JPH1140497A - Processing device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To clean the atmosphere in a processing device through gas-liquid contact by using pure water, etc., and, at the same time, to reduce the running cost of the cleaning by suppressing the using amount of the pure water to the minimum at the time of performing prescribed processing of a wafer. SOLUTION: Impurities are removed from the atmosphere in a processing system through gas-liquid contact by using pure water which is introduced to a filter device 101 from an inlet 111 and sprayed from sprayers 131 and 151 vertically arranged in two stages. The sprayed pure water is again led to the sprayers 131 and 151 for reusing. The pure water sprayed from the sprayer 151 is adjusted to 7 deg.C at which the impurities can be removed highly efficiently in a heat exchanger 205. The quantity of the pure water newly replenished from a pure water replenishing tank 197 is adjusted in accordance with the impurity concentration of the pure water after the gas-liquid contact detected by means of a concentration sensor 200.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a processing apparatus for performing a predetermined process on a substrate to be processed in a predetermined space.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art For example, in a photoresist processing step in a semiconductor manufacturing process, a semiconductor wafer (hereinafter, referred to as a semiconductor wafer).
A resist solution is applied to the surface of a substrate to be processed such as a "wafer" to form a resist film, and a predetermined pattern is exposed and then developed with a developing solution. In doing so, a coating and developing processing system has been conventionally used.

Usually, this coating and developing system has a plurality of processing units. These processing apparatuses include, for example, a hydrophobizing process (adhesion process) for improving the fixability of a resist, a resist process for applying a resist solution, and placing a substrate to be processed after applying the resist solution in a predetermined temperature atmosphere. Heat treatment to cure the resist film,
Each process such as a heat treatment for placing the exposed substrate in a predetermined temperature atmosphere and a developing process of supplying a developing solution to the exposed substrate to develop the substrate are individually performed. Further, a wafer, which is a substrate to be processed, is carried in and out of each of the processing apparatuses by a transfer mechanism such as a transfer arm, and predetermined processing is sequentially performed.

[0004] Since each of the above-mentioned processes must be performed in a clean atmosphere, the coating and developing system is installed in a clean room, and its surroundings and the upper part are surrounded by an appropriate casing. A so-called fan filter unit (F
A cleaning air supply unit such as FU) is provided, and each of the processing devices is disposed below the downflow of the purified air from the FFU. In order to remove an alkali component such as ammonia in the atmosphere in the coating and developing system, a chemical filter is provided upstream of the cleaning air supply unit such as the FFU.

[0005]

By the way, today, with the increasing integration of semiconductor devices, a chemically amplified resist material is used in order to cope with a finer pattern line width. When reacting with ammonia in the atmosphere, a hardly soluble or insoluble neutralizing layer is formed on the surface of the substrate to be processed, which is not preferable for subsequent processing. For this reason, it is necessary to minimize the amount of an alkaline component such as ammonia in the atmosphere in the coating and developing system, and controlling the value to, for example, 1 ppb or less can prevent the formation of such a neutralized layer.

In this regard, the life of a chemical filter installed in a conventional coating and developing system depends on the humidity in the system, the amount of alkali components, and the flow rate of air passing through the chemical filter per unit time. I was Therefore, it is difficult to predict the replacement time of the chemical filter, and it is necessary to stop the entire system at the time of replacement, which causes a decrease in throughput. In addition, chemical filters are expensive, leading to high running costs.

Therefore, the inventors tried to remove alkali components in the atmosphere by so-called gas-liquid contact with an impurity removing liquid instead of the above chemical filter.

However, if impurities are simply removed by gas-liquid contact, the efficiency of removing impurities such as alkali components contained in the atmosphere in the coating and developing system is low.
In particular, when the concentration of impurities is high, it is difficult to realize the removal for maintaining the atmosphere in the system at a suitable cleanliness. Further, the running cost required for the impurity removing liquid such as pure water used in the gas-liquid contact cannot be ignored.

The present invention has been made in view of the above point, and has a basic configuration in which impurities such as alkali components in the atmosphere are removed by gas-liquid contact without using a chemical filter. Even so, it is an object of the present invention to efficiently remove them and reduce the running cost for removing impurities.

[0010]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a processing apparatus for performing a predetermined process on a substrate to be processed in a predetermined space. A removing device for collecting at least a part of the air and removing impurities in the collected air, wherein the air after removing the impurities is returned to the predetermined space after the temperature is adjusted; The removing device is provided with a removing device for removing impurities by bringing an impurity removing solution into contact with the collected air in a plurality of stages in series.

According to such a processing apparatus, after the air recovered from the predetermined space of the processing apparatus is introduced into the removing apparatus, impurities are removed from the air in a plurality of removing sections provided in the removing apparatus. It will be gradually removed by contact. Therefore, even if the concentration of impurities in the collected air is high, impurities can be efficiently removed to obtain a desired cleanliness, and air with a suitable cleanness is transferred to a predetermined space of the processing apparatus. It is possible to supply.

In the processing apparatus according to the first aspect, as in the second aspect, the respective removing units are arranged in multiple stages in the upper and lower directions, and each of the removing units is in contact with the collected air by spraying an impurity removing liquid. A gas-liquid contact portion to be removed, and a storage portion for storing the impurity removal liquid that has passed through the gas-liquid contact portion. At least a part of the impurity removal liquid stored in the storage portion is recovered and It may be configured to be reused. Since at least a part of the impurity removing liquid is reused in this way, the amount of the impurity removing liquid that must be newly replenished can be saved.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, the impurity removing liquid used in the next-stage removing section is provided with the impurity removing liquid overflowing from the storage section of the preceding-stage removing section. It may be used. As a result, it is not necessary to newly supply the impurity removing liquid to the removing section at the next stage, so that the impurity removing liquid can be further saved.

In the removing device according to the second and third aspects of the present invention, at least the lowermost removing portion among the removing portions arranged in upper and lower stages is a so-called pre-treatment device for roughly removing impurities in the collected air. Since it plays a role of a filter, the impurity removing liquid used here does not necessarily have to have high cleanliness such as pure water. Therefore, tap water may be adopted as the impurity removing liquid used in at least the lowermost removing section. Since tap water is easily available and easy to handle, the cost of the impurity removing liquid used in the removing device can be reduced.

Further, in the above processing apparatus,
As described in (1), if the impurity removal liquid used in at least the uppermost removal section is set at 6 to 8 ° C., more preferable results can be obtained. According to the knowledge of the inventors, it is possible to remove impurities in the air with the highest efficiency by adjusting the impurity removing solution to around 7 ° C.

In each of the processing apparatuses of claims 1 to 5, as described in claim 6, at least a new replenishment of the impurity removing liquid used in the uppermost removal section is performed from the lowermost removal section. After the heat exchange with the wastewater of the above, the liquid may be supplied to the uppermost removal unit. By adopting such a configuration, even when the temperature of the newly replenished impurity removing liquid is adjusted to a predetermined temperature, the heat energy required for this temperature adjustment can be saved.

In each of the processing devices according to the first to sixth aspects,
As set forth in claim 7, at least one removing section,
A concentration sensor for detecting the concentration of impurities in the impurity removing solution is provided. When the concentration detected by the concentration sensor exceeds a predetermined value, the supply amount of the new impurity removing solution to be replenished to the uppermost removing section is reduced. You may make it increase. As described above, by adjusting the supply amount of the new impurity removing liquid based on the detection result of the concentration sensor, the predetermined space of the processing apparatus can always be maintained in an appropriate clean atmosphere. In addition, a new impurity removing liquid is not supplied more than necessary, so that the impurity removing liquid can be saved and the running cost can be reduced. That is, an appropriate amount of the impurity removing liquid can be set according to the concentration of the impurities in the air.

[0018] According to still another aspect of the present invention, at least one of the removing units includes a concentration sensor for detecting an impurity concentration in the impurity removing liquid, and the concentration detected by the concentration sensor falls below a predetermined value. In such a case, the supply amount of the new impurity removing liquid to be replenished to the uppermost removing section may be reduced. With this configuration, when the concentration of impurities is low, that is, when the concentration of impurities in the processing air is low, excessive supply of the impurity removing liquid is prevented, so that efficient removal can be performed. Waste of quantity can be prevented.

[0019]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIGS. 1 to 3 show the overall configuration of a coating and developing system 1 as a processing apparatus according to the present embodiment. 1 is a plan view, FIG. 2 is a front view, and FIG. 3 is a view from the back.

This coating and developing system 1 is used to carry a cassette C containing a plurality of wafers W as substrates to be processed, for example, in units of 25 wafers, into or out of the system. A cassette station 10, a processing station 11 in which various processing apparatuses for performing predetermined processing on wafers W one by one in a coating and developing processing step are arranged at predetermined positions in multiple stages, and provided adjacent to the processing station 11. An interface unit 12 for transferring a wafer W to and from an exposure processing apparatus (not shown) is integrally connected.

In the cassette station 10, FIG.
As shown in FIG. 7, a plurality of cassettes C, for example, four cassettes C are connected to the processing station 1 at the positions of the positioning projections 20a on the cassette mounting table 20 serving as the mounting portion.
A wafer carrier 21 is placed in a line toward one side and is movable in the cassette arrangement direction (X direction) and the wafer arrangement direction of the wafers W stored in the cassette C (Z direction; vertical direction). It is movable along the transport path 21a, and each cassette C can be selectively accessed.

Furthermore the wafer transfer member 21 is rotatable in the θ direction can third access to the alignment unit ALIM and extension unit EXT belonging to the processing unit group G ₃ of which will be described later is disposed in the processing station 11 It has become.

As shown in FIG. 1, the processing station 11 is provided with a vertical transfer type main wafer transfer means 22 at the center thereof, around which various processing apparatuses are multi-stage integrated over one or more sets. They are arranged to form a processing device group. The coating and developing processing system 1 has a configuration in which five processing device groups G ₁ , G ₂ , G ₃ , G ₄ , G ₅ can be arranged, and the first and second processing device groups G ₁ , G ₂ The third processing unit group G ₃ is disposed adjacent to the cassette station 10, the fourth processing unit group G ₄ is disposed adjacent to the interface unit 12, and is indicated by a broken line. the processing unit group G ₅ of the fifth has a positionable on the rear side.

As shown in FIG. 2, the first processing apparatus group G ₁ includes a spinner type processing apparatus for performing a predetermined liquid processing on the wafer W in the processing chamber CP, for example, a resist processing apparatus C.
OT ₁ and COT ₂ are stacked in two stages from the top. The second processing unit group G ₂ developing device DEV _1, DEV ₂
Are stacked in two steps from the top.

As shown in FIG. 3, the third processing unit group G ₃
An oven-type processing device for performing a predetermined process by placing a wafer W on a mounting table (not shown), for example, a cooling device COL for performing a cooling process, an adhesion device AD for performing a hydrophobic process, and an alignment for performing alignment Equipment ALI
M, extension device EXT, prebaking device PREBAKE for performing a heating process before the exposure process, and post-baking device POB for performing a heating process after the exposure process
AKEs are stacked, for example, in eight stages in order from the bottom.

The fourth processing unit group G ₄ includes oven-type processing units such as a cooling unit COL, an extension cooling unit EXTCOL, an extension unit EXT, a cooling unit COL, a prebaking unit PREBAKE, and a post-baking unit. POB
AKEs are stacked in order from the bottom, for example, in eight stages.

As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, this interface
A portable pickup cassette is provided at the front of the base 12.
CR and fixed type buffer cassette BR are arranged in two stages
A peripheral exposure device 23 is provided on the rear side,
Is provided with a wafer carrier 24. This wafer transfer
The transmitter 24 moves in the X and Z directions (vertical direction)
Access cassette CR, BR and peripheral exposure device 23
I can do it. Further, the wafer carrier 24
Can rotate freely in the θ direction and move in the Y direction
And the fourth station on the processing station 11 side.
Processing equipment group G _FourExtension device EXT belonging to
And a wafer transfer table of an adjacent exposure processing apparatus (not shown)
Is also accessible.

In the coating and developing system 1,
Wherein the cassette mounting table 20, the conveyance path 21a, the first to fifth processing unit group G ₁ ~G ₅ of the wafer transfer body 21, with respect to the interface unit 12, downflow clean air is formed from above As shown in FIG. 2, a high-performance filter 5 such as an ULPA filter
1, the three zones (cassette station 10,
It is provided for each processing station 11 and interface unit 12). The air supplied from the upstream side of the high-performance filter 51 is purified when passing through the high-performance filter 51, and a clean downflow is formed as shown by the solid arrows and the dashed arrows in FIG. Is done. In particular, as shown in FIG. 4, duct pipes are appropriately provided to the resist processing units COT ₁ and COT ₂ so that a clean downflow is independently formed inside the resist processing units COT ₁ and COT ₂ .

As shown in FIG. 4, the periphery of the coating and developing system 1 is surrounded by side plates 61, 62, etc., and a space is formed between a top plate 63 at the upper part and a vent plate 64 at the lower part. A bottom plate 65 is provided via P. A wall duct 66 is formed on one side of the system, and communicates with a ceiling chamber 67 formed on the lower surface of the top plate 63.

An exhaust port 68 is formed in the bottom plate 65, and the lower atmosphere in the system recovered through the vent plate 64 is evacuated by an exhaust pipe 69 connected to the exhaust port 68. It is led to the lower space 70 in the double floor structure of the clean room partitioned by 52. On the other hand, the exhaust pipe 6
A part thereof is introduced into a filter device 101 as a removal device by an introduction pipe 71 connected to the filter 9. The exhaust destination of the exhaust pipe 69 may be configured to communicate with a centralized exhaust system such as a factory, for example, and the ratio of the air introduced into the filter device 101 and the air exhausted to the centralized exhaust system is determined by the exhaust pipe. The adjustment can be made by dampers 72 and 73 interposed between 69 and the introduction pipe 71, respectively. In the filter device 101, the air from which alkali components such as ammonia have been removed by gas-liquid contact is sent to the wall duct 66 through a sending pipe 74, and passes through a high-performance filter 51 installed below the ceiling chamber 67. Downflow in the system.

Since a part of the air exhausted from the processing station 11 is exhausted to the centralized exhaust system such as the factory as described above, in order to compensate for the exhaustion, the upper space 75 in the double floor structure of the clean room is supplemented. Relatively clean air
The air is introduced into the filter device 101 through the air supply pipe 76.

The resist processing unit COT ₁ in the first processing unit group G ₁ installed inside the processing station 11 has a separate sub-chamber 83 formed in an upper part in a casing 82 constituting an outer wall thereof. This sub-chamber 83 is in communication with the wall duct 66 of the system. Therefore, the purified air flowing through the wall duct 66 is discharged as a downflow into the casing 82 via the high-performance filter 84 installed below the sub-chamber 83. Note that the downflow from the ceiling chamber 67 may be introduced into the casing 82 without providing the sub-chamber 83. The atmosphere in the casing 82 is controlled by an exhaust pipe 8 provided separately.
The air is exhausted from 6 to the space P below the vent plate 64.

The resist processing apparatus COT ₂ has the same configuration as the above-described resist processing apparatus COT ₁ . That is, a sub-chamber 93 is formed in an upper portion in the casing 92, and the sub-chamber 93 is in communication with the wall duct 66. Therefore, the purified air flowing through the wall duct 66 is discharged as a downflow into the casing 92 via the high-performance filter 94 installed below the sub-chamber 93. In addition, resist processing equipment COT
_{Also in the second} embodiment, the downflow from the ceiling chamber 67 may be introduced into the casing 92 without providing the sub-chamber 93. The atmosphere in the casing 92 is exhausted from the exhaust pipe 86 to the space P below the ventilation hole plate 64.

In the above-described coating and developing processing system 1, setting the wind speed and the like for each of the various types of processing devices incorporated therein may sometimes provide favorable process conditions. Therefore, small fans and variable dampers are provided inside the sub-chamber 83 and inside the sub-chamber 93 in the resist processing apparatuses COT ₁ and COT ₂ , respectively, so that the casing 82 and the casing 92 can be cleaned independently of each other. A flow may be formed.

Next, the configuration of the filter device 101 will be described in detail. As shown in FIG. 5, the filter device 101 can be roughly divided into an introduction unit 110, a first impurity removal unit 130, a second impurity removal unit 150, a sending unit 170, and an impurity removal liquid circulation unit 190.

As described above, a part of the air collected from the processing station 11 is introduced into the space S from the inlet 111 provided in the inlet 110 via the inlet pipe 71. The introduction section 110 is provided with a drain pan 112 for storing a part of the impurity removing liquid such as pure water used in the first impurity removing section 130 and the second impurity removing section 150. The impurity removing liquid such as pure water stored in the drain pan 112 is discharged by a drain pipe 114 to, for example, a factory waste liquid system via a heat exchanger 191 to be described later. The discharge amount of the liquid is adjustable by a valve 115. The following description is based on the case where pure water is used as the impurity removing liquid.

[0037] The first impurity removing unit 130, the spray device 131 having a spray nozzle 131a for spraying pure water into a fine mist against the gas-liquid contact space M ₁ is provided. Also on the lower side of the gas-liquid contact space M ₁ is
A filling portion 132 made of, for example, a nonwoven fabric is provided for trapping, dispersing, and uniformly dropping the pure water sprayed from the spray nozzle 131a.

Below the filling section 132, the filling section 13
There is provided a pan 133 for collecting pure water dripped from 2. Vent tube 133a for guiding the air coming up from the space S to the filling unit 132 and the gas-liquid contact space M ₁ is pierced vertically in the pan 133. Further, the ventilation pipe 133a has a function of guiding pure water overflowing the pan 133 to the drain pan 112 described above.

An umbrella-shaped cap 134 is provided between the filling section 132 and the pan 133 so that pure water from the filling section 132 does not drop directly onto the drain pan 112. The cap 134 is provided directly above the ventilation pipe 133a to prevent the pure water from dropping, and has an appropriate gap for allowing air to pass therethrough.

A demister 135 for removing mist in the air that has passed through the gas-liquid contact space M ₁ is provided at the uppermost portion of the first impurity removing section 130.

The second impurity removing section 150 is disposed above the first impurity removing section 130 and has basically the same configuration as the first impurity removing section 130. That is, a pan 153 provided with a vent pipe 153a at the bottom.
A cap 1 is provided above the ventilation pipe 153a.
54 are provided. An upper gas-liquid contact space M filling unit 152 to the _second cap 154, the spray device 151 is provided equipped with a spray nozzle 151a. A demister 155 for collecting mist is provided at the top.

In the present embodiment, the first impurity removing section 1
As shown in FIG. 5, the 30 and the second impurity removing section 150 are arranged in two stages, upper and lower. According to such a configuration, of the pure water collected in the pan 153 of the second impurity removing unit 150 disposed on the upper side, the overflowed portion is supplied to the first impurity removing unit 130 disposed on the lower side. can do. Therefore, the first
It is not necessary to supply new pure water to the impurity removing unit 130, and as a result, pure water can be saved.

The air from which the impurities have been removed by the first and second impurity removing units 130 and 150 is guided to a blower 171 provided in the sending unit 170.
Further, the relatively clean air in the upper space 75 is introduced from the air supply port 172 to the delivery section 170. Then, the air from which the impurities have been removed and the air introduced from the air supply port 172 are mixed by a blower 171 and then sent to a heating mechanism 173 and a humidifying mechanism 174 described later.

The heating mechanism 173 has a mechanism for heating the air sent by the blower 171 to a predetermined temperature, and the humidification mechanism 174 humidifies the air at a predetermined temperature by the heating mechanism 173 to a predetermined humidity. have. The air adjusted to a desired temperature and humidity, for example, a temperature of 23 ° C. and a relative humidity of 40% by the heating mechanism 173 and the humidifying mechanism 174 is sent out from an outlet 175. Heating mechanism 1
The control of the humidifying mechanism 73 and the humidifying mechanism 174 is controlled by a separate control device (not shown), so that air with arbitrarily set temperature and humidity conditions can be sent out. Note that the humidifying mechanism 174 and the heating mechanism 173 may be installed on the upstream side of the blower 171. Then remove with demister 155,
The minute mist that could not be collected can be first heated and evaporated by the heating mechanism 173, and adverse effects on the blower 171 and other devices located downstream can be prevented.

The impurity removing liquid circulating section 190 has the first
A circulation system is provided for circulating the pure water collected in the pan 133 of the impurity removing unit 130 and the pan 153 of the second impurity removing unit 150 to the spraying device 131 and the spraying device 151, respectively.

A pump 193 is provided in the circulation pipe 192, and the pump
The pure water collected in the water is supplied to the spray device 131 under pressure and sprayed. On the other hand, the pure water collected in the pan 153 can be drained to the intermediate tank 196 by a drain pipe 195 provided with a valve 194 whose opening degree can be freely adjusted.

Further, the intermediate tank 196 and the pure water replenishing tank 197 are connected by a replenishing pipe 199 provided with a valve 198 capable of adjusting the degree of opening and closing, and contain impurities stored in the pure water replenishing tank 197. It is possible to supply fresh pure water to the intermediate tank 196.

In the pure water stored in the pan 133 in the first impurity removing section 130, a concentration head 200 for detecting the concentration of impurities contained in the pure water is provided.
And a controller 201 that opens and closes the valve 194 and the valve 198 based on the detection result of the concentration sensor 200 is installed.

The above-mentioned heat exchanger 191 is provided downstream of the intermediate tank 196, and the pure water from the intermediate tank 196 is exchanged with the pure water discharged from the drain pan 112. Has become. Heat exchanger 1
The supply pipe 202 is connected to the heat exchanger 191.
The pure water subjected to heat exchange in the sprayer 151 is pumped by the pump 203 interposed in the supply pipe 202.
To the side. The supply pipe 202 has a refrigerator 2
A heat exchanger 205 for exchanging heat with the refrigerant of No. 04 is provided, and it is possible to adjust the temperature of the pure water fed to the spraying device 151 to a desired temperature.

The coating and developing system 1 according to the present embodiment is configured as described above. Next, the operation of the coating and developing system 1 will be described. The cassette C accommodating the unprocessed wafers W on the mounting table 20 is accessed, and one wafer W is taken out from the cassette C. Then the wafer transfer body 21 is moved to the alignment device ALIM disposed in first processing Steen Deployment 11 side third processing unit group G ₃ in a multistage device, to transfer the wafer W into the alignment device ALIM .

When the orientation alignment and centering of the wafer W are completed in the alignment apparatus ALIM, the main wafer transfer means 22 receives the aligned wafer W, and the alignment apparatus ALIM
The wafer W is transported to the front of the adhesion device AD located at the lower stage, and the wafer W is loaded into the device. Thereafter, a predetermined resist coating process or the like is performed on the wafer W in each processing device.

During the processing in each of such processing apparatuses, a clean downflow of a predetermined airflow velocity, for example, 0.35 m / s to 0.5 m / s is formed in the coating and developing processing system 1. This downflow causes particles, organic components, ions,
The alkali components and the like are conveyed downward, and
From the space P through the inlet 11 of the filter device 101
Introduced to 1.

The air introduced from the introduction port 111 passes through the ventilation pipe 133a penetrating the pan 133, and
It is led to 32. The pure water filled in the filling section 132 removes particles, impurities such as organic components, ions, and alkali components contained in the air. Further, the air that has passed through the filling section 132 becomes a gas-liquid contact space M ₁
In, impurities are removed by gas-liquid contact with pure water in a mist state from the spray device 131. In the filling section 132 Thus, so to speak to the air after being prefiltration, again, in order to perform the impurity removing the gas-liquid contact space M _1, removal efficiency is extremely high.

The air from which impurities have been removed in the gas-liquid contact space M ₁ is subjected to removal of mist in the demister 135, and then through a ventilation pipe 153 a penetrating through the pan 153, to the filling portion 152, and further to the gas-liquid contact. It is guided to the space M _2. In the filling unit 152 and the gas-liquid contact space M _2, impurities are removed as in the case of a filling unit 132 and the gas-liquid contact space M ₁ described above. By performing the impurity removal in two stages in this manner, air with high cleanliness can be created even if the recovered air contains impurities at a high concentration. Although the embodiment is configured to repeat the impurity removal process twice, the number of impurity removal processes may be increased to further increase the cleanliness.

The air from which impurities have been removed in the gas-liquid contact space M ₂ has its mist removed by the demister 155.
It is introduced into the blower 171. This purified air is
In the blower 171, the air is mixed with relatively clean air in the upper space 75 introduced from the air supply port 172, and sent out from the air outlet 175 via the heating mechanism 173 and the humidification mechanism 174. In the present embodiment, relatively clean air in the upper space 75 in the double floor structure of the clean room in which the coating and developing system 1 is installed is introduced from the air supply port 172. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and a supply source may be separately obtained.

The mist-like pure water sprayed from the spray nozzle 151a of the spray device 151 for gas-liquid contact is once trapped in the filling section 152, and then partly directly and partly in the cap 154. Water is collected on the pan 153 along the upper surface. Thereafter, the pure water that overflows the pan 153 is dropped from the ventilation pipe 153a provided through the pan 153. The pure water is collected in the pan 133 via the demister 135, the gas-liquid contact space M ₁ , the filler 132, and the cap 134. The pure water collected in the pan 133 is supplied to the spraying device 13 by the circulation pipe 192.
Is circulated to 1, it is sprayed into the gas-liquid contact space M _1. The noted pump 193, by increasing the flow rate of the pure water circulated from the pan 133 to the spray device 131, since the mist of pure water in the gas-liquid contact space M ₁ is increased to improve the impurity removal efficiency in the air.

As described above, in the first impurity removing section 130, the second impurity removing section 1 arranged on the upper side is used.
Since the pure water used in 50 is reused, it is possible to save pure water to be newly supplied.

As described above, the pan 133 has a concentration sensor 200 for detecting the impurity concentration in the pure water stored.
Is provided. The increase or decrease in the impurity concentration in the air collected from the processing station 11 is significantly reflected in the impurity concentration in the pure water after the gas-liquid contact collected in the pan 133.
When the detection result of the impurity concentration by the concentration sensor 200 exceeds a predetermined value, the controller 201
And the valve 198 is controlled to supply fresh pure water from the pure water replenishment tank 197 to the intermediate tank 196. As a result, pure water having a low impurity concentration is sprayed from the spray device 151, and the second impurity removing unit 15 is sprayed.
0, it is possible to improve the impurity removing ability of the recovered air in the first impurity removing section 130 disposed further below.

The controller 201 controls the valves 194 and 198 to supply fresh pure water from the pure water replenishing tank 197 when the result of the impurity concentration detection by the concentration sensor 200 exceeds a predetermined value. Control, but at the same time, the density sensor 200
If the result of the detection of the impurity concentration is lower than a predetermined value, the supply of fresh pure water may be stopped or the supply amount may be reduced. By doing so, it is possible to maintain the supply of pure water to the minimum amount required to achieve the predetermined impurity concentration, prevent the excessive supply of fresh pure water, and reduce the running cost. it can.

Further, the pure water stored in the intermediate tank 196 is supplied to the heat exchanger 205 provided in the supply pipe 202.
After the temperature is adjusted to a predetermined temperature, for example, 7 ° C., a high impurity removing effect can be expected.

The heat exchanger 205 was subjected to heat exchange with pure water discharged from the drain pan 112 in a heat exchanger 191 provided at a stage preceding the heat exchanger 205, ie, a preliminary temperature. Adjusted pure water is introduced. Therefore, in the step of adjusting the temperature of pure water in the heat exchanger 205, the load on the refrigerator 204 that supplies the refrigerant to the heat exchanger 205 can be reduced.

Instead of the above-described filter device 101, a filter device 102 shown in FIG. 6 may be employed. In the filter device 102, the first impurity removing unit 13
0 for the spraying device 211 belonging to
2 via the tap water is supplied, tap water is adapted to be sprayed from the spray nozzle 211a into gas-liquid contact space M _1. Note that the filter device 102 is a spray device 211.
Since the components other than those related to are the same as those of the filter device 101, the same reference numerals are given to the common members, and the individual description is omitted.

The filter device 102 has a structure in which the impurity removing sections are stacked in two stages, so to say, the first impurity removing section 130 positioned as a pre-filter.
However, high impurity removal efficiency is not required, and the use of expensive pure water may lead to over specification. In this point filter device 102, the first impurity removing section 130 uses tap water which is easy to obtain and handle easily.
02, the amount of pure water used can be reduced, and as a result, running costs can be reduced.

In the above-described embodiment, the impurity removing portions are arranged in two upper and lower stages. However, the present invention is not limited to this. Three or more impurity removing portions may be arranged in multiple stages in the vertical direction. The efficiency of removing impurities from the air can be further improved. Furthermore, part or all of the heat energy required for the heating mechanism 173 may be obtained for the exhaust heat of the refrigerator 204. That is, when heating by the heating mechanism 173,
The heat generated from the refrigerator 204 may be used. By doing so, it is possible to improve the energy saving effect.

As described above, the present embodiment is configured as a coating and developing processing system for performing resist coating processing and developing processing on a wafer. However, the present invention is not limited to this. Equipment COT ₁ , C
The present invention may be applied only to the OT ₂ or the developing devices DEV ₁ and DEV ₂ , and may be any other device that performs a film forming process on a wafer under a predetermined heat atmosphere, for example, a film forming process for forming an oxide film It is also applicable to devices and the like. The substrate to be processed is not limited to a wafer, and may be, for example, a glass substrate for LCD.

[0066]

According to the processing apparatus of the present invention, since the impurities in the air can be removed stepwise in the plurality of removing sections, high removal efficiency can be expected. Therefore, it is possible to preferably remove impurities even in air having a high impurity concentration, and to always maintain a clean atmosphere in a predetermined space of the processing apparatus.

In the processing apparatus of the second and third aspects, since the used impurity removing liquid is circulated and reused, it is possible to reduce the amount of the impurity removing liquid to be newly replenished. As a result, the running cost can be reduced. According to the processing apparatus of the third aspect, since the impurity removing liquid used in the previous stage is used on the next stage side of the removing unit arranged in the upper and lower stages, the impurity replenishment newly replenished is used. It is possible to further reduce the amount of liquid, which contributes to further reduction in running cost.

In the processing apparatus according to the fourth aspect, since tap water is used as the impurity removing liquid, the cost of the impurity removing liquid can be reduced.

According to the processing apparatus of the fifth aspect, impurities can be removed from the recovered air with high efficiency.

According to the processing apparatus of the sixth aspect, it is possible to reduce the heat energy required for setting a new replenishment amount of the impurity removing solution to a predetermined temperature.

According to the processing apparatus of the seventh and eighth aspects, the amount of the newly removed impurity removing liquid can be adjusted according to the impurity concentration in the air recovered from the predetermined space of the processing apparatus. . Therefore, the predetermined space of the processing apparatus can always be maintained in a clean atmosphere, and the cost of the impurity removing solution can be reduced.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram of a coating and developing processing system according to an embodiment of the present invention as viewed from a plane.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram viewed from the front of the coating and developing system of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram of the coating and developing treatment system of FIG. 1 as viewed from the back.

FIG. 4 is an explanatory view of a longitudinal section showing an internal configuration of a processing station belonging to the coating and developing processing system of FIG. 1;

FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram of a longitudinal section showing an internal configuration of a filter device in the coating and developing system of FIG. 1;

FIG. 6 is an explanatory view of a longitudinal section showing an internal configuration of another filter device different from the filter device of FIG. 5;

[Explanation of symbols]

REFERENCE SIGNS LIST 1 coating / developing processing system 101, 102 filter device 130 first impurity removing unit 133, 153 pan 150 second impurity removing unit 191, 205 heat exchanger 200 concentration sensor 204 refrigerator COT ₁ , COT ₂ resist processing device M ₁ , M ₂ gas-liquid contact space W wafer

──────────────────────────────────────────────────の Continued on the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁶ Identification symbol FI G03F 7/30 502 G03F 7/30 502 H01L 21/02 H01L 21/02 D 21/30 569C (72) Inventor Masami Satsumoto Kumamoto 2655 Tsukure, Kikuyo-cho, Kikuchi-gun, Japan Tokyo Electron Kyushu Kumamoto Office

Claims (8)

[Claims] 1. A processing apparatus for performing a predetermined process on a substrate to be processed in a predetermined space, wherein at least a part of the air in the predetermined space is collected, and impurities in the collected air are removed. A device for removing impurities, wherein air after removing impurities is returned to the predetermined space after temperature adjustment, and the removing device is contacted with the recovered air by an impurity removing solution to remove impurities. A processing device, characterized in that a plurality of removal units are provided in series at a plurality of stages. 2. Each of the removing sections is arranged in upper and lower stages, and each of the removing sections includes a gas-liquid contact section for spraying an impurity removing liquid to make contact with collected air, and an impurity passing through the gas-liquid contact section. A storage section for storing the removal liquid, wherein at least a part of the impurity removal liquid stored in the storage section is recovered and reused in the gas-liquid contact section. Item 2. The processing device according to item 1. 3. The processing apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the impurity removing liquid used in the next-stage removing section is an impurity removing liquid overflowing from the storage section of the preceding-stage removing section. . 4. The processing apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the impurity removing liquid used in at least the lowermost removing section is tap water. 5. The processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the impurity removing liquid used in at least the uppermost removing section is set at 6 to 8 ° C. . 6. A new replenisher of at least the impurity removing liquid used in the uppermost removing section is supplied to the uppermost removing section after heat exchange with the drainage liquid from the lowermost removing section. Claims 1, 2, and 3 characterized by being constituted as follows.
The processing apparatus according to 3, 4, or 5. 7. A concentration sensor for detecting an impurity concentration in an impurity removing liquid is provided in at least one of the removing units.
When the concentration detected by the concentration sensor exceeds a predetermined value, the supply amount of the new impurity removing liquid to be replenished to the uppermost removing section is increased. The processing apparatus according to 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, or 6. 8. A concentration sensor for detecting an impurity concentration in an impurity removing liquid is provided in at least one of the removing units.
When the concentration detected by the concentration sensor falls below a predetermined value, the supply amount of a new impurity removing liquid to be replenished to the uppermost removing section is reduced. The processing apparatus according to claim 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, or 7.