JPH09162147A - Substrate treating system - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To obtain a substrate treating system in which the liquid can be cut sufficiently before drying up pefectly at the time of transferring the substrate from an upstream side treating bath to a downstream side treating bath while suppressing the facility cost. SOLUTION: The substrate treating system comprises a partition wall 13 interposed between an upstream side treating bath 2 and a downstream side treating bath 3, an opening for passing a substrate B made through the partition wall 13, and a roller 15 for transferring the substrate B from the upstream side treating bath 2 through the opening to the downstream side treating bath 3 substantially in horizontal attitude. An air knife part 40 for blowing a gas to the surface of the substrate B being fed with a treating liquid is provided at the opening while extending in the direction intersecting the carrying direction of the substrate B perpendicularly. The air knife part 40 comprises an upstream side air knife 41 and a downstream side air knife 42 having nozzles 41c, 42c inclining in the direction approaching each other on the forward end side thereof.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a substrate processing apparatus in which a plurality of processing baths for supplying a processing liquid to a substrate transported in a substantially horizontal direction are connected in series.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Substrates such as liquid crystals and semiconductors are sequentially transported in a substantially horizontal posture by a transporting means such as a conveyor belt or rollers into a processing bath in which a plurality of processing baths are arranged in series. Predetermined processing is performed by supplying various processing liquids. As the processing liquid, for example, a developing liquid, a cleaning liquid, an etching liquid, a stripping liquid, pure water, or the like having different properties is used, and different processing liquids are supplied to the respective processing tanks.
A partition wall having an opening through which a substrate is passed is provided between the processing tanks, and the opening allows the substrates to be transferred between the processing tanks. I try not to mix them.

However, when the substrate to which the processing liquid is supplied in the upper processing tank is conveyed to the lower processing tank through the opening, the upper processing liquid adheres to the substrate transferred to the lower processing tank. Therefore, in the lower side processing tank, the upper side processing liquid and the lower side processing liquid are mixed with each other on the substrate, and the property of the lower side processing liquid is changed, resulting in defective processing of the substrate. Occurs. In particular, when a chemical solution is used as the good-side processing solution, if the processing solution of the lower-side processing layer mixes with the good-side processing solution, the property changes greatly and the processing quality deteriorates significantly.

As a substrate processing apparatus adopting measures for avoiding such inconvenience, an air knife facing the front and back surfaces of the substrate is provided at the exit of the upper processing tank,
A similar air knife was also installed at the inlet of the lower processing tank, and a liquid draining device that prevented the processing liquid on the upper side from moving to the lower processing tank due to the discharge of gas from these air knives to the front and back surfaces of the substrate. , Liquid draining rollers are installed at the outlet and inlet of the processing tanks on the upper and lower sides so as to cross the front and back of the substrate, and the processing liquids on the upper and lower sides are not mixed by this liquid draining roller. Such a drainer is known. In addition to these, there is known one in which the transfer of the substrate is temporarily stopped when the supply of the processing liquid in each processing tank is completed, and the substrate is tilted to perform the liquid draining.

[0005]

By the way, in the case where the air knives are provided inside both the above-mentioned upper processing tank and the lower processing tank, the distance between the air knives becomes large and the supply amount of air is large. Is likely to become excessive, and the substrate may dry to cause spot-like or band-like unevenness on the front and back surfaces, and particles adhering to this unevenness adhere to the surface of the substrate due to drying, making removal difficult. I had a problem. Therefore, the substrate may be made semi-dry, but this adjustment is very difficult.

Further, in the case where the liquid draining roller is provided, it is difficult to adjust the gap between the liquid draining rollers, and if the distance between the substrate and the roller is too small, the suspended matter in the air adhering to the roller will be the surface of the substrate. However, if the distance between the substrate and the roller is too wide, the liquid draining of the substrate becomes insufficient.

Further, in the case where the substrate is tilted to perform the liquid draining, a mechanism for tilting the substrate is required in the transfer path in the processing tank, and the apparatus becomes complicated. In addition to the increase in equipment cost, it takes time to tilt the substrate and restore it to its original horizontal position, which causes a problem that the processing efficiency of the substrate decreases.

The present invention has been made in order to solve the above-mentioned problems, and has a small and simple structure, and when the substrate is transferred from the upper processing tank to the lower processing tank, It is an object of the present invention to provide a substrate processing apparatus capable of performing necessary and sufficient drainage in a state in which it is not completely dried.

[0009]

According to the first aspect of the present invention,
The upper processing tank and the lower processing tank are formed through a partition wall having an opening for passing the substrate, and supply different processing liquids respectively, and the substrate is transferred from the upper processing tank to the lower processing tank through the opening. In a substrate processing apparatus comprising a transfer means for transferring a gas and a gas supply means for spraying a gas onto the substrate to drain the processing liquid at the opening, the gas supply means includes upper and lower sides of a partition wall. And a lower-side nozzle that are respectively directed to face the opening and that are configured to discharge gas toward the upper-side discharge position and the lower-side discharge position with respect to the substrate. However, the upper hand side nozzle and the lower hand side nozzle are arranged and set such that the upper hand side ejection position and the lower hand side ejection position substantially coincide with each other.

According to the present invention, the processing liquid is supplied to the substrate introduced into the upper processing tank in the horizontal posture by the transfer means, and after the predetermined processing is performed by the processing liquid, the processing liquid is provided on the partition wall. It is fed into the lower processing bath through the opening, where a processing liquid of a different type from the above-mentioned processing liquid is supplied, and a predetermined processing is performed with this processing liquid.

When the substrate passes through the opening,
From the good side nozzle to the good side discharge position on the substrate,
Further, gas is discharged from the lower side nozzle toward the lower side discharge position, and both discharge positions are set to substantially coincide with each other, so that the gas is discharged from the upper side nozzle to the upper part of the substrate located in the opening. Gas and the gas blown out from the lower side nozzle collide to form a turbulent flow, and the part where this turbulent flow is formed has a higher pressure than the inside of the processing tank on the upper side and the lower side, Air currents are generated from the turbulent flow forming portion toward the upper and lower processing tanks.

The air flow blows off the treatment liquid present on the treatment liquid supply surface of the substrate, whereby the treatment liquid in the upper treatment tank and the treatment liquid in the lower treatment tank are applied to the substrate positioned at the opening. A boundary area is formed in which the two do not mix with each other. Due to the existence of this boundary area, the processing liquid of the upper processing tank remaining on the substrate sent from the upper processing tank to the lower processing tank is not mixed into the lower processing tank, and it is possible to mix both processing solutions. Negative effects on substrate processing are avoided. Similarly, the processing liquid of the lower processing layer does not mix into the upper processing layer.

Moreover, the gas blown out from the upper gas outlet and the gas blown out from the lower gas outlet cross each other or collide with each other on the surface to be supplied with the processing liquid of the substrate, so that the above-mentioned boundary is caused. The width of the region in the substrate transport direction is smaller than that of the boundary region in which the gas is discharged in the direction away from the conventional upper and lower nozzles. Therefore, it is possible to suppress the complete drying of the processing liquid supply surface of the substrate in the boundary area, and it is possible to reliably suppress the occurrence of unevenness due to the complete drying of the substrate.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the first aspect of the present invention, the upper discharge position and the lower discharge position are coincident with each other on the opening surface of the opening. is there.

According to the present invention, it is possible to minimize the width dimension in the substrate transfer direction of the boundary area where the processing liquid in the upper processing tank and the processing liquid in the lower processing tank do not mix with each other on the substrate. It will be possible.

The third aspect of the present invention is the first or second aspect.
In the described invention, the upper side nozzle and the lower side nozzle are characterized in that the angles facing the opening are set to be the same.

According to the present invention, the specifications of the upper side nozzle and the lower side nozzle can be made the same, and the equipment cost can be reduced.

[0018]

1 is an explanatory view showing an embodiment of a substrate processing apparatus 1 according to the present invention. Substrate processing apparatus 1
Is formed by arranging a plurality of processing tanks 11 in parallel so as to be adjacent to each other. Each processing tank 11 has a rectangular parallelepiped substrate processing chamber 12 for processing the substrate B at the top. The substrate processing chambers 12 are formed with a partition wall 13 in between, and an opening 14 is formed in the partition wall 13 for allowing the substrate B to pass therethrough. The substrate B is sequentially transported from the processing tank 11 on the left side in FIG. 1 toward the processing tank 11 on the right side through these openings 14. A mortar-shaped funnel portion 12a is provided below the substrate processing chamber 12 so that the processing liquid supplied to the substrate B is collected.

Inside each processing tank 11, there is provided a roller (conveying means) 15 having an axis perpendicular to the conveying direction of the substrate B. These rollers 15 are set in the substrate processing chamber 12 at substantially the same height as the opening 14 and arranged side by side. The substrate B, which is placed on the rollers 15, is adapted to move from the upper processing tank 11 to the lower processing tank 11 through the opening 14 by the rotational driving of the rollers 15. In the following, in FIG. 1, the processing tank 11 on the left side of the central portion is the processing tank 2 on the upper side and the processing tank 11 on the right side.
Is called the lower processing tank 3.

The above-mentioned upper processing tank 2 has a sprinkling pipe 21 arranged above the row of rollers 15 in the substrate processing chamber 12, and from this sprinkling pipe 21 to the substrate B on the roller 15. The good processing liquid X is supplied toward the surface.
The surface of the substrate B is subjected to a predetermined process by the supply of the good side processing liquid X. The good-side processing liquid X used for processing the substrate B drops from the edge of the substrate B,
It is adapted to be collected in the liquid distilling tank 22 provided below the funnel portion 12a.

Between the liquid distilling tank 22 and the sprinkling pipe 21, the upper processing liquid X in the liquid distilling tank 22 is sprinkled in the liquid sprinkling pipe 2.
1 is provided with a processing liquid supply pipeline 23 for supplying the processing liquid, and the processing liquid supply pipe 23 for supplying the processing liquid is provided with a processing liquid supply pump 23a and a filter 23b from the upstream side. The upper processing liquid X in the liquid distilling tank 22 is circulated and used by driving the pump 23a.

The lower processing bath 3 has a sprinkling pipe 31 arranged above the row of rollers 15 in the substrate processing chamber 12. The lower processing liquid Y is supplied from the liquid sprinkling pipe 31 toward the surface of the substrate B on the roller 15.
The surface of the substrate B is subjected to a predetermined process by the supply of the lower processing liquid Y. Then, the lower-side processing liquid Y used for processing the substrate B drops from the edge of the substrate B and is collected in the liquid distilling tank 32 provided therebelow via the funnel portion 12a. There is.

In the present embodiment, the processing liquid X on the good side includes development for processing the substrate, etching separation, etc.
A predetermined chemical liquid is used, and as the lower processing liquid Y, a cleaning chemical liquid for cleaning and removing the chemical liquid on the substrate and cleaning water such as pure water are used.

Between the liquid distilling tank 32 and the sprinkling pipe 31, the lower processing liquid Y in the liquid distilling tank 32 is sprinkled on the sprinkling pipe 3.
1 is provided with a lower processing liquid supply pipeline 33, and the lower processing liquid supply pipeline 33 is provided with a processing liquid supply pump 33a and a filter 33b from the upstream side. By driving the pump 33a, the lower processing liquid Y in the liquid distilling tank 32 is circulated and used.

An opening 1 is provided near each of the processing tanks 2 and 3.
Gas supply means 4 for spraying a gas onto the surface of the substrate B passing through 4 is provided. This gas supply means 4
Has an air knife portion 40 (see FIG. 2) attached to the partition wall 13 at the upper edge of the opening 14 and a gas source 43 for supplying gas to the air knife portion 40 through a gas supply conduit 44. doing.

FIG. 2 is a partially cutaway perspective view showing an embodiment of the air knife portion 40 provided in the opening 14 of the partition wall 13, and FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view of the air knife portion 40. . As shown in these figures, the air knife portion 40
Is a side air knife 41 and a side air knife 42
Are formed. These air knives 4
Reference numerals 1 and 42 denote solid portions 41a and 42a, respectively, which are solidly formed on the upper portion along the entire length in the longitudinal direction.
Air passages 41b and 42b formed in the lower part of 1a and 42a so as to extend horizontally, and these air passages 41
Nozzles 41c and 42c having gas outlets 41d and 42d communicating with b and 42b are provided.

Each of the air knives 41, 42 has a rectangular parallelepiped metal or resin (PVC) of a predetermined thickness whose length dimension is set so as to cross at least the substrate B being conveyed.
Etc.) is formed by blocks. On the other hand, at the lower end edge of the partition wall 13 formed at the upper part of the opening 14, a bifurcated upper bracket 13a that projects toward the inside of the upper processing tank 2 and is open downward is provided. At the same time, a bifurcated lower bracket 13b is provided which projects into the lower processing tank and is open downward. And the solid portion 4 of each air knife 41, 42
1a and 42a are fitted into the brackets 13a and 13b, respectively, and are fixed in a bolted state.

The air knife portion 40 has the bracket 1
In the state of being fixed to 3a and 13b, a slight gap is formed between the upper side gas outlet 41d and the lower side gas outlet 42d and the substrate B passing thereunder so that a slight gap is formed. The mounting position is set so that the air knife portion 40 and the substrate B do not interfere with each other.

The air knife section 40 is attached to the partition wall 13.
The upper gas outlet 41d faces the lower surface of the substrate B passing through the opening 14 and the lower gas outlet 42d faces the upper surface of the substrate B while being fixed to the substrate B. The air knife 4 on the right side
The gas supplied from the gas supply means 4 is discharged from 1 toward the upper discharge position on the surface of the substrate B, and from the lower air knife 42 toward the lower discharge position.

In this embodiment, as shown in FIG. 3, an angle α formed between the surface of the substrate B and the nozzle center line S1 extending in the gas blowing direction of the upstream nozzle 41c.
Is set to be smaller than the angle β formed between the nozzle center line S2 of the lower side nozzle 42c and the surface of the substrate B (that is, α <β), whereby the lower side due to the air flow from the upper side air knife 41. The pressing force on the processing liquid layer Y1 is made larger than the pressing force on the upper processing liquid layer X1 by the air flow from the lower air knife 42, and in particular, the lower processing liquid Y1 is prevented from entering the upper processing tank 2. It is supposed to do.

Further, in the present embodiment, the upper hand side nozzle center line S1 and the lower hand side nozzle center line S2 intersect with each other on the surface of the substrate B and on the opening surface of the opening 14. That is, each nozzle 4 is arranged so that the upper discharge position and the lower discharge position match on the opening surface of the opening 14.
The angles of 1c and 42c are set, and the board B
The width dimension d of the boundary region R where the treatment liquid layers X1 and Y1 do not exist on the surface of is reduced.

On the other hand, in the vicinity of the substrate processing apparatus 1, as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, a gas source 43 for supplying a high pressure gas to the air knife section 40 is arranged. In this embodiment, a high-pressure nitrogen cylinder is used as the gas source 43, and the high-pressure nitrogen gas is supplied from this cylinder to the air knives 41 and 42. Specifically, the gas source 43
A gas supply pipeline 44 is connected to the gas supply pipeline 4
Reference numeral 4 denotes a downstream end, which is branched into an upper hand side branch pipe 44a and a lower hand side branch pipe 44b.

The upstream side branch pipe 44a has its downstream end through the upstream side opening / closing valve 45a and the upstream side air knife 41.
The lower side branch pipe 44b is connected at its downstream end to the lower side air knife 42 via the lower side opening / closing valve 45b. Therefore, each on-off valve 45a, 4
Each air knife 4 by adjusting the opening of 5b
It is possible to change the discharge amount of the gas discharged from 1, 42.

In the present embodiment, the right side opening / closing valve 45
The opening degree of a is made larger than the opening degree of the lower side opening / closing valve 45b, so that the amount of gas discharged from the upper side air knife 41 is made larger than the amount of gas discharged from the lower side air knife 42. The side processing solution Y is surely prevented from entering the upper processing tank 2. By performing the opening / closing operation, the high-pressure gas from the gas source 43 is adjusted and supplied to the air passages 41b and 42b of the air knives 41 and 42 through the gas supply pipe line 44.

According to the substrate processing apparatus 1 having the above structure, the substrate B transferred from the upper processing tank 2 to the lower processing tank 3 by the driving rotation of the roller 15 has the opening 14 of the partition wall 13.
When passing through, the upper surface of the air knife portion 40 receives a gas jet from the upper gas outlet 41d and a gas jet from the lower gas outlet 42d. Immediately below the partition wall 13, a turbulent flow region is formed due to the collision of the airflow from each of the air knives 41 and 42 and the airflow from the lower gas outlet 42d.

The upper-side processing liquid layer X1 formed on the surface of the substrate B is pushed to the upstream side of the surface of the substrate B by the air current flowing from the turbulent flow toward the upstream side, so that the opening is formed. The surface of the substrate B passing through the portion 14 is in a state in which the upper processing liquid layer X1 is removed. Further, the lower processing liquid layer Y1 by the lower processing liquid Y supplied to the surface of the substrate B from the sprinkling nozzle 31a is pressed by the air flow toward the downstream side from the turbulent flow, and the lower processing liquid layer Y1 is It is blocked from going upstream. Therefore, the upper processing liquid X and the lower processing liquid Y do not mix with each other on the substrate B.

Moreover, since the upper side nozzle 41c and the lower side nozzle 42c are inclined so that their tips approach each other, the boundary of the surface of the substrate B due to the gas discharged from the gas outlets 41d and 42d. Width R of area R
Becomes narrower, and complete drying in this area is reliably prevented. Then, by setting the intersection of the upper side nozzle center line S1 and the lower side nozzle center line S2 on the surface of the substrate B, the width dimension d can be minimized.

FIG. 4 is a partially enlarged explanatory view in which an essential part of FIG. 1 is enlarged in order to explain the operation of the present invention.
The state immediately before the substrate B reaches the opening 14, (b) is
A state where the downstream end (right side) of the substrate B reaches the opening 14,
(C) shows a state in which the substrate B is passing through the opening 14,
(D) shows a state in which the substrate B has passed through the opening 14 and the upstream end thereof has been transported to the downstream side of the spray nozzle 31a.

First, as shown in FIG. 4 (a), immediately before the substrate B in the upper processing tank 2 reaches the opening 14 of the partition wall 13, the sprinkle pipe 21 of the upper processing tank 2 is removed. By supplying the upper-side processing liquid X, the upper-side processing liquid layer X1 is formed on the entire surface of the substrate B. Further, since the lower processing liquid Y supplied from the sprinkling pipe 31 of the lower processing tank 3 does not have the substrate B in the lower portion, it is in a state of flowing down to the funnel portion 12a of the lower processing tank 3 as it is. Further, the gas outlets 41d, 4 of the air knife unit 40
The gases supplied from 2d are in a state where they cross each other at the lower part as shown by the arrow.

Next, in the state shown in FIG. 4B, the downstream end of the substrate B reaches the opening 14 and a part thereof passes over the opening 14. In this state,
The gas supplied from each of the air knives 41 and 42 of the air knife unit 40 is supplied to the surface of the substrate B by a constriction, and the good side processing liquid layer X1 formed on the surface of the substrate B is upstream ( It will be pushed to the left).

Next, in the state shown in FIG. 4C, the downstream side of the substrate B enters the lower processing tank 3 by a considerable length,
The lower processing liquid Y is supplied to the surface of the substrate B from the sprinkling pipe 31 of the lower processing tank 3. In this state, the gas is ejected from the gas outlets 41d and 42d, and the turbulent airflow formed by the intersections prevents the upper processing liquid layer X1 from proceeding to the downstream side and is ejected from the lower gas outlet 42d. The gas flow prevents the lower processing liquid Y from entering the upstream side, whereby the upper processing liquid X and the lower processing liquid Y are mixed with each other on the substrate B immediately below the air knife section 40. The strip-shaped boundary region R (FIGS. 2 and 3) is formed.
In this state, the lower processing liquid layer Y1 is sequentially formed on the downstream side of the liquid spray tube 31 of the substrate B.

Then, in the state shown in FIG. 4D, the upstream end of the substrate B passes below the discharge flow of the lower processing liquid Y from the sprinkling pipe 31 of the lower processing bath 3. Thus, the lower processing liquid layer Y1 is formed on the entire surface of the substrate B.

As described in detail above, the substrate processing apparatus 1 of the present embodiment has the upper edge portion of the opening 14 formed in the partition wall 13 for partitioning the upper processing tank 2 and the lower processing tank 3 from each other. An air knife portion 40 is provided, and a belt-like airflow is ejected with a constriction from the upper gas outlet 41d and the lower gas outlet 42d so as to traverse the substrate B conveyed to the opening 14. Substrate B has opening 1
4, the upper processing liquid X and the lower processing liquid X on the substrate B immediately below the air knife portion 40 due to the air currents flowing from the upper gas outlet 41d and the lower gas outlet 42d toward the upstream side and the downstream side. A boundary region R is formed in which the side treatment liquid Y does not mix with each other.

Therefore, when passing through the opening 14 of the partition wall 13, the upper processing liquid X and the lower processing liquid Y are surely prevented from being mixed with each other on the surface of the substrate B, and the boundary region is prevented. Since the width dimension d (FIG. 3) of R is also much smaller than that of the conventional one, the substrate B is not sprinkled on the surface of the substrate B until the lower side processing liquid Y is sprinkled from the sprinkling pipe 31.
The occurrence of unevenness due to the complete drying of the surface of the is reliably suppressed, and the adhesion of the floating mist to the surface of the substrate B due to the complete drying is reliably suppressed.

The present invention is not limited to the above embodiment, but the following embodiment can be adopted. (1) In the above embodiment, the air knife portion 40 is provided only on the upper edge portion of the opening portion 14 formed in the partition wall 13, but may be provided also on the lower edge portion of the opening portion 14, The gas may be jetted to the back surface of the substrate B by an air knife provided at the lower edge portion. By doing so, even if the good side processing liquid X adheres to the back surface of the substrate B,
The mixing of the lower processing liquid Y into the upper processing liquid X is reliably suppressed.

(2) In the above embodiment, nitrogen is applied to the gas blown from the air knife section 40.
The present invention is not limited to the case where the gas ejected from the air knife section 40 is nitrogen, and air may be used depending on the type of the processing liquid for processing the substrate B, or other inert gas. May be used. Further, a reducing gas such as hydrogen may be used depending on the case.

(3) In the above embodiment, the gas outlets 41d and 42d of the air knife portion 40 are formed by slit-shaped openings extending in the direction (longitudinal direction) orthogonal to the substrate B transport direction. , Each gas outlet 41
Instead of forming the slits d and 42d, a large number of gas outlets formed in spots are arranged in parallel in the longitudinal direction, and the gas outlets of each spot are arranged so that the discharge areas on the substrate B overlap with each other. You may make it set the space | interval between gas outlets.

(4) In the above embodiment, the roller 15 that is driven and rotated is used as the transporting means for transporting the substrate B, but the transporting means is not limited to the roller 15 in the present invention, and a conveyor belt is used. May be used. In this case, the air knife section 40 is provided only on the upper surface side of the substrate B.

(5) In the above embodiment, the processing liquids X and Y supplied to the substrate B are circulated and used, but in the present invention, the processing liquids X and Y are circulated and used. It is not limited to this, and it may be discharged to the outside of the system after being supplied to the substrate B.

(6) In the above embodiment, a predetermined chemical liquid for treating the substrate is used as the upper processing liquid X, and a lower chemical liquid Y is used for cleaning and removing the chemical liquid on the substrate. Although the washing water of
It is not applied only when a chemical solution is used as the upper processing liquid X and cleaning water is used as the lower processing liquid Y.
The present invention can be applied to a case where cleaning water is used as the upper processing liquid X and a chemical liquid is used as the lower processing liquid Y, and one of the processing liquids is not limited to the cleaning water. Both may be a chemical solution or a cleaning solution.

(7) In the above embodiment, the upper discharge position and the lower discharge position on the surface of the substrate B in the opening 14 are made to coincide with each other, but in the present invention, both discharge positions are coincident with each other. However, the upper discharge position and the lower discharge position may be slightly separated or intersect with each other.

(8) In the above embodiment, the inclination angle α of the upper hand side nozzle center line S1 and the inclination angle β of the lower hand side nozzle center line S2 are different, but both nozzle center lines S are different.
The inclination angles α and β of 1 and S2 may be the same. By doing so, the upper side air knife 41 and the lower side air knife 42 can be made to have the same specifications, so that the air knives 41 and 42 can be shared,
It becomes possible to reduce the manufacturing cost.

[0053]

According to the invention described in claim 1, the gas supply means is oriented so as to face the opening on the upper side and the lower side of the partition wall, respectively, and discharges on the upper side of the substrate. The upper hand side nozzle and the lower hand side nozzle which are provided so as to discharge the gas toward the position and the lower side discharge position, and the upper hand side so that the upper hand side discharge position and the lower hand side discharge position are substantially coincident with each other. Since the nozzle and the lower side nozzle are arranged and set, when the substrate passes through the opening, the substrate moves from the upper side nozzle to the upper side discharge position and from the lower side nozzle to the lower side discharge position. Gas is discharged. Then, on the upper part of the substrate located at the opening, the gas blown out from the upper side nozzle and the gas blown out from the lower side nozzle collide with each other to form a turbulent flow. Has a higher pressure than in the upper and lower processing tanks, and an air flow is generated from the turbulent flow forming portion toward the upper and lower processing tanks.

The air flow blows off the processing liquid existing on the surface of the substrate to which the processing liquid is supplied, whereby the processing liquid in the upper processing tank and the processing liquid in the lower processing tank are applied to the substrate positioned at the opening. A boundary area is formed in which the two do not mix with each other. Due to the existence of this boundary area, the processing liquid from the upper processing tank does not remain on the substrate sent from the upper processing tank to the lower processing tank and is mixed into the lower processing tank, and vice versa. Therefore, the adverse effect on the substrate processing due to the mixture of both processing solutions can be avoided.

Moreover, the gas blown out from the upper gas outlet and the gas blown out from the lower gas outlet cross each other or collide with each other on the surface to which the processing liquid is supplied on the substrate. The width of the region in the substrate transport direction is smaller than that of the boundary region in which the gas is discharged in the direction away from the conventional upper and lower nozzles. Therefore, it is possible to suppress complete drying of the processing liquid supply surface of the substrate in the boundary area, and it is possible to reliably suppress the occurrence of unevenness due to the complete drying of the substrate. Adhesion of the mist to the substrate surface is surely suppressed.

According to the second aspect of the invention, since the upper discharge position and the lower discharge position are coincident with each other on the opening surface of the opening, the width of the boundary area in the substrate transfer direction is minimized. It becomes possible to

According to the third aspect of the invention, the upper side nozzle and the lower side nozzle are set to have the same angle facing the opening, so that the specifications of the upper side nozzle and the lower side nozzle are specified. Since it is possible to use the same nozzle and share the nozzle, it is possible to reduce the equipment cost.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram showing an embodiment of a substrate processing apparatus according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a partially cutaway perspective view showing an embodiment of an air knife portion provided in an opening of a partition wall.

FIG. 3 is a partially enlarged sectional view of the air knife portion shown in FIG.

FIG. 4 is a partially enlarged explanatory view in which an essential part of FIG. 1 is enlarged to explain the operation of the present invention, (a) is a state immediately before the substrate reaches the opening, and (b) is a substrate. The downstream end (right side) of the substrate has reached the opening, (c) the substrate is passing through the opening, and (d) the substrate has passed through the opening and its upstream end is sprinkled. The respective states are shown when they are transported to the downstream side of the nozzle.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Substrate processing apparatus 11 Processing tank 12 Substrate processing chamber 13 Partition wall 14 Opening 13a Upper side bracket 13b Lower side bracket 15 Roller (conveying means) 2 Upper side processing tank 21 Dispersion pipe (processing liquid supply means) 22 Liquid retention tank 23 Superior Treatment Liquid Supply Pipeline 23a Treatment Liquid Supply Pump 23b Filter 3 Superior Treatment Tank 31 Dispersion Pipe (Treatment Liquid Supply Means) 32 Liquid Distillation Tank 33 Lower Treatment Liquid Supply Pipeline 33a Treatment Liquid Supply Pump 33b Filter 4 Gas supply means 40 Air knife part 41 Upper side air knife 42 Lower side air knife 43 Gas source 44 Gas supply line R Boundary area X Upper side processing liquid X1 Upper side processing liquid layer Y Lower side processing liquid Y1 Lower side processing liquid layer

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A side processing tank and a side processing tank which are formed through a partition wall having an opening through which a substrate passes and which supply different processing liquids, respectively, and a processing side from the side processing tank to the lower side through the opening. In a substrate processing apparatus comprising a transfer means for transferring a substrate to a side processing tank and a gas supply means for blowing a gas onto the substrate to drain the processing liquid at the opening, the gas supply means is a partition wall. An upper-side nozzle and a lower side which are respectively directed to the upper side and the lower side so as to face the opening and which are provided so as to discharge gas toward the upper-side discharge position and the lower-side discharge position with respect to the substrate. A substrate processing apparatus having a side nozzle, wherein the upper-side nozzle and the lower-side nozzle are arranged and set so that the upper-side discharge position and the lower-side discharge position substantially match. 2. The substrate processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the upper discharge position and the lower discharge position are coincident with each other on the opening surface of the opening. 3. The upper side nozzle and the lower side nozzle,
3. The substrate processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the angles facing the openings are set to be the same.