US-12623247-B2 - Gas supply unit and substrate processing apparatus including same

US12623247B2US 12623247 B2US12623247 B2US 12623247B2US-12623247-B2

Abstract

Provided is an apparatus for processing a substrate. The substrate processing apparatus includes: a processing unit processing a substrate; and a gas supply unit supplying gas to the processing unit, in which the gas supply unit includes a first housing having a first internal space which is in fluid communication with a processing space of the processing unit, a second housing disposed in the first internal space, and having a second internal space which is in fluid communication with the first internal space, and a gas supply duct supplying the gas to the second internal space.

Inventors

Eunwoo PARK
Jongwha KANG
Wooram Lee
Sung-gyu LEE
Dongwoon PARK
Yongdae CHO
Donghoon Kang
Kisang Eum

Assignees

SEMES CO., LTD.

Dates

Publication Date: 20260512
Application Date: 20221227
Priority Date: 20211227

Claims (20)

1 . An apparatus for processing a substrate, the apparatus comprising: a processing unit configured to process the substrate; and a gas supply unit configured to supply a gas to the processing unit, wherein the gas supply unit includes a first housing having a first internal space, the first internal space in fluid communication with a processing space of the processing unit, a second housing in the first internal space, the second housing having a second internal space, and the second internal space in fluid communication with the first internal space, and a gas supply duct configured to supply the gas to the second internal space, wherein the processing unit includes a first processing unit and a second processing unit below the first processing unit, wherein the first housing and the second housing are between the first processing unit and the second processing unit, wherein a top surface of the first housing is spaced apart from a bottom surface of the first processing unit, and wherein the gas supply unit further includes a bolt or a screw made of a heat insulating material, the bolt or the screw fixing the first housing to the first processing unit.
2 . The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the second housing includes an injection unit having at least one hole in which the gas flows, and a duct unit between the injection unit and the gas supply duct, and the duct unit having one end connected to the injection unit.
3 . The apparatus of claim 2 , wherein a plurality of holes including the at least one hole is formed in the injection unit.
4 . The apparatus of claim 2 , wherein the injection unit is at a central region of the first internal space.
5 . The apparatus of claim 4 , wherein the injection unit has a cylindrical shape, and the at least one hole is formed at a side portion of the injection unit.
6 . The apparatus of claim 5 , wherein a diameter of the injection unit is larger than a width of the duct unit.
7 . The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the gas supply unit further includes a heat insulating pad installed between the first housing and the first processing unit, and the heat insulating pad made of the heat insulating material.
8 . The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the gas supply unit further includes a flow rate control damper configured to control a supply flow rate of gas over time to the processing space.
9 . A gas supply unit configured to supply a gas of which a temperature or humidity is configured to be controlled to a processing unit configured to process a substrate, the gas supply unit comprising: a gas supply housing having a dual chamber structure, and having an internal space in fluid communication with a processing space of the processing unit; and a gas supply duct configured to supply the gas to the gas supply housing, wherein the gas supply housing includes a first housing having a first internal space, and a second housing in the first internal space, the second housing having a second internal space into which the gas is configured to be introduced from the gas supply duct, wherein the second housing includes an injection unit having at least one hole which makes the second internal space and the first internal space be in fluid communication with each other, wherein the injection unit has a cylindrical shape, wherein the processing unit includes a first processing unit and a second processing unit below the first processing unit wherein the first housing and the second housing are between the first processing unit and the second processing unit, wherein a top surface of the first housing is spaced apart from a bottom surface of the first processing unit, and wherein the gas supply unit further includes a bolt or a screw made of a heat insulating material, the bolt or the screw fixing the first housing to the first processing unit.
10 . The gas supply unit of claim 9 , wherein the gas supply housing further includes at least one perforated hole making the first internal space and the processing space be in fluid communication with each other, and the at least one perforated hole is on a surface facing the processing space of the first housing.
11 . The gas supply unit of claim 10 , wherein the second housing further includes a duct unit between the injection unit and the gas supply duct.
12 . The gas supply unit of claim 11 , wherein a diameter of the injection unit is larger than a width of the duct unit.
13 . The gas supply unit of claim 11 , wherein a plurality of holes including the at least one hole are formed at an upper portion, a side portion, and a lower portion of the injection unit.
14 . The gas supply unit of claim 10 , further comprising: a filter between the at least one perforated hole and the second housing, and the filter configured to filter the gas.
15 . The gas supply unit of claim 14 , further comprising: a flow rate control damper configured to control a supply flow rate of the gas over time to the processing space.
16 . An apparatus for processing a substrate, the apparatus comprising: a processing unit configured to form a liquid layer on the substrate by supplying an application liquid to the substrate; and a gas supply unit configured to supply gas to the processing unit, wherein the processing unit includes a chamber having a processing space, a bowl having a cylindrical shape including an open upper portion, a chuck configured to support the substrate in the bowl, a driver configured to rotate the chuck, a nozzle configured to supply the application liquid to the substrate on the chuck, and an exhaust pipe configured to exhaust the gas introduced into the bowl, and the gas supply unit includes a gas supply housing having a dual chamber structure, and having an internal space in fluid communication with the processing space, and a gas supply duct configured to supply the gas to the internal space, wherein the gas supply housing includes a first housing having a first internal space in fluid communication with the processing space, and a second housing in the first internal space, and the second housing having a second internal space in fluid communication with the first internal space, wherein the second housing includes an injection unit having at least one hole in which the gas flows, wherein the injection unit has a cylindrical shape, wherein the processing unit includes a first processing unit and a second processing unit below the first processing unit, wherein the first housing and the second housing are between the first processing unit and the second processing unit, wherein a top surface of the first housing is spaced apart from a bottom surface of the first processing unit, and wherein the gas supply unit further includes a bolt or a screw made of a heat insulating material, the bolt or the screw fixing the first housing to the first processing unit.
17 . The apparatus of claim 16 , wherein the second housing further includes a duct unit between the injection unit and the gas supply duct, and the duct unit having one end connected to the injection unit, wherein the injection unit is at a central region of the first internal space.
18 . The apparatus of claim 17 , wherein a diameter of the injection unit is larger than a width of the duct unit.
19 . The apparatus of claim 16 , further comprising: a plurality of processing units including the processing unit, and a plurality of gas supply housings including the gas supply housing.
20 . The apparatus of claim 19 , wherein the gas supply duct is configured to supply the gas to at least two gas supply housings.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS This application claims priority to and the benefit of Korean Patent Application Nos. 10-2021-0189021 and 10-2022-0040960 filed in the Korean Intellectual Property Office on Dec. 27, 2021 and Apr. 1, 2022, the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference. TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to a gas supply unit and a substrate processing apparatus including the same. BACKGROUND ART In order to manufacture a semiconductor device or a flat panel display panel, various processes including a photolithography process, an etching process, an ashing process, a thin-film deposition process, and a cleaning process are performed. Among the processes, the photolithography process is a process of an application film on a substrate surface by supplying a photoresist on a semiconductor substrate, performing exposure processing for the application film formed by using a mask, and then obtaining a desired pattern on the substrate by supplying a development liquid. In particular, in recent years, in order to achieve refining of a critical dimension (CD) of the pattern, high-level uniformity is required for the application film formed in an application process. FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating a general substrate processing apparatus that forms the application film on the substrate such as a wafer by applying the application liquid onto the substrate. Referring to FIG. 1, the general substrate processing apparatus 1000 includes a processing unit 1100 and a gas supply unit 1300. The processing unit 1100 includes a chamber 1110 and a liquid processing module 1120. The chamber 1110 includes a base 1111 and a side wall 1113. The liquid processing module 1120 is provided in the chamber 1110, which supplies the photoresist to a rotating substrate to form the application film on the substrate surface. A plurality of liquid processing modules 1120 may be provided in the chamber 1100. The gas supply unit 1300 supplies a gas G of which a temperature and/or a humidity are/is controlled to a space in the chamber 1110 so that the application film formed by the liquid processing module 1120 may be formed with a uniform thickness. The gas supply unit 1300 includes a main duct 1310 and a gas supply box 1320 receiving the gas G from the main duct 1310 and supplying the gas G into the chamber 1110. The space in the gas supply box 1320 is in fluid communication with the space in the chamber 1110. One substrate processing apparatus 1000 includes a plurality of processing units 1100. The gas supply box 1320 is provided to correspond to each of the plurality of processing units 1100. The main supply duct 1310 is branched to supply the gas G to each gas supply box 1320. The plurality of processing units 1100 are stacked on each other, and arranged in a vertical direction by considering a space of a semiconductor manufacturing line. The other one base 111 among the plurality of processing units 1100 may be disposed above the gas supply box 1320 supplying the gas G to any one of the plurality of processing units 1100. Meanwhile, the liquid processing module 1120 for processing the substrate is disposed in the chamber 1100 of the processing unit 1100 as described above. The liquid processing module 1120 includes various power generation devices for implementing an operation of processing the substrate. For example, the liquid processing module 1120 includes the power generation device such as a motor or a cylinder. The power generation device generates heat in the process of generating power. The heat generated by the power generation device is transferred to the base 1111 of the chamber 1110. The heat transferred to the base 1111 is transferred to the gas supply box 1320 disposed below the base 1111. The heat transferred to the gas supply box 1320 heats the gas G supplied to the gas supply box 1320. FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating any one of the gas supply boxes of FIG. 1 viewed from the top. As illustrated in FIG. 2, in the gas supply box 1320, a gas (G) temperature in a region (region A in FIG. 2) adjacent to the main duct 1310 and a gas (G) temperature in a region (region B in FIG. 2) far from the main duct 1310 may be different from each other. When the gas G is introduced into the gas supply box 1320, the gas G moves in a direction toward region B from region A, and the gas G is continuously heated in the process of moving in the direction toward region B from region A. Therefore, the gas (G) temperature in region B may be higher than the gas (G) temperature in region A. The temperature of the gas G introduced into the chamber 1100 from region B of the gas supply box 1320 is high and the temperature of the gas G introduced into the chamber 1100 from region A of the gas supply box 1320 is low. For example, the temperature of the gas G supplied into the chamber 1100 through the gas supply box 1320 may vary depending on the region in the chamber 1100. Non-uniformity of the tempera