US 6,673,155 B2Granted

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

AssigneeTokyo Electron Limited

InventorsShinji Nagashima, Hiroyuki Miyamoto, Shizuo Ogawa, Shinji Koga

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Abstract

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

Claims18

Dependent claims

An apparatus configured to form a coating film, comprising:

a coating unit configured to coat a coating film by applying a coating solution onto a substrate;
and
a curing unit configured to cure the coating film by applying a heating process and a cooling process to the substrate,
wherein the curing unit comprises:
a heating chamber having a hot plate configured to controllably heat substrates having the coating solution applied thereon, one by one;
a ring shutter configured to surround the substrate to be heated by the hot plate to a predetermined temperature;
a cooling chamber communicated with the heating chamber and having a cooling plate configured to cool the substrate processed with heat;
a moving mechanism configured to move the cooling plate from the cooling chamber to the heating chamber;
an inert gas supply mechanism configured to supply an inert gas to the heating chamber and the cooling chamber;
and
an evacuation mechanism having a first evacuation passage communicating with the heating chamber and a second evacuation passage communicating with the cooling chamber;
an oxygen concentration detector having a first oxygen sensor provided in the first evacuation passage configured to detect oxygen present in a gas exhausted from the heating chamber, and a second oxygen sensor provided in the second evacuation passage configured to detect oxygen present in a gas exhausted from the cooling chamber;
and
a controller configured to:
control operations of the inert gas supply mechanism and the evacuation mechanism so as to keep a balance between a supply amount of an inert gas supplied by said inert gas supply mechanism and an exhaust amount of gas exhausted by the evacuation mechanism, thereby adjusting inner pressures of the heating chamber and the cooling chamber,
obtain a first oxygen concentration in the heating chamber based on a detection signal from the first oxygen sensor, and
obtain a second oxygen concentration in the cooling chamber based on a detection signal from the second oxygen sensor.

14 more elements

An apparatus configured to cure a coating film applied on a substrate by heating processing, comprising:

a heating chamber having a hot plate configured to controllably heat substrates coated with a coating solution, one by one;
a ring shutter configured to surround the substrate to be heated by the hot plate to a predetermined temperature;
a cooling chamber communicating with the heating chamber and having a cooling plate configured to cool the substrate processed with heat;
a moving mechanism configured to move the cooling plate from the cooling chamber to the heating chamber;
an inert gas supply mechanism configured to supply an inert gas to the heating chamber and the cooling chamber;
and
an evacuation mechanism having a first evacuation passage communicating with the heating chamber and a second evacuation passage communicating with the cooling chamber;
an oxygen concentration detector having a first oxygen sensor provided in the first evacuation passage configured to detect oxygen present in a gas exhausted from the heating chamber, and a second oxygen sensor provided in the second evacuation passage configured to detect oxygen present in a gas exhausted from the cooling chamber;
and
a controller configured to:
control operations of the inert gas supply mechanism and the evacuation mechanism so as to keep a balance between a supply amount of an inert gas supplied by said inert gas supply mechanism and an exhaust amount of gas exhausted by the evacuation mechanism, thereby adjusting inner pressures of the heating chamber and the cooling chamber,
obtain a first oxygen concentration in the heating chamber based on a detection signal from the first oxygen sensor, and
obtain a second oxygen concentration in the cooling chamber based on a detection signal from the second oxygen sensor.

10 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.