JPH0822974A - Drying equipment - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To provide a drying equipment which dries a work with high efficiency. CONSTITUTION:The drying equipment has a retaining part member 11 and a nozzle 17 for drying. A plurality of pawl parts 12 against which the peripheral part of a work W abuts, and fluid flowing-out trenches 15 formed between the pawl parts 12 are formed at the tip part of the retaining part member 11. Drying gas from slant holes in the nozzle 17 is spouted toward the trenches 15. Thereby suction force toward the pawl parts 12 is generated to the work W, and at the same time, droplets on the surface are eliminated.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a technique for drying a work such as an electronic component having a flat surface, and more particularly to a technique for drying a work after being washed.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art There are various processes such as an oxide film forming process, an insulating film forming process and a resist processing process for processing a semiconductor wafer as an electronic component. In these processing steps, a wafer is cleaned. Is inevitable.
After the cleaning process is performed, the wafer is transferred to a drying process to dry the wafer. As the drying technology after cleaning the wafer, as described in “Electronic Technology”, a separate volume, 1994 edition “VLSI Manufacturing / Testing Equipment”, November 20, 1993, P120, as a drying technology after cleaning the wafer, Spin drying using centrifugal force has been developed.

FIG. 6 is a process diagram showing a fully automatic plating process having a plating apparatus 1, a cleaning apparatus 2 and a drying apparatus 3.
Silver bumper for forming a diode plating device 1
The work after being formed by is washed by the washing device 2 and then dried by the drying device 3. 1 for plating device 1
A robot having a moving locus 5 after bump electrodes are formed by batch processing on about 0 works and all the works after plating are carried to the vicinity of the cleaning device 2 with a carrying locus 4 by an unloader (not shown). Each of them is loaded into the cleaning device 2 one by one by the transfer arm and then into the drying device 3. After the drying process is completed,
The work is conveyed to the next processing step.

[0004]

By the way, the present inventor has studied a technique for drying an electronic component such as a semiconductor wafer as a work. The following is the technique examined by the present inventor, and the outline thereof is as follows.

That is, FIG. 7 is a view showing a drying device which has been developed, and a claw for guiding the outer peripheral portion of the work W is provided on the upper end portion of the cylindrical support 6 for supporting the work W. The portions 6a are provided at predetermined intervals in the circumferential direction,
A nozzle 7 for ejecting a drying gas is provided at the bottom of the cylindrical support 6. The work W placed on the cylindrical support 6 by a robot (not shown) is fixed by a pressing pin 9 of a lid member 8 that is vertically movable toward the work W.

As described above, the surface of the work W is dried by spraying the drying gas from the nozzle 7 onto the surface of the work W fixed by the pressing pin 9. However, there are the following problems.

In the case shown in FIG. 7, a holding pin 9 is used to prevent the work W from being blown off by the wind pressure of the drying gas from the nozzle 7, and the lid member having this holding pin 9 is used. An ascending / descending mechanism for moving 8 up and down is required. Further, if the flow rate of the dry gas from the nozzle 7 is increased in order to shorten the drying time, the wind pressure is directly applied to the work W, which adversely affects the work W such as cracking. In addition, unless the droplets adhere to the surface of the work W and are not dried quickly, a watermark will be formed on the surface, and the yield of products will be reduced.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a drying technique capable of efficiently drying a work such as an electronic component.

The above and other objects and novel features of the present invention will be apparent from the description of this specification and the accompanying drawings.

[0010]

Of the inventions disclosed in the present application, a representative one will be briefly described below.
It is as follows.

That is, in the drying device of the present invention, the tip end portion has a plurality of claw portions with which the outer peripheral portion of the workpiece abuts, and a support member having a fluid outflow groove formed between the claw portions, and the fluid outflow groove. And a drying nozzle that ejects a drying gas toward the workpiece to generate a suction force toward the claw portion and removes droplets on the surface.

Further, the drying device of the present invention comprises a conveying member movably provided between the first position and the second position,
A support member attached to this conveying member, in which a plurality of claw portions with which the outer peripheral portion of the workpiece comes into contact with the tip portion and a fluid outflow groove formed between the claw portions, and a drying gas toward the fluid outflow groove are formed. And a nozzle for drying that removes droplets on the surface while generating a suction force toward the claw portion toward the work, and while moving the work, the work is moved from the first position to the second position. It is characterized in that it is carried.

Further, the claw portion has a guide surface for restricting the movement of the support member in the radial direction and a contact surface for contacting the surface of the outer peripheral portion of the work, and is provided between the fluid outflow groove and the work. A fluid outflow hole is formed.

[0014]

In the drying device having the above structure, the drying gas for drying the surface of the work flows along the surface of the work, so that the work is adsorbed by the claw portion due to the Venturi effect. The work can be fixed to the support member without using a mechanical pressing mechanism.

Further, since the surface of the work can be dried while the work is transported from the first position to the second position, the drying device also serves as the transport device, and the work can be quickly processed. be able to. In the process of transportation,
The work can also be adsorbed and fixed to the lower end of the support member.

Further, by forming a large number of fluid outflow grooves at the tip of the supporting member, the drying gas ejected from the drying nozzle has a relatively uniform flow velocity distribution in the circumferential direction and flows radially. Therefore, the work can be fixed smoothly.

[0017]

Embodiments of the present invention will now be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

(Embodiment 1) FIGS. 1 to 4 show a drying apparatus which is an embodiment of the present invention. The drying device has a base 10 as shown in FIG. 1, and the base 10 is provided with a supporting member 11 having a cylindrical shape as shown in FIG. A plurality of claws 12 are provided at predetermined intervals in the circumferential direction at the tip of the support member 11, and each claw 12 has an arcuate guide surface 13 and a surface of the work W. The contact surface 14 which contacts is formed.

A fluid outflow groove 15 is formed between the respective claw portions 12, and as shown in FIG. 1, a wafer having a flat surface is used as a work W and the surface of this outer peripheral portion is contacted. When the work W is placed on the claw portion 12 so as to contact the contact surface 14, the work W and the fluid outflow groove 15 form a fluid outflow hole.

When the drying apparatus is incorporated into the plating apparatus shown in FIG.
It is mounted on the claw portion 12 by.

A drying nozzle 17 is provided inside the support member 11 at the center thereof. The drying nozzle 17 has a gas guide hole 18, and the gas guide hole 18
Is connected to a supply hose 19 connected to the base 10, and nitrogen gas supplied from the supply hose 19 is supplied to the gas guide hole 18.

The drying nozzle 17 has a vertical hole 2 on its upper surface.
1 is formed, and inclined holes 22 that are inclined at an angle θ with respect to the horizontal line are formed on the peripheral surface of the tapered tip portion, and a total of 6 inclined holes 22 are formed at predetermined intervals in the circumferential direction. Has been formed.

While the work W, which has been cleaned by the cleaning device and has the cleaning liquid attached thereto, is placed on the claw portion 12 of the support member 11 by the transfer arm 16, the workpiece W is discharged from the holes 21 and 22 of the drying nozzle 17, respectively. Eject gas.
Then, after the gas flows from each of the inclined holes 22 so as to approach the work W toward the outer peripheral portion of the work W,
With the droplets of the cleaning liquid blown off by this gas,
The gas flows out of the support member 11 from the portion of the fluid outflow groove 15. The gas jetted perpendicularly to the work W from the vertical hole 21 flows radially along the surface of the work W after being blown onto the surface of the work W, and flows out together with the gas jetted from the inclined hole 22. It flows out from the groove 15.

As described above, by causing the gas to flow along the surface of the work W, the work W is given a pressing force toward the contact surface 14 of the claw portion 12 as shown by an arrow F in FIG. appear. As a result, the work W is fixed by the Venturi effect without mechanically pressing the work W against the claw portion 12, and
The droplets are blown off by the gas flowing along the surface of the work W, so that the work W is quickly dried.

As shown in FIG. 3, six inclined holes 22 are formed in the drying nozzle 17 at a phase of 60 degrees in the circumferential direction, and the claw portion 12 is positioned on the extension of each inclined hole 22. There is. Therefore, the dry gas ejected from each of the inclined holes 22 spreads out toward the fluid outflow groove 15 and is dispersed and outflowed to the outside, and the work W is also provided by about six fluid outflow grooves 15. A substantially uniform flow of dry air is formed along the surface of the dry air. However, the number of the claw portions 12 may be increased.

The inner diameter and number of the vertical holes 21 and the inclined holes 22, the inclination angle θ of the inclined holes 22, and the flow rate of the drying gas are
The work W is set to be fixed to the claw portion 12 at the tip of the support member 11 by the Venturi effect caused by the gas flowing along the surface of the work W.

In the drying device shown in FIGS. 1 to 4, the work W is fixed by utilizing the Venturi effect. As a result, as shown in FIG. 7, the work pin W is mechanically fixed by the pressing pin 9. It becomes unnecessary to do so, a mechanism for moving the pressing pin 9 up and down becomes unnecessary, and it is possible to prevent the adverse effect on the work. Further, since the liquid droplets on the entire surface can be dried quickly, it is possible to efficiently perform the drying without generating the watermark.

(Embodiment 2) FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a drying apparatus according to another embodiment of the present invention, in which parts common to those in the above-mentioned embodiment are designated by the same reference numerals.

The drying device conveys the work W while drying it, and is arranged, for example, between the cleaning process and the processing process performed after the cleaning process.

The base 30 corresponding to the base 10 in the above embodiment is movable in the vertical and horizontal directions by a driving means (not shown) and constitutes a carrying member. This embodiment is different from the above embodiment in that the base 30
A support member 11 having the same structure as that of the above-described embodiment is provided on the lower side of the work W, and the work W has been subjected to a cleaning process and the surface to which the droplets are attached faces upward. Then, in the processing step shown in FIG. 6, for example, in the processing step shown in FIG. The second position is such that it is directly conveyed to the device.

For example, when the base 30 is moved down toward the work W after the cleaning process is completed and the contact surface 14 of the claw portion 12 is brought close to the vicinity of the work W, the gas drying nozzle is used. When the drying gas is ejected from 17, the work W is attracted to and comes into contact with the contact surface 14 by the Venturi effect.

In this state, the work W is transported to the next processing step by moving the base 30 up and then horizontally. In this carrying process, the droplets attached to the surface of the work W are removed and dried.

Although the invention made by the present inventor has been specifically described based on the embodiments, the present invention is not limited to the embodiments and various modifications can be made without departing from the scope of the invention. Needless to say.

For example, in the drying device shown in FIG. 1, the surface of the work W to be dried is downward, and in the drying device shown in FIG. 5, the surface is upward. The surface of the work W may be oriented in any direction.

In the above description, the case where the invention made by the present inventor is mainly applied to the processing step of the semiconductor wafer which is the field of application of the invention has been described, but the present invention is not limited to this, and for example, the surface is flat. The finished work is not limited to a substantially circular wafer, and can be applied to a technique for drying a work of various shapes such as a quadrangle.

[0036]

Advantageous effects obtained by typical ones of the inventions disclosed in the present application will be briefly described.
It is as follows.

(1). As a result of fixing the work to the support member by the Venturi effect of the drying gas for drying the work, a mechanism for fixing the work to the support member becomes unnecessary, and a part of the drying device Can be reduced, and the droplets attached to the work can be efficiently dried.

(2) Since the work is fixed by the Venturi effect, it is possible to prevent the work from being adversely affected such as cracking without applying an excessive pressing force to the work. .

(3). In order to generate the Venturi effect,
Since the drying gas is made to flow along the surface of the work, the surface of the work can be quickly dried, and the generation of the watermark can be prevented.

(4). Since the generation of watermarks can be prevented, the yield of the drying process can be improved.

(5). Since the mechanism for fixing the work is unnecessary, the work can be easily handled.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view showing a drying device that is an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing a support member shown in FIG.

FIG. 3 is a plan view of FIG. 2;

4A is a plan view of the nozzle shown in FIG. 1, FIG. 4B is a front view of the nozzle, and FIG. 4C is a sectional view of the nozzle.

FIG. 5 is a sectional view showing a drying device according to another embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a process diagram showing a process of processing a work.

FIG. 7 is a cross-sectional view showing a drying device that has been the subject of development.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 Base 11 Support member 12 Claw 13 Guide surface 14 Contact surface 15 Fluid outflow groove 16 Conveying arm 17 Drying nozzle 18 Gas guide hole 19 Supply hose 21 Vertical hole 22 Sloping hole 30 Base (conveying member) W work

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. A drying device for drying the surface of a work having a flat surface which is subjected to a drying treatment, wherein a plurality of claw portions whose outer peripheral portion is in contact with a tip portion and between the claw portions are provided. A cylindrical support member in which the formed fluid outflow groove is formed, and a drying gas is ejected toward the fluid outflow groove to generate a suction force toward the claw portion with respect to the work while generating a suction force of the surface. A drying device for removing droplets. 2. A drying device for drying the surface of a work having a flat surface which is subjected to a drying treatment, the transporting member being movably provided between a first position and a second position. A cylindrical support member attached to the conveying member, having a plurality of claw portions with which the outer peripheral portion of the work abuts at the tip portion and a fluid outflow groove formed between the claw portions, and the fluid outflow. A drying nozzle for ejecting a drying gas toward the groove to generate a suction force toward the claw portion with respect to the work and removing droplets on the surface, and drying the work. The drying device is configured to convey the work from a first position to the second position. 3. The claw portion has a guide surface for restricting the movement of the work in the radial direction of the support member, and a contact surface for contacting the surface of the outer peripheral portion of the work, and the fluid outflow groove. The drying device according to claim 1 or 2, wherein a fluid outflow hole is formed between the work and the work. 4. The claw portion faces upward, and the droplet on the surface of the work is removed while the claw portion supports the work having the surface facing downward. Or the drying device according to 3. 5. The work according to claim 2 or 3, wherein the claw portion faces downward, and the work is conveyed while adsorbing the work having the surface facing upward to the claw portion. Drying device.