Substrate processing apparatus, substrate processing method, and computer-readable storage medium storing substrate processing program

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9675992-B2
Application number	US-201414570266-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 15, 2014
Priority date	Dec 16, 2013
Publication date	Jun 13, 2017
Grant date	Jun 13, 2017

Abstract

A substrate processing apparatus includes one or more substrate processing units 11 to 18 each processing a substrate 3 with a processing fluid; processing fluid supply units 19 and 20 supplying the heated processing fluid to the substrate processing units 11 to 18; and a controller 21 controlling the processing fluid supply units 19 and 20 . The processing fluid supply units 19 and 20 include a storage tank 35 storing the processing fluid; a heating heat exchanger 51 heating the processing fluid; and a supply path 52 supplying the processing fluid to the substrate processing units 11 to 18 . The supply path 52 includes a bypass path 71 bypassing the heating heat exchanger 51 at an upstream of the substrate processing units 11 to 18 . The processing fluid heated by the heating heat exchanger 51 and the processing fluid supplied from the bypass path 71 are mixed to be supplied.

First claim

We claim:

1. A substrate processing apparatus, comprising:
one or more substrate processing units each configured to process a substrate with a processing fluid;
a processing fluid supply unit configured to supply the processing fluid to the one or more substrate processing units; and
a controller configured to control the processing fluid supply unit,
wherein the processing fluid supply unit comprises:
a storage tank configured to store the processing fluid therein;
a heating heat exchanger configured to heat the processing fluid; and
a supply path configured to supply the processing fluid to the one or more substrate processing units, and
the supply path is equipped with a bypass path which bypasses the heating heat exchanger at an upstream of the one or more substrate processing units, and the processing fluid heated by the heating heat exchanger and the processing fluid supplied from the bypass path are mixed in the supply path and the mixed processing fluid is supplied to the one or more substrate processing units,
wherein the processing fluid supply unit further comprises a first circulation path in which the heating heat exchanger, the supply path and a cooling heat exchanger configured to cool the processing fluid are connected with the storage tank in sequence, and the processing fluid stored in the storage tank is circulated through the first circulation path.

2. The substrate processing apparatus of claim 1 ,
wherein the controller controls a flow rate of the processing fluid to be heated by the heating heat exchanger and a flow rate of the processing fluid to be supplied from the bypass path according to a flow rate of the processing fluid to be supplied to one or more substrate processing units, mixes the processing fluid heated by the heating heat exchanger and the processing fluid supplied from the bypass path such that the mixed processing fluid reaches a preset temperature, and supplies the mixed processing fluid of the preset temperature to the one or more substrate processing units.

3. The substrate processing apparatus of claim 1 ,
wherein the controller stops heating by the heating heat exchanger when the supply of the processing fluid to the one or more substrate processing units is stopped.

4. The substrate processing apparatus of claim 1 ,
wherein a second circulation path configured to circulate the processing fluid stored in the storage tank without heating the processing fluid is provided,
the controller circulates the processing fluid through the first circulation path while the processing fluid is supplied to the one or more substrate processing units, whereas the controller circulates the processing fluid in the second circulation path while the processing fluid is not supplied to the one or more substrate processing units.

5. A substrate processing method using the substrate processing apparatus of claim 1 , comprising:
heating the processing fluid stored in the storage tank by the heating heat exchanger and supplying the processing fluid from the supply path to the one or more substrate processing units;
supplying the processing fluid stored in the storage tank to a portion of the supply path at the upstream of the one or more substrate processing units from the bypass path which bypasses the heating heat exchanger; and
mixing the processing fluid heated by the heating heat exchanger and the processing fluid supplied from the bypass path and supplying the mixed processing fluid to the one or more substrate processing units.

6. The substrate processing method of claim 5 ,
wherein the processing fluid heated by the heating heat exchanger and the processing fluid supplied from the bypass path are mixed such that a temperature of the mixed processing fluid reaches a preset temperature by controlling a flow rate of the processing fluid to be heated by the heating heat exchanger and a flow rate of the processing fluid to be supplied from the bypass path according to a flow rate of the processing fluid to be supplied to the one or more substrate processing units, and
the mixed processing fluid of the preset temperature is supplied to the one or more substrate processing units.

7. The substrate processing method of claim 5 ,
wherein the processing fluid stored in the storage tank is circulated through a first circulation path in which the heating heat exchanger, the supply path and a cooling heat exchanger configured to cool the processing fluid are connected with the storage tank in sequence.

8. The substrate processing method of claim 5 ,
wherein heating by the heating heat exchanger is stopped while the processing fluid is not supplied to the one or more substrate processing units.

9. The substrate processing method of claim 7 ,
wherein the processing fluid stored in the storage tank is circulated through a second circulation path without being heated, and
the processing fluid is circulated through the first circulation path while the processing fluid is supplied to the one or more substrate processing units, whereas the processing fluid is circulated through the second circulation path while the processing fluid is not supplied to the one or more substrate processing units.

Assignees

• Tokyo Electron Ltd

Inventors

• Kawaguchi Yoshihiro
• Kaneko Satoshi

Classifications

• C23C18/168 Primary

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

• C23C18/1675

  Process conditions · CPC title

• Y10T137/0318

  Processes · CPC title

• B05C11/1002 Primary

  Means for controlling supply, i.e. flow or pressure, of liquid or other fluent material to the applying apparatus, e.g. valves · CPC title

• C23C18/1632

  Features specific for the apparatus, e.g. layout of cells and of its equipment, multiple cells · CPC title