JP2014157984A - Rotary coating apparatus and cleaning method of the same - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To prevent dryness of an inner wall surface of a spin cup and clean a coating liquid adhering to the inner wall surface with a small amount of a cleaning fluid.SOLUTION: A rotary coating apparatus includes: rotary parts 2, 3 which fix a substrate S and rotate the substrate; a nozzle which supplies a coating liquid to the substrate; a spin cup 5 having a center opening 5c that may supply the coating liquid from the nozzle to the substrate S and enclosing the substrate S; spin cup cleaning means 7, 15 which flow a cleaning fluid from a cleaning fluid supply passage 7 provided on an inner wall surface of the spin cup 5, which faces the substrate, along the inner wall surface to clean the inner wall surface; and airflow control means which stops movement of airflow in the spin cup 5 except during deposition process where the coating liquid is supplied to the substrate S while the substrate S is rotated to form a coating liquid film on the substrate S.

Description

  The present invention relates to a spin coater and a spin coater for spin-coating a photoresist or developer on a substrate to be processed such as a semiconductor wafer, or spin-coating a coating solution that becomes a functional thin film on a substrate by a chemical solution method. The present invention relates to a cleaning method for a coating apparatus, and more particularly, to a spin coating apparatus for cleaning a coating liquid scattered from a substrate during a spin coating process and an inner wall surface of a spin cup contaminated with a dried solidified coating liquid, and a cleaning method for the spin coating apparatus.

  A coating solution such as a photoresist, a developing solution, or a precursor solution that becomes a functional thin film by a chemical solution method is dropped on a substrate to be processed (hereinafter referred to as a substrate), and the substrate is rotated at a high speed. A method of forming a uniform thin film by spreading the excess coating solution after spreading the substrate to the outer periphery of the substrate is well known as a spin coating method.

  An apparatus for forming a thin film by a spin coating method is a spin coater generally called a spinner or a spin coater, and a substrate is placed on a spin table provided with a chuck mechanism at the upper end of a rotary shaft arranged in a vertical direction. A uniform thin film is formed by holding it horizontally and rotating it.

  Furthermore, a spin coater is generally provided with a cylindrical spin cup so as to surround the periphery of the substrate, and the substrate is shaken off during a spin coating process (also referred to as a spin film forming process or film forming process). Contamination around the device is prevented by adhering excess coating liquid splashes from the surroundings to the inner wall of the spin cup.

  However, in the conventional spin coating method, after the excess coating solution is shaken off, the applied coating solution is attached to the inner wall of the spin cup and dried and solidified. If the crystal pieces or powder that is dried and solidified from the coating liquid accumulates, it tends to peel off from the inner wall due to the influence of vibration, etc., and in some cases, the crystal pieces or powder reattaches to the substrate, resulting in a product defect. It was.

  Thus, in order to prevent the crystal pieces or powders dried and solidified from being applied, the inner surface of the spin cup needs to be frequently washed. This cleaning operation is efficient to be performed before the coating solution dries, but it is difficult to clean the coating solution before drying, particularly in the case of a coating solution that dries quickly.

  In this regard, for example, in Patent Document 1, an annular inner peripheral surface cleaning conduit is provided in the upper part of the peripheral wall of the anti-scattering cup, and the cleaning liquid is caused to flow down along the inner surface of the peripheral wall. In the spin coater configured to provide a circular flow straightening inclined plate on the lower side of the spin chuck provided in the above, a circular inclined surface cleaning conduit provided on the flow straightening plate, and a cleaning liquid flowing down along the straightening inclined surface An inner peripheral surface cleaning conduit is integrally formed on the outer peripheral upper part of the splash prevention cup, and a large number of cleaning liquid discharge holes are opened facing the inner upper surface of the peripheral wall. There is disclosed a spin coating apparatus in which a cleaning conduit is integrally formed and a large number of cleaning liquid discharge holes are opened facing the upper side of the rectifying inclined surface.

  In addition, Patent Document 2 discloses a spin coater that is provided with a rotation mechanism for a spin cup and a spray nozzle that cleans the inner wall surface of the spin cup, and sprays a cleaning liquid on the inner wall surface to rotate while rotating the spin cup. Has been.

  Further, in Patent Document 3, the cleaning liquid is supplied from the cleaning liquid supply nozzle into the cleaning jig through the introduction port, and the cleaning jig is rotated by a spin chuck. An applicator for spraying from an ejection hole formed in a portion toward an outer cup and an inner cup is disclosed.

  However, as in Patent Document 1, in the configuration in which the cleaning liquid flows from a large number of discontinuous small holes provided in the cleaning pipe, the cleaning liquid easily passes through the path once passed, and the cleaning liquid is directed vertically downward from each discharge hole. Since it tends to flow in a streak shape, it is difficult to clean the entire inner wall. For this reason, when trying to clean the entire inner wall with such a configuration, it is necessary to increase the pressure at which the cleaning liquid is discharged and to flow a large amount of cleaning liquid to the inner wall surface, and as a result, a very large amount of cleaning liquid is consumed. was there.

  Further, as in Patent Document 2, in the configuration in which the spray nozzle for cleaning the inner surface of the spin cup is provided for cleaning, when the cleaning liquid is sprayed on the innermost peripheral portion of the spin cup, the sprayed cleaning liquid rebounds on the spin table. This causes a substrate chuck failure. In addition, the cleaning liquid adhering to the inner wall surface of the innermost peripheral portion of the spin cup will drip onto the substrate and cause product defects. For this reason, it is not possible to perform the operation of spraying the cleaning liquid to the innermost peripheral part of the spin cup to clean the inner wall surface. As a result, the coating liquid adheres to the innermost peripheral part of the spin cup closest to the substrate, and is dried and solidified. There is a problem in that the crystal pieces or powder deposited cause a defect by dropping on the substrate. In addition, this configuration has a problem that the amount of cleaning liquid to be used and the amount of cleaning waste liquid to be discharged increase.

  Further, as in Patent Document 3, in the configuration in which the cleaning liquid is discharged onto the inner wall surface of the spin cup using the centrifugal force generated when rotating at high speed, and the inner wall surface is cleaned, the cleaning liquid flying around by the centrifugal force is small. Since it is in the form of droplets or mist, there is a problem that the cleaning ability when this adheres to the inner wall surface is small. Also, when trying to supply a large amount of cleaning liquid to increase the cleaning capacity, because of the increased weight, most of the cleaning liquid falls before reaching the inner wall surface, which increases wasteful consumption of the cleaning liquid. There's a problem.

  As described above, the spin cup inner wall cleaning methods disclosed in Patent Documents 1 to 3 each have a problem.

  By the way, in order to effectively wash the coating liquid adhering to the spin cup, the cleaning liquid is appropriately supplied to the inner wall surface, and the inner surface of the spin cup when the coating liquid splashes and drops adheres is previously washed with the cleaning liquid. It is known that when it is kept wet, the cleaning operation after adhesion becomes easy. For this reason, it is known that a cleaning liquid is supplied to the inner wall surface of the spin cup and a film of the cleaning liquid is formed on the inner wall surface immediately before starting the spin coating operation.

  However, on the other hand, the inside of the spin cup is sucked with a strong force in order to prevent the coating liquid splashes, splashes, and droplets, mist, or dry pieces that are scattered and spun during the spin coating operation from adhering to the substrate and causing defects. It is also necessary to perform blower suction to evacuate and remove splashes, droplets, mist or dried pieces.

  For this reason, the air current is always flowing at a high speed inside the spin cup, and the inner surface of the spin cup wetted by the spin coating operation and the subsequent cleaning operation of the inner surface of the spin cup is short. It will dry over time. And in order to make the inner surface of the spin cup once dried wet with the cleaning liquid again before the next spin coating operation, it is necessary to consume a large amount of the cleaning liquid.

  For such a problem, it is conceivable to perform control to stop the blower suction at the same time as the spin coating operation is completed, but the exhaust port of the blower suction device (blower device) is connected to other devices as a whole. In general, it is connected to an exhaust device (hereinafter referred to as a factory exhaust device (external exhaust device)), and the factory exhaust device exhausts with a relatively strong suction force and suction speed.

  For this reason, even if the blower device attached to the spin coater is stopped, a state where a fast air flow from the factory exhaust device still flows is maintained inside the spin cup, and as a result, the inner wall surface of the spin cup is short. There was a problem that the problem of drying with could not be solved.

  Therefore, the present invention prevents the drying of the inner surface of the spin cup and cleans the coating liquid adhering to the inner wall by minimizing the time required for the airflow to flow inside the spin cup. It is an object of the present invention to provide a spin coater that can be used to wet the inner wall surface of a spin cup with a cleaning liquid in advance using a small amount of cleaning liquid before the spin film formation process.

  In order to achieve this object, a spin coating apparatus according to the present invention includes a rotating unit that fixes a substrate and rotates the substrate, a nozzle that supplies a coating solution to the substrate, and a coating solution that is applied from the nozzle to the substrate. A spin cup having a supplyable opening and surrounding the substrate; and a cleaning liquid is allowed to flow along the inner wall surface from a cleaning liquid supply path provided on the inner wall surface of the spin cup facing the substrate. The movement of the airflow inside the spin cup is stopped except for the spin cup cleaning means for cleaning and the film forming process for forming the coating liquid film on the substrate by supplying the coating liquid to the substrate while rotating the substrate. And an airflow control means.

  According to the present invention, it is possible to prevent the inner wall surface of the spin cup from being dried, and to wash the coating solution adhering to the inner wall surface by using a small amount of the washing solution.

It is sectional drawing which shows one Embodiment of the spin coater which concerns on this invention. It is sectional drawing of the spin coater in an initial state. It is sectional drawing of the spin coater in a spin film-forming process. FIG. 4 is a vertical sectional view of an electric on-off valve installed in an exhaust pipe, where (A) the electric on-off valve is in a “closed” state and (B) the electric on-off valve is in an “open” state. It is sectional drawing which shows other embodiment of the spin coater which concerns on this invention.

  Hereinafter, the configuration according to the present invention will be described in detail based on the embodiment shown in FIGS.

[First Embodiment]
The spin coater (spin coater 1, FIG. 1) according to this embodiment fixes a substrate (substrate S) and rotates the substrate (spin table 3, rotary shaft 2), and a coating liquid on the substrate. , A spin cup (spin cup 5) that surrounds the substrate, and an inner wall surface of the spin cup that faces the substrate Spin cup cleaning means (cleaning liquid supply path 7, cleaning liquid injection port 15) for cleaning the inner wall surface by flowing the cleaning liquid along the inner wall surface from the cleaning liquid supply path (cleaning liquid supply path 7) provided in the substrate, and rotating the substrate An airflow control means (control means) for stopping the movement of the airflow inside the spin cup except during a film forming process in which a coating liquid is supplied to the substrate to form a coating liquid film on the substrate. It is. In addition, the code | symbol in embodiment and the example of application are shown in a parenthesis.

(Structure of spin coater)
FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view showing an embodiment of a spin coater. The spin coating apparatus 1 includes a spin table 3 that adsorbs a substrate S that is a film formation target, a rotary shaft 2 that rotates the substrate S fixed by rotating the spin table 3, and a substrate from above the substrate S. A nozzle (not shown) for supplying a coating solution to S, a spin cup 5 surrounding the periphery of the substrate S, an excess coating solution disposed below the substrate S and flowing down from the substrate S and the back surface of the substrate S The spin back bottom plate 6 that receives the washed back rinse liquid and flows down to the opening 4 and the extra droplets (mist) of the coating liquid splashed when the substrate S on which the coating liquid is dropped are rotated at high speed. And the exhaust for removing the spin cup 5 and the inner wall surface of the spin cup lower surface plate 6 (also referred to simply as the inner wall surface of the spin cup) to the outside of the apparatus through the dropped application liquid or cleaning liquid waste liquid. And Part 4, and a. The inner wall surface refers to a wall surface (a surface facing the substrate S) located on the space side where the substrate S of the spin cup 5 and the spin cup lower surface plate 6 is disposed. Further, the spin table 3 and the rotating shaft 2 constitute a rotating part of the spin coating device 1.

  The spin cup 5 is a coating liquid that is sprinkled from the substrate S due to centrifugal force among the coating liquid dropped from the nozzle on the substrate S rotating at a high speed by the rotation of the rotating shaft 2 arranged in a substantially vertical direction ( The microdroplet (mist) is received and flows down toward the opening 4. That is, the spin cup 5 prevents excessive coating liquid from splashing outside the spin coating apparatus 1. Hereinafter, in the spin cup 5, the side surface with respect to the substrate S is referred to as a side cylindrical portion 5a, the upper surface of the substrate S is referred to as an upper surface portion 5b, and the opening portion above the substrate S is referred to as a central opening portion 5c.

  Further, cleaning liquid supply paths 7 for supplying a cleaning liquid that can wash away the coating liquid adhering to the inner wall surface are circulated at the uppermost portions of the side cylindrical portion 5a of the spin cup 5 and the inclined surface 6a of the spin cup lower surface plate 6, respectively. Yes.

  In addition, a spin cap 8 that is displaceable between a state in which the central opening 5c of the upper surface portion 5b of the spin cup 5 is covered (closed state) and an open state (open state) is disposed. The spin cap 8 is connected to a spin cap moving mechanism (spin cap moving means, not shown), and is supported so as to be displaceable between a state in which the central opening 5c is covered and an open state. .

  Further, a blower device 9 is connected to the opening 4 via a pipe 10 for sucking and exhausting the inside of the spin cup and sucking and removing minute droplets scattered during the spin film formation process (film formation process). . The exhaust line of the blower device 9 is connected to a factory exhaust device 12 as an external exhaust device that exhausts to the outside through an electric on-off valve (first electric on-off valve) 11 as a connection valve. . Further, a bypass opened to the atmosphere 18 via the second electric on-off valve 13 on the side of the factory exhaust apparatus 12 of the first electric on-off valve 11 connecting the blower device 9 and the factory exhaust device 12. A circuit 14 is formed. The factory exhaust device 12 is not included in the configuration of the spin coater 1, but may be the spin coater 1 including the factory exhaust device 12.

  The operation of the spin coater 1 described above is controlled by a control unit (control means) (not shown). The control unit includes, for example, a CPU (Central Processing Unit), a ROM (Read Only Memory) that stores a program for executing processing, a RAM (Random Access Memory) that stores data, and the like. The control unit is electrically connected to each part of the spin coater 1, and controls driving of a motor (not shown) that rotates the rotary shaft 2, dripping control of the coating liquid from the nozzle, and the cleaning liquid supply path 7. In accordance with the spin film formation process, the supply control of the cleaning liquid, the movement control of the spin cap 8 (control of the spin cap movement mechanism), the drive control of the blower device 9 and the open / close control of the electric open / close valves 11 and 13 are performed. . In addition, the control part is a part related to the air flow control in the spin cup 5 described below, the movement control of the spin cap 8 (control of the spin cap movement mechanism), the drive control of the blower device 9, the electric open / close valve A block that performs control such as opening and closing control of 11 and 13 is also referred to as airflow control means.

(Control of spin coater)
Hereinafter, control of the spin coater 1 according to the present embodiment will be described. FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view of the spin coater 1 in a state (also referred to as an initial state) before starting the spin film formation process.

  In this initial state, the blower device 9 is “stopped (off)”, the first electric valve 11 is “closed”, and the second electric valve 13 is “open” by the airflow control means of the spin coater 1. It is controlled. Therefore, the atmosphere 18 is in a state of being sucked into the factory exhaust device 12 via the bypass circuit 14 (the flow of the airflow is indicated by an arrow in the figure).

  Further, the central opening 5 c of the spin cup 5 is covered with the spin cap 8. Further, the cleaning liquid supply path 7 in the spin cup is in a state where the cleaning liquid supply path 7 is filled by the cleaning liquid being injected from the cleaning liquid injection ports 15 provided at a plurality of locations.

  If the cleaning liquid is further injected into the cleaning liquid supply path 7 from the plurality of cleaning liquid injection ports 15 from the state where the cleaning liquid supply path 7 is filled with the cleaning liquid, the cleaning liquid overflows from the cleaning liquid supply path 7 and spin cup 5 or spin. It can flow out to the inner wall surface of the cup lower surface plate 6 and cover these with a coating film of a cleaning solution, that is, a wet state with the cleaning solution.

  Further, the spin cap moving mechanism is operated to move the spin cap 8 to open the central opening 5c of the spin cup 5, and then the substrate S is placed on the spin table 3 and adsorbed thereon.

  Next, the nozzle is operated to drop the coating liquid onto the substrate S, and the rotating shaft 2 is rotated according to a predetermined program linked with the nozzle operation to spin-form the coating liquid film on the surface of the substrate S. (Spin film formation process). FIG. 3 shows a cross-sectional view of the spin coater 1 during the spin film formation process.

  At this time, as shown in FIG. 3, the airflow control means controls the first electric valve 11 to be “open” and the second electric valve 13 to be “closed” at the same time. Further, the blower device 9 is operated (during operation) to suck and exhaust the inside of the spin cup 5 and to remove the coating liquid droplets, droplets, mist or dry pieces generated during the spin film formation.

  The droplets of the coating liquid that have not been sucked and removed by the blower device 9 adhere to the inner wall surface of the spin cup 5 or the spin cup lower surface plate 6. Further, the sucked atmosphere in the spin cup 5 is discharged to the factory exhaust device 12 via the first electric valve 11 (the flow of the airflow is indicated by an arrow in the figure).

  After the spin film formation, the substrate S having the coating liquid film formed on the surface is taken out from the spin coating apparatus 1 by operating a mechanism (not shown), and is put into a post process, and a plurality of cleaning liquid inlets 15 are provided. Then, the cleaning liquid is injected into the cleaning liquid supply path 7, and the liquid droplets of the coating liquid adhering to the inner wall surfaces of the spin cup 5 and the spin cup lower surface plate 6 are washed away by the overflowing cleaning liquid. At this time, since the droplets of the coating liquid adhering to the inner wall surface adhere to the inner wall surface in a state wetted with the cleaning liquid in advance, it can be washed away with a small amount of the cleaning liquid.

  Thereafter, the spin cap moving mechanism is actuated again to move the spin cap 8 to cover and close the spin cup upper surface central opening 5c, the blower device 9 is stopped, the first electric valve 11 is "closed", Control is performed to open the second electric valve 13. Therefore, it returns to the state where the atmosphere 18 is sucked into the factory exhaust device 12 via the bypass circuit 14 (FIG. 2).

  The spin coater 1 of this embodiment is sealed at the same time as the airflow inside the spin cup 5 is stopped by the control by the airflow control means described above. Therefore, the drying speed of the inner wall surface that has become wet with the cleaning liquid can be reduced by washing away the droplets of the coating liquid adhering to the inner wall surfaces of the spin cup 5 and the spin cup lower surface plate 6, and the inner wall surface can be dried. Can be prevented. Therefore, the inner wall surface can be kept wet until the next substrate film forming process is started.

  For this reason, it is possible to suppress the amount of the cleaning liquid used for the operation of covering the inner surface of the spin cup with the coating film of the cleaning liquid in advance before starting the spin film forming process.

  Here, after the spin film formation process is completed, if the suction by the blower device 9 and the opening 5c of the spin cup 5 are kept open, a state in which a fast air current flows inside the spin cup 5 continues to become wet with the cleaning liquid. The wall dries quickly. A large amount of cleaning liquid is required for the operation of covering the dried inner surface of the spin cup with the coating film of the cleaning liquid again before starting the next substrate film forming process.

  Therefore, in the present embodiment, after the operation of forming the coating liquid film on the substrate surface is completed, the operation of the blower device 9 that sucks and exhausts the inside of the spin cup 5 is stopped, and at the same time, the connection between the blower device 9 and the factory exhaust device 12 is stopped. And after the substrate S on which the film formation process has been performed is taken out from the spin table 3 and put into a subsequent process, the substrate S on which the film formation process is performed next is placed on the spin table 3. The spin cap moving mechanism performs an operation of covering and closing the opening 5c of the spin cup 5.

  Even if the blower operation is stopped, the suction force by the factory exhaust device 12 connected to the blower device 9 is generally large, so the blower operation is stopped and at the same time the connection between the blower device 9 and the factory exhaust device 12 is connected. By shutting off, suction and exhaust from the inside of the spin cup 5 is stopped, and drying of the inner wall surface of the spin cup is suppressed.

  Here, in order to avoid the occurrence of defects in the coating liquid film to be formed, the spin coater 1 is isolated from the surrounding environment where there are many contamination sources, and the surroundings are cleaned by removing very fine dust with a filter. In general, air is circulated. For this reason, it can be said that the spin coater 1 is often installed at a location where the airflow around the device is relatively intense.

  Therefore, the influence of the airflow flowing into the spin cup 5 from the outside of the spin coater 1 cannot be ignored. Therefore, as described above, the operation of covering and closing the central opening 5c of the spin cup 5 is also performed, so that the air flow flowing into the spin cup 5 from the outside of the spin coater 1 causes the spin cup 5 and The phenomenon that the inner wall surface of the spin cup lower surface plate 6 is dried is avoided.

  As described above, according to the present embodiment, in addition to the suction exhaust of the blower device 9 and the factory exhaust device 12, the spin cup 5 and the spin cup lower surface plate 6 are also generated by the flow of the air flow caused by the outside of the spin coater 1. It is possible to prevent the inner wall surface from drying out, and to suppress the amount of the cleaning liquid necessary for the operation of wetting the inner wall surfaces of the spin cup 5 and the spin cup lower surface plate 6 with the cleaning liquid immediately before the next spin coating operation.

  In the present embodiment, after the operation of forming the coating liquid film on the substrate surface is completed, the operation of the blower device 9 that sucks and exhausts the inside of the spin cup 5 is stopped, and at the same time, the connection between the blower device 9 and the factory exhaust device 12 is stopped. The air flow control means closes the first electric on-off valve 11 between the blower device 9 and the factory exhaust device 12 and simultaneously opens the second electric on-off valve 13 to open the blower. The bypass circuit 14 for opening the factory exhaust device 12 that is disconnected from the device 9 and the outside air is opened (FIG. 2).

  This operation will be described with reference to FIG. 4A and 4B are vertical sectional views with respect to the axis of the pipe of the electric on-off valve installed in the exhaust pipe 10, wherein FIG. 4A is a “closed” state of the electric on-off valve, and FIG. An “open” state is indicated. Here, the first electric on-off valve 11 will be described as an example, but the configuration of the second electric on-off valve 13 is the same.

  In this electric open / close valve, it is necessary to provide a certain clearance between the pipe 10 and the valve 16 so that the movable valve 16 for opening and closing can move. That is, even when the valve is in the “closed” state, the gap 17 exists as shown in FIG.

  Here, since the suction force by the factory exhaust device 12 is strong as described above, even if the blower device 9 is stopped and the electric on-off valve 11 between the blower device 9 and the factory exhaust device 12 is closed, The operation of sucking and exhausting the inside of the spin cup 5 through the gap 17 is slightly continued by the factory exhaust device 12.

  Therefore, in the present embodiment, the blower device 9 is stopped, the electric on-off valve 11 between the blower device 9 and the factory exhaust device 12 is closed, and at the same time, the factory exhaust device 12 that is disconnected from the blower device 9 is disconnected. And opening the bypass circuit 14 for communicating the outside air (atmosphere 18) (opening the second electric on-off valve 13).

  As a result, there is a large difference in the flow resistance between the air flowing through the bypass circuit 14 and the air flowing through the gap 17, so that the flow of air flow sucked and exhausted from the inside of the spin cup 5 by the suction of the factory exhaust device 12 is almost eliminated. Can do. That is, the inside of the spin cup 5 is sucked and exhausted by the factory exhaust device 12 through the gap 17 between the valve 16 of the first electric on-off valve 11 and the pipe connecting the blower device 9 and the factory exhaust device 12. Can be eliminated.

  Therefore, it is possible to avoid the generation of an air flow inside the spin cup 5, stop the flow of air inside the spin cup 5, and suppress the phenomenon that the inner surface of the spin cup dries. The amount of the cleaning liquid required for the operation of wetting the inner surface of the spin cup with the cleaning liquid immediately before the coating operation can be suppressed.

  Further, by providing the bypass circuit 14, it is not an expensive valve that can completely block the air flow in the pipe, but an inexpensive general (existing clearance) electric valve (first electric valve). Even if 11) is used, the flow of airflow can be eliminated.

[Second Embodiment]
Hereinafter, other embodiments of the spin coater according to the present invention will be described. In addition, the description about the same point as the said embodiment is abbreviate | omitted.

  FIG. 5 shows a cross-sectional view of the spin coater 1 according to the second embodiment. In the first embodiment, a coating liquid film is formed on the substrate S, taken out from the spin coater 1, put into a post process, and applied in parallel to the spin cup 5 and the inner wall surface of the spin cup lower surface plate 6. The liquid droplets were washed away, and when the flow of the air flow inside the spin cup 5 was stopped to cover and close the opening 5c, the spin cap 8 was moved by the spin cap moving mechanism to cover the opening 5c.

  On the other hand, in this embodiment, the spin cap 8 and the spin cap moving mechanism are not used, but the height adjustment mechanism of the spin cup 5 is provided so that the substrate S to be deposited is placed on the spin table 3 and the height is adjusted. The adjustment mechanism adjusts the height of the spin cup 5 so that the position of the upper surface portion 5b becomes the same surface as the substrate S, thereby performing an operation of covering and closing the spin cup opening 5c.

  In the present embodiment, as in the first embodiment, the inside of the spin cup 5 is prevented from being dried, and the inner surface of the spin cup can be cleaned with a small amount of cleaning liquid, and the spin cap 8 and the spin cap move. Since it is not necessary to provide a mechanism, the spin coater 1 can be configured in a simpler manner, and the cost can be reduced. In addition, the spin coater 1 can be saved in space.

  The above-described embodiment is a preferred embodiment of the present invention, but is not limited thereto, and various modifications can be made without departing from the gist of the present invention.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Spin coating apparatus 2 Rotating shaft 3 Spin table 4 Opening part 5 Spin cup 5a Side surface cylindrical part 5b Upper surface part 5c Center opening part 6 Spin cup lower surface plate 6a Inclined surface 7 Cleaning liquid supply path 8 Spin cap 9 Blower apparatus 10 Piping 11 Electric type On-off valve (first electric on-off valve)
12 Factory exhaust device 13 Second electric on-off valve 14 Bypass circuit 15 Cleaning liquid inlet 16 Valve 17 Gap 18 Air S Substrate

Japanese Utility Model Publication No. 6-28223 JP 2002-143749 A JP-A-5-82435

Claims (6)

A rotating unit for fixing the substrate and rotating the substrate;
A nozzle for supplying a coating liquid to the substrate;
A spin cup that has an opening through which the coating liquid can be supplied from the nozzle to the substrate and surrounds the substrate;
A spin cup cleaning means for cleaning the inner wall surface by flowing a cleaning liquid along the inner wall surface from a cleaning liquid supply path provided on the inner wall surface of the spin cup facing the substrate;
An airflow control means for stopping the movement of the airflow inside the spin cup, except during a film forming process in which a coating liquid is supplied to the substrate while rotating the substrate to form a coating liquid film on the substrate;
A spin coater comprising: A blower means for sucking and exhausting the inside of the spin cup;
A connection valve for cutting off the connection between the blower means and an external exhaust device for exhausting to the outside,
The airflow control means includes
2. The spin coater according to claim 1, wherein, except during the film forming process, the suction / exhaust operation of the blower unit is turned off and the connection valve is closed to cut off the connection between the blower unit and the external exhaust unit. A spin cap that covers and closes the opening of the spin cup;
A spin cap moving means for displacing the spin cap between a position for covering and closing the opening of the spin cup and a position for opening the spin cap;
The airflow control means includes
After the film forming process, the blower means is turned off and the exhaust operation is closed, and the connection valve is closed to cut off the connection between the blower means and the external exhaust device,
The spin cap moving means is controlled between the time when the substrate subjected to the film formation process is taken out of the rotating unit and the time when the substrate subjected to the film forming process is placed on the rotating unit, so that the spin cap is controlled. The spin coater according to claim 2, wherein the cap is positioned to cover and close the opening of the spin cup. A bypass circuit for communicating the external exhaust device and the outside air;
The airflow control means includes
After the film forming process, the blower means is turned off and the exhaust operation is closed, and the connection valve is closed to cut off the connection between the blower means and the external exhaust device,
4. The spin coater according to claim 2, wherein the bypass circuit is opened from a closed state. The airflow control means includes
After the substrate on which the film formation process has been performed is taken out from the rotating unit, until the substrate to be film-formed next is placed on the rotating unit,
3. The spin coater according to claim 2, wherein an opening of the spin cup is covered and closed using a substrate on which film formation is performed next. A rotating unit for fixing the substrate and rotating the substrate;
A nozzle for supplying a coating liquid to the substrate;
In the cleaning method of the spin coater having an opening capable of supplying the coating liquid from the nozzle to the substrate, and a spin cup surrounding the substrate,
A spin cup cleaning step of cleaning the inner wall surface by flowing a cleaning liquid along the inner wall surface from the inner wall surface of the spin cup facing the substrate;
An air flow control step for stopping the movement of the air flow inside the spin cup, except during a film forming step of forming a coating liquid film on the substrate by supplying a coating liquid to the substrate while rotating the substrate. A method of cleaning a spin coater, characterized in that