JP2002110622A - Substrate dryer - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To prevent a liquid from being scattered from the surface of a substrate, when the corner section of the substrate enters the jet region of air by an air knife nozzle when the substrate is dried by air knife effect. SOLUTION: In the air jet region from the air knife nozzles 20U and 20L provided at upper and lower portions, a rectifying plate 30 is arranged fixedly at a position that is the outside of the conveyance region of the substrate S by a conveyor means 10 and is parallel with a side section Lc facing the corner section Ca entering the air jet region first in the substrate S. The air jetting from nozzle ports 24U and 24L is isolated by the rectifying plate 30, is guided onto the surface of the rectifying plate 30, and is allowed to flow in a rectifying state.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an apparatus for drying, for example, a rectangular liquid crystal substrate.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art As a thin substrate, there is, for example, a glass substrate constituting a liquid crystal panel. For example, a TFT type liquid crystal panel is composed of two substrates composed of a TFT substrate and a color filter. In manufacturing this TFT substrate,
A TFT element is formed on the substrate surface by sequentially performing processes such as film formation, formation of a resist film, exposure, development, etching, and peeling of the resist film. In these processes, cleaning is repeatedly performed before and after the process. After the substrate cleaning, the substrate is dried. On the other hand, the color filter is manufactured by a photolithography method or the like, and the substrate is appropriately washed and dried between the preceding and subsequent steps. Further, when a predetermined process is performed on a liquid crystal panel other than the TFT type, or on a substrate made of glass, resin, or the like having a rectangular shape, cleaning and drying are performed.

[0003] Various drying methods are known after the substrate is cleaned. However, when the substrate is continuously cleaned and dried while being transported on a line in processing or processing, that is, when inline processing is performed. In general, drying using the air knife effect is performed. The drying with the air knife is performed as follows.

[0004] Pressurized air is blown to a predetermined position of a conveying means comprising a roller or a belt for conveying the substrate in a state of being horizontally or slightly inclined in a direction (left-right direction) perpendicular to the conveying direction. Is set. An air knife nozzle having a nozzle opening formed of an elongated slit-like passage is arranged in the air injection region so as to face the surface of the substrate. Droplets and liquid films adhering to the surface of the substrate are separated from the substrate surface by blowing high-pressure clean air from the air knife nozzle over the entire length in the direction perpendicular to the substrate transfer direction. And dried.

[0005] Here, the air injection angle of the air knife nozzle is a predetermined angle with respect to the substrate on the transfer means in the direction opposite to the transfer direction, that is, toward the rear side in the transfer direction. Is brought close to the substrate surface. As a result, a narrow band of air is incident on the surface of the substrate from the air knife nozzle, so that the liquid on the substrate surface moves toward the rear side in the transport direction of the substrate by the pressure of the air. And is finally discharged from the edge portion of the substrate.

In order to remove the liquid adhering to the surface of the substrate conveyed by the conveying means more smoothly and surely, the air knife nozzle is moved in a direction parallel to the conveying surface of the substrate with respect to the conveying direction of the substrate. It is desirable to arrange them so as to be inclined at a predetermined angle with respect to the direction orthogonal to the direction. by this,
The direction in which the liquid moves along the surface of the substrate due to the pressure of the air is not the transport direction of the substrate, but moves in an oblique direction by the amount of the inclination of the air knife nozzle. As a result, the liquid is removed not only from the rear end portion in the transport direction of the substrate but also from the side thereof, so that the moving distance of the liquid is shortened, and thus the liquid can be removed smoothly and quickly from the substrate surface.

[0007]

By the way, air is always jetted from the air knife nozzle, or air is jetted at least from the stage before the substrate is conveyed to the air jetting area where the air is jetted by the air knife nozzle. Is done. Since the air knife nozzle and the substrate have a relative angle, the air ejected from the air knife nozzle first enters one corner of the substrate, and then collides with the edge of the substrate. Will begin to flow along the surface of the In particular, if a large amount of liquid adheres to the surface of the substrate conveyed by the conveyance means, when air collides with the edge of the substrate, the liquid will scatter around due to the impact, and the surrounding wall will be damaged. Etc., and may adhere to a dried portion of the substrate. Further, the scattered liquid becomes a mist and floats around, and the mist also adheres to a dried portion of the substrate. As described above, if droplets or mist adhere to a portion of the substrate surface that has been dried once, the substrate surface is soiled again, causing a problem that stains or the like occur. In particular, when the air knife nozzle is arranged facing both the front and back surfaces of the substrate in order to dry the front and back surfaces of the substrate, the blast air from the upper and lower air knife nozzles collide at the entry position of the substrate before the substrate enters. As a result, turbulence occurs, and the degree of scattering of the liquid adhering to the substrate further increases. In addition, the more the substrate is transported by the transport unit at a higher speed and the higher the air injection pressure, the more the liquid is scattered and the more mist is generated in order to perform the drying process of the substrate more efficiently. Increase.

The present invention has been made in view of the above points, and an object of the present invention is to provide a method for drying a substrate by an air knife effect, in which a corner of the substrate is moved to an air injection area by an air knife nozzle. The purpose of the present invention is to prevent the liquid from scattering from the substrate surface at the time of entry.

[0009]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, the present invention is directed to a method for transporting a thin substrate from a pneumatic knife nozzle in a horizontal or inclined state by a transport means. The pressurized air is ejected in a slit shape so as to extend over the entire length in the direction orthogonal to and at an acute angle toward the rear side in the substrate transport direction, and adheres to the surface of the substrate. A substrate drying apparatus for drying so as to peel off a liquid, wherein the air knife nozzle is disposed so as to be inclined at a predetermined angle with respect to a direction perpendicular to the transfer direction in a plane parallel to the transfer surface of the substrate. A corner where air is injected by the air knife nozzle and outside the substrate transfer area by the transfer means, and where air first enters the substrate from the air knife nozzle. A rectifying plate that guides air jetted from the air knife nozzle so as to be directed in the direction of the transfer surface of the substrate is disposed at a position substantially parallel to the facing side. .

Here, when drying only the surface of the substrate, the air knife nozzle may be disposed, for example, at the upper position of the substrate. However, when drying both the front and back surfaces of the substrate, the air knife nozzle is used to transport the substrate. It is configured to be provided at the upper and lower positions on both sides of the surface. Further, in order to more reliably guide air to the substrate surface by the rectifying plate, the rectifying plate should be as close as possible to the substrate conveyed by the conveying means. In addition, the surface of the substrate to be dried and the surface of the current plate are arranged to be substantially the same. Therefore, especially when the upper and lower surfaces of the substrate are dried by the upper and lower air knife nozzles, the thickness of the rectifying plate does not substantially match the thickness of the substrate, and the rectifying plate is positioned at substantially the same height as the substrate. Is more desirable.

[0011]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. Needless to say, the present invention is not limited to the embodiments described below.

First, FIG. 1 shows a schematic configuration of a substrate drying step. In the figure, S is a substrate, 1 is a draining stage,
2 is a drying stage. The substrate S is cleaned in a pre-process, for example, by shower cleaning, and is carried into the drying stage 2 after the amount of the adhering liquid on the surface is reduced as much as possible in the liquid removal stage 1.

The liquid draining stage 1 and the drying stage 2 are each defined by a housing, and a partition 3 is provided between the two stages. The liquid draining stage 1 is provided with a carry-in portion 1a for the substrate S, the drying stage 2 is provided with a carry-out portion 2a for the substrate S, and the partition 3 has a narrow opening 3 forming a traveling path of the substrate S.
a is formed. In the liquid draining stage 1, a pure water supply means 4 is provided, and the entire surface of the substrate S is kept wet by the pure water dropped by the pure water supply means 4. In the drying stage 2, air knife drying devices 5 are provided vertically so as to sandwich the substrate S. The inside of the drying stage 2 is set to a positive pressure state in order to prevent mist or the like of the cleaning liquid from entering, and the inside of the liquid removing stage 1 is set to a negative pressure state. For this purpose, an atmosphere pressurizing device 6 is provided on the drying stage 2, and an exhaust unit 7 is mounted on the liquid removal stage 1. Further, a drainage section 8 is provided below the liquid draining stage 1.

Here, the substrate S is made of, for example, a rectangular thin glass substrate, and the substrate S is placed in a substantially horizontal state or a slight horizontal position from the pre-process through the liquid removal stage 1 and the drying stage 2 to the post-process. Is transported in a state of being inclined left and right. Therefore, in order to transport the substrate S, a conveyor means 10 as a transport means shown in FIG. 2 is provided.
The conveyor means 10 is constituted by, for example, a roller conveyor, and the conveyor means 10 is provided with a plurality of rollers 1 in a longitudinal direction on a rotating shaft 11 provided at a predetermined pitch interval.
2 and the rollers 12a, 1a at both ends.
A flange 13 is provided continuously to 2a. The substrate S is positioned so that its long side is in contact with both flange portions 13 and 13 and is conveyed in the direction of the arrow in FIG. 2 with its surface being horizontal. For this purpose, a gear 14 is connected to one end of each rotating shaft 11, and the gears 14 of each rotating shaft 11 are sequentially engaged via a transmission gear 15. When the gear 14 is driven to rotate, all the rotating shafts 11 rotate, and the substrate S is transported.

The substrate S that has passed through the liquid removal stage 1 is
Then, the drying stage 2 is moved from the opening to the drying stage 2 and dried using the air knife drying device 5 provided in the drying stage 2. 3 and 4, the air knife drying device 5 has an air knife nozzle 20, and the air knife nozzle 20 has an elongated elongated casing 21.
A pressurized air chamber 22 into which pressurized air is introduced is formed in the casing 21. An air outflow passage 23 is formed in the side surface of the casing 21, and the tip of the air outflow passage 23 is a thin slit-shaped nozzle port 24. The air outflow passage 23 has a passage length necessary to rectify the air so as to form a thin line when air is ejected from the nozzle port 24. Furthermore, casing 2
1 is connected to one or more air supply pipes 25 for supplying pressurized air into the pressurized air chamber 22.

The air knife nozzle 20 having the above configuration
Are arranged vertically in the drying stage 2 with the transport path of the substrate S composed of the conveyor means 10 interposed therebetween.
Therefore, the upper air knife nozzle is set to 20U and the lower air knife nozzle is set to 20L.
4U, 24L, and when the front side of the substrate S is SU and the back side is SL, the air knife nozzles 20U and 2U
0L is equally spaced from the front and back surfaces SU and SL of the substrate S, and is located on a surface parallel to each of the surfaces SU and SL. Further, the depression angle of the air injected from the nozzle port 24U of the air knife nozzle 20U is the same as the elevation angle of the nozzle port 24L of the air knife nozzle 20L, and is predetermined toward the rear side in the transport direction of the substrate S by the conveyor means 10. It is arranged so as to have an angle. Also,
The air knife nozzles 20U and 20L are not arranged in a direction orthogonal to the direction of transport of the substrate S, but are arranged at a predetermined angle θ in the plane described above. Further, the nozzle openings 24 of the air knife nozzles 20U and 20L are provided.
U and 24L are substrates S transported on the conveyor means 10.
, And extends over the entire length in a direction intersecting the transport direction.

FIG. 5 shows that the substrate S conveyed by the conveyor means 10 first enters the region where the air is blown out from the air knife nozzles 20U and 20L, that is, the air ejection region by the above-described structure. Corner corner Ca
After this corner Ca enters the air injection region,
When the air enters the air injection region from the front end La side and the corner Cb reaches the air injection region, air reaches the entire length of the substrate S in the width direction. Furthermore, when the corner Cc of the substrate S passes through the air ejection region, the rear end Lb sequentially separates from the air ejection region, and the corner Cd passes through the air ejection region, the drying process of the substrate S ends. I do.

Therefore, in the air injection area, outside the area where the substrate S is conveyed by the conveyor means 10 and in a position parallel to the side Lc between the corners Ca and Cc of the substrate S, the rectifying plate 30 is provided. Are fixedly arranged. This rectifying plate 30 is a position that does not interfere with the transport of the substrate S, and is a position that is very close to the side portion Lc of the substrate S, that is, a position that does not contact the flange 13 of the roller 12a in the conveyor means 10, It is fixedly arranged at an appropriate position so that substantially no gap is formed between the flange portion 13 and the flange portion 13. Here, the current plate 30 is made of a rectangular thin plate as shown in the figure, and has a thickness substantially the same as the thickness of the substrate S, and has substantially the same height as the transport surface of the substrate S. Is located in the position. Therefore, the front and back surfaces of the rectifying plate 30 have substantially the same height as the front surfaces SU and SL of the substrate S. In addition, the rectifying plate 30 includes an air injection area, that is, an intersection position of air injected from the nozzle openings 24U and 24L of the air knife nozzles 20U and 20L.
Before and after that, in particular, behind the substrate S in the transport direction, it extends by a predetermined length. The shape of the current plate does not necessarily have to be a quadrangle, but may be an arbitrary shape including a triangle, a rhombus, a circle, and the like.

The present invention is configured as described above. Next, the operation of the present invention will be described. The substrate S is cleaned by various methods such as roll brush cleaning, shower cleaning, and ultrasonic cleaning in the previous process, then is conveyed to the conveyor means 10 and sent into the liquid draining stage 1, where pure water is dropped. The extra cleaning solution is removed while keeping the front and back surfaces wet. Then, the substrate S having passed through the liquid removal stage 1 moves from the opening 3 a of the partition wall 3 to the drying stage 2.

In the drying stage 2, air knife nozzles 2 are arranged above and below the conveying surface of the substrate S by the conveyor means 10.
0U, 20L are arranged, and air is always jetted from these air knife nozzles 20U, 20L. Therefore, the air jetted from the upper and lower air knife nozzles 20U and 20L intersect at the position indicated by PL in FIG. Here, at the position (a) in FIG. 5, as shown in FIG. 6, the air injected from the nozzle ports 24U and 24L collides at the intersection of the two air knife nozzles 20U and 20L, so that a turbulent state occurs. . However, at the position (b) in FIG. 5, the rectifying plate 30 is disposed at the intersection of the two airs, so that as shown in FIG.
The air ejected from the 24L is isolated by the rectifying plate 30, and the air is guided by the surface of the rectifying plate 30 and flows in a rectified state.

The substrate S is transported to the conveyor means 10,
It proceeds to the air injection area. Air knife nozzle 20
Since U and 20L are inclined at a predetermined angle θ with respect to the direction orthogonal to the transport direction of the substrate S, the air ejection region is inclined with respect to the substrate S. Enters the air injection area. At this time, the air jetted from the air knife nozzles 20U and 20L is blown obliquely from the front to the corners Ca of the substrate S, so that the air flowing over the straightening plate 30 flows in the corners Ca. Will be reached. By this rectifying plate 30, the air flows in a state where it is rectified substantially in the direction along the front and back surfaces of the substrate S. Therefore, even if a large amount of liquid adheres to the front or back surface of the substrate S, Even if the high-speed air is conveyed at a high speed and the jet pressure of the air is increased, there is no possibility that the high-pressure air collides with the corner Ca of the substrate S to scatter the liquid around or generate mist.

In this manner, the corners Ca of the substrate S
After entering the front end portion La, the front end portion La of the substrate S sequentially enters the air jetting region, but the air flows over the front end portion La from an oblique direction. Therefore, immediately before riding on the front end portion La of the substrate S, even if the air from the nozzle openings 24U and 24L of the air knife nozzles 20U and 20L located above and below intersects with each other, the substrate S is already in a turbulent state. Since the flow of air along both the front and back surfaces of S is formed and the removal of the liquid has already progressed, the amount of the liquid adhering to the substrate S is reduced. For this reason, even when the air enters the substrate S in a slightly turbulent state when the air enters, there is no possibility that the liquid is scattered or mist is generated.

From the above, when the substrate S is dried by the air knife effect so that the liquid is separated from the front and back surfaces of the substrate S, the liquid is scattered from the substrate S by the action of air, and after the drying is completed. No droplet adheres to the substrate S. Further, the generation of mist due to the scattering of the liquid can be suppressed to a minimum. As a result, the substrate S can be dried with extremely high accuracy and high speed by the air knife effect.

[0024]

According to the present invention, the substrate is dried by the air knife effect when the corner of the substrate enters the air ejection area by the air knife nozzle. It has effects such as being able to prevent scattering.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram illustrating a substrate drying mechanism.

FIG. 2 is a plan view of the substrate drying apparatus.

FIG. 3 is a sectional view of an air knife nozzle.

FIG. 4 is an external perspective view of an air knife nozzle.

FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram showing a state of air injection on a surface of a substrate.

FIG. 6 is an explanatory view showing the action of the jet air from the upper and lower air knife nozzles at a position (a) in FIG.

FIG. 7 is an explanatory diagram showing the action of the injection air from the upper and lower air knife nozzles at a position (b) in FIG.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Draining stage 2 Drying stage 3 Partition wall 5 Air knife drying device 10 Conveying means 20 Air knife nozzle 21 Casing 22 Pressurization chamber 23 Air outflow passage 24 Nozzle port 30 Rectifier plate S Substrate

──────────────────────────────────────────────────の Continued on the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁷ Identification symbol FI Theme coat ゛ (Reference) G02F 1/1333 500 G02F 1/1333 500 (72) Inventor Masao Sugiyama 3-16-3 Higashi, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo No. Hitachi Electronics Engineering Co., Ltd. F-term (reference) 2H088 FA17 FA21 FA30 HA01 2H090 JC19 3B116 AA02 AA03 AB02 BB24 BB88 CA05 3L113 AA02 AA03 AB09 AC30 AC35 AC45 AC46 AC48 AC52 AC55 AC64 BA34 DA24

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A method in which a thin substrate is transported by a transport means in a state of being horizontally or inclined at a predetermined angle and extending from an air knife nozzle to a full length in a direction orthogonal to the substrate transport direction. In a substrate drying device for drying by spraying pressurized air in a slit shape so as to form an acute angle toward the rear side to remove liquid adhering to the substrate surface, the air knife nozzle Is disposed in a plane parallel to the transfer surface of the substrate so as to be inclined by a predetermined angle with respect to a direction orthogonal to the transfer direction, and is an area where air is sprayed by the air knife nozzle, and the transfer unit transfers the substrate by the transfer means. Outside the region and substantially parallel to the side facing the corner where air first enters the substrate from the air knife nozzle. Substrate drying apparatus characterized by air is configured to be disposed substantially straightening plate to guide to face the conveying surface direction of the substrate to be injected from Le. 2. The substrate drying apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the air knife nozzle is provided at upper and lower positions on both sides of a transfer surface of the substrate by the transfer unit. 3. The rectifying plate according to claim 1, wherein a thickness of the rectifying plate is substantially equal to a thickness of the substrate, and the rectifying plate is arranged at substantially the same height position as the substrate.
Alternatively, the substrate drying apparatus according to claim 2.