JP5963115B2 - Transport roller - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a conveyance roller, and more particularly to a conveyance roller that conveys a workpiece irradiated with ultraviolet rays.

  In the manufacturing process of semiconductor substrates, liquid crystal substrates, etc., a dry cleaning method using ultraviolet rays is widely used as a method for removing dirt such as organic compounds adhering to the surface of a wafer that is a semiconductor substrate or a glass substrate that is a liquid crystal substrate. Has been. In particular, in a cleaning method using ozone or active oxygen using vacuum ultraviolet light, a cleaning apparatus that performs cleaning more efficiently and in a short time has been proposed. For example, JP 2010-125368 A (Patent Document 1) is known. It has been.

8 and 9 are schematic configuration diagrams of the substrate processing apparatus disclosed in Patent Document 1. FIG.
In the substrate processing apparatus 10, an ultraviolet lamp 12 such as an excimer lamp is disposed as a light source inside a metal lamp house 11 having an opening on the lower side in the vertical direction. In the vicinity of the ceiling of the lamp house 11, inert gas supply pipes 13 and 13 for supplying an inert gas are provided.
The ultraviolet lamp 12 is disposed vertically below the space sandwiched between the gas supply pipes 13, 13, and a glass substrate W, which is an object to be processed (work), passes further below the ultraviolet lamp 12.
The glass substrate W is sequentially transported by a plurality of transport rollers 15 and 15 including the front and rear of the lamp house 11 so that the processing can be performed continuously with the front and rear processes.

The conveyance roller 15 is controlled in rotation speed so that a predetermined process is performed on the surface of the glass substrate W in the lamp house 11, and sequentially conveys the glass substrate (workpiece) W.
The inside of the lamp house 11 is filled with an inert gas such as nitrogen from a gas supply pipe 13. When the glass substrate W is carried into the lamp house 11, the lamp house 11 emits from the ultraviolet lamp 12. The ultraviolet rays to be irradiated are irradiated to the glass substrate W as the irradiation surface with almost no attenuation, and the substrate W can be processed.

In the production line of the substrate processing apparatus described above, recently, there is a tendency to increase the conveyance speed of the production line for the purpose of improving the productivity of the substrate having a large area and reducing the production cost. In response to such a request, the characteristics required of the transport roller include excellent load resistance to support a large area substrate, excellent wear resistance, and the like. ) With UV rays, the lamp house is irradiated with short-wavelength UV rays, so naturally the transfer rollers are also irradiated with UV rays. It is.
For this reason, metals, ceramics, and the like have been conventionally selected as the material for the transport roller. However, when trying to increase the processing speed by increasing the conveying speed, there is a problem that the surface of the workpiece is damaged by the impact of the conveying roller colliding.

Therefore, a material using a resin material is considered as a transport roller. However, in the case of a general resin material, specifically, a material such as PTFE, nylon, polyethylene, etc., it lacks UV resistance and is deteriorated by UV irradiation. Significantly, contamination of the work and the inside of the apparatus becomes a problem due to the release of gas such as a plasticizer and the generation of particles.
In addition, when the conveying roller is deteriorated by ultraviolet irradiation and the outer periphery contracts, the separation distance between the workpiece and the ultraviolet lamp increases, which causes a problem that a necessary cleaning process cannot be sufficiently achieved.
In order to avoid such a problem, if the replacement of the conveying roller is frequently performed, the operating rate is lowered, and eventually the efficiency cannot be improved.
While the substrate processing apparatus is required to be low in cost, in particular, the liquid crystal display device is required to have a high image quality and a large screen due to the increasing needs of users, and high definition and large size are progressing. Under such circumstances, even a minute flaw that has cleared the conventional standard also becomes a problem, and there is an adverse effect that it is impossible to clear high demands.

JP 2010-125368 A

  In view of the problems of the prior art described above, the present invention is used in an ultraviolet processing apparatus and the like, and in a transport roller for transporting a workpiece irradiated with ultraviolet rays, without causing ultraviolet deterioration due to ultraviolet irradiation, and withstand load. It is an object of the present invention to provide a transport roller structure that is excellent in wear resistance and wear resistance and that does not damage a workpiece.

In order to solve the above problems, a conveying roller according to the present invention includes a support shaft and a rotating roller attached to the supporting shaft, and the rotating roller is formed by laminating a plurality of glass fiber cloths at intervals. It consists of the resin material embedded in the state.
Further, the support shaft is rotatable, and the rotating roller is fixed to the support shaft.
The support shaft is fixed, and the rotating roller is rotatably attached to the support shaft.
The resin material may be any one of PI (polyimide), PEI (polyetherimide), PBI (polybenzimidazole), epoxy resin, glass epoxy resin, fluororesin, and polyester resin. To do.
The glass fiber cloth is a belt-shaped woven or knitted cloth.
Further, the glass fiber cloth is laminated so as to be concentric with the support shaft in a plane orthogonal to the support shaft.
The rotating roller is characterized in that the glass fiber cloth is embedded only in the outer peripheral portion. Also, the rotating roller is characterized in that only the outer peripheral portion is made of the resin material. To do.
Further, the glass fiber cloth is laminated so as to be parallel in a plane orthogonal to the support shaft.

  According to the transport roller of the present invention, the rotating roller is made of a material embedded with a plurality of glass fiber cloths laminated in the resin at intervals, so that the rotating roller is irradiated with ultraviolet rays from an ultraviolet lamp that irradiates the workpiece. Even if the ultraviolet rays are shielded by the glass fiber cloth and do not reach the deep part of the resin material, it is possible to suppress the deterioration of the resin, and suppose that particle dust is generated from the resin inside the rotating roller. Can also be suppressed with glass fiber cloth, can be prevented from scattering from the rotating roller to prevent the substrate and the inside of the device from being contaminated, and further, the rotating roller is made of resin, which damages the workpiece There is an effect that there is nothing to do.

In addition, the resin material is made of any one of PI (polyimide), PEI (polyetherimide), PBI (polybenzimidazole), epoxy resin, glass epoxy resin, fluororesin, and polyester resin. The progress of the material deterioration is slow, and a rotating roller having sufficient resistance can be obtained.
Further, since the glass fiber is made of a woven fabric or a knitted fabric, even if the glass fiber fabric is exposed from the resin, other fibers are entangled with each other, so that fiber scraps are not easily collapsed and the inside of the apparatus is not contaminated.
Further, by providing the laminated glass fiber cloth in the resin concentrically, the glass fiber cloth is arranged over the entire circumference of the rotating roller, so that the ultraviolet light is shielded by the glass fiber cloth around the entire rotating roller. Therefore, it becomes difficult to irradiate the resin material in the inner layer, and deterioration of the resin can be suppressed. Furthermore, since the glass fiber cloth is not exposed on the surface of the rotating roller, the work is difficult to slide and the work can be conveyed stably.

Sectional drawing (A) and side view (B) of the conveyance roller of this invention. FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating a detailed structure of a conveyance roller according to the present invention. Sectional drawing of another Example. Furthermore, the side view of another Example. Furthermore, sectional drawing of another Example. Furthermore, sectional drawing of another Example. The graph which shows the effect of this invention. FIG. FIG. 9 is a cross-sectional view of FIG. 8.

FIG. 1A is a cross-sectional view illustrating a configuration of a conveyance roller 1 according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 1B is a side view thereof.
The conveyance roller 1 includes a support shaft 2 and a rotation roller 3. In this embodiment, the support shaft 2 is rotatable, and the rotating roller 3 is fixed to the support shaft 2 with screws 6 and rotates integrally.
The rotating roller 3 is made of a resin as a base material, and this resin is selected from the viewpoint of ultraviolet resistance, and PI (polyimide), PEI (polyetherimide), PBI (polybenzimidazole), epoxy resin, glass Epoxy resins, fluororesins, polyester resins and the like are preferable.
A plurality of glass fiber cloths 4, 4 are embedded in the resin serving as the base material so as to be concentric with the rotation support shaft 2.

An embodiment in which the glass fiber cloth is embedded in the resin base material is shown in FIG.
As shown in FIG. 2 (A), a glass fiber cloth 4 formed in a strip shape is laminated on a resin substrate 5, and another resin 5 is further laminated thereon as shown in FIG. 2 (B). Yes. By repeating this, a plurality of glass fiber cloths 4 and 4 are embedded in the resin 5 so as to be laminated at intervals. That is, as shown in FIG. 2 (C), a lump having a shape filled with resin is formed between the glass fiber cloths 4 and 4 laminated at a predetermined interval. The glass fiber cloth 4 is made of a woven or knitted cloth made of glass fibers.
The lump thus formed is formed into the shape of the rotating roller 3 by a predetermined machining.

  The glass fiber cloth 4 embedded in the rotating roller 3 does not necessarily need to be embedded in the entire rotating roller 3, and as shown in FIG. 3, the rotating roller 3 is strongly affected by ultraviolet rays and is a contact portion with the workpiece W to be conveyed. You may make it embed only in the outer peripheral part.

Further, the shape of the glass fiber cloth 4 to be embedded is not limited to a concentric shape in a plane orthogonal to the support shaft 2 of the rotating roller 3 as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, but is parallel as shown in FIG. Such a laminate may be used.
In this case, there is an advantage that the manufacture becomes easier as compared with the case of the concentric circle.

In addition, the entire rotating roller 3 is not limited to a resin, and as shown in FIG. 5, the roller body 3a is made of metal, and only the outer peripheral portion 3b is made of resin in which a glass fiber cloth 4 is embedded. You can also. In this case, it can assemble by making the main-body part 3a into a divided structure and pinching the outer peripheral part 3b from right and left.
In the case of such a structure, the main body 3a is made of metal, so that the rigidity of the entire rotating roller 3 is provided, the deformation becomes difficult, and the flat workpiece W is stably conveyed without rattling. be able to.
Further, when the resin outer peripheral portion 3b serving as the contact portion is worn and deteriorated, only the outer peripheral portion 3b needs to be replaced, and the running cost can be kept low.

  In any of the above-described embodiments, the rotating roller 3 is fixed to the rotating support shaft 2 to rotate integrally. However, as shown in FIG. 6, the supporting shaft 2 is fixed without rotating. A structure may be adopted in which the rotating roller 3 is rotatably mounted on the support shaft 2. In this case, the rotating roller 3 is positioned on the support shaft 2 by the fixtures 7 and 7 and is rotatably provided.

When the transport roller 1 having the above-described configuration is incorporated in a substrate processing apparatus as shown in FIGS. 8 and 9, the rotating roller 3 fixed to the rotating support shaft 2 and integrally rotates transports the workpiece W. The rotary roller 3 that functions as a drive source for rotating the workpiece W and that is rotatably mounted on the fixed support shaft 2 simply supports the workpiece W and functions to smoothly convey the workpiece W. .
As described above, the conveyance roller 1 in which the rotation roller 3 is fixed on the rotation support shaft 2 and the conveyance roller 1 in which the rotation roller 3 is rotatably mounted on the fixed support shaft 2 are selectively used depending on the situation. In this case, at least one of the plurality of transport rollers 1 on which the workpiece W is placed simultaneously is the transport roller 1 including the rotation support shaft 2 to which the rotation roller 3 is fixed. Is done. Of course, all the transport rollers 1 can be in the form of a rotating roller 3 fixed to the rotating support shaft 2.

Hereinafter, the ultraviolet resistance property regarding the conveyance roller according to the present invention was verified in the following manner.
The resin composite material including the glass fiber cloth (the present invention) and the resin material not including the glass fiber cloth (comparative example) were each irradiated with ultraviolet rays, and the change in mass before and after the ultraviolet irradiation was measured.
Hereinafter, the verification method will be described.
Each of the resin (invention of this application) made by laminating and curing glass fiber cloth and the resin not containing glass fiber cloth (comparative example) is processed into the shape of a rotating roller, and a support shaft is inserted to form a conveying roller. did.
Regarding the resin containing the glass fiber cloth (the present invention), the resin was an epoxy resin, and the glass fiber had a fiber diameter of φ1 to 10 μm, and the lamination pitch of the glass fiber cloth was 100 to 300 μm.
Moreover, resin which does not contain a glass fiber cloth was polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) (Comparative Example 1) and an epoxy resin (single unit) (Comparative Example 2).
Ultraviolet rays were irradiated while rotating the three types of rotating rollers formed as described above, and mass changes before and after the irradiation were measured. When the mass reduction ratio is small, the amount of decomposition when the resin is irradiated with ultraviolet rays is small, and it can be said that the ultraviolet resistance is good.

FIG. 7 is a graph showing how the three types of rotating rollers change in mass.
When a rotating roller (invention of the present invention) made of a resin including a glass fiber cloth is continuously irradiated with ultraviolet rays, the resin portion is decomposed and scattered by the ultraviolet rays, and the glass fiber cloth portion is exposed in appearance.
It can be seen that the mass hardly fluctuates after a certain period of time, and that the resin does not easily decompose further. The reason for this is presumed that the glass fiber cloth shields (absorbs and reflects) ultraviolet rays, so that the decomposition speed of the resin under the glass fiber cloth is reduced. Although the glass exposed on the surface of the rotating roller itself is a hard material, it has a cushioning property because it is woven into a cloth shape as a glass fiber, and hardly damages the glass substrate being conveyed. Even in the result of actually carrying the substrate and verifying it, the user's required value could be cleared. It can be seen that the mass fluctuation is less than about 3% even after 1500 hours after the ultraviolet irradiation, and is extremely small.

On the other hand, the mass of the rotating rollers (Comparative Examples 1 and 2) composed only of PTFE and epoxy resin decreased in proportion to the passage of time. As the decomposition of the resin proceeds, the outer diameter of the rotating roller becomes smaller, and therefore the height of the substrate surface varies when the substrate is transported. For this reason, when the usage time elapses, the distance between the ultraviolet ray source and the substrate surface varies, and the intended ultraviolet ray treatment may not be performed.
As can be seen from the above results, when a resin obtained by laminating and curing a large number of glass fiber cloths is used for a rotating roller, it is suitable for transporting a glass substrate with good UV resistance and less resin decomposition. Can provide.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Conveyance roller 2 Support shaft 3 Rotating roller 4 Glass fiber cloth 6 Screw 7 Fixing tool W Workpiece

Claims (9)

In transport rollers that transport workpieces that are irradiated with ultraviolet rays,
The transport roller includes a support shaft and a rotating roller mounted on the support shaft.
The rotating roller is made of a resin material embedded in a state in which a plurality of glass fiber cloths are laminated at intervals.
A conveying roller characterized by that.   The conveyance roller according to claim 1, wherein the support shaft is rotatable, and the rotation roller is fixed to the support shaft.   The transport roller according to claim 1, wherein the support shaft is fixed, and the rotating roller is rotatably mounted on the support shaft.   The resin material is composed of any one of PI (polyimide), PEI (polyetherimide), PBI (polybenzimidazole), epoxy resin, glass epoxy resin, fluororesin, and polyester resin. Item 4. The conveyance roller according to any one of Items 1 to 3.   The conveyance roller according to claim 1, wherein the glass fiber cloth is a belt-shaped woven or knitted cloth.   The conveyance roller according to claim 1, wherein the glass fiber cloth is laminated so as to be concentric with the support shaft in a plane orthogonal to the support shaft of the rotating roller. .   The conveying roller according to claim 6, wherein the glass fiber cloth is embedded only in an outer peripheral portion of the rotating roller.   The conveying roller according to claim 6, wherein only the outer peripheral portion of the rotating roller is made of the resin material. The conveying roller according to claim 1, wherein the glass fiber cloths are laminated so as to be parallel in a plane orthogonal to the support shaft of the rotating roller.

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