JP2008198897A - Washing apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a cleaning apparatus capable of automatically dividing cleaning water into a less dirty cleaning liquid and a much dirty cleaning liquid and recovering respective cleaning liquids. <P>SOLUTION: The lower part of a carrier 1 on a substrate W is divided into a center recovery portion 6 and side recovery portions 7 by partition plates 5 arranged along a carrying direction. Since the much quantity of a cleaning liquid which is not involved in cleaning is directly recovered to the center recovery portion 6 and a less dirty cleaning solution can be recovered, and on the contrary, a cleaning liquid involved in cleaning is recovered in the side recover portions 7. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2008,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to an apparatus for cleaning a substrate such as a glass substrate or a semiconductor wafer.

  A TFT array or the like is formed on a glass substrate incorporated in the liquid crystal display device. This TFT array is formed on the glass substrate by the same method as the process for forming the semiconductor integrated circuit. A process for forming a semiconductor integrated circuit includes formation of a resist film. This resist film is formed by applying a resist solution on the surface of a glass substrate using a spin coater or the like and then baking it. And, before applying the resist solution, dust and foreign matter must be removed from the surface of the glass substrate.

  As disclosed in Patent Document 1 or Patent Document 2, the cleaning apparatus includes a plurality of transport rollers that form a transport path, and a plurality of nozzles that eject cleaning water toward the substrate surface above the transport path. Are arranged in a direction perpendicular to the conveying direction.

  Conventionally, in order to perform cleaning effectively, an ultrasonic oscillation device is disposed below the transport path, or ion water is jetted at a high pressure toward the substrate surface.

JP 2005-013960 A JP-A-11-333387

  Although the above-mentioned prior art documents consider improvement of the cleaning effect, the developer used is mixed with the water used for cleaning, and therefore, it is discarded as it is and does not consider recycling of water.

  However, water is an extremely valuable resource, and is a fundamental problem that must be solved when a factory for manufacturing a liquid crystal display device is constructed, particularly in regions and countries where water resources are scarce.

  In order to solve the above problems, the present invention provides a cleaning apparatus for supplying cleaning water to a substrate surface while transporting a substrate, wherein a lower part of the transport path of the substrate is a partition plate along the transport direction, and a central recovery portion and a side. It was set as the structure isolate | separated into the collection | recovery part.

  The washing water collected by the central collection unit is less contaminated than the washing water collected by the side collection unit and can be recycled. The reason why the cleaning water collected by the central recovery unit is less contaminated is that the cleaning water falls without being involved in cleaning between the substrates that are transported continuously, and is supplied to the surface of the substrate. A part of the washed water falls from the front end and the rear end of the substrate.

  Further, the axis of the nozzle before moving to the next tank may be inclined in the direction opposite to the traveling direction of the substrate to prevent the cleaning liquid supplied on the substrate from falling forward in the traveling direction of the substrate. By doing so, the dirty cleaning liquid is not brought into the next tank. In addition, the contamination of the cleaning liquid collected by the central collection unit is reduced.

  According to the cleaning apparatus of the present invention, the cleaning water supplied to an object to be cleaned such as a glass substrate can be automatically divided into a dirty part and a part that is hardly dirty, and as a result, cleaning that is not dirty. Recycling is possible, such as using water as cleaning water again, which is effective in saving resources.

  DESCRIPTION OF EXEMPLARY EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of the invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings. 1 is a plan view of a cleaning apparatus according to the present invention, FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view seen from the direction AA in FIG. 1, and FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view seen from the direction BB in FIG.

  The cleaning device includes a transport path 1 having a tunnel shape. The transport path 1 is composed of a plurality of transport rollers 2 driven by a motor, and a first cleaning provided along the transport path while transporting a plurality of glass substrates W at regular intervals on the transport rollers 2. Cleaning is performed in order in the area R1 and the second cleaning area R2.

  As will be described later, the first cleaning area R1 is cleaned using a cleaning liquid with less dirt collected in the second cleaning area R2, and the second cleaning area R2 is cleaned using a new liquid.

  A cleaning device 3 is disposed above each cleaning area R1, R2. The cleaning device 3 has a plurality of cleaning liquid jet nozzles 4 arranged in a direction orthogonal to the transport direction. Further, the lower part of the conveyance path 1 is separated into a central collection unit 6 and side collection units 7 and 7 by partition plates 5 and 5 along the conveyance direction for each cleaning area R1 and R2.

  The bottom surfaces of the central recovery unit 6 and the side recovery unit 7 are inclined surfaces, and recovery holes 6a and 7a are formed at the lowest point. Since the central recovery unit 6 collects a large amount of cleaning liquid that is not involved in cleaning, the cleaning liquid with less dirt is recovered. Conversely, the side recovery unit 7 recovers the dirty cleaning liquid related to cleaning. The

  In this embodiment, the cleaning liquid recovered by the central recovery unit 6 in the second cleaning area R2 is supplied to the nozzle 4 in the first cleaning area R1 via the pipe 8.

  That is, in the drawing, the glass substrate W is transported from the right to the left. The glass substrate W is first cleaned in the first cleaning area R1. As the cleaning liquid at this time, the cleaning liquid recovered by the central recovery unit 6 of the second cleaning area R2 slightly dirty as described above is used. Then, the glass substrate W that has been cleaned to some extent is transported to the second cleaning area R2, where it is cleaned using a new solution.

  In the embodiment, the first recovery area R1 is also divided into the central recovery unit 6 and the side recovery unit 7 by the partition plate 5, and the cleaning liquid recovered by the central recovery unit 6 may be used for further upstream cleaning. Further, in both the first cleaning area R1 and the second cleaning area R2, the cleaning liquid recovered by the side recovery unit 7 is dirty and discarded. If there are a large number of cleaning tanks, the cleaning liquid recovered by the side recovery unit 7 is further less contaminated, and therefore can be used for cleaning a tank where the initial cleaning liquid may be dirty to some extent.

FIG. 4 is a view similar to FIG. 2 showing another embodiment. In this embodiment, of the plurality of cleaning liquid ejection nozzles 4 constituting the cleaning apparatus 3, the nozzle 4a before moving to the next tank is shown. The axis may be inclined in the direction opposite to the traveling direction of the substrate to prevent the cleaning liquid supplied on the substrate from falling forward in the traveling direction of the substrate.
By doing in this way, it can prevent that the dirty washing | cleaning liquid mixes into the next tank further.

  In the embodiment, the cleaning liquid recovered in the second cleaning area R2 is reused in the first cleaning area R1. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and there is one cleaning area. The recovered cleaning water with relatively little dirt may be used at another location.

Plan view of a cleaning apparatus according to the present invention Sectional view seen from the AA direction in FIG. Sectional view seen from the BB direction in FIG. Figure similar to FIG. 2 showing another embodiment

Explanation of symbols

  DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Conveyance path, 2 ... Conveyance roller, 3 ... Cleaning apparatus, 4 and 4a ... Cleaning liquid jet nozzle, 5 ... Partition plate, 6 ... Central collection part, 7 ... Side collection part, 8 ... Piping, R1 ... 1st washing | cleaning Area, R2 ... second cleaning area, W ... glass substrate.

Claims (2)

In the cleaning apparatus for supplying cleaning water to the substrate surface while transporting the substrate, the lower part of the transport path of the substrate is separated into a central recovery part and a side recovery part by a partition plate along the transport direction. A cleaning device. 2. The cleaning apparatus according to claim 1, wherein a plurality of nozzles are arranged along the substrate transport direction for supplying the cleaning water, and the axis of the nozzle before moving to the next tank is opposite to the substrate traveling direction. The cleaning apparatus is characterized in that the cleaning liquid supplied on the substrate is prevented from falling forward in the direction of travel of the substrate.

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