US-12623313-B2 - Substrate processing apparatus and substrate processing method

US12623313B2US 12623313 B2US12623313 B2US 12623313B2US-12623313-B2

Abstract

A substrate processing apparatus includes a chuck configured to hold a substrate horizontally; a processing unit configured to press a processing tool against an outer periphery of the substrate held by the chuck to process the substrate; and a lower cup configured to collect a processing residue falling from the substrate over an entire circumference of the substrate. The lower cup is provided with a discharge opening through which the processing residue is discharged.

Inventors

Yohei Yamawaki
Seiji Nakano
Yoshihiro Kawaguchi
Munehisa Kodama

Assignees

TOKYO ELECTRON LIMITED

Dates

Publication Date: 20260512
Application Date: 20200514
Priority Date: 20190604

Claims (18)

1 . A substrate processing apparatus, comprising: a chuck configured to hold a substrate horizontally; a processing unit configured to press a processing tool against an outer periphery of the substrate held by the chuck to process the substrate; and a lower cup configured to collect a processing residue falling from the substrate over an entire circumference of the substrate, wherein: the lower cup is provided with a discharge opening through which the processing residue is discharged, the lower cup comprises a lower cylindrical member which is larger than the substrate when viewed from above, and a lower lid which closes a lower end opening of the lower cylindrical member, the discharge opening is formed at the lower lid, and the lower cylindrical member comprises a groove to avoid interference between the lower cylindrical member and the processing unit.
2 . The substrate processing apparatus of claim 1 , further comprising: a rotating mechanism configured to rotate the chuck around a vertical axis, wherein the processing unit presses the processing tool against the outer periphery of the substrate being rotated along with the chuck.
3 . The substrate processing apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the lower lid comprises the discharge opening at a center thereof, and comprises, over an entire circumference of the lower cylindrical member, an inclined surface inclined downwards from the lower cylindrical member toward the discharge opening.
4 . The substrate processing apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the lower cup is formed of a conductive material, formed of an insulating material and coated with an anti-static agent, or formed of a mixture of an insulating material and an anti-static agent.
5 . The substrate processing apparatus of claim 1 , further comprising: a discharge pipe through which the processing residue falling from the discharge opening of the lower cup is guided downwards, wherein the discharge pipe is formed of a conductive material, formed of an insulating material and coated with an anti-static agent, or formed of a mixture of an insulating material and an anti-static agent.
6 . The substrate processing apparatus of claim 5 , further comprising: a suction device configured to suck a gas within the discharge pipe.
7 . The substrate processing apparatus of claim 6 , further comprising: a suction box provided at a portion of a suction path of the gas flowing from the discharge pipe toward the suction device, wherein the suction device sucks an inside of the suction box from above.
8 . The substrate processing apparatus of claim 1 , further comprising: a detector configured to detect a failure in the falling of the processing residue.
9 . The substrate processing apparatus of claim 1 , further comprising: an upper cover configured to be moved up and down between a closing position where the upper cover closes at least a part of an upper end opening of the lower cup and an opening position where the upper cover opens the upper end opening of the lower cup.
10 . The substrate processing apparatus of claim 1 , further comprising: an upper nozzle configured to discharge a gas toward the substrate from above to form a flow of the gas flowing outwards in a diametrical direction from the outer periphery of the substrate held by the chuck.
11 . The substrate processing apparatus of claim 1 , further comprising: a lower nozzle configured to discharge a gas toward the substrate from below to form a flow of the gas flowing outwards in a diametrical direction from the outer periphery of the substrate held by the chuck.
12 . The substrate processing apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the processing unit comprises a processing tool mounting unit to which the processing tool is mounted, and a driving unit configured to move the processing tool mounting unit back and forth in a direction in which the processing tool mounting unit is connected to or disconnected from the chuck.
13 . The substrate processing apparatus of claim 12 , further comprising: a processing controller configured to move the processing tool back and forth such that a part of the outer periphery of the substrate in a circumferential direction does not come into contact with the processing tool while the substrate is being rotated along with the chuck.
14 . A substrate processing apparatus, comprising: a chuck configured to hold a substrate horizontally: a processing unit configured to press a processing tool against an outer periphery of the substrate held by the chuck to process the substrate; and a lower cup configured to collect a processing residue falling from the substrate over an entire circumference of the substrate, wherein: the lower cup is provided with a discharge opening through which the processing residue is discharged, and the substrate processing apparatus further comprises: an upper cover configured to be moved up and down between a closing position where the upper cover closes at least a part of an upper end opening of the lower cup and an opening position where the upper cover opens the upper end opening of the lower cup, wherein the upper cover comprises an upper cylindrical member surrounding the outer periphery of the substrate held by the chuck, and wherein the upper cylindrical member comprises a groove to avoid interference between the upper cylindrical member and the processing unit.
15 . A substrate processing apparatus, comprising: a chuck configured to hold a substrate horizontally: a processing unit configured to press a processing tool against an outer periphery of the substrate held by the chuck to process the substrate; and a lower cup configured to collect a processing residue falling from the substrate over an entire circumference of the substrate, wherein the lower cup is provided with a discharge opening through which the processing residue is discharged, wherein the substrate processing apparatus further comprises an upper cover configured to be moved up and down between a closing position where the upper cover closes at least a part of an upper end opening of the lower cup and an opening position where the upper cover opens the upper end opening of the lower cup, wherein the upper cover comprises a ceiling member which closes at least the outer periphery of the substrate held by the chuck from above, and wherein the ceiling member comprises a ring-shaped first horizontal member forming a first gap from the substrate held by the chuck, and a ring-shaped second horizontal member forming a second gap, from the substrate held by the chuck, the second gap being smaller than the first gap, the second horizontal member being located radially inside the first horizontal member.
16 . A substrate processing apparatus, comprising: a chuck configured to hold a substrate horizontally; a processing unit configured to press a processing tool against an outer periphery of the substrate held by the chuck to process the substrate; and a lower cup configured to collect a processing residue falling from the substrate over an entire circumference of the substrate, wherein the lower cup is provided with a discharge opening through which the processing residue is discharged, wherein the processing unit comprises a processing tool mounting unit to which the processing tool is mounted, and a driving unit configured to move the processing tool mounting unit back and forth in a direction in which the processing tool mounting unit is connected to or disconnected from the chuck, wherein the processing unit comprises a first slider configured to be moved back and forth by the driving unit, a second slider configured to be moved back and forth along with the first slider, and an elastic body connecting the first slider and the second slider, and wherein the processing tool mounting unit is moved along with the second slider.
17 . A substrate processing apparatus, comprising: a chuck configured to hold a substrate horizontally: a processing unit configured to press a processing tool against an outer periphery of the substrate held by the chuck to process the substrate; and a lower cup configured to collect a processing residue falling from the substrate over an entire circumference of the substrate, wherein the lower cup is provided with a discharge opening through which the processing residue is discharged, and wherein the substrate processing apparatus further comprises a pressing device configured to press the processing residue, which is pushed up from the substrate by the processing tool, from above while maintaining a distance from the processing tool in a circumferential direction of the substrate.
18 . A substrate processing method performed by using a substrate processing apparatus as claimed in claim 1 to process the substrate with the processing tool.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS This Application is a U.S. national phase application under 35 U.S.C. § 371 of PCT Application No. PCT/JP2020/019299 filed on May 14, 2020, which claims the benefit of Japanese Patent Application No. 2019-104802 filed on Jun. 4, 2019, the entire disclosures of which are incorporated herein by reference. TECHNICAL FIELD The various aspects and embodiments described herein pertain generally to a substrate processing apparatus and a substrate processing method. BACKGROUND Patent Document 1 discloses a technique of grinding an outer periphery of a semiconductor wafer into an L-shape. The semiconductor wafer is formed by bonding two silicon wafers together, and a bevel of one of the silicon wafers is removed by the grinding. The purpose of removing the bevel is to suppress chipping or the like. PRIOR ART DOCUMENT Patent Document 1: Japanese Patent Laid-open Publication No. H09-216152 DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION Means for Solving the Problems In an exemplary embodiment, a substrate processing apparatus includes a chuck configured to hold a substrate horizontally; a processing unit configured to press a processing tool against an outer periphery of the substrate held by the chuck to process the substrate; and a lower cup configured to collect a processing residue falling from the substrate over an entire circumference of the substrate. The lower cup is provided with a discharge opening through which the processing residue is discharged. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a plan view illustrating a thinning system according to an exemplary embodiment. FIG. 2 is a cross sectional view illustrating a processing target substrate, a device layer and a support substrate according to the exemplary embodiment. FIG. 3 is a flowchart illustrating a thinning method according to the exemplary embodiment. FIG. 4A is a cross sectional view illustrating an example of a laser processing shown in FIG. 3. FIG. 4B is a plan view illustrating positions of a first division surface and a second division surface shown in FIG. 4A. FIG. 5 is a cross sectional view illustrating an example of bevel removing shown in FIG. 3. FIG. 6 is a cross sectional view illustrating an example of thinning shown in FIG. 3. FIG. 7 is a plan view illustrating a bevel removing apparatus according to the exemplary embodiment. FIG. 8 is a diagram showing the bevel removing apparatus of FIG. 7 seen from the positive Y-axis side. FIG. 9A is a cross sectional view taken along a line IX-IX of FIG. 7, showing an opening position of an upper cover. FIG. 9B is a cross sectional view taken along the line IX-IX of FIG. 7, showing a closing position of the upper cover. FIG. 10 is a side view illustrating a lower cup and a discharge pipe. FIG. 11 is a cross sectional view illustrating an example of a gas flow formed around an outer periphery of a combined substrate when a processing is performed. FIG. 12 is a functional block diagram illustrating constituent components of a controller according to the exemplary embodiment. FIG. 13 is an enlarged view of a processing unit shown in FIG. 9B. FIG. 14A is a plan view illustrating a pressing device according to the exemplary embodiment. FIG. 14B is a cross sectional view taken along a line XIVB-XIVB of FIG. 14A. FIG. 15 is a plan view illustrating an example of a range of the outer periphery of the combined substrate that comes into contact with a blade. FIG. 16 is a cross sectional view showing a state in which a degree of horizontality is measured by a measuring device according to the exemplary embodiment. FIG. 17 is a cross sectional view showing a state in which a height is measured by a measuring device according to the exemplary embodiment. FIG. 18 is a cross sectional view illustrating a modification example of the bevel removing and the thinning shown in FIG. 6. DETAILED DESCRIPTION Hereinafter, exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings. In the various drawings, same or corresponding parts will be assigned same or corresponding reference numerals, and redundant description will be omitted. In the present specification, the X-axis direction, the Y-axis direction and the Z-axis direction are orthogonal to each other. The X-axis direction and the Y-axis direction are horizontal directions, whereas the Z-axis direction is a vertical direction. FIG. 1 is a plan view illustrating a thinning system according to an exemplary embodiment. The thinning system 1 is configured to thin a processing target substrate 100. Further, the thinning system 1 is also configured to remove a bevel 104 of the processing target substrate 100 before thinning the processing target substrate 100. The bevel 104 refers to a chamfered portion. Although the bevel 104 is a R-chamfered portion in FIG. 2, it may be a C-chamfered portion. FIG. 2 is a cross sectional view illustrating a processing target substrate, a device layer and a suppo