KR101216315B1 - excimer lamp - Google Patents

Abstract

A deterioration due to oxidation, such as a feed line for supplying power to an excimer lamp and a connection portion for joining electrodes, is suppressed, thereby providing a highly reliable and long-life excimer lamp.

In the present invention, one electrode is disposed outside the discharge vessel, a discharge gas is sealed inside the discharge vessel, and a dielectric is disposed between the other electrode paired with the one electrode, A lead wire for supplying power between electrodes is connected to the one electrode and the other electrode, and in an excimer lamp for supplying electric power to the discharge gas through the lead wire, the electrode, and the dielectric, one side of the discharge vessel A space partitioned by at least five faces in contact with an end portion is provided, the space is isolated by the discharge vessel and the isolation wall, and a connection portion electrically connected to the electrode is formed on an outer surface of the space, The lead wires are connected to each other via solder.

Description

Excimer lamp {EXCIMER LAMP}

This invention relates to an excimer lamp used for a liquid crystal-based light cleaning device, a semiconductor ultraviolet processing device, a resin surface modification device by light irradiation, and the like. In particular, the present invention relates to an excimer lamp having a feature in a lamp structure of a portion connecting a feeder line for supplying power to the excimer lamp.

Background Art Conventionally, excimer lamps are known as ultraviolet light sources used for light cleaning devices for liquid crystal substrates, ultraviolet light processing devices for semiconductors, and the like. In particular, in a device in which light emitted from the excimer lamp is arranged with a xenon excimer lamp or the like, which is a vacuum ultraviolet region, the inside of the housing constituting the lamp house in which the excimer lamp is disposed is replaced with nitrogen gas, and the light irradiation surface side of the housing The transparent glass window was arrange | positioned, and the atmosphere of the to-be-processed object side and the atmosphere of the lamp house side were isolate | separated. With such a configuration, it is possible to efficiently irradiate the vacuum ultraviolet light emitted from the excimer lamp without being absorbed by oxygen until the vacuum ultraviolet light emitted from the excimer lamp is emitted from the glass window disposed in the lamp house. Was done. As such a technique, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2854255 is known, for example.

On the other hand, in recent years, the excimer lamp apparatus which does not provide a light extraction window is developed. As such a technique, for example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2005-193088 is known. According to the publication, a plurality of rectangular excimer lamps are arranged so as to irradiate the excimer light directly onto the irradiated object. Moreover, in the said apparatus, the glass window arrange | positioned at the lamp house and isolate | separated the irradiated object from the lamp house side was not installed.

Moreover, about the square excimer lamp mounted in the apparatus of the said publication, Unexamined-Japanese-Patent No. 2005-322510 is known, for example.

Here, the outline | summary of the square excimer lamp described in the said Unexamined-Japanese-Patent No. 2005-322510 as a conventional excimer lamp is shown. 5 is a diagram illustrating a schematic structure of a conventional excimer lamp 100. 5-A) is a sectional drawing which cut | disconnected from the surface along the lamp tube axis of the said excimer lamp 100. FIG. The excimer lamp 100 includes a discharge container 111 made of quartz glass or the like, electrodes 112 and 113 formed on a pair of wall surfaces facing the discharge container 111, and the excimer lamp 100. It consists of the quartz block 119 arrange | positioned at the edge part of the said, the gas introduction hole 121 formed in the said quartz block 119, and the glass sealing part 122 which seals the front-end | tip part of the said gas introduction hole 121. . A connecting portion 115 is provided at the end portions 114 of the electrodes 112 and 113, and a lead wire 116 is further connected to the connecting portion 115. In addition, for example, xenon gas is sealed in the discharge space S1 covered by the discharge container 111, and a high frequency high voltage is applied through the electrodes 112 and 113. As a result, the enclosed xenon gas forms an excimer molecule, and excimer light is generated by dissociation of the excimer molecule. The excimer light is emitted from the window 118 of the discharge container 111 to the outside of the excimer lamp 100.

Fig. 5-B) is a cross-sectional view along the line A-A when cut by arrow A in Fig. 5-A), and is a cross-sectional view showing a plane perpendicular to the lamp tube axis. The cross-sectional shape of the said discharge container 111 is a substantially rectangular shape, the short side forms a discharge gap, and the electrode 113 and the electrode 112 are formed in the outer surface of the long side. The said electrode 112 becomes a light transmissive electrode which consists of a mesh-shaped electrode etc., for example.

[Patent Document 1: Japanese Patent 2854255]

[Patent Document 2: Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2005-193088]

[Patent Document 3: Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2005-322510]

By the way, like the apparatus of the said patent document 2 which arrange | positioned the square excimer lamp 100 shown in FIG. 5, when the glass window which isolate | separates an irradiated object and a lamp house side is not installed, it filled with xenon gas, for example. When the excimer lamp 100 is used, ozone generated by the vacuum ultraviolet rays emitted from the excimer lamp 100 may travel around the excimer lamp 100. This ozone is very oxidative and affects the electrodes 112 and 113, the connecting portion 115, and the like formed on the outer surface of the excimer lamp 100. For example, in the square excimer lamp 100 shown in FIG. 5, the feed line 116 to the excimer lamp 100 is fixed to the outer surface of the excimer lamp 100 by the connecting portion 115. In the excimer lamp, the connection portion 115 of the feed line 116 is affected by ozone. In addition, due to the influence of light emitted from the excimer lamp 100 or the heat generated by the discharge, oxidation occurs more strongly, and in some cases, the lead wire 116 may fall off, causing a problem of a lamp failure. do.

In view of such a problem, the problem to be solved by the present invention is that the connection portion for joining the feeder line for supplying power to the excimer lamp and the electrode disposed in the excimer lamp and the solder disposed in the connection portion deteriorate due to oxidation or the like. It is suppressed, and it is providing the high reliability and long life excimer lamp.

According to the present invention, one electrode is disposed outside the discharge vessel, a discharge gas is sealed inside the discharge vessel, and a dielectric is disposed between the other electrode paired with the one electrode. And a lead wire for supplying power between the electrodes to the one electrode and the other electrode, wherein the discharge vessel is provided in an excimer lamp for supplying power to the discharge gas through the lead wire, the electrode, and the dielectric. A space partitioned by at least five faces in contact with one end of the space is provided, and the space partitioned by the at least five faces is separated by the discharge vessel and the separating wall, and is divided into the at least five faces. A connection portion electrically connected to the electrode is formed on an outer surface of the electrode, and the lead wire is connected to the connection portion through solder. The.

Moreover, one surface of the lamp tube axis direction is open, It is characterized by the above-mentioned. Or in the space partitioned by the said at least 5 surface, the gas which suppresses discharge is enclosed inside the said space as a gas different from the said gas for discharge. Or it is a vacuum state enough to suppress discharge in the space partitioned by the said at least 5 surface.

According to the first aspect of the present invention, a space partitioned by at least five surfaces in contact with the discharge vessel is provided, the space is isolated by the discharge vessel and the isolation wall, and a connection portion is formed on an outer surface of the space. And the lead wire is connected to each other via solder, so that the temperature of the solder portion is not directly transmitted by heat generated by discharge, but reacts with ozone generated by vacuum ultraviolet rays emitted from the excimer lamp, and the lead wire It does not cause a failure that causes a lamp to be turned on due to poor contact with the wire and dropping of the lead wire.

Further, according to the second aspect of the present invention, since one side of the lamp tube axis direction of the space divided into the at least five surfaces is open, discharge is not generated in the space, and a long life and high reliability lamp can be realized. Can be.

According to the third aspect of the present invention, since a gas for suppressing discharge is enclosed in the space partitioned by the at least five planes, even if an electrode or the like is disposed in the space, discharge does not occur in the space. Therefore, the solder on the connection portion formed on the outer surface of the space divided into the at least five surfaces does not become high temperature, and no disturbance such as poor contact occurs between the lead wires.

Further, according to the fourth aspect of the present invention, since the vacuum state is such that the discharge is suppressed inside the space partitioned by the at least five surfaces, the solder on the connection portion formed on the outer surface of the space, as in the case of claim 2, It does not become a high temperature, and trouble such as a poor contact does not occur between the lead wires.

In the excimer lamp of the present invention, at one end of the discharge vessel, a space partitioned by at least five surfaces isolated from the discharge space is provided, and an end of the electrode of the excimer lamp is disposed on an outer surface of the space, and the excimer The connection part which connects the feeder line which supplies electric power to a lamp, and the said electrode is formed. With this configuration, the reactivity of the solder is activated by the irradiation of ultraviolet rays accompanying the discharge or the temperature of the discharge vessel, and the connection is deteriorated by the erosion by ozone present in the surroundings, and thus the lamp is unlit. It can suppress the trouble that causes it.

≪ Example 1 >

A first embodiment of the excimer lamp of the present invention is shown in FIG. 1-a) is a schematic sectional view cut | disconnected in the lamp tube axis direction of the excimer lamp 1 of this invention. The excimer lamp 1 includes a discharge container 11 made of quartz glass, electrodes 12 and 13 formed at positions facing each other on an outer surface of the discharge container 11, and an interior of the discharge container 11. It is formed in the discharge space S formed in the gas for discharging, such as xenon. Although not shown in the drawing, an ultraviolet reflecting film is provided in the discharge space S except for the window 18 that emits light. The said electrode 12 is comprised by the light transmissive electrode which consists of a grid-shaped printing electrode etc., for example, The surface of the said discharge container 11 in which the said electrode 12 is arrange | positioned is in the said discharge container 11 It also serves as a window 18 that emits excimer light generated at.

In addition, one end of the excimer lamp 1 is connected to the electrodes 12 and 13 so as to supply electric power between the electrodes 12 and 13 disposed on the excimer lamp 1 ( 14), the solder part 15 arrange | positioned on the said connection part 14, and the feeder line 16 connected to the said solder part 15 are provided. Copper (Cu) is used for the feed line (16), and the tip of the feed line (16) uses nickel (Ni) plated on the surface of Cu in consideration of the environment during use of the excimer lamp (1). . In addition, the partition plate 19 provided at one end of the discharge vessel 11 forms a space 17 partitioned into the discharge space S and at least five planes partitioned, and the space 17 is formed. The solder portion 15 is provided in the formed region. Moreover, the part corresponding to the edge part of the said excimer lamp 1 in the said space 17 is open | released in the said space 17, The inside of the said space 17 is the atmosphere (exterior of the excimer lamp 1). For example, it is in the same state as air.

In Fig. 1-b), a cross section A-A cut by arrow A shown in Fig. 1-a is shown. The said discharge container 11 is a rectangular container of cross section, and discharge gas, such as xenon, is filled with 0.05 Mpa in discharge space S, for example. In the cross section of the said discharge container 11, the electrode 13 is arrange | positioned at the long side surface. Moreover, the electrode 12 is formed in the surface which opposes the said electrode 13. As shown in FIG. The electrode 12 is, for example, a lattice-shaped printing electrode made of gold paste or the like, and is a light-transmissive electrode capable of emitting light from the gap between the lattice. The electrode 12 side consists of a window 18 for emitting light from the excimer lamp. Moreover, the said electrode 13 is provided in the surface of the long side of the said discharge container 11 in the same range as the range in which the said electrode 12 is formed, and the grid | lattice-like electrode like the said electrode 12 is provided, have. However, on the electrode 13 side, for example, an ultraviolet reflecting film or the like (not shown) of the silica particle main body is formed on the inner surface of the discharge container 11, and light from the excimer lamp is transferred to the electrode. It is reflected by the window 18 provided in the (12) side. The electrode 13 is also composed of a printed electrode made of gold paste or the like as the electrode 12. Moreover, the said connection part 14 uses transfer paper, such as gold, for example. In addition, in the solder part 15, in consideration of the adhesion between gold and glass, a solder in which zinc and antimony are added to tin is used.

Fig. 2 is a diagram showing the effect of the present invention, and is a graph comparing the temperature of the solder portion 15 with respect to the input power to the excimer lamp 1 with the conventional excimer lamp. 2 shows the temperature of a solder part, and a horizontal axis shows the input power to an excimer lamp. Moreover, the solid line in FIG. Shows the temperature of the said solder part 15 in the excimer lamp 1 of this invention, and the broken line shows the temperature of the said solder part in the conventional excimer lamp measured for comparison. These excimer lamps are excimer lamps of the same type in which 0.05 xenon gas is sealed in a discharge space, and the lighting frequency is 50 kHz. After the lighting, the excimer lamp has a sufficient time until the temperature of the solder portion 15 is stabilized. It left for a minute and measured the temperature at that time. In the temperature measurement of the solder portion 15, a thermocouple was brought into contact with the solder portion 15 and measured. In the above measurement, five excimer lamps of the present invention and the conventional one were produced, and the input power to the excimer lamp was sequentially changed and measured, and five average values of each excimer lamp were used as measured values.

In Fig. 2, for example, when the input power is 100 W, the temperature of the solder portion 15 in the excimer lamp 1 of the present invention is 70 DEG C and higher in the conventional excimer lamp than 70 DEG C. have. Similarly, at an input power of 200 W, the excimer lamp 1 of the present invention is 90 ° C., and the excimer lamp 1 of the present invention is 100 ° C. with a conventional excimer lamp of 270 ° C. and an input power of 300 W. In an excimer lamp | ramp, it raises to 300 degreeC. Thus, according to the excimer lamp 1 of this invention, compared with the case of the conventional excimer lamp, the temperature of the said solder part 15 becomes about one third low. As described above, since the temperature of the solder portion 15 is lowered, the solder portion 15 is not affected by the ultraviolet rays directly irradiated by an atmosphere such as ozone at the installation place of the excimer lamp 1 or by direct irradiation. Get a special effect.

3 is a graph showing the results of the life test of the excimer lamp 1 of the present invention. The vertical axis | shaft of FIG. 3 shows the ratio [survival rate (%)] which expressed the number of the lamp which the excimer lamp was able to maintain lighting at each time, without causing obstacles, such as a non-lighting, and the horizontal axis shows the lighting time of an excimer lamp. (h) is shown. 3 shows the excimer lamp 1 of this invention, and a broken line shows the conventional excimer lamp. In this life test, ten excimer lamps 1 and ten conventional excimer lamps of the present invention were prepared as test samples, and a lighting test was performed with input power to each excimer lamp as 300W.

According to Fig. 3, the conventional excimer lamp has a residual ratio of 60% or less at 2700 hours of lighting. On the other hand, in the excimer lamp of the present invention, the residual ratio becomes 4% or less at 60% or less, which is about 2000 hours or longer life compared with the conventional product. Moreover, the residual ratio was 100% until it exceeded 3000 hours, and 0 excimer lamps which became impossible to light up by the failure of the said solder part 15 were zero. Thus, according to the structure of this invention, since the ultraviolet light is not irradiated directly to the said solder part 15, and it does not corrode in ozone atmosphere, there exists an advantage that it can provide a reliable and long life excimer lamp.

<Example 2>

4 shows a second embodiment of the present invention. 4-A) is a schematic sectional drawing which cut | disconnected the excimer lamp 20 which is a 2nd Example of this invention in the lamp tube axis direction. The basic configuration of the excimer lamp 20 is the same as that of the first embodiment shown in FIG. 1, and the same reference numerals are given to the same members as in the case of the first embodiment. As in the case of FIG. 1, an ultraviolet reflecting film (not shown) is provided in the discharge space S. FIG. In the second embodiment, the space 21 partitioned into at least five planes in contact with the discharge space S is isolated from the outside by the outer wall 22. In the present embodiment, the interior of the space 21 is filled with a gas that is difficult to discharge, such as a vacuum state or nitrogen. Thereby, even if an electrode is arrange | positioned at the outer surface of the said space 21, there exists an advantage that discharge does not generate | occur | produce in the said space 21. In addition, in FIG. 4-B), the A-A cross section cut by the arrow A in FIG. 4-A) is shown similarly to the case of 1st Example. Also in this embodiment, the cross-sectional shape is a rectangular rectangle. The rest of the configuration is also the same as the case shown in Fig. 1-B), and thus detailed description thereof is omitted here.

1 is a schematic cross-sectional view showing a first embodiment of this invention.

Fig. 2 is a diagram showing the temperature of the solder portion due to the input power in the excimer lamp of the present invention.

3 is a diagram showing a life test result in the excimer lamp of the present invention.

4 is a schematic cross-sectional view showing a second embodiment of this invention.

5 is a schematic cross-sectional view showing the shape of a conventional excimer lamp.

[Description of Symbols for Main Parts of Drawing]

1 excimer lamp 11 discharge vessel

12 electrodes 13 electrodes

14 Connections 15 Solder

16 feeder 17 space

18 Window 19 Partition Plate

S discharge space 20 excimer lamp

21 space 100 excimer lamp

111 discharge vessel 112 electrode

113 electrode 114 end

115 Connections 116 Lead Wire

118 Window 119 Quartz Block

121 Gas introduction hole 122 Glass encapsulation

S1 discharge space

Claims (4)

One electrode is disposed outside the discharge vessel, a discharge gas is enclosed inside the discharge vessel, and a dielectric is disposed between the other electrode paired with the one electrode. In an excimer lamp, a lead wire for supplying power between electrodes is connected to an electrode and the other electrode, and to supply power to the discharge gas through the lead wire, the electrode, and the dielectric. A space partitioned by at least five faces in contact with one end of the discharge vessel is provided, and the space partitioned by at least five faces is separated by the discharge vessel and a separation wall, and partitioned into at least five faces. A connecting portion electrically connected to the electrode is formed on an outer surface of the space, and the lead wire is connected to the connecting portion via solder on the connecting portion. The method according to claim 1, The excimer lamp of the space partitioned by the at least five planes is that one surface of the lamp tube axis direction is open. The method according to claim 1, The excimer lamp of the space partitioned by the at least five planes is a gas different from the gas for discharge and filled with gas for suppressing discharge. The method according to claim 1, An excimer lamp, characterized in that the discharge in the space is suppressed by making the space partitioned by the at least five planes into a vacuum state.

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