JPH0513397A - Cleaning device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To provide a cleaning device manufactured so as to be able to clean a tabular material to be cleaned efficiently and reliably. CONSTITUTION:A cleaning device for cleaning a semiconductor wafer U is characterized by that it is provided with a cleaning vessel 1, holding jigs 6 for holding the semiconductor wafer U provided on the inner bottom of this vessel 1 in a standing state, a feed pipe 12 for feeding cleaning water to the interior of the vessel 1, a discharge pipe 13 for discharging the cleaning water and a high-frequency oscillator 16, which is provided at a position, where corresponds to the wafer U, on the sidewall of the vessel 1 and gives ultrasonic vibrations to the wafer U via the cleaning water in the vessel 1.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a cleaning device for cleaning both sides of a plate-shaped object to be cleaned at the same time.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In a semiconductor wafer, a liquid crystal glass substrate or the like as a plate-like object to be cleaned, if dust adheres to the plate surface, for example, a fine pattern is formed in a lithography process.
Difficult to form. Therefore, the semiconductor wafer and the liquid crystal glass substrate are cleaned to reliably remove the attached dust before processing is performed in a process such as a lithography process that requires a clean state.

As a cleaning apparatus for performing such cleaning, cleaning using a solvent such as CFC has been the mainstream conventionally. However, cleaning with a solvent not only increases the cost, but also poses a problem of causing pollution.

As a cleaning device which does not use a solvent, there is a method of spraying pure water on an object to be cleaned. However, if the pure water spray is used alone, the amount of pure water that must be sprayed before the object to be cleaned becomes very large. Not only that, but it may not be possible to clean the object to be cleaned unless the cleaning time is extended.

Further, the conventional apparatus employs a so-called batch system in which a large number of objects to be cleaned are cleaned at one time. If a large number of objects to be cleaned are cleaned only by spraying with a solvent or pure water as described above, the cleaning time per cleaning becomes considerably long and the time difference between the preceding and subsequent steps becomes large.
Therefore, it may not be possible to continuously perform a series of steps including a cleaning step.

[0006]

As described above, conventionally, a solvent is used, or cleaning is performed only by spraying pure water, and a batch method is adopted. Therefore, the cost is increased and the cleaning time is long. There were things such as hanging.

The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances. An object of the present invention is to enable cleaning of an object to be cleaned in a short time without using a solvent or a large amount of pure water. To provide the cleaning device.

[0008]

In order to solve the above problems, the present invention provides a cleaning device for cleaning an object to be cleaned,
A cleaning container, a holding means provided at an inner bottom portion of the cleaning container for holding a plate-shaped object to be cleaned in an upright position, and cleaning water is supplied into the cleaning container in a direction along a cleaning surface of the object to be cleaned. And a discharge means for discharging the cleaning water, and ultrasonic waves to the object to be cleaned through the cleaning water in the cleaning container provided on the side wall of the cleaning container along the vertical direction corresponding to the object to be cleaned. And a high frequency oscillator for giving vibration.

[0009]

According to the above structure, the ultrasonic vibration generated by the high frequency oscillator can be reliably applied to the object to be cleaned.
The object to be cleaned can be efficiently and reliably cleaned.

[0010]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. The cleaning apparatus shown in FIG. 1 includes a box-shaped cleaning container 1 having an open top surface. As shown in FIG. 2, the inside of the cleaning container 1 is divided into a pair of cleaning chambers 4 and a pair of overflow chambers 5 located on both sides thereof by a central partition wall 2 and a pair of side partition walls 3. It is partitioned. The side partition wall 3 is slightly lower than the height dimension of the cleaning container 1. Therefore, as will be described later, the cleaning water made of pure water supplied to the cleaning chamber 4 overflows from the cleaning chamber 4 to the overflow chamber 5.

A pair of holders 6 are provided at the inner bottom of each cleaning chamber 4 so as to be separated from each other in the longitudinal direction. The upper surfaces of the holders 6 are formed into arcuate surfaces 7, and the arcuate surfaces 7 are respectively formed with slits 7b along the longitudinal direction of the cleaning chamber 4. Then, in the pair of holders 6, one semiconductor wafer U as a plate-like object to be cleaned is held in an upright position by detachably engaging the peripheral edge of the semiconductor wafer U with the slit 7b.

Two shower tubes 8 are connected to the upper portion of one side wall 1a located at one longitudinal end of each cleaning chamber 4, respectively. One end side of each shower tube 8 extends to the upper part of the cleaning chamber 4, and the other end side is connected to a pure water supply source (not shown) via a first solenoid valve 9. As shown in FIG. 1, a large number of jet ports 11 are formed obliquely downward at one end of the shower pipe 8. Therefore, pure water is sprayed from the pair of shower tubes 8 toward both side surfaces of the semiconductor wafer 6 held by the holder 6.

A pair of supply pipes 12 and a pair of discharge pipes 13 communicating with each cleaning chamber 4 are connected to the lower portion of the one side wall 1a. The supply pipe 12 is connected to a pure water supply source (not shown) via a second electromagnetic valve 14, and is provided so as to supply pure water in a direction along the main surface (cleaning surface) of the semiconductor wafer U. .. On the other hand, the discharge pipe 13 communicates with a drainage channel (not shown) via an electromagnetic discharge valve 15 for quick dump. The discharge valve 15 can discharge the cleaning water stored in the cleaning chamber 4 in a short time, for example, in 2 to 3 seconds.

Further, one side wall 1a of the cleaning container 1
As shown in FIG. 1, high-frequency oscillators 16 that generate ultrasonic vibrations are provided at portions of the other side wall 1b that face the longitudinal ends of the cleaning chambers 4, respectively. That is,
The high-frequency oscillator 16 has an ultrasonic vibration oscillating portion 17 along the vertical direction of the cleaning chamber 4, and a central portion in the width direction of the oscillating portion 17 corresponding to the semiconductor wafer U held in the cleaning chamber 4. .. As a result, the semiconductor wafer U is placed in the ultrasonic region oscillated from the oscillator 17 toward the cleaning chamber 4.
Is located. The high frequency generator 16
Are provided on one side wall 1a and two on the other side wall 1b in the vertical direction.

An overflow pipe 18 is connected to the lower portion of the one side wall 1a corresponding to the overflow chamber 5. One end of the overflow pipe 18 extends over the entire length of the overflow chamber 5, and the other end communicates with a drainage channel (not shown).

As shown in FIG. 2 at one end of the overflow pipe 18,
A pair of discharge ports 19 are provided as shown in FIG. Therefore, from the cleaning chamber 4 to the overflow chamber 5,
The washed water is discharged from the discharge port 19 of the overflow pipe 18.

The first solenoid valve 9, the second solenoid valve 14, the drain valve 15 and the high frequency oscillator 16 are provided in the control unit 2.
The drive signal is controlled by the control signal from 1 as described later.

Next, the operation of cleaning the semiconductor wafer U by the cleaning apparatus having the above structure will be described. First, a semiconductor wafer U is provided in each cleaning chamber 4 by a handling robot or the like.
Is supplied and held by the holder 6 in an upright state, a signal from the control device 21 causes the second solenoid valve 14
And the high frequency oscillator 16 is driven.

When the second solenoid valve 14 is opened, cleaning water is supplied to each cleaning chamber 4. Further, when the high frequency oscillator 16 operates, the ultrasonic vibrations oscillated from the oscillating portion 17 propagate in the cleaning water and act on both side surfaces of the semiconductor wafer U. The oscillating portion 17 is provided along the vertical direction along the upright direction of the semiconductor wafer U. Therefore, since the ultrasonic vibrations effectively act on the entire side surfaces of the semiconductor wafer U, the dust adhering to the semiconductor wafer U can be reliably and quickly removed.

The dust removed from the semiconductor wafer U flows into the overflow chamber 5 together with the overflowing cleaning water and is discharged from the overflow pipe 18. When such cleaning is continued for a predetermined time, the second electromagnetic valve 14 is closed and the drain valve 15 is opened. Thereby, the washing room 4
Since the cleaning water in the inside is discharged all at once through the discharge pipe 13, the dust that has settled in the cleaning chamber 4 without flowing into the overflow chamber 5 is also discharged together.

When the discharge of the cleaning water is completed, the first electromagnetic valve 9 is opened and the cleaning water is showered from the shower tube 8 toward both side surfaces of the semiconductor wafer U. Therefore, even if some of the dust once removed from the semiconductor wafer U adheres again during drainage, it will be removed by this shower cleaning. Then, the semiconductor wafer U is unloaded from the cleaning chamber 4 by a handling robot (not shown) while undergoing shower cleaning.

As described above, since one semiconductor wafer U is vertically held in the cleaning chamber 4 and both sides thereof are subjected to ultrasonic vibration for cleaning, the cleaning chamber 4 can be made thin. You can That is, the size of the entire device can be reduced.

Further, since the high frequency oscillator 16 for generating ultrasonic vibration is provided along the vertical direction which is the upright direction of the semiconductor wafer U, the ultrasonic vibration is effectively transmitted to both side surfaces of the semiconductor wafer U. Therefore, the semiconductor wafer U
Can be surely and quickly washed. Moreover, 1
Since only one semiconductor wafer 6 is held in one cleaning chamber 4 for cleaning, which is a so-called single-wafer type, the cleaning can be surely and swiftly performed.

Since the cleaning water is discharged from the cleaning chamber 4 at once by the quick dump type drain valve 15, the dust remaining in the cleaning chamber 4 without flowing into the overflow chamber 5 is also discharged. It hardly remains in the washing room 4. Therefore, the cleaning chamber 4 does not have to be cleaned when the next cleaning is performed. Moreover, since the drainage time is short, the drainage process can be performed quickly.

As a result, the time required for cleaning one semiconductor wafer U can be shortened sufficiently, and a series of steps including the cleaning step can be continuously performed. That is, automation of a series of steps can be realized.

The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, and the number of cleaning chambers formed in the cleaning container may be one or three or more instead of two. Further, the holder may be configured to be able to hold two or more objects to be cleaned.

[0027]

As described above, the present invention is provided with the holding means for holding the plate-like object to be cleaned in the standing state in the cleaning container, and the side wall of the cleaning container corresponds to the object to be cleaned. A high frequency oscillator that applies ultrasonic vibration to the object to be cleaned is provided along the vertical direction.

Therefore, ultrasonic vibrations can be surely applied to both sides of the object to be cleaned, so that the cleaning can be surely and swiftly performed. In addition, since no harmful solvent is used, there is no risk of causing pollution, and because ultrasonic vibration is used, the amount of pure water, which is costly compared to the case of cleaning with only cleaning water, is significantly reduced. It has the advantage that it can be done.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a partially sectional front view showing a cleaning container according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a plan view of the same.

FIG. 3 is a side view of the same.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 ... Cleaning container, 6 ... Semiconductor wafer (object to be cleaned), 12 ...
Supply pipe (supply means), 13 ... Discharge pipe (discharge means), 16
… High frequency oscillator.

Claims (1)

Claim: What is claimed is: 1. A cleaning device for cleaning a plate-shaped object to be cleaned, comprising: a cleaning container; Holding means, a supply means for supplying the cleaning water into the cleaning container in a direction along the surface to be cleaned of the object to be cleaned, and a discharging means for discharging the cleaning water; And a high-frequency oscillator that is provided along the up-down direction and applies ultrasonic vibration to the object to be cleaned through the cleaning water in the cleaning container.