Coating apparatus – With vacuum or fluid pressure chamber
Reexamination Certificate
2000-11-30
2003-07-08
Crispino, Richard (Department: 1734)
Coating apparatus
With vacuum or fluid pressure chamber
C118S603000, C118S056000, C118S052000, C118S602000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06589338
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Technical Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a substrate processing device for processing substrates, for example, semiconductor wafers, LCD glass substrates, etc.
2. Description of the Related Art
Generally, in the manufacturing process of semiconductor devices, there is used a cleaning device for removing contaminations, for example, particles, organic contaminations, metallic impurities, etc. adhering to front and back surfaces of e.g. a semiconductor wafer (which will be called “wafers etc.” hereinafter). As one cleaning device for cleaning wafers, there is known, for example, a “spin” type wafer cleaning device.
FIG. 10
is a line diagram of a conventional wafer cleaning device
200
. As shown in
FIG. 10
, in the conventional wafer cleaning device
200
, a chemical cleaning (chemical processing) and the subsequent rinsing (rinse processing) have been performed to successively supply chemical liquids and pure water to a wafer W accommodated in a processing chamber
202
of a container
201
, by a supply nozzle
203
. Note that the chemical liquid can give full play to its higher cleaning ability when being adjusted at a designated temperature rather than a normal temperature. For instance, there exist a chemical liquid called “APM” having ammonia as its main ingredient, temperature-controlled at the order from 40 to 90° C. in temperature; a chemical liquid called “HPM” having hydrochloric acid as its main ingredient, temperature-controlled at the order from 50 to 90° C.; a chemical liquid called “SPM” having sulfuric acid as its main ingredient, temperature-controlled at the order from 100 to 150° C. and others.
Hereat, the wafer cleaning device
200
is constructed so as to reuse the chemical liquid drained from the processing chamber
202
in view of saving the consumption of the chemical liquid. That is, a recycle line
204
is connected with the bottom of the processing chamber
202
and the chemical liquid is discharged into the recycle line
204
. Additionally, the pure water and an interior atmosphere in the processing chamber
202
are respectively discharged into the recycle line
204
. Again, the recycle line
204
is further provided with a gas-liquid separating mechanism
205
. The gas-liquid separating mechanism
205
is connected with an exhausting fan
206
. The cleaning liquid flows into the recycle line
204
via the gas-liquid separating mechanism
205
, while the interior atmosphere of the processing chamber
202
flows to the exhausting fan
206
. A three-directional valve
207
is arranged in the recycle line
204
and also connected with a pure water drain line
208
. With the switching operation of the three-directional valve
207
, the chemical liquid flows in the recycle line
204
during the chemical cleaning process. While, during the rinsing process, the pure water flows in the pure water drain line
208
in order to drain the water.
In the recycle line
204
, there are further arranged a pump
209
, a heater
210
and a filter
211
in series. An exit of the recycle line
204
is connected with the supply nozzle
203
. In this way, by the operation of the pump
209
, the chemical liquid flowing through the gas-liquid separating mechanism
205
and also the three-directional valve
207
is successively fed to the heater
210
for regulating the temperature of the chemical liquid and the subsequent filter
211
for cleaning the chemical liquid. Thereafter, the chemical liquid is again returned to the supply nozzle
203
in order to reuse the liquid for the chemical cleaning. The device
200
further includes a pure water supply line (not shown) connected with the supply nozzle
203
to supply the pure water. After completing the chemical cleaning, the pure water is ejected from the supply nozzle
203
in the rinsing process.
However, the conventional wafer cleaning device
200
has a problem that the droplets of pure water used in the rising process may stay in the recycle line
204
since the draining of the chemical liquid and the pure water is carried out through the recycle line
204
. In case of performing the chemical cleaning process and the rinsing process against plural wafers W in the processing chamber
202
continuously, the droplets of pure water remained in the recycle line
204
in the previous rinsing process will mix with the chemical liquid in the next-coming chemical cleaning process. Since the chemical liquid is reused over and over again, it is mixed with the pure water whenever the chemical liquid is reused, so that the concentration is decreased. The chemical liquid diluted with the water would exhibit its deteriorated cleaning ability, causing the possibility of insufficient cleaning effect.
Further, as the pure water used for the rinsing process generally has a normal temperature, the recycle line
204
will be cooled when the pure water is discharged. Thus, since the chemical liquid is drained into the recycle line
204
cooled down in the previous rinsing process, the temperature of the chemical liquid is lowered remarkably. Even if required to regulate the temperature of the so-cooled chemical liquid, it cannot be overtaken by the ability of the heater
210
, so that the chemical liquid that does not reach the designated temperature will be reused in the chemical cleaning process. The chemical liquid of lowered temperature also has a possibility of exhibiting the insufficient cleaning effect because of its deteriorated cleaning ability.
Alternatively, in the conventional wafer cleaning device
200
, the interior atmosphere has been discharged with a great displacement. Therefore, the exhausting fan
206
has been subjected to an excessive burden with a steep rise in running cost.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
Accordingly, it is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a substrate processing device which allows the processing liquid to be reused advantageously and which can reduce an exhaust displacement of the device.
The first feature of the invention resides in a substrate processing device for processing a substrate, comprising: a holder for carrying the substrate; a nozzle for supplying plural kind of processing liquid to a surface of the substrate; a container arranged around the holder, the container having a plurality of processing chambers, the plurality of processing chambers having a plurality of openings respectively which are arranged in succession, wherein the container is movable to the holder relatively in such a way that each opening of the processing chamber can be moved and positioned around the circumference of the substrate held by the holder, a bottom of each processing chamber is connected with a line for discharging processing liquid from the processing chamber, and at least one of the lines is connected to the nozzle so that the discharged processing liquid is supplied to a surface of the substrate through the line as recycling circuit.
Therefore, in case of using e.g. the plural processing liquids, it is executed to move the openings of the different containers to the circumference of the substrate carried by the holding means, corresponding to the kinds of the processing liquids on use. After processing the substrate, the processing liquids are drained through the drainage lines, respectively. At least one processing liquid of the so-drained liquids is again supplied to the surface of the substrate through the recycle line. According to the invention, even if the respective processing liquids are remained in the drainage lines respectively, the containers are altered corresponding to the kinds of the processing liquids and therefore, there is no possibility that the processing liquids of different kinds are present in the same line. Especially, as for the processing liquid to be reused, there is no possibility of dilution that the reused processing liquid is mixed with the different processing liquid. Therefore, the processing liquid can be reused with its high processing ability.
Moreover, since the drainage lines are respectivel
Miyazaki Takanori
Nakamori Mitsunori
Taniyama Hiroki
Crispino Richard
Koch, III George R.
Smith , Gambrell & Russell, LLP
Tokyo Electron Limited
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