JPH08236498A - Method of air knife drying - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: To prevent a water mark generation even on a glass substrate with repellency when rinsing liquid for cleaning in a single wafer processing, for wet etching or for resist peeling is dried with an air knife. CONSTITUTION: A slit-like rinsing shower 4 is placed just before an air knife 3 and sprinkles rinsing liquid 8 in the direction where a glass substrate 1 is moved. Through the step when the glass substrate 1 is dried by the air knife, the glass substrate 1 is uniformly wetted, waterdrop generation is prevented and water mark generation after the air knife drying is prevented.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a method for drying an air knife of a rinse liquid such as single-wafer cleaning, wet etching and resist stripping in a manufacturing process of a thin film transistor substrate used for an active matrix type liquid crystal display device,
In particular, the present invention relates to a method for drying a rinse liquid without causing contamination such as watermarks and causing substrate defects.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art An example of a conventional processing method is shown in FIG. Figure 2
(A) is a configuration example of the entire device, and FIGS. 2 (b) and (c) are
It is a side view and a top view of a concrete example of a rinse tank. Figure 2
In (a), the glass substrate 1 such as a thin film transistor substrate is automatically and sequentially conveyed from the loader 100 to the unloader 104. The glass substrate 1 carried out from the loader 100 is subjected to processing such as cleaning, wet etching, and resist stripping in the processing tank 101, and then the rinse tank 10
It is conveyed to 2 and rinsed with pure water or the like. Then, it is transported to the drying tank 103, dried by an air knife that blows high-pressure air, high-pressure inert gas, etc., and transported to the unloader 104.

In FIGS. 2B and 2C, the glass substrate 1 is conveyed on the conveying roller 5 from the left side to the right side in the figure. In the rinse tank 102, the glass substrate 1 is sprayed with the rinse liquid by the rinse liquid shower 7, as shown in FIG.
The treatment liquid in the treatment tank 101 shown in (a) is washed away. Subsequently, when the glass substrate 1 is conveyed to the drying tank 103, high pressure air, high pressure inert gas and the like are blown by the air knife 3, the rinse liquid 9 is blown off, and a drying process is performed.
Then, the glass substrate 1 is conveyed to the unloader 104.

Another example of the conventional technique is shown in FIG. A pinhole type rinse liquid shower 11 or the like is provided immediately before the air knife 3 in the drying tank 103, and the glass substrate 1 is inclined and conveyed immediately before the air knife is dried (for example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 4-337637).

[0005]

In the conventional air knife drying method shown in FIG. 2, a certain distance is provided between the shower 7 in the rinse tank 102 and the air knife 3 in the drying tank 103 as shown in FIG. 2 (b). However, when the water-repellent film is exposed on the outermost surface of the glass substrate 1, the rinse liquid, for example, pure water, is partially repelled to generate water drops 6. When air knife drying is performed in this state, there is a problem that the watermark 10 is generated after the drying as shown in FIG.

In the other conventional air knife drying method shown in FIG. 3, there is a problem that the glass substrate 1 is lifted up when the glass substrate 1 is changed from the horizontal conveyance to the inclined conveyance, and the conveyance failure occurs. When the water repellent property of the exposed film is strong, polka dots are generated immediately before the air knife drying, and there is a problem that a watermark is generated as in the conventional example of FIG.

[0007]

In the air knife drying method of the present invention, a slit-like rinse liquid shower having a small clearance gap with a glass substrate is provided immediately before the air knife, and the rinse liquid is discharged in the conveying direction, and immediately before the air knife drying. The glass substrate is evenly covered with a rinse liquid. Also, isolate the front and back of the air knife,
The feature is that air knife drying is performed while preventing reattachment of mist.

[0008]

According to the present invention, even if the outermost surface of the glass substrate has a film exhibiting a strong water repellent property, it is possible to suppress the generation of polka dots immediately before the air knife and prevent the formation of watermarks. Further, it is possible to prevent the occurrence of defective conveyance, which is a problem of another example of the conventional technique.

[0009]

The present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. 1A and 1B are a side view and a top view showing an embodiment of the present invention. In the figure, 102 is a rinse tank, 1
Reference numeral 03 is a drying tank, 104 is an unloader, 2 is a rebound separator, 4 is a slit-like rinse solution shower, and 8 is a rinse solution discharged from the slit-like rinse solution shower 4. Except for the portion of the drying tank, it is the same as the conventional example of FIG. Drying tank 1
In 03, the slit-like rinse shower 4 is the air knife 3
It is provided in the position just before. The slit-shaped rinse liquid shower 4 of the drying tank 103 is installed so that the clearance gap with the glass substrate 1 is made small and the rinse liquid 8 is discharged in the transport direction of the glass substrate 1. Then, the flow rate of the slit-shaped rinse liquid shower 4 is adjusted so that the surface of the glass substrate 1 is uniformly covered with the rinse liquid 8 up to the portion where the air of the air knife 3 is blown onto the glass substrate 1. Further, the air knife 3 has a splash mist of the rinse liquid 8 on the glass substrate 1.
Rebound separator 2 to prevent reattachment to
Is installed.

Due to these, the film on the outermost surface of the glass substrate 1 exhibits strong hydrophobicity, and even when the water drops 6 are generated at the time of being discharged from the rinse tank 102, the air knife 3
At the time when the high pressure air or the high pressure blowing active gas is blown, the outermost surface of the glass substrate 1 is covered with the rinse liquid 8 and the air knife drying can be performed without the formation of the water drops 6 and the generation of the watermark can be prevented. Further, the rebound separator 2 can prevent the rinse liquid 8 from reattaching to the glass substrate 1.

[0011]

As described above, according to the present invention, at the time of air knife drying, the surface of the glass substrate is uniformly covered with the rinse liquid to suppress the generation of polka dots and prevent the formation of watermarks. The quality and yield of the product can be improved.

[Brief description of drawings]

1A and 1B are a side view and a top view showing an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an example of a conventional processing method, (a) is a configuration example of the entire apparatus, and (b) and (c) are a side view and a top view of a rinse tank / drying tank.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing another example of a conventional processing method.

[Explanation of symbols]

 100 Loader 101 Processing Tank 102 Rinsing Tank 103 Drying Tank 104 Unloader 1 Glass Substrate 2 Bounce Separator 3 Air Knife 4 Sweat-like Rinse Liquid Shower 5 Conveying Roller 6 Water Drop 7 Rinse Liquid Shower 8, 9 Rinse Liquid 10 Watermark

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A method in which a rinsing solution for cleaning a substrate, wet etching, resist stripping, etc. by a single wafer method is air knife dried with air or an inert gas, etc., and the substrate is uniformly rinsed until just before the air knife drying. An air knife drying method characterized by being covered with. 2. A method of drying an air knife according to claim 1, wherein a slit-shaped rinse liquid shower is provided immediately before the air knife, and the rinse liquid is discharged in a traveling direction of the substrate. 3. The method of drying an air knife according to claim 1, wherein the mist at the time of drying the air knife is separated before and after the air knife to prevent re-adhesion after the air knife is dried.