Substrate treatment method and substrate treatment apparatus

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11289324-B2
Application number	US-201715674262-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Aug 10, 2017
Priority date	Nov 8, 2012
Publication date	Mar 29, 2022
Grant date	Mar 29, 2022

Abstract

The inventive substrate treatment method includes: an organic solvent supplying step of supplying an organic solvent having a smaller surface tension than a rinse liquid to the upper surface of a substrate so that rinse liquid adhering to the upper surface of the substrate is replaced with the organic solvent; a higher temperature maintaining step of maintaining the upper surface of the substrate at a predetermined temperature higher than the boiling point of the organic solvent to thereby form a gas film of the organic solvent on the entire upper surface of the substrate including the gap of the minute pattern and to form a liquid film of the organic solvent on the gas film, the higher temperature maintaining step being performed after the organic solvent supplying step is started; and an organic solvent removing step of removing the organic solvent liquid film from the upper surface of the substrate.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A substrate treatment apparatus comprising:
a substrate holder including pins that horizontally hold a substrate having an upper surface and a lower surface;
an organic solvent nozzle that discharges a predetermined organic solvent having a smaller surface tension than water;
an organic solvent supply pipe that supplies the organic solvent to the organic solvent nozzle;
an organic solvent valve that opens and closes the organic solvent supply pipe;
a heater disposed below where the substrate is held by the substrate holder to heat the substrate from below, the heater being spaced apart from the lower surface of the substrate held by the substrate holder;
a gas nozzle that blows a gas toward the upper surface of the substrate held by the substrate holder;
a gas supply pipe that supplies the gas to the gas nozzle;
a gas valve that opens and closes the gas supply pipe; and
a lift which moves up and down the heater,
a controller configured to:
control the substrate holder to rotate the substrate around a vertical rotation axis;
control the organic solvent valve to open and close the organic solvent supply pipe to discharge the organic solvent from the organic solvent nozzle to the upper surface of the substrate held by the substrate holder to form a liquid film of the organic solvent on the upper surface of the substrate;
control the heater to raise a temperature of the upper surface of the substrate to, and maintain the temperature at, a predetermined temperature higher than a boiling point of the organic solvent, the predetermined temperature being determined so that the organic solvent in contact with the upper surface of the substrate evaporates to form a gas film of the organic solvent on an entire upper surface of the substrate to support the liquid film of the organic solvent above the gas film; and
control the lift to move the heater toward and away from the substrate held by the substrate holder to vary a vertical distance therebetween while the substrate is rotated around the vertical rotation axis by the substrate holder and is heated by the heater,

wherein the controller controls the lift to move up and down the heater between a lower position and an upper position that is higher than the lower position and is spaced apart from the lower surface of the substrate at a distance, and
wherein an amount of heat per unit area of the heater and the distance between the lower surface of the substrate and the heater at the upper position are determined such that the entire upper surface of the substrate is heated up to and maintained at the predetermined temperature.

2. The substrate treatment apparatus according to claim 1 , further comprising an enclosure cup which includes a cup body having an opening, and a lid closing the opening, the enclosure cup having an internal space isolated from an outer side, wherein
the substrate holder is accommodated in the internal space,
the cup body includes a peripheral wall having an upper end face,
the lid has a peripheral portion lower surface on which a seal is provided,
the lid is nonrotational, and is vertically movable between an open position to open the opening and a closed position to close the opening, and
the seal abuts against the upper end face of the peripheral wall of the cup body to seal between the cup body and the lid when the lid is located at the closed position.

3. The substrate treatment apparatus according to claim 2 , wherein the cup body further includes a bottom wall.

4. The substrate treatment apparatus according to claim 1 ,
wherein the controller is configured to control the gas valve to open and close the gas supply pipe for blowing the gas from the gas nozzle toward the upper surface of the substrate, and
wherein the controller is configured to execute:
an organic solvent supply step of opening the organic solvent valve and supplying the organic solvent from the organic solvent nozzle to the upper surface of the substrate held by the substrate holder to form the liquid film of the organic solvent on the upper surface of the substrate;
a higher temperature maintenance step of heating the substrate using the heater to maintain the temperature of the upper surface of the substrate held by the substrate holder at the predetermined temperature so that the organic solvent in contact with the upper surface of the substrate evaporates to form the gas film of the organic solvent on the entire upper surface of the substrate to support the liquid film of the organic solvent above the gas film; and
an organic solvent removal step of opening the gas valve and blowing the gas from the gas nozzle onto the liquid film after the gas film is formed to remove the organic solvent from the upper surface of the substrate held by the substrate holder.

5. A substrate treatment apparatus comprising:
a substrate holder including pins that horizontally hold a substrate having an upper surface and a lower surface;
an organic solvent flow pipe having a port that discharges a predetermined organic solvent having a smaller surface tension than water onto an upper surface of a substrate held by the substrate holder;
a heater that heats the substrate, the heater being spaced apart from the lower surface of the substrate held by the substrate holder;
a lift that moves up and down the heater; and
a gas flow pipe having a discharge port that discharges a gas,
a controller configured to:
control the substrate holder to rotate the substrate around a vertical rotation axis;
control an organic solvent valve to open and close the organic solvent flow pipe to discharge the predetermined organic solvent onto the upper surface of a substrate;
control the heater to increase a temperature of the upper surface of the substrate to, and maintain the temperature at, a predetermined temperature higher than a boiling point of the organic solvent, the predetermined temperature being so determined as to form a gas film of the organic solvent onto an entire upper surface of the substrate and form a liquid film of the organic solvent above the gas film;
control the lift to move the heater toward and away from the substrate held by the substrate holder to vary a vertical distance therebetween while the substrate is rotated around the vertical rotation axis by the substrate holder and is heated by the heater; and
control the gas valve to open and close the gas supply pipe for discharging the gas from the discharge port to the liquid film of the organic solvent formed above the gas film,

wherein the controller controls the lift to move up and down the heater between a lower position and an upper position that is higher than the lower position and is spaced apart from the lower surface of the substrate at a distance,
wherein an amount of heat per unit area of the heater and the distance between the lower surface of the substrate and the heater at the upper position are determined such that the entire upper surface of the substrate is heated up to and maintained at the predetermined temperature.

Assignees

• Screen Holdings Co Ltd

Inventors

• Okutani Manabu

Classifications

• H10P72/7626

  characterised by the construction of the shaft · CPC title

• H10P72/0436

  mainly by radiation · CPC title

• H10P72/0434

  mainly by convection · CPC title

• H10P72/0424

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

• H10P72/0414

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