Patent Publication Number: US-2005139313-A1

Title: Thin film forming apparatus and thin film forming method

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
      1. Field of the Invention  
      The present invention relates to a thin film forming apparatus and a thin film forming method with which it is possible to transfer a thin film, such as an insulation film and a metallic film, to a thin film bearing surface of a substrate and accordingly dispose the thin film.  
      2. Description of the Related Art  
      Over the recent years, it has became necessary to use a thin film forming method suitably applicable to a large area size as wafers used during manufacturing of LSIs have became larger in diameter, liquid crystal panels have became larger in area size, etc. In addition, in the field of multilevel interconnections techniques among techniques for manufacturing LSIs, as the surface of an insulation film needs be planarized accurately to realize multilevel interconnection. There are increasing demands for larger area sizes and better surface planarization techniques for planarization of surfaces during fabrication of thin films. In an effort to satisfy these demands, thin film forming techniques for forming a thin film on a substrate by a pressure transfer method have been proposed.  
      This type of thin film forming apparatus may be an apparatus which is described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Gazette No. H10-189566 for instance. In this apparatus, a thin film is disposed on a substrate following thin film forming steps which are shown in  FIGS. 8A through 8D . First, as shown in  FIG. 8A , a substrate  1 , such as a semiconductor wafer and a glass substrate for liquid crystal panel, is placed on a specimen holder in such a manner that electrode interconnections  11  formed on a surface of the substrate  1  direct themselves to above. In this example, the surface  12  seating the electrode interconnections  11  serves as a thin film bearing surface on which a thin film is to be disposed through steps described below.  
      Next, as shown in  FIG. 8B , a sheet film F whose surface already seats an insulation film  21  is mounted to a transfer plate which is located above the specimen holder to face the specimen holder. In this example, the insulation film  21  is the thin film which is to be transferred onto the substrate  1 . The insulation film  21  is located so as to face the thin film bearing surface  12  of the substrate  1  which is held on the specimen holder. The specimen holder is moved toward the transfer plate and the substrate  1  and the sheet film F are accordingly brought into contact with each other. Thereafter the substrate  1  and the sheet film F are pressed against each other as denoted at the arrows in  FIG. 8B  for a certain period of time while heating the substrate  1  to a predetermined temperature. As a result, the substrate  1  and the sheet film F tightly adhere to each other with the insulation film  21  inserted between the two, and a tightly adhered object is obtained.  
      Thus obtained tightly adhered object is taken out from a thin film forming chamber and the sheet film F is peeled off as shown in  FIG. 8C , whereby the insulation film  21  is transferred onto the thin film bearing surface  12  of the substrate  1  as shown in  FIG. 8D .  
      By the way, as described above, in a conventional thin film forming apparatus, the insulation film (thin film)  21  is formed on the sheet film F which is flexible in advance. The insulation film  21  is transferred onto the substrate  1  as the sheet film F is peeled off after joining the insulation film  21  to the thin film bearing surface  12  of the substrate  1 . Hence, once the sheet film F is used, this sheet film F can not be used again. The sheet film F is thus treated as disposable goods so to speak. The sheet films F after transfer of thin films are waste and one of causes to increase a running cost.  
      Further, once human operators handle transportation of the sheet films F, particles may adhere to the sheet films F or heat may dissipate from the sheet films F. This makes it difficult to control heat histories and leads to a deterioration in product quality of thin films and even a drop in production yield, which is a problem. There is another problem that a large floor space is necessary to install the apparatus. While automated transportation of the sheet films is indispensable to solve these problems, since the sheet films F are flexible, there is one of major obstacles to automation as transportation of the sheet films F using a known transportation mechanism such as a transportation robot is difficult.  
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
      A major object of the present invention is to provide a thin film forming apparatus and a thin film forming method which make it possible to dispose a thin film on a substrate at a low running cost.  
      Another object of the present invention is to provide a thin film forming apparatus and a thin film forming method which are easily compatible with automation.  
      Infullment of the foregoing object, a thin film forming apparatus and a thin film forming method are particularly well suited to transferring a thin film to a substrate. A thin film is formed on a surface of a non-flexible plate-like member. A thin film bearing surface of the substrate faces against the thin film which is formed on the surface of the plate-like member. At least one of the plate-like member and the substrate moves closer toward the other, whereby the thin film is tightly adhered to the thin film bearing surface. Following this, the joining of the thin film and the plate-like member is released to peeling off the plate-like member. Hence, the thin film is transferred onto the substrate from the plate-like member, and the thin film is disposed on the thin film bearing surface of the substrate.  
      The above and further objects and novel features of the invention will more fully appear from the following detailed description when the same is read in connection with the accompanying drawing. It is to be expressly understood, however, that the drawing is for purpose of illustration only and is not intended as a definition of the limits of the invention. 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       FIG. 1  is a drawing which shows basic operations of a thin film forming apparatus according to the present invention;  
       FIGS. 2A through 2D  are schematic diagrams which show the basic operations in  FIG. 1 ;  
       FIG. 3  is a drawing of a preferred embodiment of a coating unit which is disposed in the thin film forming apparatus according to the present invention;  
       FIG. 4  is a drawing of a preferred embodiment of a drying unit which is disposed in the thin film forming apparatus according to the present invention;  
       FIG. 5  is a drawing of a preferred embodiment of an adhering unit which is disposed in the thin film forming apparatus according to the present invention;  
       FIG. 6  is a drawing of a preferred embodiment of a peeling unit which is disposed in the thin film forming apparatus according to the present invention;  
       FIG. 7  is a drawing of a preferred embodiment of a cleaning unit which is disposed in the thin film forming apparatus according to the present invention; and  
       FIGS. 8A through 8D  are drawings which show basic operations of a conventional thin film forming apparatus.  
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS  
      Before describing detailed structures and operations of processing units (coating unit, drying unit, adhering unit, peeling unit and cleaning unit) which form a thin film forming apparatus, operations of the thin film forming apparatus will now be outlined with reference to  FIGS. 1, 2A  through  2 D.  
       FIG. 1  is a drawing which shows basic operations of a thin film forming apparatus according to the present invention. In  FIG. 1 , solid arrows denote the order in which a substrate is transported, dotted arrows denote the order in which a quartz plate is transported, and a thick white arrow denotes the order in which a tightly adhered object is transported.  FIGS. 2A through 2D  are schematic diagrams which show the basic operations in  FIG. 1 . In this thin film forming apparatus, the substrate whose surface seats the electrode interconnections  11  is housed in a substrate cassette, while the quartz plate  2  which corresponds to the “non-flexible plate-like member” of the present invention is housed in a plate-like member cassette. The quartz plate  2  is unloaded from the plate-like member cassette with a conventional transportation mechanism such as a transportation robot, and as shown in  FIG. 2A , after coating a surface of the quartz plate  2  with the insulation film  21  (Step S 1 : COATING), the insulation film  21  is dried (Step S 2 : DRYING).  
      While the quartz plate  2  whose surface now seats the insulation film  21  is transported to an adhering unit, the substrate  1  is unloaded from the substrate cassette. The unloaded substrate  1  is positioned such that the thin film bearing surface of the substrate  1 , namely, the surface  12  on which the electrode interconnections  11  are formed faces the insulation film  21  which is formed on the quartz plate  2  ( FIG. 2B ). The insulation film  21  is tightly adhered to the thin film bearing surface  12  as the substrate  1  and the quartz plate  2  are moved closer to each other while maintaining this opposed arrangement, whereby a tightly adhered object (denoted at the reference symbol A in  FIG. 6  which will be described later) is obtained (Step S 3 : ADHERING). The tightly adhered object is integration of the substrate  1  and the quartz plate  2  with the insulation film  21  inserted between the two.  
      Next, after transporting the tightly adhered object to a peeling unit, as shown in  FIG. 2C , only the quartz plate  2  is selectively peeled off from the tightly adhered object, which completes transfer of the insulation film  21  onto the substrate  1  (Step S 4 : PEELING). In this manner, the insulation film  21  is disposed on the thin film bearing surface  12  of the substrate  1  and the substrate  1  with the insulation film  21  is then housed by the transportation mechanism into the substrate cassette. Meanwhile, the quartz plate  2 , after transported by the transportation mechanism to a cleaning unit and cleaned (Step S 5 : CLEANING) as shown in  FIG. 2D , is returned to the plate-like member cassette and waits within the cassette until reused next time.  
      A description will now be given on structures and operations of the coating unit, the drying unit, the adhering unit, the peeling unit and the cleaning unit which form the thin film forming apparatus according to the present invention and respectively execute the coating process, the drying process, the adhering process, the peeling process and the cleaning process described above.  
       FIG. 3  is a drawing of a preferred embodiment of the coating unit which is disposed in the thin film forming apparatus according to the present invention. The coating unit  3  comprises a disk-shaped stage  31 , a rotation shaft  32  of a motor (not shown) which rotates the stage  31 , an SOG liquid discharge nozzle  33  for discharging a coating liquid such as an SOG (Spin-on-Glass) liquid, a cleaning liquid discharge nozzle  34  for discharging a cleaning liquid upon a peripheral edge portion of the quartz plate  2  to thereby perform edge rinse, and a splash prevention cup  35  which prevents the coating liquid, the cleaning liquid and the like from splashing around the coating unit  3 .  
      A plurality of support pins not shown are disposed to the stage  31  in such a manner that the support pins slide upward and downward. After the support pins protrude upward beyond a top surface of the stage  31  and receive the quartz plate  2  from the transportation mechanism, the support pins sink downward inside the stage  31 , thereby placing the quartz plate  2  on the top surface of the stage  31 . In addition, there are a plurality of suction holes formed in the stage  31 , and therefore, it is possible to vacuum-suck and hold thus placed quartz plate  2 . Further, as the support pins move upward, the quartz plate  2  on the stage  31  is lifted up from the stage  31 , so that the transportation mechanism can transport the quartz plate  2  out from the coating unit  3 . The splash prevention cup  35  sits around the stage  31  which has such a structure.  
      Operations of the coating unit  3  having such a structure will now be described. In this apparatus, as the transportation mechanism and the support pins place the quartz plate  2  unloaded from the plate-like member cassette on the stage  31 , the quartz plate  2  is vacuum-sucked and supported to the stage  31 , which completes setting of the quartz plate  2  to the coating unit  3 . A motor (not shown) attached to the coating unit  3  operates and the rotation shaft  32  starts rotating, and in accordance with the rotations, the stage  31  and the quartz plate  2  rotate. At the same time with or slightly in delay from the rotations, the SOG liquid is supplied from the SOG liquid discharge nozzle  33  toward a central point of the quartz plate  2 . In response, due to the centrifugal force attributed to the rotations of the quartz plate  2 , the SOG liquid is applied from the center of the quartz plate  2  to the entire surface of the quartz plate  2  and the insulation film (SOG film)  21  is accordingly formed. At this stage, the SOG liquid splashed outside the quartz plate  2  is discharged to outside the coating unit  3  through the splash prevention cup  35 , and further, a discharge pipe not shown.  
      After the SOG liquid is supplied to the entire surface of the quartz plate  2 , edge rinse is carried out. In short, the cleaning liquid is discharged toward the peripheral edge portion of the quartz plate  2  from the cleaning liquid discharge nozzle  34 . At this stage as well, since the quartz plate  2  keeps rotating, the coating liquid adhering to the peripheral edge portion of the quartz plate  2  is removed owing to the rotations. As coating (Step S 1 ) for the quartz plate  2  completes in this manner, after vacuum suction is released, the support pins lift up the quartz plate  2  from the stage  31  and the transportation mechanism transports the quartz plate  2  to the drying unit  4  which is the next unit.  
      Although the coating unit  3  uses the SOG liquid as the coating liquid in this embodiment, the coating liquid is not particularly limited to this but may be any coating liquid, such as a photoresist liquid used for photolithographic processing of a semiconductor device and an SOD (Spin-on-Dielectric) liquid, which creates a thin film which is to be disposed on the substrate  1 . In addition, although the preferred embodiment above requires to vacuum-suck and hold the quartz plate  2 , the quartz plate  2  may be held mechanically. It is needless to mention that a method of holding the quartz plate  2  is not limited to any particular method, and this similarly applies to other processing units as well.  
       FIG. 4  is a drawing of a preferred embodiment of the drying unit which is disposed in the thin film forming apparatus according to the present invention. The drying unit  4  comprises a processing container  41  whose inside serves as a processing chamber  411  for executing the drying process (Step S 2 ), and a hot plate (stage)  42  which is attached to an inner bottom portion of the processing chamber  411 .  
      Two nitrogen inlets  412  and  413  are formed in a bottom portion of the processing container  41 , and nitrogen gas (N 2  gas) is supplied from a nitrogen gas supplier not shown into the processing chamber  411  via the inlets  412  and  413 . An exhaust vent  414  is formed in a ceiling portion of the processing container  41  so that it is possible to discharge a gas component in the processing chamber  411  out from the processing chamber  411 . Owing to this, the processing chamber  411  is filled with a nitrogen gas atmosphere, and the drying process is performed in this atmosphere.  
      The hot plate  42  internally comprises a heater  421 , and the heater  421  develops heat in response to an electric signal which is fed from a control unit (not shown). Like the stage  31  of the coating unit  3 , support pins (not shown) which can slide upward and downward are disposed to the hot plate  42 , and therefore, the support pins and the transportation mechanism can load the quartz plate  2  on the hot plate  42  and unload the quartz plate  2  from the hot plate  42 . As soon as the transportation mechanism and the support pins place the quartz plate  2  on the hot plate  42 , the drying process (Step S 2 ) is initiated.  
      Although the quartz plate  2  which is an object to be dried is placed directly on the hot plate  42  in the preferred embodiment, so-called proximity drying may be performed according to which the quartz plate  2  is dried in a very small distance away from the hot plate  42 .  
      Further, for the purpose of easily transferring the insulation film  21  from the quartz plate  2  onto the substrate  1 , it is preferable that at the stage of transfer of the insulation film (SOG film)  21  seated on the quartz plate  2  onto the substrate  1  in the adhering unit  5  which will be described next, the drying process finishes when the insulation film  21  is half dried.  
       FIG. 5  is a drawing of a preferred embodiment of the adhering unit which is disposed in the thin film forming apparatus according to the present invention. The adhering unit  5  comprises a processing container  51  whose inside serves as a processing chamber  511  for executing the adhering process (Step S 5 ). A first and a second stages  52  and  53  are housed in the processing chamber  511  in such a manner that the first and the second stages  52  and  53  are opposed with each other one over the other. Of these stages, the first stage  52  has a stage surface which faces the second stage  53 . On the stage surface the first stage  52  is capable of holding the substrate  1  unloaded from the substrate cassette such that the thin film bearing surface  12  of the substrate  1  is directed to below.  
      In addition, a heater  521  is disposed within the first stage  52 . The heater  521  is controlled based on a substrate temperature signal fed from the control unit (not shown) to a temperature between 25° C. and 300° C. for instance. The first stage  52  is hung inside the processing container  51  and raised and lowered by a load motor  54 .  
      The other one of the stages, namely, the second stage  53  is arranged below the first stage  52  so that the axis line of the second stage  53  coincides with that of the first stage  52 . The second stage  53  has a top surface which faces the thin film bearing surface  12  of the substrate  1 . On the top surface the second stage  53  is capable of sucking the quartz plate  2  such that the insulation film  21  is directed to the thin film bearing surface  12  of the substrate  1 . The structure of the second stage  53  is approximately the same as that of the stage  31  of the coating unit  3 , leaving a difference that a heater  531  is disposed within the stage  53  and the heater  531  is controlled based on a quartz plate temperature signal fed from the control unit (not shown) to a temperature between 25° C. and 300° C. for example.  
      Further, elastically supported by a plurality of compression coil springs  56  on a support plate  55 , the second stage  53  ensures that the loaded pressure of pressing the substrate  1  and the quartz plate  2  is uniform. The support plate  55  is held by a support column  57  for free vertical movement, and raised and lowered by a load motor  58 .  
      In the adhering unit  5  having such a structure described above, the two stages  52  and  53  are moved vertically closer to each other by the load motors  54  and  58  while holding the substrate  1  and the quartz plate  2  with the stages  52  and  53  in such a manner that the thin film bearing surface  12  of the substrate  1  faces the insulation film (thin film)  21  which is formed on the surface of the quartz plate (plate-like member)  2 . Hence, the insulation film  21  is tightly adhered to the thin film bearing surface  12  and the tightly adhered object is accordingly obtained which is integration of the substrate  1  and the quartz plate  2  with the insulation film  21  inserted between the two.  
      Although the preferred embodiment above requires that the stages  52  and  53  are moved toward each other to thereby bring the insulation film  21  on the quartz plate  2  into tight adhesion with the thin film bearing surface  12 , the adhesion may be achieved by moving only the stage  52  toward the other (stage  53 ) or only the stage  53  toward the other (stage  52 ). The importance in this respect is to merely ensure that at least one of the substrate  1  and the quartz plate  2  is moved toward the other and the insulation film (thin film)  21  accordingly adheres to the thin film bearing surface  12  of the substrate  1 .  
      The transportation mechanism transports thus obtained tightly adhered object to the next processing unit, i.e., the peeling unit  6  and the peeling process (Step S 4 ) is then executed.  
       FIG. 6  is a drawing of a preferred embodiment of the peeling unit which is disposed in the thin film forming apparatus according to the present invention. The peeling unit  6  comprises a processing container  61  whose inside serves as a processing chamber  611  for executing the peeling process (Step S 4 ), a cool plate  62  which is disposed below the processing chamber  611  and vacuum-sucks the quartz plate  2  of the tightly adhered object A created in the adhering unit  5  described above, and a substrate suction plate  63  which is disposed above the cool plate  62  within the processing chamber  611  and capable of sucking the substrate  1  of the tightly adhered object A placed on the cool plate  62  and revolving in the vertical direction and around an axis AX which is along a direction vertical to the plane of  FIG. 6 .  
      A revolving mechanism  64  which uses a rotary air cylinder or the like is connected to the substrate suction plate  63 , for the purpose of revolving the substrate suction plate  63  around the axis AX. Meanwhile, a vertical movement mechanism  65  is disposed to the substrate suction plate  63 .  
      The vertical movement mechanism  65  comprises pins  67  which are moved by drive members  66 , such as air cylinders, forward and backward relative to the surface of contact of the substrate suction plate  63  with the substrate  1 . When the substrate suction plate  63  has revolved thereby directing the substrate  1  toward above, the pins  67  are raised so that the substrate  1  is raised above beyond the substrate suction plate  63 .  
      An ionizer  69  is disposed within the processing chamber  611  of the processing container  61 , so that it is possible to develop an ozone (O 3 ) atmosphere inside the processing chamber  611 .  
      Disposed inside the cool plate  62  is a distribution path  621  for distributing a coolant such as cooling water, liquid nitrogen and the like, which makes it possible to forcibly cool the quartz plate  2  which is in direct contact with the cool plate  62  by means of a distributed coolant through the distribution path  621  from a coolant supplier  68 . As described above, in this embodiment, the cool plate  62  functions as a plate holder which holds the quartz plate  2  which is a plate-like member, and the cool plate  62  is cooled by a cooling mechanism which comprises the distribution path  621  and the coolant supplier  68  and functions as the “temperature difference developing section” of the present invention.  
      Operations of the peeling unit  6  will now be described. The tightly adhered object A is loaded, while supported by the transportation mechanism, into the processing chamber  611  of the peeling unit  6 . The object A is formed by the adhering unit  5  and is integration of the substrate  1  and the quartz plate  2  with the insulation film  21  inserted between the two. At this stage, the substrate suction plate  63  has had retracted to above. After placing the tightly adhered object A on the cool plate  62  in such a manner that the quartz plate  2  contacts the cool plate  62 , the transportation mechanism retracts outside the processing container  61 .  
      While the cool plate  62  sucks the quartz plate  2 , the substrate suction plate  63  which used to retract to above moves downward and sucks the substrate  1  at the back surface (no-thin-film surface) of the substrate  1 . Meanwhile, the processing container  61  is closed airtight and the ionizer  69  is activated, the processing chamber  611  is filled with an ozone atmosphere.  
      Following this, distribution of the coolant to the distribution path  621  of the cool plate  62  is initiated, and the quartz plate  2  is rapidly cooled. As a result, a large temperature difference is created between the insulation film (thin film)  21  and the quartz plate  2 , and joining of the quartz plate  2  and the insulation film  21  is released by a difference in thermal expansion coefficient between the quartz plate  2  and the insulation film  21 . As the substrate suction plate  63  moves upward after a predetermined period of time, the interface between the quartz plate  2  and the insulation film  21  breaks, the quartz plate  2  is selectively peeled off from the tightly adhered object A without fail, and the insulation film  21  is transferred to the thin film bearing surface  12  of the substrate  1 .  
      The substrate suction plate  63  which has moved to above is now revolved by the revolving mechanism  64  about the axis AX and stops as the thin film bearing surface  12  of the substrate  1  gets directed upward into a horizontal posture. Following this, the substrate suction plate  63  releases suction of the substrate  1  and the vertical movement mechanism  65  then moves the substrate  1  to above. In short, as the pins  67  are raised by the drive members  66 , the substrate  1  is raised off from the surface of contact with the substrate suction plate  63 .  
      The transportation mechanism discharges thus raised substrate  1  and houses the substrate  1  into the substrate cassette. On the other hand, the cool plate  62  releases suction of the quartz plate  2 . The transportation mechanism discharges the quartz plate  2  out from the peeling unit  6  and transports the quartz plate  2  to the cleaning unit  7  which is the next processing unit.  
      While the substrate  1  itself may be destroyed by peeling-induced electrification if the inside of the processing chamber  611  is a vacuum atmosphere during peeling of the quartz plate  2  from the tightly adhered object A, since the inside of the processing chamber  611  is adjusted to an ozone atmosphere in this embodiment, the ionizing effect of ozone obviates electrification and it is therefore possible to effectively prevent destruction of the substrate  1 .  
       FIG. 7  is a drawing of a preferred embodiment of the cleaning unit which is disposed in the thin film forming apparatus according to the present invention. The cleaning unit  7  comprises a processing container  71  whose inside serves as a processing chamber  711  for executing the cleaning process (Step S 5 ). Four support pins  72  are disposed to extend from an inner bottom surface of the cleaning container  71  toward inside the processing chamber  711 , so that it is possible to hold and suspend the quartz plate  2  within the processing chamber  711 .  
      A cleaning liquid inlet  712  is formed in a side surface of the cleaning container  71 , which makes it possible to supply the cleaning liquid (which may be an organic solvent, such as thinner, isopropyl alcohol and ethanol, pure water, etc.) for cleaning the quartz plate  2  into the processing chamber  711  from a cleaning liquid supplier  73  which is connected to the cleaning liquid inlet  712 . A discharge outlet  713  is formed in a side surface of the cleaning container  71  so as to face the cleaning liquid inlet  712 . It is therefore possible to discharge the cleaning liquid supplied to the processing chamber  711  in the manner above, a contaminant washed and removed off from the quartz plate  2 , etc., from the processing chamber  711  into a drain collector  74 . Further, a nitrogen gas inlet  714  is formed in a ceiling central portion of the cleaning container  71 , so that it is possible to supply nitrogen gas from the nitrogen gas supplier  75  which is connected to the nitrogen gas inlet  714  into the processing chamber  711  and dry the cleaned quartz plate  2 .  
      Next, in the cleaning unit  7  having such a structure described above, the quartz plate  2  peeled off from the tightly adhered object A by the peeling unit  6  is loaded into the processing chamber  711  and held by the support pins  72 . While maintaining this holding stage, an electromagnetic valve (not shown) disposed in the vicinity of the discharge outlet  713  is closed to thereby prohibit drainage through the discharge outlet  713 , an electromagnetic valve (not shown) disposed in the vicinity of the nitrogen gas inlet  714  is closed to thereby stop supply of nitrogen gas into the processing chamber  711 , and an electromagnetic valve (not shown) disposed in the vicinity of the cleaning liquid inlet  712  is opened to thereby supply the cleaning liquid into the processing chamber  711  and start cleaning the quartz plate  2 .  
      As a cleaning period has elapsed, supply of the cleaning liquid into the processing chamber  711  is stopped, and the cleaning liquid in the processing chamber  711 , a contaminant washed and removed off from the quartz plate  2 , etc. are discharged from the processing chamber  711  into the drain collector  74 . Although drainage is started at the same time with suspension of supply of the cleaning liquid in this embodiment, fresh supply of the cleaning liquid may be continued by continuing supply of the cleaning liquid into the processing chamber  711  and drainage from the processing chamber  711  partially in parallel for a while, and supply of the cleaning liquid may be stopped after continued discharge of the contaminant for a while. In this case, although the quantity of the cleaning liquid to use increases, the cleaning effect improves.  
      As cleaning of the quartz plate  2  completes in this manner, the electromagnetic valve attached close to the nitrogen gas inlet  714  is opened, nitrogen gas is supplied into the processing chamber  711 , and the quartz plate  2  is dried. At this stage, it is more preferable in terms of the efficiency of drying to use nitrogen gas which is heated in advance than to use nitrogen gas which is at an ordinary temperature. In addition, although nitrogen gas is used in this embodiment, the gas to use is not limited to nitrogen gas but may be air, inert gas or the like.  
      At last, as drying of the quartz plate  2  completes, after the transportation mechanism unloads the quartz plate  2  out from the processing chamber  711 , the quartz plate  2  is transported to and housed in the plate-like member cassette and waits within the cassette until reused next time.  
      In the thin film forming apparatus having such a structure described above, the substrate  1  and the quartz plate  2  are moved closer to each other with the insulation film (thin film)  21  formed on the quartz plate  2  which is non-flexible faced against the thin film bearing surface  12  of the substrate  1 , and the insulation film  21  is adhered to the thin film bearing surface  12  within the adhering unit  5 . Following this, in the peeling unit  6 , the quartz plate  2  is selectively peeled off from the tightly adhered object A, the insulation film  21  is transferred onto the substrate  1  from the quartz plate  2 , and the insulation film  21  is disposed on the thin film bearing surface  12  of the substrate  1 . Meanwhile, after the quartz plate  2  is cleaned in the cleaning unit  7 , the quartz plate  2  is returned to the plate-like member cassette so that the quartz plate  2  can be reused, and hence, it is possible to repeatedly use the quartz plate  2 . This largely reduces a running cost than in a conventional apparatus which requires to throw away the sheet film F every time transfer of a thin film is performed.  
      Further, although the cleaning process (Step S 5 ) described above is not necessary when the insulation film  21  is completely removed from the surface of the quartz plate  2  upon peeling off of the quartz plate  2  from the tightly adhered object A, if the insulation film  21  partially remains on the surface of the quartz plate  2 , the quality of the insulation film  21  disposed on the surface of the quartz plate  2  may deteriorate. However, since the quartz plate  2  is cleaned before reused in the apparatus above, it is possible to form the insulation film  21  whose quality is always excellent on the quartz plate  2 .  
      In addition, the non-flexible quartz plate  2  is transported to the adhering unit  5  and the insulation film  21  can be adhered to the substrate  1  in the apparatus above. Hence, it is possible to use a known transportation mechanism such as a transportation robot, and therefore, easily realize automated processing of a thin film.  
      Further, while quartz is used as the non-flexible plate-like member, other materials such as semiconductor materials, metal, ceramics and resins may be used. Still, considering that quartz does not contain a contaminant which contaminates the substrate  1 , can be easily processed and allows easy planarization of the surface of the quartz plate  2 , a quartz material is used in the apparatus above.  
      The present invention is not limited to the preferred embodiment described above but may be modified to the extent not deviating from the intention of the invention. For instance, although the preferred embodiment above requires to use the adhering unit  5  for the adhering process (Step S 3 ) and the peeling unit  6  for the peeling process (Step S 4 ), the adhering process and the peeling process may be carried out continuously in the same unit. For instance, a further cooling mechanism may be disposed to the stage  53  of the adhering unit  5  in addition to the heater  531 , and after stopping the heater  531  following the adhering process (Step S 3 ), the peeling process may be executed by this cooling mechanism.  
      Moreover, while the insulation film  21  is transferred as a thin film onto the thin film bearing surface  12  of the substrate  1  in the preferred embodiment above, the present invention is applicable to thin film forming apparatuses in general in which a thin film other than an insulation film is transferred onto the substrate  1 . In addition, although the preferred embodiment above is an example that a thin film is disposed on the substrate  1  which may be a semiconductor wafer, a glass substrate for liquid crystal panel and the like, this is not limiting. The present invention is of course applicable to a glass substrate for photomask, a glass substrate for plasma display, a substrate for optical disk, a wired board (which is a printed board for example) such as a multi-chip module which is used in relation to mounting of electronic components.  
      Although the invention has been described with reference to specific embodiments, this description is not meant to be construed in a limiting sense. Various modifications of the disclosed embodiment, as well as other embodiments of the present invention, will become apparent to persons skilled in the art upon reference to the description of the invention. It is therefore contemplated that the appended claims will cover any such modifications or embodiments as fall within the true scope of the invention.