Tokyo Electron Limited

Kazuo Sakamoto

Masami Akimoto

Akihiro Fujimoto

Nobukazu Ishizaka

Norio Semba

Shuuichi Nishikido

Kazutoshi Yoshioka

Akira Nishiya

Izumi Hasegawa

Shuichi Nagamine

Kazuo Terada

Takeshi Uehara

Hideaki Hashiwagi

A substrate processing apparatus including a holder for rotatably holding a substrate; a coating solution supply nozzle for supplying a coating solution onto a front surface of the substrate to be processed held by the holder; a treatment chamber housing the holder and the coating solution supply nozzle; a cooling device which cools the substrate before the coating solution is supplied to the substrate, to a predetermined temperature; a heating devices which heats the substrate coated with the coating solution to a predetermined temperature; and a transferer that transfers the substrate between the treatment chamber, the cooling device and the heating device, wherein the treatment chamber, the cooling device and the heating device are partitioned from ambient air, and wherein at least the treatment chamber is connected to a gas supply mechanism having a supply source of a gas having a kinematic viscosity coefficient higher than that of air.

Substrate processing apparatus

A substrate treatment apparatus of the present invention includes: a holding means for rotatably holding a substrate to be treated; a coating solution supply nozzle for supplying a coating solution onto the front surface of the substrate to be treated held on the holding means; a treatment container with an upper surface open for housing them; an exhaust means for exhausting an atmosphere in the treatment container from the bottom; a multiblade centrifugal fan provided on the inner periphery of the treatment container for flowing airflow on a front surface side of the substrate to the exhaust means; and a controller for controlling the number of rotations of the multiblade centrifugal fan corresponding to the number of rotations of the substrate, wherein the number of rotations of the multiblade centrifugal fan is controlled so that turbulent airflow flowing in a circumferential direction on the front surface of the substrate generated due to the rotation of the substrate is corrected to laminar airflow flowing in a radial direction.

Substrate treatment apparatus

The present invention relates to a method of supplying a developing solution to a surface of a substrate to perform developing treatment for the substrate, comprising a first step of supplying the developing solution to the surface of the substrate while a developing solution supply nozzle is moving relative to the substrate and a second step of developing the substrate for a first predetermined period of time, and the second step has the step of stirring the developing solution on the surface of the substrate after a second predetermined period of time from the completion of the first step. Because of stirring, the concentration of the developing solution on the substrate is made uniform, resulting in a rise in the uniformity of developing treatment.

Developing treatment method and developing treatment unit

In an apparatus for determining the exposure conditions, a developed pattern is converted into an optical information formed by exposing a plurality of different positions of a substrate at different exposure amounts and focus values to light at a predetermined pattern and developing the pattern thereby to determine the combination of the optimum exposure amount and the optimum focus value from the optical information. To be more specific, the apparatus for determining the exposure conditions includes a light irradiating section for irradiating a predetermined range of the developed pattern formed on the substrate such as a semiconductor wafer with light having a predetermined intensity, a detecting section for measuring the reflected light intensity of the predetermined range irradiated with light having the predetermined intensity, and an arithmetic process section for searching the position where the exposure treatment has been performed with an appropriate exposure amount and an appropriate focus value from the reflected light intensity thereby to determine the exposure conditions.

Apparatus for determining exposure conditions, method for determining exposure conditions and process apparatus

A developing method comprising, a step of holding a substrate in substantially a horizontal position, the substrate coated with a photoresist film which has a pattern-exposed region where a predetermined circuit pattern is formed by light exposure, and a step of developing the photoresist film by starting to apply, at a time, a developing solution to the entire pattern-exposed region of the photoresist film.

Developing method and developing apparatus

To provide a coating apparatus which is capable of making short a lag time up to action of a valve and making operate a discharging pump and a valve with the best timing. By employing electric-air regulators ER and ER of small size and high response speed as a speed controller for controlling a switching speed of a switching valve AV or a suck-back valve SV, total flowing course is made short, thereby a time lag up to operation of a valve is made short. Further, by detecting the pressure of a resist liquid being discharged from a discharging pump by a pressure sensor and by controlling the operation of each device of a discharging pump a switching valve AV, and a suck-back valve SV through a controller a discharging pump a switching valve AV, and a suck-back valve SV can be operated with the best timings, and generation of particles due to dripping of a resist liquid at a tip end of a resist nozzle is prevented from occurring.

Coating apparatus

In a developing processing to apply the developing solution onto the substrate after the light exposure, a developing solution supply nozzle scans a substrate more than once while discharging the developing solution on the substrate in a band shape to coat the substrate with the developing solution. Thus, it is possible to perform a developing processing with a small variation and high uniformity of the line width.

Disclosed herein is a method and an apparatus for applying a coating liquid to an object from a liquid-applying member at a first prescribed position, thereby forming a film on the object. Before the coating liquid at the first position, the coating liquid is applied at a second predetermined position. An impurity-detecting device detects the impurities contained in the coating liquid applied at the second position. A particle-counting device is provided, and a switching device is provided on a liquid-supplying pipe extending from a source of the coating liquid to the liquid-applying member. The switching device switches the supply of the coating liquid between the liquid-applying member and the impurity-detecting device. The impurities in the coating liquid can thereby monitored.

Coating a resist film, with pretesting for particle contamination

A wafer is held by a wafer holding section, and while a developing solution is supplied onto a top surface of the wafer, the wafer is rotated 180 degrees, whereby performing the heaping of the developing solution on the top surface of the wafer. Thereafter, the rotation of the wafer is stopped, then holding pins are raised to receive the wafer from the wafer holding section, whereby holding the wafer with the wafer being raised above the wafer holding section by the holding pins, and the wafer is left standing for a predetermined time to thereby perform development. In doing as above, the temperature influence exerted on the wafer from the wafer holding section with large heat capacity is prevented, and the temperature distribution of the developing solution within the wafer plane can be prevented from occurring, thus preventing the occurrence of unevenness in the development caused by the temperature difference from occurring and making it possible to perform development processing with uniformity. As a result, when development processing is performed for a substrate, for example, a wafer, uniformity of the processing can be increased.

Developing apparatus and method thereof

A process solution supplying apparatus including a solution source from which a process solution is supplied, a supply pipe having an upstream end and a downstream end and connected at the upstream end to the solution source, a nozzle connected to the downstream end of the supply pipe, a pump provided on the supply pipe, for supplying the process solution from the solution source to the nozzle, an upstream control valve provided on the supply pipe and located between the pump and the solution source, and a deaerating mechanism provided between the pump and the upstream control valve, for removing gases from the process solution.

Growing community of inventors

Kumamoto, Japan

Kazuo Sakamoto