Substrate liquid processing apparatus and liquid discharge evaluation method

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12269052-B2
Application number	US-202117179551-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Feb 19, 2021
Priority date	Feb 20, 2020
Publication date	Apr 8, 2025
Grant date	Apr 8, 2025

Abstract

A controller is configured to control a liquid supply to change a landing position of a liquid on a surface of a substrate continuously by discharging the liquid toward the surface of the substrate from a first liquid discharge nozzle while moving the first liquid discharge nozzle. The controller is also configured to derive discharge position deviation information of the liquid supply by comparing first temperature information based on a spot temperature measured by a temperature measurement device when the first liquid discharge nozzle is moved along a first nozzle path and second temperature information based on the spot temperature measured by the temperature measurement device when the first liquid discharge nozzle is moved along a second nozzle path which is different from the first nozzle path.

First claim

We claim:

1. A substrate liquid processing apparatus, comprising:
a substrate holder configured to hold a substrate;
a rotating device configured to rotate the substrate around a rotation axis;
a liquid supply equipped with a first liquid discharge nozzle configured to discharge a liquid having a temperature different from a temperature of the substrate, and also equipped with a nozzle moving device configured to move the first liquid discharge nozzle;
a temperature measurement device configured to measure a spot temperature which is at least one of a temperature of a specific spot on a surface of the substrate or a temperature of the liquid on the specific spot; and
a controller configured to control the liquid supply to change a landing position of the liquid on the surface of the substrate continuously by discharging the liquid toward the surface of the substrate from the first liquid discharge nozzle while moving the first liquid discharge nozzle, the controller being also configured to derive a deviation of the landing position of the liquid discharged from the first liquid discharge nozzle on the surface of the substrate by comparing first temperature information based on the spot temperature measured by the temperature measurement device when the first liquid discharge nozzle is moved along a first nozzle path with second temperature information based on the spot temperature measured by the temperature measurement device when the first liquid discharge nozzle is moved along a second nozzle path which is different from the first nozzle path.

2. The substrate liquid processing apparatus of claim 1 ,
wherein the first temperature information and the second temperature information are based on measurement results of the spot temperature obtained by continuously changing the landing position of the liquid on the surface of the substrate while rotating the substrate,
when the first temperature information is acquired, a trajectory of the landing position of the liquid discharged from the first liquid discharge nozzle moved along the first nozzle path on the surface of the substrate passes a specific annular region of the surface of the substrate, the specific annular region being a region where a distance from the rotation axis is equal to a distance between the rotation axis and the specific spot, and
when the second temperature information is acquired, a trajectory of the landing position of the liquid discharged from the first liquid discharge nozzle moved along the second nozzle path on the surface of the substrate passes the specific annular region.

3. The substrate liquid processing apparatus of claim 2 ,
wherein the first liquid discharge nozzle is moved along a circular arc-shaped movement trajectory,
the first nozzle path is a path from a first side of the movement trajectory toward a second side thereof along the movement trajectory, and
the second nozzle path is a path from the second side of the movement trajectory toward the first side thereof along the movement trajectory.

4. The substrate liquid processing apparatus of claim 2 ,
wherein the nozzle moving device comprises a driving arm configured to be moved along with the first liquid discharge nozzle, and
the deviation of the landing position of the liquid includes information upon a deviation of a movement position of the driving arm.

5. The substrate liquid processing apparatus of claim 2 ,
wherein the liquid supply comprises a second liquid discharge nozzle, and
the deviation of the landing position of the liquid includes information upon a pipeline error between a liquid supply line connected to the first liquid discharge nozzle and a liquid supply line connected to the second liquid discharge nozzle.

6. The substrate liquid processing apparatus of claim 2 ,
wherein the deviation of the landing position of the liquid includes information upon a deviation of a discharge direction of the liquid from the first liquid discharge nozzle.

7. The substrate liquid processing apparatus of claim 2 ,
wherein each of the first temperature information and the second temperature information includes time-dependent temperature information set based on a moving time of the first liquid discharge nozzle from an edge of the surface of the substrate and the spot temperature measured by the temperature measurement device, and
the controller derives the deviation of the landing position of the liquid by comparing the moving time corresponding to a threshold temperature in the time-dependent temperature information of the first temperature information with the moving time corresponding to the threshold temperature in the time-dependent temperature information of the second temperature information.

8. The substrate liquid processing apparatus of claim 2 ,
wherein each of the first temperature information and the second temperature information includes time-dependent temperature information set based on a moving time of the first liquid discharge nozzle from an edge of the surface of the substrate and the spot temperature measured by the temperature measurement device, and
the controller derives the deviation of the landing position of the liquid by comparing a first reference moving time set based on a differential coefficient of the spot temperature of the time-dependent temperature information of the first temperature information with respect to the moving time with a second reference moving time set based on a differential coefficient of the spot temperature of the time-dependent temperature information of the second temperature information with respect to the moving time.

9. The substrate liquid processing apparatus of claim 1 ,
wherein the first liquid discharge nozzle is moved along a circular arc-shaped movement trajectory,
the first nozzle path is a path from a first side of the movement trajectory toward a second side thereof along the movement trajectory, and
the second nozzle path is a path from the second side of the movement trajectory toward the first side thereof along the movement trajectory.

10. The substrate liquid processing apparatus of claim 1 ,
wherein the nozzle moving device comprises a driving arm configured to be moved along with the first liquid discharge nozzle, and
the deviation of the landing position of the liquid includes information upon a deviation of a movement position of the driving arm.

11. The substrate liquid processing apparatus of claim 1 ,
wherein the liquid supply comprises a second liquid discharge nozzle, and
the deviation of the landing position of the liquid includes information upon a pipeline error between a liquid supply line connected to the first liquid discharge nozzle and a liquid supply line connected to the second liquid discharge nozzle.

12. The substrate liquid processing apparatus of claim 1 ,
wherein the deviation of the landing position of the liquid includes information upon a deviation of a discharge direction of the liquid from the first liquid discharge nozzle.

13. The substrate liquid processing apparatus of claim 1 ,
wherein each of the first temperature information and the second temperature information includes time-dependent temperature information set based on a moving time of the first liquid discharge nozzle from an edge of the surface of the substrate and the spot temperature measured by the temperature measurement device, and
the controller derives the deviation of the landing position of the liquid by comparing the moving time corresponding to a threshold temperature in the time-dependent temperature information of the first temperature information with the moving time corresponding to the thres

Assignees

• Tokyo Electron Ltd

Inventors

• Wakiyama Terufumi
• Douki Yuichi
• Tanaka Akinori
• Tashiro Minoru
• Kitayama Reo
• Yamamoto Shu

Classifications

• H10P72/0602

  Temperature monitoring · CPC title

• H10P72/0606 Primary

  Position monitoring, e.g. misposition detection or presence detection · CPC title

• H10P72/0414 Primary

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

• B05B12/10

  responsive to temperature or viscosity of liquid or other fluent material discharged · CPC title

• B05B3/16

  driven or controlled by the liquid or other fluent material discharged, e.g. the liquid actuating a motor before passing to the outlet {(comprising liquid driven rotors wherein the rotation of the outlet element is reversible B05B3/0432; the outlet elements being rotated by a deflecting element successively moved into the discharged jet by the action of a biasing means and out of the discharged jet by the discharged jet with the rotation of the outlet elements being reversible B05B3/0461)} · CPC title