Patent Application
20250050381
The present application claims the benefit of Korean Patent Application No. 10-2023-0103737 filed in the Korean Intellectual Property Office on Aug. 8, 2023, the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.
The present disclosure relates to a substrate treatment apparatus, more specifically to a substrate treatment apparatus that is capable of adjusting an opening and closing rate above a substrate to control the speed of air flow.
Generally, a substrate treatment apparatus is an apparatus that performs, with the use of treatment liquids, various processes such as deposition, photolithography, etching, and cleaning for substrates such as semiconductor wafers, substrates for display, optical disk substrates, magnetic disk substrates, photomask substrates, ceramic substrates, solar cell substrates, and the like.
Among the processes, the cleaning process is performed to remove foreign substances or particles from the substrate, and representatively, treatment liquid is supplied to top or underside of a substrate to perform the cleaning process for the substrate, while the substrate is rotating at a high speed in a state of being supportedly placed on top of a chuck base (spin head).
As shown in
The fluid supply unit 30 supplies treatment liquids (chemical liquids) or gases for treating a substrate W to the substrate W.
The substrate support assembly 20 serves to rotate the substrate W in a state of supporting the substrate W, while a given treatment is being carried out.
The bowl assembly 10 serves to receive chemical liquids used for treatments and fumes generated during the treatments to prevent the chemical liquids and fumes from scattering or flowing to the outside and has a overlapped structure of bowls so that different types of chemical liquids and fumes are separately introduced for each of passages formed by the plurality of bowls.
The ascending and descending unit 60 serves to move the substrate support assembly 20 or the bowl assembly 10 up and down to change a relative height between the bowl assembly 10 and the substrate support assembly 20 within the bowl assembly 10.
Further, the fluid supply unit 30, the bowl assembly 10, the ascending and descending unit 60, and the substrate support assembly 20 having the chuck base 21 are accommodated into a chamber 80, and a fan filter unit (FFU) 81 is located on top of the chamber 80 to supply external air to the interior of the chamber 80. Next, the air supplied is exhausted to the outside of the chamber 80 through the bowl assembly 10 and an exhaustion member 40.
In the conventional technology, like this, if the fan filter unit 81 operates, the flow of air is formed at a regular speed toward the substrate W so that gas-phase particles contained in the flow of air are adhered to the substrate W, thereby undesirably causing the substrate W to be defective.
That is, numerous gas-phase particles are contained in the flow of air, and if the flow of air becomes slow, the gas, which is not exhausted yet to the outside of the substrate W and thus flows above the substrate W, is adhered again to the substrate W, thereby having a bad influence on the quality of substrate W.
Accordingly, the present disclosure has been made in view of the above-mentioned problems occurring in the related art, and it is an object of the present disclosure to provide a substrate treatment apparatus that is capable of adjusting an opening and closing rate above a substrate to control the speed of air flow, thereby preventing the substrate from being deteriorated in quality due to particles adhered thereonto.
To accomplish the above-mentioned objects, according to the present disclosure, there is provided a substrate treatment apparatus including: a chuck base rotating together with a substrate in a state of supporting the substrate thereagainst; a fluid supply unit for supplying treatment liquid to the substrate; a bowl assembly having a plurality of bowls that overlap outward in a radial direction with respect to the center of the substrate in such a way as to surround the chuck base; an ascending and descending unit for moving the bowl assembly up and down; and a shutter unit disposed on top of the outermost bowl of the bowl assembly to adjust a radius of an air flow inlet through which air flow passes toward the substrate.
According to the present disclosure, desirably, the shutter unit may include: a housing frame disposed on top of the outermost bowl; a shutter member disposed between the top of the outermost bowl and the housing frame to adjust the radius of the air flow inlet; and shutter driving member connected to the shutter member to apply forces to the shutter member so that the radius of the air flow inlet is adjusted.
According to the present disclosure, desirably, the shutter member may have a plurality of shutter blades equally spaced apart from one another in a circumferential direction of the outermost bowl in such a way as to extend in a rotational direction of the substrate, while being continuously overlaid on top of one another in the rotational direction of the substrate.
According to the present disclosure, desirably, between the top of the outermost bowl and the housing frame may be formed a cleaning liquid supply part adapted to supply a cleaning liquid to the shutter blades.
According to the present disclosure, desirably, the cleaning liquid supply part may be a cleaning liquid flow path extending in the circumferential direction in such a way as to be open toward the center of the shutter member.
According to the present disclosure, desirably, while the cleaning liquid is being supplied by the cleaning liquid supply part, the shutter blades may be repeatedly folded and unfolded.
According to the present disclosure, desirably, the shutter member may include: the plurality of shutter blades equally spaced apart from one another in the circumferential direction of the top of the outermost bowl in such a way as to be hingeable around hinge points formed on the top of the outermost bowl; and a blade moving plate whose one side is connected to the shutter driving member and the other side is connected relatively rotatable to the shutter blades and having a through hole penetrating into the center thereof.
According to the present disclosure, desirably, the shutter member may include: the plurality of shutter blades equally spaced apart from one another in the circumferential direction of the top of the outermost bowl in such a way as to be hingeable around the hinge points formed on the top of the outermost bowl; and the blade moving plate whose one side is connected to the shutter driving member and the other side is connected relatively rotatable to the shutter blades and having a through hole penetrating into the center thereof, the blade moving plate being disposed between the housing plate and the outermost bowl to face the cleaning liquid flow path.
The above and other objects, features and advantages of the present disclosure will be apparent from the following detailed description of the embodiments of the disclosure in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which:
Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present disclosure will be explained in detail with reference to the attached drawings.
As shown in
Like this, the open area of the air flow toward the substrate W is adjusted by means of the shutter unit 400 to control the speed of air flow introduced from a fan filter unit (not shown), so that the substrate W is prevented from being deteriorated in quality due to suction of gas-phase particles thereonto.
Further, the open area is adjusted to be narrow by means of the shutter unit 400, and when the treatment liquid is supplied to the rotating substrate W from the fluid supply unit 200, the outer surface of the bowl assembly 300 is prevented from being contaminated due to the treatment liquid scattered thereon.
As shown in
The shutter member 410 is unfolded or folded in a radial direction with respect to the center of the substrate W by means of the shutter driving member 420, and accordingly, the air flow inlet 419 is adjusted in radius to control the open area thereof.
In this case, the forces applied to the shutter member 410 from the shutter driving member 420 do not need to be necessarily in tangential directions, and it is enough that they just include tangential components.
Pressure (hydraulic or pneumatic) cylinders or a variety of known expansion and contraction devices may be used as the shutter driving member 420, and desirably, two or more shutter driving members 420 may be disposed in a circumferential direction with respect to the center of the substrate W.
The shutter driving members 420 are located on the housing frame 430 or the outermost bowl 310.
As shown in
The shutter member 410 has a plurality of shutter blades 411 equally spaced apart from one another in a circumferential direction of the outermost bowl 310 in such a way as to extend in a rotational direction of the substrate W, while being continuously overlaid on top of one another in the rotational direction of the substrate W.
The extension direction of the shutter blades 411 does not need to be same as the circumferential direction, and as shown, the shutter blades 411 extend to be misaligned with respect to the circumferential direction, while including circumferential components.
For example, as shown in
In this case, the shutter blades 411 have guide holes 413 penetrating thereinto in the direction of the rotational axis of the substrate W, and the blade moving plate 415 has rotation support pins 414 adapted to be inserted into the guide holes 413.
The hinge points 418, which are formed on a cleaning liquid flow path 510 as will be discussed later, are shown, but they may not be specifically limited in position.
In this case, the shutter driving member 420 is connected to moving plate connection pieces 415a of the blade moving plate 415 in such a way as to apply the tangential forces with respect to the center of the substrate W to the blade moving plate 415 to allow the blade moving plate 415 to rotate in the rotational direction of the substrate W with respect to the top 412 of the outermost bowl 310, so that as the shutter blades 411 are additionally overlaid on top of one another to reduce the radius of the inner peripheral surface of the shutter member 410.
The moving plate connection pieces 415a are desirably located between the outermost bowl 310 and the housing plate 430.
The shutter blades 411 are made of materials influenced minimally by a high-temperature and high-density treatment liquid, such as polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE), polyoxymethylene (PFA), polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF), fluorinated ethylene propylene (FEP), and the like.
As shown in
Further, if the treatment liquid for treating the substrate W scatters to the surfaces of the shutter blades 411 overlaid on top of one another and is accumulated thereon, the shutter member 410 may be malfunctioned, and during the substrate treatment process, besides, the contaminants of the treatment liquid accumulated on the shutter blades 411 are dropped to the substrate W, thereby causing a defective product.
After a given number of substrates W have been treated, therefore, the shutter blades 411 need to be cleaned to remove the contaminants accumulated thereon.
To do this, as shown in
That is, the cleaning liquid supply part 500 serves to supply the cleaning liquid to the shutter blades 411 overlaid on top of one another in the housing frame 430, and the cleaning liquid flows naturally toward the air flow inlet 419 formed by the inner peripheral surfaces of the shutter blades 411 according to the property of the surface tension of the cleaning liquid and thus cleans the surfaces of the shutter blades 411.
Of course, the cleaning process for the shutter blades 411 is not performed during the substrate treatment process, but after a given number of substrates W have been treated, the cleaning process is performed before next substrate W is loaded.
In the drawings, the cleaning liquid supply part 500 is disposed between the top 412 of the outermost bowl 310 and the housing frame 430, but of course, the cleaning liquid supply part 500 may be located between a separate base plate (not shown) disposed on the top 412 of the outermost bowl 310 and the housing frame 430.
According to the present disclosure, the cleaning liquid supply part 500 may be the cleaning liquid flow path 510 extending in the circumferential direction in such a way as to be open toward the center of the shutter member 410.
The cleaning liquid flow path 510 has a cross-sectional shape like a water path and desirably extends in the circumferential direction with respect to the center of the substrate W, and further, the cleaning liquid is supplied from the outside via a path such as a tube, and the like.
For example, as shown in
As shown, while the cleaning liquid is being supplied by the cleaning liquid supply part 500, the shutter blades 411 are repeatedly folded and unfolded to effectively remove the foreign substances caught thereamong.
As shown in
As shown in
As described above, the substrate treatment apparatus according to the present disclosure is configured to have the chuck base rotating together with the substrate in a state of supporting the substrate thereagainst, the fluid supply unit for supplying the treatment liquid to the substrate, the bowl assembly having the plurality of bowls that overlap outward in a radial direction with respect to the center of the substrate in such a way as to surround the chuck base, the ascending and descending unit for moving the bowl assembly up and down, and the shutter unit disposed on top of the outermost bowl of the bowl assembly to adjust a radius of an air flow inlet through which air flow passes toward the substrate, so that the open area of the air flow toward the substrate is adjusted by means of the shutter unit to control the speed of air flow introduced from the fan filter unit, thereby preventing the substrate from being deteriorated in quality due to sticking of gas-phase particles thereonto.
According to the present disclosure, further, the substrate treatment apparatus according to the present disclosure is configured to allow the open area to be adjusted to be narrow by means of the shutter unit so that when the treatment liquid is supplied from the fluid supply unit to the rotating substrate, the outer surface of the bowl assembly is prevented from being contaminated due to the treatment liquid scattered.
According to the present disclosure, moreover, the substrate treatment apparatus according to the present disclosure is configured to allow the shutter member to have the plurality of shutter blades equally spaced apart from one another in a circumferential direction of the outermost bowl in such a way as to extend in a rotational direction of the substrate, while being continuously overlaid on top of one another in the rotational direction of the substrate, so that when air moving down forms rotating air flow by means of the rotation of the substrate, the air flow is guided in the extension directions of the shutter blades and smoothly flows toward the substrate via the air flow inlet.
According to the present disclosure, also, the substrate treatment apparatus according to the present disclosure is configured to have the cleaning liquid supply part formed inside the housing frame to supply the cleaning liquid to the shutter blades, so that the cleaning liquid flows naturally toward the air flow inlet formed by the inner peripheral surfaces of the shutter blades according to the property of surface tension and thus cleans the undersides of the shutter blades.
The present disclosure may be modified in various ways and may have several exemplary embodiments. It is therefore intended that the scope of the disclosure be limited not by this detailed description, but rather by the claims appended hereto, and it should be understood that the disclosure covers all the modifications, equivalents, and replacements within the idea and technical scope of the disclosure.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 10-2023-0103737 | Aug 2023 | KR | national |
