JPH1174168A - Processing system - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a processing system which is capable of carrying out liquid treatment or thermal treatment of a wafer, wherein organic components or ions are removed from it, without the use of a chemical filter. SOLUTION: The downstream air of a down air flow formed inside a processing system is introduced into a casing 82 through the inlet 83 of a filter device 81. In a vapor-liquid contact space M, pure water atomized by an atomizer 84 and the above air are brought into contact with each other to remove organic components or ions contained in the air. Thereafter, droplets contained in the air are collected by an eliminator 91, the processed air is set at a prescribed temperature/humidity through a temperature/humidity control device, and then guided to the upperstream side of an FFU(fan filter unit) inside the processing system.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a processing system for performing liquid processing and heat treatment on a substrate to be processed.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art For example, in a photoresist processing step in a semiconductor manufacturing process, a semiconductor wafer (hereinafter, referred to as a semiconductor wafer).
A resist film is formed by applying a resist solution on the surface of a substrate to be processed (referred to as a "wafer") or the like. In doing so, a resist processing system has been conventionally used.

This resist processing system includes a processing unit as a normal unit, for example, a hydrophobizing process (adhesion process) for improving the fixability of a resist, a coating process for applying a resist solution, and a process after coating the resist solution. Heat treatment for curing the resist film by placing the substrate in a predetermined temperature atmosphere, heat treatment for placing the exposed substrate in a predetermined temperature atmosphere, and supplying a developing solution to the exposed substrate for development. A plurality of processing apparatuses for individually performing each processing such as a development processing are provided, and a wafer as a substrate to be processed is carried in and out of each of the processing apparatuses by a transfer mechanism such as a transfer arm.

The above-mentioned resist processing system is naturally installed in a clean room.
Since it is necessary to perform the process in a cleaner atmosphere, in the resist processing system, the periphery and the upper part of the system are surrounded by an appropriate casing material, and a fan and a filter are integrated at the upper part of the system. A cleaning air supply device such as a unit (FFU) is provided, and the respective processing devices are arranged under a downflow of the purified air from the FFU.

In order to remove ions and organic components in the atmosphere in the resist processing system, the above-described resist processing system has a chemical filter installed upstream of a cleaning air supply device such as the above-mentioned FFU. hand,
Organic components and ions are removed.

[0006]

By the way, in order to cope with the finer line width of a pattern with high integration of a semiconductor device, a so-called chemically amplified resist material is used as a resist material today. When this chemically amplified resist material reacts with an alkali component such as ammonia in the atmosphere, a hardly soluble or insoluble neutralizing layer is formed on the surface, which is not preferable for subsequent processing.

Usually, a chemical filter is used to remove an alkaline component in the atmosphere. However, the service life of the chemical filter itself is short, and it is necessary to stop the entire apparatus at the time of replacement, which causes a decrease in throughput. In addition, chemical filters are expensive, leading to high running costs.

[0008] The present invention has been made in view of the above point, and without using a chemical filter as described above, it is possible to efficiently use not only alkali components such as ammonia in the atmosphere in the apparatus but also ions and organic components. It is an object of the present invention to provide a processing system having a function that can be easily removed, a longer maintenance cycle, and a better throughput than before, so as to solve the conventional problem.

[0009]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a processing apparatus for performing at least one of a liquid processing section for performing a liquid processing on a substrate to be processed and a heat processing section for performing a heat treatment. A processing system comprising, at the top of the apparatus, means for forming a clean downdraft in the apparatus, the apparatus comprising a filter device and a temperature / humidity adjusting device, wherein the filter device is formed in a casing. An introduction unit for introducing air downstream of the descending airflow into the gas-liquid contact space, a spray device for spraying the impurity removing liquid into the gas-liquid contact space, and an air flow device located downstream of the gas-liquid contact space. A mist trap mechanism for trapping mist therein, wherein the temperature and humidity adjustment device is configured to adjust the temperature and humidity of the processed air that has passed through the filter device. The temperature and humidity are adjusted Te air, characterized in that it is configured to be guided to the upstream side of the means for forming the clean downdraft, the processing system is provided.

In such a treatment system, for example, pure water is suitable as the impurity removing liquid. Further, as the mist trap mechanism, a mechanism for trapping mist in the air by ordinary inertial collision, for example, an eliminator can be adopted. The downstream air may be entirely or partially introduced into the introduction section, and the downstream air that is not introduced may be exhausted as factory exhaust, for example.

In the case of the processing system of the present invention, the particles, organic components, ions and alkali components generated in the processing system are conveyed to the downdraft and flow together with the downstream air from the inlet of the filter device into the air in the casing. It is led to the liquid contact space. Then, the particles, organic components, ions, alkali components, and the like are removed by contact with a mist of an impurity removing liquid such as pure water sprayed from a spray device. The air from which these particles, organic components, ions, alkali components, etc. have been removed further removes droplets in the air by a mist trap mechanism, and the temperature / humidity is adjusted by a temperature / humidity controller this time as treated air. . Thereafter, the air whose temperature and humidity have been adjusted is led to the upstream side of a means for forming a clean downdraft such as the above-mentioned FFU. Therefore, particles, organic components, ions, and alkali components in the atmosphere in the apparatus can be efficiently removed by gas-liquid contact without using a chemical filter. In addition, after treatment by the mist trap mechanism and temperature and humidity adjustment device, the mist is guided to the upstream side of the means for forming a clean downdraft, so that even if particles or organic components are removed by the gas-liquid contact method, the mist is removed. There is no scattering in the device.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided a filter for adhering an impurity removing liquid to the surface between a gas-liquid contact space in a casing and an introduction portion and for filtering the processing air from the introduction portion. You may make it arrange | position a member. The filtering member may be an ordinary filter, but may be composed of a plurality of solids made of, for example, ceramic particles as described in claim 3. More specifically, these solids may be arranged, for example, in a layer on a mesh or a punched metal.

[0013] If the filter member to which the impurity removing liquid adheres is disposed between the gas-liquid contact space and the introduction portion, particles, organic components, and organic components are further removed by inertial collision.
Ions and alkali components can be collected. If the impurity removing liquid is constantly or periodically supplied to the surface of the filtering member, the collection efficiency does not decrease. In this case, the impurity removing liquid may be supplied to the filtration member by a supply system different from the mist from the spray device.

Further, as set forth in claim 4, a drain pan is provided below the gas-liquid contact space of the filter device, and the liquid collected by the drain pan is cleaned and supplied to the spraying device again. Then, for example, when pure water is used as the impurity removing liquid, it can be reused.

In the processing system having the above-described configuration, the liquid processing apparatus may further include a transfer mechanism for transferring the substrate to be processed into and out of the liquid processing apparatus or the heat treatment apparatus. The downstream side air of the descending airflow may be collected below the apparatus, the heat treatment apparatus, and / or the transport mechanism, and all or a part of the collected air may be introduced into the inlet of the filter device.

With this configuration, particles generated in the processing device and the transport mechanism, and other organic components, ions, and alkali components can be removed by the above-described gas-liquid contact type filter device. In addition, since all or a part of the collected downstream air is introduced into the filter device, efficient removal can be performed by using an appropriate urethane (return air) in consideration of the volume in the device. . If not all of the waste is collected, the uncollected residue may be exhausted as factory exhaust. In that case, the air in the clean room in which the processing system is installed may be used as it is for the replenishment of the air.

In the above processing system, a blower used for forming a clean downdraft may be provided upstream of the temperature and humidity controller. According to this configuration, the air whose temperature and humidity have been adjusted by the temperature and humidity adjustment device can form a clean downward airflow inside the processing system without being thermally affected by the blower. Therefore, the control of the atmosphere temperature in the processing system can be easily and accurately performed, and the intended state can always be maintained.

The air whose temperature and humidity has been adjusted by the temperature and humidity adjusting device is separated from the air upstream of the means for forming a clean downdraft in a liquid processing apparatus or a heat treatment apparatus. And means for forming the introduced air into a downflow in the liquid processing apparatus or the heat treatment apparatus independently of the downflow. It is possible to completely separate the inside of the liquid processing apparatus and the heat treatment apparatus from the downdraft formed outside the processing apparatus. Therefore, the substrate to be processed placed in the liquid processing apparatus and the heat treatment apparatus can be subjected to stable liquid processing and heat treatment in an environment free from the influence of the turbulence of the downdraft outside the apparatus. .

Further, when introducing air whose temperature and humidity have been adjusted by the temperature and humidity adjusting device into the liquid processing apparatus or the heat treatment apparatus, a filter member for purifying the air. May be provided. According to this configuration, a filter member having a different particle collection rate and a different characteristic can be selected for each processing apparatus, and a clean atmosphere corresponding to the type of the processing apparatus can be created.

Usually, since the above-mentioned processing system has a loading / unloading port for a substrate to be processed, it does not have a completely closed structure. Will leak. Therefore, the flow rate of the air that forms a clean downward airflow again inside the processing system from the filter device through the temperature / humidity adjusting device becomes insufficient for the volume of the processing system. Therefore, as described in claims 9 and 10, air in the atmosphere in which the processing system is installed, for example, air in a clean room is taken into the upstream or downstream of the temperature control device,
Mixing with the processed air that has passed through the filter device will compensate for the shortage of air that forms a clean downdraft within the processing system.

Similarly, the processed air that has passed through the filter device is mixed with air from inside the processing system upstream or downstream of the temperature control device. Alternatively, as described in claims 13 and 14, outside the atmosphere in which the processing system is installed, for example, under an adjacent clean room or a grating panel in which the processing system is installed. It may be mixed with the atmosphere on the side. Furthermore, as described in claims 15 and 16, the processed air that has passed through the filter device is used to remove a part of the air supplied to a resist coating device provided in the system and the temperature control device. Upstream or downstream,
You may mix.

In this type of processing system, it cannot be denied that the atmosphere in the processing system may contain impurities such as a resist solution and a solvent to some extent. Therefore, an appropriate amount of the air sent from the processing system is exhausted as factory exhaust, and the exhausted air is supplied to an atmosphere in which there is almost no resist solution or solvent. If the filter is taken in from inside, the burden on the filter device for removing impurities can be reduced. In particular, since the air supplied to the resist coating apparatus is usually very clean and strictly adjusted in temperature and humidity, a part of this air is used as described in claims 15 and 16. This will further reduce the burden on the filter device. As a result, the maintenance cycle of the filter device is extended, and the maintenance cost can be reduced.

According to another aspect of the present invention, if the air inside or outside the atmosphere in which the processing system is installed is introduced into the inlet of the filter device, the inside of the processing system can be lowered. It is possible to remove not only impurities in the air downstream of the airflow but also impurities in the air introduced from outside the processing system by the filter device. Therefore, the air that forms a clean downdraft again inside the processing system through the filter device and the temperature and humidity adjustment device can secure a sufficient flow rate with respect to the entire volume of the processing system and can reduce the atmosphere inside the processing system. Suitable cleanliness can be maintained.

According to a nineteenth aspect of the present invention, there is provided an introduction system for introducing air inside or outside the atmosphere in which the processing system is installed, instead of air downstream of the downdraft in the processing system. You may. With this configuration, even if a large amount of impurities are generated in the atmosphere in the processing system due to some accident, the filter device is not damaged. Therefore, the filter device can maintain stable impurity removal performance for a long time, and frequent maintenance is not required.

According to a twentieth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a processing system for processing a substrate to be processed in an air-conditioned atmosphere, wherein the liquid processing system unit for processing the substrate to be processed with a processing liquid and the substrate to be processed are heated and cooled. A process unit having at least one of a heat treatment system unit to be heated, an upper space formed above the process unit to supply air to the process unit, and an alkali component from air to be supplied to the upper space. A purifying unit for purifying the air by removing the air; a temperature / humidity adjusting unit communicating with the purifying unit and the upper space to adjust both the temperature and the humidity of the air passing through the purifying unit; Sending air into the upper space from the upper space, lowering the air from the upper space into the process section, and at least one of the air flowing down through the process section. Air purifying means for sending air to the temperature and humidity adjusting unit, the purifying unit includes a chamber communicating with the outside of the system, an air replenishing means for introducing new air from outside the system into the chamber, and an impurity in the chamber. A nozzle for spraying the removing liquid, a gas-liquid contact section formed in the chamber for bringing the sprayed impurity removing liquid into contact with introduced air, and a gas-liquid contact section disposed downstream of the gas-liquid contact section. A mist trap mechanism for trapping a mist-like impurity removal liquid in an air flow that has passed through the liquid contact portion is provided. This processing system is particularly effective for removing alkali components.

In this case, the air is introduced into the chamber from below the gas-liquid contact portion by the blowing means, and the impurity removing liquid is sprayed into the chamber from above the gas-liquid contact portion by the nozzle. The mist-like impurity removing liquid is brought into counterflow contact with the air at the gas-liquid contact portion so that the alkali component is removed from the air. The impurity removing liquid is introduced into the chamber from below the gas-liquid contacting section by a blowing means, and the impurity removing liquid is sprayed into the chamber by a nozzle from the side of the gas-liquid contacting section, whereby the mist-like impurity removing liquid is formed at the gas-liquid contacting section. The alkaline component may be removed from the air by cross-flow contact with the air.

Preferably, the purifying section has a plurality of gas-liquid contact sections which are arranged in upper and lower stages. Furthermore, the gas-liquid contact portion is provided to face the nozzle, stores the impurity removing liquid sprayed from the nozzle, and rectifies the flow of the air introduced into the chamber. It is preferable to have a perforated tray which has a plurality of solids on which the impurity removing liquid is attached and which forms a gap through which air can flow. This measure improves the removal efficiency and is advantageous for removing particles and the like. In this case, it is preferable that the solid material is constituted by ceramic balls. When such a ceramic ball is used, particles, organic components,
This is because ions, alkali components, and the like are easily captured by the impurity removing liquid attached to the ball surface, and the ceramic ball is chemically stable. Therefore, it does not cause cross-contamination.

According to a twenty-seventh aspect, the blowing means includes a first fan for replenishing air from outside the system,
It is preferable to have a second fan for circulating a flow rate of 60 to 70% by volume of the air flowing in the process section to the process section, and a mixing box for mixing the supplementary air with the circulated air. Air at a flow rate of 60 to 70% by volume (about 2/3) is circulated to the process section, and 30 to 40% by volume.
By replenishing air (about 1/3) with a flow rate from outside the system, the load on the purification unit is reduced. Further, a concentration sensor for detecting an alkali component concentration of air supplied to the process section from the upper space, and supplied to the process section from the upper space based on a detection signal from the concentration sensor. By providing a control unit for controlling the operation of each of the blowing means and the air replenishing means so as to reduce the alkali component concentration of the air, the system can always be operated in a suitable state. it can.

[0029] As described in claims 29 and 30, an alkali component remover for removing an alkali component from the liquid collected at the bottom of the chamber of the purifying section may be added, or may be accumulated at the bottom of the chamber of the purifying section. A concentration sensor for detecting the concentration of the alkali component of the liquid, a liquid supply source for supplying the impurity removing liquid to the nozzle, and operation of the liquid supply source and the alkali component remover based on a detection signal from the concentration sensor. And a control unit for controlling.

Also, as described in claims 31 and 32,
The temperature / humidity controller includes a container having an air inlet and an air outlet, a heater provided on the air inlet side for heating the air in the container, and a humidifier provided on the air outlet side for humidifying the air in the container. It is more preferable to provide a cooling mechanism which is provided closer to the air inlet than the heater and rapidly cools the air in the container.

Further, it is preferable that the blowing means is provided between the purifying section and the temperature / humidity adjusting section. A drain pan provided below the gas-liquid contact portion, an alkali component remover for removing an alkali component from the liquid accumulated in the drain pan to clean the liquid, and the cleaning device. And a circulation circuit for returning the discharged liquid to the nozzle. Further, as described in claim 35, by adding a washing means for applying a fresh impurity removing liquid to the mist trap mechanism and washing out the previously trapped impurity removing liquid from the mist trap mechanism, the mist trap mechanism can be cleaned. Can be used in any condition. The impurity removing liquid is defined in claim 3.
As described in claim 6, pure water having a temperature of 8 ° C. or less is preferable in terms of removal efficiency, and the alkali component concentration is preferably less than 1 ppb as described in claim 37. preferable.

[0032]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Some embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings. First, in the first embodiment, a single wafer is subjected to resist processing, development processing after exposure, and the like. The system is configured as a system for performing a series of resist and development processes. FIG. 1 shows an overview of a processing system 1 for performing such a resist and development process, and FIG. 2 shows a plane inside thereof. A loading / unloading unit 10 for loading or unloading from the system in units of a carrier C containing a plurality of Ws, and a processing unit as a unit for performing various processes on the loaded wafers W are provided. An interface unit 30 for transferring a wafer between a plurality of process units 20 and an exposure apparatus S that performs a predetermined exposure process on the wafer. It can be broadly divided into three zones.

The loading / unloading section 10 includes a stage 11 on which the carrier C is mounted, and a transfer mechanism 12 for loading / unloading the wafer W with respect to the carrier C mounted on the stage 11. Is provided. The transfer mechanism 12 is configured to transfer the wafer W to and from the transfer mechanism 21 provided in the process unit 20.

A transfer path 22 is provided at the center of the process section 20, and a transfer mechanism 21 which is movable on the transfer path 22 and includes a transfer arm for transferring the wafer W is provided. .

On both sides of the transfer path 22, processing devices for performing various processes on the wafer W are arranged. In this embodiment, an adhesion processing apparatus 41, a resist coating processing apparatus 42, and a developing processing apparatus 43, which are processing apparatuses of a liquid processing system, are disposed on one side.
The other side of the heat treatment apparatus 2 is a heat treatment apparatus 4 which is a heat treatment system.
5, 46, 47, 48, etc. are arranged. Note that 44
Is an extension unit, and constitutes a standby unit for temporarily holding the wafer W between the interface unit 30 and the process unit 20. Each of the heat treatment devices 45, 46, 47, and 48 has a configuration in which a plurality of devices are stacked in multiple stages. For example, as shown in FIG. 3, in the heat treatment device 45, four units 45a, 45
b, 45c, and 45d are configured to be stacked in multiple stages. Since a large number of heat treatment apparatuses are arranged in this way, various heat treatments such as a heat treatment after resist application and a heat treatment after exposure can be performed simultaneously and efficiently. And, for example, the unit 45c located at the lower stage,
45d has a device configuration for cooling or cooling the wafer to a predetermined temperature, not for heating. Therefore, the heat treatment in the present invention is a concept including not only the heat treatment but also such a cooling or cooling treatment.

A transfer mechanism 31 that is substantially the same as the transfer mechanism 12 described above is installed in the interface unit 30.
The transfer of the wafer to and from the exposure apparatus S is performed.

As shown in FIG. 3, the processing system 1 is a so-called semi-closed system, and the surroundings, the upper part, and the lower part of the system are provided with appropriate casing materials (for example, a stainless steel plate or a corrosion-resistant resin panel). ) Are covered with side plates 51, 52, a top plate 53, and a bottom plate 54. As shown in FIG.
Only the portion for carrying in / out the carrier C at 0 is open.

An FFU (fan filter unit) 61 for forming a clean downflow (downflow) is appropriately provided at an upper portion in the system, that is, a lower surface of the top plate 53. The FFU 61 has a function of sucking air in a ceiling chamber 62 formed between the ceiling plate 62 and a ceiling plate with a blower 63, cleaning the air through a high-performance filter 64 such as an ULPA filter, and blowing the air downward. I have.

Each of the above-mentioned processing apparatuses, for example, the adhesion processing apparatus 41, the resist coating processing apparatus 42, the developing processing apparatus 43, the heat processing apparatuses 45, 46, 47, 48, etc., has an additional space P on the bottom plate 54. It is installed on the installed vent plate 55. This vent plate 5
5 is made of, for example, a punching metal or a grating material.

The air in the space P is introduced into the filter device 81 shown in FIG. The filter device 81 has an introduction portion 83 below the casing 82. And casing 8
A space above the introduction portion 83 in the inside 2 is a gas-liquid contact space M. Further, a spraying device 84 for spraying an impurity removing liquid such as pure water toward the gas-liquid contact space M is provided in the casing 82. The spraying device 84 is arranged near one side of the gas-liquid contact space M, and has a configuration in which a plurality of spraying nozzles 84b are formed in a longitudinal direction on a plurality of vertically arranged spraying headers 84a. It has a configuration in which an impurity removing liquid such as pure water is sprayed in the form of a fine mist toward the other side of the liquid contact space M.

A supply pipe 85 is provided to the spraying device 84.
The impurity removing liquid such as pure water is supplied through the pump 86. In order to obtain a predetermined pressure, the impurity removing liquid such as pure water is pumped through the supply pipe 85 by the pump 86. A drain pan 87 is provided on a bottom surface in the casing 82, and an impurity removing liquid such as pure water accumulated in the drain pan 87 is reused through a collecting pipe 88 and a filter 89.

The impurity removing liquid such as pure water is supplied to the supply pipe 8.
5, and a predetermined flow rate is always ensured. In this type of resist coating / developing processing system, for example, a cleaning device for performing scrubber cleaning on a wafer using pure water is often incorporated. Refill tube 9
Pure water supplied through zero can also be drawn from the supply pipe that supplies pure water to such a cleaning device, and the pure water pipe in the system can be used effectively.

The gas-liquid contact space M in the casing 82
An eliminator 91 as a mist trap mechanism for removing mist in the air that has passed through the gas-liquid contact space M is provided above the rim. In this embodiment, a large number of fins 91a for removing droplets by colliding gas are used.
Are alternately arranged, but it is needless to say that the present invention is not limited to this, and any configuration for removing airborne mist may be used. The droplets collected by the eliminator 91 are received by the pan 91b or fall to the drain pan 87. On the upper part of the eliminator 91, there is provided a delivery unit 9 which communicates with the outside of the casing 82.
2 are provided.

The air sent from the sending section 92 is sent to the introduction section 102 of the temperature / humidity adjusting device 101 also shown in FIG. The temperature / humidity adjusting device 101 includes a chamber 103
Inside, a cooling mechanism 104, a heating mechanism 105, and a humidifying mechanism 106 are provided in order from the introduction section 102 side, that is, from the upstream side.

The cooling mechanism 104 can use, for example, a cooling coil, and has a function of rapidly cooling (for example, 5 ° C.) the air introduced into the chamber 103 from the introduction section 102 and dehumidifying. The heating mechanism 105 is a cooling mechanism 1
It has a function of heating the air cooled through the heat pipe 04 to a predetermined temperature, and an electric heater or a heating coil using heat source water can be used. And the humidifying mechanism 106
Has a function of humidifying air that has passed through the heating mechanism 105 and has reached a predetermined temperature to a predetermined humidity.

In the present embodiment, a humidifying mechanism using an ultrasonic vibrator provided at the lower portion is employed. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and a spraying mechanism or a method in which pure water is heated to evaporate may be used. Good. The air that has passed through the humidifying mechanism 106 is sent from an outlet 108 by a blower 107. These cooling mechanism 104 and heating mechanism 1
05, the humidifying mechanism 106 allows the air set at a desired temperature and humidity, for example, a temperature of 23 ° C. and a relative humidity of 40%, to be sent out from the outlet 108. The control of the cooling mechanism 104, the heating mechanism 105, and the humidifying mechanism 106 is controlled by a separate control device (not shown), and the air under the set temperature and humidity conditions can be freely sent.

The outlet 108 of the temperature and humidity controller 101
As shown in FIG. 3, a duct 11 is disposed between the processing chamber 1 and a ceiling chamber 62 formed in the ceiling of the processing system 1.
0 has been constructed. Therefore, the air having a predetermined temperature and humidity that has exited from the outlet 108 is supplied into the ceiling chamber 62. Since the processing system 1 is not a completely closed system but a semi-closed type system as described above, the processing system 1 is recovered from the space P below the processing system 1, 81, the ceiling chamber 6 passing through the temperature and humidity controller 101
The air circulated to 2 is not the total amount of air in the processing system 1. Therefore, the shortage will be appropriately taken in from the opening. Of course, the intake may be formed positively in the above-mentioned circulation system.

The processing system 1 according to the present embodiment is configured as described above. For example, a carrier C containing a wafer, which is a substrate to be processed, is transferred to a load / unload unit by a transfer robot (not shown). Stage 1 of 10
When the wafer W is placed on the wafer W, the transfer mechanism 12 takes out the wafer W and transfers it to the transfer mechanism 21. The transfer mechanism 21 transfers the received wafer W to the adhesion processing device 41, and thereafter, a predetermined resist coating process or the like is performed on the wafer W in each processing device.

During the processing of each processing device in the processing system 1, the FFU
61, a predetermined airflow velocity, for example, 0.35 m / s
A purified downflow of ~ 0.5 m / s is formed, and particles, organic components, ions, alkali components, etc. generated in the system are transported downward by this downflow, and the vent plate is formed. Space P through 55
From the filter unit 81 to the introduction unit 83.

In the filter device 81, the introduction section 8
The pure water is sprayed from the spray device 84 in the gas-liquid contact space M to the air introduced from 3 and the particles and organic components in the air are sprayed by the gas-liquid contact method.
Ions and alkali components are removed. Then, the mist in the air is collected by the eliminator 91 from the air from which these are removed.

The air from which particles, organic components, ions, and alkali components have been removed by the filter device 81 is introduced into a temperature / humidity adjusting device 101, and a predetermined temperature / humidity
For example, after the temperature is adjusted to 23 ° C. and the relative humidity is adjusted to 40%, the ceiling chamber 6 provided on the ceiling of the system
Sent to 2. Then, the air in the ceiling chamber 62 is further purified by passing through the high-performance filter 64 by the blower 63 of the FFU 61, and is supplied again into the system as a downflow.

Here, conventionally, a chemical filter is installed, for example, on the upstream side of the FFU 61 in order to remove organic components, ions, and the like. However, in the processing system 1 according to the present embodiment, these organic components, ions, In the filter device 81, 99% of the alkali component is removed by a gas-liquid contact method using pure water. Therefore,
First, a clean downflow can be formed in the system without using an expensive chemical filter.

Further, in removing organic components, ions and alkali components, since only an impurity removing liquid such as pure water is sprayed into the gas-liquid contact space M in the filter device 81, the efficiency is extremely high. It does not matter whether an impurity is acidic or alkaline. Furthermore, the pure water after the removal can be reused through the filter 89, and there is no waste. The drain pan 87 has a drain tube 8.
7a is provided, and the amount of pure water drained from the drain pan 87, the amount of pure water recovered in the recovery pipe 88, and the amount of pure water newly replenished from the replenishing pipe 90 are appropriately adjusted. Thereby, the impurity removal ability in the gas-liquid contact space M is always kept constant and suitable. by this,
Maintenance cycles are longer than before, and overall throughput is improving as a result. When the treatment system 1 is provided with a pure water supply system for the impurity removing liquid, the pure water supply system can be used, and there is no need to separately provide a dedicated supply system. Therefore,
The processing system 1 can be effectively used as it is.

According to the gas-liquid contact method, the mist remains in the air, and if the mist is circulated in the system as it is, the mist adheres to the wafer W and the predetermined processing is not realized, thereby lowering the yield. There is a risk. However, in the processing system 1, first, mist is collected by the eliminator 91, and then, the air with the mist collected is set to a predetermined temperature and humidity in the temperature and humidity adjustment device 101, and then the mist is collected in the ceiling chamber 62. Because there is no risk of mist getting into the system. In addition, since the mist is once collected by the eliminator 91 and then introduced into the temperature / humidity adjusting device 101, the humidity adjustment in the temperature / humidity adjusting device 101 is easy, and the burden of the humidity adjustment is reduced. .

In the above embodiment, the filter device 81 and the temperature / humidity adjusting device 101 are of a type installed outside the processing system 1, but may be installed inside the processing system 1. In that case, the circulation system of the air to be treated may be appropriately passed through a duct. Therefore, the space in the processing system 1 can be effectively used.

Instead of the filter device 81 in the above embodiment, a filter device 111 shown in FIG. 6 may be used. This filter device 111 is similar to the above-described filter device 81 in the introduction unit 112, the delivery unit 113, and the recovery system such as the pump 114 and the filter 115. Unlike this, it is installed so that the spray direction is downward. Of course, the spraying direction may be either up or down. A ventilation plate 117 made of punched metal or the like is provided below the gas-liquid contact space M, and a solid material 118 such as ceramics is spread over the ventilation plate 117 in a layered manner. Therefore, the mist of pure water or the like sprayed from the spray device 116 is not only gas-liquid contacted in the gas-liquid contact space M, but also sprayed on these solids 118.

Then, the solid substance 118 is always moistened with the impurity removing liquid such as pure water. By (gas-liquid contact), particles, organic components, ions and alkali components in the air are removed. The air after prefiltration in such a manner is converted into a gas-liquid contact space M
Since impurities are removed by the gas-liquid contact method in the same manner as in the case of the filter device 81, the removal efficiency is extremely high. In this case, an impurity removing liquid such as pure water may be supplied to the solid 118 directly, not from the spray device 116.

The processing system 1 according to the embodiment is
A transport path 22 of the transport mechanism 21 is provided at the center of the process section 20. The processing apparatuses disposed on both sides of the transport path 22 include a so-called liquid processing type adhesion processing apparatus 41, a resist coating processing apparatus 42, and a developing processing apparatus 43. Although the present embodiment has a single-stage configuration, the present invention can be applied to a processing system 151 in which processing apparatuses of a rotary liquid processing system are also stacked in multiple stages as shown in FIG.

The processing system 151 includes a rotating liquid processing system resist coating apparatus 1 in one area in the system.
61, a development processing device 171 and the like are stacked and arranged in multiple stages, and a heat treatment device 181, a cooling device 182, and an extension unit 183, which are heat treatment system processing devices, are arranged in multiple stages in the area on the other side. In the center of the system, these resist coating device 161 and developing device 171 as well as heat treatment device 181 and cooling device 18
2, a transfer mechanism 191 for transferring the wafer W in and out of the extension unit 183 is arranged. An interface unit 192 is provided on the outside of the extension unit 183.

This processing system 151 also has a side plate 1
52, 153, etc., and the top plate 1
In the lower part, a bottom plate 156 is provided between the bottom plate 154 and the ventilation hole plate 155 via a space P. A wall duct 157 is formed on one side of the system, and communicates with a ceiling chamber 158 formed on the lower surface of the top plate 154.

An exhaust port 201 is formed in the bottom plate 156, and the downstream atmosphere in the system recovered through the vent plate 155 is exhausted to the outside through an exhaust pipe 202 connected to the exhaust port 201. On the other hand, a part thereof is introduced into a filter device 204 having the same function as that of the above-described filter device 81 by an introduction tube 203 connected to the exhaust pipe 202. The exhaust destination of the exhaust pipe 202 may be configured to communicate with a centralized exhaust system such as a factory. The air from which organic components, ions, and the like have been removed by the gas-liquid contact method in the filter device 204 is sent to a temperature / humidity adjusting device 205 having the same function as that of the temperature / humidity adjusting device 101 described above. The air whose temperature and humidity have been adjusted in 205 is sent to the wall duct 157 through the sending pipe 206.

Below the ceiling chamber 158, FF
U207 is installed, and air in the ceiling chamber 158 is sucked by the
Through the system as a downflow.

By the way, in this type of processing system, it is better to set the wind speed and the like for each of various built-in processing apparatuses, thereby obtaining favorable process conditions. Therefore, the processing system 151 is configured so that a clean downflow can be independently supplied to the resist coating processing apparatus 161 and the developing processing apparatus 171.

For example, regarding the resist coating apparatus 161, a sub-chamber 163 is formed separately in the upper part of the inside of the casing 162 constituting the outer wall of the resist coating apparatus 161 itself. The air after the temperature and humidity adjustment flowing through the wall duct 157 can be introduced into the sub-chamber 163 by communicating with each other. In the sub-chamber 163, a small fan 164 and a high-performance filter 165 are separately installed.
5, the cleaned down flow is discharged from the discharge port 166 of the sub-chamber 163 into the resist coating apparatus 161. The atmosphere in the resist coating apparatus 161 is exhausted from a separately provided exhaust pipe 167 to the space P below the vent plate 155.

Similarly, in the developing device 171, a separate sub-chamber 173 is formed in the upper part of the casing 172, and the sub-chamber 173 is communicated with the wall duct 157 to adjust the temperature and humidity flowing in the wall duct 157. This air can be introduced into the sub-chamber 173 via the small fan 174 and the high-performance filter 175. Thus, the cleaned down flow is discharged from the discharge port 176 into the apparatus. The atmosphere in the developing device 161 is exhausted from the exhaust pipe 167 to the space P below the vent plate 155.

The processing system 15 having such a configuration
1, the filter device 204 and the temperature / humidity adjusting device 2
05, the air from which organic components, alkali components, ions, etc. have been removed is passed through the wall duct 157 to the ceiling chamber 15.
This air is further purified by the FFU 207 and blown downflow to the entire system. Therefore, similarly to the processing system 1 according to the above-described embodiment, a desired cleaning atmosphere by downflow can be formed in the system without using a chemical filter. Of course, mist such as pure water does not enter the system.

In the processing system 151, a sub-chamber 163 and a developing apparatus 171 are separately provided, which are so-called liquid processing systems.
173 is provided, and another downflow can be formed in these apparatuses independently of the downflow formed for the entire system. And it is possible to set the internal pressure of the apparatus. Therefore, even if turbulence of the airflow occurs due to the vertical movement of the transport mechanism 191, the resist coating device 161 and the developing device 1
The uniformity of the thickness of the resist film formed on the wafer W can be maintained in the wafer W placed on the wafer 71 without being affected by the turbulence of the air flow.

Further, a high-performance filter 165 is provided in the sub-chamber 163 of the resist coating apparatus 161, and the sub-chamber 173 of the developing apparatus 171 is provided.
Since a high-performance filter 175 is provided therein, it is possible to selectively use filter members having different particle collection rates and characteristics according to the degree of air cleanliness required by each processing apparatus.

In addition, high-performance filters 165, 175, and 2
Since the service life of 09 depends on the flow rate of the air passing therethrough, if a high-performance filter is disposed for each processing device as in the processing system 151, the ability to remove impurities in the air becomes lower than the standard. The filters can be replaced in order, and the cost for high-performance filters can be reduced.

In the processing system 151,
The air individually introduced into the resist coating device 161 and the developing device 171 is air flowing in the wall duct 157, but a supply source may be obtained separately.

In the processing system 151, the small fans 164, 174, and 208 serving as blowers for forming the downflow are all provided with the temperature and humidity adjusting device 205.
However, as in the processing system 301 shown in FIG. 8, a fan unit 361 as a blower may be provided on the upstream side of the temperature / humidity adjusting device 371.

As in the processing system 151 described above, this processing system 301 has a rotating liquid processing system such as a resist coating processing unit 311 and a developing processing unit 321 stacked and arranged in one area in one side of the system. In other areas, a heat treatment apparatus 331 or a cooling apparatus 3 which is a heat treatment system processing apparatus is provided.
32 and the extension units 333 are arranged in multiple stages. In the center of the system, the resist coating unit 311 and the developing unit 321, and the heat treatment unit 331, the cooling unit 332, and the extension unit 333 A transport mechanism 341 for loading / unloading W is arranged. An interface unit 342 is provided on the outer side of the extension unit 333.

This processing system 301 also has a side plate 3
02, 303, etc., and a top plate 3
04, a bottom plate 306 is provided below the air hole plate 305 with a space P interposed therebetween. A wall duct 307 is formed on one side of the system, and communicates with a ceiling chamber 308 formed on the lower surface of the top plate 304.

An exhaust port 351 is formed in the bottom plate 306, and the downstream atmosphere in the system recovered through the vent plate 305 is exhausted to the outside through an exhaust pipe 352 connected to the exhaust port 351. On the other hand, a filter device 381 having the same function as that of the above-described filter device 204 is partially formed by the introduction pipe 353 connected to the exhaust pipe 352.
Has been introduced to. The exhaust pipe 35
The second exhaust destination may be configured to communicate with a centralized exhaust system such as a factory.

The air from which organic components and ions are removed by the gas-liquid contact method in the filter device 381 is introduced into the fan unit 361 through the inlet 362.

A temperature / humidity adjusting device 371 is connected to the downstream side of the fan unit 361, and a cooling mechanism 372, a heating mechanism 373, and a humidifying mechanism 3
74 are provided. Note that the cooling mechanism 372, the heating mechanism 373, and the humidifying mechanism 374 have the same functions as the cooling mechanism 104, the heating mechanism 105, and the humidifying mechanism 106, respectively, which are installed inside the above-described temperature / humidity adjusting device 101.

The air blown from the fan unit 361 by the blower 363 installed in the fan unit 361 adjusts the temperature and humidity inside the temperature / humidity adjusting device 371, and then passes through the sending pipe 354. It is introduced into the wall duct 307. The air is blown down into the system through a high-performance filter 309 installed below the ceiling chamber 308.

The structure of the resist coating apparatus 311 will be described in detail. A sub-chamber 313 is separately formed above the inside of a casing 312 constituting the outer wall of the resist coating apparatus 311 itself. 307. Wall duct 307
After the temperature and humidity are adjusted, the air inside the sub-chamber 3
13, and a clean downflow is formed in the resist coating apparatus 311 via a high-performance filter 314 installed below the sub-chamber 313. The resist coating apparatus 3
The exhaust of the atmosphere in the chamber 11 is exhausted from a separately provided exhaust pipe 315 to a space P below the vent plate 305.

Similarly, in the developing device 321, a sub-chamber 323 is separately formed in an upper portion inside the casing 322, and the sub-chamber 323 communicates with the wall duct 307. The air after the temperature and humidity adjustment flowing through the wall duct 307 can be introduced into the sub-chamber 323, and the purified downflow is discharged into the apparatus through the high-performance filter 324. ing. The exhaust of the atmosphere in the developing device 321 is performed by the exhaust pipe 31.
5 to the space P below the vent plate 305.

The processing system 30 configured as described above
1, the fan unit 361 is provided on the upstream side of the temperature / humidity adjusting device 371 as described above.
The air whose temperature and humidity has been adjusted by the temperature and humidity adjusting device 371 is supplied to the blower 3 provided in the fan unit 361.
It is delivered to the wall duct 307 without contacting a heating element such as 63 fan motors. In other words, the air whose temperature and humidity has been adjusted by the temperature and humidity adjusting device 371 is kept in the processing system 30 while maintaining the temperature and humidity there.
Since a downdraft can be formed in the interior of the system, it is very easy to control the temperature of the atmosphere in the system. Therefore, the ambient temperature inside the processing system 301 is always kept in a suitable state. This leads to stabilization of various processes for the wafer W in each processing apparatus in the processing system 301. Note that the fan unit 361 may be installed on the downstream side of the temperature / humidity adjusting device 371, and according to this configuration, the load on the temperature / humidity adjusting device 371 can be reduced.

The above-described processing system 301 has a loading / unloading port (not shown) for transferring the wafer W to / from the outside of the system and an opening such as an interface unit 342. That is, since the structure is not completely closed, the processing system 3
A certain amount of the air inside 01 leaks from the opening to the outside. Further, when the lower air collected in the system through the vent plate 305 contains impurities such as particles and organic components in an amount exceeding the processing capacity of the filter device 381, the air is discharged from the exhaust port 351. After that, a part of it will be discharged to the factory exhaust system.
Accordingly, predetermined processing is performed by the filter device 381, the fan unit 361, and the temperature / humidity adjusting device 371.
The flow rate of the air introduced into the duct 307 through 54 is
The volume of the processing system 301 becomes insufficient for the entire volume.

In order to compensate for this shortage of air, a fan unit 391 shown in FIG. 9 may be used instead of the fan unit 361 shown in FIG. That is, like the filter unit 361, the fan unit 391 not only has an inlet 392 for introducing the air sent from the filter unit 381, but also has a second inlet 393 separately. doing. Then, air in an atmosphere where the processing system 301 is installed, for example, air in a clean room atmosphere can be introduced into the fan unit 391 via an introduction pipe 355 connected to the second introduction port 393. It is configured. Further, the flow rate of the air introduced from the clean room is adjustable by a damper 356 provided in the introduction pipe 355.

With this configuration, the processing system 30
The air leaked from the opening 1 and the air discharged to the factory exhaust system can be replenished inside the fan unit 391. Therefore, the temperature and humidity are adjusted by the temperature / humidity adjusting device 371, and the flow rate of the air sent to the wall duct 307 (see FIG. 8) via the sending pipe 354 is determined based on the total volume of the processing system 301. There is no shortage. In addition, the air from the clean room may be connected and introduced to the delivery pipe 354 on the downstream side of the temperature / humidity adjusting device 371.

As described above, if the air directly introduced from the clean room into the fan unit 391 contains a predetermined amount or more of impurities, the cleanliness of the atmosphere of the processing system 301 cannot be maintained. Therefore, as shown in FIG. 9, a ventilation pipe 357 may be provided to introduce air from the clean room to the upstream side of the filter device 381. Since the damper 358 is interposed in the ventilation pipe 357, the amount of air introduced into the filter device 381 can be adjusted. With the above configuration, it is possible to adjust the dampers 356 and 358 according to the cleanliness of the air in the clean room and the impurity removing ability of the filter device 381 to form a clean downdraft inside the processing system 301. it can. In the above-described embodiment, the description has been made such that air from the clean room in which the processing system 301 is installed is introduced into the second inlet 393. In particular, part of the air introduced into the resist coating apparatus 161 or air from another clean room adjacent to the clean room or air below the grating panel on which the processing system is mounted is introduced. You may do so.

In the processing system 301 shown in FIG. 8, at least a part of the air exhausted from the system is collected, and the filter unit 381 and the fan unit 36 are removed.
After being subjected to predetermined processing by the temperature and humidity control device 371 and then introduced into the wall duct 307, a downdraft is formed inside the processing system 301. As shown in FIG. 10, all air exhausted from the processing system 301 is exhausted into a factory exhaust system or a clean room via an exhaust pipe 352 connected to an exhaust port 351. In other words, a one-way system is configured. May be. An introduction pipe 359 is connected to the filter device 381 so that, for example, air in a clean room atmosphere where the processing system 301 is installed is introduced into the filter device 381. In this case, the air to be introduced is not limited to the air from the clean room in which the processing system 301 is installed. The gas may be introduced from the atmosphere under the grating panel.

In the case where impurities which are difficult to remove by gas-liquid contact due to some accident occur in the processing system 301, or where an extremely large amount of impurities is generated and exceeds the impurity removing capability of the filter device, etc. , This configuration is effective. That is, since the filter device 381 can perform the impurity removal processing on the introduced air regardless of the type and amount of the impurities generated in the processing system 301, the filter device 381 can maintain a stable impurity for a long time. Removal performance can be maintained, and frequent maintenance is not required. Accordingly, the atmosphere inside the processing system 301 is always kept at a suitable cleanliness, and the predetermined processing of the wafer W can be stabilized.

A processing system according to still another embodiment will be described. The processing system 400 shown in FIGS. 11 and 12 includes a cassette unit 410 and a process unit 41.
1, a first sub-arm mechanism 421, a second sub-arm mechanism 424, and a main arm mechanism 422, and are installed in a clean room air-conditioned to a predetermined humidity temperature.

The cassette section 410 has a cassette mounting table 420
And a plurality of cassettes C are mounted on the cassette mounting table 420. One lot of wafers W are stored in the cassette C. One lot is, for example, 25 or 13 sheets. The wafer W is taken out of the cassette C by the first sub arm mechanism 421 and is loaded into the processing section 411.

As shown in FIG. 11, the processing section 411 has five processing unit groups G1 to G5. The processing units of each of the processing unit groups G1 to G5 are arranged in upper and lower tiers, and the main arm mechanism 422 carries in the wafers W one by one. Interface section 4
Reference numeral 12 is provided between the processing unit 411 and an exposure apparatus (not shown). The wafer W is carried in and out of the exposure apparatus by the second sub-arm mechanism 424. Four projections 420a are provided on the cassette mounting table 420.
The cassette C is provided with a projection 420a on the mounting table 20.
It is to be positioned by.

The processing section 411 is provided with five processing unit groups G1, G2, G3, G4, G5. The first and second processing unit groups G1 and G2 are disposed on the front side of the system, the third processing unit group G3 is disposed adjacent to the cassette unit 410, and the fourth processing unit group G4 is connected to the interface unit 412. Is located adjacent to
The fifth processing unit group G5 is arranged on the back side.

The main arm mechanism 422 includes a drive mechanism for moving the arm 422a in each of the X-axis and Z-axis directions and the arm 42.
And a drive mechanism for rotating 2a by θ around the Z axis. The main arm mechanism 422 includes a first sub arm mechanism 421
, The alignment unit (ALIM) and the extension unit (EX) belonging to the third processing unit group G3 in the process section 411 are transferred.
The wafer W is transferred to T).

As shown in FIG. 12, in the first processing unit group G1, two spinner-type processing units, for example, a resist coating unit 430, for performing a predetermined processing by placing a wafer W on a spin chuck in a cup CP. The developing unit 431 is stacked in two stages from the bottom. Also in the second processing unit group G2, two spinner-type processing units, for example, a resist coating unit 581 and a developing unit 571, which will be described later, are stacked in two stages from the bottom. It is preferable that these resist coating units 431 and 581 are arranged at the lower stage so that the waste liquid can be easily discharged.

As shown in FIG. 14, the third processing unit group G3 includes, for example, a cooling unit (COL), an alignment unit (ALIM), an extension unit (EXT), and a prebaking unit (PR).
EBAKE), post baking unit (POBAK)
E) are stacked in order from the bottom. The fourth processing unit group G4 also has, for example, a cooling unit (CO
L), extension cooling unit (EXT
COL), extension unit (EXT), cooling unit (COL), pre-baking unit (PREBAKE), post-baking unit (PO
BAKE) and an adhesion unit (AD) are stacked in order from the bottom.

As described above, the cooling unit (COL) having a low processing temperature and the extension cooling unit (EXTCOL) are arranged on the lower side, and a baking unit (PREBAKE), a post-baking unit (POBAKE) having a high processing temperature, By arranging the adhesion unit (AD) on the upper side, thermal interference between the processing units is reduced.

The size of the interface unit 412 in the X-axis direction is almost the same as that of the process unit 411, but the size in the Y-axis direction is smaller than the process unit 411. At the front of the interface unit 412, a portable pickup cassette C and a fixed-value type buffer cassette BR are arranged in two stages, while a peripheral exposing device 423 is arranged at the rear, and a center exposure unit is arranged at the center. Two sub arm mechanisms 424 are provided. The second sub-arm mechanism 424 is movable in the X-axis direction similarly to the above-described first sub-arm mechanism 421, and is an extension unit (EXT) belonging to the fourth processing unit group G4 or an adjacent extension unit. The wafer delivery table (not shown) on the exposure apparatus side can also be accessed.

In the processing system 400, the fifth processing unit group G5 is provided on the back side of the main arm mechanism 422.
Can be arranged. The fifth processing unit group G5 can move in the Y-axis direction along the guide rail 425. By moving the fifth processing unit group G5, a space for maintenance and inspection work from behind is secured for the main arm mechanism 422.

As shown in FIGS. 13 and 15, three filters 464a and 464 are provided above the cassette section 410.
b, 464c, three filters 465a, 465b, 465c above the process unit 411, and three filters 466a, 466 above the interface unit 412.
b and 466c are respectively attached. These filters 464a-c, 465a-c, 466a-c share an upper space 462. The upper common space 462 communicates with a lower air conditioner 470 via a vertical duct 477 so that clean air from which ammonia has been removed is supplied from the air conditioner 470 to the common space 462. The clean air is blown downward from the common space 462 through each of the filters 464a-c, 465a-c, 466a-c, and is provided in a large number at appropriate locations below each of the cassette unit 410 and the process unit 411. The air is exhausted through the ventilation hole 469. Thus, the downflow of the clean air is reduced by the cassette unit 410 and the process unit 4.
11, and an interface unit 412.

Next, the flow path of the clean air and the air conditioner 470 will be described with reference to FIGS.

As shown in FIG. 15, the processing system 400
Are surrounded by side plates 400a and 400b, a top plate 400c, and a bottom plate 400d. One side plate 400a
And a second liquid processing system unit that mainly processes with the processing liquid.
A vertical duct 477 is formed between the processing unit group G2 and the chamber walls 572, 582. Top plate 400
c and filters 464a-c, 465a-c, 466a-
c, an upper space 462 is formed. The upper space 462 communicates with the vertical duct 477. The filters 465a and 465 of the process section 411 are used.
A concentration sensor 588 is provided directly below b and 465c, respectively, so that the ammonia concentration of the air passing through each of the filters 465a, 465b and 465c is detected.

A lower space 472 is formed between the bottom plate 400d and the perforated plate 471. A large number of ventilation holes 471a are formed in the perforated plate 471, and the downflow in the processing system 400 passes through the ventilation holes 471a to form
It is designed to flow into. The interface unit 412 is provided in the vicinity of the extension unit (EXT) of the third processing unit group G3 as a heat treatment system unit for mainly heating and cooling.

An exhaust port 473 communicating with the exhaust pipe 474 is formed in the bottom plate 400d, and the air in the lower space 472 is discharged to the outside of the processing system 400 via the exhaust port 473. The outlet of the exhaust pipe 474 is
It may be connected to a centralized exhaust circuit of a factory or may be opened to a clean room atmosphere.

A branch pipe 475 branches from the exhaust pipe 474. About ／ of the total amount of air flowing through the exhaust pipe 474 through the branch pipe 475 is sent to the temperature / humidity adjusting unit 540. The temperature and humidity of the air are adjusted by the temperature and humidity adjusting unit 540, and the vertical duct 47 is adjusted.
7 and the upper space 462 to be supplied again to the processing section 411. As described above, in the processing system 400, a part (about ３ of the flow rate) of the descending circulating air is discharged to the outside, while a large part (about ／ of the flow rate) of the descending circulating air is discharged to the processing system 400. Circulate inside. In addition, the processing system 40 via the purification unit 480
A new air is introduced into the processing system 400 from the outside to replenish the flow rate shortage of about 1/3. Therefore, the processing system 400 can be said to be a semi-closed system.

The resist coating unit 571 has a sub-chamber 573 above the main chamber 572. The sub-chamber 573 communicates with the vertical duct 477 so that clean air is directly introduced into the sub-chamber 573 from the vertical duct 477. Sub chamber 573
Inside, a small fan 574 and a high-performance filter, for example, a HEPA filter 575 are provided. The clean air flows down from the discharge port 576 into the main chamber 572 via the HEPA filter 575. The inside of the resist coating unit 571 is the exhaust passage 5
The exhaust port 587 of the exhaust passage 577 is closed immediately above the perforated plate 471.

Similarly, the developing unit 581 has a sub-chamber 583 above the main chamber 582. The sub-chamber 583 communicates with the vertical duct 477, and clean air is directly introduced from the vertical duct 477 into the sub-chamber 583. A small fan 584 and a HEPA filter 585 are provided in the sub-chamber 583. The clean air flows down through the HEPA filter 585 from the discharge port 586 into the main chamber 582. The developing unit 58
1 communicates with the exhaust passage 577, and the exhaust port 587 of the exhaust passage 577 is closed immediately above the perforated plate 471.

As described above, the resist coating unit 571,
A down flow is formed individually for each developing unit 581, and the conditions of the processing atmosphere (wind speed, air volume, internal pressure, air cleanliness) can be set to preferable ones.
For this reason, it is possible to perform desired processing under more suitable and stable conditions. Also, since the processing atmosphere is independently controlled for each processing unit,
The degree of dependence on the clean room in controlling the atmosphere of the processing unit is reduced, and the load of controlling the atmosphere in the clean room is reduced.

The vertical duct 477 is placed adjacent to the second processing unit group G2 as a liquid processing system unit mainly for processing with a processing liquid, and the third processing unit as a heat processing system unit for mainly heating and cooling this. Since it is located at a position distant from the unit group G3, the circulating air is
1 is not easily affected by heat.

In the processing system 400 described above, the purifying unit 480 removes alkali components, organic components, ions, and the like from the air, and the temperature and humidity adjusting unit 540 adjusts the temperature and humidity of the air. Duct 4
77, upper space 462, filters 464a-c, 465
The data is supplied to the processing unit 411 via a to c and 466 a to 466 a. Therefore, without using a Chemilka filter,
A desired clean atmosphere can be formed in the processing system 400. In this case, mist-like pure water does not enter the processing system 400.

As shown in FIG. 16, the processing system 400
The air circulation circuit is a semi-closed system, recovers about 2/3 of the air that has flowed down the process section 411, and uses this recovered air (flow rate 40 m ³ / min) to introduce newly introduced air from outside the system. Flow rate 25m ³ /
) To supply the clean air to the process section 411 at a total flow rate of 65 m ³ / min. As described above, the processing system 400 does not exhaust all the air to the outside of the system, but circulates about ／ of the flow rate of the air to the process section 411, so that the operating cost can be significantly reduced. .

Next, the air conditioner 470 will be described in detail with reference to FIG. 17, FIG. 18, and FIG. The air conditioner 470 includes a utility unit 479, a purifying unit 480, a blowing unit 550, a temperature / humidity adjusting unit 540, and a controller 570. The utility section 479 includes various heat exchangers (not shown), pumps (not shown), and refrigerators (not shown). The purifying unit 480 includes first and second gas-liquid contact spaces 49 in upper and lower stages for bringing air into contact with spray pure water.
0 and a second gas-liquid contact space 500 are formed. The blower 550 is provided with two fans 551 and 552. The upper space 484 of the purification unit 480 communicates with the blower 550. The temperature / humidity adjusting unit 540 includes the heater 54.
2 and a humidifier 544. The blower 550 communicates with the temperature and humidity controller 540 via the mixing box 554.

As shown in FIG. 18 and FIG.
0 has a chamber 481 that extends long in the Z-axis direction. The chamber 481 has a lower entrance (entrance) 482 and an upper closure (exit) 485, respectively. Air is sent out from the upper space 484. A filter 509 is attached to the inlet 482 to remove particles from newly introduced air.

The first-stage tray 486 is provided above the entrance 482, and a certain amount of water is supplied to the first-stage tray 4.
86. First tray 486
Has a large number of ventilation holes (not shown), and a rectifying member 488 is provided immediately above the ventilation holes. These rectifying members 4
The air rising from below is rectified by 88. The first tray 486 is provided with a drain line 530 communicating with the ammonia remover 590.
To be sent to

A first mist separator 491 is provided immediately above the first tray 486. The first mist separator 491 is made of a synthetic fiber scourer-like molded body, and thereby captures a mist-like liquid component contained in an air stream. A large number of first spray nozzles 492 are provided above the first mist separator 491.
And pure water is sprayed toward the first mist separator 491. A first gas-liquid contact portion 490 is formed between the first spray nozzle 492 and the first mist separator 491. In the first gas-liquid contact portion 490, spray pure water at a temperature of about 7.7 ° C. is brought into flow contact with the air, and as shown in Table 1 below, the ammonia concentration of the air is reduced from 100 ppb to 10 ppb.
ppb.

The first spray nozzle 492 communicates with the liquid reservoir of the first tray 486 via the first circulation circuit 510, and pure water accumulated in the first tray 486 is supplied to each nozzle 492. It is supplied to. The first circulation circuit 510 is provided with a valve 511, a pump 512, a filter 513, a manifold 514, and a flow meter 515 in order from the upstream side. This first circulation circuit 510
, A bypass line 516 is provided between the manifold 514 and the flow meter 515.

A second mist separator 494 is provided immediately above the first spray nozzle 492. The second mist separator 494 has substantially the same configuration as the first mist separator 491. Further, a replenishing nozzle 506 is provided directly above the second mist separator 494, and pure water at a temperature of about 8 ° C. is supplied from the water supply source 564 to the nozzle 506 via the line 565. ing. Further, the second mist separator 4
A second-stage tray 496 is provided directly above 94.

The second-stage tray 496 is provided substantially at the center of the height of the chamber 481, and a certain amount of water is stored here. Second stage tray 496
Has a large number of ventilation holes (not shown), and a rectifying member 498 is provided immediately above the ventilation holes. These rectifying members 4
The air that rises from below is rectified by 98. Further, a supply line 561 is provided on the second-stage tray 496, and pure water is supplied from the water supply source 560 to the second-stage tray 496 via the supply line 561. Further, a drain line 531 communicating with the ammonia remover 590 is provided on the second-stage tray 496, and water having a high ammonia concentration is supplied to the drain line 531.
From the second stage tray 496 to the ammonia remover 5
90. Further, a bypass line 534 is provided between the second tray 496 and the first tray 486, and the second tray 496 is moved from the first tray 486 via the bypass line 534.
Is supplied with overflow water.

A third mist separator 501 is provided immediately above the second tray 496. The third mist separator 501 is the first mist separator 4
It is substantially the same as 91. Above the third mist separator 501, a number of second spray nozzles 5
No. 02 is provided, and pure water is sprayed toward the third mist separator 501. From these second spray nozzles 502 to the third mist separator 501
The second gas-liquid contact portion 500 is formed before the process.
In the second gas-liquid contact section 500, spray pure water at a temperature of about 7.7 ° C. is brought into flow contact with the air, so that the ammonia concentration of the air is 10 ppb to 1 ppb as shown in Table 1.
Reduced to less than.

The second spray nozzle 502 communicates with the liquid reservoir of the second-stage tray 496 via the second circulation circuit 520, and pure water accumulated in the second-stage tray 496 is supplied to each nozzle 502. The second circulation circuit 520 is provided with a valve 521, a pump 522, a filter 523, a manifold 524, and a flow meter 525 in this order from the upstream side. This second circulation circuit 520
, A bypass line 526 is provided between the manifold 524 and the flow meter 525.

A fourth mist separator 504 is provided directly above the second spray nozzle 502. The fourth mist separator 504 is substantially the same as the first mist separator 491. Further, a replenishing nozzle 508 is provided directly above the fourth mist separator 504, and pure water at a temperature of about 8 ° C. is supplied from a water supply source 566 to the nozzle 508 via a line 567.

A drain pan 48 is provided at the bottom of the chamber 481.
9 is formed, and the drain water DW accumulates in this. An ammonia remover 590 communicates with the drain pan 489 via a recovery line 591. The ammonia remover 590 may be, for example, a chemical remover that removes an ammonia component from the drain water DW using a neutralizing agent, or may be a drain water DW using a reverse osmosis membrane.
It may be a physical type remover for removing an ammonia component from ash. The ammonia component is removed from the drain water DW by such an ammonia remover 590, and the ammonia is regenerated to water having an ammonia concentration of about 1 to 10 ppb.

Supply line 59 of ammonia remover 590
Numeral 3 communicates with the first circulation circuit 510 so that the regenerated water having a low ammonia concentration is supplied to the first spray nozzle 492 via the first circulation circuit 510. Since the drain water DW can be regenerated and used many times using the ammonia remover 590 in this manner, the purification unit 48 can be used.
0, the consumption of pure water can be suppressed.

On the other hand, a drain line 595 of the ammonia remover 590 is opened to the outside of the system so that water having a high ammonia concentration is discharged. Further, the concentration sensor 589 is immersed in the drain water DW of the drain pan 489 so that the ammonia concentration of the drain water DW is detected. This density sensor 489 is connected to a controller 570.
The controller 570 opens a valve 596 based on the concentration detection signal from the sensor 589 to discharge water having a high ammonia concentration to the outside.

The blower 550 includes the first and second fans 55
1, 552 and a mixing box 554. The suction port of the first fan 551 communicates with the outlet 485 of the purification unit 480,
The outlet 555 communicates with the mixing box 554. Second
The suction port of the fan 552 communicates with the branch pipe 475, and the outlet 541 communicates with the mixing box 554. Mixing box 5
Numeral 54 incorporates a mixing circuit for sufficiently mixing the circulating air and the new air. In the apparatus of the present embodiment, two fans 551 and 552 are used to mix the circulating air and the new air. However, a single fan having two suction ports may be used instead.

The chamber 540a of the temperature / humidity controller 540
Communicates with the outlet of the mixing box 554 so that the mixed air is introduced into the chamber 540a. A heater 542 and a humidifier 544 are provided in the chamber 540a. The heater 542 is connected to a power supply 543 and is provided near the air outlet 541. The air in the chamber 540a is heated to about 23 ° C. by the heater 542.
It is designed to be heated to the temperature.

The humidifier 544 includes a heater 545 and a power supply 54.
6, and an evaporating dish 547. The heater 545 is connected to a power supply 546, and heats the evaporating dish 547. Pure water is supplied onto the evaporating dish 547 from a water supply source 568 via a line 569. When the evaporating dish 547 is heated by the heater 545, pure water on the evaporating dish 547 evaporates to generate steam 548. This water vapor 548 is supplied to the chamber 540a.
Air with a humidity of about 40% is added to
9 through the chamber 540a. As shown in FIG. 16, an outlet 549 of the temperature / humidity adjusting unit 540 communicates with a vertical duct 477 via a line 476.

Note that the controller 570 is provided with the density sensor 58.
8, 589 and valves 511, 517, 521, 527, 53 based on signals received from flow meters 515, 525.
2,533,592,594,596, pump 512
522, power supplies 543, 546, fans 551, 552
Each operation of the water supply sources 560, 562, 564, 566, and 568 is respectively controlled.

The purifying section 480 of the above embodiment is the first
The gas-liquid contact portion 490 and the second gas-liquid contact portion 500 are provided, but the present invention is not limited to this, and three or more gas-liquid contact portions can be provided. As the number of gas-liquid contacts increases, the ammonia removal rate increases, but the pressure loss also increases. Therefore, the number of gas-liquid contacts is preferably two or three.

Table 1 shows the results of measurements of the temperature, humidity, flow rate, and ammonia concentration of air at various points in the air conditioner 470. In the table, position number 0 corresponds to the position of the line 475 on the upstream side of the purification unit 480. The position number 1 corresponds to the position of the entrance 482 of the purification unit 480. Position number 2 is the first
The position number 3 corresponding to the position of the rectifying member 488 of the tray 486 of the step corresponds to the position of the first gas-liquid contact portion 490. The position number 4 corresponds to the position of the second mist separator 494. Position number 5 is the rectifying member 49 of the second tray 496.
Eight places. Position No. 6 is the second gas-liquid contact part 50
It corresponds to the location of 0. The position number 7 corresponds to the position of the fourth mist separator 504. The position number 8 corresponds to the position of the suction port of the first fan 551 of the blower 550. The position number 9 corresponds to the position of the mixing box 554. The position number 10 corresponds to the location of the heater 542 of the temperature / humidity adjusting unit 540.
The position number 11 corresponds to the location of the humidifier 544 of the temperature / humidity adjusting unit 540. The position number 12 corresponds to the position of the vertical duct 477.

[0128]

[Table 1]

As shown in Table 1, the air at the position numbers 0 and 1 was at a temperature of 26 ° C., a relative humidity of 35%, a flow rate of 25 m ³ / min.
Ammonia concentration is 100 ppb, air at position Nos. 2 to 4 is temperature 16 ° C., relative humidity 100%, flow rate 25 m ³
/ Min, ammonia concentration 10 ppb, position number 5
Air temperature at 7.7 ° C, relative humidity 100%, flow rate 2
5 m ³ / min, ammonia concentration less than 1 ppb, air at position No. 9 temperature 19.5 ° C., relative humidity 48%, flow rate 70 m ³ / min, ammonia concentration less than 1 ppb,
The air at position No. 10 has a temperature of 23 ° C, a relative humidity of 48%,
The flow rate is 70 m ³ / min, the ammonia concentration is less than 1 ppb, the air at the position Nos. 11 and 12 is 23 ° C., the relative humidity is 40%, the flow rate is 70 m ³ / min, the ammonia concentration is 1 ppb.
Is less than.

Table 2 shows the results of measuring the pressure loss at various points of the air conditioner 470. Position numbers 1 to 9 in Table 2 correspond to those in Table 1, respectively. At position No. 1, the pressure loss ΔP1 shows 3.0 mmH ₂₀ ,
At position numbers 2 and 5, the pressure loss ΔP2 is 1.4 mmH ₂
0, respectively, at position numbers 3 and 6 (downstream side), the pressure loss ΔP3 is 6.0 mmH ₂₀ , respectively, and at position numbers 3 and 6 (upstream side), the pressure loss ΔP4 is 2.4 m.
mH ₂₀ , position numbers 4 and 7 indicate a pressure loss ΔP5 of 1.2 mmH ₂₀ , respectively, position number 8 indicates a pressure loss ΔP6 of 7.5 mmH ₂₀ , and position number 9 indicates a pressure loss △ P7 showed 39.0mmH ₂ 0. As described above, since the pressure loss is maximized at position No. 9, it is desirable to use a strong fan for the fans 551 and 552 of the blower unit 550.

[0131]

[Table 2]

The processing system according to each of the above-described embodiments is configured as a system for performing a resist coating and developing process on the wafer W. However, the present invention is not limited to this. The present invention is also applicable to an apparatus for performing a film forming process in a hot atmosphere, for example, a film forming apparatus used for forming an oxide film. The substrate to be processed is not limited to a wafer, and may be, for example, a glass substrate for LCD.

Further, the filter devices 81, 204, 381 and the purifying section 480 used in the processing system according to each of the above-mentioned embodiments circulate a part of the processed air through the system. Chemical Mechani
For a device such as a cal polisher that discharges particles and other alkaline components during processing, for example, the entire exhaust from the CMP is removed from the filter devices 81 and 20.
After the processing in the purifying unit 480, the cleaning unit may be returned to the circulating system of the clean room or the clean room. In this case, the temperature / humidity adjusting device described above may be used together. Thus, the filter devices 81, 204, 3
81, the purifying unit 480 is used for the exhaust treatment itself of this type of processing equipment, so that the capacity of the clean room can be indirectly reinforced, and the capacity of the clean room is insufficient due to the increase of the processing equipment, which has been a problem in the past. Can be eliminated and contamination of the clean room can be prevented.

[0134]

According to the processing system of the present invention, particles, organic components, ions, alkali components, etc. generated in the processing system can be removed with high efficiency without using a chemical filter. Can be. Moreover, mist from the filter device is not scattered in the device. In addition, the maintenance cycle can be made longer than when a conventional chemical filter is used, and as a result, the operation rate of the apparatus can be increased.

In particular, according to the processing systems of claims 2 to 19, removal can be performed with higher efficiency. According to the processing system of the fourth aspect, efficient operation is possible without waste of the impurity removing liquid. Claim 5
In the processing system of No. 18, even for a processing system having a transport mechanism, efficient particles, organic components,
Removal of ions, alkali components, etc. is possible.

Further, according to the processing system of claim 6,
The temperature and humidity of the downdraft in the system can be easily adjusted. According to the processing system of the seventh aspect, it is possible to perform the optimal liquid processing and heat treatment on the substrate to be processed without being affected by the turbulence of the downdraft formed outside the liquid processing apparatus or the heat treatment apparatus. it can. Further, according to the processing system of the present invention, since a filter device can be selected for each of the liquid processing device and the heat treatment device, the cost can be reduced and an atmosphere corresponding to the processing content can be created. .

According to the processing systems of claims 9 to 18,
A sufficient flow of air can be supplied to the processing system. In particular, according to the processing system of claims 17 and 18,
In the processing system, it is possible to form an extremely clean downdraft with a sufficient flow rate.

According to the processing system of the nineteenth aspect, a clean downdraft can be formed in the processing system irrespective of the type and amount of impurities generated in the processing system. Further, the maintenance cycle of the filter device can be lengthened, and as a result, the throughput of the processing system can be increased.

Further, according to the processing system of claims 20 to 37, it is particularly effective for removing ammonia components and the like. In particular, when the purifying section is arranged so as to have a plurality of gas-liquid contact sections arranged in upper and lower stages, the removal efficiency is good and the apparatus configuration is easy. Further, according to the twenty-fourth and twenty-fifth aspects, the removal efficiency and the effect of collecting particles and the like are enhanced. The use of ceramic balls as in claim 26 is advantageous in terms of maintenance and the like, and does not cause secondary contamination. According to claim 27, the load on the purification unit is reduced. According to claims 28 to 30, the system can always be operated in a suitable state. In the case of claim 34, it is possible to reduce the running cost. According to claim 35, the mist trap mechanism can be used in a clean state. According to claims 36 and 37, the efficiency of ion removal is improved, and the apparatus can be downsized.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a processing system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory plan view showing an internal state of the processing system of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is an explanatory view of a longitudinal section showing an internal state of the processing system of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is an explanatory view of a longitudinal section of a filter device used in the processing system of FIG. 1;

FIG. 5 is an explanatory view of a vertical section of a temperature / humidity adjusting device used in the processing system of FIG. 1;

FIG. 6 is an explanatory view of a longitudinal section of another temperature / humidity adjusting device that can be used in the processing system of FIG. 1;

FIG. 7 is an explanatory diagram of a longitudinal section of a processing system according to another embodiment.

8 is an explanatory view of a vertical section of a processing system according to another embodiment different from the processing system of FIG. 7;

FIG. 9 is an explanatory view of a vertical section of another fan unit that can be used in the processing system of FIG. 8;

FIG. 10 is an explanatory diagram of another air supply / exhaust system that can be used in the processing system of FIG. 8;

FIG. 11 is an explanatory plan view of a processing system according to another embodiment different from the processing system of FIG. 8;

FIG. 12 is an explanatory front view showing the outline of the processing system of FIG. 11;

FIG. 13 is an internal perspective view schematically showing a flow of clean air in the processing system of FIG. 11;

FIG. 14 is an explanatory diagram of the back showing an outline of the processing system of FIG. 11;

FIG. 15 is a block sectional view showing a circulation path of clean air in the processing system of FIG. 11;

FIG. 16 is a schematic diagram showing a mass flow balance of clean air in an air conditioner used in the processing system of FIG. 11;

17 is a block diagram showing an outline of a layout of each unit in the air conditioner of FIG.

FIG. 18 is a block diagram showing an air conditioner used in the processing system of FIG.

FIG. 19 is a block diagram showing an air conditioner used in the processing system of FIG. 11;

[Explanation of symbols]

 Reference Signs List 1 processing system 10 load / unload unit 20 process unit 21 transport mechanism 30 interface unit 41 adhesion processing unit 42 resist coating processing unit 43 development processing unit 45, 46, 47, 48 heat treatment unit 61 FFU 81 filter unit 82 casing 83 introduction unit 84 spray device 86 pump 87 drain pan 89 filter 91 eliminator 101 temperature / humidity adjusting device 103 chamber 104 cooling mechanism 105 heating mechanism 106 humidifying mechanism 107 blower 118 solid matter 151 processing system 301 processing system 314,324 high-performance filter 361 fan unit 371 temperature / humidity Conditioner 381 Filter device 391 Fan unit 400 Processing system 470 Air conditioner 480 Purifier 481 Chamber 490 First gas-liquid contact air Between 491 first mist separator 494 second mist separator 492 first spray nozzle 500 second gas-liquid contact space 501 third mist separator 502 second spray nozzle 504 fourth mist separator 506, 508 nozzle 540 Temperature / humidity adjuster 550 Blower 590 Ammonia remover M Gas-liquid contact space W Wafer

 ──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on the front page (72) Inventor Takayuki Katano 650 Mitsuzawa, Hosakacho, Nirasaki, Yamanashi Pref. Tokyo Electron Limited Process Technology Center

Claims (37)

[Claims] 1. A system comprising at least one of a liquid processing apparatus for performing liquid processing on a substrate to be processed and a heat treatment apparatus for performing heat treatment, and further comprising means for forming a clean downdraft in the system. A processing system provided in an upper part, comprising a filter device and a temperature / humidity adjusting device, wherein the filter device introduces a downstream air of the downdraft into a gas-liquid contact space formed in a casing. And a spray device for spraying the impurity removing liquid into the gas-liquid contact space, and a mist trap mechanism located downstream of the gas-liquid contact space for trapping mist in an air flow. Is configured to adjust the temperature and humidity of the processed air that has passed through the filter device, and further adjusts the temperature and humidity of the processed air by the temperature and humidity adjustment device. A processing system, wherein the processing system is configured to be guided to an upstream side of a means for forming a downdraft. 2. A filter member for adhering an impurity-removing liquid to a surface of the casing and between the gas-liquid contact space and the introduction section in the casing, and for filtering the processing air from the introduction section. 2. The method according to claim 1, wherein
A processing system according to item 1. 3. The processing system according to claim 2, wherein the filtering member comprises a plurality of solids. 4. A drain pan is provided below the gas-liquid contact space, and the liquid collected by the drain pan is cleaned and supplied to the spraying device again. 4. The processing system according to any one of 2 and 3. 5. A transfer mechanism for carrying a substrate to be processed into and out of a liquid processing apparatus or a heat treatment apparatus, wherein downstream air of a descending airflow is provided below the liquid processing apparatus, the heat treatment apparatus, and / or the transfer mechanism. 5. The processing system according to claim 1, wherein all or a part of the collected air is introduced into an introduction portion of the filter device. 6. The air blower used for forming a clean downdraft is provided upstream of a temperature and humidity controller. The processing system according to any one of the above. 7. The air, the temperature and humidity of which has been adjusted by the temperature / humidity adjusting device, is introduced into at least one of the liquid treatment device and the heat treatment device, separately from the upstream side of the means for forming a clean downdraft. And means for forming said introduced air into a descending airflow in said liquid processing apparatus or heat treatment apparatus independently of said descending airflow. , 4, 5, or 6. 8. A filter member for purifying air whose temperature and humidity has been adjusted by the temperature and humidity adjusting device when introducing the air into the liquid treatment device or the heat treatment device. The processing system according to claim 7. 9. The processed air passing through the filter device is configured to be mixed with air in the atmosphere in which the system is installed at an upstream side of the temperature and humidity adjustment device. The processing system according to claim 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, or 8. 10. The processed air that has passed through the filter device is configured to be mixed with air in an atmosphere in which the system is installed at a downstream side of the temperature / humidity adjusting device. Claims 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7,
Or the processing system according to any one of 8. 11. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the processed air that has passed through the filter device is mixed with air recovered from the system at an upstream side of the temperature and humidity control device. , 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, or 8. 12. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the processed air that has passed through the filter device is mixed with air recovered from the system downstream of the temperature and humidity controller. , 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, or 8. 13. The processed air that has passed through the filter device is configured to be mixed with air outside the atmosphere in which the system is installed at an upstream side of the temperature / humidity adjusting device. Claims 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7,
Or the processing system according to any one of 8. 14. The processed air that has passed through the filter device is configured to be mixed with air outside the atmosphere in which the system is installed on the downstream side of the temperature / humidity adjusting device. Claims 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7,
Or the processing system according to any one of 8. 15. A configuration in which processed air that has passed through the filter device is mixed with a part of the air supplied to a resist coating device provided in the system on the upstream side of the temperature and humidity adjustment device. The processing system according to any one of claims 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, and 8, wherein the processing is performed. 16. The processed air that has passed through the filter device is mixed with a part of the air supplied to the resist coating device provided in the system on the downstream side of the temperature / humidity adjusting device. The processing system according to any one of claims 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, and 8, wherein the processing is performed. 17. The system according to claim 1, wherein the air in the atmosphere in which the system is installed is also introduced into the inlet of the filter device.
9. The processing system according to any one of 5, 6, 7, or 8. 18. The filter device according to claim 1, wherein an air outside the atmosphere in which the system is installed is also introduced into the introduction portion of the filter device.
9. The processing system according to any one of 5, 6, 7, or 8. 19. An introduction system for introducing air into or outside of the atmosphere in which the system is installed, instead of air downstream of the downdraft in the system. The processing system according to any one of 1, 2, 3, and 4. 20. A processing system for processing a substrate to be processed in an air-conditioned atmosphere, comprising: a liquid processing system unit for processing the substrate to be processed with a processing liquid; and a heat treatment system unit for heating and cooling the substrate to be processed. A process section having at least one of the above, an upper space formed above the process section for supplying air to the process section, and removing at least an alkali component from air to be supplied to the upper space to remove air. A purifying section for purifying, a temperature / humidity adjusting section which communicates with each of the purifying section and the upper space, and adjusts both the temperature and the humidity of the air passing through the purifying section; and from the temperature / humidity adjusting section to the upper space. Sending air, lowering the air from the upper space into the process section,
And a blower for sending at least a part of the air flowing down the process section to the temperature / humidity adjusting section. The purifying section includes a chamber communicating with the outside of the system, and a chamber inside the chamber from outside the system. Air replenishing means for newly introducing air, a nozzle for spraying an impurity removing liquid into the chamber, and a gas-liquid contact portion formed in the chamber for bringing the sprayed impurity removing liquid into contact with introduced air. And a mist trap mechanism that is disposed downstream of the gas-liquid contact part and captures a mist-like impurity removing liquid in the airflow that has passed through the gas-liquid contact part. 21. Air is introduced into the chamber from below the gas-liquid contacting section by a blowing means, and the impurity removing liquid is sprayed into the chamber from above the gas-liquid contacting section by a nozzle. 21. The processing system according to claim 20, wherein the impurity removing liquid in the form of a counter flow contacts the air to remove alkali components from the air. 22. Air is introduced into the chamber from below the gas-liquid contact portion by a blowing means, and the impurity removing liquid is sprayed into the chamber from a side of the gas-liquid contact portion by a nozzle. 22. The mist-like impurity removing liquid is configured to cross-flow contact with air to remove an alkali component from the air.
A processing system according to item 1. 23. The processing system according to claim 20, wherein the purifying section has a plurality of gas-liquid contact sections arranged in upper and lower stages. 24. The gas-liquid contact section has a perforated tray provided to face the nozzle, for storing the impurity removing liquid sprayed from the nozzle, and for rectifying the flow of air introduced into the chamber. Claims 20, 21,
24. The processing system according to any one of 22 and 23. 25. The gas-liquid contact portion has a large number of solids for adhering an impurity removing liquid to a surface thereof and forming a gap between which air can flow.
The processing system according to claim 20, 21, 22, 23 or 24. 26. The processing system according to claim 25, wherein the solid material is a ceramic ball. 27. A blowing means, comprising: a first fan for replenishing air from outside the system; a second fan for circulating a flow of 60 to 70% by volume of air flowing in the processing section to the processing section; 21. A mixing box for mixing said supplementary air with circulating air.
The processing system according to any one of 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, and 26. 28. A concentration sensor for detecting the concentration of an alkali component of air supplied to a process section from an upper space, and an alkali component concentration of air supplied to the process section from an upper space based on a detection signal from the concentration sensor. 20. A control unit for controlling the operation of each of said blowing means and said air replenishing means so as to reduce the noise.
28. The processing system according to any one of 6 and 27. 29. An apparatus according to claim 20, further comprising an alkaline component remover for removing an alkaline component from a liquid collected at the bottom of the chamber of the purifying section.
29. The processing system according to any one of 24, 25, 26, 27 or 28. 30. A concentration sensor for detecting a concentration of an alkali component of a liquid accumulated at a bottom of a chamber of a purifying section, a liquid supply source for supplying an impurity removing liquid to a nozzle, and a detection signal from the concentration sensor. 30. The processing system according to claim 29, further comprising a controller configured to control operations of the liquid supply source and the alkaline component remover. 31. A temperature / humidity adjusting unit comprising: a container having an air inlet and an air outlet; a heater provided on the air inlet side for heating the air in the container; and a heater provided on the air outlet side for controlling the air in the container. 20. A humidifier for humidifying the humidifier.
The processing system according to any one of 4, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, and 30. 32. The processing system according to claim 31, wherein the temperature / humidity adjusting section is provided closer to the air inlet than the heater, and has a cooling mechanism for rapidly cooling the air in the container. . 33. The air conditioner according to claim 2, wherein the air blowing means is provided between the purifying unit and the temperature / humidity adjusting unit.
0, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 2
The processing system according to any one of 8, 29, 30, 31, and 32. 34. A drain pan provided below a gas-liquid contact portion, an alkali component remover for removing an alkali component from the liquid stored in the drain pan to purify the liquid, and a nozzle for supplying the purified liquid to a nozzle. And a circulation circuit for returning the pressure to the pressure.
4,25,26,27,28,29,30,31,32
35. The processing system according to any one of claims 33. 35. The apparatus according to claim 20, further comprising washing means for applying a fresh impurity removing liquid to the mist trap mechanism to wash away the previously removed impurity removing liquid from the mist trap mechanism. 23, 24, 25, 2
6, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33 or 3
5. The processing system according to any one of 4. 36. The method according to claim 20, wherein the impurity removing liquid is pure water having a temperature of 8 ° C. or less.
2,23,24,25,26,27,28,29,3
The processing system according to any one of 0, 31, 32, 33, 34, and 35. 37. The impurity removing liquid according to claim 20, wherein the concentration of the alkali component is pure water having a concentration of less than 1 ppb.
The processing system according to any one of 28, 29, 30, 31, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, or 36.