Method and apparatus for drying substrate

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10197333-B2
Application number	US-201615152979-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	May 12, 2016
Priority date	May 15, 2015
Publication date	Feb 5, 2019
Grant date	Feb 5, 2019

Abstract

Disclosed is a substrate drying apparatus of substrate processing apparatus including a chamber that provides a space for processing a substrate, and a fluid supply unit that supplies a process fluid to the chamber, wherein the liquid supply unit includes a supply tank in which the fluid is stored, a supply line that connects the supply tank and the chamber, a branch line branched from a first point of the supply line and connected to a second point of the supply line, and a temperature control unit that adjusts the temperature of the fluid such that the temperatures of the fluids flowing through the supply line and the branch line between the first point and the second point are different.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A substrate drying apparatus comprising:
a chamber configured to provide a space for processing a substrate;
a fluid supply unit configured to supply a process fluid to the chamber; and
a controller configured to control the fluid supply unit to the chamber,
wherein the fluid supply unit includes:
a supply tank in which the process fluid is stored;
a supply line configured to connect the supply tank and the chamber;
a branch line branched from a first point of the supply line and connected to a second point of the supply line; and
a temperature control unit configured to adjust a temperature of the process fluid such that a temperature of the process fluid flowing through the supply line and a temperature of the process fluid flowing through the branch line between the first point and the second point are different,
wherein the controller is configured to control the process fluid supplied into the chamber; and to control the process fluid exhausted from the chamber, the controller is configured to repeat the supplying and the exhausting n times (n is a natural number equal to or greater than 2), wherein a temperature of the process fluid supplied into the chamber in a m-th supply operation is lower than a temperature of the process fluid supplied into the chamber in a (m−1)-th supply operation (m is a natural number of 2≤m≤n).

2. The substrate drying apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the temperature control unit comprises a heater, and the heater is installed only in the supply line of the supply line and the branch line.

3. The substrate drying apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the temperature control unit comprises a first heater installed in the supply line and a second heater installed in the branch line.

4. The substrate drying apparatus of claim 3 , wherein heating temperatures of the first heater and the second heater are set to be different.

5. The substrate drying apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the branch line comprises a plurality of heating lines connected in parallel to each other, the temperature control unit is installed in each of the supply line and the plurality of heating lines, and heating temperatures of the supply line and the plurality of heating lines are different.

6. The substrate drying apparatus of claim 5 , wherein the branch line further comprises a non-heating line connected in parallel to the heating lines, and the temperature control unit is installed only in the supply line and the heating lines of the supply line, the heating lines, and the non-heating line.

7. The substrate drying apparatus of claim 1 , wherein an opening/closing valve is installed in each of the supply line and the branch line between the first point and the second point.

8. The substrate drying apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the chamber is a high pressure chamber and the process fluid is a supercritical fluid.

9. The substrate drying apparatus of claim 8 , wherein the process fluid is carbon dioxide.

10. A substrate drying apparatus comprising:
a chamber configured to provide a space for processing a substrate; and
a fluid supply unit configured to supply a process fluid to the chamber,
wherein the fluid supply unit includes:
a supply tank in which the process fluid is stored;
a supply line configured to connect the supply tank and the chamber;
a temperature control unit provided in the supply line configured to adjust a temperature of the fluid flowing through the supply line; and
a controller configured to control the fluid supply unit and processes of processing a substrate in the chamber,
wherein the controller is configured to control the process fluid supplied into the chamber; and to control the process fluid exhausted from the chamber, the controller is configured to repeat the supplying and the exhausting n times (n is a natural number equal to or greater than 2), wherein a temperature of the process fluid supplied into the chamber in a m-th supply operation is lower than a temperature of the process fluid supplied into the chamber in a (m−1)-th supply operation (m is a natural number of 2≤m≤n).

11. A substrate drying method of removing a residual liquid residing on a substrate in a chamber by using a supercritical fluid comprising:
supplying the supercritical fluid into the chamber; and
exhausting the supercritical fluid, in which the residual liquid is dissolved, from the chamber,
wherein the supplying and the exhausting are repeated n times (n is a natural number equal to or greater than 2), and a temperature of the supercritical fluid supplied into the chamber in a m-th supply operation is lower than a temperature of the supercritical fluid supplied into the chamber in a (m−1)-th supply operation (m is a natural number of 2≤m≤n).

12. The substrate drying method of claim 11 , wherein the residual liquid is isopropyl alcohol, and the supercritical fluid is carbon dioxide.

13. A substrate drying method using the substrate drying apparatus of claim 1 comprising;
supplying the process fluid into the chamber; and
exhausting the process fluid from the chamber,
wherein the supplying and the exhausting are repeated n times to process the substrate (n is a natural number equal to or greater than 2), and a temperature of the process fluid flowing through the supply line between the first point and the second point is higher than a temperature of the process fluid flowing through the branch line.

14. The substrate drying method of claim 13 , wherein the branch line further comprises a plurality of heating lines connected in parallel to each other and a non-heating line, and a temperature of the process fluid flowing through the plurality of heating lines is higher than a temperature of the process fluid flowing through the non-heating line.

15. The substrate drying method of claim 13 , wherein a temperature of the process fluid supplied into the chamber in a m-th supply step is lower than a temperature of the process fluid supplied into the chamber in a (m−1)-th supply step (m is a natural number of 2≤m≤n).

16. The substrate drying method of claim 13 , wherein the process fluid is carbon dioxide in a supercritical state.

Assignees

• Semes Co Ltd

Inventors

• Kim Boong
• Han Min Sung
• Park Joo Jib
• Kim Woo Young

Classifications

• H10P72/0604

  Process monitoring, e.g. flow or thickness monitoring · CPC title

• H10P72/0602

  Temperature monitoring · CPC title

• H10P72/0462

  characterised by the construction of the processing chambers, e.g. modular processing chambers · CPC title

• H10P72/0434

  mainly by convection · CPC title

• H10P72/0414

  using mainly spraying means, e.g. nozzles · CPC title