JP2001099569A - Drying treating device for substrate - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a drying treating device for a substrate to prevent compressed air injected from one air knife from being influenced by the other air knife when this device is provided with upper and lower air knives. SOLUTION: Upper and lower air knives 16A and 16B have a front side 17b positioned in a front in the conveying direction of a substrate and in a rear side 17a positioned in the rear, and injection slits 28 to blow compressed air respectively against the upper and under surfaces of the horizontally conveyed substrate. In a so formed drying treating device for the substrate, the upper and lower air knives are situated in an inclined state in a manner that each injection slit is pointed to the rear in a conveying direction of the substrate. The inclination angle of each injection slit is set to a given angle or more at which a flow of compressed air injected through one air knife is less prone to be influenced by a rear side 17a of the other air knife.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

[0001] 1. Field of the Invention [0002] The present invention relates to a substrate drying apparatus for drying a cleaned substrate with compressed air.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art For example, in a manufacturing process of a liquid crystal display device or a semiconductor device, there are a film forming process and a photo process for forming a circuit pattern on a substrate such as a liquid crystal glass substrate or a semiconductor wafer. In these processes, the substrate may be sequentially processed with different processing liquids in the respective processing chambers.

In such a case, the processing liquid used in the first processing step adheres to the substrate and is brought to the next processing step, or the processing liquid brought in is mixed with another processing liquid. In addition, in the case of the rinsing process, it is required to prevent the rinsing liquid as the processing liquid from remaining on the substrate and causing uneven drying. In such a case,
Spraying compressed air on the substrate with an air-knife;
It has been practiced to remove and dry the treatment liquid.

The above-mentioned air knife joins two plate-like members to form a knife body, and has a space between these joined surfaces to which compressed air is supplied and one end communicating with the space, An injection slit having an open end at the end face of the knife body is formed.

[0005] Then, the compressed air supplied to the space of the knife body is jetted from the jet slit toward the substrate, thereby removing the processing liquid attached to the substrate and drying the substrate.

On the other hand, since it is necessary to dry both the upper surface and the lower surface of the substrate, an upper air knife for drying the upper surface of the substrate and a lower air knife for drying the lower surface of the substrate are respectively conveyed along predetermined directions. The substrate is disposed so as to face the upper and lower surfaces of the substrate.

If the upper air knife and the lower air knife are disposed at different positions in the substrate transport direction, the substrate transported by the pressure of the compressed air from each air knife rises or bends. Therefore, the upper air knife and the lower air knife are arranged at the same upper and lower positions in the substrate transfer direction.

[0008]

In order to ensure that the upper and lower surfaces of the substrate are dried by the upper and lower air knives, the pair of air knives have their injection slits inclined toward the rear in the substrate transport direction. The processing liquid attached to the substrate is flushed backward in the transport direction of the substrate.

By the way, when the upper air knife and the lower air knife are arranged at the same position in the substrate transfer direction, and when the substrate is not interposed between the pair of air knives, the upper air knife and the lower air knife are connected to each other. It was confirmed that the compressed air injected from one of the air knives was not affected by the other air knife and was not injected in a direction corresponding to the inclination angle of the injection slit.

According to an experiment, since the air knife is long according to the width of the substrate, it is difficult for the compressed air to be jetted at a uniform pressure from the entire length of the jet slit in the length direction.
Therefore, in places where there is a difference in the pressure of the compressed air injected from the slits of the upper and lower air knives, the compressed air injected from the high pressure part of the slit of one air knife is applied along the side of the other air knife. Will flow.

As a result, when the substrate enters between the pair of air knives, the processing liquid adhering to the substrate may be bounced off by the compressed air flowing along the side surface of the air knife without being pushed backward in the transport direction. In such a case, since the processing liquid may remain without being reliably removed from the substrate, uneven drying may occur, or the processing liquid that has been splashed off may float as a mist and be dried. For example, it may adhere to the substrate.

According to the present invention, compressed air injected from one of the injection slits of the upper air knife and the lower air knife is prevented from flowing in a direction different from a predetermined injection direction under the influence of the other air knife. To provide a drying apparatus for drying a substrate.

[0013]

According to the first aspect of the present invention, there is provided an upper air knife and a lower air knife, each of which has a front side located at a front side in a substrate transfer direction and a rear side located at a rear side. In an apparatus for drying a substrate having an injection slit for blowing compressed air onto the upper and lower surfaces of a substrate conveyed in the horizontal direction, an upper air knife and a lower air knife move each injection slit to transfer the substrate. The angle of inclination of each injection slit is more than a predetermined angle at which the flow of compressed air injected from the slit of one air knife is not easily affected by the rear surface of the other air knife. The substrate drying treatment apparatus is set to:

According to a second aspect of the present invention, the upper air knife and the lower air knife have an inclination angle of a jet slit of one air knife with respect to a rear side surface of the other air knife.
The angle is set to 0 degree or more.
The substrate drying apparatus described in the above.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, the end surface of the air knife where the jet slit is opened is formed on an inclined surface inclined in a direction away from the plate surface of the substrate toward the front surface of the air knife. 3. The apparatus for drying a substrate according to claim 1, wherein:

According to the first aspect of the present invention, the flow of the compressed air injected from one of the upper air knife and the lower air knife in a predetermined direction is not affected by the rear surface of the other air knife. By setting the inclination angle, the flow direction of the compressed air injected from the injection slit can be made difficult to flow in a direction other than the predetermined direction.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, the inclination angle of the injection slit is set such that the injection direction of the injection slit of one air knife is at an angle of 50 degrees or more with respect to the rear surface of the other air knife. This can reliably prevent a part of the compressed air injected from one air knife from flowing along the rear side surface of the other air knife.

According to the third aspect of the present invention, the end surface of the air knife where the ejection slit is opened is an inclined surface that is inclined in a direction away from the substrate toward the front side of the air knife, so that the end surface of the air knife and the end surface of the air knife are separated. Since it is difficult for airflow to be formed between the substrate and the surface of the substrate, an airflow in a direction different from the direction in which compressed air is injected from the injection slit is unlikely to be generated.

[0019]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

The apparatus for drying a substrate shown in FIG.
1 is provided. The processing tank 11 has a box shape with an open upper surface, and a carry-in port 12 is formed on one side thereof.
On the other side, a carry-out port 13 is formed.

Inside the processing tank 11, outside the carry-in port 12 and outside the carry-out port 13, rollers 14 constituting a transport mechanism are rotatably arranged at the same height level. These rollers 14 are driven to rotate by a driving source (not shown). As a result, a substrate 15 such as a semiconductor wafer or a glass substrate for a liquid crystal display device is loaded into the processing tank 11 from the loading port 12 and transported in the direction of the arrow.

The substrate 15 carried into the processing tank 11 has been processed by a processing liquid such as a chemical solution or pure water in the previous step, and the processing liquid L is attached to the upper and lower surfaces thereof. Processing tank 1
Each of the substrates 1 faces the upper and lower surfaces of the substrate 15 respectively.
Upper air knife 16 slightly longer than width 5
A and a lower air knife 16B are provided, and the processing liquid L attached to the substrate 15 is removed and dried by the air knives 16A and 16B as described later.

The air knives 16A and 16B have a rectangular parallelepiped knife body 17 as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2A and 2B. The knife body 17 is used for the first plate-like member 1.
8 and the second plate-shaped member 19 are joined.

The first plate-like member 18 has an open recess 20 formed on one side surface (inner surface) and the lower end surface (the end surface facing the substrate 15) in FIG. 1, and the inner surface end portion is directed toward the outer surface. A first inclined surface 21a composed of an inclined plane is formed over the entire length in the longitudinal direction.

Further, at the end of the outer surface of the first plate-shaped member 18, a second inclined surface 21b inclined toward the inner surface is formed over the entire length in the longitudinal direction.

A plurality of screw holes 22 are formed at predetermined intervals on the end surfaces of the upper wall 18a and the pair of side walls 18b of the first plate-like member 18, respectively. The second plate-like member 19 is provided on these end faces with one side face joined thereto. The second plate-like member 19 is connected to the first plate-like member 18.
A plurality of long holes 25 long in the vertical direction are formed at predetermined intervals on three sides corresponding to the upper wall 18a and the pair of side walls 18b.

At the end of the inner surface of the second plate-like member 19, a third inclined surface 26a is formed over the entire length.
The third inclined surface 26a is inclined at the same angle as the first inclined surface 21a.

A fourth inclined surface 26b is formed on the lower end surface of the second plate member 19 in FIG. The fourth inclined surface 26 b is inclined in a direction away from the substrate 15 conveyed from the inner surface to the outer surface of the second plate member 19. 2A, the first and third inclined surfaces 21a and 26a are opposed to each other in parallel at a predetermined interval to form an ejection slit 28 as shown in FIG. 2A.

One end of the jet slit 28 is open to the end face of the knife body 17 facing the substrate 15, and the other end is between the joining surfaces of the first plate member 18 and the second plate member 19. It communicates with the space 29 formed by the recess 20. The injection slit 28 is inclined at a predetermined angle with respect to the thickness direction of the knife body 17.

As shown in FIG. 2B, a screw 31 is screwed into the screw hole 22 of the first plate member 18 from the long hole 25 of the second plate member 19, and Before the plate-like member 19 is firmly fixed to the first plate-like member 18, the second plate-like member 19 is moved along the direction shown by the arrow in FIG. By sliding, the interval between the first inclined surface 21a and the third inclined surface 26a, that is, the interval between the ejection slits 28 can be set. Then, after setting the interval dimension of the ejection slit 28 to a predetermined dimension, the first plate-like member 18 and the second plate-like member 19 are joined and fixed by tightening the screw 31. Become.

The third inclined surface 26a is the first inclined surface 2
It is formed longer in the vertical direction than 1a. When the first plate member 18 and the second plate member 19 are joined and fixed, the lower end portion of the third inclined surface 26a becomes the first inclined surface 21a.
The protrusion 27 slightly protrudes from the lower end of the portion a.

On the upper end surface of the knife body 17, a rectangular tubular supply head 3 is interposed via a rectangular sheet-like sealing member 32.
2 and the supply head 33 is fixed to the knife main body 17 by screws 34 (only one is shown) passed through through holes 34a formed at both ends in the longitudinal direction, as shown in FIG. 2 (b). ing.

As shown in FIG. 1, the supply head 33 has a plurality of supply ports 35 formed on one side surface at predetermined intervals in the longitudinal direction. From each supply port 35, compressed air is supplied to the space 33a of the supply head 33. This supply head 33
A plurality of introduction holes 36a, 36b, 36c are formed at predetermined intervals in the longitudinal direction of the wall portion joined to the knife body 17, the seal member 32, and the upper wall 18a of the first plate member 18, respectively. I have.

Accordingly, the compressed air supplied from the supply port 35 to the space 33a of the supply head 33 is diffused in the space 33a, and then diffused into the plurality of introduction holes 36a, 36a.
b and 36c and flow into the space 29 of the knife body 17, where it is diffused and jetted from the jet slit 28. Therefore, the compressed air is injected at a relatively uniform pressure from substantially the entire length of the injection slit 28 in the longitudinal direction.

The upper air knife 16A and the lower air knife 16B having the above-described structure are provided with the injection slit 2 inclined at a predetermined angle with respect to the knife body 17 as shown in FIGS.
The compressed air ejected from the nozzle 8 is disposed in the processing tank 11 so that the ejection direction of the compressed air is directed backward with respect to the transport direction of the substrate 15.

That is, the air knives 16A and 16B
The outer surface of the first plate member 19 is arranged to face forward in the transport direction of the substrate 15, and the outer surface of the second plate member 18 is arranged to face rear. The outer surface of the first plate member 19 is the rear side surface 17a of the knife body 17, and the outer surface of the second plate member 18 is the front side surface 1a.
7b.

As shown in FIG. 4, an upper air knife 16A disposed on the upper surface side of the substrate 15 and a lower air knife 16B disposed on the lower surface side are provided between the pair of air knives 16A and 16B. In a state where the air knife has not entered, the injection direction A of the compressed air injected from the injection slit 28 of the upper or lower air knife 16A or 16B.
Alternatively, B is set to be at an angle α with respect to the rear surface 17a of the other air knife 16A or 16B.

The angle α is determined at a point where the pressure of the compressed air injected from the injection slit 28 of the upper air knife 16A and the lower air knife 16B is different from the pressure of the compressed air injected from the injection slit 28. Knife body 17 whose ejection direction A or B is located in the ejection direction
The angle α is set so as not to be affected by the rear side surface 17a. In this embodiment, the angle α is set to 50 degrees or more.

At this time, the fourth inclined surface 26b is
The inclination angle is set so as to be an angle β with respect to the plate surface of No. 5. This inclination angle β is preferably 10 degrees or more.

When the air knives 16A and 16B are arranged at an angle α, the inclination angle of the fourth inclined surface 26b is set to an angle β with respect to the plate surface of the substrate 15. Is preferably 10 degrees or more.

The basis for setting the angle α to 50 degrees or more is based on the following experimental results. Table 1 below shows the injection pressure of the compressed air from the upper air knife 16A at 0.3 kg / cm.
^When the injection pressure of the compressed air from the lower air knife 16B was set to 0 and the angle α was changed, the wind speed in the injection direction A of the injection slit 28 of the upper air knife 16A was measured. This is shown in the graph of FIG.

[0042]

[Table 1]

As is apparent from the experimental results, the angle α
Is greater than 40 degrees and greater than 50 degrees, the injection slit 2
It was confirmed that the wind speed of the compressed air injected from No. 8 was increased. This means that when the angle α becomes 40 degrees or more, and preferably 50 degrees or more, the compressed air injected from the upper air knife 16A causes the rear side surface 17 of the lower air knife 16B.
It can be considered that this is because the influence of “a” is reduced.

Table 2 below shows that compressed air from the upper air knife 16A and the lower air knife 16B was 0.3 kg / cm.
² and a pair of air knives 16A, 16A
When the angle α is changed while the substrate 15 is not fed between B, the air knives 16A, 16B flow in the horizontal direction at three points on the left, center, and right sides, that is, in the direction parallel to the transport direction of the substrate 15. The wind speed of the compressed air was measured at the same height position as the transport level of the substrate 15, and the variation in wind speed at three points was calculated. The variation of the wind speed is shown in the graph of FIG.

[0045]

[Table 2]

From this experiment, it was confirmed that when the angle α was 50 degrees or more, the variation in wind speed was greatly reduced, and the wind speed in the horizontal direction was increased. That is, if the angle α is set to 50 degrees or more and the wind speed in the horizontal direction is increased, when the substrate 15 enters between the pair of air knives 16A and 16B,
Since the processing liquid adhering to the upper and lower surfaces of the substrate 15 is hardly swept up and backward in the transport direction of the substrate 15, the drying processing of the substrate 15 can be performed satisfactorily.

The variation in the wind speed is calculated according to the following procedure. First, the difference between the maximum value and the minimum value of the wind speed at three points is calculated. Next, an average value of the wind speeds at three points is obtained, and a difference between the maximum value and the minimum value is divided by the average value to obtain a variation in the wind speed.

For example, taking the case where the angle α is 40 degrees as an example, the difference between the maximum value and the minimum value of the wind speed at three points is 5.8-1.4 = 4.4. The average value is (1.4 + 2 + 5.8) ÷ 3 = 3.06. Therefore, the variation of the wind speed is 4.4 ÷ 3.06 = 1.43 (143%).

From the above, if the angle α is set to 40 degrees or more, preferably 50 degrees or more, the wind speed flowing along the injection direction of the compressed air injected from the injection slit 28 increases as shown in Table 1. In addition, as shown in Table 2, the wind speed in the horizontal direction (parallel to the transport direction of the substrate 15) increases and the variation in the wind speed in the longitudinal direction of each of the air knives 16A and 16B also decreases.
The drying process of the upper and lower surfaces can be favorably performed.

Further, a fourth inclined surface 26b having an inclination angle β was formed on the end surface of each of the air knives 16A and 16B facing the plate surface of the substrate 15, that is, on the second plate member 19. The fourth inclined surface 26 b is provided on the front side 1 of the first plate-shaped member 19.
7b is inclined in a direction away from the plate surface of the substrate 15 conveyed toward 7b. That is, the distance between the plate surface of the substrate 15 and the fourth inclined surface 26b is wide open toward the front side in the transport direction of the substrate 15.

Therefore, each air knife 16A, 16B
Is hardly formed between the end surface of the substrate 15 and the surface of the substrate 15 facing the plate surface, so that the turbulence of the air flow occurs between the opposed surfaces and the processing liquid cannot be removed smoothly from the plate surface of the substrate 15. Can be prevented from occurring.

[0052]

According to the first aspect of the present invention, the injection of compressed air injected from one of the upper air knife and the lower air knife in a predetermined direction is not affected by the rear surface of the other air knife. The inclination angle of the slit, that is, the angle between the injection slit and the rear side surface is set.

Further, in the invention of claim 2, the inclination angle of the injection slit is set so that the injection direction of the injection slit of one air knife is at an angle of 50 degrees or more with respect to the rear surface of the other air knife. .

Therefore, according to the first and second aspects of the present invention, it is possible to make it difficult for the compressed air injected from the injection slit to flow in directions other than the predetermined direction. In other words, part of the compressed air injected from one air knife can be less likely to flow along the rear surface of the other air knife,
The wind speed in the direction parallel to the plate surface of the substrate to be conveyed can be increased.

Therefore, when the substrate enters the space between the pair of air knives, the processing liquid attached to the substrate can be blown backward in the transport direction of the substrate without jumping up, thereby improving the cleaning effect. Not only can be produced, but also generation of mist can be prevented.

According to the third aspect of the present invention, the end surface of the air knife where the ejection slit is opened is an inclined surface inclined in a direction away from the substrate toward the front side of the air knife.

As a result, it is difficult for airflow to be formed between the end surface of the air knife and the plate surface of the substrate. Therefore, the processing liquid is not reliably removed from between the end surface of the air knife and the plate surface of the substrate. Insufficient drying can be prevented.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is an exploded perspective view of an air nozzle showing an embodiment of the present invention.

FIGS. 2A and 2B are longitudinal sectional views of different parts in an assembled state.

FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view showing a schematic configuration of the drying apparatus.

FIG. 4 is a sectional view showing an arrangement state of an upper air knife and a lower air knife.

FIG. 5 is a graph showing a change in the wind speed obtained in the blowing direction of the injection slit when the angle α formed by the injection slit of one air knife and the rear surface of the other air knife is changed.

FIG. 6 is a graph showing a measurement of a variation in wind speed obtained in the substrate transfer direction (horizontal direction) when the angle α formed between the ejection slit of one air knife and the rear surface of the other air knife is changed.

[Explanation of symbols]

16A: upper air knife 16B: lower air knife 17a: rear side surface 17b: front side surface 26b: fourth inclined surface (inclined surface formed on the end surface of the air knife) 28: injection slit

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. An air knife having an upper air knife and a lower air knife, each air knife having a front side located at a front side in a transport direction of the substrate and a rear side located at a rear side thereof, and having a horizontal side. In a substrate drying processing apparatus in which an injection slit for blowing compressed air is formed on the upper surface and the lower surface, respectively, the upper air knife and the lower air knife are arranged to be inclined such that each injection slit faces rearward in the transport direction of the substrate, The inclination angle of each injection slit is set to a predetermined angle or more where the flow of compressed air injected from the slit of one air knife is not easily influenced by the rear surface of the other air knife. Drying processing equipment. 2. The upper air knife and the lower air knife are characterized in that the inclination angle of the injection slit of one of the air knives is set to an angle of 50 degrees or more with respect to the rear surface of the other air knife. The apparatus for drying a substrate according to claim 1. 3. The air knife according to claim 1, wherein an end surface of the air knife at which the ejection slit is opened is formed on an inclined surface inclined in a direction away from a plate surface of the substrate toward a front side surface of the air knife. 2. The apparatus for drying a substrate according to claim 1.