Substrate processing apparatus and substrate processing method

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10668494-B2
Application number	US-201715710017-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Sep 20, 2017
Priority date	Sep 26, 2016
Publication date	Jun 2, 2020
Grant date	Jun 2, 2020

Abstract

A substrate processing apparatus according to the present disclosure includes a holding unit, a nozzle, a driving unit, and a controller. The holding unit holds a substrate. The nozzle supplies a processing liquid to the substrate held on the holding unit. The driving unit moves the nozzle. The controller controls the driving unit, so as to move the nozzle while supplying the processing liquid to the substrate from the nozzle. Further, the controller controls the driving unit based on recipe information including step information including positions of first and second points above the substrate, total time for moving the nozzle between the first and second points, and a moving speed of the nozzle, so as to cause reciprocation of the nozzle.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A substrate processing apparatus comprising:
a holder that holds a substrate;
a nozzle that supplies a processing liquid to the substrate held by the holder;
a motor that moves the nozzle; and
a controller programmed to control the motor, so as to move the nozzle while supplying the processing liquid to the substrate from the nozzle,
wherein the controller is programmed to:
move the nozzle from a first position above the substrate to a second position above the substrate at a first moving speed;
move the nozzle from the second position back to the first position at the first moving speed thereby performing a reciprocating operation of the nozzle between the first position and the second position;
stop a movement of the nozzle during the reciprocation operation at an end position;
detect a location of the end position;
determine a location of a third position above the substrate and a fourth position above the substrate relative to the end position; and
move the nozzle from the end position to one of the third position or the fourth position, and

wherein a time to perform the reciprocating operation is a predetermined first total time.

2. The substrate processing apparatus of claim 1 ,
wherein the controller is further programmed to continuously supply the processing liquid to the substrate from the nozzle while the nozzle is moved from the end position to the one of the third position or the fourth position.

3. The substrate processing apparatus of claim 2 , wherein when the nozzle is moved to the one of the third position or the fourth position, the controller is further programmed to move the nozzle to the other of the third position or the fourth position at a second moving speed, and
wherein a time to move the nozzle from the end position to the one of the third position or the fourth position and then to the other of the third position or the fourth position is a predetermined second total time.

4. The substrate processing apparatus of claim 3 , wherein the controller is further programmed to:
measure a time required to move the nozzle from the end position to the one of the third position or the fourth position; and
subtract the measured time from the second total time to obtain a time for moving the nozzle from the one of the third position or fourth position to the other of the third position or the fourth position.

5. The substrate processing apparatus of claim 3 , wherein the controller is further programmed to move the nozzle at the second moving speed when the nozzle is moved from the end position to the one of the third position or the fourth position.

6. The substrate processing apparatus of claim 2 , wherein the controller is further programmed to:
determine which one of the third position or the fourth position is positioned at a front side in a movement direction of the nozzle from the end position; and
move the nozzle from the end position to the determined one of the third position or the fourth position positioned at the front side in the movement direction of the nozzle.

7. The substrate processing apparatus of claim 6 , wherein when the third position and the fourth position are not positioned at the front side in the movement direction of the nozzle from the end position, the controller is further programmed to:
determine which one of the third position and the fourth position is closest to the end position; and
move the nozzle from the end position to the determined one of the third position or the fourth position closest to the end position.

8. The substrate processing apparatus of claim 1 ,
wherein the controller is programmed to receive an input of information including the location of the first position, the location of the second position, the first moving speed, and the first total time from a user interface.

9. The substrate processing apparatus of claim 1
wherein the controller is programmed to receive information including the location of the first position, the location of the second position, the first moving speed, and the first total time via a network.

10. A substrate processing method comprising:
holding a substrate;
controlling a motor configured to move a nozzle, so as to move the nozzle while supplying a processing liquid to the substrate from the nozzle, after the holding;
moving the nozzle from a first position above the substrate to a second position above the substrate at a first moving speed;
moving the nozzle from the second position to the first position at the first moving speed thereby reciprocating the nozzle between the first position and the second position;
stopping a movement of the nozzle during the reciprocating at an end position;
detecting a location of the end position;
determining a location of a third position above the substrate and a fourth position above the substrate relative to the end position; and
moving the nozzle from the end position to one of the third position or the fourth position at a second moving speed,
wherein a time to perform the reciprocating is a predetermined first total time.

Assignees

• Tokyo Electron Ltd

Inventors

• Ayabe Go
• Tashiro Minoru
• Fujimoto Kunihiko

Classifications

• B05B14/00

  Arrangements for collecting, re-using or eliminating excess spraying material (arrangements integral with nozzles B05B1/28) · CPC title

• B05D1/02

  performed by spraying · CPC title

• H01L21/67253

  Electricity · mapped topic

• H01L21/67051

  Electricity · mapped topic

• H01L21/6708

  Electricity · mapped topic