阅读说明：本技术 一种光刻胶涂覆装置及方法 (Photoresist coating device and method ) 是由 吴明锋 于 2020-03-27 设计创作，主要内容包括：本发明公开了一种光刻胶涂覆装置及方法,其中,光刻胶涂覆装置包括：液体气化模块,用于将液态光刻胶转换为气态光刻胶,并输送至光刻胶涂覆模块；所述光刻胶涂覆模块包括：蒸汽涂覆单元、盖板和承载台；所述蒸汽涂覆单元包括蒸汽通道和蒸汽喷孔；所述蒸汽喷孔穿过所述盖板设置；所述承载台用于装载基板；所述盖板设置于所述承载台靠近所述基板的一侧；所述蒸汽涂覆单元通过所述蒸汽通道获取所述气态光刻胶,并通过所述蒸汽喷孔向所述承载台上的基板的待涂覆面输送气态光刻胶并形成光刻胶涂层。本发明提供了一种光刻胶涂覆装置及方法,以解决光刻胶涂覆的厚度不均的问题。(The invention discloses a photoresist coating device and a method, wherein the photoresist coating device comprises: the liquid gasification module is used for converting the liquid photoresist into the gaseous photoresist and conveying the gaseous photoresist to the photoresist coating module; the photoresist coating module includes: the device comprises a steam coating unit, a cover plate and a bearing platform; the steam coating unit comprises a steam channel and a steam jet hole; the steam jet holes penetrate through the cover plate; the bearing table is used for loading a substrate; the cover plate is arranged on one side of the bearing table close to the substrate; and the steam coating unit acquires the gaseous photoresist through the steam channel, and conveys the gaseous photoresist to the surface to be coated of the substrate on the bearing table through the steam jet holes to form a photoresist coating. The invention provides a photoresist coating device and a photoresist coating method, which aim to solve the problem of uneven photoresist coating thickness.)

1. A photoresist coating apparatus, comprising:

the liquid gasification module is used for converting the liquid photoresist into the gaseous photoresist and conveying the gaseous photoresist to the photoresist coating module;

the photoresist coating module includes: the device comprises a steam coating unit, a cover plate and a bearing platform;

the steam coating unit comprises a steam channel and a steam jet hole; the steam jet holes penetrate through the cover plate; the bearing table is used for loading a substrate; the cover plate is arranged on one side of the bearing table close to the substrate;

and the steam coating unit acquires the gaseous photoresist through the steam channel, and conveys the gaseous photoresist to the surface to be coated of the substrate on the bearing table through the steam jet holes to form a photoresist coating.

2. The photoresist coating apparatus of claim 1, wherein the liquid vaporization module comprises: the liquid gasification cavity, the liquid channel, the pressurization pipeline and the steam output end;

the liquid channel is used for filling liquid photoresist into the liquid gasification cavity; the pressurizing pipeline is used for injecting pressurized gas into the liquid gasification cavity to increase the pressure in the liquid gasification cavity so that the liquid photoresist is gasified; the vapor output end is used for outputting the gaseous photoresist to the vapor coating unit.

3. The photoresist coating apparatus of claim 2, wherein the pressurized gas is an inert gas or pure compressed air.

4. The photoresist coating apparatus of claim 1,

the radial size range of one end of the steam jet hole close to the substrate is 1 mm-5 mm.

5. The photoresist coating apparatus of claim 1, wherein a radial dimension of the vapor jet increases gradually in a direction from the cover plate toward the substrate.

6. The photoresist coating apparatus of claim 1, wherein the vapor nozzle has a shape of a cone or a cylinder.

7. The photoresist coating apparatus of claim 1, wherein an orthographic projection of the vapor jet on the susceptor is located at a central position of the susceptor.

8. The photoresist coating apparatus of claim 1, further comprising: an equipment cavity and an air extraction unit;

the equipment cavity is formed by encapsulating a side wall, a bottom plate and the cover plate; the bearing table is positioned in the equipment cavity;

the air extraction unit is used for extracting air from the equipment cavity.

9. A resist coating method adapted to the resist coating apparatus of any one of claims 1 to 8, comprising:

loading a substrate on the susceptor;

and starting the liquid gasification module, and delivering gaseous photoresist to the surface to be coated of the substrate through the steam coating unit and forming a photoresist coating.

10. The photoresist coating method according to claim 9, further comprising, while delivering the gaseous photoresist to the surface to be coated of the substrate by the vapor coating unit and forming a photoresist coating layer:

and rotating the bearing table at a fixed angular speed to enable the thickness of the photoresist coating to be uniform.

Technical Field

The invention relates to the technical field of semiconductor photoetching, in particular to a photoresist coating device and a photoresist coating method.

Background

Photoresist (PR), also called Photoresist, is often applied to a substrate by a coater during the manufacturing process of a display product.

In the related art, the photoresist coater includes a turntable and a nozzle, the turntable has a bearing surface, when a photoresist is coated on a substrate, the substrate is fixedly disposed on the bearing surface of the turntable, and then a certain amount of photoresist is spin-coated on the substrate by the nozzle, and finally a photoresist layer is formed on the substrate.

Specifically, fig. 1 is a schematic structural diagram of a photoresist coater in the prior art, where in the prior art, as shown in fig. 1, the photoresist coater includes a turntable 12 'and a nozzle 11', the turntable 12 'has a bearing surface, the bearing surface is used for placing a substrate to be coated with a photoresist 13', when the photoresist 13 'is coated on the substrate, the substrate is fixedly disposed on the bearing surface of the turntable 12', then a certain amount of the photoresist 13 'is sprayed on a central region of the surface to be coated of the substrate by the nozzle 11', then the turntable 12 'is controlled to rotate to drive the substrate to rotate around the center of the substrate, and in the process of rotating the substrate, the photoresist 13' located in the central region of the surface to be coated diffuses toward a peripheral region of the surface to be coated under the action of centrifugal force, and finally a photoresist layer is formed on the surface to be coated. On the basis, the movable nozzle 11 'performs coating of the photoresist 13' to accelerate the coating speed of the photoresist 13 ', as shown in fig. 2 and 3, fig. 2 is a schematic structural view of another photoresist coater in the prior art, fig. 3 is a schematic structural view of another photoresist coater in the prior art, and the movable nozzle 11' accelerates the coating process of the photoresist 13 'in the radial direction of the turntable 12'.

However, the photoresist has a high viscosity, which causes a high diffusion resistance of the photoresist on the substrate, so that the thicknesses of the photoresist at the center and the edge of the substrate are different, and problems such as stacking of the photoresist or difficulty in covering the photoresist at certain positions are likely to occur, thereby making the photoresist difficult to coat.

Disclosure of Invention

The embodiment of the invention provides a photoresist coating device and a photoresist coating method, which aim to solve the problem of uneven photoresist coating thickness.

In a first aspect, an embodiment of the present invention provides a photoresist coating apparatus, including: the liquid gasification module is used for converting the liquid photoresist into the gaseous photoresist and conveying the gaseous photoresist to the photoresist coating module;

the photoresist coating module includes: the device comprises a steam coating unit, a cover plate and a bearing platform;

the steam coating unit comprises a steam channel and a steam jet hole; the steam jet holes penetrate through the cover plate; the bearing table is used for loading a substrate; the cover plate is arranged on one side of the bearing table close to the substrate;

and the steam coating unit acquires the gaseous photoresist through the steam channel, and conveys the gaseous photoresist to the surface to be coated of the substrate on the bearing table through the steam jet holes to form a photoresist coating.

In a second aspect, an embodiment of the present invention further provides a photoresist coating method, which is applicable to the photoresist coating apparatus provided in any embodiment of the present invention, and includes:

loading a substrate on the susceptor;

and starting the liquid gasification module, and delivering gaseous photoresist to the surface to be coated of the substrate through the steam coating unit and forming a photoresist coating.

According to the invention, the photoresist coating device comprises a liquid gasification module and a photoresist coating module, wherein the liquid gasification module can gasify liquid photoresist into gaseous photoresist and provide the gaseous photoresist to the photoresist drawing module for coating the photoresist. Specifically, the photoresist coating module comprises a steam coating unit, a cover plate and a bearing table, wherein the steam coating unit obtains the gaseous photoresist output by the liquid gasification module through a steam channel and coats the gaseous photoresist through steam jet holes, the bearing table is used for placing a substrate, the cover plate is arranged on one side, close to the substrate, of the bearing table and used for preventing the gaseous photoresist from overflowing, the steam jet holes are formed in the cover plate and penetrate through the cover plate, so that the gaseous photoresist can reach the surface to be coated of the substrate, and a photoresist coating is deposited on the surface to be coated to form a photoresist coating. According to the embodiment of the invention, the photoresist coating is formed by the gaseous photoresist by adopting a steam coating method, so that the thicknesses of all positions of the finally formed photoresist coating are the same, the coating uniformity of the photoresist is improved, and the photoresist coating device has the advantages of simple structure, easiness in operation and high photoetching efficiency.

Drawings

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a photoresist coater of the prior art;

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of another photoresist coater of the prior art;

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram of another photoresist coater of the prior art;

FIG. 4 is a schematic structural diagram of a photoresist coating apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram of a liquid gasification module according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 6 is a schematic view of another resist coating apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 7 is a schematic flow chart of a photoresist coating method provided by an embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 8 is a flow chart illustrating another method for coating a photoresist according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Detailed Description

The present invention will be described in further detail with reference to the accompanying drawings and examples. It is to be understood that the specific embodiments described herein are merely illustrative of the invention and are not limiting of the invention. It should be further noted that, for the convenience of description, only some of the structures related to the present invention are shown in the drawings, not all of the structures.

An embodiment of the present invention provides a photoresist coating apparatus, including:

the liquid gasification module is used for converting the liquid photoresist into the gaseous photoresist and conveying the gaseous photoresist to the photoresist coating module;

the photoresist coating module includes: the device comprises a steam coating unit, a cover plate and a bearing platform;

the steam coating unit comprises a steam channel and a steam jet hole; the steam jet hole penetrates through the cover plate; the bearing table is used for loading the substrate; the cover plate is arranged on one side of the bearing table close to the substrate;

the vapor coating unit obtains the gaseous photoresist through the vapor channel, and conveys the gaseous photoresist to the surface to be coated of the substrate on the bearing table through the vapor spraying holes to form a photoresist coating.

In the embodiment of the invention, the photoresist coating device comprises a liquid gasification module and a photoresist coating module, wherein the liquid gasification module can gasify liquid photoresist into gaseous photoresist and provide the gaseous photoresist to the photoresist drawing module for coating the photoresist. Specifically, the photoresist coating module comprises a steam coating unit, a cover plate and a bearing table, wherein the steam coating unit obtains gaseous photoresist output by the liquid gasification module through a steam channel and coats the gaseous photoresist through steam jet holes, the bearing table is used for placing a substrate, the cover plate is arranged on one side, close to the substrate, of the bearing table and used for preventing the gaseous photoresist from overflowing, the steam jet holes are formed in the cover plate and penetrate through the cover plate, so that the gaseous photoresist can reach the surface to be coated of the substrate, and a photoresist coating is deposited on the surface to be coated. According to the embodiment of the invention, the photoresist coating is formed by the gaseous photoresist by adopting a steam coating method, so that the thicknesses of all positions of the finally formed photoresist coating are the same, the coating uniformity of the photoresist is improved, and the photoresist coating device has the advantages of simple structure, easiness in operation and high photoetching efficiency.

The above is the core idea of the present invention, and the technical solution in the embodiment of the present invention will be clearly and completely described below with reference to the drawings in the embodiment of the present invention. All other embodiments obtained by a person of ordinary skill in the art based on the embodiments of the present invention without any creative work belong to the protection scope of the present invention.

In the panel manufacturing process, each film layer structure needs to be formed on a substrate through multiple photolithography processes, and the substrate mentioned in this embodiment may be a substrate base plate or a substrate base plate on which a film layer with a certain pattern is formed. Fig. 4 is a schematic structural diagram of a photoresist coating apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention, and as shown in fig. 4, the photoresist coating apparatus includes a photoresist coating module 1 and a liquid vaporizing module 2, and the present embodiment abandons a conventional process of dropping a photoresist droplet on a substrate through a nozzle, but vaporizes a liquid photoresist to form a gaseous photoresist, and forms a photoresist coating on a substrate 3 through the gaseous photoresist, that is, forms a photoresist coating in a vapor photoresist coating manner, so that the photoresist thickness is uniform, and the accuracy of the photoresist coating process is enhanced. The liquid gasification module 2 is arranged in the embodiment, liquid photoresist is converted into gaseous photoresist, and then the gaseous photoresist is input into the photoresist coating module 1 and is used for coating the gaseous photoresist on the substrate 3 layer by layer, and the gaseous photoresist is rapidly and uniformly diffused, so that a compact and uniform photoresist coating is formed. The photoresist coating module 1 includes a vapor coating unit (including a vapor channel 13 and a vapor spraying hole 11), a cover plate 14 and a carrier table 12. Plummer 12 is used for placing or loading base plate 3, and steam coating unit sets up in plummer 12 one side near base plate 3 for base plate 3 treat that the coating face contacts gaseous state photoresist, and 14 pages of apron set up in plummer 12 one side near base plate 3, thereby avoid gaseous state photoresist from the photoresist coating device, avoid harmful gas to get into in the external environment. Illustratively, as shown in fig. 4, the substrate 3 is loaded on the susceptor 12, and the cover plate 14 and the steam coating unit are disposed above the substrate 3. The vapor coating unit obtains the gaseous photoresist in the liquid gasification module 2 through the vapor channel 13 and sprays the gaseous photoresist to the surface to be coated of the substrate 3 through the vapor spray holes 11, so that the gaseous photoresist is deposited on the surface to be coated layer by layer to form a uniform photoresist coating. The vapor nozzle 11 is disposed through the cover plate 14 such that the vapor nozzle 11 can spray the gaseous photoresist onto the substrate 3. In order to save the cost of the photoresist coating apparatus, the steam spraying holes 11 may be directly formed on the cover plate 14, that is, the steam spraying holes 11 are formed by digging through holes on the cover plate 14. Similarly, the vapor channel 13 can be formed on the cover plate 14 to further save the manufacturing cost of the photoresist coating apparatus.

Optionally, with continued reference to fig. 4, the photoresist coating apparatus may further comprise: an equipment cavity 16 and an air extraction unit 15; the equipment cavity 16 is enclosed by the side walls 17, the bottom plate 18 and the cover plate 14; the carrier 12 is located within the equipment cavity 16; the evacuation unit 15 is used to evacuate the equipment cavity 16. In the embodiment, the vapor photoresist coating method is adopted for coating the photoresist, a relatively closed process environment needs to be provided, and the sidewall 17, the bottom plate 18 and the cover plate 14 form the equipment cavity 16, so that the gaseous photoresist is prevented from overflowing and polluting the ambient air. The carrier 12 and the substrate 3 are located in the device cavity 16. In addition, in order to prevent the problem that the pressure in the equipment cavity 16 is too high due to continuous input of the gaseous photoresist, the present embodiment uses the pumping unit 15 to pump the gas in the equipment cavity 16 with a suitable pressure, so as to maintain the dynamic balance of the pressure in the equipment cavity 16. Optionally, the air extracting unit 15 extracts air through a plurality of air extracting channels 151 extending into the equipment cavity 16, for example, the air extracting channels 151 are arranged in a central symmetry manner relative to the center of the bearing table 12, so that in the air extracting process, the pressure at each position in the equipment cavity 16 is balanced, a stable process environment is provided for a vapor photoresist coating mode, and the uniformity of the thickness of the photoresist coating is improved.

Alternatively, referring to fig. 5, fig. 5 is a schematic structural diagram of a liquid gasification module according to an embodiment of the present invention, where the liquid gasification module may include: a liquid gasification chamber 21, a liquid channel 24, a pressurization pipeline 22 and a steam output end 23; the liquid channel 24 is used for filling liquid photoresist 25 into the liquid gasification cavity 21; the pressurizing pipeline 22 is used for injecting pressurized gas into the liquid vaporizing chamber 21 to increase the pressure in the liquid vaporizing chamber 21 so as to vaporize the liquid photoresist 25; the vapor output terminal 23 is used to output the gaseous photoresist to the vapor coating unit. In this embodiment, the liquid vaporization module may be a liquid vaporization furnace, which can change the liquid photoresist 25 into a gaseous photoresist by pressurization. In this embodiment, the vaporization process is implemented in the liquid vaporization chamber 21, and the vaporization process of the liquid photoresist 25 is as follows: injecting liquid photoresist 25 into the liquid vaporization chamber 21 through the liquid passage 24; then, pressurized gas is input into the liquid gasification cavity 21 through a pressurization pipeline 22 so as to increase the pressure intensity in the liquid gasification cavity 21 and generate gaseous photoresist; the gaseous photoresist may then be output through vapor output 23. Referring to fig. 4 and 5, the vaporized photoresist is output from the vapor output terminal 23 and enters the vapor channel 13 of the photoresist coating module 1 to supply the photoresist coating module 1 with the gaseous photoresist. Alternatively, as shown in fig. 5, the pressure pipe 22 may be immersed in the liquid photoresist 25 in the liquid vaporization chamber 21, and the vapor output end 23 is higher than the liquid surface of the liquid photoresist 25. So that the pressurized gas can sufficiently contact the liquid photoresist 25 and the gaseous photoresist can diffuse toward the top of the liquid vaporization chamber 21, the vapor outlet 23 is higher than the liquid level of the liquid photoresist 25, and the vapor outlet 23 can be disposed at the top of the liquid vaporization chamber 21.

Alternatively, the pressurized gas may be an inert gas or pure compressed air. The pure compressed air or inert gas can avoid reaction with the photoresist, and the cleanness of the gasification environment is maintained, so that the pressurized gas only plays a role in pressurization. Illustratively, the pressurized gas may be nitrogen, which is stable and does not destroy the chemical properties of the photoresist.

Fig. 6 is a schematic structural view of another photoresist coating apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention, and alternatively, as shown in fig. 4 and 6, the vapor nozzle 11 may have a conical or cylindrical shape. Fig. 4 shows a case where the steam ejection holes 11 are cylindrical, and fig. 6 shows a case where the steam ejection holes 11 are conical. For example, in the present embodiment, the steam spraying holes 11 may also be in a prism shape, a frustum shape, or other regular or irregular shapes, which is not limited in the present embodiment.

Alternatively, with continued reference to fig. 6, the radial dimension of the steam ejection holes 11 may gradually increase in a direction from the cover plate 14 toward the base plate 3. In order to further increase the base speed of the steam and the substrate 3, the radial dimension of the steam jet holes 11 may be increased, and particularly, the radial dimension of one end of the steam jet holes 11 close to the substrate 3 is increased, in this example, the radial dimension of the steam jet holes 11 is gradually increased in the direction close to the substrate 3, so as to effectively increase the direct contact area of the gas photoresist and the substrate 3, thereby generating a more uniform and effective photoresist coating.

Alternatively, as shown in fig. 4 and 6, the radial dimension d of the end of the steam ejection hole 11 near the base plate 3 may range from 1mm to 5 mm. The radial dimension d is larger than 1mm, so that the contact area of the gaseous photoresist and the substrate 3 is maintained in a large range, the forming process of the photoresist coating is accelerated, and the radial dimension d is smaller than 5mm, so that the forming speed and the thickness of the photoresist coating are conveniently controlled.

Alternatively, with continued reference to fig. 4 and 6, the orthographic projection of the steam injection holes 11 on the carrier table 12 may be located at the center of the carrier table 12. In the direction perpendicular to the bearing table 12, the projection of the steam jet hole 11 on the bearing table 12 is located at the center of the bearing table 12, so that a symmetrical and uniform photoresist coating is formed finally.

Based on the same concept, an embodiment of the present invention further provides a photoresist coating method, where the photoresist coating method provided by any embodiment of the present invention is used, and fig. 7 is a schematic flow chart of the photoresist coating method provided by the embodiment of the present invention, as shown in fig. 7, the method of the present embodiment includes the following steps:

step S110 is to mount the substrate on a stage.

And step S120, starting the liquid gasification module, conveying the gaseous photoresist to the surface to be coated of the substrate through the steam coating unit, and forming a photoresist coating.

In the embodiment of the invention, the photoresist coating device comprises a liquid gasification module and a photoresist coating module, wherein the liquid gasification module can gasify liquid photoresist into gaseous photoresist and provide the gaseous photoresist to the photoresist drawing module for coating the photoresist. Specifically, the photoresist coating module comprises a steam coating unit, a cover plate and a bearing table, wherein the steam coating unit obtains gaseous photoresist output by the liquid gasification module through a steam channel and coats the gaseous photoresist through steam jet holes, the bearing table is used for placing a substrate, the cover plate is arranged on one side, close to the substrate, of the bearing table and used for preventing the gaseous photoresist from overflowing, the steam jet holes are formed in the cover plate and penetrate through the cover plate, so that the gaseous photoresist can reach the surface to be coated of the substrate, and a photoresist coating is deposited on the surface to be coated. According to the embodiment of the invention, the photoresist coating is formed by the gaseous photoresist by adopting a steam coating method, so that the thicknesses of all positions of the finally formed photoresist coating are the same, the coating uniformity of the photoresist is improved, and the photoresist coating device has the advantages of simple structure, easiness in operation and high photoetching efficiency.

On the basis of the foregoing embodiments, an embodiment of the present invention further provides a photoresist coating method, as shown in fig. 8, where fig. 8 is a schematic flow chart of another photoresist coating method provided in the embodiment of the present invention, and as shown in fig. 8, the method of the present embodiment includes the following steps:

step S210 is to mount the substrate on a stage.

And S220, starting the liquid gasification module, conveying the gaseous photoresist to the surface to be coated of the substrate through the steam coating unit, and forming a photoresist coating.

Step S230, rotating the susceptor at a fixed angular velocity to make the thickness of the photoresist coating uniform.

In this embodiment, when the vapor coating unit generates the gaseous photoresist on the surface to be coated of the substrate and forms the photoresist coating, the bearing table can be controlled to rotate at a fixed angular speed, so that the thickness of the photoresist coating is more uniform. In this embodiment, step S220 and step S230 are performed simultaneously, which is beneficial to forming a uniform and dense photoresist coating.

Optionally, referring to fig. 4 and 6, when the vapor coating unit generates the gaseous photoresist on the surface to be coated of the substrate and forms a photoresist coating, the equipment cavity where the bearing table is located may be further evacuated by the evacuation unit, so as to prevent the equipment cavity from being over-pressurized and affecting the vapor coating effect of the gaseous photoresist, and to effectively ensure the safety of the photoresist coating apparatus and ensure the stability of the process environment.

It is to be noted that the foregoing is only illustrative of the preferred embodiments of the present invention and the technical principles employed. It will be understood by those skilled in the art that the present invention is not limited to the particular embodiments described herein, but is capable of various obvious changes, rearrangements and substitutions as will now become apparent to those skilled in the art without departing from the scope of the invention. Therefore, although the present invention has been described in greater detail by the above embodiments, the present invention is not limited to the above embodiments, and may include other equivalent embodiments without departing from the spirit of the present invention, and the scope of the present invention is determined by the scope of the appended claims.