DE-112024003138-T5 - Device for drying a substrate and method for drying a substrate

DE112024003138T5DE 112024003138 T5DE112024003138 T5DE 112024003138T5DE-112024003138-T5

Abstract

[Task] To provide a device for drying a substrate in which the temperature fluctuations between several substrates are small and the drying process proceeds uniformly on each substrate surface. [Means of Dissolving] Device (10) for drying a substrate, comprising: a processing container (20) which accumulates a processing fluid (R), a first substrate holding mechanism (30) which is provided in the processing container, which can hold several substrates (W) which are aligned with parallel substrate surfaces and can move up and down in the processing container, a drying chamber (40) which is formed above the processing container, a second substrate holding mechanism (50) which is provided in the drying chamber, which can hold several substrates and can move up and down in the drying chamber, and a heating mechanism (60) which is provided in the drying chamber and is equipped with several heating elements (61) which are aligned so that they can be positioned in each gap of the several substrates which are held by the second substrate holding mechanism.

Inventors

Hiroaki Ishimori
Eiji Suhara
Shin Tachibana
Naoki Ohne

Assignees

ECHO GIKEN CO., LTD
KURASHIKI BOSEKI KABUSHIKI KAISHA

Dates

Publication Date: 20260513
Application Date: 20240624
Priority Date: 20230731

Claims (6)

Device for drying a substrate, comprising: a processing vessel that accumulates a processing fluid, a first substrate holding mechanism provided in the processing vessel, capable of holding several substrates aligned with parallel substrate surfaces and capable of moving up and down within the processing vessel, a drying chamber formed above the processing vessel, a second substrate holding mechanism provided in the drying chamber, capable of holding several substrates and capable of moving up and down within the drying chamber, and a heating mechanism provided in the drying chamber and equipped with several heating elements arranged so that they can be positioned in each gap of the several substrates held by the second substrate holding mechanism.
Device for drying a substrate after Claim 1 , whereby the second substrate holding mechanism and the heating mechanism can move upwards and downwards in a coupled manner in the drying chamber.
Device for drying a substrate after Claim 1 , where the heating element is a rod-shaped heater.
Device for drying a substrate after Claim 1 , where the heating element is a heating tube in which a heated fluid circulates.
Device for drying a substrate after Claim 1 , where the processing fluid is pure water.
A method for drying a substrate, comprising: a step for holding several substrates aligned with parallel substrate surfaces, by means of a first substrate holding mechanism, immersion in a processing fluid and upward movement of the first substrate holding mechanism in the processing fluid to introduce each of the several substrates into each gap of parallel aligned, multiple rod-shaped heating elements provided in a heating mechanism provided in a drying chamber formed above the processing fluid, a step for holding the several substrates by means of a second substrate holding mechanism provided in the drying chamber, and a step for upward movement of the second substrate holding mechanism and the heating mechanism in the drying chamber.

Description

Technical field The present invention relates to a device and a method for drying a semiconductor wafer substrate and a flat panel display (FPD) substrate, in which these are lifted out of the processing fluid after cleaning. Background technology The fabrication of semiconductor devices and FPDs involves numerous steps to create circuits and patterns on the substrate surface. Before and after each step, cleaning with various chemicals, purified water cleaning, and drying are performed. One drying process involves substrate drying devices that dry cleaned substrates by immersing them in heated purified water and then slowly lifting them out. The water on the surface of the raised substrate is removed by gravity and evaporation. If the drying of the substrate surface is uneven during this step, resulting in water spots (drying spots), these can cause various defects in subsequent steps. Patent document 1 describes a device for processing a substrate, comprising: an inner container section filled with a cleaning solution, a chamber section having a space connected to the upper part of the inner container section containing a substrate and in which a drying gas circulates, and a heat source section provided outside the chamber section, which consists of a translucent material and emits infrared rays, whereby the substrate lifted from the inner container section into the chamber section is rapidly dried. Patent document 2 describes a device for drying a substrate by lifting the substrate from the processing fluid. The device comprises: a processing container in which the processing fluid is collected; a substrate holding mechanism that holds the substrate; a lifting mechanism for moving the substrate holding mechanism up and down between the processing fluid and a drying chamber formed above the processing fluid; and a blower mechanism that blows hot air, hotter than the processing fluid, from the outlet into the drying chamber. The warm air increases the temperature of the upper part of the meniscus along the surface of the substrate lifted into the drying chamber and reduces the surface tension. This creates a convection current on the meniscus surface from the substrate side towards the processing container, which suppresses the adhesion of moisture to the substrate. Even if the substrate is thin and has a low heat capacity, the evaporation of the moisture adhering to the substrate can be accelerated, allowing the substrate to dry quickly. Identified writings Patent documents Patent document 1: JP 6458123 BPatent document 2: JP 2021-145043 A Brief description of the invention Problem to be solved by the invention However, the device described in patent document 1 suffers from low energy efficiency, as the entire atmosphere in the chamber is heated by the heat source section. Furthermore, due to the varying amounts of infrared radiation emitted onto the individual substrates, temperature fluctuations between substrates increase, and the drying progress is not equalized between them. Therefore, it is necessary to adjust the lifting speed to the slowest drying substrate. In the device described in patent document 2, hot air is blown obliquely downwards into the drying chamber, and it was feared that the surface of the processing fluid would be disturbed and the meniscus height produced on the substrate surface would fluctuate, leading to uneven drying progress on the substrate surface, which could easily result in water stains. The present invention was made in view of the above circumstances and aims to provide a device for drying a substrate and a method for drying a substrate in which the temperature fluctuations between several substrates are small and the drying process proceeds uniformly on each substrate surface. Means of solving the task The device for drying the substrate of the present invention comprises the following: a processing container which accumulates a processing liquid, a first substrate holding mechanism provided in the processing container which can hold several substrates aligned with parallel substrate surfaces and which can move up and down in the processing container, a drying chamber which is formed above the processing container, a second substrate holding mechanism which is provided in the drying chamber which can hold several substrates and which can move up and down in the drying chamber, and a heating mechanism which is provided in the drying chamber and is equipped with several heating elements which are aligned so that they can be positioned in each gap of the several substrates which are held by the second substrate holding mechanism. In the above device for drying a substrate, the second substrate holding mechanism and the heating mechanism can preferably move upwards and downwards in a coupled manner within the drying chamber. More preferably, the second substrate holding mechanism and the heating mechanism are connected and fixed together. This simplifies the design of the