KR0138342Y1 - Data signal processing apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

The apparatus for rotating drying a substrate includes a rotating rotor for applying a centrifugal force to the substrate and a motor for rotating the rotor. A pair of cradles are attached to the rotor, which cradles receive a plurality of vertically juxtaposed substrates from a previous step. When these substrates are dried, the cradle is rotated 90 [deg.] From the received state and the substrate remains horizontal. When substrates of different diameters are dried and the size of the cradle has to be correspondingly changed, the rotor body is not replaced, only the cradle pairs in the rotor are exchanged.

Description

Rotary Drying Device of Substrate

The present invention relates to a substrate rotary drying apparatus used in a drying process which is one step in manufacturing a semiconductor substrate, a glass substrate for liquid crystal (hereinafter, simply referred to as a wafer), and in particular, droplets attached to a wafer using centrifugal force. It relates to a substrate rotation drying apparatus for drying by liquid off the liquid drops (swish off).

Conventional substrate rotary drying apparatuses are disclosed, for example, in US Pat. No. 4,677,759. 1 is a perspective view of a rotor which is a main part of the substrate rotary drying apparatus disclosed in this' 759 patent. Referring to Fig. 1, a conventional substrate rotation drying apparatus includes a rotor 1, which is rotated in the direction of the arrow in the figure. The rotor 1 includes a turntable 4 and wall portions 2a and 2b provided on the turntable 4 so as to face each other. In each of the wall portions 2a and 2b, two pairs of support shafts 10a and 10b are provided at opposing positions, respectively. By the support shafts 10a and 10b, a pair of cradles 5a and 5b in which the wafer to be dried is accommodated are supported. In the state where the rotor 1 is not rotated, the pair of cradles 5a and 5b are maintained in the state shown by A in FIG. That is, the receiving opening 6 for inserting the wafer to be dried of the cradles 5a and 5b faces upward. In this state, the plurality of wafers W subjected to the wet surface treatment are inserted into the cradles 5a and 5b in a state of being accommodated in the cassettes 8a and 8b described later.

FIG. 2 is a sectional view of principal parts of the rotor 1 shown in FIG. Referring to FIG. 2, the rotor 1 is rotated by turning the turntable 4 by the turntable driving motor 29 provided below. In the state in which the rotor 1 is being rotated, the cradles 5a and 5b are maintained in the state shown by B of FIG. 1 by centrifugal force. That is, in this state, the plurality of wafers W held in the cassettes 8a and 8b are held substantially horizontal, and as a result, droplets attached to the surface of the wafer W are scattered by centrifugal force.

3 is an enlarged view of a portion shown as III in FIG. 2.

Referring to FIG. 3, the turntable 4 of the conventional substrate rotary drying apparatus has a bottom plate 4a for supporting the wall portions 2a and 2b and a bottom for transmitting the rotational force of the turntable driving motor 29 to the turntable 4. The board 4b and the support 4c for connecting the upper board 4a and the lower board 4b are included. The rotational force from the turntable drive motor 29 is transmitted to the turntable 4 via the rotation drive shaft 28. The lower plate 4b of the turntable and the rotation drive shaft 28 are connected by a plurality of attachment bolts 32. And the cap 31 is provided on it.

The conventional substrate rotation drying apparatus was comprised as mentioned above. If the diameter (10.16 to 20.32 cm (4 inches to 8 inches)) of the wafer W to be dried differs, the outer diameter dimensions of the cassettes 8a and 8b vary depending on the dimensions. Therefore, when the outer diameter of the wafer W processed in the drying process is different, the pair of cradles 5a in which the cassettes 8a and 8b are accommodated so as to prevent the balance from being impaired during rotation of the entire turntable 4 correspondingly. , 5b) needs to be exchanged.

In the conventional substrate rotation drying apparatus, the centrifugal force is used to dry the wafer W while maintaining the wafer W in a horizontal liquid state as shown in FIG. Since a large centrifugal force is applied to the cradle 5, it was thought that the cradle and the turntable supporting the rotation of the cradle need to have a solid structure. In addition, since the centrifugal force is applied to the swingable support shafts 10a and 10b for holding the cradle 4 integrally with the wall portions 2a and 2b of the turntable 4, the cradles 5a and 5b support the shafts. It was thought that it was necessary to integrate with (10a, 10b).

For the same reason as described above, in the conventional substrate rotary drying apparatus, as shown in FIG. 3, an attachment bolt 32 is formed between the turntable 4 and the rotation drive shaft 28 for rotating the turntable 4. A removal mechanism is provided. Thus, without replacing the cradles 5a and 5b containing the wafer W to be dried, the rotor 1 itself has a separate rotor 1 having a pair of cradles 5a and 5b of different sizes. Exchanged).

Therefore, the conventional board | substrate rotation drying apparatus had the following problems.

(1) Several types of rotors 1 having different outer diameter dimensions of the cradle 5 had to be prepared in accordance with the outer diameter of the wafer W. Therefore, the cost of the substrate rotation drying apparatus was high.

(2) Referring to FIG. 3, the coupling dimension d between the hole provided in the lower plate 4b of the turntable 4 and the protrusion of the rotary drive shaft 28 is tight to prevent the center from being separated from each other. (Near sinfulness). Therefore, it was very difficult to replace the heavy rotor 1 (about 20 kg).

An object of the present invention is to solve the above problems.

Therefore, one object of the present invention is to easily dry a wafer even when the diameter of the wafer changes in the substrate rotary drying apparatus.

Another object of the present invention is to replace only the cradle, not to change the entire rotor when the diameter of the wafer in the substrate rotation drying apparatus changes.

Another object of the present invention is to reduce the cost in the substrate rotary drying apparatus.

Another object of the present invention is to simplify the structure in the substrate rotary drying apparatus.

The above object of the present invention is achieved by the substrate rotary drying apparatus including the following. That is, the substrate rotation drying apparatus according to the present invention includes a turntable for rotating around a predetermined position, a plurality of supporters installed on the turntable, and cradles supported by the plurality of supporters, each of which holds a plurality of wafers. do.

When the turntable is rotated while the cradle is supported by the supporter, the supporter is installed at a position where the cradle is not balanced by the rotation.

The rotating device also includes a rocking device for swinging the cradle in a first position and a second position different from the first position, and a detachable device mounted on the supporter for attaching and detaching the cradle from the supporter.

Since substrate rotation drying includes the element, the cradle is removed from the supporter when converting the cradle. There is no need to remove the entire turntable as in the prior art. As a result, when the dimensions of the wafer change and the cradle needs to be changed, only the cradle can be exchanged. Therefore, even if the diameter of the wafer changes in the substrate rotation drying apparatus, the wafer can be easily dried.

Preferably the supporter comprises a rocking device. In the substrate rotary drying apparatus, since the supporter includes a rocking apparatus, a substrate rotary drying apparatus having a simple structure is provided.

1 is a perspective view showing a rotor portion of a conventional substrate rotary drying apparatus.

FIG. 2 is a view showing a cradle state in a state in which the rotor shown in FIG. 1 is rotating. FIG.

3 is an enlarged view of a portion indicated by III in FIG. 2.

Figure 4 is a perspective view showing a rotor of the substrate rotary drying apparatus according to the present invention.

5A and 5B are perspective views showing a wafer accommodating state and a cradle state in a dry state of the wafer of the substrate rotary drying apparatus according to the present invention;

6 is a perspective view showing a first embodiment of a support shaft of a cradle according to the present invention;

7 is a perspective view showing a second embodiment of the support shaft of the cradle according to the present invention;

8 is a perspective view showing a third embodiment of the support shaft of the cradle according to the present invention;

Fig. 9 shows a fourth embodiment showing the support shaft of the cradle according to the present invention.

10A and 10B are views showing the types of cradles used in the substrate rotary drying apparatus according to the present invention.

※ Explanation of code about main part of drawing ※

5a, 5b: cradle 8a, 8b: cassette

16a, 16b: Bearing 17a, 17b: Guide

18a, 18b: lug 28: rotary drive shaft

29: drive motor 32: mounting bolt

Example

Referring to FIG. 4, the rotor 1 of the rotary drying apparatus according to the present invention includes a turntable 4 which is rotated by a turntable driving motor (not shown) connected to a rotating drive shaft (not shown), and on the turntable 4. A pair of wall parts 2a and 2b opposed to each other and a pair of cradles 5a and 5b provided as rocking materials on the respective wall parts 2a and 2b are included. A pair of driven shaft portions 10b for supporting the cradles 5a and 5b are provided on the surface facing the wall portions 2a and 2b of the cradles 5a and 5b. The wall portions 2a and 2b are provided with a pair of drive shaft portions 10a for swingably supporting the driven shaft portions 10b of the cradles 5a and 5b. The drive shaft portion 10a is supported by the support portions 15a and 15b provided on the side where the cradle of the wall portion 2a does not exist. Hereinafter, only the structure of the wall part 2a side is demonstrated. The support part 15a is provided in the bearing parts 16a and 16b for rotatably supporting the drive shaft part 10a, and the rotation actuator 20a for rotationally driving the drive shaft part 10a by being installed in the bearing parts 16a and 16b. , 20b). The shaft center Za of the rotary actuators 20a and 20b coincides with the rotation shaft center Zb of the driven shaft portion 10b when the driven shaft portion 10b is combined with the drive shaft portion 10a. The drive shaft portion 10a and the driven shaft portion 10b are combined in various ways to be described later in detail to form the support shaft 10. The support part 15a can move along the long hole 7 provided in the wall part 20. A pair of lugs 18a and 18b are provided to the outside of the pair of wall portions 2a and 2b, respectively. The pair of lugs 18a and 18b are provided with two guides 17a and 17b for connecting between the two lugs 18a and 18b. Each bearing part 16a, 16b is provided with the hole which penetrates the guide 17a, 17b. An actuator 21 is provided along the guide portions 17a and 17b in the middle portion of the two bearing portions 16a and 16b. By operating the actuator 21, the two bearing portions 16a, 16b move along the guide rods 17a, 17b. Thus, the distance D between the centers of rotation of the two supports 15a and 15b can be adjusted by the actuator 21. The support part which has the structure similar to the structure mentioned above is provided also in the other wall part 26 side. As a result, the distance between the pair of cradles 5a and 5b can also be adjusted by the actuator 21.

In order to supply a drive source, such as a high pressure air source for driving the actuators 20a and 20b and the actuator 21, to the actuator, a drive source supply connector 36 at a predetermined position of the turntable 4 and outside of the rotary drying apparatus. Is installed.

When the turntable 4 stops at a predetermined position, the supply side connection port 38 and the turntable side connection port 37 provided externally are faced to each other as shown in Fig. 4, so that a driving source is supplied to each actuator.

Next, the operation of the rotary drying apparatus will be described. A plurality of wafers with wet surface treatments are stored in cassettes 6a and 6b and then cradles 5a and 5b of predetermined sizes. At this time, since the cassettes 8a and 8b are accommodated in the cradles 5a and 5b from the vertical upper portions of the cradles 5a and 5b, the accommodation openings 6a and 6b of the cradles 5a and 5b face upwards. . In this state, the pair of cradles 5a and 5b are combined with the predetermined drive shaft portion 10a as the driven shaft portion 10b is shown by the arrow in FIG.

As shown in Fig. 5A, the pair of cradles 5a and 5b are held in a predetermined position, and then the rotary actuators 20a and 20b are operated, and the cradles 5a and 5b are shown in Fig. 5B. The receiving opening 6 is held in a posture facing in the horizontal direction. When the cradles 5a and 5b change from the A posture shown in Fig. 5A to the B posture shown in Fig. 5B, the pair of cradles 5a and 5b or cassettes 8a and 8b and the cradles 5a and 5b The gap D between the respective support portions 15a and 15b is adjusted in advance by using the actuator 21 so as not to interfere.

The turntable 4 is rotated while holding the pair of cradles 5a and 5b in the state shown in FIG. 5B. As a result, the centrifugal force is applied to the wafer W, and the droplet W adheres to the surface of the wafer W, so that the wafer W is dried. In addition, since the turntable driving motor 29 in the embodiment of the present invention is the same as the conventional one described with reference to FIGS. 2 and 3, description thereof is omitted.

As described above, according to the present invention, even if the size of the wafer W is different, only the cradles 5a and 5b suitable for the size of the wafer W are replaced in the portion of the support shaft 10, and the motor 1 ) The whole is not exchanged. Since the replacement is performed at the support shaft 10 portion, the shaft center of the support shaft does not deviate in the exchange of the cradles 5a and 5b. Therefore, the balance of the whole rotor 4 does not fall by cradle 5a, 5b exchange. Therefore, even if the size of a wafer is different in a substrate rotation drying apparatus, drying can be performed easily.

In addition, in this case, the pair of cradles 5a and 5b are balanced in advance, and only the rotor 1 is balanced in the rotation state without the cradles 5a and 5b attached. Of course.

Next, a specific embodiment of the support shaft 10 of the rotary drying apparatus according to the present invention will be described. Hereinafter, one of the support shafts of the cradle will be described.

First embodiment

Referring to FIG. 6, the first embodiment of the support shaft 10 according to the present invention is connected to a driven shaft portion 10b having a V-shaped cross section fixed to both sides of the cradle 5, and a rotary actuator 20. And a drive shaft portion 10a having a groove receiving a V-shaped cross section of the driven shaft portion 10b, and a driven shaft portion 10b for fixing the combination portion when the driven shaft portion 10b is combined with the drive shaft portion 10a. And a fastener 12 that engages with the V-shaped groove 11 formed on the top, and when the fastener 12 is combined with the drive shaft portion 10a by the screw 13, the rotation of the driven shaft portion 10b. The center line Zb and the rotational center Za of the rotary actuator 20 coincide.

When the drive shaft portion 10a and the driven shaft portion 10b are coupled to each other in the structure shown in FIG. 6, the separation between the rotational center of the cradle and the rotational center of the rotary actuator does not occur. Therefore, there is no possibility that the balance of the whole rotor 1 may be broken.

Second embodiment

A second embodiment of the support shaft 10 will be described with reference to FIG. 7. In this embodiment, the driven shaft portion 10b and the fixture 12 in the first embodiment are integrated. The driven shaft portion 10b is directly fixed to the drive shaft portion 10a via a screw 13.

Third embodiment

According to the third embodiment of the support shaft according to the present invention in FIG. 8, the V-shaped groove Sb in the direction intersecting Zb as the rotation center of the cradle 5 is formed in the V-shaped protrusion of the driven shaft portion 10b. Is formed. In the V-shaped groove of the drive shaft portion 10a, an inverted V-shaped protrusion Sa is formed in a direction orthogonal to the axis center Za of the rotary actuator so as to engage with the V-shaped groove Sb of the driven shaft portion 10b. .

That is, according to the third embodiment of the present invention, the driven shaft portion 10b and the drive shaft portion 10a are positioned not only in the direction of the axis centers Za and Zb but also in the direction in which they cross. After the driven shaft portion 10b is combined with the drive shaft portion 10a, both are fixed with screws 13.

Fourth embodiment

A fourth embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. The support shaft 10 according to the fourth embodiment of the present invention is almost the same as the support shaft of the conventional example shown in FIG. 1, but differs from the conventional one in that the support shaft 10 falls.

According to the fourth embodiment of the present invention, each cradle 5a, 5b has a first posture A and cradles 5a, 5b with the receiving opening 6 of the cradles 5a, 5b facing upwards. Of the rotor by the support shaft 10 via the swinging arms 23a and 23b for swingably supporting the cradles 5a and 5b between the second posture B in the horizontal direction. It is supported by the wall part 2 of (1). Switching of the first position and the second position is performed by stretching the rods 24a and 24b of the push rod actuators 25a and 25b provided under the rotor 1.

It is to be noted that the cradles 5a and 5b accommodate the cassettes 8a and 8b at the first position A and the wafer is dried at the second position B as in the other embodiments. The rods 24a and 24b of the push rod actuators 25a and 25b are held outside the rod 1 while the rotor 1 is rotating and the cradle 5 when the rotation of the rotor 1 is stopped. Elongated to hold in the first position A.

10A and 10B are diagrams showing types of cradles used in the substrate rotary drying apparatus according to the present invention. In the first to fourth embodiments, cradles shown in Fig. 10A were used. The cassette 6 holding the plurality of wafers in the cradle 5 was housed.

The cradle 5 shown in FIG. 10B includes a wafer holding groove 50 for holding a plurality of wafers in the cradle 5, and the wafer is held in the groove 50. Therefore, the cassette 6 is not used in this case. The present invention is applied not only to the cradle shown in FIG. 10A but also to the cradle shown in FIG. 10B. In addition, illustration of the driven shaft part 10b used as the support part of a cradle is abbreviate | omitted in both cradles.

As described above, according to the present invention, the cradle itself that accommodates the wafer in the substrate rotation drying apparatus falls off the turntable. Therefore, even when the diameter of the wafer is changed, only the cradle needs to be replaced, so that the wafer is easily dried. In addition, it is not necessary to prepare a plurality of turntables according to the wafer dimensions as in the prior art. As a result, the cost of the substrate rotation drying apparatus can be reduced.

Claims (10)

Rotation means for rotating around a predetermined position; A plurality of supporting means provided on the rotating means, Container means supported by said plurality of support means, each holding a plurality of substrates; Rocking means for holding the container means as a rocking material between a first position and a second position different from the first position; Installed on the support means and includes a detachable means for detaching the container means from the support means, And when the rotating means is rotated while the container means is supported by the supporting means, the supporting means is installed at a position where the balance of the container means is not broken by the rotation. 2. A substrate rotary drying apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said supporting means comprises said oscillating means. 3. The apparatus of claim 2, wherein the support means includes a first member connected to the container means, and a second member having a connecting portion capable of holding the first member as a swinging material between a first position and a second position; , The connection part of the said 1st member and the 2nd member is isolate | separated by the attachment / detachment means, The board | substrate rotation drying apparatus characterized by the above-mentioned. The method of claim 3, wherein the plurality of support means comprises two pairs of support means, And the pair of supporting means are arranged symmetrically with respect to a predetermined center. The method of claim 4, wherein the first support means is disposed in a first position, the second support means is disposed in a second position, The spacing of the support means is defined by the first position and the second position, And said support means comprises a gap adjusting means for changing a gap of said support means. A plurality of substrates are accommodated in the rotary drying apparatus from a predetermined conveyer, Container means for receiving the plurality of substrates in the first position, And said plurality of substrates are dried at said second position. The method of claim 6, wherein the plurality of substrates are arranged in the longitudinal direction in the first position, And a plurality of wafers arranged side by side in the transverse direction at the second position. The method of claim 3, wherein the first member has a protrusion, And the second member has a concave portion engaged with the protrusion of the first member. The method of claim 1, wherein the support means includes a third member for swingably holding the container means from a first position to a second position, wherein the swing means swings the third member. Substrate rotary drying device. 10. The method of claim 9, wherein the third member is swung up and down about a predetermined position, And said oscillating means comprises moving means for moving said third member in a vertical direction.