JP2923044B2 - Coating equipment - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Object of the Invention] (Field of Industrial Application) The present invention relates to a coating apparatus.

(Prior Art) In general, a coating apparatus is used for coating a semiconductor wafer with a photoresist in a semiconductor manufacturing process.

In such a coating apparatus, a predetermined coating liquid (for example, a photoresist liquid) is discharged from a nozzle onto an object (for example, a semiconductor wafer), and thereafter, the object is rotated at a high speed and centrifugal force is applied. A so-called spin coating apparatus is widely used in which is spread over the entire surface of an object to be treated and is coated with a uniform thickness.

(Problems to be Solved by the Invention) By the way, in recent years, a coating apparatus is being used for coating a colored base material in a manufacturing process of a color filter for a CCD image sensor or a color LCD display. However, as a coloring base material of such a color filter, a water-soluble polymer material such as gelatin is used. However, since gelatin and the like are easily hardened, there has been a problem that gelatin or the like as a coating liquid is firmly adhered to a nozzle or other parts.

The present invention has been made in view of such conventional circumstances, and has as its object to provide a coating apparatus that can prevent a coating liquid from sticking to an undesired portion.

[Configuration of the Invention] (Means for Solving the Problems) That is, the present invention provides a coating apparatus for supplying a predetermined liquid to a substrate to be processed and processing the same, comprising: a nozzle for supplying the predetermined liquid; Cleaning means for supplying a cleaning liquid to the nozzle provided, provided at a position outside the position of the substrate to be processed, wherein the predetermined liquid is discharged from the nozzle and the cleaning liquid is supplied to the nozzle; A first standby unit for supplying and cleaning the nozzle is provided, and a second standby unit for waiting for processing when the nozzle is not cleaned in the first standby unit.

(Operation) In the coating apparatus of the present invention, for example, when there is a waiting time between the coating processes, the nozzle for discharging the coating liquid to the object to be processed is cleaned at the cleaning position. The rear nozzle is immersed in a predetermined liquid (for example, pure water) at a standby position and waits.

Therefore, it is possible to prevent the coating liquid such as gelatin from sticking to the nozzle or another member at the nozzle standby position.

Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the coating apparatus 1 is configured so that a substrate 2 to be processed, such as a semiconductor wafer or a glass substrate, is suction-held on an upper surface by, for example, a vacuum chuck or the like, and is capable of rotating at high speed. A spin chuck 3 is provided.

A scan arm 4 is provided above the spin chuck 3 so as to be movable in horizontal and vertical directions as shown by arrows in the figure. A nozzle holding unit 5 and a side rinse for the side rinse are provided beside the spin chuck 3. A nozzle 6 is provided.

The nozzle holding section 5 is configured to be able to hold a plurality of, for example, two nozzles 7, and is configured to be movable as shown by an arrow in the drawing by a driving mechanism such as an air cylinder. Further, the nozzle holding section 5 is provided with a cleaning position 8 and a standby position 9 for each nozzle 7, respectively. It is configured to stand by while the tip of the nozzle 7 is immersed in a liquid, for example, pure water 10 stored in the nozzle 7. Ultrasonic waves may be transmitted to the pure water 10, or the temperature of the pure water 10 may be set to room temperature or higher.

As shown in FIG. 3, the nozzle 7 is connected to a coating liquid tube 11 having a double pipe structure. The coating liquid tube 11 is connected to a suck-back valve, a pump, a coating liquid storage unit (not shown), and the like, and a predetermined coating liquid (eg, gelatin) is supplied from the tip of the nozzle 7 by a predetermined amount from the coating liquid storage unit. It is configured to be able to discharge. In addition, by circulating water or the like whose temperature is controlled outside the coating liquid tube 11, the coating liquid can be maintained at a predetermined temperature.

A cleaning liquid tube 12 is connected to the nozzle 7, and a cleaning liquid (for example, pure water) is caused to flow to the tip of the nozzle 7 through a cleaning liquid flow path 13 provided inside the nozzle 7. It is configured so that it can be washed.

Further, the nozzle 7 is provided with a gripping projection 14, and the scan arm 4 can grip the projection 14 to transport the nozzle 7.

A drain pipe 15 is connected to the washing position 8 of the nozzle holding section 5. When the pure water 10 stored in the standby position 9 reaches a predetermined liquid level or higher, the drain pipe 15 passes through the communication section 16 and drains. It is configured to be discharged from 15.

In the coating apparatus 1 of this embodiment having the above-described configuration, the substrate 2 to be processed is transported by an automatic transporting device (not shown) or the like, placed on the spin chuck 3, and the substrate 2 to be processed is suction-held on the spin chuck 3. .

Thereafter, a predetermined nozzle 7 is conveyed by the scan arm 4, is positioned above the center of the substrate 2, and discharges a predetermined amount of a predetermined coating liquid onto the upper surface of the substrate 2. The switching of the nozzle 7 is performed by moving the nozzle holding unit 5 as shown by the arrow in the figure.

Thereafter, the substrate to be processed 2 is rotated at a high speed by the spin chuck 3, and the coating liquid is diffused over the entire surface of the substrate to be processed 2 by centrifugal force to form a coating layer having a uniform film thickness. In addition, a rinsing liquid (for example, pure water) is supplied from the side rinsing nozzle 6 to the target substrate 2 from the side rinse nozzle 6 to perform side rinsing of the target substrate 2.

After the coating liquid ejection operation, the scan arm 4 normally carries the nozzle 7 to the standby position 9 and stands by with the tip of the nozzle 7 immersed in pure water 10. On the other hand, for example, when the coating process of the substrate 2 to be processed in one batch is completed and the waiting time until the next coating process (coating solution discharging operation) is long, the scan arm 4 is operated after the coating liquid discharging operation. The nozzle 7 is once conveyed to the cleaning position 8, where pure water is supplied from the cleaning liquid tube 12, and the tip of the nozzle 7 is cleaned. Thereafter, the nozzle 7 is transported to the standby position 9 and stands by with the tip of the nozzle 7 immersed in pure water 10.
If the standby time is long, for example, pure water is supplied from the cleaning liquid tube 12 at regular intervals, and the pure water 10 stored in the standby position 9 overflows and is replaced.

Further, for example, when performing a so-called dummy dispense for discarding the coating liquid remaining in the nozzle 7 or the coating liquid tube 11, the nozzle 7 is transported to the cleaning position 8.

As described above, in the coating apparatus 1 of the present embodiment, the nozzle holding unit 5 that holds the nozzle 7 that discharges the coating liquid is provided with the cleaning position 8 for performing cleaning and dummy dispensing, and the tip of the nozzle 7 with pure water 10. And a standby position 9 for waiting in a state of being immersed in the camera. For this reason, for example, the coating liquid scattered at the time of cleaning and dummy dispensing is applied to the standby position 9.
The coating liquid can be prevented from sticking to the nozzle 7 even if, for example, gelatin or the like, which easily sticks, is used as the coating liquid without being mixed into the pure water 10.

[Effects of the Invention] As described above, according to the coating apparatus of the present invention, it is possible to prevent the coating liquid from sticking to an undesired portion.

[Brief description of the drawings]

1 and 2 are views showing the configuration of a coating apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 3 is an enlarged view showing a main part of the coating apparatus shown in FIG. DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Coating apparatus, 2 ... Substrate to be processed, 3 ... Spin chuck, 4 ... Scan arm, 5 ... Nozzle holding part, 6 ... Side rinse nozzle, 7 ... Nozzle, 8
… Cleaning position, 9… Standby position, 10… Pure water, 11… Coating liquid tube, 12… Cleaning liquid tube, 13… Cleaning liquid flow path, 14… Grip projection, 15…
... Drain piping, 16 ... Communication part.

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on the front page (58) Field surveyed (Int. Cl. ⁶ , DB name) B05C 5/00-5/04 B05C 7/00-21/00

Claims (1)

(57) [Claims] 1. A coating apparatus for supplying a predetermined liquid to a substrate to be processed to process the substrate, a nozzle for supplying the predetermined liquid, a cleaning means provided on the nozzle side and supplying a cleaning liquid to the nozzle, A first standby unit that is provided at a position outside a position where the substrate to be processed is processed and that discharges the predetermined liquid from the nozzle and supplies a cleaning liquid from the cleaning unit to the nozzle to clean the nozzle; A second standby unit that waits for processing when the nozzle is not cleaned in the first standby unit.