JP2003148353A - Chemical solution supply device, and method for manufacturing the same - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To prevent leak of indirect liquid from a pump chamber in which indirect liquid is charged, and inflow of air into it. SOLUTION: This chemical liquid supply device comprises a pump 10 forming an expansion and contraction chamber 14 communicated with a liquid inflow port 11a and a liquid outflow port 12a, and having a flexible member which is elastically deformed, and bellows 21 as a pump drive part to form a pump chamber 27 in which non-compression medium is filled. In the bellows 21, an opening part 41 is formed to be communicated with the pump chamber 27. After the non-compression medium is injected into the pump chamber 27, a plug is fit into the opening part 41 to close the opening part 41. After the plug is inserted, a part of the opening part 41 on the outer side of the plug is closed by fusion.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a chemical liquid supply device for supplying a liquid such as a chemical liquid and a method for manufacturing the same.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In a manufacturing process in a technical field such as a semiconductor wafer manufacturing technology, a liquid crystal substrate manufacturing technology, a magnetic disk manufacturing technology and a multilayer wiring board manufacturing technology, a photoresist solution, a spinion glass solution, a polyimide are used. Chemical liquids such as resin liquid, pure water, developing liquid, etching liquid and organic solvent are used.

For example, when applying a photoresist solution to the surface of a semiconductor wafer, the photoresist solution is dropped onto the surface of the semiconductor wafer while the semiconductor wafer is rotated in a horizontal plane. . As a chemical liquid supply device used for applying such a resist liquid, there is one in which a pump having an expansion / contraction chamber communicating with a liquid supply port and a liquid discharge port is formed by a flexible member. In such a chemical liquid supply device, by elastically deforming the pump to expand the expansion / contraction chamber inside, liquid flows from the liquid supply port into the expansion / contraction chamber through the check valve, and the expansion / contraction chamber is closed. The contraction causes the liquid to be ejected from the liquid ejection port through the check valve.

In order to transmit the mechanical reciprocating motion of the driving unit driven by a motor or a pneumatic cylinder to the elastic deformation of the pump, an incompressible medium is sealed as an indirect liquid between the driving unit and the pump. A technique in which a pressure chamber, that is, a pump chamber is provided and the pump chamber is deformed by a drive unit to expand and contract the pump is disclosed in, for example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 10-61558.

In order to manufacture a chemical liquid supply device having a pressurizing chamber in which an incompressible medium is enclosed, it is inevitable to enclose the incompressible medium in the pump chamber as an indirect liquid. Conventionally, after injecting an incompressible medium from an injection port formed in a partition wall forming a pump chamber, a plug provided with a sealing material such as an O-ring or packing is inserted into the injection port, and a pump is used with the sealing material. The chamber is sealed.

[0006]

When the reciprocating motion of the drive unit is converted into the expansion / contraction motion of the expansion / contraction chamber in the pump via the indirect liquid as described above, the volume of the indirect liquid is maintained at the optimum value. Is important. However, in the chemical liquid supply device in which the pressurizing chamber is sealed by the seal material, if the device is used for a long period of time, the seal material deteriorates and air flows into the interior from the seal part, or The indirect liquid composed of a compressible medium may leak to the outside little by little due to the pressure in the pump chamber. When the indirect liquid leaks out, the relationship between the reciprocating stroke of the drive unit and the deformation amount of the expansion / contraction chamber in the pump is broken, and it becomes impossible to discharge the liquid from the pump in an accurate discharge amount. Also, when air flows into the indirect liquid, the indirect liquid is no longer incompressible,
Accurate pump operation cannot be maintained.

In particular, since the indirect liquid is not supplied once filled, if the indirect liquid leaks or air flows into the inside, the pump will be used with reduced performance thereafter. It becomes impossible to discharge a fixed amount of liquid. Further, there is a problem that the pump does not function when the amount of leakage increases or the amount of inflowing air increases.

An object of the present invention is to prevent leakage of indirect liquid from a pump chamber filled with indirect liquid and inflow of air into the interior.

[0009]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION A chemical liquid supply apparatus of the present invention includes a pump having a flexible member which defines an expansion / contraction chamber communicating with a liquid inlet and a liquid outlet and which is elastically deformed, and reciprocating. A pump for driving a chemical liquid, comprising: a member, a pump driving unit that connects the flexible member and the reciprocating member, and defines a pump chamber filled with an incompressible medium. An opening formed in communication with the pump chamber, and a plug that is inserted into the opening after the incompressible medium is injected into the pump chamber to close the opening. After the plug is inserted, the opening outside the plug is closed by fusion.

A method for manufacturing a chemical liquid supply apparatus according to the present invention includes a pump having a flexible member which defines an expansion / contraction chamber communicating with a liquid inlet and a liquid outlet and which is elastically deformed.
A method of manufacturing a chemical liquid supply device, comprising: a reciprocating member, a pump driving section that communicates between the flexible member and the reciprocating member and that defines a pump chamber that is filled with an incompressible medium. The step of injecting an incompressible medium into the pump chamber, and after injecting the incompressible medium into the pump chamber, insert a plug into the opening formed in the pump drive section to close the opening. It is characterized by including a step of closing and a fusion step of closing the portion of the opening outside the plug by fusion after the plug is inserted.

In the method for manufacturing a chemical liquid supply device of the present invention, after inserting the plug, a fusion member is inserted into the opening, and the fusion member and the opening are fused in the fusion step. The plug is inserted into the opening, and then the opening is washed.

[0012]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the drawings. 1 (A) to 1 (C) are schematic views showing the basic structure of the chemical liquid supply device, respectively.
The chemical liquid supply device shown in FIG. 1 (A) has a pump 10, and the pump 10 has both ends on an inflow side adapter 11 in which a liquid inflow port 11a is formed and an outflow side adapter 12 in which a liquid outflow port 12a is formed. And a flexible tube 13 that is elastically deformable. The inside of the flexible tube 13 is an expansion / contraction chamber 14 that communicates with the liquid inlet 11a and the liquid outlet 12a. In the expansion / contraction chamber 14, the flexible tube 13 elastically deforms radially outward. As a result, the flexible tube 13 expands and its volume increases, and when the flexible tube 13 elastically deforms radially inward, the flexible tube 13 contracts and its volume decreases.

The liquid inlet 11a is connected to the chemical liquid tank 16 by the supply side flow path 15, and the liquid outlet 12a is connected to the coating nozzle 18 by the discharge side flow path 17. The supply-side flow path 15 is provided with an opening / closing valve 15a that opens when the expansion / contraction chamber 14 expands and guides the chemical liquid in the chemical liquid tank 16 into the expansion / contraction chamber 14 and closes when the expansion / contraction chamber 14 contracts.
The discharge side flow passage 17 is provided with an opening / closing valve 17a which opens when the expansion / contraction chamber 14 contracts and guides the chemical liquid toward the coating nozzle 18 and closes when the expansion / contraction chamber 14 expands. Although check valves are used as the on-off valves 15a and 17a, electromagnetic valves operated by solenoids or air operated valves operated by air pressure may be used.

A flexible tube 13 which is elastically deformable in the radial direction.
When the chemical liquid contained in the chemical liquid tank 16 is a photoresist liquid, it is formed of fluoroethylene perfluoroalkyl vinyl ether copolymer (PFA) which is a fluororesin so as not to react with the chemical liquid, The adapters 11 and 12 are also made of fluororesin.

A bellows 21 as a pump driving member is attached to the outside of the flexible tube 13. The bellows 21 has an end block 22 attached to the inflow side end of the flexible tube 13 and an end block 23 attached to the discharge side end. A large bellows portion 25 having an effective diameter D is provided between the drive ring portion 24 and the end block 22 provided at the central portion in the axial direction, and an effective diameter is provided between the drive ring portion 24 and the end block 23. A small bellows portion 26 having an effective diameter d smaller than D is provided, and these are integrated. The material of the bellows 21 and the flexible tube 13 is made of fluororesin, but the bellows 21 and the flexible tube 13 may be made of metal.

A pump chamber 27 is defined by the bellows 21 and the flexible tube 13, and the pump chamber 2 is formed.
An incompressible medium 28 is filled in the inside 7 as an indirect liquid. As the indirect liquid, a liquid having incompressibility such as water, alcohol and oil is used. The bellows 21 is supported by a holder 29 fixed to the end blocks 22 and 23 so as to cover the outside thereof, and a reciprocating member 30 penetrating the holder 29 from the outside is connected to the drive ring portion 24. Has been done. The drive ring portion 24 is axially driven by reciprocating the reciprocating member 30 by a driving device (not shown). As this driving device, as described in the above-mentioned Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 10-61558, a ball screw driven by a motor, a pneumatic cylinder or the like can be used.

As described above, the reciprocating member 30 is provided with the drive ring portion 24 of the bellows 21 as a pump driving member which is formed by partitioning the pump chamber 27 filled with the incompressible medium 28.
When the bellows 21 is displaced toward the small bellows portion 26, the small diameter portion becomes short and the large diameter portion becomes long in the entire bellows 21. As a result, the inner volume of the bellows 21 increases, the flexible tube 13 expands in the radial direction, and the inner volume of the expansion / contraction chamber 14 increases, so that the chemical liquid in the chemical liquid tank 16 expands in the expansion / contraction chamber 14. Flow into.

On the other hand, when the drive ring portion 24 is displaced toward the large bellows portion 25, the large diameter portion of the bellows 21 is shortened and the small diameter portion thereof is lengthened, so that the volume of the expansion / contraction chamber 14 is reduced. . As a result, the flexible tube 13 contracts in the radial direction and the volume of the expansion / contraction chamber 14 inside the flexible tube 13 decreases, and the chemical liquid in the flexible tube 13 is discharged toward the coating nozzle 18.

The chemical liquid supply apparatus shown in FIG. 1B is of the bellows tube type as described above,
This is a diaphragm type chemical liquid supply device, and the same members as those described above are designated by the same reference numerals. In this case, the pump 10 is formed by combining two pump blocks 31a and 31b each having a concave portion with a diaphragm 32, which is a flexible member that elastically deforms. This diaphragm 32 and pump block 3
The expansion / contraction chamber 14 is defined by 1a.

On the other hand, a drive cylinder 33 is provided adjacent to the pump 10, and a pump drive member having a drive portion 34a, a fixed flange portion 34b and a bellows portion 34c therebetween is provided inside the drive cylinder 33. All drive bellows 34 are incorporated. The drive cylinder 33 is connected to the pump 10 by a flow path 35, and is divided into a space defined by the diaphragm 32 and the pump block 31 b, a space defined by the drive bellows 34 and the drive cylinder 33, and a space in the flow path 35. A pump chamber 27 is formed by this, and the pump chamber 27 is filled with an incompressible medium 28 as an indirect liquid. The reciprocating member 3 is attached to the drive unit 34a.
0 is connected, and the reciprocating member 30
When the drive bellows 34 is expanded and contracted by the diaphragm 32, the diaphragm 32 is elastically deformed to expand and contract the expansion and contraction chamber 14, and the pump operation is performed.

The chemical liquid supply device shown in FIG. 1C is shown in FIG.
FIG. 1C is a modified example of the chemical liquid supply device shown in FIG.
In this case, the same members as those shown in FIG. 1B are designated by the same reference numerals. This chemical liquid supply device is of a straight tube type by incorporating a flexible straight tube 36 in the pump blocks 31a and 31b. The inside of the tube 36 serves as the expansion / contraction chamber 14, and the outside serves as the pump chamber 27.
Is filled with an incompressible medium 28.

FIG. 2 is an enlarged cross-sectional view showing a part of the chemical liquid supply device shown in FIG. 1A. In FIG. 2, the flexible tube 13 and the bellows 21 are assembled. The state in which the incompressible medium 28 is not filled in the pump chamber 27 is shown. An opening 41 is formed in the one end block 23 of the bellows 21 so as to communicate with the pump chamber 27. The opening 41 is provided as an injection port for filling the incompressible medium 28 into the pump chamber 27, and the opening 41 is provided with a cylindrical portion 42 protruding outward, and the cylindrical portion 42 is provided outside in the radial direction. One is a recess 43.

3 (A) to 3 (F) are process diagrams showing the procedure of filling the incompressible medium 28 in the process of manufacturing the chemical liquid supply device. First, as shown in FIG. 3 (A), The injection tube 44 is inserted into the opening 41, and the non-compressible medium 28 as an indirect liquid is injected into the pump chamber 27 from the injection tube 44. At the time of injection, the air in the pump chamber 27 is exhausted to the outside, but the air is exhausted to the outside from the gap between the injection tube 44 and the opening 41. However, the end block 23 may be provided with an opening serving as an inlet and an opening serving as an exhaust port separately, so that the air in the pump chamber 27 is reliably discharged to the outside. The bellows 21 may be vibrated while being injected.

When the injection of the indirect liquid is completed, as shown in FIG. 3B, the plug 45 is press-fitted into the opening 41 to close the opening 41. The plug 45 is formed of a sphere, that is, a ball, and a metal, a fluororesin, or the like can be used as a material of the plug 45.
However, as the plug shown by reference numeral 45a in FIG. 3 (B), a rod member having a circular cross section may be used, or a seal member 45b may be attached to the outer periphery of the rod member 45a. good. When the press fitting of the plug 45 is completed,
In order to remove the indirect liquid leaking from the opening 41 at the time of press-fitting, in the cleaning process shown in FIG. 3C, the periphery of the opening 41 of the bellows 21 is cleaned with a cleaning liquid such as water or alcohol. As a cleaning method, air may be blown without using a cleaning liquid.

Next, as shown in FIG. 3D, the fusing member 46 is inserted into the opening 41. This fusing member 46
Is made of the same material as the bellows 21,
For example, if the bellows 21 is molded by the above-mentioned PFA, it is made of the same material. As a result, the softening point temperature and melting point of the end block 23 of the bellows 21 become substantially the same as those of the fusing member 46.

When the insertion of the fusing member 46 is completed, FIG.
As shown in (E), by using a heating die 47a integrally provided with a cartridge heater 47, the cylindrical portion 42 and the fusing member 46 provided in the opening 41 are heated to soften them, By bringing them into a molten state, they are systematically joined or fused to each other. As a result, as shown in FIG. 3F, the filling of the indirect liquid in the manufacturing process of the chemical liquid supply device is completed. As shown in FIG. 3 (E), the heating mold 47
The concave portion 4 into which the cylindrical portion 42 and the fusing member 46 enter in a
7b is formed, and the bottom of the recess 47b has a conical shape.

Since the fusion member 46 and the cylindrical portion 42 are systematically joined and the opening portion 41 is closed due to the manufacturing process as described above, the chemical supply device is used for a long period of time. Also, it is possible to prevent the non-compressible medium 28, which is an indirect liquid, from leaking to the outside, and prevent air from flowing into the pump chamber 27, so that the durability of the chemical liquid supply device can be improved.

FIGS. 3 (A) to 3 (F) show the manufacturing process of the chemical liquid supply device shown in FIG. 1 (A). Regarding the chemical liquid supply device shown in FIG. 1 (B) and FIG. 1 (C). Also, the indirect liquid can be filled in the pump chamber 27 by the same process. For example, in the chemical liquid supply device shown in FIG. 1B, the opening 41 is formed in the pump block 31b, the drive cylinder 33 or the flow path 35.
In the chemical liquid supply device shown in (C), the opening 41 may be further formed in the pump block 31a.

The present invention is not limited to the above-mentioned embodiment, but various modifications can be made without departing from the scope of the invention. For example, without inserting the fusion-bonding member 46 to the outside of the plug 45, only the plug 45 is press-fitted into the opening 41, and then the opening 41 is heated to open the opening 4.
1 may be closed.

[0030]

According to the present invention, after the predetermined incompressible medium is filled in the pump chamber, the incompressible medium is injected and the opening for discharging the internal air is fused. Since it is blocked by the, it is possible to reliably prevent leakage of the incompressible medium and discharge of internal air from the inside.
The durability of the chemical supply device can be improved.

[Brief description of drawings]

1A to 1C are cross-sectional views each showing a schematic structure of a chemical liquid supply device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view showing an enlarged part of FIG.

3 (A) to (F) are process diagrams showing a manufacturing process of the chemical liquid supply device of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

10 pumps 11 Inflow adapter 11a Liquid inlet 12 Outflow side adapter 12a Liquid outlet 13 Flexible tube 14 Expansion and contraction chamber 15 Supply side flow path 15a Open / close valve 16 Chemical tank 17 Discharge side flow path 17a Open / close valve 18 Application nozzle 21 Bellows 22 End block 23 End Block 24 Drive ring part 25 Large bellows 26 Small bellows 27 pump room 28 Incompressible media 29 holders 30 reciprocating member 31a, 31b Pump block 32 diaphragm 33 drive cylinder 34 Drive bellows 35 flow paths 36 tubes 41 opening 42 Cylindrical part 43 recess 44 infusion tube 45 plug 45a bar 45b sealing material 46 Fusing member 47 Cartridge heater 47a heating type

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A pump having a flexible member for partitioning and forming an expansion / contraction chamber communicating with a liquid inlet and a liquid outlet and elastically deforming, and a reciprocating member are provided. A chemical liquid supply device having a pump drive section that communicates with a reciprocating member and defines and forms a pump chamber that is filled with an incompressible medium, the chemical liquid supply apparatus being formed in the pump drive section and in communication with the pump chamber. An opening and a plug that is inserted into the opening to close the opening after the incompressible medium is injected into the pump chamber, and an opening outside the plug after the plug is inserted. A drug solution feeder characterized in that the portion is closed by fusion. 2. A pump having a flexible member for partitioning and forming an expansion / contraction chamber communicating with the liquid inlet and the liquid outlet and elastically deforming, and a reciprocating member are provided. A method of manufacturing a chemical liquid supply device, comprising: a pump drive section that communicates with a reciprocating member and defines and forms a pump chamber filled with an incompressible medium, the method comprising injecting an incompressible medium into the pump chamber. And a step of inserting a plug into an opening formed in the pump driving unit to close the opening after incompressible medium is injected into the pump chamber, and the opening after the plug is inserted. And a step of closing a portion of the portion outside the plug by fusion, and a method of manufacturing the chemical liquid supply device. 3. The method for manufacturing a chemical liquid supply device according to claim 2, wherein after the plug is inserted, a fusion bonding member is inserted into the opening, and the fusion bonding member and the opening are formed in the fusion bonding step. A method for manufacturing a chemical liquid supply device, characterized in that: 4. The method of manufacturing a chemical liquid supply device according to claim 2, wherein the opening is washed after the plug is inserted into the opening.