JP-7856683-B2 - Substrate processing apparatus and substrate processing method

JP7856683B2JP 7856683 B2JP7856683 B2JP 7856683B2JP-7856683-B2

Inventors

川岸稜也
高村幸宏
大宅宗明

Assignees

株式会社ＳＣＲＥＥＮホールディングス

Dates

Publication Date: 20260511
Application Date: 20240116

Claims (7)

A substrate processing apparatus for applying a processing solution to the surface of a substrate, A slit nozzle having a slit-shaped discharge port for discharging the processing liquid, Above the substrate, a nozzle moving unit moves the slit nozzle, with its discharge opening facing downward, in a direction along the surface of the substrate, relative to the substrate; A plate-shaped nozzle guard is provided on the front side of the slit nozzle in the relative movement direction in which the slit nozzle moves relative to the substrate by the nozzle moving part when the processing liquid is applied, and moves integrally with the slit nozzle. A dry foreign matter removal unit that removes foreign matter from the nozzle guard by applying negative pressure to the foreign matter adhering to the nozzle guard by sucking the surrounding atmosphere of the nozzle guard, A substrate processing apparatus characterized by comprising:
A substrate processing apparatus according to claim 1, The aforementioned foreign matter removal unit is A suction head is provided that is movable along the nozzle guard in the longitudinal direction of the nozzle guard, while viewing the surrounding atmosphere of the nozzle guard from below, A suction unit that sucks the surrounding atmosphere of the nozzle guard via the suction head, A head movement unit moves the suction head in the longitudinal direction of the nozzle guard while the surrounding atmosphere around the nozzle guard is being sucked in by the suction unit, A substrate processing apparatus having
A substrate processing apparatus according to claim 1, The aforementioned foreign matter removal unit is A suction head is provided so as to view the entire surrounding atmosphere of the nozzle guard from below, positioned at a preset guard cleaning position in the longitudinal direction of the nozzle guard, A suction unit that sucks up the entire surrounding atmosphere of the nozzle guard via the suction head, A substrate processing apparatus having
A substrate processing apparatus according to claim 3, The suction head is The atmosphere-facing portion of the nozzle guard positioned at the guard cleaning position, which faces the entire surrounding atmosphere, A brush member erected toward the nozzle guard toward at least one of the front and rear sides relative to the atmosphere-facing portion in the aforementioned relative movement direction, It has, A substrate processing apparatus wherein the slit nozzle and the nozzle guard move in the relative movement direction such that the brush member and the nozzle guard slide against each other relative to the brush member, thereby sweeping the foreign matter away from the nozzle guard toward the atmosphere-facing portion.
A substrate processing apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 4, Before discharging the processing liquid from the outlet of the slit nozzle toward the surface of the substrate, a preliminary discharging unit waits at a preliminary discharging position away from the substrate, discharging a predetermined amount of the processing liquid from the outlet of the slit nozzle, A control unit that controls the pre-discharge unit and the foreign matter removal unit, Equipped with, The foreign matter removal unit is provided in the relative movement direction, on the front side of the pre-discharge unit, and at a distance from the pre-discharge unit equal to the distance from the slit nozzle to the nozzle guard. A substrate processing apparatus, wherein the control unit controls the pre-discharge unit and the foreign matter removal unit so that the discharge or standby of the processing liquid in the pre-discharge unit and the removal of the foreign matter in the foreign matter removal unit are performed at least partially in parallel.
A substrate processing apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 4, A nozzle cleaning unit for cleaning the aforementioned slit nozzle, A control unit that controls the nozzle cleaning unit and the foreign matter removal unit, Equipped with, The foreign matter removal unit is provided in the relative movement direction on the front side of the nozzle cleaning unit and at a distance from the nozzle cleaning unit equal to the distance from the slit nozzle to the nozzle guard. A substrate processing apparatus, wherein the control unit controls the nozzle cleaning unit and the foreign matter removal unit so that the cleaning of the slit nozzle by the nozzle cleaning unit and the removal of the foreign matter by the foreign matter removal unit are performed at least partially in parallel.
A coating step in which the processing liquid is applied to the surface of the substrate by moving the slit nozzle and a plate-shaped nozzle guard relative to the substrate while discharging the processing liquid from the discharge port of the slit nozzle with the discharge port close to the surface of the substrate, thereby preventing foreign matter from adhering to the slit nozzle with the nozzle guard, which is provided on the front side of the slit nozzle in the relative movement direction of the slit nozzle, Prior to the coating step, a dry removal step is performed in which negative pressure is applied to foreign matter adhering to the nozzle guard by sucking the surrounding atmosphere of the nozzle guard, thereby removing the foreign matter from the nozzle guard. A substrate processing method characterized by comprising the following:

Description

This invention relates to a substrate processing technology for supplying and coating a processing solution from a slit nozzle onto substrates for precision electronic devices such as glass substrates for FPDs (Flat Panel Displays) like liquid crystal displays and organic EL displays, semiconductor wafers, glass substrates for photomasks, substrates for color filters, substrates for recording disks, substrates for solar cells, substrates for electronic paper, and substrates for semiconductor packages (hereinafter simply referred to as "substrates"). A substrate processing apparatus is known that applies a processing liquid to a substrate by discharging a processing liquid from a slit nozzle, which has a slit-shaped discharge opening, while moving the slit nozzle relative to the substrate. For example, in the apparatus described in Patent Document 1, the substrate is held on the stage surface of the stage, and the processing liquid is applied by moving the slit nozzle above the stage surface. On the other hand, in the apparatus described in Patent Document 2, the substrate is moved in a so-called levitation method while the slit nozzle is positioned at a predetermined application position above the stage surface of the stage. More specifically, the substrate is levitated by a pressurized gas layer formed on the stage surface by a gas flow passing through gas holes provided on the stage surface, and the processing liquid is applied by moving the substrate so that it passes through an application area sandwiched between the slit nozzle and the stage surface. Although the substrate transport methods differ in this way, nozzle guards are provided in both apparatuses. This is to take into consideration that foreign matter or protrusions (hereinafter referred to as "foreign matter") may protrude upward on the surface side of the substrate. That is, if the processing liquid is applied while these foreign matter are present, the slit nozzle will collide with the foreign matter, hindering the application of the processing liquid. In other words, the above-mentioned collision can adversely affect the applied processing liquid and the slit nozzle. Therefore, in the conventional apparatus described above, a nozzle guard is positioned in front of the slit nozzle in the relative movement direction relative to the substrate. Incidentally, when removing foreign matter using a nozzle guard, the foreign matter may adhere to the nozzle guard. Depending on the size of the foreign matter, it may come into contact with the substrate when coating is performed using a slit nozzle equipped with such a nozzle guard, causing defects. Furthermore, if coating is repeated using the slit nozzle with foreign matter still attached, defects will occur in the same location on multiple sheets in a row. Therefore, it has been proposed to incorporate a nozzle guard cleaning device, such as the one described in Patent Document 3, into the substrate processing apparatus. This nozzle guard cleaning device removes foreign matter by supplying rinsing liquid to the nozzle guard. Japanese Patent Publication No. 2006-102609Japanese Patent Publication No. 2011-212544Japanese Patent Publication No. 2022-134204 This figure schematically shows the overall configuration of a coating apparatus, which is a first embodiment of the substrate processing apparatus according to the present invention.Figure 1 is a schematic side view of the coating apparatus shown.This is a perspective view showing the overall configuration and operation of the foreign object detection unit.This diagram schematically illustrates the operation of the foreign object detection unit.This is a perspective view showing the overall configuration and operation of a dry guard cleaner, which is an example of a foreign object removal unit.Figure 5 schematically illustrates the operation of the dry guard cleaner.This flowchart shows the coating operation performed by the coating apparatus shown in Figure 1.This is a schematic side view showing the overall configuration of a coating apparatus, which is a second embodiment of the substrate processing apparatus according to the present invention.This flowchart shows the coating operation performed by the coating apparatus shown in Figure 8.This is a schematic side view showing the overall configuration of a coating apparatus, which is a third embodiment of the substrate processing apparatus according to the present invention.This figure schematically shows the configuration and operation of a foreign matter removal unit equipped in a coating apparatus, which is a fourth embodiment of the substrate processing apparatus according to the present invention.This figure schematically shows the configuration and operation of a foreign matter removal unit equipped in a coating apparatus, which is a fifth embodiment of the substrate processing apparatus according to the present invention.This figure schematically shows the configuration and operation of a