JP2000150441A - Roller brush washing device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a roller brush washing device wherein no idle time is generated while no wafer or roller brush is re-contaminated. SOLUTION: Suction ducts 1a and 1b are provided on the side opposite to that with a wafer 31 of roller brushes 33a and 33b, over the entire length in the axial direction. A recessed surface at a partial angle range comprising suction holes 4a and 4b of the suction ducts 1a and 1b keeps a small gap along the circumference of the roller brush. Since the suction ducts 1a and 1b are provided on the side opposite to the water 31 of the roller brushes 33a and 33b, the roller brushes 33a and 33b are washed at all times during the washing process for the wafer 31. As the recessed surface part comprising the suction holes 4a and 4b of the suction ducts 1a and 1b keeps a small gap relative to the roller brushes 33a and 33b, no rotating roller brushes 33a and 33b are damaged.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

[0001] 1. Field of the Invention [0002] The present invention relates to a roller brush cleaning apparatus for cleaning the surface of a plate-like object such as a semiconductor wafer and a substrate for a liquid crystal display.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A conventional roller brush cleaning apparatus is shown in FIGS.
Shown in 4 and 5, reference numeral 31 denotes a wafer, and the wafer 31 is placed on a wafer support roller 32 and rotated by contact friction with the wafer support roller 32. 33
Reference numerals a and 33b denote roller brushes for cleaning the front and back surfaces of the wafer, which are connected to a drive source (not shown) and rotate while slightly contacting the wafer 31 in the direction shown by the arrow. The roller brushes 33a and 33b are formed by forming a polyvinyl alcohol sponge into a roll. Reference numerals 34 and 35 denote nozzles for dropping and ejecting pure water onto the wafer 31.

Next, an operation of cleaning the wafer 31 will be described. First, the roller brushes 33a and 33b are moved in a direction in which the roller brushes are vertically separated. A wafer support roller 32 (FIG. 4)
(6 places) and transported. Next, the wafer support roller 32 is rotated to rotate the wafer 31, and pure water is dropped and ejected from the nozzles 34 and 35 onto the rotating wafer 31. At the same time, the roller brush 33a,
The dust adhering to the wafer has been removed while rotating the nozzle 33b close to and slightly touching the wafer 31.

However, in the above-described conventional roller brush cleaning apparatus, the adhered matter removed from the wafer 31 rotates again while adhering to the roller brushes 33a and 33b,
It contacts the wafer 31. For this reason, after the washed wafer 31 is sent out by a transfer device (a robot or the like), the upper and lower two roller brushes 33a and 33b are brought into contact with each other to rotate forward or backward in a state where the wafer 31 is not present in the roller brush portion.
Although so-called self-cleaning for cleaning each other has been adopted, since the cleaning must be performed without the wafer 31, there is a problem that an idle time occurs, it takes time to perform cleaning, and the cleanliness is not stable. there were.

[0005]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above-described problems of the conventional roller brush cleaning apparatus, and can constantly clean the roller brush during the wafer cleaning process. A roller brush cleaning device that does not cause idle time, and directly suctions foreign substances such as cleaning liquid and dust and sends it to another place via piping so that wafers and roller brushes are not recontaminated. The purpose is to provide.

[0006]

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides a roller brush for cleaning a wafer by dropping pure water onto a rotating semiconductor wafer and bringing the rotating roller brush into contact with the wafer surface. In the cleaning device, a suction duct is disposed over the entire length in the axial direction on the side opposite to the wafer of the rotating roller brush, and has a suction hole in a concave surface in a part of an angular range that keeps a small gap along the circumference of the roller brush. The present invention provides a roller brush cleaning device provided with: Preferably, the suction duct is connected to a vacuum source via a pipe.

[0007]

1 to 3 show a roller brush cleaning apparatus according to the present invention. 1 is a top view of the roller brush cleaning device, FIG. 2 is a sectional view taken along line AA of FIG.
Is a drawing in which a suction and post-processing circuit is added to the view taken in the direction of arrow BB in FIG. As shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, hollow suction ducts 1a and 1b, and a post-processing device 3 such as a vacuum pump 2 and a gas-liquid separator are newly provided. Is the same as). Therefore, the same parts as those of the conventional device are denoted by the same reference numerals, and detailed description is omitted.

In FIGS. 1 and 2, hollow suction ducts 1a and 1b are provided with wafers 31 of roller brushes 33a and 33b.
The suction ducts 1a, 1b are provided with a large number of suction holes 4a, 4b on the roller brush 33a, 33b side. The surface provided with the suction holes 4a and 4b is a cylindrical concave surface in which a part of the angular range is concentric with the roller brush over the entire length of the roller brushes 33a and 33b.
A small gap is kept from the outer circumference of the roller brushes 33a, 33b. In this case, the roller brushes 33a and 33b do not come into contact with the suction ducts 1a and 1b to be rubbed. Therefore, there are advantages that the roller brush is not damaged, durability is not impaired, and the roller brush is not contaminated reversely. In FIG. 2, the wafer 3
Although the case where two surfaces of one wafer are cleaned with two roller brushes 33a and 33b is shown, the present invention can be similarly applied to the case where only one surface of a wafer is cleaned with one roller brush.

In FIG. 3, reference numeral 2 denotes a vacuum pump for vacuum-suctioning a cleaning liquid or foreign matter through a pipe 5 connected to both ends of suction ducts 1a and 1b. Reference numeral 3 denotes a post-processing device such as a gas-liquid separator. With this configuration, the roller brush 33
a, a cleaning liquid or foreign matter adhering to 33b
, And can be sent to another place via the pipe 5, so that the wafer and the roller brush are not re-contaminated.

[0010]

According to the roller brush cleaning apparatus of the present invention, since the suction duct is disposed on the opposite side of the roller brush from the wafer, the roller brush can be constantly cleaned during the wafer cleaning process. In addition, since the roller brush has a small gap between the concave portion of the suction duct having the suction hole and the roller brush, the rotating roller brush is not damaged. Furthermore, since the suction duct is connected to the vacuum source via the pipe, the cleaning liquid or foreign matter can be directly suctioned and sent to another place via the pipe, so that the wafer and the roller brush may be re-contaminated. Absent.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a top view of a roller brush cleaning device of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a sectional view taken along line AA of FIG.

FIG. 3 is a diagram in which a suction and post-processing circuit is added to the BB arrow view of FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a top view of a conventional roller brush cleaning device.

FIG. 5 is a sectional view taken along line CC of FIG. 4;

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Suction duct 2 Vacuum pump 3 Post-processing device 4 Suction hole 31 Wafer 32 Wafer support roller 33 Roller brush 34 Nozzle 35 Nozzle

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A roller brush cleaning apparatus for cleaning a wafer by dropping pure water onto a rotating semiconductor wafer and bringing a rotating roller brush into contact with a wafer surface, wherein the rotating roller brush is opposite to the wafer. A roller brush cleaning device provided with a suction duct having a suction hole in a concave surface of a part of an angular range which keeps a small gap along a circumference of the roller brush and which is arranged along an entire length in an axial direction on a side of the roller brush. 2. The roller brush cleaning device according to claim 1, wherein the suction duct is connected to a vacuum source via a pipe.