Method of Substrate Processing, Substrate Processing System, and Storage Medium

• US 20090114253A1
• Filed: 04/12/2007
• Published: 05/07/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 05/15/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Tokyo Electron Limited
• Original Assignee: Tokyo Electron Limited
• Inventors: Matsumoto, Kazuhisa
• Granted Patent: US 8,439,051 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 134/30
• CPC Class Codes: C11D 2111/22 Electronic devices, e.g. PCBs or semiconductors
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 21/02052 Wet cleaning only H01L21/02085 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 21/30604 Chemical etching
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 21/67028 for cleaning followed by drying, rinsing, stripping, blasting or the like
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 21/67034 for drying
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 21/6708 using mainly spraying means, e.g. nozzles

Abstract

The present invention provides a substrate processing system in which a processing liquid is supplied to a substrate W from a processing nozzle 50a situated above the substrate W so as to process the substrate W, and which makes it possible to prevent unintended dripping of the processing liquid from the processing nozzle. A substrate processing system 20 comprises a processing nozzle 50a capable of supplying a processing liquid to a substrate to be processed, an arm 54 supporting the processing nozzle, and droplet removing nozzles 60, 62 capable of blowing a gas to the processing nozzle. The arm is movable between a processing position and a waiting position, the processing nozzle being above a substrate when the arm is in the waiting position and being outside a substrate when the arm is in the processing position. The droplet removing nozzles are so situated that they are in the vicinity of the processing nozzle when the arm is in the waiting position.

Claims

1. A substrate processing system comprising:

a processing nozzle capable of supplying a processing liquid to a substrate to be processed;

an arm supporting the processing nozzle, the arm being movable between a processing position and a waiting position, the processing nozzle being above the substrate when the arm is in the processing position and being outside the substrate when the arm is in the waiting position; and

a nozzle capable of blowing a gas to the processing nozzle, the nozzle being so situated that the nozzle is in the vicinity of the processing nozzle when the arm is in the waiting position.

2. The substrate processing system according to claim 1, wherein the processing nozzle is a two-fluid nozzle that produces a mixture of the processing liquid and a gas and discharges the mixture.

3. The substrate processing system according to claim 1, further comprising:

a receiver that catches droplets falling from the processing nozzle, the receiver being so situated that the receiver is below the processing nozzle when the arm is in the waiting position; and

an exhaust passage communicating with the receiver, through which the droplets collected in the receiver are exhausted from the receiver.

4. The substrate processing system according to claim 1, wherein the gas-blowing nozzle is situated below the processing nozzle.

5. The substrate processing system according to claim 1, wherein the gas-blowing nozzle is situated on each side of a path along which the processing nozzle moves as the arm approaches the waiting position.

6. The substrate processing system according to claim 5, wherein the gas-blowing nozzle has a blow-off opening extending along the path along which the processing nozzle moves as the arm approaches the waiting position.

7. The substrate processing system according to claim 1, further comprising an enclosure by which a space below the processing nozzle supported by the arm that is in the waiting position is surrounded on two sides that correspond to both sides of a path along which the processing nozzle moves as the arm approaches the waiting position.

8. The substrate processing system according to claim 1, further comprising an enclosure by which a space below the processing nozzle supported by the arm that is in the waiting position is surrounded on three sides that correspond to both sides of a path along which the processing nozzle moves as the arm approaches the waiting position and to the front side of the path.

9. The substrate processing system according to claim 7 or 8, wherein the gas-blowing nozzle has a blow-off opening in a side of the enclosure facing the space below the processing nozzle.

10. The substrate processing system according to claim 1, further comprising a nozzle capable of discharging water to the processing nozzle, the water-discharging nozzle being so situated that the water-discharging nozzle is in the vicinity of the processing nozzle when the arm is in the waiting position.

11. A method of substrate processing comprising the steps of:

positioning a processing nozzle above a substrate to be processed and supplying a processing liquid to the substrate from the processing nozzle;

stopping the supply of the processing liquid from the processing nozzle;

moving the processing nozzle to the outside of the substrate; and

blowing a gas to the processing nozzle situated on the outside of the substrate so as to remove droplets sticking to the processing nozzle.

12. The method of substrate processing according to claim 11, wherein in the step of supplying the processing liquid, the processing liquid is mixed with the gas in the processing nozzle that is a two-fluid nozzle and is discharged from the processing nozzle along with the gas.

13. The method of substrate processing according to claim 11, wherein in the step of removing droplets from the processing nozzle, the gas is blown to the processing nozzle from below.

14. The method of substrate processing according to claim 11, wherein in the step of removing droplets from the processing nozzle, the gas is blown from both sides of a path along which the processing nozzle moves to the outside of the substrate.

15. The method of substrate processing according to claim 11, further comprising the step of discharging water to the processing nozzle situated on the outside of the substrate so as to remove droplets of the processing liquid sticking to the processing nozzle,

wherein the step of discharging water to the processing nozzle is performed prior to the step of blowing a gas to the processing nozzle.

16. The method of substrate processing according to claim 11, further comprising the step of drying the substrate to which the processing liquid has been supplied,

wherein the step of drying the substrate is performed in parallel with the step of removing droplets from the processing nozzle.

17. A storage medium storing a program to be carried out by a control device for controlling a substrate processing system so as to execute a method of substrate processing comprising the steps of:

positioning a processing nozzle above a substrate to be processed and supplying a processing liquid to the substrate from the processing nozzle;

stopping the supply of the processing liquid from the processing nozzle;

moving the processing nozzle to the outside of the substrate; and

blowing a gas to the processing nozzle situated on the outside of the substrate so as to remove droplets sticking to the processing nozzle.