JP4997080B2 - Substrate processing equipment - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a substrate processing apparatus for supplying a processing liquid to a substrate such as an LCD, a glass substrate for PDP, and a semiconductor substrate and performing various processes.

  2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, predetermined processing is performed on a substrate by supplying various processing liquids to the surface of the substrate while transporting the substrate. For example, Patent Document 1 discloses that a substrate after chemical processing is transported. Further, there is disclosed a technique in which a cleaning liquid is sequentially supplied to a substrate by a liquid knife (slit nozzle) and a shower nozzle to perform a cleaning process.

In this apparatus, a belt-like cleaning liquid is first discharged obliquely from an upstream side to a downstream side in the transport direction with a liquid knife on a substrate that has been carried in, thereby promptly performing a chemical reaction sequentially from the front end side of the substrate. In addition, the substrate is terminated uniformly in the width direction of the substrate, and then the substrate is subjected to finish cleaning with the cleaning liquid discharged from the shower nozzle.
JP 2004-273984 A

  In the apparatus as described above, the substrate being transported is detected by a sensor, the discharge of the cleaning liquid is started slightly before the front end of the substrate reaches the cleaning liquid supply point by the liquid knife, and the rear end of the substrate passes through the supply point. The opening / closing valve for supplying the cleaning liquid is ON / OFF controlled so that the discharge of the cleaning liquid is stopped later. In that case, the flow rate of the cleaning liquid is not stable immediately after switching from the valve OFF to ON, and liquid dripping often occurs from the discharge port. Also, immediately after switching from the valve ON to OFF, the cleaning liquid remaining in the liquid knife may flow out of the discharge port and cause dripping.

  When the liquid dripping of the cleaning liquid occurs in this way, it may be dropped on the substrate being transported to deteriorate the quality of the substrate. That is, when the cleaning liquid is dropped onto the substrate from the liquid knife, a part of the chemical liquid is replaced early at a position upstream from the original liquid supply point, and as a result, the chemical reaction time is uniform within the substrate surface. It is considered that the property is impaired. Therefore, it is required to avoid such inconvenience.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and an object of the present invention is to prevent unnecessary processing liquid from dripping onto a substrate from a nozzle member such as a liquid knife, thereby improving the quality of the substrate. And

In order to solve the above-described problems, a substrate processing apparatus of the present invention includes a processing chamber provided with a processing liquid recovery pan at the inner bottom , and an upper surface of a substrate that is disposed in the processing chamber and is transported in the processing chamber . a nozzle member for discharging the processing liquid in an oblique direction toward the downstream side from the upstream side in the conveying direction, is disposed below the nozzle member, the liquid receiving member for Toeki the treatment liquid dripping from the nozzle member, the The nozzle member comprises a liquid knife that continuously discharges the processing liquid along a width direction orthogonal to the substrate transport direction, and the liquid receiving member has both longitudinal ends outside the both ends of the substrate. And has a saddle-like shape provided along the liquid knife so as to be positioned at the both ends of the processing chamber being fixed to the inner wall of the processing chamber so as to be supported in the processing chamber. On the other hand Opening which is partially cut out of the receiving member in which is formed.

  According to this apparatus, since the processing liquid dripped from the nozzle member is collected by the liquid receiving member, dripping of the processing liquid on the substrate due to dripping can be prevented in advance.

If this happens, the liquid receiving member extends horizontally in the longitudinal direction, it is preferred that that have a shape that only its inner bottom is inclined above downward toward the opening.

  According to this configuration, the processing liquid received by the liquid receiving member can be smoothly guided to the open portion and discharged, which is advantageous in preventing overflow of the processing liquid.

  According to the substrate processing apparatus of the present invention, it is possible to effectively prevent unnecessary processing liquid from dripping onto the substrate from the nozzle member, thereby improving the quality of the substrate.

  A preferred embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

  FIG. 1 schematically shows a substrate processing apparatus according to the present invention in a sectional view. The substrate processing apparatus 1 shown in this figure performs a cleaning process on the substrate S that has been subjected to a chemical process (for example, an etching process) in the previous process while transporting the substrate S in a horizontal posture in the direction of the arrow in the figure. Is.

  The substrate processing apparatus 1 has a processing chamber 10 that is substantially sealed as shown in FIG. In the processing chamber 10, a plurality of transport rollers 14 are arranged at predetermined intervals, and the substrate S is transported in a horizontal posture along a transport path constituted by the transport rollers 14. In addition, the code | symbol 12a in the figure shows the carrying-in port of the board | substrate S formed in the side wall of the process chamber 10, and the code | symbol 12b has shown the carrying-out port.

  Two kinds of liquid nozzles for supplying a rinsing liquid (in this example, pure water; corresponding to the processing liquid of the present invention) to the substrate S are provided in the processing chamber 10. Specifically, a liquid knife 16 (nozzle member according to the present invention) is provided in the immediate vicinity of the carry-in port 12a, and shower nozzles 18a and 18b are provided downstream of the liquid knife 16 (right side in the figure). Yes.

  The liquid knife 16 is fixed to the wall surface of the processing chamber 10 via an attachment arm (not shown). The liquid knife 16 is elongated in the width direction of the transport path of the substrate S (the direction orthogonal to the transport direction of the substrate S; the direction orthogonal to the paper surface in the figure) and continuously extends in the longitudinal direction. It consists of a so-called slit nozzle having a discharge port 16a (shown in FIG. 2), and is disposed above the transport roller 14 with the discharge port 16a inclined downward. As a result, as indicated by the symbol W in FIGS. 2 and 3, the rinsing liquid is ejected obliquely downward from the liquid knife 16 to the substrate S from the upstream side toward the downstream side in the transport direction in a strip shape (layered shape). It is the composition to do.

  A liquid receiving member 32 is provided below the liquid knife 16. The liquid receiving member 32 is a member for collecting the rinsing liquid dripped from the liquid knife 16 due to liquid dripping from the discharge port 16a. The liquid receiving member 32 is a bowl-shaped long member having a substantially V-shaped cross section and extending in the width direction of the transport path of the substrate S. At least both ends in the width direction are outside the both ends of the substrate S. It arrange | positions along the liquid knife 16 so that it may be located. In the present embodiment, both ends of the liquid receiving member 32 are fixed to the side walls 10a in the processing chamber 10, and are thereby supported in the processing chamber 10 so as to cross the conveyance path.

  The liquid receiving member 32 is partially cut off at both ends thereof, and thereby open portions 33 for discharging the rinse liquid are provided at both ends of the liquid receiving member 32. The positions of the open portions 33 are close to the side wall 10a as shown in FIG. 3 and are sufficiently spaced from both ends in the width direction of the substrate S, so that the rinse liquid does not flow down on the substrate S. Absent.

  On the other hand, the shower nozzles 18a and 18b are arranged on both upper and lower sides with the conveying roller 14 in between. It has become.

  The rinsing liquid is stored in a tank 20 disposed below the processing chamber 10 as shown in the figure, and is led out from the tank 20 through the outlet pipe 24 by the operation of the pump 22, and is branched from the outlet pipe 24. The supply pipes 26 to 28 are supplied to the liquid knife 16 and the shower nozzles 18a and 18b, respectively. The supply pipes 26 to 28 are provided with opening / closing valves V1 to V3, respectively, and the operation of the opening / closing valves V1 to V3 controls the supply / stop of the rinse liquid by the liquid knife 16 or the like, or the supply amount. .

  The processing chamber 10 is provided with a funnel-shaped recovery pan (not shown) at its inner bottom, and the used rinse liquid is returned to the tank 20 through the recovery pipe 30 while being collected by the recovery pan. It is supposed to be. That is, in the substrate processing apparatus 1, a rinse liquid supply / discharge system is configured to circulate and use the rinse liquid between the tank 20 and the liquid knife 16 and the like.

  The substrate processing apparatus 1 is provided with a controller 40, and is configured such that the driving of the conveying roller 14 and the switching operation of the opening / closing valves V <b> 1 to V <b> 3 are comprehensively controlled by the controller 40. For example, in the apparatus 1, as shown in FIG. 1, sensors (S) that detect the substrate S on the slightly upstream side of the carry-in port 12 a outside the process chamber 10 and in the vicinity of the carry-out port 12 b in the process chamber 10 The controller 40 is configured to control the opening / closing valves V1 to V3 based on the detection of the substrate S by the sensors 42 and 44.

  Next, the cleaning process of the substrate S by the substrate processing apparatus 1 will be described together with its effects.

  In this substrate processing apparatus 1, until the substrate S is detected by the first sensor 42, the open / close valves V1 to V4 are closed (OFF). Accordingly, the rinse liquid is supplied by the liquid knife 16 and the shower nozzles 18a and 18b. Has been stopped.

  When the substrate S is transported and the front end thereof is detected by the first sensor 42, the on-off valves V1 to V3 are switched from closed (OFF) to open (ON), whereby the liquid knife 16 and the shower nozzle 18a, The discharge of the rinse liquid from 18b is started.

  At this time, immediately after the opening and closing valves V1 to V3 are opened (ON), the flow rate of the rinsing liquid is not stable, so that the liquid knife 16 may drip and the rinsing liquid may drop through the lower end of the liquid knife 16. is there. Further, after the previous cleaning process (after the valve V1 is switched from open (ON) to closed (OFF)), the rinse liquid that flows out from the discharge port 16a and adheres to the tip of the liquid knife 16 drops. There is. However, since the liquid receiving member 32 is provided below the liquid knife 16 as described above, all of the rinsing liquid dropped from the liquid knife 16 is collected by the liquid receiving member 32, and the liquid receiving member 32 is moved along the liquid receiving member 32. Thus, it flows down from the opening portion 33 while being guided to both ends of the conveyance path. Accordingly, as shown in FIG. 2, the rinsing liquid is effectively prevented from dropping at a position P2 upstream of the original rinsing liquid supply position P1.

  When the substrate S reaches the rinsing liquid supply position P1, the rinsing liquid discharged from the liquid knife 16 is sequentially supplied over the entire width direction as the substrate S is transported. Will end quickly and uniformly in the width direction of the substrate S.

  Then, when the substrate S passes the position of the liquid knife 16, a large amount of rinse liquid discharged from the shower nozzles 18a and 18b is then supplied to the upper and lower surfaces of the substrate S, whereby the substrate S is finished and cleaned. When the substrate S is further transported and the leading edge of the substrate S is detected by the second sensor 44, the on-off valve V1 is switched from open (ON) to closed (OFF), whereby the rinse liquid from the liquid knife 16 is transferred. When the discharge is stopped and the rear end of the substrate S is detected by the second sensor 44, the open / close valves V2 and V3 are switched from open (ON) to closed (OFF), respectively, and thereby the shower nozzles 18a and 18b are switched. Stop discharging the rinse liquid. Thus, a series of cleaning processes for the substrate S is completed.

  Thus, in this substrate processing apparatus 1, the liquid receiving member 32 is provided below the liquid knife 16, and the rinsing liquid dripped from the liquid knife 16 due to liquid dripping is received by the liquid receiving member 32 from the liquid knife 16. Since an unnecessary rinse liquid is prevented from dripping onto the substrate S, the rinse liquid is dripped onto the substrate S before reaching the original supply position P1 of the rinse liquid, thereby causing a chemical reaction. However, it is possible to effectively prevent the occurrence of inconveniences such as the partial termination of the liquid at an early stage and the deterioration of the uniformity of the chemical treatment. Accordingly, the chemical liquid treatment can be more uniformly performed on the substrate S as much as such inconvenience can be avoided, and the quality of the substrate can be further improved.

  In addition, the substrate processing apparatus 1 mentioned above is illustration of preferable embodiment of the substrate processing apparatus which concerns on this invention, Comprising: The specific structure can be suitably changed in the range which does not deviate from the summary of this invention.

  For example, the shape, arrangement, and the like of the liquid receiving member 32 can be appropriately selected so that the rinse liquid dripped from the liquid knife 16 can be received satisfactorily. The cross-sectional shape of the liquid receiving member 32 may be formed in an arc shape, and the longitudinal dimension of the liquid receiving member 32 may be set to be the same as the width dimension of the liquid knife 16. When the portion where the liquid dripping occurs in the longitudinal direction of the liquid receiving member 32 is specific, the liquid receiving member 32 may be provided only in that portion.

  Moreover, the opening part 33 for discharging the rinsing liquid is not necessarily provided at both end portions of the liquid receiving member 32, and may be provided only on one side. However, since the rinsing liquid can be drained more smoothly if it is provided on both sides, the configuration as in the embodiment is adopted from the viewpoint of preventing overflow when the dripping amount of the rinsing liquid is large. Is desirable. In addition, the liquid receiving member 32 is fixed to the side wall 10a with the liquid receiving member 32 tilted with respect to a horizontal plane so that the rinsing liquid smoothly flows toward the opening portion 33, or the liquid receiving member 32 is horizontal and only the inner bottom surface thereof. It is good also as a structure which inclines in a longitudinal direction. For example, if the gradient is provided so that the liquid receiving member 32 is inclined downward from the longitudinal intermediate portion toward the open portion 33, the rinse liquid can be drained very smoothly.

  Further, as in the embodiment, the liquid receiving member 32 is provided with the opening 33, and in addition to draining by rinsing the rinse liquid received by the liquid receiving member 32, a drain pipe is connected to the liquid receiving member 32, The rinse liquid may be drained through the drain pipe.

  In the embodiment, the liquid receiving member 32 is fixed to the side wall 10 a of the processing tank 10. However, the liquid receiving member 32 may be provided integrally with the liquid knife 16.

  In the above-described embodiment, the example in which the present invention is applied to the substrate processing apparatus 1 that performs the cleaning process on the substrate S has been described. Of course, the present invention is not limited to the cleaning process, but is a substrate processing apparatus that performs a chemical liquid process. Is also applicable. In the embodiment, the case where the present invention is applied to the substrate processing apparatus 1 that performs processing while horizontally transporting the substrate S has been described. Of course, the substrate processing apparatus that performs processing on the substrate S while transporting the substrate S at an angle. The present invention is also applicable to.

It is sectional drawing which shows the substrate processing apparatus which concerns on this invention. It is a principal part expanded sectional view of the substrate processing apparatus which shows the relationship between a liquid knife, a liquid receiving member, and the supply position of a rinse liquid. FIG. It is a plane sectional view which shows a substrate processing apparatus (near the arrangement | positioning position of a liquid knife).

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Substrate processing apparatus 10 Processing chamber 14 Conveyance roller 16 Liquid knife 18a, 18b Shower nozzle 32 Liquid receiving member S Substrate

Claims (2)

A processing chamber having a processing liquid recovery pan at the inner bottom;
A nozzle member which is disposed in the processing chamber and discharges the processing liquid in an oblique direction from the upstream side to the downstream side in the transport direction on the upper surface of the substrate transported in the processing chamber ;
This is located below the nozzle member comprises a Toeki to the liquid receiving member, the treatment liquid dripping from the nozzle member,
The nozzle member comprises a liquid knife that continuously discharges a processing liquid along a width direction orthogonal to a substrate transport direction,
The liquid receiving member has a bowl shape provided along the liquid knife so that both ends in the longitudinal direction are located outside the both ends of the substrate, and both ends are fixed to the inner wall of the processing chamber. The substrate processing apparatus is characterized in that an open portion in which a part of the liquid receiving member is cut out is formed in at least one of the both end portions . The substrate processing apparatus according to claim 1,
The liquid receiving member may extend horizontally in the longitudinal direction, the substrate processing apparatus according to claim Rukoto to have a shape in which only the inner bottom is inclined above downward toward the opening.

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