Substrate processing device and substrate processing method

Abstract

To reduce the time it takes for a substrate to reach the appropriate processing temperature while avoiding an increase in power consumption in a substrate processing technology that covers and protects the top surface of the substrate with a shielding plate, heats the top surface of the substrate to the appropriate processing temperature, and then supplies a processing solution to the substrate for processing.SOLUTION: A substrate processing device includes a first inert gas supply unit that supplies nitrogen gas to a micro-space formed between the top surface of a substrate and a shielding plate that covers the top surface of the substrate, a second inert gas supply unit that supplies a highly thermally conductive inert gas having a higher thermal conductivity than the nitrogen gas to the micro-space, and a control unit that controls the first inert gas supply unit and the second inert gas supply unit so that the micro-space is filled with nitrogen gas during the supply of a processing liquid to the substrate, after the micro-space has been supplied with the high thermal conductivity inert gas before the supply of the processing liquid to the substrate, and the nitrogen gas is supplied in place of the high thermal conductivity inert gas.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 5

Description

[Technical field]

[0001] This invention relates to a substrate processing technology in which a processing solution is supplied to a horizontally oriented substrate while covering the upper surface of the substrate with a shielding plate. Here, the substrate includes a semiconductor wafer, a glass substrate for a liquid crystal display device, a glass substrate for a plasma display device, a substrate for an optical disk, a substrate for a magnetic disk, a substrate for a magneto-optical disk, a glass substrate for a photomask, a substrate for a solar cell, and the like (hereinafter simply referred to as "substrate"). In addition, the processing includes a chemical processing, an etching processing, a cleaning processing, and the like. [Background technology]

[0002] There is known a substrate processing apparatus that supplies a processing liquid to a substrate such as a semiconductor wafer while rotating the substrate to perform chemical processing, cleaning processing, etc. For example, in the apparatus described in Patent Document 1, a processing liquid is supplied to the peripheral portion of a substrate that is held by a spin chuck and rotated in a processing chamber. In this apparatus, a shielding unit with a built-in heating unit is used to perform favorable processing on the peripheral portion of the substrate. [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0003] [Patent Document 1] Patent No. 5437168 Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0004] This conventional technology describes a technical idea of ​​heating the upper surface of the substrate with a heater provided on an opposing plate (corresponding to the "blocking plate" in the present invention) that faces the upper surface of the substrate while covering the surface of the substrate to protect it. More specifically, heat generated from the heater is transferred to the opposing plate. The heated opposing plate then heats the gap (corresponding to the "microspace" in the present invention) between the substrate held by the holder and the opposing plate, thereby heating the surface of the substrate. This heating process raises the temperature of the substrate to an appropriate processing temperature that is higher than room temperature, thereby increasing the processing rate.

[0005] From the viewpoint of improving the throughput required to process one substrate, it is important not only to simply increase the processing rate but also to shorten the time required to heat the substrate to an appropriate processing temperature (hereinafter referred to as "heating time"). For example, in the device described in Patent Document 1, in order to heat the substrate, it is conceivable to increase the set temperature of the gas supplied to the gap between the substrate and the opposing plate or the set temperature of the heater, but there is a certain limit when the thermal effect on the components surrounding the substrate and the environmental load due to increased power consumption are taken into consideration.

[0006] The present invention has been made in consideration of the above-mentioned problems, and has an object to shorten the time it takes for a substrate to be heated to an appropriate processing temperature while avoiding an increase in power consumption in a substrate processing technology in which a blocking plate covers and protects the upper surface of a substrate and heats the upper surface of the substrate to raise the temperature of the substrate to an appropriate processing temperature, and then a processing liquid is supplied to the substrate to process the substrate. [Means for solving the problem]

[0007] One aspect of the present invention is a substrate processing apparatus comprising: a substrate holding unit that holds a substrate in a horizontal position; an upper surface protection and heating mechanism that covers an upper surface of the substrate held by the substrate holding unit with a shielding plate to form a microspace between the upper surface and the substrate, and heats the substrate through the microspace with a heater provided on the shielding plate; a processing liquid supply unit that supplies a processing liquid to the heated substrate; a first inert gas supply unit that supplies nitrogen gas to the microspace; a second inert gas supply unit that supplies a highly thermally conductive inert gas having a higher thermal conductivity than nitrogen gas to the microspace; and a control unit that controls the first inert gas supply unit and the second inert gas supply unit so that the highly thermally conductive inert gas is supplied to the microspace before the processing liquid is supplied to the substrate, and then nitrogen gas is supplied in place of the highly thermally conductive inert gas, so that the microspace is maintained as a nitrogen gas atmosphere while the processing liquid is being supplied to the substrate.

[0008] Another aspect of the present invention is a substrate processing method comprising the steps of covering an upper surface of a horizontally oriented substrate with a barrier plate to form a microspace between the upper surface and the barrier plate, and heating the substrate through the microspace with a heater provided on the barrier plate; supplying a processing liquid to the heated substrate; starting a supply of a highly thermally conductive inert gas having a higher thermal conductivity than nitrogen gas to the microspace before supplying the processing liquid to the substrate; and starting a supply of nitrogen gas to the microspace in place of the highly thermally conductive inert gas at or before starting supply of the processing liquid to the substrate, thereby maintaining a nitrogen gas atmosphere in the microspace while the processing liquid is being supplied to the substrate.

[0009] In the invention thus configured, while the processing liquid is being supplied to the substrate to process it, nitrogen gas is supplied to the microspace to form a nitrogen gas atmosphere. Here, nitrogen gas may be supplied to the microspace before the processing liquid is supplied to the substrate. However, in the present invention, a highly thermally conductive inert gas having a higher thermal conductivity than nitrogen gas is supplied to the microspace before the processing liquid is supplied to the substrate. Therefore, heat from the heater is applied to the substrate through the microspace of the highly thermally conductive inert gas atmosphere, and the substrate can be heated to a predetermined suitable processing temperature in a relatively short time. Effect of the Invention

[0010] According to the present invention, it is possible to reduce the time required for the substrate to reach an appropriate processing temperature while avoiding an increase in power consumption. [Brief description of the drawings]

[0011] [Figure 1] 1 is a plan view showing a schematic configuration of a substrate processing system equipped with a first embodiment of a substrate processing apparatus according to the present invention. [Diagram 2] 1 is a diagram showing a configuration of a first embodiment of a substrate processing apparatus according to the present invention. [Diagram 3] 2 is a plan view showing a schematic configuration of a substrate processing section disposed on a base member. FIG. [Figure 4] FIG. 2 is an external perspective view showing the configuration of an upper surface protection and heating mechanism. [Diagram 5] 5A to 5C are diagrams illustrating the operation of an upper surface protection and heating mechanism and a processing mechanism. [Figure 6] 3 is a flowchart showing a process executed in the substrate processing apparatus shown in FIG. [Figure 7] 3 is a graph showing the results of verifying the heating effects of heated clean air and heated helium gas in the substrate processing apparatus shown in FIG. 2. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0012] FIG. 1 is a plan view showing a schematic configuration of a substrate processing system equipped with a first embodiment of a substrate processing apparatus according to the present invention. This is not an external view of the substrate processing system 100, but a schematic view showing the internal structure of the substrate processing system 100 by removing the outer wall panel and other parts of the substrate processing system 100. The substrate processing system 100 is a single-wafer processing apparatus that is installed, for example, in a clean room and processes substrates W having a circuit pattern or the like (hereinafter referred to as a "pattern") formed only on one main surface thereof. Then, in a processing unit 1 equipped in the substrate processing system 100, substrate processing is performed using a processing liquid. In this specification, the pattern-formed surface (one main surface) of both main surfaces of a substrate on which a pattern is formed is referred to as the "front surface", and the other main surface on the opposite side on which a pattern is not formed is referred to as the "rear surface". In addition, the surface facing downward is referred to as the "lower surface", and the surface facing upward is referred to as the "upper surface". In addition, in this specification, the "pattern-formed surface" means a surface of a substrate on which a concave-convex pattern is formed in an arbitrary region.

[0013] Here, the "substrate" in this embodiment can be any of various substrates such as a semiconductor wafer, a glass substrate for a photomask, a glass substrate for a liquid crystal display, a glass substrate for a plasma display, a substrate for an FED (Field Emission Display), a substrate for an optical disk, a substrate for a magnetic disk, a substrate for a magneto-optical disk, etc. In the following, a substrate processing apparatus used mainly for processing semiconductor wafers will be described with reference to the drawings, but the present invention can be similarly applied to the processing of the various substrates exemplified above.

[0014] As shown in Fig. 1, the substrate processing system 100 has a substrate processing area 110 where processing is performed on substrates W. An indexer unit 120 is provided adjacent to the substrate processing area 110. The indexer unit 120 is a container C for accommodating the substrates W (such as a FOUP (Front Opening Unified Pod) that accommodates multiple substrates W in a sealed state, a SMIF (Standard Insulation Folding Insulation Folding Insulation), ... The indexer unit 120 has a container holding unit 121 capable of holding a plurality of containers (e.g., pods with a built-in mechanical interface, OCs (Open Cassettes), etc.) and an indexer robot 122 for accessing the containers C held by the container holding unit 121 to take out unprocessed substrates W from the containers C and store processed substrates W in the containers C. Each container C contains a plurality of substrates W in a substantially horizontal position.

[0015] The indexer robot 122 comprises a base 122a fixed to the device housing, an articulated arm 122b rotatably provided around a vertical axis relative to the base 122a, and a hand 122c attached to the tip of the articulated arm 122b. The hand 122c is structured so that a substrate W can be placed on its upper surface and held thereon. Indexer robots having such articulated arms and hands for holding substrates are well known, and therefore detailed description thereof will be omitted.

[0016] In the substrate processing area 110, a mounting table 112 is provided so that a substrate W from an indexer robot 122 can be mounted thereon. In addition, in a plan view, a substrate transport robot 111 is disposed at approximately the center of the substrate processing area 110. Furthermore, a plurality of processing units 1 are disposed so as to surround the substrate transport robot 111. Specifically, a plurality of processing units 1 are disposed facing the space in which the substrate transport robot 111 is disposed. The substrate transport robot 111 randomly accesses the mounting table 112 for these processing units 1, and transfers the substrate W between the mounting table 112 and the processing units 1. Meanwhile, each processing unit 1 performs a predetermined process on the substrate W, and corresponds to the substrate processing apparatus according to the present invention. In this embodiment, these processing units (substrate processing apparatus) 1 have the same function. Therefore, parallel processing of a plurality of substrates W is possible. Note that the mounting table 112 is not necessarily required if the substrate transport robot 111 can directly transfer the substrate W from the indexer robot 122.

[0017] FIG. 2 is a diagram showing the configuration of a first embodiment of a substrate processing apparatus according to the present invention. FIG. 3 is a plan view of a part of the substrate processing apparatus shown in FIG. 2, showing a schematic configuration of a substrate processing section. In FIG. 2, FIG. 3 and each of the figures referred to below, the dimensions and numbers of each part may be exaggerated or simplified for ease of understanding. A chamber 11 used in a substrate processing apparatus (processing unit) 1 has a bottom wall 11a having a rectangular shape in a plan view from vertically above, four side walls 11b to 11e standing from the periphery of the bottom wall 11a, and a ceiling wall 11f covering the upper ends of the side walls 11b to 11e. The bottom wall 11a, the side walls 11b to 11e and the ceiling wall 11f are combined to form an internal space 12 having a substantially rectangular parallelepiped shape.

[0018] Base support members 16, 16 are fixed to the upper surface of the bottom wall 11a by fastening parts such as bolts while being spaced apart from each other. That is, the base support member 16 stands upright from the bottom wall 11a. A base member 17 is fixed to the upper ends of these base support members 16, 16 by fastening parts such as bolts. This base member 17 has a planar size smaller than the bottom wall 11a and is made of a plate material that is thicker and has higher rigidity than the bottom wall 11a. As shown in FIG. 2, the base member 17 is raised vertically upward from the bottom wall 11a by the base support members 16, 16. That is, a so-called raised floor structure is formed at the bottom of the internal space 12 of the chamber 11. The upper surface of this base member 17 is finished so that a substrate processing unit SP that performs substrate processing on the substrate W can be installed, as will be described later in detail, and the substrate processing unit SP is installed on the upper surface. Each part that constitutes this substrate processing unit SP is electrically connected to a control unit 10 that controls the entire apparatus, and operates according to instructions from the control unit 10. The shape of base member 17 and the configuration and operation of substrate processing section SP will be described in detail later.

[0019] As shown in FIG. 2, a fan filter unit (FFU) 13 is attached to the ceiling wall 11f of the chamber 11. This fan filter unit 13 further purifies the air in the clean room in which the substrate processing apparatus 1 is installed and supplies it to the internal space 12 in the chamber 11. The fan filter unit 13 includes a fan and a filter (e.g., a HEPA (High Efficiency Particulate Air) filter) for taking in air in the clean room and sending it out into the chamber 11, and sends the clean air through an opening 11f1 provided in the ceiling wall 11f. This forms a downflow of clean air in the internal space 12 in the chamber 11. In order to uniformly distribute the clean air supplied from the fan filter unit 13, a punching plate 14 having a large number of blowing holes is provided directly below the ceiling wall 11f.

[0020] In the substrate processing apparatus 1, of the four side walls 11b to 11e, the side wall 11b facing the substrate transport robot 111 is provided with a transfer opening 11b1, which communicates the internal space 12 with the outside of the chamber 11. Therefore, a hand (not shown) of the substrate transport robot 111 can access the substrate processing section SP through the transfer opening 11b1. That is, the transfer opening 11b1 allows the substrate W to be loaded and unloaded into the internal space 12. A shutter 15 for opening and closing the transfer opening 11b1 is attached to the side wall 11b.

[0021] A shutter opening / closing mechanism (not shown) is connected to the shutter 15, and opens and closes the shutter 15 in response to an opening / closing command from the control unit 10. More specifically, in the substrate processing apparatus 1, when an unprocessed substrate W is carried into the chamber 11, the shutter opening / closing mechanism opens the shutter 15, and the unprocessed substrate W is carried into the substrate processing section SP in a face-up position by the hand of the substrate transport robot 111. That is, the substrate W is placed on the spin chuck 21 of the substrate processing section SP with its upper surface Wf facing upward. Then, when the hand of the substrate transport robot 111 retreats from the chamber 11 after the substrate is carried in, the shutter opening / closing mechanism closes the shutter 15. Then, the substrate processing section SP performs bevel processing on the peripheral portion Ws of the substrate W in the processing space of the chamber 11 (corresponding to the sealed space 12a described later in detail). After the bevel processing is completed, the shutter opening / closing mechanism opens the shutter 15 again, and the hand of the substrate transport robot 111 carries out the processed substrate W from the substrate processing section SP. In this manner, in this embodiment, the internal space 12 of the chamber 11 is maintained in a room temperature environment. In this specification, "room temperature" means a temperature range of 5°C to 35°C.

[0022] The side wall 11d is located on the opposite side of the side wall 11b across the substrate processing section SP (FIG. 2) installed on the base member 17. A maintenance opening 11d1 is provided in the side wall 11d. During maintenance, as shown in the figure, the maintenance opening 11d1 is opened. This allows an operator to access the substrate processing section SP from outside the apparatus through the maintenance opening 11d1. On the other hand, during substrate processing, the cover member 19 is attached so as to cover the maintenance opening 11d1. Thus, in this embodiment, the cover member 19 is detachable from the side wall 11d.

[0023] In this manner, the shutter 15 and the lid member 19 are disposed on the outer wall side of the chamber 11. On the other hand, inside the chamber 11, i.e., in the internal space 12, a substrate processing section SP is installed on the upper surface of a base member 17 having a raised floor structure. The configuration of the substrate processing section SP will be described below with reference to Figs. 2 to 5.

[0024] In FIG. 3, the configuration of the substrate processing section installed on the base member is shown. In the following, in order to clarify the positional relationship and operation of each part of the apparatus, a coordinate system in which the Z direction is the vertical direction and the XY plane is the horizontal plane is appropriately added. In the coordinate system in FIG. 3, the horizontal direction parallel to the transport path TP of the substrate W is the "X direction", and the horizontal direction perpendicular thereto is the "Y direction". More specifically, the directions from the internal space 12 of the chamber 11 toward the transport opening 11b1 and the maintenance opening 11d1 are respectively referred to as the "+X direction" and the "-X direction", the directions from the internal space 12 of the chamber 11 toward the side walls 11c and 11e are respectively referred to as the "-Y direction" and the "+Y direction", and the directions vertically upward and vertically downward are respectively referred to as the "+Z direction" and the "-Z direction".

[0025] The substrate processing section SP is equipped with a holding and rotating mechanism 2, a scattering prevention mechanism 3, an upper surface protection and heating mechanism 4, a processing mechanism 5, an atmosphere separation mechanism 6, a lifting mechanism 7, a centering mechanism 8, and a substrate observation mechanism 9. These mechanisms are provided on a base member 17. In other words, the holding and rotating mechanism 2, the scattering prevention mechanism 3, the upper surface protection and heating mechanism 4, the processing mechanism 5, the atmosphere separation mechanism 6, the lifting mechanism 7, the centering mechanism 8, and the substrate observation mechanism 9 are arranged in a predetermined positional relationship relative to one another, based on the base member 17, which has a higher rigidity than the chamber 11.

[0026] 2, the holding and rotating mechanism 2 includes a substrate holding part 2A that holds the substrate W in a substantially horizontal position with its surface facing upward, and a rotation mechanism 2B that synchronously rotates the substrate holding part 2A holding the substrate W and a part of the shatter prevention mechanism 3. Therefore, when the rotation mechanism 2B operates in response to a rotation command from the control unit 10, the substrate W and the rotating cup part 31 of the shatter prevention mechanism 3 are rotated around a rotation axis AX that extends parallel to the vertical direction Z.

[0027] The substrate holding unit 2A includes a spin chuck 21, which is a disk-shaped member smaller than the substrate W. The spin chuck 21 is provided so that its upper surface is substantially horizontal and its central axis coincides with the rotation axis AX. In particular, in this embodiment, as shown in FIG. 3, the center of the substrate holding unit 2A (corresponding to the central axis of the spin chuck 21) is offset in the (+X) direction from the center 11g of the chamber 11. That is, the substrate holding unit 2A is disposed so that the central axis (rotation axis AX) of the spin chuck 21 is located at a processing position shifted by a distance Lof from the center 11g of the internal space 12 toward the transfer opening 11b1 side in a plan view from above the chamber 11. In addition, in order to clarify the positional relationship of each part of the apparatus described later, in this specification, a virtual line passing through the offset center (rotation axis AX) of the substrate holding unit 2A and perpendicular to the transfer path TP and a virtual line parallel to the transfer path TP are referred to as a "first virtual horizontal line VL1" and a "second virtual horizontal line VL2", respectively.

[0028] A cylindrical rotating shaft portion 22 is connected to the lower surface of the spin chuck 21. The rotating shaft portion 22 extends in the vertical direction Z with its axis aligned with the rotation axis AX. A rotating mechanism 2B is connected to the rotating shaft portion 22.

[0029] The rotation mechanism 2B has a motor 23 that generates a rotational driving force for rotating the substrate holding part 2A and the rotating cup part 31 of the scattering prevention mechanism 3, and a power transmission part 24 that transmits the rotational driving force. The motor 23 has a rotating shaft 231 that rotates with the generation of the rotational driving force. The rotating shaft 231 is provided in a motor mounting part 171 of the base member 17 in a position in which it is extended vertically downward. More specifically, as shown in FIG. 3, the motor mounting part 171 is a part that is cut out in the (+X) direction while facing the maintenance opening 11d1. The cutout width (Y-direction size) of the motor mounting part 171 is approximately the same as the Y-direction width of the motor 23. Therefore, the motor 23 is freely movable in the X direction while engaging its side with the motor mounting part 171.

[0030] At the motor attachment portion 171, the motor 23 is fixed to the base member 17 while being positioned in the X direction. A first pulley 241 is attached to the tip of the rotating shaft 231 protruding downward from the base member 17. A second pulley 242 is attached to the lower end of the substrate holding portion 2A. More specifically, the lower end of the substrate holding portion 2A is inserted into a through hole provided in the spin chuck attachment portion 172 of the base member 17 and protrudes downward from the base member 17. The second pulley 242 is provided on this protruding portion. An endless belt 243 is stretched between the first pulley 241 and the second pulley 242. In this manner, in this embodiment, the power transmission portion 24 is configured by the first pulley 241, the second pulley 242, and the endless belt 243.

[0031] A through hole (not shown) is provided in the center of the spin chuck 21, and communicates with the internal space of the rotating shaft portion 22. A pump 26 is connected to the internal space via a pipe 25 in which a valve (not shown) is interposed. The pump 26 and the valve are electrically connected to the control unit 10 and operate according to commands from the control unit 10. This allows negative pressure and positive pressure to be selectively applied to the spin chuck 21. For example, when the pump 26 applies negative pressure to the spin chuck 21 with the substrate W placed on the upper surface of the spin chuck 21 in a substantially horizontal position, the spin chuck 21 sucks and holds the substrate W from below. On the other hand, when the pump 26 applies positive pressure to the spin chuck 21, the substrate W can be removed from the upper surface of the spin chuck 21. When the suction of the pump 26 is stopped, the substrate W can be moved horizontally on the upper surface of the spin chuck 21.

[0032] A nitrogen gas supply unit 29 is connected to the spin chuck 21 via a pipe 28 provided in the center of the rotating shaft unit 22. The nitrogen gas supply unit 29 supplies room temperature nitrogen gas, supplied from a utility or the like in a factory in which the substrate processing system 100 is installed, to the spin chuck 21 at a flow rate and timing according to a gas supply command from the control unit 10, and causes the nitrogen gas to flow from the center to the radially outward side on the underside Wb of the substrate W. Although nitrogen gas is used in this embodiment, other inert gases may be used.

[0033] The rotation mechanism 2B has a power transmission unit 27 (FIG. 2) for rotating the spin chuck 21 integrally with the substrate W and for rotating the rotating cup portion 31 in synchronization with the rotation. The power transmission unit 27 has a circular member 27a (FIG. 2) made of a non-magnetic material or resin, a spin chuck side magnet (not shown) built into the circular member, and a cup side magnet (not shown) built into a lower cup 32 which is one component of the rotating cup portion 31. The circular member 27a is attached to the rotating shaft portion 22 as shown in FIG. 2 and is rotatable around the rotation axis AX together with the rotating shaft portion 22. More specifically, the rotating shaft portion 22 has a flange portion (not shown) that protrudes radially outward at a position directly below the spin chuck 21 as shown in FIG. 2. The circular member 27a is concentrically disposed with respect to the flange portion and is connected and fixed by a bolt or the like not shown.

[0034] A plurality of spin chuck side magnets are arranged radially around the rotation axis AX at equal angular intervals on the outer periphery of the annular member 27a. In this embodiment, one of two adjacent spin chuck side magnets is arranged so that the outer and inner sides are N and S poles, respectively, and the other is arranged so that the outer and inner sides are N and S poles, respectively.

[0035] Similar to these spin chuck side magnets, a plurality of cup side magnets are arranged radially around the rotation axis AX at equal angular intervals. These cup side magnets are built into the lower cup 32. The lower cup 32 is a component of the scattering prevention mechanism 3 described next, and has an annular shape. That is, the lower cup 32 has an inner peripheral surface that can face the outer peripheral surface of the annular member 27a. The inner diameter of this inner peripheral surface is larger than the outer diameter of the annular member 27a. The lower cup 32 is arranged concentrically with the rotating shaft portion 22 and the annular member 27a, with the inner peripheral surface facing the outer peripheral surface of the annular member 27a at a predetermined distance (=(the inner diameter-the outer diameter) / 2). An engagement pin and a connecting magnet are provided on the upper surface of the outer peripheral edge of the lower cup 32, which connect the upper cup 33 to the lower cup 32, and this connecting body functions as the rotating cup portion 31.

[0036] The lower cup 32 is supported on the upper surface of the base member 17 by a bearing (not shown in the drawings) so as to be rotatable about the rotation axis AX while remaining in the above-mentioned arrangement. On the inner peripheral edge of the lower cup 32, the cup side magnets are arranged radially around the rotation axis AX at equal angular intervals as described above. The arrangement of the two adjacent cup side magnets is also the same as that of the spin chuck side magnets. That is, on one side, the outer and inner sides are arranged as N and S poles, respectively, and on the other side, the outer and inner sides are arranged as N and S poles, respectively.

[0037] In the power transmission unit 27 thus configured, when the circular member 27a rotates together with the rotating shaft unit 22 by the motor 23, the lower cup 32 rotates in the same direction as the circular member 27a while maintaining the air gap (the gap between the circular member 27a and the lower cup 32) due to the magnetic action between the spin chuck side magnet and the cup side magnet. This causes the rotating cup unit 31 to rotate around the rotation axis AX. In other words, the rotating cup unit 31 rotates in the same direction as the substrate W and in synchronization with it.

[0038] The shatter prevention mechanism 3 has a rotating cup part 31 which is rotatable about the rotation axis AX while surrounding the outer periphery of the substrate W held by the spin chuck 21, and a fixed cup part 34 which is fixedly provided so as to surround the rotating cup part 31. The rotating cup part 31 is provided so as to be rotatable about the rotation axis AX while surrounding the outer periphery of the rotating substrate W by connecting an upper cup 33 to a lower cup 32.

[0039] The lower cup 32 has an annular shape. Its outer diameter is larger than that of the substrate W, and the lower cup 32 is disposed rotatably about the rotation axis AX in a state where it protrudes radially from the substrate W held by the spin chuck 21 in a plan view from vertically above. In the protruding area, i.e., on the periphery of the upper surface of the lower cup 32, engagement pins (not shown) standing vertically upward along the circumferential direction and flat lower magnets (not shown) are alternately attached.

[0040] On the other hand, as shown in FIG. 2, the upper cup 33 has a lower annular portion 331, an upper annular portion 332, and an inclined portion 333 connecting them. The outer diameter of the lower annular portion 331 is the same as that of the lower cup 32, and the lower annular portion 331 is located vertically above the peripheral portion 321 of the lower cup 32. On the lower surface of the lower annular portion 331, in an area vertically above the engagement pin, a recessed portion opening downward is provided so as to be able to fit with the tip of the engagement pin. Also, in an area vertically above the lower magnet, an upper magnet is attached. Therefore, the upper cup 33 can be engaged with and disengaged from the lower cup 32 with the recessed portion and the upper magnet facing the engagement pin and the lower magnet, respectively.

[0041] The upper cup 33 can be raised and lowered in the vertical direction by the lifting mechanism 7. When the upper cup 33 is moved upward by the lifting mechanism 7, a transport space for loading and unloading the substrate W is formed between the upper cup 33 and the lower cup 32 in the vertical direction. On the other hand, when the upper cup 33 is moved downward by the lifting mechanism 7, the recess fits over the tip of the engagement pin, and the upper cup 33 is positioned in the horizontal direction relative to the lower cup 32. In addition, the upper magnet approaches the lower magnet, and the upper cup 33 and the lower cup 32 positioned as described above are joined to each other by the attractive force generated between them. As a result, as shown in the partially enlarged view of FIG. 3, the upper cup 33 and the lower cup 32 are integrated in the vertical direction with a gap GPc extending horizontally formed. The rotating cup part 31 is rotatable around the rotation axis AX while the gap GPc is formed.

[0042] In the rotating cup part 31, the outer diameter of the upper annular part 332 is slightly smaller than that of the lower annular part 331. Furthermore, when comparing the diameters of the inner peripheral surfaces of the lower annular part 331 and the upper annular part 332, the lower annular part 331 is larger than the upper annular part 332, and the inner peripheral surface of the upper annular part 332 is located inside the inner peripheral surface of the lower annular part 331 in a plan view from vertically above. The inner peripheral surface of the upper annular part 332 and the inner peripheral surface of the lower annular part 331 are connected by the inclined part 333 over the entire circumference of the upper cup 33. Therefore, the inner peripheral surface of the inclined part 333, that is, the surface surrounding the substrate W, is an inclined surface 334. That is, as shown in FIG. 2 and FIG. 3, the inclined part 333 surrounds the outer periphery of the rotating substrate W and can collect droplets scattered from the substrate W, and the space surrounded by the upper cup 33 and the lower cup 32 functions as a collection space SPc.

[0043] Moreover, the inclined portion 333 facing the collection space SPc is inclined from the lower annular portion 331, which is connected to the lower cup 32 and forms a connecting portion, toward above the peripheral edge of the substrate W. Therefore, droplets of the processing liquid scattered from the rotating substrate W are collected on the inclined surface 334 of the inclined portion 333. The droplets then flow along the inclined surface 334 to the lower end of the upper cup 33, i.e., the lower annular portion 331, and can be further discharged to the outside of the rotating cup part 31 via the gap GPc.

[0044] The fixed cup part 34 is provided so as to surround the rotating cup part 31, and forms a discharge space SPe. As shown in FIG. 2, the fixed cup part 34 has a liquid receiving part 341 and an exhaust part 342 provided inside the liquid receiving part 341. The liquid receiving part 341 has a cup structure that opens to face the opening of the gap GPc on the side opposite to the substrate. That is, the internal space of the liquid receiving part 341 functions as the discharge space SPe, and is connected to the collection space SPc through the gap GPc. Therefore, the liquid droplets collected by the rotating cup part 31 are guided to the discharge space SPe together with the gas components through the gap GPc. Then, the liquid droplets are collected at the bottom of the liquid receiving part 341 and are discharged from the fixed cup part 34.

[0045] On the other hand, the gas components are collected in the exhaust part 342. This exhaust part 342 is partitioned from the liquid receiving part 341 via a partition wall 343. In addition, a gas guide part 344 is disposed above the partition wall 343. The gas guide part 344 is extended from a position directly above the partition wall 343 into the exhaust space SPe and the inside of the exhaust part 342, respectively, to cover the partition wall 343 from above and form a flow path of the gas components having a labyrinth structure. Therefore, the gas components of the fluid that has flowed into the liquid receiving part 341 are collected in the exhaust part 342 via the above-mentioned flow path. This exhaust part 342 is connected to the exhaust part 38. Therefore, the pressure of the fixed cup part 34 is adjusted by operating the exhaust part 38 in response to a command from the control unit 10, and the gas components in the exhaust part 342 are efficiently exhausted. In addition, the pressure and flow rate of the exhaust space SPe are adjusted by precise control of the exhaust part 38. For example, the pressure in the discharge space SPe becomes lower than the pressure in the collection space SPc, which results in the droplets in the collection space SPc being efficiently drawn into the discharge space SPe and promoting the movement of the droplets from the collection space SPc.

[0046] Fig. 4 is an external perspective view showing the configuration of the upper surface protection and heating mechanism. Fig. 5 is a diagram showing the operation of the upper surface protection and heating mechanism and the processing mechanism. Column (a) of Fig. 5 is a schematic diagram showing the home position, column (b) is a schematic diagram showing the pre-dispense position, column (c) is a schematic diagram showing the switching position for switching the operating conditions, and column (d) is a schematic diagram showing the maximum processing position. Symbol P0 in Fig. 5 indicates the home position of the upper surface processing nozzle, which will be described later, and symbols P1 to P3 indicate the pre-dispense position, the edge position of the substrate W, and the maximum processing position in the radial direction D1, respectively.

[0047] As shown in the enlarged views of Figs. 2 and 3 and in Fig. 4, the upper surface protection and heating mechanism 4 has a shielding plate 41 arranged above the upper surface Wf of the substrate W held by the spin chuck 21. The shielding plate 41 has a disk portion 42 held in a horizontal position. The disk portion 42 incorporates a heater 421 whose driving is controlled by a heater driving unit 422. The disk portion 42 has a diameter slightly shorter than that of the substrate W. The disk portion 42 is supported by a support member 43 so that the lower surface of the disk portion 42 covers from above the surface area of ​​the upper surface Wf of the substrate W except for the peripheral portion Ws. The reference numeral 44 in Fig. 4 denotes a notch provided in the peripheral portion of the disk portion 42, which is provided to prevent interference with a processing liquid discharge nozzle included in the processing mechanism 5. The notch portion 44 opens radially outward.

[0048] The lower end of the support member 43 is attached to the center of the disk portion 42. A cylindrical through hole is formed so as to vertically penetrate the support member 43 and the disk portion 42. A central nozzle 45 is inserted vertically into the through hole. As shown in Figs. 2 and 4, a nitrogen gas supply unit 47A and a helium gas supply unit 47B are connected to this central nozzle 45 via pipes 46A and 46B, respectively.

[0049] The nitrogen gas supply unit 47A has a nitrogen gas heating unit 471A. The nitrogen gas heating unit 471A heats nitrogen gas at room temperature supplied from the utility power of the factory in which the substrate processing system 100 is installed, thereby raising the temperature of the nitrogen gas to a temperature higher than the ambient temperature of the substrate W. However, the nitrogen gas heating unit 471A is controlled by the control unit 10 so that the temperature is equal to or lower than the heat-resistant temperature of the material constituting the substrate holder 2A and the shield plate 41. The same applies to the helium gas supply unit 47B.

[0050] The heated nitrogen gas is supplied to the substrate processing unit SP through the pipe 46A. In this embodiment, a valve 472A for switching between supplying and stopping the supply of nitrogen gas from the nitrogen gas supply unit 47A is inserted in the pipe 46A. Therefore, when the valve 472A is opened in response to a nitrogen gas supply command from the control unit 10, the nitrogen gas supply unit 47A supplies the heated nitrogen gas to the substrate processing unit SP. On the other hand, when the valve 472A is closed in response to a nitrogen gas supply stop command from the control unit 10, the nitrogen gas supply unit 47A stops the supply of nitrogen gas to the substrate processing unit SP.

[0051] The helium gas supply unit 47B has a helium gas heating unit 471B. The helium gas heating unit 471B heats helium gas at room temperature supplied from a helium gas cylinder or the like equipped in the substrate processing system 100 or the substrate processing apparatus 1, thereby raising the temperature of the helium gas to a temperature higher than the ambient temperature of the substrate W. The heated helium gas is supplied to the substrate processing unit SP through the pipe 46B. In this embodiment, a valve 472B for switching between supplying and stopping the supply of helium gas from the helium gas supply unit 47B is inserted in the pipe 46A. Therefore, when the valve 472B is opened in response to a helium gas supply command from the control unit 10, the helium gas supply unit 47B supplies heated helium gas to the substrate processing unit SP. On the other hand, when the valve 472B is closed in response to a helium gas supply stop command from the control unit 10, the helium gas supply unit 47B stops supplying helium gas to the substrate processing unit SP.

[0052] In this embodiment, the control unit 10 controls the opening and closing of the valves 472A and 472B, so that nitrogen gas and helium gas having a higher thermal conductivity than nitrogen gas (0.1777 W / m·K at 100° C.) can be selectively supplied to the substrate processing unit SP. That is, the control unit 10 switches the valves 472A and 472B to the “closed state” and “open state”, respectively, so that only helium gas is sent to the substrate processing unit SP and is supplied to the space SPa, for example, as shown by the dashed arrows in columns (a) and (b) of FIG. 5. On the other hand, the control unit 10 switches the valves 472A and 472B to the “open state” and “closed state”, respectively, so that only nitrogen gas is supplied to the substrate processing unit SP and is supplied to the space SPa, for example, as shown by the dashed arrows in columns (c) and (d) of FIG. 5.

[0053] In this embodiment, in order to prevent a drop in the gas temperature while the heated nitrogen gas and helium gas flow through pipes 46A and 46B, ribbon heaters 48 are attached to parts of pipes 46A and 46B. Ribbon heater 48 generates heat in response to a heating command from control unit 10 to heat the nitrogen gas flowing in pipe 46A and the helium gas flowing in pipe 46B.

[0054] The nitrogen gas or helium gas thus heated (these are referred to as "heated gas") is pumped toward the central nozzle 45 and discharged from the central nozzle 45 into the space SPa. For example, as shown in FIG. 5, the heated gas is supplied while the disk part 42 is positioned at a processing position close to the substrate W held by the spin chuck 21, so that the heated gas flows from the center to the periphery of the space SPa sandwiched between the upper surface Wf of the substrate W and the disk part 42 with the built-in heater. This makes it possible to prevent the atmosphere around the substrate W from entering the upper surface Wf of the substrate W. As a result, it is possible to effectively prevent droplets contained in the atmosphere from being drawn into the space SPa sandwiched between the substrate W and the disk part 42. In addition, the upper surface Wf is heated overall by the heating by the heater 421 and the heated gas, so that the in-plane temperature of the substrate W can be made uniform. This makes it possible to prevent the substrate W from warping and stabilize the landing position of the processing liquid. Note that the thermal conduction of the heat generated by the heater 421 to the substrate W differs between when helium gas is supplied to the space SPa as the heating gas and when nitrogen gas is supplied to the space SPa as the heating gas. In this embodiment, this is utilized to improve the throughput. This point will be described in detail later.

[0055] Returning to FIG. 2, the description of the configuration will be continued. The upper end of the support member 43 is fixed to a beam member 49 extending along the first virtual horizontal line VL1. This beam member 49 is connected to the lifting mechanism 7 attached to the upper surface of the base member 17, and is raised and lowered by the lifting mechanism 7 in response to a command from the control unit 10. For example, in FIG. 2, the beam member 49 is positioned downward, so that the disk portion 42 connected to the beam member 49 via the support member 43 is located at the processing position. On the other hand, when the lifting mechanism 7 raises the beam member 49 in response to a lifting command from the control unit 10, the beam member 49, the support member 43, and the disk portion 42 rise together, and the upper cup 33 also rises in conjunction with the upper cup 32. This widens the gap between the spin chuck 21 and the upper cup 33 and the disk portion 42, making it possible to load and unload the substrate W from the spin chuck 21.

[0056] The atmosphere separation mechanism 6 has a lower sealing cup member 61 and an upper sealing cup member 62. The lower sealing cup member 61 and the upper sealing cup member 62 are both cylindrical and open at the top and bottom. The inner diameters of the members are larger than the outer diameter of the rotating cup part 31. The atmosphere separation mechanism 6 is disposed so as to completely surround the spin chuck 21, the substrate W held by the spin chuck 21, the rotating cup part 31, and the upper surface protection and heating mechanism 4 from above. More specifically, as shown in FIG. 2, the upper sealing cup member 62 is fixedly disposed at a position directly below the punching plate 14 so that its upper opening covers the opening 11f1 of the ceiling wall 11f from below. Therefore, the downflow of clean air introduced into the chamber 11 is divided into one that passes through the inside of the upper sealing cup member 62 and one that passes through the outside of the upper sealing cup member 62.

[0057] 3, the lower end of the upper sealing cup member 62 has a flange portion 621 having an inwardly folded annular shape. An O-ring 63 is attached to the upper surface of the flange portion 621. Inside the upper sealing cup member 62, the lower sealing cup member 61 is disposed so as to be freely movable in the vertical direction.

[0058] The upper end of the lower sealing cup member 61 has a flange portion 611 having an annular shape that is folded outward. This flange portion 611 overlaps with a flange portion 621 in a plan view from vertically above. Therefore, when the lower sealing cup member 61 descends, the flange portion 611 of the lower sealing cup member 61 is locked by the flange portion 621 of the upper sealing cup member 62 via the O-ring 63. This positions the lower sealing cup member 61 at the lower limit position. At this lower limit position, the upper sealing cup member 62 and the lower sealing cup member 61 are connected in the vertical direction, and the downflow introduced into the upper sealing cup member 62 is guided toward the substrate W held by the spin chuck 21.

[0059] 3, the lower end of the lower sealing cup member 61 has a flange portion 612 having an annular shape with a diameter expanded outward. In a plan view from vertically above, the flange portion 612 overlaps with the upper end of the fixed cup portion 34 (the upper end of the liquid receiving portion 341). Therefore, at the lower limit position, the flange portion 612 of the lower sealing cup member 61 is locked by the fixed cup portion 34 via the O-ring 64. As a result, the lower sealing cup member 61 and the fixed cup portion 34 are connected in the vertical direction, and a sealed space 12a is formed by the upper sealing cup member 62, the lower sealing cup member 61, and the fixed cup portion 34. In this sealed space 12a, bevel processing of the substrate W can be performed.

[0060] That is, by positioning the lower sealed cup member 61 at the lowest position, the sealed space 12a is separated from the outer space 12b of the sealed space 12a (atmosphere separation). Therefore, the bevel processing can be stably performed without being affected by the outer atmosphere. In addition, although a processing liquid is used for the bevel processing, the processing liquid can be reliably prevented from leaking from the sealed space 12a to the outer space 12b. This increases the degree of freedom in the selection and design of the parts to be placed in the outer space 12b.

[0061] The lower sealing cup member 61 is configured to be movable vertically upward. In addition, as shown in Fig. 2 and Fig. 3, the upper surface protection and heating mechanism 4 is fixed to the middle part of the lower sealing cup member 61 via the beam member 49. That is, as shown in Fig. 4, the lower sealing cup member 61 is connected to one end and the other end of the beam member 49 at two different points in the circumferential direction. Then, when the lifting mechanism 7 lifts and lowers the one end and the other end of the beam member 49, the lower sealing cup member 61 also lifts and lowers accordingly.

[0062] As shown in Fig. 3, on the inner peripheral surface of the lower sealing cup member 61, a plurality of (four) protrusions 613 are provided protruding inward as engagement parts that can engage with the upper cup 33. Each protrusion 613 is extended to a space below the upper annular part 332 of the upper cup 33. Each protrusion 613 is attached so as to move downward away from the upper annular part 332 of the upper cup 33 when the lower sealing cup member 61 is positioned at the lowest position. Each protrusion 613 can engage with the upper annular part 332 from below by the rise of the lower sealing cup member 61. Even after this engagement, the upper cup 33 can be separated from the lower cup 32 by the further rise of the lower sealing cup member 61.

[0063] In this embodiment, after the lower sealing cup member 61 starts to rise together with the upper surface protection and heating mechanism 4 by the lifting mechanism 7, the protrusion 613 of the lower sealing cup member 61 engages with the upper cup 33, causing the upper cup 33 to rise together. As a result, the upper cup 33 and the upper surface protection and heating mechanism 4 move upward away from the spin chuck 21. The movement of the lower sealing cup member 61 to the retreat position forms a transport space for the hand of the substrate transport robot 111 to access the spin chuck 21. Then, the substrate W can be loaded onto the spin chuck 21 and unloaded from the spin chuck 21 through the transport space. Thus, in this embodiment, the substrate W can be accessed from the spin chuck 21 by the minimum lifting of the lower sealing cup member 61 by the lifting mechanism 7.

[0064] The lifting mechanism 7 has two lifting drive units, namely, a first lifting drive unit 71 and a second lifting drive unit 72. In the lifting drive unit 71, a first lifting motor (not shown) is attached to the base member 17. The first lifting motor operates in response to a drive command from the control unit 10 to generate a rotational force. A lifting unit 712 is connected to this first lifting motor. The lifting unit 712 is coupled to one end of the beam member 49 via a side surface of the lower sealed cup member 61, and when it receives the rotational force from the first lifting motor, it raises and lowers one end of the beam member 49 in the vertical direction Z according to the amount of rotation of the first lifting motor.

[0065] In the lift drive section 72, a second lift motor (not shown) is attached to the base member 17. A lift section 722 is connected to the second lift motor. The second lift motor operates in response to a drive command from the control unit 10 to generate a rotational force and provides it to the lift section 722. The lift section 722 is coupled to the other end of the beam member 49 via the side surface of the lower sealed cup member 61, and raises and lowers the other end of the beam member 49 in the vertical direction in response to the amount of rotation of the second lift motor.

[0066] The lifting and lowering drive units 71, 72 vertically move two different points in the circumferential direction of the side surface of the lower sealing cup member 61 in synchronization with each other. Therefore, the upper surface protection and heating mechanism 4 and the lower sealing cup member 61 can be stably lifted and lowered. In addition, the upper cup 33 can also be stably lifted and lowered in conjunction with the lifting and lowering of the lower sealing cup member 61.

[0067] Next, the centering mechanism 8 will be briefly described since it is basically known. The centering mechanism 8 performs a centering process while suction by the pump 26 is stopped (i.e., while the substrate W is horizontally movable on the upper surface of the spin chuck 21). This centering process eliminates eccentricity of the substrate W, and the center of the substrate W coincides with the rotation axis AX. As shown in Fig. 3, the centering mechanism 8 has a single abutment portion 81 and a multi abutment portion 82 arranged on opposite sides of the rotation axis AX of the spin chuck 21, and a centering drive portion 83 that moves the single abutment portion 81 and the multi abutment portion 82 in the abutment movement direction (direction D2 in Fig. 3).

[0068] The centering drive unit 83 moves in a direction approaching the substrate W on the spin chuck 21 while interlocking the single contact unit 81 and the multi-contact unit 82, and adjusts the position of the substrate W so that one contact portion of the single contact unit 81 and two contact portions of the multi-contact unit 82 are both in contact with the edge surface of the substrate W. In this way, eccentricity of the substrate W on the spin chuck 21 is eliminated and centering is achieved.

[0069] Next, the processing mechanism 5 will be described. The processing mechanism 5 has a processing liquid discharge nozzle 51F (FIG. 3) arranged on the upper surface side of the substrate W, a processing liquid discharge nozzle 51B (FIG. 2) arranged on the lower surface side of the substrate W, and a processing liquid supply unit 52 that supplies processing liquid to the processing liquid discharge nozzles 51F and 51B. In the following, in order to distinguish between the upper surface side processing liquid discharge nozzle 51F and the lower surface side processing liquid discharge nozzle 51B, they are referred to as the "upper surface processing nozzle 51F" and the "lower surface processing nozzle 51B", respectively. Also, although two processing liquid supply units 52 are illustrated in FIG. 2, these are the same.

[0070] In this embodiment, three upper surface processing nozzles 51F are provided as upper surface side processing liquid discharge nozzles that discharge a processing liquid from above the substrate W held by the spin chuck 21 toward the peripheral portion Ws of the upper surface Wf of the substrate W, and are connected to the three upper surface processing nozzles 51F. The processing liquid supply unit 52 is configured to be able to supply SC1, DHF, and functional water (such as CO2 water) as the processing liquid, and the three upper surface processing nozzles 51F are able to discharge SC1, DHF, and CO2 water independently.

[0071] Each upper surface processing nozzle 51F is provided with a discharge port 511 (see FIG. 5) for discharging a processing liquid to the lower surface of the tip. As shown in the enlarged view of FIG. 3, the lower portions of the multiple (three in this embodiment) upper surface processing nozzles 51F are arranged in the cutout portion 44 of the disk portion 42 as shown in the partially enlarged plan view of FIG. 5 with each discharge port facing the peripheral portion Ws of the upper surface Wf of the substrate W, and the upper portion of the upper surface processing nozzle 51F is attached to the nozzle holder 53 so as to be freely movable in the radial direction D1. The nozzle holder 53 is connected to a nozzle moving portion 54.

[0072] 5, the nozzle moving part 54 is attached to the upper end of the lifter 713a of the lifting part 713 while holding the nozzle head 56 (=upper surface processing nozzle 51F+nozzle holder 53). Therefore, when the lifter 713a expands and contracts in the vertical direction in response to a lifting command from the control unit 10, the nozzle moving part 54 and the nozzle head 56 move in the vertical direction Z accordingly.

[0073] In addition, in the nozzle moving section 54, a base member 541 is fixed to the upper end of the lifter 713a. A linear actuator 542 is attached to this base member 541. The linear actuator 542 has a motor (hereinafter referred to as a "nozzle drive motor") 543 that functions as a drive source for nozzle movement in the radial direction X, and a motion conversion mechanism 545 that converts the rotational motion of a rotating body such as a ball screw connected to the rotating shaft of the nozzle drive motor 543 into linear motion to reciprocate the slider 544 in the radial direction D1. In addition, in the motion conversion mechanism 545, a guide such as an LM Guide (registered trademark) is used to stabilize the movement of the slider 544 in the radial direction D1.

[0074] A head support member 547 is connected to the slider 544 reciprocating in the radial direction X through a connecting member 546. The head support member 547 has a rod shape extending in the radial direction X. The (+D1) end of the head support member 547 is fixed to the slider 544. Meanwhile, the (-D1) end of the head support member 547 extends horizontally toward the spin chuck 21, and the nozzle head 56 is attached to the tip of the end. Therefore, when the nozzle drive motor 543 rotates in response to a processing liquid supply command from the control unit 10, the slider 544, the head support member 547, and the nozzle head 56 move integrally in the (+D1) direction or the (-D1) direction corresponding to the rotation direction, and by a distance corresponding to the amount of rotation. As a result, the upper surface processing nozzle 51F attached to the nozzle head 56 is positioned in the radial direction D1.

[0075] In this way, the nozzle moving unit 54 drives the three upper surface processing nozzles 51F in the radial direction D1 collectively in response to information related to the nozzle reciprocating movement among the processing liquid supply commands from the control unit 10. As a result, the upper surface processing nozzle 51F reciprocates, during which the pre-dispense process and the bevel process are performed. On the other hand, while no processing liquid supply command is given for any of the three types of processing liquid, the upper surface processing nozzle 51F is sufficiently away from the edge surface of the substrate W and is retracted. More specifically, as shown in (a) of FIG. 5, the upper surface processing nozzle 51F is positioned at a preset home position P0. At this time, the spring member 548 provided in the motion conversion mechanism 545 is compressed by the slider 544 and applies a biasing force to the slider 544 in the (-D1) direction. This makes it possible to control the backlash included in the motion conversion mechanism 545. In other words, since the motion conversion mechanism 545 has mechanical parts such as guides, it is practically difficult to make the backlash along the radial direction D1 zero, and unless sufficient consideration is given to this, the positioning accuracy of the upper surface processing nozzle 51F in the radial direction D1 will decrease. Therefore, in this embodiment, by providing the spring member 548, when the upper surface processing nozzle 51F is stationary at the home position P0, the backlash is always biased in the (-D1) direction.

[0076] When a processing liquid supply command is given for one of the three types of processing liquid (hereinafter referred to as the "selected processing liquid"), the upper surface processing nozzles 51F move collectively from the home position P0 in the (-D1) direction. After that, the upper surface processing nozzles 51F move forward via the pre-dispense position and the edge surface position P2 to the maximum processing position P3. Here, the maximum processing position P3 refers to a position that is away from the edge surface of the substrate W by the width dt of the region to be beveled of the peripheral portion Ws of the substrate W.

[0077] During the forward movement, the movement of the upper surface processing nozzle 51F is temporarily stopped at a pre-dispense position P1. As shown in FIG. 5B, the pre-dispense position P1 is a position adjacent to the (+D1) side of the end surface position P2 in the radial direction D1. The outlet 511 of the upper surface processing nozzle 51F positioned at this pre-dispense position faces the rotating cup portion 31. Then, the pre-dispense process is executed in response to a processing liquid supply command. After the pre-dispense process is completed, the temporary stop is released and the forward movement is resumed. As a result, the upper surface processing nozzle 51F moves to the maximum processing position P3 (see FIG. 5D) via the end surface position P2 (see FIG. 5C).

[0078] When the forward movement is completed, the return movement is immediately executed. That is, the upper surface processing nozzle 51F moves along a path opposite to the path of the forward movement. However, in the return movement, the upper surface processing nozzle 51F does not pause at the pre-dispense position P1, and moves continuously from the maximum processing position P3 to the home position P0.

[0079] During this reciprocating movement, each part of the device operates according to information related to the pre-dispense process and the bevel process contained in the processing liquid supply command, and the switching process of the heating gas to be supplied to the space SPa, the pre-dispense process, and the bevel process are performed. In addition, a substrate observation mechanism 9 is provided for the purpose of checking whether these processes are being performed appropriately.

[0080] The substrate observation mechanism 9 has a light source unit 91, an imaging unit 92, an observation head 93, and an observation head driving unit 94. The light source unit 91 and the imaging unit 92 are arranged side by side on a base member 17 as shown in Fig. 3. The light source unit 91 irradiates illumination light toward an observation position in response to an illumination command from the control unit 10. This observation position is a position corresponding to the peripheral portion Ws of the substrate W, and corresponds to the position where the observation head 93 is indicated by a solid line in Fig. 2.

[0081] The observation head 93 can reciprocate in the direction D3 (FIG. 3) between the observation position and a retreat position spaced from the observation position toward the outside in the radial direction of the substrate W. An observation head drive unit 94 is connected to the observation head 93. The observation head drive unit 94 is attached to the base member 17. Then, in response to a head movement command from the control unit 10, the observation head drive unit 94 reciprocates the observation head 93. More specifically, while the observation process of the substrate W is not being performed, the observation head drive unit 94 moves and positions the observation head 93 at the retreat position. Therefore, the observation head 93 is separated from the transport path of the substrate W, and it is possible to effectively prevent the observation head 93 from interfering with the substrate W being carried in and out of the chamber 11. On the other hand, when the observation process of the substrate W is performed, the observation head drive unit 94 moves the observation head 93 to the observation position in response to a substrate observation command from the control unit 10.

[0082] The above-mentioned various processes are executed by controlling each part of the apparatus configured as above by the control unit 10. As shown in FIG. 2, the control unit 10 has an arithmetic processing unit 10A, a storage unit 10B, a reading unit 10C, an image processing unit 10D, a drive control unit 10E, a communication unit 10F, and an exhaust control unit 10G. The storage unit 10B is configured with a hard disk drive or the like, and stores a program for executing the bevel processing by the substrate processing apparatus 1. The program is stored, for example, in a computer-readable recording medium RM (for example, an optical disk, a magnetic disk, a magneto-optical disk, etc.), read from the recording medium RM by the reading unit 10C, and stored in the storage unit 10B. In addition, the provision of the program is not limited to the recording medium RM, and may be configured so that the program is provided, for example, via an electric communication line. The image processing unit 10D performs various processes on the image captured by the substrate observation mechanism 9. The drive control unit 10E controls each drive unit of the substrate processing apparatus 1. The communication unit 10F communicates with a control unit that comprehensively controls each unit of the substrate processing system 100. The exhaust control unit 10G controls the exhaust unit .

[0083] Also connected to the control unit 10 are a display unit 10H (eg, a display) that displays various information, and an input unit 10J (eg, a keyboard and a mouse) that accepts input from an operator.

[0084] The arithmetic processing unit 10A includes a CPU (Central Processing Unit) and a RAM (Random Access Memory). The control unit 10B is configured with a computer having a memory 10C and a computer-readable storage 10D, and performs predetermined operations by controlling each unit of the substrate processing apparatus 1 according to a program stored in the memory 10B. For example, as shown in FIG. 6, the control unit 10B performs a heating gas switching process, a pre-dispense process, a bevel process, and the like.

[0085] Fig. 6 is a flow chart showing the processing executed by the substrate processing apparatus shown in Fig. 2. When the substrate processing apparatus 1 performs bevel processing on the substrate W, the processor 10A causes the centering driver 83 to move the single contact portion 81 and the multi-contact portion 82 to retract positions away from the spin chuck 21, and causes the observation head driver 94 to move the observation head 93 to a standby position away from the spin chuck 21. In addition, both valves 472A and 472B are closed, and the supply of heating gas is stopped.

[0086] Then, the processor 10A shifts each part of the substrate processing apparatus 1 from a state suitable for bevel processing to a state in which the shutter 15 is open. Specifically, the lower sealed cup member 61 is positioned at the lowest position to separate the atmosphere. Then, the processor 10A opens the shutter 15. Following this shutter opening, the processor 10A raises the beam member 49, the support member 43, the disk portion 42, the upper cup 33, and the lower sealed cup member 61 as a unit. This forms a transport space for the hand of the substrate transport robot 111 to access the spin chuck 21. Then, the processor 10A makes a loading request for the substrate W to the substrate transport robot 111 via the communication unit 10F, and waits for the unprocessed substrate W to be carried into the substrate processing apparatus 1 and placed on the upper surface of the spin chuck 21. Then, the substrate W is placed on the spin chuck 21 (step S1). At this point, the pump 26 is stopped, and the substrate W can move horizontally on the upper surface of the spin chuck 21.

[0087] When the loading of the substrate W is completed, the substrate transport robot 111 retreats from the substrate processing apparatus 1. Subsequently, the processor 10A closes the shutter 15 while keeping the beam member 49, the support member 43, the disk portion 42, the upper cup 33, and the lower sealing cup member 61 in the retreated position as a whole. When the preparation for the centering process is completed in this way, the processor 10A controls the centering drive unit 83 so that the single contact portion 81 and the multi-contact portion 82 approach the substrate W on the spin chuck 21. This eliminates the eccentricity of the substrate W with respect to the spin chuck 21, and the center of the substrate W coincides with the center of the spin chuck 21 (step S2). When the centering process is completed in this way, the processor 10A controls the centering drive unit 83 so that the single contact portion 81 and the multi-contact portion 82 move away from the substrate W, and operates the pump 26 to apply negative pressure to the spin chuck 21. As a result, the spin chuck 21 suction-holds the substrate W from below.

[0088] Next, the calculation processing unit 10A issues a lowering command to the lifting and lowering drive units 71 and 72. In response to this, the lifting and lowering drive units 71 and 72 lower the lower sealed cup member 61, the nozzle head 56, the beam member 49, the support member 43 and the disk portion 42 as a unit. During this descent, the upper cup 33 supported from below by the protrusion portion 613 of the lower sealed cup member 61 is connected to the lower cup 32. This forms the rotating cup portion 31 (= a connected body of the upper cup 33 and the lower cup 32).

[0089] After the rotating cup portion 31 is formed, the lower sealing cup member 61, the nozzle head 56, the beam member 49, the support member 43 and the disk portion 42 are further lowered integrally, and the flange portions 611, 612 of the lower sealing cup member 61 are respectively engaged with the outer flow straightening member 14b and the fixed cup portion 34. As a result, the lower sealing cup member 61 is positioned at the lowest position (the position in FIG. 3). As a result, the lower sealing cup member 61 and the fixed cup portion 34 are connected in the vertical direction Z, and the sealed space 12a is formed by the upper sealing cup member 62, the lower sealing cup member 61 and the fixed cup portion 34, and the sealed space 12a is separated from the outside atmosphere (atmosphere separated state).

[0090] At the same time as this atmosphere separation, the shield plate 41 approaches the substrate W (step S3). More specifically, the lower surface of the disk portion 42 covers the surface area of ​​the upper surface Wf of the substrate W except for the peripheral portion Ws from above, forming a minute space SPa. The processing liquid discharge nozzle 51F is positioned in the notch portion 44 of the disk portion 42 with the discharge port 511 facing the peripheral portion of the upper surface Wf of the substrate W. When preparations for supplying the processing liquid to the substrate W are thus completed, the arithmetic processing unit 10A opens only the valve 472B to start discharging helium gas (step S4), as shown in column (a) of FIG. 5. The arithmetic processing unit 10A also issues a rotation command to the motor 23 to start rotating the spin chuck 21 and the rotating cup portion 31 that hold the substrate W. The arithmetic processing unit 10A also drives and controls the heater driving unit 422 to start raising the temperature of the heater 421.

[0091] In this way, helium gas (dashed line in the figure) is pumped toward the central nozzle 45 as a heating gas, and is discharged from the central nozzle 45 toward the space SPa sandwiched between the substrate W and the disk portion 42. This heated helium gas heats the upper surface Wf of the substrate W as it spreads radially within the space SPa. Moreover, the helium gas filling the space SPa turns the space SPa into a helium gas atmosphere, and heat from the heater 421 reaches the upper surface Wf of the substrate W through this helium gas atmosphere, heating the upper surface Wf of the substrate W. As a result, the temperature of the substrate W rises from room temperature to a temperature suitable for bevel processing (hereinafter referred to as the "suitable processing temperature").

[0092] During the initial stage of this temperature rise, the arithmetic processor 10A executes a pre-dispense process at the timing when the rotational speed of the spin chuck 21 and the rotating cup part 31 reaches the target rotational speed while continuously supplying helium gas. That is, the upper surface processing nozzles 51F move collectively from the home position P0 in the (-D1) direction. During this forward movement, the movement of the upper surface processing nozzles 51F is temporarily stopped at the pre-dispense position P1. As shown in (b) of FIG. 5, the pre-dispense position P1 is a position adjacent to the (+D1) side of the end surface position P2 in the radial direction D1. The discharge port 511 of the upper surface processing nozzle 51F positioned at this pre-dispense position faces the rotating cup part 31. Then, the pre-dispense process is executed in response to a processing liquid supply command (step S5). That is, the liquid discharge valve starts to open, and the discharge of the processing liquid at a constant discharge flow rate starts. The discharge of the processing liquid continues until the upper processing nozzle 51F returns to the pre-dispense position P1 by the above-mentioned reciprocating movement.

[0093] Then, after the pre-dispense process is completed, the temporary stop is released, and the forward movement is resumed while continuing to discharge the processing liquid (step S6). As a result, the upper surface processing nozzle 51F moves to the maximum processing position P3 via the end surface position P2, during which the upper surface processing nozzle 51F moves from the periphery of the substrate W to above the substrate W while continuing to supply the processing liquid, a so-called scan-in operation is performed. After the forward movement, a return movement is performed. That is, the upper surface processing nozzle 51F moves along a path opposite to the path of the forward movement, during which the upper surface processing nozzle 51F moves from above the substrate W to the periphery of the substrate W while continuing to supply the processing liquid, a so-called scan-out operation is performed. However, during the return movement, the temporary stop at the pre-dispense position P1 is not performed, and the upper surface processing nozzle 51F moves continuously from the maximum processing position P3 to the home position P0, and the discharge of the processing liquid is stopped at the pre-dispense position P1. Here, the maximum processing position P3 means a position of the peripheral portion Ws of the substrate W that is separated from the end surface of the substrate by a width dt of the region to be beveled.

[0094] During the forward movement from the pre-dispense position P1 to the maximum processing position P3 via the end surface position P2, and the return movement from the maximum processing position P3 to the home position P0 via the end surface position P2 and the pre-dispense position P1 after the forward movement, the calculation processing unit 10A executes the switching process of the heating gas and the bevel process. That is, the calculation processing unit 10A detects the position information of the upper surface processing nozzle 51F, for example, by an encoder, and obtains the timing when the upper surface processing nozzle 51F approaches the end surface position P2 from the position information ("YES" in step S7). This timing corresponds to the "supply start time" of the present invention, and at this timing, the temperature reaches the appropriate processing temperature as shown in FIG. 7 described later.

[0095] At this timing, the heating gas is switched (step S8). That is, the arithmetic processing unit 10A closes the valve 472B to stop the discharge of the helium gas, and opens the valve 472A to start the discharge of the nitrogen gas. As a result, instead of the helium gas, the nitrogen gas (indicated by the dashed line in column (c) of FIG. 5) is pumped toward the central nozzle 45 as the heating gas, and is discharged from the central nozzle 45 toward the space SPa sandwiched between the substrate W and the disk part 42. The heated nitrogen gas heats the upper surface Wf of the substrate W while spreading radially in the space SPa. Moreover, the heat from the heater 421 reaches the upper surface Wf of the substrate W through the nitrogen gas filled in the space SPa, and heats the upper surface Wf of the substrate W. The temperature of the substrate W is maintained at or above the appropriate processing temperature by the supply of the heated nitrogen gas and the heat supply from the heater 421. The reason for switching between the two types of heating gas in this manner will be described later with reference to FIG. 7.

[0096] After switching the heating gas at the edge position P2 during the scan-in operation in this manner, the arithmetic processing unit 10A performs the outward movement while continuing to eject the processing liquid toward the upper surface Wf of the substrate W in the nitrogen gas atmosphere, thereby performing the outward bevel processing. Also, even after switching to the return movement as described above, the arithmetic processing unit 10A performs the return bevel processing by performing the return movement while continuing to eject the processing liquid toward the upper surface Wf of the substrate W.

[0097] During this return movement, the calculation processing unit 10A obtains the timing when the upper surface processing nozzle 51F passes the end surface position P2 based on the position information of the upper surface processing nozzle 51F ("YES" in step S9), and then gives a supply stop command to the processing liquid supply unit 52 to stop the ejection of processing liquid from the upper surface processing nozzle 51F, and gives a rotation stop command to the motor 23 to stop the rotation of the spin chuck 21 and the rotating cup unit 31 holding the substrate W (step S10).

[0098] Then, while or after the upper surface processing nozzle 51F moves through the pre-dispense position P1 and further to the home position P0, the calculation processing unit 10A issues a closing command to the valve 472A to stop the discharge of nitrogen gas (step S11).

[0099] In the next step S12, the arithmetic processing unit 10A observes the peripheral portion Ws of the substrate W to inspect the result of the bevel processing. More specifically, the arithmetic processing unit 10A controls the observation head driving unit 94 to bring the observation head 93 close to the substrate W. Then, the arithmetic processing unit 10A turns on the light source unit 91 to illuminate the peripheral portion Ws of the substrate W via the observation head 93. Also, the imaging unit 92 receives the reflected light reflected by the peripheral portion Ws and the adjacent area to image the peripheral portion Ws and the adjacent area. That is, while the substrate W rotates around the rotation axis AX, the imaging unit 92 acquires a peripheral portion image of the peripheral portion Ws along the rotation direction of the substrate W from a plurality of images of the peripheral portion Ws acquired. Then, the arithmetic processing unit 10A controls the observation head driving unit 94 to retract the observation head 93 from the substrate W. In parallel with this, the arithmetic processing unit 10A inspects whether or not the bevel processing has been performed satisfactorily based on the captured image of the peripheral portion Ws and the adjacent area, i.e., the peripheral portion image. In this embodiment, as an example of the inspection, the processing width processed with the processing liquid from the edge of the substrate W toward the center of the substrate W is inspected from the peripheral portion image (post-processing inspection).

[0100] After the inspection, the arithmetic processing unit 10A opens the shutter 15. Furthermore, the arithmetic processing unit 10A issues an unloading request for the substrate W to the substrate transport robot 111 via the communication unit 10F, and the processed substrate W is unloaded from the substrate processing apparatus 1 (step S13). Note that this series of steps is repeatedly executed.

[0101] As described above, in this embodiment, helium gas is used as the heating gas to heat the substrate W to a temperature appropriate for processing. Therefore, the following effects can be obtained. In this embodiment, before the bevel processing, the space SPa is an air atmosphere (a clean air atmosphere in the conventional technology), and the substrate W may be heated in that atmosphere. Also, while the processing liquid is supplied to the substrate W to process the substrate W, nitrogen gas is supplied to the space SPa to form a nitrogen gas atmosphere. Nitrogen gas is a relatively inexpensive inert gas that is generally used when performing various processes on the substrate W, and is prepared in advance in a factory where the above-mentioned substrate processing system is installed, so it is often used in substrate processing apparatuses. Therefore, it is also possible to heat the substrate W while supplying nitrogen gas to the space SPa before supplying the processing liquid to the substrate W. However, in either case, the space SPa is an air atmosphere (a clean air atmosphere in the conventional technology) or a nitrogen gas atmosphere, which has a relatively low thermal conductivity (air: 0.0317 W / m·K, nitrogen gas: 0.0309 W / m·K at 100°C). 7, it takes a relatively long time to heat the substrate W from room temperature to a temperature suitable for processing. As a result, this is one of the main factors that hinder improvement of throughput. In order to shorten the time required to reach the temperature suitable for processing, it is possible to increase the set temperature of the nitrogen gas or the set temperature of the heater 421, but there is a certain limit when the thermal effect on the peripheral members of the substrate W and the environmental load due to increased power consumption are taken into consideration.

[0102] FIG. 7 is a graph showing the results of verifying the heating effect of heated clean air and heated helium gas in the substrate processing apparatus shown in FIG. Distance between the substrate W and the shield plate 41: 2 mm Rotation speed of the substrate W etc. = 1800 rpm, Temperature of heating gas (clean air, helium gas) = ​​80℃, Heating gas flow rate = 80 liters / min, Heater 421 temperature=185° C. Under these conditions, the temperature of the substrate W was obtained with respect to the elapsed time from the start of supply for each of the clean air and the helium gas, and the results are shown in FIG. 7. As is clear from the figure, the temperature rise of the substrate W when helium gas is used is steeper than that when clean air is used. Therefore, the time required to raise the temperature of the substrate W to the appropriate processing temperature (>room temperature), that is, the temperature rise time, is TMa and TMh when clean air and helium gas are used, respectively, and the temperature rise time is significantly shortened by using helium gas. This is because the heat from the heater 421 is given to the substrate W through the space SPa between the substrate W and the shield plate 41, and is largely dependent on the thermal conductivity of the gas components present in the space SPa. In other words, the thermal conductivity of heated helium gas is significantly higher than that of heated clean air, and the same is true when nitrogen gas having the same thermal conductivity as clean air is used. In this way, the temperature rise time can be significantly shortened by using helium gas having a thermal conductivity higher than that of nitrogen gas. As a result, the temperature rise time is shorter than that of the conventional technology, and the power consumption of the heater 421 can be reduced. Furthermore, the amount of heated gas supplied to the space SPa before the processing liquid is supplied to the substrate W can be significantly reduced, which contributes greatly to reducing the environmental load.

[0103] On the other hand, helium gas is expensive compared to nitrogen gas and is a valuable rare gas. For this reason, it is desirable to avoid using helium gas constantly during bevel processing, not only because it increases running costs but also from the viewpoint of effective use of rare gas. In this respect, in this embodiment, helium gas is used only for a period until the temperature of the substrate W is raised to an appropriate processing temperature, and helium gas is used in a manner that reduces the environmental load.

[0104] As described above, in this embodiment, helium gas corresponds to an example of the "highly thermally conductive inert gas" of the present invention. The nitrogen gas supply unit 47A and the helium gas supply unit 47B correspond to an example of the "first inert gas supply unit" and the "second inert gas supply unit" of the present invention, respectively. The nitrogen gas heating unit 471A and the helium gas heating unit 471B correspond to an example of the "first heating unit" and the "second heating unit" of the present invention, respectively. The space SPa corresponds to an example of the "microspace" of the present invention. The control unit 10 corresponds to an example of the "control unit" of the present invention. The vertical direction Z corresponds to the "up-down direction" of the present invention.

[0105] The present invention is not limited to the above embodiment, and various modifications can be made to the above without departing from the spirit of the present invention. For example, in the above embodiment, helium gas is discharged into the space SPa during the time when the spin chuck 21 or the like reaches the target rotation speed from zero, the time when the pre-dispense process is performed at the pre-dispense position P1, and the time when the upper surface processing nozzle 51F moves from the pre-dispense position P1 to the edge surface position P2. In this way, the discharge of helium gas is continued until just before the processing liquid is supplied to the substrate W, and the upper surface processing nozzle 51F moves to the edge surface position P2 and switches to nitrogen gas at the same timing as the start of supplying the processing liquid to the substrate W. However, the switching timing is not limited to this. In other words, it may be configured to discharge nitrogen gas instead of helium gas before the upper surface processing nozzle 51F moves to the edge surface position P2. This makes the temperature rise time slightly longer, but it is possible to reduce the amount of expensive helium gas used and reduce running costs.

[0106] In the above embodiment, the space SPa is formed by bringing the shielding plate 41 close to the substrate W, and in order to increase the heating efficiency, it is desirable to reduce the distance between the shielding plate 41 and the substrate W. However, in consideration of the tolerance and warping of the substrate W, in order to prevent contact between the shielding plate 41 and the substrate W, it is necessary to set the distance to a certain value or more.

[0107] In the above embodiment, helium gas is used as the highly thermally conductive inert gas. However, other inert gases having a higher thermal conductivity than nitrogen gas, such as neon gas (thermal conductivity at 100°C = 0.0566 W / m K), can also be used.

[0108] In addition, in the above embodiment, the present invention is applied to a substrate processing apparatus 1 that performs a so-called scan-in / scan-out operation, but the present invention can also be applied to a substrate processing apparatus that starts ejecting processing liquid when the upper surface processing nozzle 51F reaches the end surface position P2.

[0109] In addition, in the above embodiment, the present invention is applied to a substrate processing apparatus that performs bevel processing by supplying a processing liquid to the peripheral portion Ws of the substrate W, but the present invention can also be applied to a substrate processing apparatus that heats the substrate using a heater provided on a blocking plate to raise the temperature of the substrate to an appropriate processing temperature before processing by supplying a processing liquid to the substrate. [Industrial Applicability]

[0110] The present invention is applicable to all substrate processing techniques in which a processing liquid is supplied to a substrate while the upper surface of the substrate in a horizontal position is covered with a blocking plate. [Explanation of symbols]

[0111] 1...Substrate processing device 2A...Board holding part 4…Top surface protection heating mechanism 7…Lifting mechanism 10...Control unit (control section) 10A: Calculation processing unit (control unit) 47A…Nitrogen gas supply unit (first inert gas supply unit) 41...Blocking plate 47B…Helium gas supply unit (second inert gas supply unit) 52... Processing liquid supply unit 421…Heater 471A…Nitrogen gas heating section (first heating section) 471B…Helium gas heating section (second heating section) SPa…(microscopic) space W…Substrate Wf: Top surface (of the board) Z: Vertical direction (up and down)

Claims

1. a substrate holder that holds the substrate in a horizontal position; an upper surface protection and heating mechanism that covers an upper surface of the substrate held by the substrate holder with a shielding plate to form a minute space between the upper surface and the shielding plate, and heats the substrate through the minute space by a heater provided on the shielding plate; a processing liquid supply unit that supplies a processing liquid to the heated substrate; a first inert gas supply unit that supplies nitrogen gas to the microspace; a second inert gas supply unit that supplies a highly thermally conductive inert gas having a thermal conductivity higher than that of the nitrogen gas to the minute space; a control unit that controls the first inert gas supply unit and the second inert gas supply unit so that the highly thermally conductive inert gas is supplied to the minispace before the processing liquid is supplied to the substrate, and then the nitrogen gas is supplied instead of the highly thermally conductive inert gas, and the minispace is filled with a nitrogen gas atmosphere while the processing liquid is being supplied to the substrate; A substrate processing apparatus comprising:

2. The substrate processing apparatus according to claim 1 , The control unit controls the first inert gas supply unit and the second inert gas supply unit so as to stop the supply of the highly thermally conductive inert gas and start the supply of the nitrogen gas simultaneously with starting the supply of the processing liquid to the substrate.

3. 3. The substrate processing apparatus according to claim 1, A lifting mechanism is provided for lifting the blocking plate in a vertical direction, The control unit adjusts a position of the blocking plate in the up-down direction relative to the substrate by controlling the lifting mechanism.

4. 3. The substrate processing apparatus according to claim 1, the first inert gas supply unit has a first heating unit that heats up the nitrogen gas to a temperature higher than the ambient temperature of the substrate; the second inert gas supply unit has a second heating unit configured to heat the highly thermally conductive inert gas to a temperature higher than an ambient temperature of the substrate.

5. The substrate processing apparatus according to claim 4, The control unit controls the first heating unit and the second heating unit so that the temperatures of the nitrogen gas and the highly thermally conductive inert gas are below the heat resistance temperature of materials constituting the substrate holding unit and the shielding plate.

6. a step of covering an upper surface of a horizontally oriented substrate with a shielding plate to form a minute space between the upper surface and the shielding plate, and heating the substrate through the minute space by a heater provided on the shielding plate; applying a treatment liquid to the heated substrate; before supplying the processing liquid to the substrate, starting to supply a highly thermally conductive inert gas having a thermal conductivity higher than that of nitrogen gas to the minute space; a step of starting to supply the nitrogen gas to the mini-space instead of the highly thermally conductive inert gas at or before the start of supplying the processing liquid to the substrate, thereby maintaining the mini-space in a nitrogen gas atmosphere while supplying the processing liquid to the substrate; A substrate processing method comprising:

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