JPH0573940U - Spin dryer - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] [Object] To provide a spin drying apparatus capable of improving the efficiency of drying treatment of a substrate and capable of drying the substrate rapidly and substantially uniformly. [Structure] A turntable 22 is horizontally provided in a drying tank 11, a plurality of substrate stages 24 rotatable with respect to the turntable 22 are provided on the turntable 22, and the substrate stage 24 is cleaned. The substrate a is arranged, and the turntable 22 and each substrate stage 2 are arranged.
These substrates a are revolved and rotated in the drying tank 11 by the rotation operation of 4.

Description

[Detailed description of the device]

[0001]

[Industrial applications]

 The present invention relates to a spin dryer for drying a substrate for a liquid crystal display device, for example.

[0002]

[Prior Art]

 There is a process of washing the substrate for the liquid crystal display element with pure water and drying the washed substrate in the middle of the liquid crystal display element manufacturing line, and the spin drying device is generally used for the treatment of such a drying step. Is used.

FIG. 11 shows a principle configuration of a conventional spin drying apparatus of this type. Reference numeral 1 denotes a drying tank, and a substrate stage 2 is horizontally provided in the drying tank 1, and the substrate stage 2 is driven by a motor 3 to rotate at a high speed.

A loader-side transfer system 4 such as a belt conveyor is installed on one side of the drying tank 1, and an unloader-side transfer system 5 is installed on the other side. The transfer systems 4 and 5 are for holding substrates. Holding arms 6 and 7 are provided.

When the cleaned substrate a (shown by hatching in the figure) is transferred to the arrangement side of the drying tank 1 via the loader side transfer system 4, the substrate a is held by the holding arm 6. The substrate a is held and transferred by the holding arm 6 from above the loader side transfer system 4 onto the substrate stage 2 in the drying tank 1, and this substrate a is fixed onto the substrate stage 2 by vacuum suction.

Under such a state, the opening on the upper surface of the drying tank 1 is closed by a lid cover (not shown), and the motor 3 drives the substrate stage 2 to rotate integrally with the substrate a at high speed. Suru By this rotation, the water droplets attached to the substrate a are scattered around by the centrifugal force, and the substrate a is actively contacted with the air in the drying tank 1, whereby the surface of the substrate a is dried.

After the drying is completed, the rotation of the substrate stage 2 is stopped, the lid cover of the drying tank 1 is opened, and the substrate a on the substrate stage 2 is held by the holding arm 7 of the unloader side transfer system 5. While being held, the substrate a is transferred onto the unloader-side transfer system 5 via the holding arm 7, and the substrate a is transferred to the next processing step unit by the unloader-side transfer system 5. The drying process is sequentially repeated.

[0008]

[Problems to be solved by the device]

 However, in such a conventional spin drying apparatus, since only one substrate is placed on the substrate stage and dried, the drying time per substrate is long, the drying processing efficiency is lowered, and the substrate is further dried. Since the substrate placed on the stage only rotates at a fixed position in the drying tank, the peripheral edge of the substrate makes good contact with the air in the drying tank, but the degree of contact with air at the center of the substrate is high. As a result, the drying efficiency is poor, and the dry state is not uniform.

The present invention has been made paying attention to such a point, and an object thereof is to improve the efficiency of the drying process and to dry the substrate quickly and almost uniformly. Another object of the present invention is to provide a spin drying device capable of

[0010]

[Means for Solving the Problems]

 In order to achieve such an object, the present invention provides a drying tank, a rotatable turntable horizontally provided in the drying tank, and a rotatable turntable on the turntable with respect to the turntable. A plurality of substrate stages provided, the substrate is arranged on each of the above substrate stages, and the substrate is revolved and revolves in a drying tank by the rotation operation of the turntable and each substrate stage. Is.

[0011]

When the substrate is dried, a plurality of washed substrates are placed on each substrate stage in the drying tank. In this state, the turntable and each substrate stage rotate, each rotation of the turntable causes each substrate on each substrate stage to revolve around the rotation axis of the turntable, and each rotation of each substrate stage causes each substrate to rotate. Rotate.

As described above, since each substrate revolves and rotates in the drying tank, the air in the drying tank is in good contact with the entire area from the peripheral portion to the central portion of each substrate. The plate can be dried quickly and efficiently, and the entire plate can be uniformly dried. In addition, a plurality of substrates can be stored in a drying tank and the plurality of substrates can be dried at the same time by one drying treatment operation. Therefore, the drying treatment efficiency is improved.

[0013]

【Example】

 An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS.

Reference numeral 11 is a drying tank having an opening 12 on the upper surface thereof, and a lid cover 13 for opening and closing the opening 12 is provided to the drying tank 11 as shown in FIG. A vent hole 14 is formed on the upper surface of the lid cover 13, and a filter 15 is provided on the vent hole 14. The lid cover 13 is operated by an operation mechanism (not shown) to open and close the opening 12 of the drying tank 11. An intake hose 16 is connected to part of the side surface of the drying tank 11, and a suction pump 17 is provided in the middle of the intake hose 16.

A loader-side transfer system 18 such as a belt conveyor is installed on one side of the drying tank 11, and an unloader-side transfer system 19 is installed on the other side. The transfer systems 18 and 19 are used to hold substrates, respectively. Holding arms 20 and 21 are provided. These holding arms 20 and 21 are configured to simultaneously hold and transfer a pair of parallel substrates a in parallel.

A turntable 22 having a relatively large area is provided in the drying tank 11. The turntable 22 is horizontally supported via a rotary shaft 22a, and the rotary shaft 22a is driven by a motor 23. The turntable 22 rotates at a relatively low speed.

Four substrate stages 24 are evenly provided on the turntable 22, and each of the substrate stages 24 is rotatably attached to the turntable 22 via a rotation shaft 24 a provided at the center thereof. It is supported. Then, motors 25 are attached to the lower surface of the turntable 22 corresponding to the rotary shafts 24a, and the rotary shafts 24a are driven by the motors 25. By this drive, the substrate stages 24 rotate at high speed. It is like this.

The inside of the drying tank 11 is apparently divided into a rear area A and a front area B, and the central axis P of the transport systems 18 and 19 passes through the rear area A. When the drying operation is on standby, the lid cover 13 of the drying tank 11 is opened, and the four substrate stages 24 on the turntable 22 have their longitudinal directions aligned with the central axis P of the transport system 18, 19. The rear region A and the front region B are arranged side by side at right angles to each other in a direction at a right angle to each other.

Under such a condition, the pair of cleaned substrates a (shown by hatching in the figure) are in a posture parallel to the substrate stage 24 and are arranged at a constant interval, that is, in parallel on the left and right. It is conveyed to the arrangement side of the drying tank 11 by the loader side conveyance system 18 at the same interval as the separation width of the substrate stage 24 (see FIG. 1).

Then, the substrates a are simultaneously held by the holding arm 20 while keeping the distance between them, and the holding arms 20 cause the substrates a of the substrate stage 24 arranged in the rear area A in the drying tank 11. These substrates a are transferred to the upper position and fixed on the substrate stage 24 by vacuum suction (see FIG. 2).

After that, the motor 23 is started, and the turntable 22 is rotated 180 ° counterclockwise in the figure by the drive of the motor 23. By this rotation, the pair of substrate stages 24 arranged in the rear area A in the drying tank 11 moves to the front area B, and the pair of substrate stages 24 arranged in the front area B moves to the rear area A. (See Figure 3).

On the other hand, while the turntable 22 rotates 180 °, the holding arm 20 returns to its original position, and another pair of washed substrates a is transferred to the drying tank 11 by the loader side transfer system 18. Will be transported to. Then, as described above, these substrates a are simultaneously held by the holding arm 20 and transferred onto the empty substrate stage 24 that has moved to the rear area A, and these substrates a are held on the substrate stage 24 by vacuum suction. It is fixed on top (see FIG. 4).

After that, the holding arm 20 returns to the original position, and another pair of cleaned substrates a is transferred to the arrangement side of the drying tank 11 by the loader side transfer system 18, and the substrates a are held. It waits at the position where the arm 20 is arranged (see FIG. 5).

On the other hand, after the four substrates a are set in the drying tank 11, the opening 12 on the upper surface of the drying tank 11 is closed by the lid cover 13. In this state, the respective motors 23 and 25 and the suction pump 17 are respectively activated, and the drive of the one motor 23 causes the turntable 22 to rotate about the rotation shaft 22a in the counterclockwise direction at a relatively low speed. When each of the substrate stages 24 is driven by the motor 25, the substrate stage 24 rotates integrally with the substrate a on the rotating shaft 24a counterclockwise at a high speed. That is, each substrate stage 24 revolves around each substrate a while revolving in the drying tank 11 (see FIG. 6).

In this way, each substrate a revolves in the drying tank 11 while revolving, so that the water droplets adhering to the substrate a are scattered around and removed by the centrifugal force. Further, as the substrates a 1 revolve while revolving, the whole of each substrate a from the peripheral portion to the central portion is in good contact with the air in the drying tank 11 without exception, so that the entire substrate a 1 can be efficiently used. And evenly dried.

The moist air in the drying tank 11 is sequentially discharged to the outside of the drying tank 11 through the suction hose 16 by the operation of the suction pump 17, and the dry air outside the drying tank 11 is discharged in accordance with this discharge. It is sequentially sucked into the drying tank 11 through the filter 15 from the vent 14 of the lid cover 13 (see FIG. 10).

After the substrate a is dried, each operation of the suction pump 17, the turntable 22, and the substrate stage 24 is stopped, the lid cover 13 is opened, and the opening 12 of the drying tank 11 is opened. Also, the holding arm 21 of the unloader-side transfer system 19 moves to the side where the drying tank 11 is arranged (see FIG. 7).

The dried substrate a on the pair of substrate stages 24 arranged in the rear area A in the drying tank 11 is held by the holding arm 21, and the substrate a is transferred via the holding arm 21. It is transferred onto the unloader side transfer system 19 and transferred to the next processing step section by the unloader side transfer system 19. Further, a pair of substrates a waiting on the loader side transfer system 18 is set on the empty substrate stage 24 in the rear area A via the holding arm 20 of the loader side transfer system 18, Furthermore, the loader side transfer system 18 transfers the pair of cleaned substrates a to the side where the drying tank 11 is disposed (see FIG. 8).

After that, the motor 23 is activated, and the drive of the motor 23 causes the turntable 22 to rotate counterclockwise by 180 ° in the drawing, and this rotation causes the pair of the pair of parts arranged in the rear area A of the drying tank 11 to rotate. The substrate stage 24 moves to the front area B, the pair of substrate stages 24 arranged in the front area B to the rear area A, and the pair of dried substrates a 1 to the rear area A. Then, the pair of dried substrates a is held by the holding arm 21 of the unloader-side transfer system 19 and transferred onto the unloader-side transfer system 19, and on the loader-side transfer system 18 as described above. A pair of substrates a are set on the empty substrate stage 24 via the holding arm 20 of the loader-side transfer system 18, and are washed by the loader-side transfer system 18 on the arrangement side of the drying tank 11. a is transported, and these substrates a stand by on the loader side transport system 18 (see FIG. 9).

Then, in this state, the opening 12 of the drying tank 11 is closed by the lid cover 13, and the next drying processing operation is started. By repeating such steps, the substrates a sent from the loader side transfer system 18 are sequentially dried. Since four substrates a can be stored in the drying tank 11 and dried, the drying time per substrate a is significantly reduced, and the drying processing efficiency is significantly improved.

In the above embodiment, four substrate stages are provided in the drying tank, and four substrates are dried by each of these substrate stages. However, in the case where other plural substrate stages are provided. But it doesn't matter.

[0032]

[Effect of the device]

 As described above, according to the present invention, a plurality of substrates can be collectively dried by one drying processing operation, so that the drying processing efficiency is surely improved, and each substrate is dried in a drying tank at the time of drying. Since it orbits and revolves inside the substrate, the air in the drying tank can be brought into good contact with the entire area from the peripheral edge to the center of each substrate, which allows each substrate to be quickly and efficiently Moreover, there is an advantage that the whole can be dried uniformly.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a plan view of a spin dryer according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a plan view showing a state in which a pair of substrates transferred from a loader-side transfer system is accommodated in a drying tank of the spin drying apparatus via a holding arm.

FIG. 3 is a plan view showing a state where the substrate is moved to a front area in a drying tank.

FIG. 4 is a plan view showing a state in which a pair of substrates transferred from a loader-side transfer system is further stored in the drying tank via a holding arm.

FIG. 5 is a plan view showing a state in which the holding arm is returned to the original position.

FIG. 6 is a plan view showing a state in which each substrate stored in the drying tank is being dried.

FIG. 7 is a plan view showing a state in which a pair of dried substrates in the drying tank are taken out from the drying tank by the holding arm of the unloader-side transfer system.

FIG. 8 is a plan view showing a state in which a pair of substrates to be dried next are stored in the drying tank via a holding arm of a loader-side transfer system.

FIG. 9 is a plan view showing a state in which another pair of substrates to be dried next are accommodated in the drying tank via holding arms.

FIG. 10 is a partial sectional view of a spin dryer according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 11 is a plan view of a conventional spin dryer.

[Explanation of symbols]

 11 ... Drying tank 22 ... Turntable 24 ... Substrate stage a ... Substrate

Claims (1)

[Scope of utility model registration request] 1. A drying tank, a rotatable turntable horizontally provided in the drying tank, and a plurality of substrate stages rotatably provided on the turntable with respect to the turntable. A spin drying apparatus comprising: a substrate placed on each of the substrate stages, and rotating and rotating the substrate in a drying tank by rotating the turntable and each substrate stage.