificate

active

06332723

ABSTRACT:

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
This application is based upon and claims the benefit of priority from the prior Japanese Patent Application No. 11-213748, filed Jul. 28, 1999, the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a substrate processing apparatus and method for performing, for example, substrate processing such as developing processing and the like for a substrate.
A mask for forming a predetermined pattern on a front face of a semiconductor wafer (hereinafter, referred to as “wafer”) or a glass substrate (LCD substrate) of a liquid crystal display is obtained by applying a resist to the front face of a wafer or the like and then radiating rays of light, electron rays, ion beams, or the like to the resist surface, and performing developing.
The developing processing here is performed by dissolving portions irradiated with light or the like or portions without such irradiation in an exposure process with use of an alkaline water solution or the like, and conventionally it has been performed as follows. The technique is that, as shown in
FIG. 11A
, a substrate, for example, a wafer W is first suction-held, for example, on a spin chuck
10
having a vacuum suction function, and a supply nozzle
11
in a rod shape having many discharge holes is placed above the center of the wafer W. Then, as shown in
FIG. 11B
, the wafer W is rotated 180 degrees while a developing solution D is supplied to the wafer surface from the supply nozzle
11
to thereby perform heaping of the developing solution D on the resist film. Subsequently, as shown in
FIG. 11C
, the wafer W is left untouched for 60 seconds with the rotation of the wafer W being stopped, and thereafter a rinse liquid is supplied onto the wafer surface to wash away the developing solution.
However, for example, in the case of using an I-line resist, developing unevenness occurs in the above-described developing method, whereby developed line width varies depending on position, which causes a disadvantage, for example, a difference in line width of about 4 nm between an area close to the center of the wafer and a rim portion thereof. From a study of a cause of the above, it is conceivable that degrees of proceeding of the developing depend on the temperature of the developing solution D, and therefore temperature distribution occurs in the developing solution D within the plane of the wafer. In other words, the developing solution D is controlled to a temperature of, for example, about 23° C., but water contained in the developing solution D evaporates while the wafer W is subjected to the solution heaping and then left untouched, whereby latent heat in the developing solution D is lost, and thus the temperature of the developing solution D decreases with time as shown in FIG.
12
.
On the other hand, the spin chuck
10
for holding an area close to the center of the wafer has a certain size to perform ascent and descent and rotation while holding the wafer W. Moreover, the spin chuck
10
is maintained at a temperature of, for example, about 23° C. by, for example, a temperature controlled water so that a thermal influence from a motor (not shown) for driving the spin chuck
10
is eliminated. Accordingly, it is conceivable that the spin chuck
10
has a large heat capacity, and degrees of temperature decrease of the developing solution D is different between a portion of the wafer W in contact with the spin chuck
10
and a portion not in contact therewith, and thus the temperature of the area close to the center of the wafer is hard to decrease compared with the rim portion thereof.
Therefore, it is presumed that temperature difference in the developing solution D of about 1° C. occurs between the area close to the center of the wafer and the rim portion thereof at the start of a rinse, whereby there occurs unevenness in the developing state, resulting in variations in finished measurements.
BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
An object of the present invention is to provide a substrate processing apparatus and method for enhancing uniformity of processing by making temperatures in a processing liquid uniform within a plane of a substrate to thereby suppress occurrence of processing unevenness because of temperature difference in the processing liquid.
According to the present invention, there is provided a substrate processing apparatus comprising: a substrate holding section configured to hold the substrate; a processing liquid supply section configured to supply a processing liquid to the substrate; and a temperature control section configured to heat an opposite face to a face to be processed of the substrate, wherein the substrate which has been supplied with the processing liquid is held by the substrate holding section for a predetermined period of time while the opposite face of the substrate is heated by the temperature control section. At this time, for example, the substrate holding section holds an area close to a center of the opposite face to the face to be processed of the substrate, and the temperature control section heats a rim area outside an area held by the substrate holding section of the opposite face to the face to be processed of the substrate.
According to the present invention, there is provided a substrate processing method, in the above-described apparatus, for supplying a processing liquid to a substrate to thereby perform processing, comprising the step of: supplying the processing liquid to the substrate while the substrate is held by a substrate holding section; and holding the substrate which has been supplied with the processing liquid by the substrate holding section for a predetermined period of time while the opposite face of the substrate is heated by a temperature control section.
In the above configuration, since the substrate which has been supplied with the processing liquid is held by the substrate holding section for the predetermined period of time while the opposite face of the substrate is heated by the temperature control section, the substrate is heated by the substrate holding section in the area close to the center of the substrate and heated by the temperature control section in the rim area of the substrate. Thereby, temperature variations in the processing liquid on the substrate are made almost uniform within the plane of the substrate and occurrence of processing unevenness because of temperature difference in the processing liquid is suppressed, so that the uniformity of processing can be enhanced.
Here, the temperature control section can be a temperature controlled liquid supply portion configured to supply the temperature controlled liquid to positions at which the opposite face to the face to be processed of the substrate is divided into equal parts in an angular direction thereof or can be a heating portion configured to heat the opposite face to the face to be processed of the substrate.
Further, in the substrate processing apparatus, it is suitable that the substrate holding section is provided to be rotatable around a vertical axis, and the step of supplying the processing liquid to the substrate and/or the step of holding the substrate for the predetermined period of time are/is performed while the substrate is rotated. In this case, since the processing liquid on the substrate is stirred by an inertial force of the rotation of the substrate, temperatures in the processing liquid on the substrate are made uniform within the plane of the substrate, so that the uniformity of processing is improved.
Furthermore, it is also suitable that the processing liquid supply section has supply holes formed along the substrate and is provided to be rotatable relative to the substrate holding section. Incidentally, as a concrete example of the substrate processing, developing processing using a developing solution as the processing liquid can be given.
Additional objects and advantages of the invention will be set forth in the description which follows, and in part will be obvious f

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