JPH1092709A - Ultraviolet rays irradiating device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an ultraviolet rays irradiating device whose housing can be enclosed with a simple structure. SOLUTION: An ultraviolet irradiating device 20 is provided with a housing 21 on which an inlet 23, an outlet 24 and an irradiation window 26 are formed, a substrate transferring means for transferring a substrate 21 from the inlet 23 to the outlet 24, an ultraviolet rays irradiating means, a driving means having a driving source and pushing up member 33 for driving the substrate 21 toward a position near the irradiation window 26 and a pair of shutters 37 provided integrally with the pushing up member 33 for enclosing the inlet 23 and the outlet 24 when the pushing up member 33 is driven. With this structure, since the pushing up member 33 and the pair of shutters 37 are integrally provided, the up-and-down movements of-the pair of shutters 37 can be performed successfully only with the driving source which is coupled to the pushing up member 33, the housing 21 can be enclosed with a simple structure.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a cleaning apparatus for optically cleaning a substrate, and more particularly to an ultraviolet irradiation apparatus for irradiating a substrate surface with ultraviolet light.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In a film forming process and a photo process for forming a circuit pattern on a substrate such as a liquid crystal substrate, for example, processing and cleaning of a rectangular glass substrate as a work are repeatedly performed.

[0003] Since organic substances may adhere to the substrate, ultraviolet rays are irradiated on the substrate surface by ultraviolet irradiation means provided above the substrate to decompose and vaporize the organic substances on the substrate surface. Thus, light cleaning is performed.

FIG. 2 shows a configuration of an ultraviolet irradiation device used in a conventional sterilization process. The ultraviolet irradiation apparatus 1 includes a housing 2, and an irradiation window 2 a formed on an upper surface of the housing 2.
The substrate 3 conveyed inside the housing 2
UV irradiation means 4 for irradiating UV light to the light source is provided. The housing 2 is formed with a pair of carry-in entrances 5a and carry-out openings 5b so that the substrate 3 can be carried into and out of the case 2. A transfer roller 6 serving as a substrate transfer unit is provided inside the casing 2 so that the space between the carry-in entrance 5a and the carry-out exit 5b is flush with one another. 2
It passes through the inside and is transferred to the outside of the housing 2.

[0005] Inside the housing 2, an ultraviolet irradiation means 4 is provided.
A drive means 7 for moving the substrate 3 upward from the transport roller 6 is provided at a position facing the substrate 3. In order to enhance the effect of cleaning the surface of the substrate 3, the drive means 7 is brought close to the ultraviolet irradiation means 4 to a predetermined position. . The driving means 7 has a first driving cylinder 8 provided on the outer bottom of the housing 2, and a rod 8 a of the cylinder 8 is attached to a push-up member 9 arranged in the housing 2. A plurality of (for example, six) pusher pins 10 are provided on the push-up member 9. When the push-up member 9 is moved up and down by the cylinder 8, the substrate 3 on the transport roller 6 is moved by the pusher pins 10. The irradiation window 2a is approached or separated from the irradiation window 2a.

[0006]

When the substrate 3 is irradiated with ultraviolet rays, ozone is generated inside the housing 2. Further, if ultraviolet rays leak from the carry-in port 5a or the carry-out port 5b, it may adversely affect the human body. Therefore, it is preferable that the ozone and ultraviolet rays do not leak from the inside of the housing 2. For this reason, a shutter 11 movable in the vertical direction is provided inside the housing 2.
And an opposing plate 12 attached to the housing 2 are provided near the carry-in port 5a and the carry-out port 5b.

Each of the shutters 11 is connected to a rod 13a of a pair of second drive cylinders 13 disposed on the outer bottom of the housing 2, and can move up and down. The facing plate 12 is provided near the carry-in port 5a and the carry-out port 5b inside the housing 2, respectively. When the shutter 11 rises to a position facing the carry-in port 5a and the carry-out port 5b, the shutter 11 stops at a position overlapping with the facing plate. Therefore, the entrance 5a and the exit 5b can be closed by the opposing plate 12 and the shutter 11.

In such a configuration, separate driving cylinders are used for moving the substrate 3 up and down and for moving the shutter 11 up and down. Therefore, the number of drive cylinders increases, which may lead to an increase in cost and a complicated configuration. The rods 8 of the plurality of drive cylinders 8 and 13 are provided on the bottom of the housing 2.
a and 13a are formed. The insertion portions of the rods 8a and 13a need to have a structure that does not leak ozone generated inside the housing 2 to the outside of the housing 2, so that the shielding structure is complicated and costs may be high. .

The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and an object of the present invention is to provide an ultraviolet irradiation system capable of reliably closing a carry-in port and a carry-out port formed in a housing with a simple configuration. It is intended to provide a device.

[0010]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided an ultraviolet irradiation apparatus for irradiating a surface of a substrate with ultraviolet light, wherein a carry-in port and a carry-out port are formed. A housing provided with an irradiation window for irradiating the surface of the substrate with ultraviolet light, a substrate transfer means provided inside the housing, for transferring the substrate from the carry-in entrance to the carry-out outlet, and facing the irradiation window of the housing And an ultraviolet irradiation means for irradiating the surface of the substrate with ultraviolet light, a driving source and a push-up member driven by the driving source, and the substrate is positioned when the substrate is opposed to the irradiation window. Driving means for driving the irradiation window in the direction close to the irradiation window, and a pair of shutters provided integrally with the push-up member and closing the carry-in and carry-out ports when the push-up member is driven. With It is characterized in that.

According to the first aspect of the present invention, since the push-up member and the pair of shutters are provided integrally, the vertical movement of the pair of shutters is made only by the driving source connected to the push-up member. The movement can be performed well. Therefore, the obstruction inside the housing can be improved with a simple structure.

[0012]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIG. The ultraviolet irradiation device 20 has a rectangular parallelepiped casing 21, and a slit-like loading port 23 for loading the substrate 22 into the inside is provided on one of a pair of opposed side surfaces of the casing 21, and on the other side. Is the housing 21
There is provided a carry-out port 24 for carrying out the substrate 22 from inside to outside.

An opening 25 is formed on the upper surface side of the housing 21, and an irradiation window 26 made of a transparent material that transmits ultraviolet light such as glass is provided in the opening 25. The upper surface of the irradiation window 26 is covered with a case 28. An ultraviolet lamp 27 is provided inside the case 28.
Therefore, the ultraviolet rays from the ultraviolet lamp 27 can be made to enter the housing 21 from the illumination window 26 without leaking to the outside.

In the housing 21, a substrate 22 is mounted on the housing 2.
Transport roller 29 as substrate transport means for transporting inside 1
Are provided at predetermined intervals (five in this embodiment). The conveying roller 29 has a cylindrical shape that is long in the width direction and whose surface is processed with high precision because the front surface thereof comes into contact with the back surface of the substrate 22. A driving force from a driving source (not shown) is transmitted to the transport roller 29 via, for example, a gear or the like so that the substrate 22 can be transferred inside the housing 21 at a predetermined speed.

Below the transport roller 29, a driving means 30 for driving the substrate 22 up and down is provided. The driving means 30 is provided on the outer bottom of the casing 21 with the cylinder 3 as a driving source.
1, a vertically slidable piston rod 32 provided on the cylinder 31 communicates with the inside of the housing 21, and a distal end thereof is connected to a plate-like push-up member 33.
The cylinder 31 is provided in a cover body 34 provided on the outer bottom of the housing 21.

The push-up member 33 is provided with a plurality (six in the present embodiment) of pusher pins 35 whose lower ends are fixed by nuts. This pusher pin 3
5 is provided at a position where it does not interfere with the transport roller 29, and the upper end has a small diameter in order to reduce the contact area with the substrate 22.

One end of a guide plate 36 formed narrower than the push-up member 33 is fixed to both ends of the push-up member 33 along the transfer direction of the substrate 22.
At the other end of the guide plate 36, a shutter 37 for closing the carry-in port 23 and the carry-out port 24 has a width substantially the same as the width of the housing 21, and is erected upward. I have. Opposing to the shutter 37, an opposing plate 38 having the same width as the shutter 37 is attached vertically downward on the upper portion of the inner surface of the housing 21.

When the shutter 37 is moved up to a position facing the carry-in port 23 and the carry-out port 24, the shutter 37 stops at a position where its upper end overlaps the facing plate 38. Thus, the carry-in port 23 and the carry-out port 24 are closed.

An exhaust duct 39 is provided at the bottom of the casing 21 for exhausting ozone gas generated inside the casing 21 and organic substances decomposed and vaporized. Note that the shutter 37 and the opposed plate 38 do not hermetically close the carry-in port 23 and the carry-out port 24, but other configurations, for example, a structure in which the shutter 37 and the opposed plate 38 are hermetically closed. It does not matter. Alternatively, the shutter may be closed only by the shutter 37 without using the facing plate 38.

The operation of the ultraviolet irradiation device 20 having the above configuration will be described below. The substrate 22 is transported to a carry-in port 23 by carrying means provided outside the ultraviolet irradiation device 20, and the substrate 2 is
2 is fed into the housing 21 at a predetermined speed by the transport roller 29. The substrate 22 is used for the irradiation window 2 inside the housing 21.
When the position reaches the position facing 6, the cylinder 31 provided at the lower part of the housing 21 is driven to move the push-up member 33 upward. As a result, the upper end of the pusher pin 35 provided on the lifting member 33 comes into contact with the lower surface of the substrate 22 moving on the transport roller 29, and
Push 2 upward.

The substrate 22 is pushed up to a predetermined position near the ultraviolet lamp 27 provided above the housing 21. Since the shutter 37 is integrally attached to the push-up member 33, the shutter 37 and the opposing plate 38 approach each other by driving the cylinder 31, and close the carry-in port 23 side and the carry-out port 24 side.

In this state, the surface of the substrate 22 is irradiated with ultraviolet rays from an ultraviolet lamp 27 to clean the organic substances adhering to the surface of the substrate 22 with light. Therefore, the ultraviolet rays and the ozone generated by the irradiation of the ultraviolet rays cause
The optical cleaning is performed without leaking from the outlet 24.

After optical cleaning of the substrate 22 for a predetermined time, the cylinder 31 is driven again to move the substrate 22 downward, and the substrate 22 placed on the Transfer to the top.

The substrate 22 that has been optically cleaned by the transport rollers 29 is moved outward through the carry-out port 24 and sent to the next processing step. According to the ultraviolet irradiation device 20 having such a configuration, the push-up member 33, the pusher pin 35 provided on the push-up member 33, and the shutter 37 are integrally attached. One cylinder 3 connected to member 33
Up and down movement can be performed integrally with only one. Therefore, there is no need to separately provide the cylinder 31 that moves the shutter 37 up and down, and the configuration of the ultraviolet irradiation device 20 can be simplified.

Further, since there is no need to provide a plurality of cylinders 31, even when the housing 21 needs airtightness, the airtightness can be improved with a simple configuration. As mentioned above, although one Embodiment of this invention was described, this invention can be variously deformed besides this. This is described below.

In the above-described embodiment, the structure of the ultraviolet irradiation apparatus 20 for irradiating the surface of the substrate 22 with ultraviolet light for optical cleaning is described. However, the present invention is not limited to this. It can also be used for curing. In addition, various modifications can be made without departing from the scope of the present invention.

[0027]

As described above, according to the first aspect of the present invention, since the push-up member and the pair of shutters are provided integrally, the structure can be simplified with a small number of components, and the push-up member can be simplified. The pair of shutters can be moved up and down only by the drive source connected to the shutter. Therefore, the obstruction inside the housing can be improved with a simple structure.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a side sectional view showing a configuration of an ultraviolet irradiation device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a side sectional view showing a configuration of a conventional ultraviolet irradiation device.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 20 ... Ultraviolet irradiation apparatus 21 ... Housing 22 ... Substrate 23 ... Carry-in port 24 ... Carry-out port 26 ... Irradiation window 27 ... Ultraviolet lamp 29 ... Conveying roller 31 ... Cylinder 33 ... Push-up member 35 ... Pusher pin 36 ... Guide plate 37 ... Shutter 38: Opposite plate

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. An ultraviolet irradiation apparatus for irradiating ultraviolet rays to a surface of a substrate, wherein a housing having a carry-in port and a carry-out port and having an irradiation window for irradiating the ultraviolet rays to the surface of the substrate is formed; A substrate transfer means provided inside the body for transferring the substrate from the carry-in port to the carry-out port; an ultraviolet irradiation means provided opposite to the irradiation window of the housing to irradiate the substrate surface with ultraviolet light; And a push-up member driven by the drive source, and a driving unit that drives the substrate in a direction approaching the irradiation window when the substrate is opposed to the irradiation window; and An ultraviolet irradiation apparatus, comprising: a pair of shutters provided integrally and closing the carry-in and carry-out ports when the push-up member is driven.