AIR BUBBLE BEHAVIOR DETECTION SYSTEM AND AIR BUBBLE BEHAVIOR DETECTION METHOD

To recognize behavior of an air bubble passing through a gap between adjacent substrates and behavior of processing liquid flow.SOLUTION: An air bubble state detection system for a batch-type substrate processing equipment comprises: a substrate holding tool 14 holding a plurality of substrates in a processing tank 10; a processing liquid nozzle 20 supplying processing liquid into the processing tank; and a gas nozzle 30 ejecting an air bubble B for bubbling into the processing tank from below the substrate holding tool. The system further comprises an imaging substrate DW and a light source substrate LW. The imaging substrate comprises a base material having an approximately same shape as a production substrate PW, an imaging device provided on the base material, and an output unit outputting output of the imaging device to the outside of the imaging substrate. The light source substrate is a surface light source comprising a base material having an approximately same shape as that of the production substrate and a light irradiation unit provided on the base material. The imaging substrate and the light source substrate are immersed in processing liquid in the processing tank while the substrates and the light source substrate are faced each other and held by the substrate holding tool. After that, a state of the air bubble passing through between the light source substrate emitting light and the imaging substrate receiving the light is detected on the basis of output of the imaging substrate.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1 【課題】隣接する基板同士の間の隙間を通過する気泡の状態と処理液の流れ状態を把握する。【解決手段】バッチ式の基板処理装置用の気泡状態検出システムは、処理槽１０内で複数の基板を保持する基板保持具１４と、処理槽内に処理液を供給する処理液ノズル２０と、基板保持具の下方から処理槽内にバブリングのための気泡Ｂを吐出するガスノズル３０とを備え、撮像基板ＤＷと光源基板ＬＷとを有する。撮像基板は、製品基板ＰＷと略同じ形状を有する基材と基材上に設けられた撮像素子と、撮像素子の出力を撮像基板の外部に出力する出力部と、を備える。光源基板は、製品基板と略同じ形状を有する基材と基材上に設けられた光照射部とを備えた面光源であり、撮像基板及び光源基板を互いに対面させて基板保持具で保持した状態で処理槽内の処理液に浸漬し、光を出射する光源基板と光を受光する撮像基板との間を通過する気泡の状態を撮像基板の出力に基づいて検出する。【選択図】図１