JP6306964B2 - Substrate processing apparatus control method, substrate processing apparatus, and storage medium - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a technique for processing a brush in contact with a substrate.

  2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, there is known a substrate processing apparatus such as a scrubber that removes unnecessary materials attached to a substrate by bringing a brush into contact with the substrate for processing. Some substrate processing apparatuses of this type can change the pressing force of the brush against the substrate during the substrate processing. In Patent Document 1, for the purpose of providing uniform removal performance over the entire surface of the substrate and suppressing the occurrence of damage to the substrate, the pressing force of the brush at the outer peripheral portion of the substrate is made larger than that at the center portion. Yes.

Japanese Patent No. 3539834

  If the brush pressing force is increased in accordance with the area of the substrate as in the cited document 1, the removal performance of unnecessary materials is improved, but depending on the material of the brush, the brush itself may be scraped into particles and adhere to the substrate. There is.

  The present invention is for solving the above-described problems, and improves the removal performance of unwanted materials while suppressing adhesion of particles generated from a brush to a substrate.

  In order to solve the above-described problems, a method for controlling a substrate processing apparatus according to the present invention includes a substrate holding unit that holds and rotates a substrate, a brush that processes the substrate by contacting the substrate, and a cleaning liquid as a substrate. A substrate supply apparatus that supplies a cleaning solution to the substrate processing region in order from the center position of the substrate in order from the center position of the substrate. The pressing force of the brush against the substrate is controlled by dividing into one region, a second region, and a third region on the most peripheral side of the substrate, and the second region is more than the pressing force of the first region and the third region. It is characterized by increasing the pressing force.

The substrate processing apparatus of the present invention, when the brush is processing the third region, the greater amount of cleaning liquid than when the brush is processing the first region and the second region It supplies to the said board | substrate, It is characterized by the above-mentioned.

  ADVANTAGE OF THE INVENTION According to this invention, the removal performance of an unnecessary thing can be improved, suppressing adhesion to the board | substrate of the particle which generate | occur | produces from a brush.

It is a figure showing the whole substrate processing system 101 composition in an embodiment of the present invention. It is a top view which shows the structure of the substrate processing apparatus 109 in embodiment of this invention. It is a side view which shows the structure of the substrate processing apparatus 109 in embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows the structure of the brush 302 in embodiment of this invention. It is a figure explaining the specific operation | movement of the substrate processing which the substrate processing apparatus 109 performs. It is a figure for demonstrating the area division in the case of performing a substrate process. It is a figure which shows the specific example of control of the pressing force of the brush 302 in 1st Embodiment. It is a figure which shows the result of the evaluation experiment which changed the pressing force of the brush. It is a conceptual diagram which shows the relationship between the friction coefficient in 1st Embodiment, and the thickness of the liquid film of a washing | cleaning liquid. It is a figure which shows the specific example of control of the brush pressing force in 2nd Embodiment. It is a conceptual diagram which shows the relationship between the friction coefficient in 2nd Embodiment, and the thickness of the liquid film of a washing | cleaning liquid.

  The specific configuration of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

(First embodiment)
FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an overall configuration of a substrate processing system 101 in the present embodiment.
As shown in FIG. 1, the substrate processing system 101 forms a substrate loading / unloading table 103 at the front end of the housing 102 and forms a substrate processing chamber 104 at the rear of the substrate loading / unloading table 103.

  The substrate carry-in / out table 103 has a plurality (three in this case) of carriers 106 that accommodate a plurality of (for example, 25) substrates 105 arranged in a row on the left and right. The substrate carry-in / out table 103 carries in and out the substrate 105 between the carrier 106 and the rear substrate processing chamber 104. In the substrate processing chamber 104, a substrate transfer device 107 is disposed at the central portion, and a substrate reversing device 108 and two substrate processing devices 109 are disposed side by side on the left side of the substrate transfer device 107, and the substrate transfer device 107 is disposed. Three substrate processing apparatuses 109 are arranged side by side on the right side.

  The substrate transfer apparatus 107 accommodates a transfer unit 111 for holding and transferring the substrates 105 one by one in a transfer chamber 110 extending forward and backward. In the transport unit 111, an arm 113 that holds one substrate 105 is attached to a traveling platform 112 that travels forward and backward so that the arm 113 can be moved forward, backward, up and down, and rotated. The substrate transport device 107 transports the substrates 105 one by one using the transport unit 111 between the substrate carry-in / out table 103 and the substrate reversing device 108 or between the substrate reversing device 108 and the substrate processing device 109. ing. The substrate reversing device 108 is configured to invert the substrate 105 received from the substrate transporting device 107 and then deliver it to the substrate transporting device 107 again.

  The control unit 114 includes a recording medium 115, and drives and controls the substrate processing system 101 in accordance with various programs recorded on the recording medium 115 so as to process the substrate 105. Here, the recording medium 115 stores various setting data and various programs such as a substrate processing program to be described later, such as a memory such as a ROM and a RAM, a hard disk, a CD-ROM, a DVD-ROM, a flexible disk, and the like. The disc-shaped storage medium or the like may be used.

  In the substrate processing of the substrate processing system 101, the substrate transport device 107 receives a single substrate 105 from a predetermined carrier 106 of the substrate carry-in / out table 103 with the front surface facing upward, and the substrate 105 is received by the substrate transport device 107. Delivered to the substrate reversing device 108. The substrate reversing device 108 reverses the front and back of the received substrate 105. The substrate transfer device 107 receives the substrate 105 reversed from the substrate reversing device 108 with the back surface (the surface opposite to the circuit formation surface) facing upward. The substrate transfer device 107 delivers the substrate 105 to one of the substrate processing devices 109. The substrate processing apparatus 109 processes the back surface of the received substrate 105. The substrate transfer device 107 receives the processed substrate 105 from the substrate processing device 109 and transfers it to the substrate reversing device 108. The substrate reversing device 108 reverses the front and back of the substrate. The substrate transfer device 107 receives the substrate 105 from the substrate reversing device 108 with the surface facing upward, and transfers the substrate 105 to a predetermined carrier 106 of the substrate carry-in / out table 103.

  As shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, the substrate processing apparatus 109 includes a substrate holding unit 202 for holding the substrate 105, a substrate cleaning unit 203 for cleaning the back surface of the substrate 105, and a casing 201. A processing liquid supply unit 204 for supplying pure water as a processing liquid is accommodated on the back surface of the substrate 105. The substrate holding unit 202, the substrate cleaning unit 203, and the processing liquid supply unit 204 are connected to the control unit 114 and driven and controlled by the control unit 114.

  The substrate holding unit 202 has a drive motor 205 attached to the center of the bottom of the casing 201, a disk-shaped turntable 207 is horizontally attached to the drive shaft 206 of the drive motor 205, and the substrate 105 is attached to the upper edge of the turntable 207. Three chuckings 208 that can hold the outer peripheral edge are attached at intervals in the circumferential direction, and the outer periphery of the turntable 208 is covered with a cup 209 that can be raised and lowered. Driving of the driving motor 205 (turn table 207), driving of the chucking 208, and raising / lowering of the cup 209 are controlled by the control unit 114.

  The substrate cleaning unit 203 is attached to the right and rear of the bottom part of the casing 201 so that the movable table 210 extending vertically can be moved left and right, and the arm 211 extending forward and backward can be mounted on the upper part of the movable table 210 so as to be movable up and down. A rotating shaft 301 extending vertically is attached to the lower portion in a rotatable manner, and a brush 302 as a cleaning member is attached to the lower end portion of the rotating shaft 301. The control unit 114 controls the movement of the moving table 210, the raising / lowering of the arm 211, and the rotation of the rotation shaft 301 (brush 302). In addition, the substrate cleaning unit 203 is provided with a brush cleaning unit 212 for cleaning the brush 302 and retaining water on the right side wall of the casing 201.

  The treatment liquid supply unit 204 has a flow adjustment mechanism 213 attached to the bottom left front of the casing 201 and a nozzle 214 connected to the flow adjustment mechanism 213, and pure water from the tip of the nozzle 214 toward the center of the upper surface of the substrate 105. To supply. The tip position and supply direction of the nozzle 214 are not limited. If pure water is supplied to a first region described later corresponding to the central portion of the substrate 105, the thickest liquid film can be formed as a result. Can be arbitrary.

  A specific shape of the brush 302 is shown in FIG. 4A is a diagram of the brush 302 viewed from the lateral direction, and FIG. 4B is a diagram of the brush 302 viewed from below. The lower end of the rotating shaft 301 of the brush 302 is composed of a cylindrical flat elastic member made of PVA (polyvinyl alcohol) and flocking (black part) made of PP (polypropylene). Here, the PP flock 402 is harder than the PVA flat portion 401 and is not scraped even if a large frictional force is applied by applying a large pressing force to the substrate 105. On the other hand, the PVA flat portion 401 is soft, and when a large pressing force is applied, the surface is scraped by a frictional force with the substrate 105, which may cause particles as described later. The soft member is not limited to PVA, and other materials may be used as long as the member is softer than the substrate 105.

  Next, a specific operation of the substrate processing performed by the substrate processing apparatus 9 will be described. Each operation of the substrate processing is controlled by the control unit 114.

  First, the substrate 105 carried onto the upper part of the turntable 207 of the substrate holding unit 202 is horizontally held by the chucking 208 by the substrate transfer device 7. Since the substrate 105 is reversed by the substrate reversing device 108, the surface (back surface) opposite to the circuit formation surface is facing up. Hereinafter, this surface is referred to as an upper surface for convenience.

  Next, the turntable 207 of the substrate holding unit 202 is rotated to rotate while holding the substrate 105 horizontally, and pure water is supplied from the nozzle 214 of the processing liquid supply unit 204 toward the upper surface of the substrate 105.

  Then, after the brush 302 is moved to the outer peripheral edge of the substrate 105 on the side opposite to the substrate loading time, the brush 302 is lowered to the upper surface of the substrate 105 while rotating the brush 302. Then, with the brush 302 in contact with the substrate 105 via pure water, the brush 302 is moved from the outer peripheral edge of the upper surface of the substrate 105 toward the center as shown in FIG. After moving to the center of the substrate, the substrate is further moved from the center of the substrate 105 toward the other outer peripheral edge. Note that the number of rotations of the brush itself is constant in the entire region. In the present embodiment, when the brush 302 reaches the other outer peripheral edge, the brush 302 cleaning operation is terminated, but may be repeated a plurality of times. In that case, the control unit 114 determines whether the operation of the brush 302 has been performed a predetermined number of times every time the brush 302 reaches the other outer peripheral edge, and if not, again to the first outer peripheral edge. The brush 302 is moved and controlled to repeat the above moving operation. In the present embodiment, an example in which the brush 302 is moved from one outer peripheral edge to the other outer peripheral edge (from P1 to P6) will be described. (From P4 to P6) or from one outer peripheral edge to the substrate center (from P1 to P3).

  Thereafter, the operation of the brush 302 and the nozzle 214 is stopped and retracted from above the substrate 105, and then the turntable 207 is rotated at a high speed, so that the cleaning liquid remaining on the upper surface of the substrate 105 is shaken off and dried. When the drying is completed, the substrate 105 is carried out from the upper part of the turntable 207 to the substrate reversing device 108 by the operation substrate transfer device 107.

  FIG. 6 is a diagram for explaining region division when the substrate processing shown in FIG. 5 is performed.

  In the present embodiment, the region on the upper surface of the substrate 105 is divided into first to fourth regions based on the substrate center, and different processing is performed in each region. Here, the first region (P3, P4) is a circular region having a radius of 50 mm from the center of the substrate, the second region (P2, P5) is an annular region of 51 mm to 100 mm from the center of the substrate, and the third region ( P1, P6) is an annular region of 100 mm to 147 mm from the center of the substrate. The fourth area is an annular area of 148 mm to 150 mm from the center of the substrate, but in this embodiment, in order to prevent the brush 302 from colliding with the chucking 208, the substrate processing in this area is not performed. In addition, when the substrate is held by a method that does not hold the peripheral portion such as back surface adsorption, a problem of collision does not occur. Therefore, the region of 148 mm to 150 m from the substrate center is integrated with the third region without separately defining other regions. May be handled.

  FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating a specific example of the control of the pressing force of the brush 302 in the present embodiment. In FIG. 7, the horizontal axis indicates the position of the brush 302 on the upper surface of the substrate 105, and the vertical axis indicates the magnitude of the pressing force of the brush 302.

  As shown in the figure, the pressing force of the brush 302 is the same value in the first region and the third region, and is larger than those in the second region. As described above, in this embodiment, the second region is applied with a higher load than the other regions, thereby improving the removal performance of unnecessary substances such as particles.

  With reference to FIG. 8, a description will be given of an evaluation experiment that is the basis for performing the above control.

  In this evaluation experiment, an operation similar to the substrate processing described with reference to FIGS. 5 and 6 is performed. Also in this experiment, the number of rotations of the brush itself is constant in all regions, and the number of operations of the brush 302 is also one. Further, the pressing force of the brush 302 is made common in the first to third regions, and the value is changed stepwise every 0.5N (however, the minimum value is 0.1N, and the next value) Is 0.5N).

FIG. 8A shows a result of measuring the number of particles remaining on the substrate 105 after a predetermined amount of particles are uniformly attached to the upper surface of the substrate 105 and moved by the brush 302. .
Here, the removal rate on the vertical axis indicates the ratio of the number of particles removed by the movement operation among the attached particles. As shown in the figure, in any of the first to third regions, the particle removal rate improved as the pressing force of the brush increased.

  FIG. 8B shows the result of the moving operation performed by the brush 302 without attaching particles to the upper surface of the substrate 105. In this experiment, it is possible to measure the amount of adhesion of particles generated by scraping the brush 302 itself to the upper surface of the substrate 105.

  Here, the particle count on the vertical axis indicates the number of particles (attachment amount) that remain in the respective regions on the upper surface of the substrate 105 while actually attaching. As shown in the figure, in the first region and the third region, when the pressing force of the brush 302 increases, the particle count also increases. On the other hand, in the second region, the particle count increases until the pressing force increases to 2.5N, but the particle count does not increase even if the pressing force increases further.

  Based on the above experimental results, in the first region and the third region, when the pressing force of the brush is increased, the removal performance of the adhered particles is improved, but the adhesion amount of the particles generated from the brush itself is also increased. It can be evaluated that the removal performance in the entire region may not be improved. On the other hand, in the second region, when the pressing force of the brush is increased, the removal performance of the adhered particles is improved, and further, the amount of adhered particles generated from the brush itself is not increased. It can be evaluated that the performance will improve.

  Based on the above evaluation results, in the present embodiment, as shown in FIG. 7, the second area is processed by applying a higher load than the other areas without increasing the number of particles. The removal performance of unwanted materials in the area has been improved.

  Next, an inventor's consideration about the reason why the experimental result shown in FIG. 8 was obtained will be described below.

  FIG. 9 is a conceptual diagram showing the relationship between the friction coefficient between the brush 302 and the substrate 105 and the thickness of the liquid film of the cleaning liquid (pure water) supplied by the processing liquid supply unit 204 at the position of the upper surface of the substrate. . In FIG. 9, the position of 0 mm indicates the substrate center, and the position of 150 mm indicates the peripheral edge of the substrate. It is assumed that the pressing force of the brush 302 against the substrate 105 and the rotation speed of the brush itself are constant regardless of the position on the substrate 105.

As shown in the figure, the thickness of the liquid film of the cleaning liquid gradually decreases from the center position of the substrate to the second area, and sharply decreases from the third area toward the peripheral position. This is because the area where the cleaning liquid can exist increases toward the peripheral position, and the speed at which the liquid film is shaken off from the substrate increases due to the strong centrifugal force.

  On the other hand, the coefficient of friction simply decreases with an almost unchanged degree of inclination from the center position of the substrate toward the peripheral position. This reason can be explained by a Stribeck curve that is generally used to describe the lubrication state between two objects.

  The Stribeck curve shows that in the lubrication state, the coefficient of friction between the two objects simply decreases as the value A (A = the viscosity of the lubricating liquid × the relative speed between the two objects / the load between the two objects) increases. Is. Here, in the above equation defining the value A, if the viscosity and load of the lubricating liquid between the two objects are constant, the friction coefficient between the two objects simply decreases as the relative speed between them increases. Become.

  In the present embodiment, a liquid film having a certain thickness or more exists on the entire upper surface of the substrate 105, and this liquid film is thin at the peripheral position, but lubrication having a certain viscosity between the substrate 105 and the brush 302. Works well as a liquid. In the experiment, the pressing force of the brush 302 against the substrate 105 and the rotation speed of the brush itself are constant regardless of the position of the upper surface of the substrate 105. Then, the relative speed of the substrate with respect to the brush 302 is larger at the peripheral position than at the center position of the substrate 105. When the above fact is applied to the Stribeck curve, the friction coefficient between the substrate 105 and the brush 302 decreases from the center position of the substrate 105 toward the peripheral position, and the value conversion mode is a straight line as shown in FIG. It is clear that it becomes a typical shape.

  The shape in FIG. 9 indicates that the friction coefficient is larger toward the center of the substrate 105, so that the surface of the brush 302 is scraped toward the center of the substrate 105, and the amount of adhered particles is larger. It is hard to generate and it can be predicted that the amount of adhered particles is small. However, according to the experimental result of FIG. 8B, the prediction is not as expected, and the second region has the fewest particles. As shown in FIG. 9, the inventor believes that the second region is affected by the fact that the inclination of the decrease in the liquid film is smaller and the thickness is kept thicker than the other regions. That is, the liquid film of the cleaning liquid has an action that does not increase the amount of particles, and the amount of particles generated from the brush 302 increases as the liquid film thickness decreases relative to the friction coefficient. The amount of adhesion decreases with increasing relative size. For this reason, unlike the other regions, the second region can be said to have a small amount of adhering particles.

  As described above, according to the present embodiment, the processing region of the substrate 105 is arranged in order from the center position of the substrate 105 in the first region, the second region closest to the substrate center to which the cleaning liquid is supplied by the processing liquid supply unit 204. The pressing force of the brush 302 against the substrate 102 is controlled by dividing the region into the third region on the most peripheral side of the substrate. The pressing force in the second region is made larger than the pressing force in the first region and the third region. Thereby, it is possible to improve the removal performance of unnecessary substances while suppressing the adhesion of particles generated from the brush 302 to the substrate 105.

(Modification of the first embodiment)
In the above embodiment, the pressing force of the brush 302 is set to the same value in the first region and the third region, but may be set to a value larger than that in the first region in order to improve the removal performance of the third region. In the first embodiment, the uniform pressing force is set in the same region. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and in order to promote the uniform removal performance in each region, the same region is slightly moved outward. The pressing force may be increased one by one.

(Second Embodiment)
As described in the first embodiment, it is considered that the relative magnitude relationship between the thickness of the cleaning liquid film and the coefficient of friction affects the amount of adhesion of particles generated from the brush 302.

  As shown in FIG. 8A, when the substrate processing is performed with the same pressing force for each region, the third region has the lowest removal performance. In order to improve the uniformity of the removal performance as a whole, the pressing force in the third region may be increased. However, if the pressing force is simply increased, as shown in FIG. There is a possibility that the amount of generated particles increases.

  Therefore, in the present embodiment, adhesion of particles is suppressed by increasing the pressing force in the third region and increasing the influence of the liquid film of the processing liquid.

  FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating a specific example of brush pressing force control in the present embodiment. As shown in the drawing, the pressing force of the brush 302 is set to a large value stepwise in the order of the first region, the second region, and the third region. In addition, the supply amount of the treatment liquid of the treatment liquid supply unit 204 when the brush 302 is positioned in the first region and the second region is defined as the first supply amount, and the supply amount of the treatment liquid in the third region is more than that. The second supply amount is large.

  FIG. 11 conceptually shows the relationship between the friction coefficient between the brush 302 and the substrate 105 and the thickness of the liquid film when such a treatment liquid is supplied.

  As shown in FIG. 9, in this embodiment, the amount of processing liquid supplied is larger when the third region is processed than when the first and second regions are processed. The thickness of the liquid film is shifted upward as compared with the case where the supply amount is not changed. For this reason, the action of the liquid film of the processing liquid is relatively stronger than when the supply amount is not changed in the third region, and even if the brush control as shown in FIG. Adhesion is suppressed.

  In the above example, the pressing force of the brush 302 is increased in the order of the first region, the second region, and the third region. However, the pressing force of the third region is larger than that of the first region, and the second region. Even if the area is smaller than the area or the same value as the second area, the removal performance of the third area is improved.

  As described above, according to the present embodiment, when the pressing force of at least the third region is larger than that of the first region and the brush 302 is processing the third region, the brush 302 A larger amount of cleaning liquid was supplied to the substrate 105 than when processing the second region. As a result, not only in the second region but also in the third region, the adhesion of particles generated from the brush 302 can be suppressed, and the removal performance of unnecessary substances such as particles can be improved. The removal performance can be made uniform.

  In the present embodiment, the amount of the processing liquid supplied to the first region is increased. However, a processing liquid supply unit different from the processing liquid supply unit 204 is provided, and the processing liquid is provided only in the third region. May be supplied. That is, during the period in which the brush 302 processes the first to third regions, the flow rate of the processing liquid from the processing liquid supply unit 204 is not changed, and the other processing liquid supply unit is only in the period in which the brush 302 processes the third region. To control to supply an amount of the processing liquid corresponding to the formation of the film thickness of FIG.

  Further, not only the control of FIG. 10 of the present embodiment but also the liquid film in the second region is kept thick as described in the first embodiment, so that the removal performance of the second region is also improved. For this reason, the pressing force of the brush 302 may be increased in a stepwise manner in the order of the first region, the third region, and the second region.

Substrate 105
Substrate holder 202
Treatment liquid supply unit 204
Brush 302

Claims (11)

A control method for a substrate processing apparatus, comprising: a substrate holding unit that holds and rotates a substrate; a brush that processes the substrate by contacting the substrate; and a supply unit that supplies a cleaning liquid to the substrate. ,
The brush processing area is divided into a first area, a second area, and a third area, which are closest to the substrate periphery, to which the cleaning liquid is supplied by the supply unit in order from the center position of the substrate. A method for controlling a substrate processing apparatus, comprising: controlling a pressing force of the second region with respect to the substrate, and making the pressing force of the second region larger than the pressing force of the first region and the third region. The method for controlling a substrate processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the pressing force of the third region is smaller than the second region and larger than the first region .   The method of controlling a substrate processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the substrate is processed using a brush that contacts the substrate by a flat portion made of a softer member than the substrate.   The method for controlling a substrate processing apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the flat portion is made of PVA. When the brush is processing the third region, a larger amount of cleaning liquid is supplied to the substrate than when the brush is processing the first region and the second region. A method for controlling a substrate processing apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 4 . A substrate holder for holding and rotating the substrate;
A brush for treating the substrate by contacting the substrate;
A supply unit for supplying a cleaning liquid to the substrate;
A control unit for controlling the operation of the brush,
The control unit sequentially arranges the processing area of the substrate from the center position of the substrate into the first area, the second area, and the third area closest to the peripheral edge of the substrate, to which the cleaning liquid is supplied by the supply unit. A substrate processing apparatus, wherein the pressing force of the brush against the substrate is controlled separately, and the pressing force of the second region is made larger than the pressing force of the first region and the third region. The substrate processing apparatus according to claim 6 , wherein the control unit makes the pressing force of the third region smaller than the second region and larger than the first region . The substrate processing apparatus according to claim 6 , wherein the substrate is processed using a brush that is in contact with the substrate by a flat portion made of a softer member than the substrate. The substrate processing apparatus according to claim 8 , wherein the flat portion is made of PVA. The supply unit applies a larger amount of cleaning liquid to the substrate when the brush is processing the third region than when the brush is processing the first region and the second region. The substrate processing apparatus according to claim 6, wherein the substrate processing apparatus is supplied. A computer-readable storage medium that operates on a computer and stores a program for controlling the substrate processing system,
A storage medium that, when executed, causes a computer to control the substrate processing system so that the method for controlling a substrate processing apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 5 is performed. .

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