Abstract:
A development apparatus for discharging a developer onto a surface of a semiconductor substrate ( 15 ) comprises a nozzle pipe ( 13 ) for supplying the developer, and a nozzle ( 14 ) having a shape of a spoon with a taper and discharging the developer supplied by the nozzle pipe onto the surface of the substrate. The nozzle sprays the developer onto the surface of the substrate at any spray angle under a low and constant pressure.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
         [0001]    1. Field of the Invention  
           [0002]    The present invention relates to a development apparatus useful for manufacturing a semiconductor device, especially to a discharge nozzle useful for the development process.  
           [0003]    2. Description of the Related Art  
           [0004]    [0004]FIG. 9 is a schematic diagram of a conventional development apparatus used in manufacturing a semiconductor.  
           [0005]    The conventional development apparatus comprises a developer tank  1 , an electromagnetic valve  2 , a nozzle pipe  3 , and a spray nozzle (nozzle tip)  4 . The surface of a substrate  5  is coated with a developer sprayed by the spray nozzle  4 . The substrate  5  is left for tens of seconds with the coated developer so that a photo-resist film is reacted with the developer to create a pattern.  
           [0006]    The coating of the surface of the substrate  5  with the developer by the spray nozzle  4  is performed such that the developer is discharged in a shape of fan in order to coat a large area of the substrate  5  in a short time.  
           [0007]    However, according to the above-described conventional method, it is required that the spray angle of the developer discharged by the spray nozzle  4  is so large that the surface of the substrate  5  is coated with the developer in a short time. For this purpose, it is necessary to set high the discharge pressure of the developer. It, however, causes a great impact on the surface of the substrate  5 , which results in decrease of the uniformity of the resist pattern.  
           [0008]    Although the spray angle and the impact strength are variable with the inner diameter and the discharge pressure of the spray nozzle  4 , no spray nozzle has met both requirements for a large spray angle (large sprayed area) and a low discharge pressure (low impact strength).  
           [0009]    Also, according to the conventional method, the substrate  5  is rotated during the spray to efficiently apply the developer onto the surface of the substrate  5 . However, a considerable amount of the developer is wasted because of the centrifugal force produced by the rotation of the substrate  5 .  
         SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
         [0010]    Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a development apparatus capable of efficiently applying a developer onto a large sprayed area of the surface of a stationary substrate under a low discharge pressure.  
           [0011]    In order to achieve the above object, according to one aspect of the invention, a development apparatus for discharging a developer onto a surface of a semiconductor substrate comprises a nozzle pipe for supplying the developer, and a nozzle having a shape of a spoon with a taper and discharging the developer supplied by the nozzle pipe onto the surface of the substrate, wherein the nozzle sprays the developer onto the surface of the substrate at any spray angle under a low and constant pressure.  
           [0012]    According to another aspect of the invention, a development apparatus for discharging a developer onto a surface of a semiconductor substrate comprises a nozzle pipe for supplying the developer, a nozzle having a shape of a spoon with a taper and discharging the developer supplied by the nozzle pipe onto the surface of the substrate, and a scanning device for simultaneously scanning the nozzle pipe and the nozzle above the substrate in a stationary state, wherein the nozzle sprays the developer onto the surface of the substrate at any spray angle under a low and constant pressure.  
           [0013]    According to still another aspect of the invention, the development apparatus further comprises an adjusting device for adjusting a position of the nozzle above the stationary substrate. 
       
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       [0014]    [0014]FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a development apparatus for manufacturing a semiconductor device according to the first embodiment of the present invention.  
         [0015]    [0015]FIG. 2 is a sectional view of a spoon-shaped nozzle used in the development apparatus according to the first embodiment of present invention.  
         [0016]    [0016]FIG. 3 is top plan view of the spoon-shaped nozzle of FIG. 2 showing the spray angle of a developer discharged by a nozzle pipe.  
         [0017]    [0017]FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram showing application of the developer using the spoon-shaped nozzle according to the first embodiment of the present invention.  
         [0018]    [0018]FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram of a development apparatus for manufacturing a semiconductor device according to the second embodiment of the present invention.  
         [0019]    [0019]FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram showing application of the developer using the spoon-shaped nozzle according to the second embodiment of the present invention.  
         [0020]    FIGS.  7 ( a ) and  7 ( b ) are side and top views a schematic diagram of a scanning mechanism made by a nozzle pipe and the spoon-shaped nozzle according to the second embodiment of the present invention, showing the first half of a scanning operation.  
         [0021]    FIGS.  8 ( a ) and  8 ( b ) are side and top views of the scanning mechanism by the nozzle pipe and the spoon-shaped nozzle according to the second embodiment of the present invention, showing the second half of the scanning operation.  
         [0022]    [0022]FIG. 9 is a schematic diagram of a conventional development apparatus for manufacturing a semiconductor device. 
     
    
     DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT  
       [0023]    In FIGS.  1 - 4 , reference numeral  11  denotes a developer tank,  12  an electromagnetic valve,  13  a nozzle pipe,  14  a spoon-shaped nozzle having a taper (hereinafter “nozzle”),  14 A a top portion of the nozzle  14 ,  14 B a middle portion of the nozzle  14 , θ an spray angle of the developer, and  15  a substrate (wafer).  
         [0024]    The spray angle θ (extension of the sprayed area) of the developer is varied with the position of the spoon-shaped nozzle  14 , to which the developer is discharged by the nozzle pipe  13 . That is, the spray angle θ is large where the width of the spoon shape is large and small where the width is small. For example, in FIG. 3, when the developer is discharged from the nozzle pipe  13  to the top portion  14 A of the nozzle  14 , the spray angle θ is small, and when the developer is discharged to the middle portion  14 B of the nozzle  14 , the spray angle θ is large.  
         [0025]    Thus, according to the present invention, the spoon-shaped nozzle  14  is capable of not only forming a widely spread coating at a low pressure but also changing the spray angle θ only by changing the position of discharge of the developer under a constant pressure. An actual pressure is determined based upon various factors, such as the size of the nozzle pipe, the size of the spoon-shaped nozzle, the diameter of the substrate, the distance between the substrate and the spoon-shaped nozzle, and the flow amount of the developer. However, it may be as low as approximately 1.0 kg/cm 2  or below.  
         [0026]    In this embodiment, the discharge position of the developer is determined such that the sprayed developer covers the largest width of the substrate  15 , and the substrate  15  is rotated for the developer coating. That is, as shown in FIG. 4, the substrate  15  is rotated with the nozzle pipe  13  and the nozzle  14  fixed at the same positions. The positions of the nozzle pipe  13  and the nozzle  14  are predetermined such that a width A of the sprayed developer becomes equal to the diameter of the substrate  15 .  
         [0027]    As described above, according to the first embodiment, it is possible to provide a widely spread coating at a constant pressure without changing the discharge pressure and the nozzle.  
         [0028]    In FIG. 5, reference numeral  16  denotes a nozzle adjustment mechanism. In the second embodiment, the positions of the nozzle pipe and the nozzle are adjusted by the nozzle adjustment mechanism  16  with the substrate fixed without any rotation.  
         [0029]    In FIG. 6, reference number  15 A denotes a first position (right-hand position) of the substrate  15 ,  15 B a second position (quarter position) of the substrate  15 ,  15 C a third position (half position) of,  15 D a fourth position (three-quarter position), and  15 E a fifth position (left-hand position). That is, the nozzle  14  is slid from a position {circle over ( 1 )} to a position {circle over ( 5 )} for coating the substrate  15 . At this point, the developer discharge position to the nozzle  14  is adjusted by sliding the nozzle pipe  13  such that the width A of the sprayed developer becomes equal to the width of each sprayed position of the substrate  15 .  
         [0030]    For example, when the substrate  15  is coated from the first position  15 A to the third position  15 C, the nozzle  14  is moved from the position {circle over ( 1 )} to the position {circle over ( 3 )} and the nozzle pipe  13  is scanned in a horizontal direction (X-axis direction) such that the developer is discharged from the top portion  14 A (the spray angle θ is small) of the nozzle  14  to the middle portion  14 B (the spray angle θ is large) of the nozzle  14 . The nozzle  14  may be scanned instead of the scan of the nozzle pipe  13 . In this embodiment, the substrate  15  is not rotated during the coating so that the waste of developer is minimized.  
         [0031]    In FIGS.  7 - 8 , reference numeral  21  denotes a nozzle block which integrates the nozzle pipe  13  and the nozzle  14 ,  22  a nozzle block body,  23  a fixture to fixing the nozzle pipe  13  to the nozzle block body  22 ,  24  an adjusting mechanism (for example, a piezoelectric expansion device) for the nozzle  14 , and  25  a scanning mechanism (for example, a linear motor) for the nozzle block  21 .  
         [0032]    The position of the nozzle  14  with respect to the nozzle pipe  13  is adjusted by the adjusting mechanism  24  such that the discharge position of the developer supplied by the nozzle pipe  13  onto the nozzle  14  moves from the top portion  14 A through the middle portion  14 B to the top portion  14 A again.  
         [0033]    The position of the nozzle block  21  is varied by the driving mechanism  25  so that the application of the developer onto the stationary substrate  15  is smoothly performed.  
         [0034]    According to the second embodiment, the nozzle pipe  13  and the nozzle  14  are simultaneously scanned by the scanning mechanism so that the stationary substrate  15  is efficiently coated with the developer with the minimum waste.  
         [0035]    The present invention is not limited to the above preferred embodiments and a number of variations are possible without departing from the scope and spirit of the present invention. Accordingly, those variations should not be excluded from the scope of the present invention.  
         [0036]    As fully described above, the present invention achieves the following effects.  
         [0037]    (A) It is possible to provide a widely spread coating at a constant pressure without changing the discharge pressure and the nozzle.  
         [0038]    (B) It is possible that the stationary substrate is efficiently coated with the developer with the minimum waste.