Dainippon Screen Mfg. Co., Ltd.

Masahiro Mimasaka

Minobu Matsunaga

Akiko Tanaka

Koji Uchitani

Masakazu Sanada

Ikuo Mizobata

Yukihiro Takamura

Hiroyuki Hirai

The present invention provides a developing apparatus and a developing method which make it possible to uniformly develop a photosensitive film which is formed on a substrate at a high throughput. A substrate processing apparatus which comprises such a developing apparatus and a developing method is also realized. During developing processing, a substrate is held still by a substrate holding portion. A developing solution dispensing nozzle moves over the substrate, linearly from a position off and on one side of the substrate to a position off and on the other side of the substrate in a scanning direction (A), and supplies a developing solution onto the substrate. After the developing solution dispensing nozzle moves in the scanning direction (A), a substrate transport apparatus replaces the substrate which is held by the substrate holding portion with another substrate. Following this, the developing solution dispensing nozzle moves over the substrate, linearly from the position off and on the other side of the substrate to the position off and on the one side of the substrate in an opposite scanning direction (D) to the scanning direction (A), and supplies the developing solution onto the substrate.

Developing apparatus, developing method and substrate processing

A developing solution dispensing nozzle starts scanning at a scanning start position P1. After the developing solution dispensing nozzle reaches an edge of a substrate, the developing solution dispensing nozzle scans over the substrate while uniformly dispensing a developing solution to a surface of the substrate. The developing solution dispensing nozzle thereafter moves off the substrate from the other edge of the substrate. To uniformly supply the developing solution to a substrate, where a flow rate of the developing solution is set constant, a scanning speed is set large during an initial scanning section over a substrate, and the scanning speed is set slow during the remaining section. Meanwhile, where the scanning speed of the developing solution dispensing nozzle is set constant, the flow rate of the developing solution is gradually increased during the initial scanning section, and the flow rate is set constant during the remaining section.

Method of and apparatus for supplying developing solution onto substrate

A method of applying a coating solution to a surface of a substrate to form a film of desired thickness thereon. The substrate is spun at low speed with a predetermined supplying rotational frequency, and the coating solution is supplied to a region centrally of the substrate. The substrate is decelerated to a predetermined standby rotational frequency lower than the supplying rotational frequency before the coating solution spreads over an entire surface of the substrate. Then, the substrate is accelerated to a target rotational frequency higher than the supplying rotational frequency before the coating solution spreads over the entire surface of the substrate. Subsequently, the substrate is spun at high speed with a predetermined film-forming rotational frequency, thereby coating the surface of the substrate with a film of desired thickness. The supply of the coating solution is continued at least during the deceleration to the standby rotational frequency.

Coating solution applying method and apparatus

A developing apparatus in which a substrate holding part holds a substrate in a stationary state, and a developer discharge nozzle starts scanning from a scanning start position. After scanning starts, the developer discharge nozzle discharges a developer at a discharge start position before a slit discharge port thereof reaches the substrate. The developer discharge nozzle moves linearly on the substrate in a scanning direction while discharging the developer, passes over the substrate, and thereafter stops discharging the developer at a discharge stop position separated from the substrate. The developer discharge nozzle stops scanning when reaching a scanning stop position.

Developing apparatus and developing method

Uneconomical use of resist liquid is prevented by reducing resist liquid discharging time. Discharging time calculating means calculates a proper resist liquid discharging time, based on a first and a second rotation angular speeds of a supporting pedestal and a discharged flow quantity discharged from resist liquid discharging nozzle per unit time. When the proper resist liquid discharging time has elapsed from the start of discharging of the resist liquid by means of a pump, discharging of the resist liquid is stopped.

Spin coating apparatus

An apparatus for treating a surface of a wafer includes a wafer-holding device for holding the wafer horizontally at the center of the lower surface of the wafer to rotate the wafer around a predetermined rotation axis and a nozzle for supplying a flow of treatment liquid to the upper surface of the wafer held by the wafer holding device. The nozzle includes a supply member for supplying the treatment liquid at a predetermined flow speed at a predetermined position located higher than the upper surface of the wafer, and a member for changing the flow speed of the treatment liquid to a smaller speed at the predetermined position and providing a flow speed component in a direction parallel to the upper surface of the wafer. The flow speed of the treatment liqid at the predetermined position is thus controlled and the treatment liquid flow reaches the wafer upper surface with a speed component parallel to the upper surface of the wafer. The speed of the treatment liquid flow is kept sufficiently small so that the treatment liquid reaching the wafer does not cause unevenness on the wafer. Since the treatment liquid flow has a speed component parallel to the upper surface of the wafer it spreads over the wafer smoothly. In another aspect of the invention, the rotation axis is spaced from an axis of the supply member.

Apparatus for treating a wafer surface

A method of detecting an end point of surface treatment of a wafer includes the steps of: projecting coherent light onto an upper surface of the wafer provided with a layer to be treated; receiving superposed light caused by interference of light reflected on a surface of the layer to be treated and on the other surface thereof and converting it to a photoelectric signal; sampling the photoelectric signal; detecting a first point where a variation range caused by the interference in the sampled data becomes smaller than a predetermined value; detecting a second point where an extreme value of the variation of the photoelectric signal caused by the interference occurs prior to the first point; and determining the end point of treatment by prescribed calculation using the second point as a reference point. The detection of the first point may be incorrect depending on the detection conditions. However, the second point prior to the first point is detected in a relatively stable manner irrespective of the detecting conditions. Thus, since the end point of treatment is determined by the prescribed calculation using the second point as a reference point, the end point of treatment is detected correctly and with good repeatability.

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Kyoto, Japan

Masahiro Mimasaka