IES922717A2

IES922717A2 - Preparation of substrates

Info

Publication number: IES922717A2
Authority: IE
Inventors: Martina Kavanagh
Original assignee: Tintoretto Ltd
Priority date: 1992-10-09
Filing date: 1992-10-09
Publication date: 1993-06-16
Also published as: IES58023B2

Abstract

The invention provides an apparatus and method for retaining substrates during a cleaning and drying process. The apparatus (10) comprises a holder (15), one or more hollow tubular members (20) which are removable from the holder (15), each tubular member (20) having an open upper end (27) and having a mesh support (30) at a lower end (29) and being adapted to receive a substrate element. Cleaning and/or drying preparations may penetrate into and flow out of tbe or each member (20). The method comprises placing each substrace in a tubular member (20) and placing the or each member (20) into the holder (15) and placing the holder (15) into a cleaning or drying preparation.

Description

The present invention relates to the cleaning of substrates and more particularly to an apparatus for use in a cleaning and drying process stage in the production of scratch-free substrate surfaces for high vacuum coating of optical components .

The preparation of glass substrates for ultimate coating in a high vacuum chamber involves an extensive series of process steps in which a surface to be prepared must be maintained in a scratch-free state. In one of the production steps the substrate is cleaned and dried. This usually incorporates the use of an ultrasonic bath which gently agitates the surfaces of the glass substrates thereby removing any dust particles which may be lodged on the glass surface. It is important that all surfaces of the glass substrate are cleaned effectively to ensure that the vacuum chamber is kept free of contaminating particles. Additionally, adhesion of the coating layers to the substrate will be deleteriously affected as the coating will not adhere to a badly prepared or dirty substrate surface and hence the optical performance of the final component will be affected. Scratching of the substrate must also be avoided during the cleaning step especially when cleaning optical components of minute dimensions IE 92271/ - 2 (,5 the main disadvantages of these holders is that they do not allow the total surface area of the substrate to be cleaned. It is important that the total surface area is cleaned as the said surface area is to be coated and must also conform optically to a predetermined specification. 0 It is an object of the present invention to seek to alleviate the above disadvantages and to provide an improved substrate holder.

A Accordingly, the present invention provides apparatus for retaining substrates during a cleaning and drying process, comprising a holder, one or more hollow tubular members are provided on the holder, each tubular member being open at an upper end and having a mesh support at a lower end and being adapted to receive a substrate element whereby cleaning and/or drying preparations may be allowed to penetrate into and flow out of the or each tubular member.

Advantageously, the or each tubular member is removable 25 from the holder so that individual substrate pieces may be IE 922717 - 3 placed into or removed from the tubular member.

Preferably, the tubular members comprise a material which is resilient to the solutions used in the cleaning and 5 drying stages so that no etching occurs along the inner walls of the tubular members and the interior surfaces of the tubular members are smooth so that no rough edge comes into contact with the substrate to be cleaned and/or dried 10 The present invention further provides a method of retaining substrates during a cleaning and drying process comprising placing each substrate element in a hollow tubular member open at an upper end and having a mesh support at a lower end, placing the or each hollow tubular member into a holder and placing the holder into a cleaning or drying preparation.

The present invention will be described more particularly with reference to the accompanying drawings which show, by way of example only, one embodiment of substrate holder according to the invention. In the drawings: Figure 1 is a perpendicular view of a substrate holder; and IE 922717 - 4 Figure 2 is a detailed perpendicular view of a tubular housing member.

Referring to the drawings a glass substrate holder 10 5 comprises a base 15 having a plurality of tubular housing members 20 supported therein. Each tubular member 20 fits into an aperture 22 provided in the base 15 which may optionally comprise a plastics material collar 24 to provide a resilient fit between said member 20 and the base 1° 15. A handle 25 is provided to allow the base 15 and hollow tubular members 20 to be immersed into and extracted from a bath (not shown) which is usually an ultrasonic bath. In use, the glass substrates (not shown) are inserted in an upper aperture 27 of the tubular members 20 and are prevented from falling through by a plastics material mesh 30 which is fixed across a lower aperture 29 of the tubular members 20, as shown in more detail in Figure 2. When the cleaning and drying process is complete it is important that the substrates are not handled in such a way that they would become scratched or dirty. Each tubular member 20 may be removed individually from its corresponding base aperture 22 and upended to release the substrate from its corresponding member aperture 27.

It is to be understood that the invention is not limited to the specific details described above which are given by IE 922717 way of example only and that various modifications and alterations are possible within the scope of the invention as defined in the appended claims.

Claims

CLAIMS : IE 922717

1. Apparatus for retaining substrates during a cleaning and drying process, comprising a holder, one or more hollow 5 tubular members are provided on the holder, each tubular member being open at an upper end and having a mesh support at a lower end and being adapted to receive a substrate element whereby cleaning and/or drying preparations may be allowed to penetrate into and flow out of the or each 1 θ tubular member.

2. Apparatus as claimed in Claim 1 in which the or each tubular member is removable from the holder so that individual substrate pieces may be placed into or removed 15 from the tubular member.

3. Apparatus as claimed in Claim 1 or Claim 2 in which the tubular members comprise a material which is resilient to the solutions used in the cleaning and drying stages so that no etching occurs along the inner walls of the tubular members and the interior surfaces of the tubular members are smooth so that no rough edge comes into contact with the substrate to be cleaned and/or dried. ’ 5

4. Apparatus for retaining substrates substantially as herein described with reference to and as shown in the - Ί IE 922717 accompanying drawings .

5. A method of retaining substrates during a cleaning and drying process comprising placing each substrate element in 5 a hollow tubular member open at an upper end and having a mesh support at a lower end, placing the or each hollow tubular member into a holder and placing the holder into a cleaning or drying preparation.