CN117832127A - Substrate cleaning device and substrate cleaning method - Google Patents

Abstract

The application discloses a cleaning device and a cleaning method for a substrate. Wherein, the base plate includes the functional film layer of base plate and base plate one side, and the belt cleaning device of base plate includes: the prewetting unit is used for soaking and wetting the substrate and is filled with wetting liquid; the cleaning unit is connected with the prewetting unit and used for flushing the wetted substrate; and the conveying device is penetrated in the prewetting unit and the cleaning unit, and in the working state, the substrate of the substrate is contacted with the bearing surface of the conveying device, and the conveying device is used for conveying the substrate. The stability of the surface liquid film in the substrate conveying process can be improved, the surface of the substrate is provided with the complete liquid film when the substrate enters the cleaning unit for cleaning, the possibility of damage to the alignment film caused by the cleaning pressure of the cleaning process is reduced, the optical stability and the reliability quality of the display panel product are improved, and the product yield is improved.

Description

Substrate cleaning device and substrate cleaning method

Technical Field

The application relates to the field of substrate cleaning, in particular to a device and a method for cleaning a substrate.

Background

The substrate comprises a substrate and a functional film layer positioned on one side of the substrate. For example, the manufacturing process of a thin film transistor liquid crystal display (Thin Film Transistor Liquid Crystal Display, abbreviated as TFT-LCD) includes manufacturing a substrate including a base substrate and an alignment film on one side of the base substrate, and the substrate needs to be cleaned to remove particles, oxides and organic matters on the surface of the substrate, especially before bonding.

In the prior art, in the cleaning process, the functional film layer on one side far away from the substrate is easily damaged in the cleaning process, the functional film layer is incomplete, the substrate is easy to generate streak-like Mura defects similar to water marks after being cleaned, and the product yield is reduced.

Disclosure of Invention

The embodiment of the application provides a cleaning device and a cleaning method for a substrate, which can improve the stability of a surface liquid film in the substrate conveying process, reduce the possibility of damage to a functional film layer caused by the flushing pressure of a cleaning process and improve the product yield.

In a first aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a cleaning device for a substrate, where the substrate includes a substrate and a functional film layer located on one side of the substrate, and the cleaning device includes: the prewetting unit is used for soaking and wetting the substrate and is filled with wetting liquid; the cleaning unit is connected with the prewetting unit and used for flushing the wetted substrate; and the conveying device is penetrated in the prewetting unit and the cleaning unit, and in the working state, the substrate of the substrate is contacted with the bearing surface of the conveying device, and the conveying device is used for conveying the substrate.

Based on the same inventive concept, in a second aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a method for cleaning a substrate, including the steps of: conveying the substrate to a prewetting unit through a conveying device, so that the substrate is soaked and wetted in the prewetting unit; after the soaking and wetting are completed, the substrate is conveyed to a cleaning unit through a conveying device, so that the wetted substrate is washed in the cleaning unit.

According to the cleaning device for the substrate, which is provided by the embodiment of the application, the prewetting unit is designed to soak and wet the substrate by utilizing the wetting liquid contained in the prewetting unit, namely, the prewetting unit is changed into a swimming pool mode, the substrate is conveyed into the prewetting unit by the conveying device, soaking and wetting are completed in the prewetting unit, the substrate can invade the wetting liquid in the conveying process, the substrate is in a state of being submerged by the wetting liquid, the substrate can 'submerge' in the wetting liquid, the stability of a surface liquid film in the conveying process of the substrate can be improved, the surface of the substrate is provided with a complete liquid film when the substrate enters the cleaning unit for flushing, the possibility of damage to a functional film layer such as an alignment film due to the flushing pressure of the cleaning process is reduced, the optical stability and reliability quality of display panel products such as LCD products are improved, and the yield of the products is improved.

Drawings

Other features, objects and advantages of the present application will become more apparent upon reading the following detailed description of non-limiting embodiments, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which like or similar reference characters designate the same or similar features, and which are not to scale.

FIG. 1 shows one cause of a substrate Mura in the prior art;

FIG. 2 is a schematic top view of a cleaning device according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 3 is a schematic cross-sectional view of a cleaning device according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 4 is a schematic top view of a cleaning device according to another embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 5 is a schematic cross-sectional view of a cleaning device according to another embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 6 is a schematic cross-sectional view showing a cleaning device according to still another embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 7 is a schematic cross-sectional view showing a cleaning apparatus according to still another embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 8 is a schematic cross-sectional view showing a cleaning apparatus according to still another embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 9 is a schematic flow chart of a method for cleaning a substrate according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

fig. 10 is a schematic flow chart of a method for cleaning a substrate according to another embodiment of the present disclosure.

Reference numerals illustrate:

10. a prewetting unit; 11. a first sub-pre-wetting zone; 12. a second sub-pre-wetting zone; 13. a prewetting tank; 14. a liquid cutting device; 15. the non-pressure water falling device; 16 a first lifting mechanism; 17; a liquid pushing plate;

20. a cleaning unit; 21. a spray assembly;

30. a transfer device; 31. a conveying roller; 32. a first section; 33. a second section; 34. a third section;

40. a preparation unit; 50. a substrate; 51. a substrate base; 52. an alignment film; s1, a liquid film coverage area; s2, a liquid film missing area; s3, an alignment film damage area.

Detailed Description

Features and exemplary embodiments of various aspects of the present application are described in detail below to make the objects, technical solutions and advantages of the present application more apparent, and to further describe the present application in conjunction with the accompanying drawings and the detailed embodiments. It should be understood that the specific embodiments described herein are merely configured to explain the present application and are not configured to limit the present application. It will be apparent to one skilled in the art that the present application may be practiced without some of these specific details. The following description of the embodiments is merely intended to provide a better understanding of the present application by showing examples of the present application.

It is noted that relational terms such as first and second, and the like are used solely to distinguish one entity or action from another entity or action without necessarily requiring or implying any actual such relationship or order between such entities or actions. Moreover, the terms "comprises," "comprising," or any other variation thereof, are intended to cover a non-exclusive inclusion, such that a process, method, article, or apparatus that comprises a list of elements does not include only those elements but may include other elements not expressly listed or inherent to such process, method, article, or apparatus. Without further limitation, an element defined by the phrase "comprising … …" does not exclude the presence of other like elements in a process, method, article or apparatus that comprises the element.

It will be understood that when a layer, an area, or a structure is described as being "on" or "over" another layer, another area, it can be referred to as being directly on the other layer, another area, or another layer or area can be included between the layer and the other layer, another area. And if the component is turned over, that layer, one region, will be "under" or "beneath" the other layer, another region.

It should be understood that the term "and/or" as used herein is merely one relationship describing the association of the associated objects, meaning that there may be three relationships, e.g., a and/or B, may represent: a exists alone, A and B exist together, and B exists alone. In addition, the character "/" herein generally indicates that the front and rear associated objects are an "or" relationship.

It will be understood that when an element is referred to as being "connected" or "electrically connected" to another element, it can be directly connected to the other element or one or more intervening elements may be present therebetween.

It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various modifications and variations can be made in the present application without departing from the spirit or scope of the application. Accordingly, this application is intended to cover such modifications and variations of this application as fall within the scope of the appended claims (the claims) and their equivalents. The embodiments provided in the examples of the present application may be combined with each other without contradiction.

The substrate comprises a substrate and a functional film layer positioned on one side of the substrate, the functional film layer is soft, and in the cleaning process, one side of the functional film layer, which is away from the substrate, is easy to damage due to contact with a cleaning device or water flow in the cleaning process, for example, the functional film layer furthest from the substrate is incomplete, so that the product yield can be influenced. The substrate herein may refer to a substrate that is subsequently used for a non-display panel, or may refer to a substrate that is subsequently used for a display panel.

When the substrate is a substrate for a display panel, the display panel may be a liquid crystal display panel, an organic light emitting display panel, a micro LED display panel, a mini LED display panel, or any other display panel, as long as the substrate and the functional film layer on one side of the substrate are satisfied.

The following describes a liquid crystal display panel as an example, and analyzes specific causes of problems in the prior art, and how to solve the problems in the present application.

The substrate for the liquid crystal display panel comprises a substrate and an alignment film positioned at One side of the substrate, and the substrate needs to be cleaned before being put into an ODF (One Drop Filling) Cheng Dixia injection method so as to remove dust, glass dust, organic matters and other foreign matters attached to the surface of the substrate, ensure the cleaning state of the substrate, reduce the influence of the foreign matters on the subsequent processes of coating, liquid crystal injection, lamination, drying and the like of a frame glue (LCD frame sealant), reduce the foreign matter defects of a product and improve the quality of the product.

The prior art in-industry ODF (on-line surface cleaning) pre-process cleaning machine equipment is provided with a pre-wetting design in the process of cleaning a substrate, a pre-wetting section is designed before a conventional flushing section, the pre-wetting section generally adopts a non-pressure water-falling design, the surface of the substrate is pre-wetted by water falling through the pre-wetting section before the substrate contacts with cleaning liquid for spraying, the substrate enters the flushing section after pre-wetting, the cleaning section sprays the cleaning liquid through a pressure pump, the sprayed cleaning liquid pressure strips off foreign matters on the surface of the substrate, and the foreign matters are taken away through the flow of the cleaning liquid.

The inventor notices that streak-like Mura defects similar to water marks appear on a lighting black-level picture after the substrate is frequently cleaned in actual production, and the alignment film (providing interface conditions for uniformly arranging liquid crystal molecules and enabling the liquid crystal to be arranged according to a preset sequence) on the surface of the substrate is displayed through abnormal point position splitting analysis results, so that concentration analysis of black-level streak Mura abnormal film products is not concentrated, abnormal point positions are not concentrated, and the occurrence position is not fixed. The inventor of the application confirms that the washing pressure in the washing device causes the damage deformation of the alignment film on the surface of the substrate according to a large number of experimental verification results, and the phenomenon of different brightness appears in a lighting state, so that the striped Mura is finally formed.

In view of the above problems, the present inventors have provided a substrate cleaning apparatus and a substrate cleaning method to reduce or eliminate the occurrence of alignment Mura defects in a water washing process, and to ensure the optical stability and reliability quality of a display panel product.

Referring to fig. 2 and 3, in a first aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a cleaning device for a substrate 50, where the substrate includes a substrate 51 and a functional film layer 52 located on one side of the substrate, and the cleaning device includes:

a prewetting unit 10 for soaking and wetting the substrate 50, wherein the prewetting unit 10 contains a wetting liquid;

a cleaning unit 20 connected to the pre-wetting unit 10 for washing the wetted substrate 50;

the transfer device 30 is provided so as to penetrate through the prewetting unit 10 and the cleaning unit 20, and in an operating state, the substrate 51 of the substrate is in contact with a carrying surface of the transfer device, and the transfer device 30 is used for transferring the substrate 50.

The inventor of the present application noted that the existing prewetting process generally adopts a pressureless water falling device, the pressureless water falling device is generally designed with a strip hollow and open pore, so that the wetting liquid can be injected into the pressureless water falling device, when the wetting liquid is injected into the pressureless water falling device, the wetting liquid can pass through a pressure pump, the open pore position can be at the bottom of the pressureless water falling device or at the side, after the level of the wetting liquid injected into the inner space of the pressureless water falling device reaches or exceeds the height of the open pore, the wetting liquid overflows through the side open pore, the flowing liquid forms a natural falling water flow, the overflowed water flows of a plurality of holes are connected to form a water curtain, after the short distance passes through the water curtain in the process of being conveyed by the conveying device 30, the wetting liquid falls on the surface of the substrate 50 and spreads out, the prewetting of the substrate 50 is completed, and a liquid film is formed on the alignment film on the surface of the substrate 50.

However, the liquid film formed by the pressureless water falling device is easily damaged, so that the alignment film 52 on the surface of the substrate 50 is damaged and deformed due to the rinsing pressure in the rinsing stage. This is mainly due to the fact that the installation position of the pressureless water-falling device 15 is at a relatively large distance from the subsequent flushing stage, and the liquid film is not sufficiently strong to adhere to the flushing stage under shaking and hydrophobic repulsion of the material. Because the stage on which the substrate 50 is placed is not completely planar, the substrate 50 is bent at the position where no process is performed. Conventional cleaning devices in the industry use rollers to transfer the substrate 50, and gaps exist between each row of rollers (e.g., gaps of 90 to 120mm are different depending on the type of cleaning device) in order to prevent collision due to interference of the rollers. When the front end of the substrate 50 moves to the position of the roller gap without roller support, the front end of the substrate 50 gradually sags, the bending amount tends to increase, the front end of the substrate 50 contacts with the next row of rollers in the following advancing process, the front end of the substrate 50 is supported by the rollers, the bending amount gradually decreases, and the front end of the substrate 50 gradually rises. The change process is repeated along with the conveying of the substrate 50, so that the substrate 50 has certain shaking in the conveying process, along with the shaking of the substrate 50, a surface liquid film flows out from the edge of the substrate 50, the continuous replenishment of the surface liquid film without wetting liquid is gradually reduced, and the liquid film is damaged; and after various process steps before ODF, there are multiple materials on the surface of the substrate 50, and the materials have different hydrophilia or hydrophobicity, and the hydrophobic materials have repellency to water, so that the phenomenon of cracking of the surface liquid film is aggravated. If the installation position of the non-pressure water falling device 15 is adjusted, the liquid film is not dispersed for a sufficient time, and it cannot be ensured that the surface of the substrate 50 is completely covered before the substrate 50 enters the flushing section. In fig. 1 (a), the alignment film 52 of the substrate 50 has two areas distributed, one is a liquid film coverage area S1 and the other is a liquid film missing area S2. When the substrate 50 having the liquid film missing region S2 enters the cleaning unit and is rinsed by the shower assembly 21 at a certain rinsing pressure, referring to fig. 1 (b) and fig. 1 (c), the liquid film missing region S2 is easily damaged and deformed by the rinsing pressure to form an alignment film damaged region S3 on the surface of the substrate 50, and finally a striped Mura is formed.

Therefore, in the pre-wetting unit 10, the design of the manner of forming the wetting liquid film on the surface of the substrate 50 is changed. The pre-wetting unit 10 is designed to soak and wet the substrate 50 with the wetting fluid contained in the pre-wetting unit 10, i.e., to change the pre-wetting unit 10 into a pool mode. The substrate 50 is transported into the prewetting unit 10 by the transport device 30, and after the prewetting unit 10 is soaked and wetted, the substrate 50 is immersed in the wetting liquid during transport, and the substrate 50 "dives" in the wetting liquid. The stability of the surface liquid film in the process of conveying the substrate 50 is improved, so that the surface of the substrate 50 is provided with a complete liquid film when the substrate enters the cleaning unit 20 for cleaning, the possibility of damage to a functional film layer such as an alignment film caused by the cleaning pressure of the cleaning process is reduced, the optical stability and reliability quality of display panel products such as LCD products are improved, and the product yield is improved.

The wetting fluid in the present application may be clear water or a neutral lotion as is commonly used in the art.

Referring to fig. 2, the arrow direction is the conveying direction of the substrate when the cleaning device is in operation.

In some embodiments, referring to fig. 2 to 6, after the substrate 50 enters the pre-wetting unit 10, at least in a part of the area in the pre-wetting unit 10, the relationship between the minimum height H1 between the bottom of the pre-wetting unit 10 and the surface of the wetting liquid, the minimum height H2 between the bottom of the pre-wetting unit 10 and the bearing surface of the conveying device 30, and the thickness H3 of the substrate 50 is: H2+H23 is less than or equal to H1.

In the application, the pre-wetting unit 10 can be filled before the cleaning device is operated, or the pre-wetting unit 10 can be filled during the operation of the cleaning device, and the requirement that H2 +H2 is less than or equal to H1 is met at least in a partial area of the pre-wetting unit 10 after the substrate 50 enters the pre-wetting unit 10 is only ensured.

In the region of the prewetting unit 10 satisfying the above relation, it is ensured that the level of the wetting liquid is exactly equal to or higher than the height of the substrate 50 during transport, and that the substrate 50 "dives" from the cleaning liquid into the rinse zone with a complete liquid film thereon, without the possibility of liquid film rupture during transport in the prewetting zone.

The cleaning device can be used for circulating wetting liquid or changing liquid after cleaning a certain amount according to production operation requirements during operation, and the wetting liquid level monitoring can be arranged in the cleaning device to ensure that the liquid level of the wetting liquid meets the requirements.

In some embodiments, the relationship h2+h3+.h1 may be satisfied by the minimum height H1 between the bottom of the pre-wetting unit 10 and the level of the wetting fluid, the minimum height H2 between the bottom of the pre-wetting unit 10 and the bearing surface of the conveyor 30, and the thickness H3 of the substrate 50 in all areas in the pre-wetting unit 10. At this time, the substrate 50 directly enters the wetting liquid when being transferred into the prewetting unit 10 by the transfer device 30, and the substrate 50 is submerged in the cleaning liquid, and the substrate 50 is "submerged" in the cleaning liquid during the transfer process in the prewetting section. The substrate 50 "submounts" from the wetting fluid into the rinse zone with a complete liquid film thereon without the possibility of the liquid film breaking during transfer by the pre-wetting unit 10.

The prewetting unit 10 is provided with a substrate 50 inlet and a substrate 50 outlet, so that the substrate 50 enters the prewetting unit 10 to form a finished liquid film and is output, and the wetting liquid level of the prewetting unit 10 is equal to a position higher than the substrate inlet and the substrate outlet. Thus, in some embodiments, the liquid cutting device 14 is configured at the substrate inlet of the prewetting cell 10 to cut off the wetting fluid, effectively preventing the wetting fluid from escaping through the substrate 50 inlet. The liquid cutting device 14 may also be designed at the substrate outlet of the prewetting cell 10 to prevent wetting liquid from escaping through the substrate 50 outlet.

The pre-wetting unit may further comprise a sensing device (not shown) provided at the substrate inlet and outlet of the pre-wetting unit 10 for adjusting the hydraulic cutting force of the hydraulic cutting device when the substrate enters or leaves the pre-wetting unit.

In some embodiments, the substrate 50 may be allowed to complete soak-wet in a portion of the area in the pre-wetting unit 10.

For example, referring to fig. 4 and 5, the arrow direction in fig. 4 is the conveying direction of the substrate when the cleaning apparatus is in operation. The pre-wetting unit 10 comprises a first sub-pre-wetting section 11 and a second sub-pre-wetting section 12; the first sub-pre-wetting section 11 includes a non-pressure water falling device 15, wherein the non-pressure water falling device 15 contains wetting liquid, and when the substrate 50 enters the first sub-pre-wetting section 11, the wetting liquid in the non-pressure water falling device 15 drops down to perform preliminary pre-wetting on the substrate 50;

the second sub-pre-wetting section 12 contains wetting liquid, and after the substrate 50 enters the second sub-pre-wetting section 12, the minimum height H4 between the bottom of the second sub-pre-wetting section 12 and the liquid level of the wetting liquid, the minimum height H5 between the bottom of the second sub-pre-wetting section 12 and the carrying surface of the conveying device 30, and the thickness H6 of the substrate 50 satisfy the following relationships: H5+H2.ltoreq.H2 to soak and wet the substrate 50.

In this embodiment, the pre-wetting unit 10 is divided, the first sub-pre-wetting section 11 is designed by using the pressureless water falling device 15, so that the substrate 50 can be preliminarily pre-wetted, the substrate 50 is transferred into the second sub-pre-wetting section 12 through the transfer device 30 after the first sub-pre-wetting section 11 is preliminarily pre-wetted, the second sub-pre-wetting section 12 can be designed into a narrower closed space (only the inlet and outlet of the substrate 50 are reserved), the relation is satisfied in the closed space, the substrate 50 can directly invade the interior of the wetting liquid when entering the second sub-pre-wetting section 12, the substrate 50 is immersed and submerged by the cleaning liquid is presented, the submerged state can be used for comprehensively supplementing the wetting liquid film damaged on the surface of the substrate 50, and the substrate enters the cleaning unit 20 after comprehensive supplementing.

With continued reference to fig. 5, in order to avoid overflow of the wetting liquid, a liquid cutting device 14 may be provided at the inlet of the substrate 50 in the second sub-pre-wetting section 12 to prevent the wetting liquid in the second sub-pre-wetting section 12 from overflowing into the first sub-pre-wetting section 11. The outlet of the substrate 50 in the second sub-prewetting zone 12 may also be provided with a small flow liquid cutting device 14 to prevent a large amount of cleaning liquid from flowing into the cleaning zone, and the small flow liquid cutting may ensure that the wetting liquid film on the surface of the substrate 50 is not damaged.

In this embodiment of the present application, the first sub-pre-wetting section 11 is used for completing preliminary pre-wetting, so that the second sub-pre-wetting section 12 can be smaller, and the effect of forming a complete liquid film can still be achieved, at this time, less wetting liquid is required for filling the second sub-pre-wetting section 12, the liquid filling time is shortened, the equipment preparation time is shortened, and the equipment can enter the yield operation mode faster.

To ensure that the substrate 50 has a complete liquid film thereon, in some embodiments, after the substrate 50 enters the pre-wetting unit 10, H1, H2, and H3 satisfy the relationship: H2+H2+3mm.ltoreq.H2+H2+H2+10mm.

According to the scheme, the cleaning device is designed, when the substrate 50 is positioned on the bearing surface of the conveying device 30 after the substrate 50 enters the prewetting unit 10 in the operation process, the substrate 50 is always positioned at a position 3-10 mm below the liquid level of the wetting liquid, and at the moment, the substrate 50 can be in a state of being completely submerged by the wetting liquid, so that a complete liquid film is formed on the substrate 50. Meanwhile, waste caused by the fact that more wetting liquid needs to be filled when the wetting liquid is higher can be avoided.

To ensure that the substrate 50 has a complete liquid film thereon, in some embodiments, H5+H2+3mm.ltoreq.H2.ltoreq.H4.ltoreq.H5+H2+10mm is satisfied in the second sub-prewet interval 12.

According to the embodiment of the application, the design is performed according to the above scheme, so that in the running process of the cleaning device, after the substrate 50 enters the second sub-prewetting section 12 of the prewetting unit 10, when the substrate 50 is located on the carrying surface of the conveying device 30, the substrate 50 is always located at a position 3 mm-10 mm below the liquid level of the wetting liquid, and at this time, the substrate 50 can be in a state of being completely submerged by the wetting liquid in the second sub-prewetting section 12, so that a complete liquid film is formed on the substrate 50. Meanwhile, waste caused by the fact that more wetting liquid needs to be filled when the wetting liquid is higher can be avoided.

In some embodiments, referring to fig. 2 to 5, the conveying device 30 includes a conveying roller 31, and the conveying roller 31 of the conveying device 30 is centered at the same height.

The center of the transfer roller 31 is located at the same height so that the movement state of the substrate 50 is less changed during the transfer, which is advantageous for improving the stability of the movement state of the substrate 50.

In this embodiment, the centers of the conveying rollers 31 of the conveying device 30 are located at the same height, and after the substrate 50 enters the prewetting unit 10 by adjusting the liquid level of the wetting liquid, the relationship h2+h3 is smaller than or equal to H1 between the minimum height H1 between the bottom of the prewetting unit 10 and the liquid level of the wetting liquid, the minimum height H2 between the bottom of the prewetting unit 10 and the bearing surface of the conveying device 30, and the thickness H3 of the substrate 50.

In some embodiments, the pre-wetting unit 10 comprises a pre-wetting tank 13 and a wetting fluid reservoir (not shown) connected thereto, the wetting fluid reservoir being adapted to fill the pre-wetting tank 13 with the wetting fluid such that the substrate 50 is positioned below the level of the pre-wetting fluid when entering the pre-wetting tank 13.

In the embodiment of the application, the wetting liquid storage cavity is filled with the wetting liquid into the prewetting tank 13, so that the liquid level of the wetting liquid is in a stable state, and the substrate 50 is in a state of being completely submerged by the wetting liquid in the prewetting tank 13 of the prewetting unit 10, so that a complete liquid film is formed on the substrate 50.

In some embodiments, referring to fig. 6, the pre-wetting unit 10 includes a liquid pushing device, where the liquid pushing device is connected to the bottom of the pre-wetting unit 10, and the liquid pushing device includes a first lifting mechanism 16 and a liquid pushing plate 17 connected to the first lifting mechanism 16, where the liquid pushing plate 17 is used to push the wetting liquid to a level higher than the substrate 50 when the first lifting mechanism 16 is lifted.

In this embodiment, a liquid pushing device is disposed in the prewetting unit 10, the liquid pushing device includes a first lifting mechanism 16 and a liquid pushing plate 17 connected to the first lifting mechanism 16, the liquid pushing plate 17 and the inner wall around the prewetting unit 10 have good sealing performance, the liquid pushing device and the inner wall around the prewetting unit 10 form a design similar to an injector, the wetting liquid is filled above the liquid pushing plate 17, when the cleaning device is operated, the first lifting mechanism 16 below the liquid pushing plate 17 is lifted, the liquid pushing plate 17 is pushed upwards, the wetting liquid on the upper part of the liquid pushing plate 17 is driven to lift upwards, the liquid level of the wetting liquid is lifted, so that the cleaning liquid floods the conveying roller 31, the substrate 50 directly passes through the wetting liquid when entering the prewetting unit 10, the conveying process of the substrate 50 in the prewetting section is completely performed in the wetting liquid, and the liquid level exceeds the conveying height of the substrate 50, so that the substrate 50 is in a submerged state.

Illustratively, in the embodiment of the present application, the first lifting mechanism 16 may be lifted by a cylinder, or may be lifted by a motor.

In some embodiments, referring to fig. 7 and 8, the transfer device 30 includes transfer rollers 31, and after the substrate 50 enters the pre-wetting unit 10, the transfer rollers 31 of the transfer device 30 are centered at different heights.

In this embodiment, the conveying height of the substrate 50 may be adjusted by adjusting the horizontal height of the conveying roller 31 of the prewetting unit 10, so that the substrate 50 may be level with the liquid level of the wetting liquid or be located below the liquid level of the wetting liquid, so that the wetting liquid may fully cover the substrate 50 and the conveying roller 31, and the substrate 50 is in a submerged state.

In some embodiments, the conveyor 30 includes a first section 32 located in the prewetting cell 10 and a second section 33 located in the cleaning cell 20, the first section 32 including a second elevating mechanism (not shown) for displacing the center of the conveyor roller 31 of the first section 32 in a first direction perpendicular to the conveying direction of the conveyor 30.

The conveying device 30 of the pre-wetting unit 10 is designed to be liftable, the first section 32 of the conveying device 30 positioned in the pre-wetting unit 10 comprises a second lifting mechanism, the relative height between the substrate 50 and the liquid level of the wetting liquid during conveying is changed by lifting and descending the second lifting mechanism, the conveying roller 31 of the first section 32 is lowered by the second lifting mechanism, the height of the substrate 50 is driven to be lowered, so that the substrate 50 can be flush with the liquid level of the wetting liquid or positioned below the liquid level of the wetting liquid, the wetting liquid can fully cover the substrate 50 and the conveying roller 31, the substrate 50 directly passes through the wetting liquid when entering the pre-wetting unit 10, the conveying process of the substrate 50 in the pre-wetting section is completely performed in the wetting liquid, and the liquid level exceeds the conveying height of the substrate 50, so that the substrate 50 is in a submerged state.

Illustratively, in the embodiment of the present application, the second lifting mechanism may be lifted by a cylinder, or may be lifted by a motor.

The conveyor 30 is located in a first section 32 of the pre-wetting unit 10 separate from a second section 33 of the cleaning unit 20, and is located in a high conveying position when entering the pre-wetting unit 10 and in a low conveying position when cleaning the unit 20, the cleaning liquid level being maintained between the high and low conveying positions.

When the conveying device 30 receives the substrate 50 and enters the prewetting unit 10, the first section 32 of the conveying device 30 is in a high conveying position; after the substrate 50 has completely entered the pre-wetting unit 10, the first section 32 of the conveyor 30 is lowered to a low conveying position below the level of the wetting fluid so that the wetting fluid floods the substrate 50. After the first section 32 of the conveyor 30 is lowered to the low transfer position, the substrate 50 is sent out at the same height as the second section 33 of the cleaning unit 20.

In some embodiments, a preparation unit 40 is further disposed before the pre-wetting unit 10, and the conveying device 30 is disposed through the preparation unit 40, the pre-wetting unit 10, and the cleaning unit 20, where the preparation unit 40 is used to convey the substrate 50 to be wetted to the cleaning device, so that the substrate 50 is in a state to be wetted.

In this embodiment, the preparation unit 40 is provided, the preparation unit 40 is located at the previous stage of the prewetting unit 10, and the substrate 50 is placed on the conveying device 30 when the preparation unit 40 is provided, so that the substrate 50 is in a state to be wetted, and the stability of the conveying state of the substrate 50 can be improved.

In some embodiments, the transfer device 30 includes a first section 32 located in the prewetting unit 10, a second section 33 located in the cleaning unit 20, and a third section 34 located in the preparation unit 40, the center of the transfer roller 31 of the first section 32 being at the same level or at a different level than the center of the third section.

As described above, in this embodiment of the present application, the centers of the transfer rollers 31 of the transfer device 30 may be located at the same height, so that the transfer device 30 is located at the first section 32 of the prewetting unit 10, the second section 33 of the cleaning unit 20, and the third section 34 of the preparing unit 40, and the centers of the transfer rollers 31 of the transfer device 30 are located at the same height during the transfer of the substrate 50, which may make the change of the motion state of the substrate 50 during the transfer smaller, and is beneficial to improving the stability of the motion state of the substrate 50.

In the embodiment of the present application, the center of the conveying roller 31 of the conveying device 30 may also be located at different heights. The conveyor 30 forms a conveyor line in a different position from the first section 32 of the prewetting cell 10 and from the third section 34 of the preparation cell 40 and from the second section 33 of the cleaning cell 20. When the first section 32 receives a substrate 50 from the preparation unit 40 located in the previous station, the first section 32 and the third section 34 are in a high transfer position, and after the substrate 50 completely enters the prewetting unit 10, the first section 32 of the transfer device 30 is lowered to a low transfer position below the level of the wetting fluid so that the wetting fluid floods the substrate 50. Referring to fig. 8, after the first section 32 of the conveyor 30 is lowered to the low transfer position, the substrate 50 is sent out at the same height as the second section 33 of the cleaning unit 20.

In some embodiments, a drying unit (not shown) is further included, and is connected to the cleaning unit 20, for drying the cleaned substrate 50.

The drying unit is disposed at the next stage of the cleaning unit 20 for drying the cleaned substrate 50, and the embodiment of the present application is not limited to a specific manner of drying, and an air knife is illustratively disposed in the drying unit for drying.

In some embodiments, the cleaning unit 20 may be configured to rinse the substrate with a shower assembly 21.

The spray assembly 21 may include a nozzle and a flow regulator connected thereto; the nozzle is used for spraying cleaning liquid to the substrate positioned in the cleaning unit, and the flow regulator is used for regulating the flow of the nozzle.

The spray assembly may further include an angle adjusting member connected with the nozzle for adjusting a spray direction of the nozzle, the spray direction being at a preset angle with a traveling direction of the substrate, and the preset angle being, for example, 60 ° to 85 °.

In a second aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a method for cleaning a substrate 50 for a display panel, based on the cleaning device for the substrate 50 in the embodiment of the first aspect of the present application, please refer to fig. 9, including the following steps:

s100: the substrate 50 is conveyed to the prewetting unit 10 by the conveying device 30, so that the substrate 50 is soaked and wetted in the prewetting unit 10;

s200: after the completion of the soak wetting, the substrate 50 is transferred to the cleaning unit 20 by the transfer device 30 so that the wetted substrate 50 is rinsed in the cleaning unit 20.

According to the cleaning method, the substrate 50 is soaked and wetted by the wetting liquid contained in the prewetting unit 10, so that the substrate 50 is in a state submerged by the wetting liquid in the prewetting unit 10, the substrate 50 is in a 'submerged' state in the wetting liquid, a stable liquid film is formed on the surface of the substrate 50, the stability of the surface liquid film in the conveying process of the substrate 50 is improved, the surface of the substrate 50 is provided with a complete liquid film when the substrate 50 enters the cleaning unit 20 for cleaning, the possibility of damage to an alignment film caused by the cleaning pressure of the cleaning process is reduced, the optical stability and the reliability quality of an LCD product are improved, and the product yield is improved.

In some embodiments, referring to fig. 10, step S100 includes: s110: the substrate 50 is transferred to the prewetting unit 10 by the transfer device 30;

s120: the center of the transfer roller 31 of the transfer device 30 is located at the same height, and the wetting liquid is filled into the prewetting unit 10, so that after the substrate 50 enters the prewetting unit 10, at least in a part of the area in the prewetting unit 10, the minimum height H1 between the bottom of the prewetting unit 10 and the liquid surface of the wetting liquid, the minimum height H2 between the bottom of the prewetting unit 10 and the carrying surface of the transfer device 30, and the thickness H3 of the substrate 50 satisfy the relationship of h2+h3.ltoreq.h1.

By filling the wetting liquid into the pre-wetting unit 10, the liquid level of the wetting liquid in the pre-wetting unit 10 can be adjusted, so that the center of the transfer roller 31 can be positioned at the same height, thereby making the change of the motion state of the substrate 50 during the transfer smaller, and being beneficial to improving the stability of the motion state of the substrate 50.

In some embodiments, the liquid pushing device is started, so that when the first lifting mechanism 16 of the liquid pushing device is lifted, the liquid pushing plate 17 is driven to push the wetting liquid to a level higher than the substrate 50.

The first lifting mechanism 16 below the liquid pushing plate 17 is lifted to push the liquid pushing plate 17 upwards, so that the wetting liquid at the upper part of the liquid pushing plate 17 is driven to lift upwards, the liquid level of the wetting liquid is lifted, the cleaning liquid floods the conveying roller 31, the substrate 50 directly passes through the wetting liquid when entering the prewetting unit 10, the conveying process of the substrate 50 in the prewetting section is completely carried out in the wetting liquid, and the liquid level exceeds the conveying height of the substrate 50, so that the substrate 50 is in a submerged state.

In some embodiments, after the substrate 50 enters the pre-wetting unit 10, the second lifting mechanism is driven to make the conveying device 30 drive the substrate 50 to displace along a first direction perpendicular to the conveying direction of the conveying device 30.

The relative height between the substrate 50 and the liquid level of the wetting liquid is changed during conveying by lifting and descending the second lifting mechanism, the second lifting mechanism descends to enable the conveying roller 31 of the first section 32 to descend to drive the height of the substrate 50 to descend, so that the substrate 50 can be flush with the liquid level of the wetting liquid or be located below the liquid level of the wetting liquid, the wetting liquid can fully cover the substrate 50 and the conveying roller 31, the substrate 50 directly passes through the wetting liquid when entering the prewetting unit 10, the conveying process of the substrate 50 in the prewetting section is completely carried out in the wetting liquid, and the liquid level exceeds the conveying height of the substrate 50, so that the substrate 50 is in a soaking and submerging state.

These embodiments are not all details described in detail in accordance with the embodiments described hereinabove, nor are they intended to limit the application to the specific embodiments described. Obviously, many modifications and variations are possible in light of the above teaching. The embodiments were chosen and described in order to best explain the principles of the invention and the practical application, to thereby enable others skilled in the art to best utilize the invention and various modifications as are suited to the particular use contemplated. This application is to be limited only by the claims and the full scope and equivalents thereof.

Claims (16)

1. A cleaning device for a substrate, the substrate including a substrate and a functional film layer located on one side of the substrate, the cleaning device comprising:

the prewetting unit is used for soaking and wetting the substrate and is filled with wetting liquid;

the cleaning unit is connected with the prewetting unit and used for flushing the wetted substrate;

and the conveying device is arranged in the prewetting unit and the cleaning unit in a penetrating way, and in a working state, a substrate of the substrate is contacted with a bearing surface of the conveying device, and the conveying device is used for conveying the substrate.

2. The device for cleaning a substrate according to claim 1, wherein after the substrate enters the prewetting unit, at least in a partial region in the prewetting unit, a minimum height H1 between the bottom of the prewetting unit and the level of the wetting liquid, a minimum height H2 between the bottom of the prewetting unit and the carrying surface of the conveyor, and the substrate thickness H3 satisfy the relationship: H2+H23 is less than or equal to H1.

3. The apparatus according to claim 2, wherein after the substrate enters the prewetting unit, H1, H2, and H3 satisfy the relationship of: H2+H2+3mm.ltoreq.H2+H2+H2+10mm.

4. A cleaning apparatus for a substrate according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the transfer means comprises transfer rollers, and the transfer rollers of the transfer means are centered at the same height.

5. The apparatus according to claim 4, wherein the prewetting unit includes a prewetting tank and a wetting fluid reservoir connected thereto, the wetting fluid reservoir being adapted to fill the prewetting tank with the wetting fluid so that the substrate is positioned below a level of the prewetting fluid when the substrate enters the prewetting tank.

6. The apparatus according to claim 4, wherein the pre-wetting unit includes a liquid pushing device connected to a bottom of the pre-wetting unit, the liquid pushing device including a first lifting mechanism and a liquid pushing plate connected to the first lifting mechanism, the liquid pushing plate being configured to push the wetting liquid to a level higher than the substrate when the first lifting mechanism is lifted.

7. A cleaning apparatus for a substrate according to any one of claims 1 to 3, characterized in that the transfer means comprises transfer rollers, the transfer rollers of which are centred at different heights after the substrate has entered the pre-wetting unit.

8. The apparatus according to claim 7, wherein the transfer device includes a first section located at the prewetting unit and a second section located at the cleaning unit, the first section including a second elevating mechanism for displacing a transfer roller center of the first section in a first direction perpendicular to a transfer direction of the transfer device.

9. A substrate cleaning apparatus according to any one of claims 1-3, wherein a preparation unit is further provided before the prewetting unit, and the transfer device is provided penetrating the preparation unit, the prewetting unit, and the cleaning unit, and the preparation unit is configured to transfer a substrate to be cleaned to the cleaning apparatus so that the substrate is in a state to be cleaned.

10. The apparatus according to claim 9, wherein the transfer means includes a first section located at the pre-wetting unit, a second section located at the cleaning unit, and a third section located at the preparing unit, and a center of the transfer roller of the first section is at the same height or different heights from a center of the third section.

11. A cleaning apparatus for a substrate according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the pre-wetting unit comprises a first sub-pre-wetting section and a second sub-pre-wetting section;

the first sub-prewetting section comprises a non-pressure water falling device, wherein wetting liquid is contained in the non-pressure water falling device, and when the substrate enters the first sub-prewetting section, the wetting liquid in the non-pressure water falling device drops down to perform preliminary prewetting on the substrate;

the second sub-prewetting section is filled with the wetting liquid, and after the substrate enters the second sub-prewetting section, the minimum height H4 between the bottom of the second sub-prewetting section and the liquid level of the wetting liquid, the minimum height H5 between the bottom of the second sub-prewetting section and the carrying surface of the conveying device, and the thickness H6 of the substrate satisfy the following relationships: H5+H26 is less than or equal to H4 so as to soak and wet the substrate.

12. The apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a drying unit connected to the cleaning unit for drying the cleaned substrate.

13. A method for cleaning a substrate, comprising the steps of:

conveying the substrate to a prewetting unit through a conveying device, so that the substrate is soaked and wetted in the prewetting unit;

after the soaking and wetting are completed, the substrate is conveyed to a cleaning unit through the conveying device, so that the wetted substrate is washed in the cleaning unit.

14. The method of cleaning a substrate according to claim 13, wherein the step of immersing the substrate in the prewetting unit comprises: the center of the conveying roller of the conveying device is positioned at the same height, and the wetting liquid is filled into the prewetting unit, so that after the substrate enters the prewetting unit, at least in a partial area in the prewetting unit, the minimum height H1 between the bottom of the prewetting unit and the liquid level of the wetting liquid, the minimum height H2 between the bottom of the prewetting unit and the bearing surface of the conveying device and the thickness H3 of the substrate satisfy the relationship of H2 +H2 less than or equal to H1.

15. The method of claim 13 or 14, wherein the liquid pushing device is activated to drive the liquid pushing plate to push the wetting liquid to a level higher than the substrate when the first lifting mechanism is lifted.

16. The method according to claim 13, wherein after the substrate enters the pre-wetting unit, the second lifting mechanism is driven to move the substrate along a first direction perpendicular to a conveying direction of the conveying device by the conveying device.