JPH05264082A - Air-supplying device for clean room - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To enable efficiently purifying air to a high level with respect to the constitution of a device for supplying purified air to a clean room where semiconductor devices or the like are manufactured. CONSTITUTION:Outdoor air is conveyed by a first air supply line 13 and through a first purifying means 11, whose level of purification is high, to a first clean room 1; part of the exhaust air is conveyed by a first return air line 14 and through the first purifying means 11 returned to the first clean room 1; the rest of the air is conveyed by a second air supply line 16 and through a means of checking 15 and through a second purifying means 12, whose level of purification is lower than the first purifying means 11, to a second clean room 2; part of the exhaust air from the second clean room 2 is conveyed by a second return air line 17 and through the second purifying means 12 returned to the second clean room 2.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a structure of an apparatus for supplying purified air to a clean room for manufacturing semiconductor devices and the like.

In recent years, semiconductor devices have been made finer in pattern in response to the demand for higher integration and higher density, and the demand for air cleanliness of a clean room for manufacturing the same has become more severe. Particles have come to be evaluated at 0.1 μm, and it is also necessary to control molecular contamination. On the other hand, the equipment cost and power cost of the purified air supply device for realizing a clean room satisfying such requirements are enormous. Therefore, an air supply device capable of efficiently supplying a high level of purified air to a clean room is desired.

[0003]

2. Description of the Related Art A conventional example of a clean room air supply device will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 3 is a diagram showing the concept of the conventional example. In the figure, the same components as those in FIG. 1 are designated by the same reference numerals. In this example, a first clean room 1 (for example, a wafer processing room) that requires a high degree of cleanliness and a second clean room 2 (for example, a maintenance room) that requires a lower degree of cleanliness are adjacent to each other. Is also a down-flow type clean room, and the upper part of them is one ceiling chamber (not shown), and the lower part is one underfloor chamber (not shown), and clean air is supplied to both clean rooms. It is a device.

This device is constructed so that the air flow is as follows. The outside air is sucked in by the outside air processing device 31, cleaned, adjusted in temperature and humidity, and then sent to the ceiling chamber. Next, the air is supplied to the first clean room 1 through the first cleaning means 11 (for example, ULPA filter) capable of high-level cleaning, and the cleaning level is lower than that of the first cleaning means 11. Air is supplied to the second clean room 2 through the second cleaning means 12 (for example, HEPA filter). Air passing through these clean rooms enters the underfloor chamber. After that, a part is exhausted, the rest is cooled by the air conditioner 32, further cleaned by the filter 33, and then returned to the air supply side (that is, the ceiling chamber).

[0005]

However, in such a conventional air supply device for a clean room, since the air passing through the first clean room and the air passing through the second clean room are mixed in the underfloor chamber, This decrease in the cleanliness of the air, in particular, the molecular contamination is remarkable, and generally the temperature is also remarkable. Therefore, a large-scale device was required to return this to the air supply side and reuse it. Further, since the outside air processing device processes the outside air supplied to both the first clean room and the second clean room, it becomes a large-capacity device and requires a great deal of equipment cost and power cost.

An object of the present invention is to solve the above problems and to provide a clean room air supply device capable of efficiently performing a high level of air cleaning.

[0007]

Means for achieving this object will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 1 is a diagram showing the concept of the present invention.

According to the present invention, a plurality of objects including a first clean room 1 requiring a high degree of cleanliness and a second clean room 2 having a required cleanliness lower than that of the first clean room 1 are provided. In a device for supplying purified air to a clean room, a first air supply passage 13 for sucking outside air to supply air to the first clean room 1 via a first cleaning means 11 having a high cleaning level. A part of the air discharged from the first clean room 1 is replaced with the first cleaning means 11
The first return air passage 14 for returning the air to the first clean room 1 via the first clean room 1 and the rest of the air discharged from the first clean room 1 by the check means 15 and the cleaning level of the first cleaning. And a second air supply passage 16 for supplying air to the second clean room 2 through the second cleaning means 12 which is lower than the air purification means 11, and the air discharged from the second clean room 2 is This is achieved by providing a clean room air supply device characterized in that the air is discharged outside the device without passing through the first clean room 1.

[0009]

In the clean room air supply device of the present invention, only the air that has passed through the clean room is returned to the clean room having the higher cleanliness level, and the air that has passed through the lower clean room is not mixed and is clean. Since a non-return device is inserted in the air supply path that sends the air that has passed through the clean room of the higher level to the clean room of the lower level, the air returned to the clean room of the higher level originally has the cleanliness. The filter is relatively high (generally, the temperature change is also relatively small), and a filter (and an air conditioner for cooling the same) for cleaning the filter may be small or unnecessary. In addition, molecular contamination control can be performed relatively easily. Furthermore, since the outside air treatment device only needs to treat the mood of a clean room with a high degree of cleanliness, it can be a small capacity device. Therefore, it becomes possible to efficiently perform high-level air cleaning.

[0010]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of a clean room air supply device according to the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 2 is an explanatory view of an embodiment of the present invention, showing the configuration of the apparatus together with two adjacent downflow type clean rooms. In the figure, the same parts as those in FIG. 1 are designated by the same reference numerals.

The first clean room 1 is, for example, a wafer processing room and requires a high degree of air cleanliness. The second clean room 2 is, for example, a maintenance room (where the auxiliary equipment of the wafer processing apparatus is installed and the wafer processing apparatus is maintained), and requires a lower level of air cleanliness than the first clean room 1. The upper part of the first clean room 1 is a first ceiling chamber 1a and the lower part is a first underfloor chamber 1b. The upper part of the second clean room 2 is a second ceiling chamber 2a and the lower part is a second ceiling chamber 2a. It is the underfloor chamber 2b.

The first cleaning means 11 is a filter unit consisting of an ultra-high performance filter (ULPA filter) and a fan, and a large number of these filter units constitute the ceiling of the first clean room 1. Second cleaning means 12
Is a high performance filter (HEPA filter), and a large number of second cleaning means 12 are provided on the ceiling of the second clean room 2.
Is attached.

The first air supply passage 13 is composed of a duct extending from an outside air intake (not shown) to the first ceiling chamber 1a via the outside air treatment device 21. The first return air passage 14 is composed of a duct and a blower from the first underfloor chamber 1b to the first ceiling chamber 1a via the air conditioner 22 and the special filter 23. The check means 15 is a check damper and prevents the backflow of air.
The second air supply passage 16 is a check means from the first underfloor chamber 1b.
It consists of a duct and a blower that goes through 15 to the second ceiling chamber 1b. The second return air passage 17 is composed of a duct and a blower from the second underfloor chamber 2b to the second ceiling chamber 1b via the air conditioner 24.

The outside air processing device 21 is composed of an air cleaner, a pre-filter, a medium performance filter, a high performance filter, an air conditioner, a blower, etc., and performs suction, cleaning, temperature / humidity control, and blowing of the outside air. The air conditioners 22 and 24 cool the air in the first return air passage 14 and the second return air passage 17, respectively, to a desired temperature. The special filter 23 is a molecular contamination filter that adsorbs contaminant molecules on activated carbon or the like.

Next, the flow of air in this air supply device will be described. First, the outside air is sucked into the outside air processing device 21, cleaned, adjusted in temperature and humidity, and sent to the first ceiling chamber 1a. Next, it is cleaned to a desired cleanliness by the first cleaning means 11, passes through the first clean room 1 as a vertical laminar flow, is slightly contaminated, and is slightly heated to the first underfloor chamber 1b. enter. After that, a part of this air is cooled and cleaned and is blown again to the first ceiling chamber 1a, and the rest is blown to the second ceiling chamber 2a through the non-return means 15.

The air in the second ceiling chamber 2a is cleaned by the second cleaning means 12 to a desired cleanliness level, passes through the second clean room 2 as a vertical laminar flow, and is slightly polluted and slightly polluted. The temperature rises and enters the second underfloor chamber 2b. After that, a part of this air is cooled and blown again to the second ceiling chamber 2a, and the rest is discharged to the outside air as exhaust gas, or exhaust heat is generated in the production equipment installed in each clean room. After being sent for exhaust gas or the like, it is discharged to the outside air, or is sent by the second clean room 2 to a room having a lower required cleanliness.

The present invention is not limited to the above embodiments, but can be implemented with various modifications. For example,
The present invention is effective even if an air conditioner and a filter are added to or removed from each air supply passage and return air passage as needed.

[0018]

As described above, according to the present invention,
Exhaust gas from a clean room with a higher cleanliness level is supplied to a clean room with a lower cleanliness level through a non-return means, and exhaust gas from a lower clean room does not return to a clean room with a higher clean level. A clean room air supply device capable of efficiently performing high-level air cleaning can be provided, which contributes to cost reduction in semiconductor device manufacturing, yield improvement, and the like.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing the concept of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram of an example of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a concept of a conventional example.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 1st clean room 1a 1st ceiling chamber 1b 1st underfloor chamber 2 2nd clean room 2a 2nd ceiling chamber 2b 2nd underfloor chamber 11 1st cleaning means 12 2nd cleaning means 13 1st First air supply passage 14 First return air passage 15 Non-return means 16 Second air supply passage 17 Second return air passage 21, 31 Outside air treatment device 22, 24, 32 Air conditioner 23 Special filter 33 Filter

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A plurality of clean rooms including a first clean room (1) requiring a high degree of cleanliness and a second clean room (2) having a lower required cleanliness than the first clean room (1). In the device that supplies purified air, the first cleaning means that sucks outside air and has a high cleaning level.
A first air supply passage (13) for supplying air to the first clean room (1) via (11) and a part of the air discharged from the first clean room (1) The first return air passage (14) returning to the first clean room (1) through the cleaning means (11) and the rest of the air discharged from the first clean room (1) are reversed. A second air supply for supplying air to the second clean room (2) via the means (15) and the second cleaning means (12) having a cleaning level lower than that of the first cleaning means (11). An air supply device for a clean room, characterized in that it has a passage (16). 2. The clean room supply according to claim 1, wherein the air discharged from the second clean room (2) is discharged outside the apparatus without passing through the first clean room (1). Qi device.