Tokyo Electron Limited

Tokyo Electron Kyushu Limited

Shinji Nagashima

Yoji Mizutani

Kazuhiro Takeshita

Kyoshige Katayama

Makoto Muramatsu

Kazutoshi Yano

Takashi Tanaka

Yuji Matsuyama

Akira Yonemizu

Takayuki Komiya

Shigeyoshi Kojima

Kei Miyazaki

Kenji Yasuda

Kiminari Sakaguchi

Yuichiro Uchihama

Masami Akimoto

Shinichi Hayashi

Issei Ueda

Naruaki Iida

Yoshio Kimura

Nobuo Konishi

Tomohiro Iseki

Norio Semba

Keizo Hasebe

Hiroyuki Sakai

Shinji Koga

Kouji Harada

Hiroyuki Miyamoto

Shizuo Ogawa

The present invention is a hardening processing apparatus for heating a substrate coated with a coating solution to harden the coating film on the substrate, which includes a first processing chamber for mounting the substrate coated with the coating solution on a heating plate and heating the substrate to a predetermined temperature on a one-by-one basis; a first irradiation unit provided in the first processing chamber, for irradiating the substrate mounted on the heating plate with ultraviolet light; and a second processing chamber connected in a communicating manner to the first processing chamber, for mounting the substrate coated with the coating solution on a temperature adjusting plate and adjusting the substrate to a temperature lower than a processing temperature of hardening processing on a one-by-one basis, in which the substrate is heated by the heating plate while being irradiated with the ultraviolet light by the first irradiation unit so that the coating film on the substrate is hardened. Accordingly, it is possible to harden the coating film at a lower temperature than that in the case of no irradiation of ultraviolet light so as to prevent occurrence of adverse effects due to heat to devices.

Hardening processing apparatus, hardening processing method, and coating film forming apparatus

Prior to transfer of an wafer W, a mixed gas is being generated and exhausted, thereby fluctuation of concentration and temperature of a solvent component at the beginning of gas introduction into a chamberis suppressed. A step of gelling after the wafer W is carried into an aging unit is divided into several steps. Until a temperature of the wafer W reaches a predetermined treatment temperature, an average concentration of the solvent component in a mixed gas is gradually raised relative to the temperature of the wafer W. Thereby, immediately after the wafer W is transferred into a sealed chamber, the gas of the solvent component is prevented from condensing.

Method of coating film, coating unit, aging unit, solvent replacement unit, and apparatus for coating film

The apparatus of the present invention for forming a coating film on a substrate by applying a coating liquid to the substrate comprises: a spin chuck for holding the substrate; a motor for rotating the spin chuck; and a nozzle for dropping the coating liquid on the center surface of the substrate. The nozzle included a spiral groove or a plurality of fins for giving a gyrating force to the dropped coating liquid.

Apparatus and method for forming coating film

When a substrate coated with a coating solution which oxidizes at high temperatures is heat-treated, an oxygen concentration of a treatment atmosphere is lowered when the temperature is low. Next, the substrate is heat-treated in the treatment atmosphere of which the oxygen concentration is lowered. Sequentially, the treatment atmosphere is returned to that with the original oxygen concentration after the passage of a predetermined time after completing the heat treatment. Thereby, the substrate can be heat-treated, with the oxidization of the coating solution being controlled.

Heat treatment method, heat treatment apparatus and treatment system

After a first processing solution is spread over the front surface of a substrate and the temperature of the front surface of the substrate is regulated at a predetermined substrate temperature, a second processing solution is spread over the front surface of the substrate. The second processing solution can be spread while the front surface temperature of the substrate is maintained at the predetermined substrate temperature. Hence, a layer insulating film with good adhesion properties can be formed uniformly on the front surface of the substrate, and the quantity of the processing solution to be used can be reduced.

Substrate processing method

A gas flow regulating surface portion is the farthest from the front surface of a wafer W in the middle between a peripheral portion of the wafer W and a center portion of a sealing vessel. The gas flow regulating portion protrudes to the front surface of the wafer W in the vicinity of a center portion that surrounds an exhausting opening . In other words, a convex portion is formed in a peripheral area of the gas flow regulating surface portion that surrounds the exhausting opening . Since treatment gas flows along the front surface of the gas flow regulating portion , treatment gas equally contacts the wafer W in the radius direction of the wafer W. Thus, a film with equal thickness is formed.

Gas treatment apparatus

Both of a first insulating film and a second insulating film are formed by a spin coating method. Accordingly, the formation of the first insulating film and the second insulating film can be performed in the same SOD processing system. Moreover, the aforesaid formation of both of the first insulating film and the second insulating film by the spin coating method can provide favorable low dielectric constant properties and good adhesion of the first insulating film and the second insulating film.

Insulating film forming method and insulating film forming apparatus

Processing of applying ultraviolet rays to a front face of an insulating film material formed on a wafer W is performed, whereby a contact angle of the front face thereof becomes smaller. Accordingly, when an insulating film material is applied on the aforesaid front face, the material smoothly spreads, and projections and depressions never occur on a front face of an upper layer insulating film material. Thereby, it is possible to form the insulating film thick and flatter on a substrate.

Substrate processing method and substrate processing apparatus

Prior to transfer of an wafer W, a mixed gas is being generated and exhausted, thereby fluctuation of concentration and temperature of a solvent component at the beginning of gas introduction into a chamber is suppressed. A step of gelling after the wafer W is carried into an aging unit is divided into several steps. Until a temperature of the wafer W reaches a predetermined treatment temperature, an average concentration of the solvent component in a mixed gas is gradually raised relative to the temperature of the wafer W. Thereby, immediately after the wafer W is transferred into a sealed chamber, the gas of the solvent component is prevented from condensing.

An apparatus for forming a coating film comprising, a coating unit for forming a coating film by applying a coating solution onto a substrate, and a curing unit for curing the coating film by applying a heating and a cooling to the substrate, in which, the curing unit comprises a heating chamber having a hot plate for heating substrates having the coating solution applied thereon one by one, a cooling chamber communicated with the heating chamber and having a cooling plate for cooling the substrates processed with heat, an inert gas supply mechanism for supplying an insert gas to the heating chamber and the cooling chamber, and an evacuation mechanism for evacuating each of the heating chamber and the cooling chamber.

Apparatus for forming coating film and apparatus for curing the coating film

The present invention relates to a method for subjecting a substrate on which a coating film is formed to heat processing, and the method comprises the steps of heating the substrate to a predetermined high temperature and decreasing the temperature of the substrate to a predetermined low temperature, wherein in the step of decreasing the temperature of the substrate to the low temperature, a first step of decreasing the temperature of the substrate from the predetermined high temperature to a predetermined intermediate temperature and a second step of decreasing the temperature of the substrate from the intermediate temperature to the predetermined low temperature are performed separately. In the present invention, the step of decreasing the temperature of the substrate, which is heated to the high temperature, to the predetermined low temperature is divided into two stages as described above, and hence compared with a case where the temperature of the substrate is rapidly decreased nonstop from the high temperature to the low temperature, the temperature decreasing speed of the substrate is reduced, whereby cracks, a warp, and the like caused by the rapid cooling of the substrate can be prevented.

Method for heat processing of substrate

In a hot plate for performing heat processing while an inert gas is supplied, a mounting table is provided with a groove and a lower end portion of a lid body can be inserted into the groove. The lid body is lowered in two steps by a lid body drive apparatus. The lid body forms a processing chamber between the lid body and the mounting table by the lowering of the first step, and the lower end portion of the lid body is inserted into the groove by the lowering of the second step, thereby reducing the processing chamber in capacity. Consequently, in a substrate processing apparatus which requires a supply of gas, it becomes possible to reduce the capacity of the processing chamber and to reduce the required amount of gas.

A baking unit of the present invention comprises: a hot plate on which the substrate is placed; a casing; a gas supply tubes; a baffle ring which surrounds the wafer and is provided with a plurality of gas blowing apertures; and a rotation motor. An inert gas is supplied to the wafer from the plurality of blowing apertures which is moved by rotation or turn round of the baffle by using the rotation motor.

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Kikuchi-gun, Japan

Shinji Nagashima