JPH0310668Y2 - - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed description of the invention] The present invention relates to a water draining and drying device for removing and drying water droplets attached to the surface of semiconductor materials such as silicon wafers and glass photomasks by centrifugal force. This invention relates to an improvement in the upper lid on which it is placed.

This type of drain dryer is composed of a main body including a rotating rotor that supports a semiconductor material such as a silicon wafer and a casing surrounding the rotor, and an upper lid placed on the casing. Air is introduced into the main body through the vent in the top cover, and exhaust ports are provided at appropriate positions on the peripheral wall of the casing, and water droplets on the surface of the semiconductor material are removed outward by the centrifugal force caused by the rotation of the rotor. The semiconductor material is blown toward the peripheral wall along with the air flow, accumulates on the bottom plate of the casing, and is discharged from the exhaust port along with the air flow that flows in the circumferential direction within the casing, and the semiconductor material is dried by this air flow.

Therefore, in addition to water droplets, dirt and grime also adhere to the peripheral wall of the casing, which descends and accumulates on the bottom plate. However, in this device, all the air inside the casing does not flow in the circumferential direction, but instead is caused by convection. There is also a convection flow that wraps upward from below and radially inward, and this is a flow that rebounds from the peripheral wall and bottom plate, and brings moisture and dirt accumulated on the peripheral wall and bottom plate back to the wafer, improving drying efficiency. and reduce cleaning effectiveness. However, the conventional apparatus had the drawback that the drying and cleaning effects were inhibited by the convection because no appropriate convection prevention means were taken.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The object of the present invention is to overcome the drawbacks of the prior art described above, and therefore to provide a top cover for a drain dryer that can prevent convection within the casing.

The feature of this invention is that an annular guide is provided at the position of the ventilation hole of the upper lid, which is inserted to some extent into the main body.
The guide prevents the airflow rising along the casing peripheral wall from entering the rotor again.

Next, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. 1 to 3 show an embodiment of the present invention, in which 1 is a rotor rotated by a motor or the like, and 2 is a casing surrounding the rotor. The rotor 1 is provided with a support portion, ie, a carrier holder 3, that supports a cage-shaped carrier in which a workpiece such as a wafer is housed. 4
is the peripheral wall of the casing, and an exhaust port 5 is provided at an appropriate position. Reference numeral 6 denotes a bottom plate of the casing, and preferably a vane 7 for winding up and preventing convection is installed on the bottom plate. As shown in Figure 3, the rotor 1
It is preferable that the distance between the exhaust port 5 and the peripheral wall 4 gradually increases in the direction of rotation of the rotor toward the exhaust port 5. Further, in order to improve drainage, it is preferable that the bottom plate 6 also gradually descends toward the exhaust port.

The present invention is characterized by an upper lid 10 that is detachably installed on the casing 2. A ventilation hole 11 is formed approximately in the center of the upper lid, and a ventilation member 12 such as a wire mesh or a perforated plate is installed in the ventilation hole to ensure safety. A sealing material 13 is fixed around the lower surface of the lid 10 to seal the gap with the upper surface of the casing 2. An annular guide 14 is provided in the vent 11 of the upper lid 10.
4 is adapted to be inserted to some extent into the main body. The inner diameter of the guide 14 is approximately the same as or slightly larger than the diameter of the upper side of the rotor 1, and it is preferable that at least the lower end of the guide 14 has a larger diameter than the upper edge of the rotor 1. Typically, the guide 14 is placed concentrically with the rotor 1. This guide 14 is made of a thin plate or a strip material by press forming or the like.

The guide 14 may have a short cylindrical shape, that is, the cross section may be simply vertical, as shown in FIG.
The lower part 14' of the guide 4 is expanded into a widening shape, and the lower end of the guide has a larger diameter than the rotor 1 and extends until it surrounds the upper part of the rotor. As shown in FIG. 2, the guide 14 may have a larger diameter than the vent 11 of the top lid, and therefore may be attached to the bottom surface of the top lid 10, but as shown in FIG. The guide 14 may be fitted into the vent 11 by making the outer diameter of the guide 14 substantially equal to the inner diameter of the vent 11 .
Note that, if desired, the guide 14 may be formed in a shape that diverges downward from a position in contact with the lower surface of the upper lid.

Furthermore, a preferable form of the guide 14 is as follows:
As shown in FIG. 5, the guide 14 is fitted into the vent hole 11 of the top lid, projects above a horizontal plane 15 including the outer periphery of the top lid, and has a flat plate 16 between the upper edge of the guide and the outer periphery of the top lid. Therefore, the surface of the upper lid descends from the center to the outer periphery. In this way, the air fed into the rotor 1 is guided over a relatively long distance, and no dirt accumulates on the surface of the top cover.

The device is preferably used in a clean room or clean air is preferably introduced into the device from a clean bench. When draining and drying, the carrier containing the semiconductor material is set in the holder 3 of the rotor with the lid 10 removed, the lid 10 is installed, and the rotor 1 is rotated.
As the rotor rotates, each semiconductor material is also rotated, and water droplets adhering thereto are blown around by centrifugal force and drained. In that case,
The central area of the rotor is under negative pressure, air enters the rotor through the vents 11 of the top cover 10 and the guides 14, flows radially outwards through the semiconductor material and along the peripheral wall 4 of the casing, and is exhausted. The air is discharged from the opening 5 and the semiconductor material is dried by the air flow. The introduction of air is guided downward by a guide 14, and a flow 17 which rebounds from the peripheral wall 4 and tries to rise and enter the inside again.
(FIG. 4) is prevented by the guide 14, and since it descends between the peripheral wall 4 and the rotor 1, convection returning into the rotor 1 is prevented from occurring. Note that gradually widening and deepening the flow path toward the exhaust port 5 as in the illustrated embodiment is advantageous in preventing such convection.

Therefore, according to the present invention, the incoming air is guided by the guide provided in the vent of the top cover, and convection rising along the casing peripheral wall is prevented, so that moisture and dirt on the peripheral wall and bottom plate are prevented. This reduces splashing, speeds up the drying of semiconductor materials, and improves cleaning effectiveness. Furthermore, the top cover according to the invention can also be installed on the body of an existing drain drying device, with the significant advantage that the performance of this type of device can be improved with only minor modifications.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

Fig. 1 is a partially cutaway perspective view of a drain dryer equipped with an upper lid according to an example of the present invention, Fig. 2 is a partially sectional elevational view showing the inside thereof, and Fig. 3 is a plan view showing the inside of the main body. , FIG. 4 is a second diagram showing another embodiment.
FIG. 5 is an elevational view similar to that shown in the figure, and FIG. 5 is a schematic sectional view showing yet another embodiment. In the figure, 1... rotor, 2... casing, 10
...Top lid, 11...Vent, 14...Guide, 1
4'... lower part of the guide.

Claims (1)

[Claims for Utility Model Registration] (1) In an upper cover that is placed on a main body containing a rotor that supports a semiconductor material to be drained and dried and has a vent through which air introduced into the main body passes, In order to prevent convection of the air rising along the surrounding casing wall from entering the rotor again, the vent hole of the upper lid is provided with an annular guide inserted to some extent into the main body, and the guide is The lower end of the guide is concentric with the rotor and has approximately the same diameter, and the lower end of the guide has a larger diameter than the upper part of the rotor and extends until it surrounds the upper part. The top lid of the drain dryer. (2) Utility Model Registration In the top lid according to claim 1, the guide protrudes above a horizontal plane including the outer periphery of the top lid, and the space between the upper edge of the guide and the outer periphery is covered with a flat plate, The top lid of the drain dryer whose surface is the surface of the top lid.