Substrate processing apparatus and substrate processing method

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2022056590-A1
Application number	US-201917279748-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Sep 26, 2019
Priority date	Sep 27, 2018
Publication date	Feb 24, 2022
Grant date	—

Abstract

A substrate processing apparatus includes a rotation driving mechanism configured to rotate a rotary table configured to hold a substrate; an electric heater provided in the rotary table to be rotated along with the rotary table and configured to heat the substrate; a power receiving electrode provided in the rotary table to be rotated along with the rotary table and electrically connected to the electric heater; a power feeding electrode configured to be contacted with the power receiving electrode and configured to supply a power to the electric heater via the power receiving electrode; an electrode moving mechanism; a power feeder configured to supply the power to the power feeding electrode; a processing cup surrounding the rotary table; at least one processing liquid nozzle configured to supply a processing liquid; a processing liquid supply mechanism configured to supply at least an electroless plating liquid; and a controller.

First claim

1 . A substrate processing apparatus, comprising:
a rotary table configured to horizontally hold a substrate; a rotation driving mechanism configured to rotate the rotary table around a vertical axis; an electric heater provided in the rotary table to be rotated along with the rotary table and configured to heat the substrate placed on the rotary table; a power receiving electrode provided in the rotary table to be rotated along with the rotary table and electrically connected to the electric heater; a power feeding electrode configured to be contacted with the power receiving electrode and configured to supply a power to the electric heater via the power receiving electrode; an electrode moving mechanism configured to allow the power feeding electrode and the power receiving electrode to be relatively contacted with and separated from each other; a power feeder configured to supply the power to the power feeding electrode; a processing cup provided to surround the rotary table and connected to an exhaust line and a drain line; at least one processing liquid nozzle configured to supply a processing liquid onto the substrate; a processing liquid supply mechanism configured to supply at least an electroless plating liquid as the processing liquid into the at least one processing liquid nozzle; and a controller configured to control the electrode moving mechanism, the power feeder, the rotation driving mechanism and the processing liquid supply mechanism.

2 . The substrate processing apparatus of claim 1 ,
wherein the rotary table has an attraction plate, the substrate is attracted to a top surface of the attraction plate to be held on the rotary table, and the electric heater heats the substrate attracted to the top surface of the attraction plate via the attraction plate from a bottom surface side of the attraction plate.

3 . The substrate processing apparatus of claim 2 ,
wherein an area of the rotary table when viewed from a direction of the vertical axis is equal to or larger than an area of the substrate.

4 . The substrate processing apparatus of claim 2 , further comprising:
a suction line extending through an inside of a rotation shaft of the rotary table, wherein the rotary table further includes a base plate, a suction hole communicating with the suction line is formed at a top surface of the base plate, the attraction plate is attracted to the base plate by applying a suction force via the suction hole in a state where the attraction plate is placed on the top surface of the base plate, and the suction force acts on the substrate via a through hole, which is formed through the attraction plate, to attract the substrate to the attraction plate.

5 . The substrate processing apparatus of claim 1 ,
wherein the rotary table has a bank surrounding a peripheral portion of the substrate, the electroless plating liquid supplied onto the substrate when the substrate is held on the rotary table is blocked by the bank, so that a puddle of the electroless plating liquid in a sufficient amount to immerse an entire top surface of the substrate is formed on the rotary table, and the bank is inclined to be lowered as the bank approaches an inner side in a radial direction of the rotary table.

6 . The substrate processing apparatus of claim 1 ,
wherein the rotary table is configured to be rotated within a predetermined angular range in a state where the power receiving electrode and the power feeding electrode are in contact with each other.

7 . The substrate processing apparatus of claim 1 , further comprising:
a processing liquid temperature adjustment mechanism configured to adjust a temperature of the electroless plating liquid before the electroless plating liquid is supplied onto the substrate from the at least one processing liquid nozzle.

8 . The substrate processing apparatus of claim 1 ,
wherein the electric heater includes multiple heating elements configured to heat different regions, respectively, of the substrate, and the controller is configured to control calorific powers of the multiple heating elements individually via the power feeder.

9 . The substrate processing apparatus of claim 1 ,
wherein the processing liquid supply mechanism is configured to supply a pre-cleaning liquid, a post-cleaning liquid and a rinse liquid to the at least one processing liquid nozzle.

10 . The substrate processing apparatus of claim 1 , further comprising:
a housing that accommodates the rotary table and the processing cup; and an inert gas supply configured to supply an inert gas into the housing.

11 . The substrate processing apparatus of claim 1 , further comprising:
a top plate configured to cover the substrate held on the rotary table.

12 . The substrate processing apparatus of claim 11 ,
wherein the top plate has a heater, and at least a bottom surface of the top plate is heated by the heater.

13 . The substrate processing apparatus of claim 11 , further comprising:
an inert gas supply configured to supply an inert gas to a space between the substrate held on the rotary table and the top plate.

14 . The substrate processing apparatus of claim 1 , further comprising:
a first power transmission mechanism and a second power transmission mechanism configured to supply the power to the electric heater, wherein the first power transmission mechanism includes the power receiving electrode and the power feeding electrode configured to be contacted with and separated from each other by the electrode moving mechanism, the second power transmission mechanism includes a fixed part and a rotary part configured to be rotated relative to each other, the second power transmission mechanism is configured to supply the power from the fixed part to the rotary part even when the rotary part is being continuously rotated with respect to the fixed part, the rotary part is electrically connected to the electric heater, and fixed to the rotary table or a member configured to be rotated along with the rotary table, the power feeder is configured to supply the power to the fixed part of the second power transmission mechanism, and the controller is configured to supply the power to the electric heater from the power feeder via the second power transmission mechanism for at least a part of a separation period during which at least the power receiving electrode is separated from the power feeding electrode.

15 . A substrate processing method of processing a substrate by using a substrate processing apparatus including: a rotary table configured to horizontally hold the substrate; a rotation driving mechanism configured to rotate the rotary table around a vertical axis; an electric heater provided in the rotary table to be rotated along with the rotary table and configured to heat the substrate placed on the rotary table; a power receiving electrode provided in the rotary table to be rotated along with the rotary table and electrically connected to the electric heater; a power feeding electrode configured to be contacted with the power receiving electrode and configured to supply a power to the electric heater via the power receiving electrode; an electrode moving mechanism configured to allow the power feeding electrode and the power receiving electrode to be relatively contacted with and separated from each other; a power feeder configured to supply the power to the power feeding electrode; a processing cup provided to surround the rotary table and connected to an exhaust line and a drain line; a processing liquid nozzle configured to supply a processing liquid onto the

Assignees

• Tokyo Electron Ltd

Inventors

• Morita Satoshi
• Akimoto Masami
• Morikawa Katsuhiro
• Mizunaga Kouichi
• Iwashita Mitsuaki
• Kaneko Satoshi

Classifications

• H10P70/00

  Cleaning of wafers, substrates or parts of devices · CPC title

• C23C18/168

  Control of temperature, e.g. temperature of bath, substrate · CPC title

• C23C18/1642

  semiconductor (semiconductor H10P14/48) · CPC title

• C23C18/163

  Supporting devices for articles to be coated · CPC title

• C23C16/45563

  Gas nozzles · CPC title