KR100516849B1 - Apparatus For Wet Etching - Google Patents

Abstract

The disclosed wet etching apparatus includes an etching chamber in which an etching operation is performed, a transfer unit for vertically transferring the substrate into the etching chamber, an etching solution spraying unit for spraying the etching solution onto the substrate transferred into the etching chamber by the transfer unit, and the injected etching solution. It is configured to include a circulation unit for recirculating the supply unit to the injection unit.

The wet etching apparatus having the above-described configuration allows the substrate to be transferred in a direction perpendicular to the ground, thereby enabling the smooth discharge of the etching liquid from the substrate to be etched, thereby enabling uniform etching, as well as the use of nozzles and nozzle pipes. The etching liquid may be uniformly sprayed by the oscillation motion, thereby providing an effect of uniformly processing the etching surface of the substrate, which is a material to be etched.

Description

Wet Etching Equipment {Apparatus For Wet Etching}

The present invention relates to an etching apparatus, and more particularly to a wet etching apparatus for uniform etching.

In general, etching is used to clean the crystal surface or to evaluate materials, but recently, it is widely applied as a processing technology for micromachining.

The etching method may be classified into a wet etching method and a dry etching method.

The dual dry etching method is typical of plasma etching, which is performed by chemical reaction between an element present in the plasma and a surface material to be etched and reaction reaction by surface collision with activated particles present in the plasma.

Dry etching is a dry etching method using a gas phase chemical reaction, and an etching by an ion beam which physically sputters and etches atoms on a sample surface using accelerated ions.

The dry etching process has a higher processing precision than wet etching, and thus has been widely used in the microfabrication field recently. However, the dry etching process has an economical problem due to the low etching rate and low processing capacity of the etching apparatus.

On the other hand, the wet etching method is a method of etching a material to be etched into a desired shape by using a chemical solution (etchant, etchant) that can chemically react with and dissolve the film to be etched.

Such wet etching is capable of working in large quantities compared to dry etching, and because the working speed is fast and economical, the printed circuit board (PCB) or glass cap which does not require more precision than dry etching method is required. Widely used in the manufacturing field.

The wet etching process is generally performed in the order of an etching process, a rinse process, and a dry process. Depending on the type of material, a dry process is omitted, and an etching process and a cleaning process are performed. The process may be omitted.

Etching process refers to a process of spraying etching liquid onto the surface of the substrate to be etched or submerging the substrate to be etched in a bath containing the etching liquid to form a desired shape by chemical reaction between the etching liquid and the surface of the substrate. Is a process of removing impurities or by-products of the material before or after the etching process, and the drying process is a process of spraying gas on the etched material to dry it.

1 schematically shows a general wet etching process.

According to this, in the conventional wet etching apparatus, a loader 10 for loading a target substrate to be etched and a substrate to be etched from the loader 10 are moved. A buffer portion 12 to be waited for, an etching portion 14 for etching the substrate to be etched from the buffer portion 12, a cleaning portion 16 for cleaning the etched target substrate, and It consists of an unloader part 18 which unloads the board | substrate which becomes an object of etching from the said washing | cleaning part 16. As shown in FIG.

2 schematically shows the etching equipment employed in the etching unit 14 during the etching process.

The conventional etching apparatus includes an etching liquid spraying means 24 and a conveying means 20 for transferring the substrate 28 to be etched to the etching liquid spraying means 24, as shown in FIG.

The conveying means 20 is generally composed of a roller or a conveyor belt.

The etching liquid spraying means 24 is configured in the form of a nozzle spraying the surface of the target substrate 28 to be etched.

In etching is performed in the etching equipment, the substrate 28 to be etched by the transfer means 20 is moved under the nozzle 24 which constantly sprays the etchant 26. The etching solution 26 is sprayed onto the substrate 28 to be etched by the 24, and a chemical reaction occurs between the etching solution 26 and the substrate 28 to perform wet etching.

At this time, the substrate 28 transferred to the etching apparatus is transferred from the buffer portion 12 to the etching portion 14 horizontally with respect to the ground, and in contact with the etching liquid 26 injected from the nozzle 24 in the etching chamber 22. As a result, a chemical reaction occurs, whereby etching is performed.

The problem in this etching process is that as the substrate 28 to be etched is horizontally transferred to the ground, the etching liquid 26 injected from the nozzle 24 stays on the substrate 28 for a predetermined time. There is a problem that uniform etching is difficult to perform, and therefore the etching degree of the etching surface is not constant and the defect rate is high.

That is, when the substrate 28, which is the material to be etched in the horizontal state, is etched, even if the point is at the same distance from the center of the substrate 28, the etching amount is different, which is the etching solution on the substrate 28. This is because not only the diffusion speed of (26) is uniform but also the speed of etching varies depending on the distribution of etched byproducts.

Furthermore, the etching by the conventional wet etching apparatus causes the etched by-products to be concentrated in the center of the substrate 28 as the etching is performed in the horizontal state, so that the etching speed is relatively low at the center of the substrate 28, and Since the etching speed of the substrate 28 is increased toward the periphery of the substrate 28, and the uniform etching rate is not provided over the entire surface of the substrate 28, the thickness or transparency of the products produced in the single substrate 28 is increased. Is not constant, which is a problem in maintaining a constant quality.

In addition, when the size of the substrate 28 is increased for mass production, the nonuniform etching of the substrate 28 becomes more severe, and the etching liquid 26 injected from the nozzle 24 is the substrate 28 to be etched. There is also a problem in that it stays at the top of the predetermined time for further unwanted etching during that time.

In addition, it is prevented that the etching liquid 26 reaches the etching surface of the substrate 28 to be etched by a roller, a conveyor belt, or the like, which is the transfer means 20, thereby preventing the uniform etching of the etching surface. have.

On the other hand, an example of such an etching apparatus has been disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2003-73861. In such an etching apparatus and an etching system, a mechanism for performing a uniform etching while moving an etching target such as a printed board includes a carrier for transferring the etching target horizontally and a nozzle portion and an etching target of the etching liquid disposed below the carrier. It consists of a seal body for sealing the upper surface of the, the conveying unit is composed of a plurality of conveying rollers arranged at a predetermined interval, including a reversing device for inverting the object up and down, the first It is comprised so that the lower surface of an etching object may be etched from below with an etching apparatus, the etching object may be inverted up and down with the said inverting apparatus, and the upper surface reversed by a 2nd etching apparatus may be etched from below.

According to this, etching of the object to be etched is performed on both sides by the up and down inversion apparatus, but this requires more inversion apparatus than the conventional etching apparatus, and becomes economically disadvantageous as the space occupied by the etching system becomes larger, one by one There is a problem that the etching rate is lowered by etching in turn.

In addition, according to the wet etching apparatus disclosed in Korean Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2003-0035149, an etching process and a cleaning process are performed on a loader / unloader unit for loading / unloading an etching target and an object loaded from the loader / unloader unit. An etching (etching) treatment unit is disclosed in which a drying process is performed in a single space.

According to this, the etching treatment section includes an etching solution supply section for spraying etching liquid, a pure water supply section for spraying pure water, and a gas supply section for spraying gas, and can rotate the etching target loaded from the loader / unloader section. Rotating part is provided.

Therefore, in the conventional conventional etching apparatus, by further comprising a rotating portion, the apparatus becomes complicated and economically disadvantageous.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above necessity. When the etching is performed in the etching apparatus, the conveying means in which the substrate is vertically transferred to uniformly etch the surface by allowing the etching liquid staying on the substrate to be discharged quickly. It is an object of the present invention to provide an included etching apparatus.

In addition, another object of the present invention is to prevent the concentration of etching in a specific direction, the movement of the nozzle that has been fixed conventionally so that the etching liquid is uniformly sprayed on the substrate to have a uniform etching distribution over the entire surface of the substrate to be etched To provide an improved etching apparatus.

The wet etching apparatus of the present invention for achieving the above object comprises an etching chamber in which an etching operation is performed, a transfer unit for vertically transferring the substrate into the etching chamber, and the transfer unit being transferred into the etching chamber by the transfer unit. And a circulation unit for circulating the etching solution injection unit for injecting the etchant to the substrate and recirculating the injected etching solution to the injection unit.

Here, the transfer unit comprises a plurality of rollers continuously arranged on the etching line, characterized in that it comprises a conveying roller for vertically conveying the substrate to be etched along the groove formed in the roller.

The wet etching apparatus may further include an oscillation rod, a nozzle pipe, and a nozzle, wherein the oscillation movement is performed for uniform etching of the etching liquid.

Hereinafter, exemplary embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

Figure 3 is a perspective view showing the appearance of the wet etching apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention, Figure 4 is a side view showing the internal structure of the present invention.

The etching apparatus according to the present invention, as shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, transfers the substrate 40 from the buffer portion 12 (see FIG. 1) into the etching chamber 30, into the etching chamber 30. A plurality of feed rollers 80 having grooves are provided on the inner bottom surface of the etching chamber 30 so as to be vertically transferred to the ground.

In order to facilitate the maintenance and repair of the etching apparatus, the etching chamber 30 is made of a transparent or translucent material so that the inside can be seen by the naked eye, and the door 32 is formed on one surface of the etching chamber 30. Is preferably provided.

In addition, in the wet etching apparatus according to the present invention, the etching solution circulation unit has a filter 62 for recycling the etching solution therein and a container 60 for storing the etching solution, one end of which is connected to the container 60 and the other end. The nozzle pipe 70 connected to the nozzle pipe 70 to supply the etching solution, the nozzle pipe 70 provided with the nozzle 72 connected to the etching solution supply pipe 74 and spraying the etching solution, and pressurizing the etching solution to A circulating pump 76 for discharging from the container 60 to the etchant supply pipe 74 and an etchant discharge pipe 64 for circulating the etchant after the etching is performed from the etching chamber 30 to the etchant storage container 60 again. And a nozzle 72 formed in the nozzle pipe 70 to spray the etching liquid onto the substrate 40 to be etched.

The etching liquid stored in the container 60 is a substrate to be etched from the nozzle 72 installed in the nozzle pipe 70 through the etching liquid supply pipe 74 by the pump 76 driven by the circulation motor 78 ( 40 is injected into the etching surface.

As a result, etching is performed by a chemical reaction between the injected etchant and the substrate 40, and the etching solution after the etching flows down to the bottom surface of the etching chamber 30 and is recovered to the container 60 along the etching solution discharge pipe 64. do.

Since the etchant recovered along the etchant discharge tube 64 includes by-products of etching, it is filtered by the filter 62 installed inside the container 60 for recycling thereof.

The etchant filtered by the filter 62 is again stored in the etchant storage 61 of the container 60 and undergoes a circulation process leading to the etchant supply pipe 74.

5 shows the above-described feed roller 80.

The transfer roller 80 is a groove 82 is formed along the outer surface of the transfer roller 80 according to the thickness of the substrate 40 it is possible to transport the substrate 40 stably.

When a transfer motor (not shown) is driven, the transfer roller 80 is rotated by a helical gear 84, and the substrate 40 is moved in the direction of the arrow shown by the transfer roller 80. It will reciprocate constantly.

At this time, in order to transfer the substrate 40 vertically in a more stable state, the feed roller 80 is installed in parallel in the upper and lower sides of the etching chamber 30 to support the upper and lower ends of the substrate 40 at the same time. It can also be transported.

As a result, the transfer of the substrate 40 becomes more stable and smooth, and the substrate 40 can be prevented from being separated from the transfer roller 80 during the transfer.

FIG. 6 is a perspective view showing the injection angle adjusting means for causing the nozzle 72 for the injection of the etchant to oscillate.

A plurality of nozzles 72 for spraying etching liquid are provided in the nozzle pipe 70, and the plurality of nozzle pipes 70 are respectively coupled to the nozzle rotating plate 91 and fixed to the vibration rod 90.

The vibrating rod 90 and the disc-shaped cam 92 located outside the etching chamber 30 are connected by a connecting means, one end of the connecting means is the vibration rod 90 and the other end is a fastening means. It is connected to the cam 92 by the (98).

The connecting means includes a first connecting member 97, a second connecting member 93, and a rotating shaft 99.

In addition, a camshaft 96 positioned at the center of the cam 92 and fixed to the bottom of the cam 92 is connected to the oscillation motor 86.

Accordingly, when the oscillation motor 86 is operated, the cam shaft 96 connected thereto is rotated, and the cam 92 is rotated by the rotation of the cam shaft 96, and the cam 92 is rotated. Accordingly, the vibration rod 90 connected by the connecting means performs a linear oscillation movement in the X direction.

As the vibration rod 90 oscillates in the X direction, the nozzle rotation plate 91 connected to the vibration rod 90 rotates at a predetermined angle, and the nozzle is fixed to the nozzle rotation plate 91. The pipe 70 is oscillated to rotate at a constant angle.

Accordingly, the etching liquid injection angle of the nozzle 72 provided in the nozzle pipe 70 is periodically changed.

In addition, preferably the angle between the vibration rod 90 and the cam 92 is fastened to 90 degrees, so that another etching chamber can be installed without play, thereby improving work efficiency.

That is, as will be described below, the oscillation motor 86, the cam 92, and the camshaft 96 are located on both sides of the etching chamber 30, so that even if other etching chambers are arranged in series, they will not interfere. Therefore, the space for installing the etching apparatus can be saved.

Looking at the mechanism transmitted by converting the rotational movement of the oscillation motor 86 by the connecting means to the oscillation movement of the nozzle 72 in detail, the cam 92 is rotated in accordance with the drive of the oscillation motor 86 Accordingly, the U-shaped first connecting member 97 reciprocates in the Y direction.

By the reciprocating motion of the first connecting member 97, the L-shaped second connecting member 93 having one end connected to the first connecting member 97 is rotated at a predetermined angle about the rotation shaft 99. Accordingly, the vibration rod 90 coupled to the other end of the second connecting member 93 is reciprocated in the X direction, so that the etching solution may be uniformly sprayed from the nozzle 72.

In the above embodiment, the fixing member 91 is fixed to the inner wall surface of the etching chamber 30.

7 shows another embodiment of the cam for oscillating movement of the nozzle 72.

A plurality of holes 102 are formed radially from the center of the cam 100, one end of the first connecting member 97 of the connecting means coupled to one end of the vibration rod 90 is coupled to the cam 100 By selecting the hole 102 to which the cam 100 is coupled according to the intention of the operator and fastening by the fastening means 98, the rotation angle of the nozzle pipe 70 can be changed to a desired angle.

8A shows another embodiment of the cam.

When forming a hole in the cam 110, instead of forming a plurality of holes 102, unlike in the case of Figure 7, by forming a long hole 112, the first connecting member ( By allowing one end of the 90 to be fastened to the long hole 112 of the cam 110 by the fastening means 98, it is possible to more precisely control the oscillation angle of the nozzle pipe 70 rotates.

FIG. 8B is a cross-sectional view of I-I shown in FIG. 8A.

The cam 110 on which the long hole 112 is formed is fastened to the first connection member 97 by a fastening means 98 outside the etching chamber 30 (see FIG. 8A).

The fastening means 98 may be configured as a bolt and a nut.

In the wet etching apparatus configured as described above, as the etching operation is performed, the substrate 40 is vertically transferred by the transfer roller 80 to smoothly discharge the etching liquid, and the nozzle pipe 70 may be By the oscillation motion, the etching liquid is evenly sprayed on the etching surface of the substrate 40 so that the etching surface of the substrate 40 to be etched is made uniform.

The etching apparatus of the present invention described above provides the following effects.

Firstly, the transfer unit for etching, comprising a transfer roller for transferring the substrate to be etched perpendicular to the ground, and the gravity by the nozzle and the by-products of the etching and the etching liquid do not stay on the substrate during the wet etching process By flowing downward by the etching liquid discharge pressure, it is possible to prevent the etching amount from being concentrated in a specific direction.

This results in a uniform etching distribution over the entire surface of the substrate, which is a material.

Second, in the nozzle for etching the etching liquid of the etching apparatus, by oscillating the pipe on which the nozzle is installed at a constant speed, the amount of the etching liquid reaching the substrate made of the etching liquid is constant according to the spray angle of the sprayed etching liquid. To be maintained.

Third, the substrate to be etched is transferred vertically with respect to the ground, and the nozzles are arranged on both sides of the substrate, so that both surfaces of the substrate can be etched simultaneously in one operation, thereby reducing the work time required for etching. In addition, the amount of work per hour increases.

Fourth, the substrate to be etched upright is transferred vertically, and the etching chamber is designed to be transparent so that the operator can visually see the etching process, and a door is attached to the etching chamber so that when the problem occurs in the etching apparatus, Make maintenance easy.

It is to be understood that the invention is not limited to that described above and illustrated in the drawings, and that more modifications and variations are possible within the scope of the following claims.

1 is a process diagram of a general wet etching process.

Figure 2 is a schematic diagram of the etching process by a general etching equipment.

Figure 3 is a perspective view showing the appearance of the wet etching apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Figure 4 is a side view showing the inside of the wet etching apparatus shown in FIG.

5 is a perspective view of the feed roller shown in FIG.

6 is a perspective view of the oscillation device shown in FIG.

FIG. 7 is a perspective view of another embodiment of the cam shown in FIG. 6; FIG.

FIG. 8A is a perspective view of another embodiment of the cam shown in FIG. 6; FIG.

FIG. 8B is a cross-sectional view of I-I shown in FIG. 8A. FIG.

<Description of the symbols for the main parts of the drawings>

30: etching chamber 40: substrate 60: container

64 etching liquid discharge pipe 70 nozzle pipe 72 nozzle

74: etching solution supply pipe 76: circulation pump 78: etching solution circulation motor

80: feed roller 84: helical gear 86: oscillation motor

90: vibrating rod 92, 100, 110: cam 94, 102: hole

96: camshaft 98: fastening means 112: long hole

Claims (9)

An etching chamber in which an etching operation is performed; A transfer unit; In the wet etching apparatus including a etch liquid injection unit and a purifying unit for circulating the injected etching liquid to provide to the injection unit, The transfer unit includes a plurality of transfer rollers having grooves formed therein to vertically transfer the substrate to an inner lower portion of the etching chamber; The etchant circulation unit includes a container having a filter for recycling the etchant and storing the etchant therein, a supply pipe of an etchant connected to the container and connected to the nozzle pipe to supply the etchant, and an etchant connected to the etchant supply pipe. A nozzle pipe provided with a nozzle for injecting the nozzle, a circulation pump for pressurizing and discharging the etching liquid from the container to the etching liquid supply pipe, and an etching liquid discharge pipe for circulating the etching liquid after the etching is performed from the etching chamber to the etching liquid storage container; The etching liquid spraying unit includes a nozzle pipe installed to spray and etch the etching liquid to the substrate transferred into the etching chamber by the transfer unit, and a nozzle formed in the nozzle pipe to spray the etching liquid onto the substrate to be etched. Wet etching apparatus characterized in that the. delete The wet etching apparatus of claim 1, wherein the transfer unit may further include a plurality of transfer rollers having the same groove formed on the upper side thereof in a symmetrical manner with a plurality of transfer rollers installed below the inside of the etching chamber. The method of claim 1, Wet etching apparatus further comprises a spray angle adjusting means for rotating the nozzle pipe to control the spray angle for uniform spraying of the etching solution. The method of claim 4, wherein The injection angle adjusting means, A nozzle rotating plate coupled to one end of the nozzle pipe and rotatably installed in the etching chamber; An oscillation motor for oscillation movements; A cam rotated by the oscillation motor; A vibration rod coupled to the other end of the nozzle rotating plate so as to reciprocate in the etching chamber; Wet etching apparatus comprising a connecting means for connecting the cam and the vibration rod to be transmitted by converting the rotational movement of the cam to the reciprocating motion of the vibration rod. The method of claim 5, The connecting means, A first connection member fastened to the cam and reciprocating in a first direction according to the rotation of the cam; Both ends are coupled to the first connection member and the vibration rod, respectively, and are rotatably installed about a predetermined rotation shaft, and the vibration rod is reciprocated in the second direction according to the reciprocating motion of the first connection member. Wet etching apparatus characterized in that it comprises a second connecting member The method of claim 6, Wet etching apparatus, characterized in that the first direction and the second direction to form an angle of 90 degrees. The method of claim 6, Wet etching apparatus characterized in that the cam is formed with a plurality of holes for selectively coupling the first connection member to adjust the oscillation operation angle of the nozzle. The method of claim 6, Wet etching apparatus characterized in that the cam is formed with a long hole that the first connection member is arbitrarily fastened so as to adjust the oscillation operation angle of the nozzle.