JPS6355860B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a semiconductor substrate coating pretreatment apparatus,
In particular, the present invention relates to a semiconductor substrate coating pretreatment apparatus for a photolithography process in a semiconductor device manufacturing process.

Semiconductor substrate coating pretreatment refers to the use of photosensitive materials (hereinafter referred to as photoresists), which are important factors in forming fine patterns on semiconductor elements in subsequent processing steps such as alignment exposure, development, and etching. This is to improve the adhesion between a semiconductor substrate (hereinafter referred to as a wafer) and a semiconductor substrate (hereinafter referred to as a wafer).

If the adhesion between the wafer and the photoresist is poor, it will cause major problems in forming fine patterns for semiconductor devices, such as peeling of the photoresist and instability of the etching amount, so good pre-treatment for semiconductor substrate coating is required. There is a need to do.

The pre-treatment methods for semiconductor substrate coating are roughly divided into spin coating methods, in which a processing chemical is dropped onto the wafer surface and the wafer is rotated to coat the wafer, and spin coating, in which a processing chemical or vapor gas from the processing chemical is sprayed onto the wafer surface. There is a spray coating method in which the wafer is deposited on the wafer, and a vapor gas treatment method in which the wafer is placed in an atmosphere of vapor gas caused by a processing chemical and the processing chemical is deposited on the wafer.

Among the above-mentioned processing methods, the spin coating method uses a large amount of processing chemicals, and also causes "unevenness" in the coating film thickness.
"Uneven splicing" etc. are likely to occur, and good processing conditions cannot be expected.

The spray coating method also has the same problem as described above, and a vapor gas treatment method is often used.

The vapor gas treatment method requires a relatively small amount of processing chemicals and provides good processing conditions.

However, since the vapor gas processing method requires a relatively long processing time in which the wafers are placed in a processing chemical atmosphere, a batch processing method is usually used in which a plurality of wafers are processed at the same time.

Normally, batch processing is performed in units of a specified number of carriers, and wafers are transferred to processing carriers,
The carrier is placed in a processing chemical atmosphere to perform processing, and the carrier is again taken out from the processing chemical atmosphere and replaced with a processing carrier.

As mentioned above, there is a lot of wafer exchange work, and since the carrier is directly taken in and out of the processing chemical atmosphere, dust is generated and mixed into the processing atmosphere.
Since the sealed atmosphere of the processing chemicals is opened to the extent that the carrier can be taken in and taken out, there are problems such as disturbing the state of the processing chemical atmosphere. Furthermore, automation, labor saving, carrier-to-carrier continuous processing, and connection (in-line) with processing equipment for other photolithography processes, which are currently underway in each processing process, are difficult, and work progress is difficult. It interferes with sexuality.

The present invention provides a semiconductor substrate coating pretreatment apparatus that maintains a good treatment state by a vapor gas treatment method, solves the various problems described above, and has a rich work expandability.

The present invention is characterized by having a sealed chamber equipped with a means for generating a chemical atmosphere for pre-coating treatment, and a mode in which a large number of semiconductor substrates are horizontally stacked at predetermined intervals, and is provided within the sealed chamber, and has an elevating function. A supply elevator provided on one side of the sealed room, a storage elevator provided on the other side of the sealed room, and a sealed room entrance provided on the side wall of the sealed room, respectively. and an exit mechanism, means for automatically transporting the semiconductor substrates from a carrier loaded on the supply elevator and containing a large number of semiconductor substrates to the dedicated carrier through the closed chamber entrance mechanism, and the semiconductor substrates are accommodated in the dedicated carrier. The present invention provides a semiconductor substrate coating pre-processing apparatus having means for automatically sequentially transporting semiconductor substrates through the closed chamber exit mechanism to a carrier mounted on the storage elevator. According to the present invention, the atmosphere of the processing chemicals is not disturbed. Furthermore, since the sealed chamber becomes compact, there are no restrictions on the layout and less chemicals can be used. Further, since the dedicated carrier has an elevating function, the semiconductor substrate supplying or storing operation can be carried out in a short time by performing a downward movement in the opposite direction to the vertical movement of the supplying or storing elevator.

In addition, when a means for generating a pre-coating treatment chemical atmosphere is provided in a sealed chamber, or when it is installed outside the sealed chamber and the generated vapor gas is guided into the sealed chamber via piping, the wafer is transported and sent to a dedicated carrier inside the sealed chamber. In the case where both are used as one means,
It is within the scope of the present invention.

FIG. 1 is a schematic side view showing one embodiment of the present invention, in which wafers are transported by a wafer transport mechanism 3 from a carrier 2 which stores wafers set in a supply elevator 1, and are stored inside a sealed chamber 4. The container is stored in a dedicated carrier 5 which has an elevating function and passes through a closed room entrance shutter 6 which has an opening/closing function.

The wafer 7 housed in the dedicated carrier 5 is placed in an atmosphere of vapor gas generated from a coating pretreatment liquid tank 8 having a function of promoting vapor gas generation, such as bubbling piping, for a certain period of time.

After that, the wafer delivery mechanism 9 is transferred from the dedicated carrier 5.
A carrier 1 stores the processed wafers 7 which pass through a closed chamber exit shutter 10 having an opening/closing function and are set in a storage elevator 11.
2.

As described above, the present invention uses a vapor gas treatment method to process wafers, which maintains good processing conditions, and also eliminates problems that may occur due to wafer replacement, etc., as it uses transport and delivery means for each wafer. However, it goes without saying that it is easy to connect to processing equipment for other photolithography processes.

As described above, it is clear that the present invention provides a semiconductor substrate coating pretreatment apparatus that maintains a good processing state and has a wide range of operability.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a schematic side view showing one embodiment of the present invention. In the figure, 1... supply elevator, 2...
...Supply carrier, 3...Wafer transport mechanism, 4...
Sealed chamber, 5... Dedicated carrier, 6... Inlet shutter, 7... Wafer, 8... Pre-coating treatment liquid tank, 9
...Wafer delivery mechanism, 10...Exit shutter,
11...Storage elevator, 12...Storage carrier.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A sealed chamber equipped with means for generating a pre-coating treatment chemical atmosphere, and a dedicated carrier provided within the sealed chamber, which has a lifting function and accommodates a large number of semiconductor substrates in a manner that allows them to be stacked horizontally at predetermined intervals. a supply elevator provided on one side of the sealed chamber; a storage elevator provided on the other side of the sealed chamber; and a sealed chamber entrance and exit mechanism provided on a side wall of the sealed chamber, respectively; means for sequentially automatically transporting the semiconductor substrates from a carrier containing a large number of semiconductor substrates mounted on the supply elevator to the dedicated carrier through the closed chamber entrance mechanism;
A semiconductor substrate coating pre-processing apparatus comprising means for automatically transporting semiconductor substrates housed in the dedicated carrier sequentially through the closed chamber exit mechanism to the carrier mounted on the storage elevator.