SINGLE WAFER METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR DRYING SEMICONDUCTOR SUBSTRATES USING AN INERT GAS AIR-KNIFE

• US 20090078292A1
• Filed: 10/12/2008
• Published: 03/26/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 06/13/2002
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Applied Materials Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Applied Materials Incorporated
• Inventors: Marohl, Dan A., Achkire, Younes, Franklin, Timothy J., Svirchevski, Julia, Stein, Nathan D.
• Application Number:
  US12/249,960
• Publication Number:
  US 20090078292A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 134/95.200
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 21/67034 for drying

Abstract

In one aspect, an apparatus is provided. The apparatus comprises a chamber; a plurality of rollers adapted to support a wafer in a vertical orientation within a chamber; a pair of brushes adapted to scrub a first and a second side of the wafer respectively; a first spray bar adapted to spray a liquid on the wafer to form a meniscus on the wafer as the wafer is lifted out of the chamber; and a second spray bar adapted to direct a vapor to the meniscus, the vapor being adapted to lower a surface tension of the liquid at the meniscus to perform Marangoni drying of the wafer as the wafer is lifted out of the chamber. Numerous other aspects are provided.

Claims

1. An apparatus comprising;

a chamber;

a plurality of rollers adapted to support a wafer in a vertical orientation within a chamber;

a pair of brushes adapted to scrub a first and a second side of the wafer respectively;

a first spray bar adapted to spray a liquid on the wafer to form a meniscus on the wafer as the wafer is lifted out of the chamber; and

a second spray bar adapted to direct a vapor to the meniscus, the vapor being adapted to lower a surface tension of the liquid at the meniscus to perform Marangoni drying of the wafer as the wafer is lifted out of the chamber.

5. The apparatus of claim 1, further comprising a cradle for moving the wafer from the vertical orientation to an inclined orientation.

6. The apparatus of claim 5 further comprising a pusher for pushing the wafer upward along an inclined path.

7. The apparatus of claim 6 wherein the first and second spray bars are positioned to output a spray onto the wafer as the wafer is lifted along the inclined path.

8. The apparatus of claim 6 further comprising a pair of wafer guides for guiding the wafer as the wafer is lifted upward along the inclined path.

9. The apparatus of claim 1 further comprising a mechanism for moving the wafer from a first position where the wafer is scrubbed by the pair of brushes, to a second position where the wafer will be impacted by spray from the first and second spray bars as the wafer is lifted from the chamber.

10. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the second spray bar is adapted to direct the vapor at a gas delivery angle, wherein the angle is downwardly inclined from a horizontal plane.

11. The apparatus of claim 10 wherein the gas delivery angle is in the range of 13°

-30°

.

12. The apparatus of claim 11 wherein the gas delivery angle may be the same for substrates having one of a hydrophilic film and a hydrophobic film thereon.

13. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the first and second spray bars are positioned above an upper perimeter of the substrate when the substrate is positioned on the plurality of rollers, such that an entire substrate surface is lifted past the first and second spray bars.

14. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the second spray bar is adapted to spray the vapor at the meniscus formed on a first side of the substrate.

15. The apparatus of claim 14 further comprising a third spray bar, wherein the third spray bar is adapted to spray a vapor at the meniscus formed on a second side of the substrate.

16. The apparatus of claim 15 wherein the third spray bar is adapted to direct the vapor at a gas delivery angle, wherein the angle is downwardly inclined from a horizontal plane.

17. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the second spray bar includes a plurality of perforations adapted to spray the vapor.

18. The apparatus of claim 17 wherein the perforations are uniformly distributed along the length of the second spray bar.

19. The apparatus of claim 17 wherein the perforations are colinear.

20. The apparatus of claim 17 wherein the perforations have the same orientation as each other.

2. The apparatus of claim 2, further comprising a wafer lift mechanism mounted in the chamber and adapted to lift the wafer at least partially out of the chamber.

3. The apparatus of claim 2, wherein the wafer lift mechanism pushes the wafer upward through a spray output by the first spray bar.

4. The apparatus of claim 2, further comprising a pair of wafer guides for guiding the wafer as the wafer is lifted by the wafer lift mechanism.