JPH09148231A - Rotary wafer processing apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To remove mist and odors leaking from a scatter preventive cup to prevent the contamination of wafers both inside and outside a wafer processing apparatus, while taking measures for safety and hygiene. SOLUTION: A rotary wafer processing apparatus comprises a rotational drive 1 for rotating a wafer W; a nozzle 5 for emitting liquid photoresist; a cup 10 that surrounds the wafer W to prevent photoresist from scattering; and a housing 20 that encloses all the foregoing members, allows a downflow DF within it and includes an exhaust 30 for discharging the cup 10. The housing 20 is provided with another exhaust 50 for discharging the downflow DF, and the exhaust 50 is communicating with an automatic damper 51b for exhaust control.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention is applied to a substrate such as a semiconductor wafer, a glass substrate for a photomask, a glass substrate for a liquid crystal display device, a substrate for an optical disk, a photoresist solution, a rinse solution, a developing solution, The present invention relates to an apparatus that supplies a treatment liquid such as a cleaning liquid to perform a predetermined treatment, and particularly relates to a technique for exhausting mist and odor generated during the treatment.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art As a conventional rotary substrate processing apparatus of this type, for example, a rotary drive unit for holding and rotating a substrate to be processed and a photoresist liquid as a processing liquid for the substrate. A processing liquid supply nozzle that supplies the liquid, a scattering prevention cup that surrounds the periphery of the substrate to prevent the scattering of the photoresist liquid, and the above-mentioned parts are covered so that an air flow (downflow) from the upper side to the lower side can be communicated. An outer container formed with an exhaust port inside the cup for exhausting the inside of the prevention cup,
A rotary substrate coating apparatus (also referred to as a spin coater) including a.

The structure of such an apparatus will be described below with reference to the longitudinal sectional view of FIG. In the figure, reference numeral 1 is a rotation drive unit that includes a spin chuck that is rotationally driven by an electric motor and that rotationally drives the supported substrate W. Above the center of rotation of the substrate W, the substrate W
The processing liquid supply nozzle 5 for supplying the photoresist liquid is positioned with respect to. The periphery of the substrate W is surrounded by a scattering prevention cup 10 for preventing the scattering of the photoresist liquid. At the bottom of this shatterproof cup 10,
A drain port 10a for collecting the photoresist liquid scattered around and an exhaust port 10b for exhausting an air stream flowing from above and flowing down the peripheral edge of the substrate W are formed. Further, the rotation drive unit 1, the treatment liquid supply nozzle 5, and the scattering prevention cup 10 are covered with an outer container 20 having a clean airflow (hereinafter, referred to as a downflow) DF from the upper side to the lower side. The outer container 20 is provided with an anti-scattering cup 10 in order to put particles (hereinafter referred to as “mist”) or particles in which the photoresist liquid is scattered into particles in the air current flowing down the peripheral edge of the substrate W and exhaust the particles. The in-cup exhaust port 30 is formed so as to communicate with the exhaust port 10b. The in-cup exhaust port 30 is connected to an exhaust pump, which is one of the utilities installed in a clean room, and is constantly exhausted at a predetermined flow rate.

The bottom portion of the outer container 20 is constituted by a punching plate 20a having a large number of small holes so that the downflow DF flowing down from above is discharged along with the particles floating inside the outer container 20. ing. Further, the peripheral side surface portion of the outer container 20 is surrounded by the side surface cover 20b, but since it is configured to be openable and closable mainly for maintenance, it has many gaps. A plate 100 is provided below the shatterproof cup 10 to prevent various components from dropping to the bottom during maintenance and to hide the components below the outer container 20. Is provided.

In the apparatus constructed as described above, the photoresist liquid scattered around the substrate W by the supply of the photoresist liquid is discharged from the drain port 1 as indicated by a solid arrow in the figure.
The mist, which is collected through 0a and scattered around the substrate W, and the odor caused by the organic solvent and the alkaline component contained in the photoresist liquid, as shown by the solid arrow in the scattering prevention cup 10, The air is exhausted from the in-cup exhaust port 30 via the exhaust port 10b.

[0006]

However, the prior art having such a structure has the following problems. That is, part of the above-mentioned mist and odor is mainly caused by the air flow generated along with the rotational drive of the substrate W and the downflow DF that flows down, as shown by the dotted line arrow A in the figure, and the exhaust port 10b. Against the exhaust gas from the vehicle, climbing up the inner wall of the shatterproof cup 10,
0, and then flows out through the gap of the side cover 10b so as to be pushed out by the downflow DF to the outside of the device, which may adversely affect other substrates in the vicinity of this device or in terms of safety and hygiene. There is a problem that causes the problem of. The above-mentioned adverse effect on the substrate is particularly an influence on a high-sensitivity photoresist film such as a so-called chemically amplified resist which is adopted as the recent microfabrication of the semiconductor process progresses, and specifically, the high-sensitivity photoresist. This is because the high-sensitivity photoresist film is exposed to an odor containing an organic solvent or an alkaline component after the substrate on which the film is formed is exposed to a predetermined pattern by an exposure process, and the sensitivity is significantly deteriorated. Another effect is that device defects occur due to mist and particles adhering to the substrate.

A gap is provided at the joint between the drainage port 10a and the exhaust port 10b, mainly in consideration of workability when attaching and detaching the scattering prevention cup 10 for cleaning. Although a bellows-shaped cover is attached, odor and mist leak out from these gaps (dotted line arrow indicated by reference symbol B in the figure). The leaked odor and mist are
It is also pushed out by the downflow DF and flows out of the apparatus through the gap between the punching plate 20a and the side cover 20b, causing the same problem as described above.
In addition, the leaked odor and part of the mist do not flow out of the apparatus and are rotated and driven to a negative pressure.
It circulates so as to be sucked in the vicinity of the rotation center of the back surface of the substrate and adheres to the back surface or the front surface of the substrate W being processed. This also causes a problem of contaminating the substrate W being processed and causing device defects.

In order to prevent the above-mentioned mist and odor from leaking, it is easily conceivable to increase the exhaust flow rate of the in-cup exhaust port 30, but this cannot be done for the following reasons. That is, the photoresist liquid supplied to the substrate W is formed into a film having a predetermined film thickness by high-speed rotation, and at that time, the exhaust port 10 in the scattering prevention cup 10 is formed.
When the exhaust flow rate of b is increased, the flow rate of the air flow flowing down the peripheral edge of the substrate W is increased by the air flow generated by the exhaust,
The rate of volatilization of the organic solvent and the alkaline component contained in the photoresist liquid is increased, and as a result, the film thickness between the vicinity of the center of the substrate W and the peripheral portion is different. Therefore, recent devices tend to weaken the flow rate of exhaust gas in the scattering prevention cup 10.
As a result, the problem caused by the leakage of the mist and the odors (reference characters A and B in the figure) as described above is remarkable.

The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances. By exhausting mist and odor leaked out of the scattering prevention cup, safety and health problems can be avoided. An object of the present invention is to provide a rotary substrate processing apparatus capable of preventing substrate contamination inside the apparatus and substrate contamination outside the apparatus.

[0010]

The present invention has the following configuration in order to achieve the above object. That is, the rotary substrate processing apparatus according to claim 1 includes a rotation driving unit that holds and rotates the substrate, a processing liquid supply unit that supplies the processing liquid to the substrate, and a periphery of the substrate. Is configured to cover the scattering prevention cup for preventing the processing liquid from scattering, the rotation driving means, the processing liquid supply means, and the scattering prevention cup so that an air flow (downflow) from the upper side to the lower side can be communicated. A rotary substrate processing apparatus comprising: an outer container formed with an in-cup exhaust port for exhausting the inside of the scattering prevention cup; wherein the outer container is an outside of the cup for discharging downflow around the scattering prevention cup. An exhaust port is formed.

The rotary substrate processing apparatus according to a second aspect of the invention is characterized in that an exhaust flow rate adjusting means for adjusting the exhaust flow rate through the exhaust port outside the cup is connected in communication therewith.

[0012]

The operation of the first aspect of the invention is as follows. For the substrate being rotated by the rotation driving means,
When the processing liquid is supplied via the processing liquid supply means, the processing liquid is scattered around the substrate. At this time, when the treatment liquid collides with the inner wall of the scattering prevention cup, a mist is generated and floats in the cup, and its components, for example, an organic solvent and an alkaline component become odor and stay in the cup.
The mist or odor floating or staying in the cup is discharged through the in-cup exhaust port formed in the outer container. Mist or odor that has not been discharged or leaked mist or odor, such as seams of pipes, leaks to the outside of the scattering prevention cup, but flows down in the outer container by downflow together with particles floating in the outer container and scatters. The air is exhausted through the exhaust port outside the cup that exhausts the periphery of the prevention cup. Therefore, mist, odor and particles inside the outer container are all exhausted through the exhaust port inside the cup or the exhaust port outside the cup, so that they can be prevented from circulating inside the device and at the same time, they can It can be prevented from leaking out of the container.

The operation of the invention described in claim 2 is as follows. That is, mist, odor, and particles accumulated in the scattering prevention cup are exhausted through the exhaust port inside the cup along with the downflow of the outer container, and those leaking from the cup are exhausted through the exhaust port outside the cup. If the exhaust flow rate at the external exhaust port is too high, mist, odor, or particles will flow back and be sucked out from the cup.If the exhaust flow rate at the external exhaust port is too low, mist etc. leaking from the cup will be discharged. It will stay in the container. Therefore, based on the relationship between the downflow flow rate of the outer container and the exhaust flow rate of the in-cup exhaust port, the exhaust flow rate of the out-cup exhaust port is adjusted through the exhaust flow rate adjusting means to suck out mist in the cup. Without adjusting the mist and the like inside the outer container, it is possible to adjust the exhaust flow rate so that the mist and the like leaking from the cup can be reliably discharged.

[0014]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a vertical cross-sectional view showing a schematic configuration of a rotary substrate coating apparatus which is an example of the rotary substrate processing apparatus of the present invention.

In the figure, reference numeral 1a is a spin chuck that supports a substrate W (for example, a semiconductor wafer) to be processed almost horizontally. The bottom of the spin chuck 1a is interlocked with the electric motor 1b via a rotary shaft. The electric motor 1b is fixed to the bottom of an outer container, which will be described later, while being housed in the housing. The spin chuck 1a and the electric motor 1b constitute a rotary drive unit 1 corresponding to the rotary drive means in the present invention.

A processing liquid supply nozzle 5 for supplying a photoresist liquid, which is a processing liquid, is arranged above the spin chuck 1a, and a tip portion directed downward is located near the center of rotation. It is provided in. The processing liquid supply nozzle 5 is cantilevered at its base end portion by a swinging support mechanism (not shown) so that its tip end portion comes off the upper side of the substrate W and a discharge position shown in the figure. It is configured so that it can be moved up and down and moved up and down at each position by an elevating mechanism (not shown). The processing liquid supply nozzle 5 corresponds to the processing liquid supply means in the present invention.

The periphery of the substrate W is surrounded by a splash prevention cup 10 for preventing the photoresist liquid from splashing. The splash prevention cup 10 has an opening for transporting the substrate W and an upper cup 7 having an inclined surface for guiding downwardly the photoresist liquid scattered from the peripheral portion of the substrate W to the periphery, and for rectifying the flowing airflow. It is composed of a straightening vane 8 having a circular shape in plan view and a lower cup 9 for collecting the drainage. The current plate 8 is fitted into the inner peripheral portion of the lower cup 9, and the upper cup 7 is fitted into the inner peripheral surface of the lower cup 9 with the outer peripheral surface of the lower end thereof. The lower cup 9 has a ring-shaped drainage zone at the bottom thereof, and drainage ports 10a for collecting the scattered photoresist liquid are formed at the three locations (only one location is shown in the figure). Has been done.
Further, an exhaust zone covered with the current plate 8 is formed inside the drainage zone, and the air flow (including mist, particles, and odor) flowing down the peripheral edge of the substrate W is formed at one place.
An exhaust port 10b for exhausting the exhaust gas is formed. Further, on the rotation center side of the current plate 8, a rinsing liquid is directed toward the peripheral edge of the back surface of the substrate W in order to wash and remove the photoresist liquid wrapping around the rear surface of the peripheral edge of the substrate W and mist adhering to the rear surface. The back rinse nozzle 11 for supplying and supplying is buried. The shatterproof cup 10 has a lower cup 9
The outer surface of the air cylinder 12 is interlocked with the rod of the air cylinder 12, and the rod of the air cylinder 12 is expanded and contracted to move up and down with respect to the rotation drive unit 1. Alternatively, the anti-scattering cup 10 may be fixed, and the rotation driving unit 1 may be moved up and down with respect to the cup 10. The back rinse nozzle 11 corresponds to the processing liquid supply means in the present invention, like the processing liquid supply nozzle 5 described above.

The drain port 10a is communicated with the drain pipe 10a _1, the drain pipe 10a ₁ has its lower end is pledged to the drain tank 10a _2. The photoresist liquid that has flowed into the drainage port 10a is drained from the drain pipe 1
It is designed to be collected in the drain tank 10a ₂ through 0a ₁ . Drain tank 10a ₂ is covered with the drain box 10a _3, the exhaust holes 10a ₄ for exhausting the odor arising from the photoresist solution recovered is formed in a lower portion of the drain box 10a _3. Exhaust holes 10a ₄ is communicated with such an exhaust pump to be described later (not shown). The shatterproof cup 10 is detached for cleaning and other purposes.
In consideration of workability at that time, the drainage port 10a is loosely inserted in the drainage pipe 10a ₁ , and a gap is present at these joints. In this gap, the bellows-shaped cover 10a
₅ is attached to the drain port 10a and drain pipe 10
It is configured to suppress odor leakage generated from the photoresist liquid adhering to the inner wall of a ₁ .

The exhaust port 10b is connected to the exhaust pipe 10b ₁ . The exhaust pipe 10b ₁ communicates with an in-cup exhaust port 30 formed on one side surface of the outer container 20. The in-cup exhaust port 30 is provided with an exhaust pump 32, which is one of utilities in a clean room, via a pipe 31.
Is connected to the The bellows-shaped cover 10b ₂ is attached to the joint between the exhaust port 10b and the exhaust pipe 10b ₁ for the reason described above. 2 in the pipe 31
Two dampers are provided in series. One of them is
It is a manual damper 31a that manually adjusts the opening to adjust the flow rate, and the other is an automatic damper 31b that can adjust the opening according to a signal from the outside. One of the manual dampers 31a is preset so as to obtain a minimum required exhaust gas flow rate, and is controlled by the automatic damper 31b so that the exhaust gas flow rate becomes constant according to the fluctuation of the exhaust gas flow rate of the exhaust pump 32. It is configured to be.

The above-mentioned components are closed by an outer container 20. That is, unlike the conventional example, the punching board is not used at the bottom. Further, although an openable and closable cover for maintenance (not shown) or the like is attached to the side surface portion, the gap is closed with a sealing material or the like so as to minimize the gap. Further, as will be described later, in order to efficiently send the airflow DF flowing down from above to the below with low resistance, the plate 100 disposed near the bottom of the shatterproof cup 10 in the conventional example (see FIG. 5).
Are excluded. An air flow sampling port 41 is formed on the upper side surface of the outer container 20 to take in the air flow whose temperature, humidity, and air volume are adjusted by the air flow control unit 40.
The air flow is sent into the chamber 42 formed in the upper space inside the outer container 20, and is supplied as a clean downflow DF through the filter 43. The flow rate of the downflow DF will be referred to as a flow rate α for convenience. Further, in order to increase the degree of blockage of the outer container 20, the transfer opening 45 for loading an unprocessed substrate or unloading a processed substrate is provided with the shutter 4.
It is designed to be opened and closed by 6. That is, the portion of the shutter 46 that is bent and formed in an L shape is interlocked with the rod of the air cylinder 12. As shown by the chain double-dashed line in the figure, the air cylinder 12 contracts the rod of the substrate when it is transferred, so that the scattering prevention cup 10 is lowered with respect to the rotation drive unit 1 and the shutter is released. 46 is lowered to open the transport opening 45. By extending the rod, the scattering prevention cup 10 is raised, and the shutter 46 is raised to close the transport opening 45.

On the side surface of the outer container 20 and below the in-cup exhaust port 30, an outside-cup exhaust port 50 is formed. The outside-cup exhaust port 50 is provided with an exhaust pump 52, which is one of the utilities in a clean room, via a pipe 51.
Is connected to the In the pipe 51, two dampers are arranged in series, one of which is a manual damper 51a whose opening can be manually adjusted, and the other of which is adjustable in accordance with a signal from the outside. It is an automatic damper 51b capable of One of the manual dampers 51a is preset so as to obtain the minimum required exhaust gas flow rate, and the exhaust gas flow rate is controlled to be constant by the automatic damper 51b according to the variation of the exhaust gas flow rate of the exhaust pump 52, and the processing is performed. The exhaust flow rate is controlled so as to be a set exhaust flow rate described later according to the state. In addition,
The automatic damper 51b corresponds to the exhaust flow rate adjusting means in the present invention. For convenience of explanation, the flow rate exhausted from the in-cup exhaust port 30 is referred to as an in-cup exhaust flow rate β, and the flow rate exhausted from the out-cup exhaust port 50 is referred to as an out-cup exhaust flow rate γ.

An outside air intake 55 is formed below the transfer opening 45 of the outer container 20. The outside air intake port 55 allows only the outside air to flow into the outer container 20,
A check valve 55a is arranged so as to prohibit the outflow from the inside of the outer container 20. This outside air intake 55
Although the details will be described later, the flow rate α of the downflow DF
When the outside-cup exhaust flow rate γ of the outside-cup exhaust port 50 is larger than the difference between the inside-cup exhaust port 30 and the inside-cup exhaust flow rate β, mist or the like does not flow backward from the cup 10 and is not sucked out. As described above, it has a function of compensating for the insufficient air flow.

The rotation speed control of the electric motor 1b of the rotation drive unit 1, the movement control and the supply control of the processing liquid supply nozzle 5,
Control related to the coating process, such as supply control of the rinse liquid from the back rinse nozzle 11, extension control of the rod of the air cylinder 12, and downflow DF at a predetermined temperature and humidity,
Downflow control of the air flow control unit 40 for adjusting to the flow rate α, opening control of the automatic damper 31b for adjusting the in-cup exhaust flow rate β, and automatic damper 51b for adjusting the outside-cup exhaust flow rate γ. The exhaust control of the opening degree control is generally controlled by the control unit 60. The control unit 60 has a built-in memory (not shown) and executes processing based on a program (also referred to as a recipe) stored in the memory and indicating a processing procedure corresponding to a time chart described later. It is like this. Further, the set exhaust flow rates Q1 and Q2 of the outside-cup exhaust flow rate γ, which will be described later, are set in advance in a recipe. Therefore, those values can be set appropriately according to the recipe.

Next, the time chart of FIG. 2 and FIG.
The operation of the above-described device will be described with reference to FIG. In FIGS. 3 and 4, the flow of the air flow is schematically shown by solid arrows, and when the air flow contains mist, odor, and particles, it is shown by dotted arrows.

Referring to FIG. First, at the time origin, the substrate is transported. Specifically, the air cylinder 12
The rod is contracted to lower the scattering prevention cup 10 and open the transport opening 45. In this state,
An unprocessed substrate supported by a transfer arm (not shown) is received and placed on the spin chuck 1a. When the transport arm (not shown) retreats from the transport opening 45, the rod of the air cylinder 12 is extended to raise the shatterproof cup 12, and the shutter 46 is raised to close the transport opening 45. As a result, the outer container 20 is closed. Further, the swing support mechanism and the elevating mechanism (not shown) are driven to move the processing liquid supply nozzle 5 upward near the center of rotation of the substrate W. This state is the state shown in FIG. Note that, in a normal state, the control unit 60 compares the outside-cup exhaust flow rate γ (Q2) within a certain section from the stop of the supply of the photoresist liquid to the carry-out of the processed substrate as described below. The opening degree of the automatic damper 51b is adjusted so that the exhaust flow rate Q1 is small.

The relationship between the respective flow rates in this state is α-β
The control is performed so that ≈γ, that is, α-β≈Q1. Therefore, as shown in FIG.
The downflow DF flowing into the shatterproof cup 10 is
The gas is exhausted by the exhaust pump 32 through the exhaust port 10b and the in-cup exhaust port 30. On the other hand, the downflow DF flowing down the outside of the scattering prevention cup 10 is, for example,
The particles generated from the air cylinder 12, the electric motor 1b, etc. are taken in and are exhausted by the exhaust pump 52 through the outside-cup exhaust port 50. In addition, for example, the photoresist liquid adhered to the drain pipe 10a ₁ (adhered during substrate processing before this description) and the drain box 10a ₃
Odor generated from the photoresist liquid collected inside flows into the outside-cup exhaust port 50 together with the downflow DF.

Then, the control unit 60 starts the supply of the photoresist liquid to the substrate W via the processing liquid supply nozzle 5 at time t ₁ . At time t ₂ , the rotation drive unit 1 is controlled so that at time t ₃ , the rotation speed of the substrate W becomes R 1
The rotation is started so that By this rotation drive, the supplied photoresist liquid is spread around the substrate W. At a time t _{3 which} is a predetermined time after the time t ₁ ,
The control unit 60 stops the supply of the photoresist liquid. At time t ₂ when the rotation speed of the substrate W starts to increase toward the rotation speed R 1, the photoresist liquid supplied to the surface of the substrate W scatters to the surroundings and begins to generate mist or odor.
The odor and mist start to leak to the outside of the shatterproof cup 10 with some delay. Thus, at time t ₃ when the delay from the time t _2, the photoresist liquid supplied in synchronization with the stop of the signal increases the opening degree of automatic dampers 51b, the cup outside the exhaust flow rate greater exhaust flow rate than this from Q1 gamma Q
Adjust to 2. From this time t _3, gradually exhaust flow rate increases, the cup outside the exhaust flow rate γ becomes Q2 at [at a delay time proportional to the volume of the outer container 20] time t _4. The relationship between the respective flow rates in this state is controlled so that α−β <γ, that is, α−β <Q1. Therefore, the out-cup exhaust flow rate γ = Q2 becomes larger than the flow rate α of the downflow DF minus the in-cup exhaust flow rate β, and the insufficient flow rate sucks in the air flow containing mist in the scattering prevention cup 10. It will be compensated by this, but in this case the exhaust port 3 in the cup
Mist that should have been exhausted through 0 is sucked out of the cup and adversely affects it. However, as shown in FIG. 3, since the outside air flows in from the outside air intake port 55 so as to make up for the insufficient flow rate, the above adverse effect can be prevented.

Therefore, the generated mist or odor leaks to the outside of the shatterproof cup 10 so as to crawl up the inner wall of the upper cup 7 of the shatterproof cup 10 or be pushed out by the downflow DF. The leaked mist and odor are pushed downward by the downflow DF and exhausted through the outside-cup exhaust port 50. In addition, particles generated from movable parts such as the air cylinder 12 are downflow DF and the outside air intake port 5.
It is carried on the outside air flowing in from 5, and is similarly discharged from the outside-cup exhaust port 50. In addition, the bellows-shaped cover 10a ₅ ,
The odor and mist leaking from 10b ₂ are also reliably exhausted without leaking to the outside of the device. Therefore, it is possible to prevent the air flow containing mist and particles from circulating and adhering to and contaminating the front and back surfaces of the substrate W, resulting in device defects in the substrate W processed by this apparatus. Also, since odors, mists, and particles do not leak to the outside of the device, the odors and mists touch the substrate outside this device, for example, to increase the sensitivity of exposed high-sensitivity photoresist coatings such as chemically amplified resist. It is possible to prevent the deterioration and to prevent the contamination of the substrate outside the device.

Thus, the outside-cup exhaust flow rate γ is the flow rate Q2.
In this state, the substrate W is processed as follows.

At time t ₅ , the control unit 60 controls the rotation driving unit 1 so that the rotation speed of the substrate W becomes the rotation speed R3 at time t ₆ . By maintaining this rotation speed R3 until time t ₇ , a photoresist film having a predetermined film thickness is formed on the surface of the substrate W. Even at this rotation speed R3, the excess photoresist liquid is scattered to generate mist and odor, but they are surely exhausted as described above.

At time t ₇ , the rotation speed of the substrate W is set to R1 at time t ₈ . Then, from time t _{9 to} time t ₁₀ , the rinse liquid is supplied from the back rinse nozzle 11 to wash and remove unnecessary photoresist liquid and mist adhering to the back surface of the substrate W. After that, at time t ₁₁ , the rotation speed is increased so that the rotation speed becomes R2 (higher than the rotation speed R1 and lower than the rotation speed R3) at the time t ₁₂ . By keeping the rotational drive at the rotation speed R2 until time t ₁₃ , the rinse liquid supplied to the back surface of the substrate W is shaken off and the substrate W is dried. Note that the odor and mist generated during this time are also the outside-cup exhaust port 5 as described above.
It is surely exhausted through 0. Then, the rotation speed is reduced so that the rotation is stopped at time t _{14, and} at the time when the rotation is stopped (time t ₁₄ ), the outside-cup exhaust flow rate γ is changed from the flow rate Q2 to the original flow rate Q1 in synchronization with the signal. Start returning to. In other words, the mist and odor caused by the rinse liquid generated by the rotation-off are reduced to such an extent that they can be reliably exhausted through the in-cup exhaust port 30 at that point (time t ₁₄ ) and are no longer exhausted through the outside-cup exhaust port 50. Because there is no need.

At time t ₁₄ , the outside-cup exhaust flow rate γ begins to decrease to the flow rate Q1, the processed substrate W is unloaded, and a new substrate is loaded. In this way, the processing for one substrate W is completed, and after time t ₁₄ , the processing can be sequentially performed by repeating the above-described operation. As described above, the exhaust from the exhaust port 50 outside the cup is not always performed, but the exhaust is performed by limiting the section where mist or the like leaks. In addition to the effect of avoiding contamination of the substrate inside the apparatus and contamination of the substrate outside the apparatus, the energy required for exhausting outside the cup can be saved.
In the apparatus of the above embodiment, the utility of the clean room is used as the exhaust pumps 32 and 52, but it is particularly effective when a dedicated pump is arranged in this apparatus.

In the apparatus constructed as described above, odors, mists and particles do not leak to the outside of the apparatus, so odors and mists touch the substrate outside the apparatus,
It is possible to prevent the sensitivity of the exposed high-sensitivity photoresist film from deteriorating and prevent the contamination of the substrate outside the device. Therefore, the rotary substrate coating apparatus configured as described above adversely affects other apparatuses in a processing apparatus integrally provided with a plurality of processing apparatuses such as a rotary substrate developing apparatus, a substrate heat treatment apparatus, and a substrate exposure apparatus. Is preferable because it can prevent

As described above, the exhaust gas flow rate outside the cup γ
The timing of changing the flow rate from Q1 to the flow rate Q2 is set immediately before mist, odor, or particles are generated and leaks from the cup 10 or the like, and the timing of returning from the flow rate Q2 to the flow rate Q1 is generation of mist, odor, or particles. It is most preferable to match the timing when it does not occur. However, if the timings do not match due to the control signal of the apparatus, for example, the processing start switch of the apparatus is pressed by the operator and the substrate transfer is started without changing the outside-cup exhaust flow rate γ. Alternatively, the exhaust flow rate Q2 may be constantly set from the time when the processing is started to the time when the processing is completed for all the substrates. Further, as described above, regardless of the processing state, the outside-cup exhaust flow rate γ is constantly set to the flow rate Q2 from the state where the power source of the device is turned on to the time when it is turned off.
May be set. Further, regardless of whether the power is on or off, the outside-cup exhaust may be always performed even when the power is off. In that case, the automatic damper 51b for adjusting the exhaust flow rate is unnecessary.

The set exhaust flow rates Q1, Q2 of the outside-cup exhaust flow rate γ and their switching timings (time t ₃ , t ₁₄ ) are set for each recipe previously stored in the memory, It is possible to set an appropriate flow rate and timing according to the processing content (for example, the number of revolutions or time that greatly affects the generation of mist or the type of photoresist liquid to be supplied).

Further, in the above-mentioned embodiment, the rotary substrate coating apparatus for coating the photoresist liquid as the treatment liquid has been described as an example, but instead of the photoresist liquid, it is used as an insulating film or a surface protective film. Polyimide liquid and SOG (Spin O
It is obvious that it can also be applied to an apparatus for applying n Glass) liquid.

Further, in the above embodiment, the rotary substrate coating apparatus for coating the processing liquid has been described as an example, but the present invention is not limited to this apparatus, and various rotary substrate processing apparatuses can be used. Is applicable to. For example, the present invention is also applicable to a rotary substrate developing device (also called a spin developer), a rotary substrate cleaning device (also called a spin scrubber), and the like.

[0038]

As is apparent from the above description, according to the invention described in claim 1, mist, odor and particles inside the outer container are all discharged through the exhaust port inside the cup or the exhaust port outside the cup. Since they are exhausted, their circulation inside the device can be prevented, and they can be prevented from leaking out of the outer container. Therefore, it is possible to avoid the problem of safety and hygiene due to the leakage of odor to the outside of the device, and it is possible to prevent substrate contamination inside the device and substrate contamination outside the device.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, the exhaust flow rate of the cup outside exhaust port is adjusted through the exhaust flow rate adjusting means so that the mist in the cup is not sucked into the outer container. It is possible to adjust the exhaust flow rate so that the mist leaked from the cup can be reliably exhausted without the mist staying. Therefore, the exhaust flow rate can be adjusted to an optimum exhaust flow rate according to the processing content.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a vertical cross-sectional view showing a main part of a rotary substrate coating apparatus according to an embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a time chart illustrating an example of an operation.

FIG. 3 is a diagram for explaining the operation.

FIG. 4 is a diagram for explaining the operation.

FIG. 5 is a vertical cross-sectional view showing a main part of a rotary substrate coating apparatus according to a conventional example.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Rotation drive part (rotation drive means) 1a ... Spin chuck 1b ... Electric motor 5 ... Treatment liquid supply nozzle (treatment liquid supply means) 10 ... Scattering prevention cup 10a ... Drainage port 10b ... Exhaust port 11 ... Back rinse nozzle ( Processing liquid supply means) 20 ... Outer container 30 ... In-cup exhaust port 50 ... Out-cup exhaust port 51b ... Automatic damper (exhaust flow rate adjusting means) DF ... Downflow α ... Downflow flow rate β ... In-cup exhaust flow rate γ ... Cup Outside exhaust flow rate

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A rotation driving means for holding and rotating a substrate, a processing liquid supplying means for supplying a processing liquid to the substrate, and a scattering prevention for surrounding the periphery of the substrate to prevent scattering of the processing liquid. A cup, the rotation driving means, the processing liquid supply means, and the scattering prevention cup, and is configured to be capable of communicating an air flow (downflow) from above to below,
An outer container having an in-cup exhaust port for exhausting the inside of the shatterproof cup, wherein the outer container is an out-of-cup exhaust for exhausting downflow around the shatterproof cup. A rotary substrate processing apparatus having a mouth. 2. The rotary substrate processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein exhaust flow rate adjusting means for adjusting an exhaust flow rate through the exhaust port outside the cup is connected in communication with the rotary substrate processing apparatus. .