JP3169666B2 - Developing device and developing method - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

(Table of Contents) ・ Industrial application fields ・ Prior art (FIGS. 5 to 7) ・ Problems to be solved by the invention ・ Means for solving the problems ・ Operation ・ Embodiments (1) First Embodiment (FIGS. 1 and 2) (2) Second Embodiment (FIGS. 3 and 4) Effect of the Invention

[0002]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a developing device and a developing method, and more particularly, to a developing device for developing an exposed resist film formed on a wafer and drying a developing solution after the development. It relates to a developing method.

[0003]

2. Description of the Related Art FIG. 5A is a configuration diagram of a conventional developing device for developing an exposed resist film formed on a wafer and drying a cleaning liquid after the development, and FIG. FIG. 3 is a side view illustrating the details of a wafer mounting unit.

In FIGS. 5 (a) and 5 (b), reference numeral 1 denotes a cup for receiving a developing solution or the like and discharging the developing solution or the like through an outlet 2, and 3 denotes a disk-shaped wafer mounting portion, and a mounting surface. An exhaust port (not shown) for vacuum chucking the wafer is formed in the wafer. Reference numeral 4 denotes a spin motor for rotating the wafer mounting unit 1, and reference numeral 5 denotes a rotation axis of the wafer mounting unit 1 which is common to the rotation axis of the spin motor 4. You can also move yourself up and down. 6
Is a cylinder, 7 is a developer nozzle 13 and a cleaning liquid nozzle 1
An arm 6 is attached, 8 is a rotating shaft for rotating the arm 7 to move the developing solution nozzle 13 and the cleaning solution nozzle 16 above the wafer mounting part 3, and 9 is a developing solution discharged from the discharge port 14. A developer inlet to the developer nozzle 13;
Reference numeral 0 denotes a cleaning liquid inlet to a cleaning liquid nozzle 16 which discharges a cleaning liquid for replacing and cleaning the developing solution on the wafer through the discharge port 17 after development.

Next, a conventional developing method using the above-described developing apparatus will be described with reference to FIGS. 6 (a), 6 (b), 7 (c), and 7 (c).
This will be described with reference to FIG. First, the rotating shaft 5 is moved upward, and the wafer 1 on which the exposed resist film 12 is formed is formed.
After the wafer 1 is placed on the wafer platform 3 with the resist film 12 side up, the rotating shaft 5 is moved downward so that the wafer platform 3 is accommodated inside the cup 1 (FIG. 6A). .

Next, the developing solution nozzle 13 is moved above the wafer mounting portion 3, and the developing solution 15 is discharged from the discharge port 14 onto the wafer 11 and allowed to flow naturally, thereby covering the resist film 12.

Next, after maintaining this state for a predetermined time,
By rotating the spin motor 4, the developer 15 on the wafer 11 flows and scatters (FIG. 6B). Next, the wafer 11
By continuing to discharge the cleaning liquid 18 from the discharge port 17 of the cleaning liquid nozzle 16 while rotating the cleaning liquid, the development is stopped, and the developing liquid on the surface of the wafer 11 is replaced with the cleaning liquid 18 for cleaning (FIG. 7C). ).

Next, the discharge of the cleaning liquid 18 is stopped, the rotation speed of the spin motor 4 is increased, and the cleaning liquid 18 remaining on the wafer 11 is caused to flow and scatter by the centrifugal force due to the rotation, whereby the cleaning liquid 18 is removed from the surface of the wafer 11. After removal and drying, development is completed (FIG. 7D).

[0009]

FIG. 7 (d)
As shown in (1), when the cleaning liquid 18 is removed using the centrifugal force due to rotation, the magnitude of the centrifugal force differs between the peripheral portion and the central portion of the wafer 11. Therefore, the flow of the cleaning liquid 18 is slow at the center of the wafer 11 having a small centrifugal force, and the cleaning liquid 1
8 often remains without being completely removed.

Accordingly, the cleaning liquid 1 containing a minute amount of resist material
8 may remain and may become stains after drying. For this reason, in a later process, there is a problem that etching cannot be performed normally and a wafer is contaminated.

The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned problems of the prior art, and has a developing device and a developing device capable of removing a cleaning solution or the like on a developing object so that the cleaning solution does not remain on a developing object at the time of cleaning after development. The purpose is to provide a developing method.

[0012]

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the present invention relates to a developing apparatus, and includes a wafer mounting portion, a developing solution nozzle having a developing solution discharge port, and a cleaning solution nozzle having a cleaning solution discharging port. And a first movement for moving at least one of the developing solution and the cleaning solution nozzle such that at least one of the cleaning solution nozzle and the cleaning nozzle faces the wafer mounting portion. A gas nozzle having a gas inlet and an ejection port, wherein the developing device has at least means for rotating the wafer mounting portion about an axis perpendicular to an opposite surface of the wafer mounting portion. And second moving means for moving the gas nozzle so that the gas nozzle and the wafer mounting portion face each other, and the wafer mounting portion and the gas nozzle of the gas nozzle. In a state of being directed to; and a second rotating means for rotating the nozzle about an axis perpendicular to the facing surface. Further, the present invention relates to a developing method, a step of developing by covering a photosensitive film on a wafer after exposure with a developing solution, and discharging a cleaning liquid onto the wafer surface while rotating the wafer, Stop the development and scatter the developer.
A developing method having a step of flowing and replacing the cleaning liquid with the cleaning liquid to clean the developing liquid remaining on the wafer surface, and a step of removing the cleaning liquid remaining on the wafer;
The step of removing the cleaning liquid includes blowing a gas onto the wafer while rotating a gas nozzle having a discharge port on an opposite surface of the wafer around an axis perpendicular to the wafer surface, thereby scattering or flowing the cleaning liquid. The cleaning liquid remaining on the wafer is removed.

[0013]

According to the developing device of the present invention, since the developing device includes the gas nozzle having the gas ejection port and the second moving means for moving the gas nozzle so as to face the wafer mounting portion, the present invention provides the developing device. By ejecting gas onto the remaining wafer surface of the cleaning solution that has replaced the developing solution, as in the developing method of
Unlike the case of using the centrifugal force due to the conventional rotation, it is possible to make the removal force received by the washing liquid scattered or flown between the central part and the peripheral part more uniform. Further, since the second nozzle has a second rotating means for rotating the gas nozzle around an axis perpendicular to the facing surface in a state where the wafer mounting portion and the ejection opening of the gas nozzle are opposed to each other, the gas nozzle is used when ejecting the gas. By rotating, even if there is a variation in the gas ejection power of the individual gas ejection ports, the removal power based on the gas ejection power received by the cleaning liquid on the wafer can be made more uniform.

Thus, the cleaning liquid and the like can be removed so that the cleaning liquid does not remain on the developing object.

[0015]

【Example】

(1) First Embodiment FIG. 1A is a configuration diagram of a developing apparatus according to a first embodiment of the present invention, which performs from development of an exposed resist film formed on a wafer to removal of a cleaning liquid. FIG. 1B is a side view showing details of a wafer mounting portion, FIG. 2C is a side view showing details of a developing solution nozzle and a cleaning solution nozzle, and FIG.
FIG. 2 is a side view showing details of a gas nozzle.

In FIGS. 1A and 1B, reference numeral 21 denotes a cup for receiving a developed developer or the like and discharging the developer or the like through an outlet 22; 23, a disk-shaped wafer mounting portion; An intake port (not shown) for vacuum chucking the wafer is formed on the mounting surface. Reference numeral 24 denotes a spin motor for rotating the wafer mounting unit 21, and 25 denotes a rotation axis of the wafer mounting unit 23 which is common to the rotation axis of the spin motor 24, and rotates around the center of the rotation shaft 25. You can also move yourself up and down. Note that the spin motor 24 and the rotating shaft 25 constitute a first rotating unit. 26 is a cylinder.

In FIGS. 1A and 2C, reference numeral 27 denotes an arm on which a developing solution nozzle 36 and a cleaning solution nozzle 38 are mounted, and 28 denotes an arm 27 which is turned to rotate the wafer mounting portion 2.
3 is a rotating shaft for moving the developer nozzle 36 and the cleaning nozzle 38 above the nozzle 3. Note that the arm 27 and the rotating shaft 28
A motor (not shown) for rotating the rotation shaft 28 constitutes a first moving unit. 36 is an inlet 2 for introducing a developing solution
Reference numeral 9 denotes a developer nozzle having a discharge port 37 for discharging the introduced developer, and a reference numeral 38 denotes an inlet 30 for introducing a cleaning liquid for cleaning the developer on the wafer after development, and a discharge port for discharging the cleaning liquid onto the wafer. 39 is a cleaning liquid nozzle.

1 (a) and 2 (d), reference numeral 31 denotes an arm to which a gas nozzle 33 for ejecting gas is attached, and reference numeral 32 denotes a gas nozzle 33 which is rotated above the wafer mounting portion 23 by rotating the arm 31. Arm 3
1. The rotating shaft 32 and a motor (not shown) for rotating the rotating shaft 32 constitute a second moving unit. Reference numeral 33 denotes a gas nozzle having a plurality of ejection ports 40 for ejecting gas, which are formed, for example, radially on a surface of the disc-shaped base opposed to the wafer mounting portion 23. Reference numeral 34 denotes a spin motor for rotating the gas nozzle 33, and reference numeral 45 denotes a rotation shaft of the gas nozzle 33 which is connected to the spin motor 34 and is formed integrally with the gas nozzle 33. The spin motor 34 and the rotation shaft 45 serve as a second rotation means. Constitute. Reference numeral 35 denotes a gas inlet to the gas nozzle 33 penetrating through the inside of the spin motor 34 and the rotating shaft 45 and communicating with the gas nozzle 33.

As described above, according to the developing device of the first embodiment of the present invention, the gas nozzle 33 having the gas outlet 40 and the arm for moving the gas nozzle 33 so as to face the wafer mounting portion 23. 31 and the rotating shaft 32, the gas is ejected to the wafer surface where the cleaning liquid remains after replacing the developing liquid with the cleaning liquid, so that the centrifugal force by the conventional rotation is used. It is possible to make the removing power of the cleaning liquid that scatters or flows between the peripheral part and the cleaning liquid more uniform. In addition, since there is a spin motor 34 for rotating the gas nozzle 33 facing the wafer mounting portion 23 about an axis perpendicular to the facing surface, the output power of the gas from the individual gas outlets 40 varies. Even in the case where there is, it is possible to further uniform the removing force based on the jetting power of the gas received by the cleaning liquid on the wafer.

Thus, the wafer can be dried so that no cleaning liquid or the like remains on the wafer. In the first embodiment, a gas nozzle 33 having a plurality of ejection ports 40 radially formed on a surface of the disk-shaped base opposed to the wafer mounting portion 23 is used. Alternatively, one formed side by side on a single tubular substrate may be used.

(2) Second Embodiment Next, a method for developing a resist film (photosensitive film) on a wafer using the above-described developing device will be described. FIG.
(A), (b), FIGS. 4 (c) and (d) are side views for explaining the developing method of the second embodiment of the present invention.

First, the rotating shaft 23 is moved upward, and the wafer 41 on which the exposed resist film 42 is formed is moved to the resist film 4.
After the wafer mounting portion 23 is placed on the wafer mounting portion 23 with the two sides facing up, the rotating shaft 2 is
5 is moved downward (FIG. 3A).

Next, the developer nozzle 36 is moved onto the wafer mounting portion 23, and the developer 43 is supplied from the ejection port 37 to the wafer 4.
1 and spontaneously flow to cover the resist film 42. Next, this state is maintained for a predetermined time and the resist film 4
After developing the wafer 4, the spin motor 24 is rotated to rotate the wafer 4
The developer 43 on the top 1 flows and scatters (FIG. 3B).

Next, while rotating the spin motor 24,
The cleaning liquid 44 is continuously jetted from the jet port 39 of the cleaning liquid nozzle 38 to replace the developing liquid with the cleaning liquid 44, thereby performing cleaning. Thus, the development stops (FIG. 4C).

Next, the jetting of the cleaning liquid 44 is stopped, and the rotation of the spin motor 24 is stopped.
8 to rotate the developer nozzle 36 /
The cleaning liquid nozzle 38 is removed. Subsequently, the rotation shaft 32 is rotated to move the gas nozzle 33 above the wafer 41, and then the spin motor 34 is rotated to rotate the gas nozzle 33, and a high-pressure nitrogen gas is introduced from the gas inlet 34. And is ejected from the ejection port 40 (FIG. 4D). As a result, the cleaning liquid 44 remaining on the wafer 41 flows and flows.
When the wafer 41 is scattered and the surface of the wafer 41 is removed and dried, the development / drying is completed.

As described above, according to the developing method of the second embodiment of the present invention, the nitrogen gas is blown onto the surface of the wafer 41 on which the cleaning liquid 44 in which the developing liquid 43 has been replaced remains, thereby achieving the conventional rotation. Unlike the case where the centrifugal force is used, the removal force received by the cleaning liquid 44 that scatters or flows the cleaning liquid 44 between the central portion and the peripheral portion can be made more uniform. Further, the wafer mounting unit 23 is controlled by the spin motor 34.
Is rotated around an axis perpendicular to the opposing surface, so that the cleaning liquid 44 on the wafer 41 receives the cleaning liquid 44 even when there is a variation in the gas ejection power of the gas ejection port 40 of each gas. The removal power based on the gas ejection power can be made more uniform.

Thus, drying can be performed so that the cleaning liquid 44 and the like do not remain on the wafer 41.

[0028]

As described above, according to the developing apparatus of the present invention, the gas nozzle having the gas ejection hole and the second moving means for moving the gas nozzle so as to face the wafer mounting portion are provided. Therefore, as in the developing method of the present invention, by ejecting gas to the surface of the wafer on which the cleaning liquid of the developing solution remains, the cleaning liquid removing power for scattering or flowing the cleaning liquid between the central portion and the peripheral portion is obtained. Can be made more uniform.

Further, since there is provided a second rotating means for rotating the gas nozzle facing the wafer mounting portion around an axis perpendicular to the facing surface, the gas nozzle is rotated when the gas is jetted. In addition, it is possible to make the dispersion of the gas jetting power uniform, and to further uniform the removing power based on the gas jetting power received by the cleaning liquid on the wafer.

Thus, drying can be performed so that the cleaning liquid or the like does not remain on the developing object.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram (part 1) of a developing device according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a configuration diagram (part 2) of the developing device according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a side view (part 1) for describing a developing method according to a second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a side view (part 2) illustrating a developing method according to a second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a configuration diagram of a conventional developing device.

FIG. 6 is a side view (part 1) for explaining a conventional developing method.

FIG. 7 is a side view (part 2) for explaining a conventional developing method.

[Explanation of symbols]

 21 cup, 22 discharge port, 23 wafer mounting part, 24 spin motor (first rotating means), 25 rotating shaft (first rotating means), 26 cylinder, 27 arm (first moving means), 28 times Moving shaft (first moving means), 29, 30, 35 inlet, 31 arm (second moving means), 32 rotating shaft (second moving means), 33 gas nozzle, 34 spin motor (second Rotating means), 36 developing solution nozzle, 37, 39 discharge port, 38 cleaning solution nozzle, 40 spout, 41 wafer, 42 resist film (photosensitive film), 43 developing solution, 44 cleaning solution, 45 rotating shaft (second rotation) means).

Continuation of the front page (56) References JP-A-1-231046 (JP, A) JP-A-6-45244 (JP, A) JP-A-4-74413 (JP, A) , U) (58) Field surveyed (Int.Cl. ⁷ , DB name) H01L 21/027

Claims (2)

(57) [Claims] 1. A wafer mounting portion, a developing solution nozzle having a developing solution outlet, a cleaning solution nozzle having a cleaning solution outlet, and at least one of the cleaning solution nozzle and the cleaning nozzle. First moving means for moving at least one of the developing solution and the cleaning liquid nozzle so that the wafer mounting portion is opposed to the wafer mounting portion; and the first moving unit moves around an axis perpendicular to a facing surface of the wafer mounting portion. A developing device having at least a first rotating means for rotating a wafer mounting portion, wherein a gas nozzle having a gas inlet and an outlet is provided such that an outlet of the gas nozzle faces the wafer mounting portion. Second moving means for moving the gas nozzle; and rotating the gas nozzle about an axis perpendicular to the facing surface in a state where the wafer mounting portion and the ejection port of the gas nozzle face each other. A developing device for; and a second rotating means for rotating the. 2. A step of developing the photosensitive film on the exposed wafer by coating the photosensitive film on the wafer with a developing solution, and stopping the development by rotating the wafer and discharging a cleaning solution onto the wafer surface. A step of washing the developing solution remaining on the wafer surface by scattering and flowing the developing solution and replacing the cleaning solution with the cleaning solution; and a step of removing the cleaning solution remaining on the wafer. The step of removing the cleaning liquid comprises: blowing a gas onto the wafer while rotating a gas nozzle having a discharge port on the opposite surface of the wafer around an axis perpendicular to the wafer surface, thereby scattering or flowing the cleaning liquid. Removing the cleaning liquid remaining on the wafer by the method.