KR20110024264A - Vacuum drying device and method - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: A vacuum decompression drying device and a drying method thereof are provided to improve durability of a vacuum drying chamber by sealing a fixing body without an exhaust port for a vacuum. CONSTITUTION: A fixing body includes a support pin(131) to support a substrate. A moving body(110) is combined with the fixing body to form a vacuum drying chamber. A vacuum pump(142) decompresses the vacuum drying chamber through an exhaust port formed on the vacuum drying chamber. The moving body moves while holding the substrate and is combined with the fixing body. The moving body transmits the substrate to the support pin.

Description

Vacuum drying device and method

The present invention relates to a vacuum vacuum drying apparatus and a method thereof, and more particularly, a moving body moving in a state where a substrate is mounted is combined with a fixed body to form a vacuum drying chamber, and a substrate is attached to a support pin provided at the fixed body. The present invention relates to a vacuum vacuum drying apparatus and a method for simplifying the construction and processing of the vacuum vacuum drying apparatus, preventing pressure leakage and foreign material inflow in the vacuum drying chamber, and enhancing durability of the vacuum drying chamber.

In general, a liquid crystal display (LCD), which is one of flat panel displays, has better visibility and lower power consumption than a cathode ray tube having the same screen size as the cathode ray tube (CRT). As a result, plasma display panels (PDPs) and field emission displays (FEDs) have been spotlighted as next-generation display devices for mobile phones, computers, monitors and televisions.

In the liquid crystal display, a liquid crystal cell forming a pixel unit is formed on an upper plate and a lower plate of a panel, and a pattern is formed through a photolithography process. The pattern should use a light-sensitive photoresist. Generally, the photoresist is composed of a viscous liquid state and a solvent of the photoresist is dried through a vacuum depressurization drying apparatus in order to avoid errors in precision work in subsequent processes. It is necessary to remove the back.

1 is a cross-sectional view showing a cross-sectional view of a vacuum vacuum drying apparatus 1 according to the prior art. As shown in FIG. 1, the vacuum vacuum drying apparatus 1 according to the prior art includes a lower body ( A plurality of through holes 11 were formed in the 10 to allow the support pins 31 for supporting the substrate G to penetrate therethrough. That is, when the substrate G is transferred from the robot arm or the transfer and positioned in parallel to the upper portion of the lower body 10, the lift pins 30 to which the support pins 31 are attached are raised to raise the support pins 31 to the substrate. It was configured to support (G), the upper body 20 facing the lower body 10 is lowered to combine with the lower body 10 to form a vacuum drying chamber surrounding the substrate (G).

However, according to the prior art, since a plurality of support pin through-holes 11 are formed in the lower body 10 constituting the vacuum drying chamber, pressure leakage occurs inside the chamber, and there is a risk that foreign substances may flow from the outside. In addition, in view of durability to withstand large pressure differences inside and outside the chamber, there is a disadvantage in that stress concentrations that are vulnerable to stress fracture increase.

In addition, according to the prior art, since the lift 30 to which the support pins are attached is lifted so that the support pins 31 can support the substrate, the lift pin 30 is separately lifted in addition to the driving means M1 of the upper body 20. Driving means M2 for raising and lowering 30 is required. Thus, there arises a problem of lowering the efficiency of the process and increasing the cost for the provision of additional driving means.

On the other hand, the configuration of the apparatus and the like described in the prior art is described only for understanding the technical background of the present invention, and does not mean the prior art already known to those skilled in the art.

The present invention is to solve the above-described problems, by moving the moving body mounted on the substrate to the fixed body to form a vacuum drying chamber in combination with the fixed body and to transfer the substrate to the support pin provided on the fixed body, vacuum It is a technical object of the present invention to simplify the construction and process of a vacuum drying apparatus, to prevent pressure leakage and foreign matter inflow in a vacuum drying chamber, and to provide a vacuum vacuum drying apparatus and a method for enhancing the durability of a vacuum vacuum drying apparatus.

In order to achieve the above technical problem, the present invention provides a fixed body having a support pin capable of supporting a substrate, a moving body coupled to the fixed body to form a vacuum drying chamber therein, and exhaust formed in the vacuum drying chamber. It is configured to include a vacuum pump for decompressing the vacuum drying chamber through the port, the moving body is moved to the state mounted on the substrate can be coupled to the fixed body and transfer the substrate to the support pin. This allows the support pin to support the substrate simultaneously with the combination of the movable body and the stationary body, thereby eliminating the drive means for the support pin to move to support the substrate and excluding the exhaust port for vacuum in the vacuum drying chamber. In order to prevent the leakage of pressure and the inflow of foreign substances.

In this case, the support pin is preferably fixedly fixed on the fixing body. Conventionally, the support pin supports the substrate in such a manner as to be lifted and lowered through the through hole of the fixing body, but the support pin may not be formed in the fixing body by fixedly attaching the support pin to the fixing body.

In addition, the moving body is preferably configured by lowering the substrate on the support pin while descending from the top of the fixed body. This is because the moving body is lowered and combined with the fixed body, thereby naturally lowering the substrate on the support pin of the fixed body, thereby minimizing the defects caused by the contact pins due to the contact of the substrate and the support pin. This is to achieve the purpose.

The moving body may further include a substrate shuttle that mounts the substrate and transfers the substrate to the support pins. For this purpose, the substrate shuttle is configured to bend to support the lower portion of the substrate and to move the bending holder. It is preferably configured to include a connecting portion for connecting to the body. In addition, it is preferable that the moving body receives the substrate from the horizontal direction, mounts it on the bending holder, and descends in the vertical direction to lower the substrate onto the support pin. This is to provide a specific technology that allows the moving body to move in a state of mounting the substrate transferred from the robot arm or the transfer. Therefore, the robot arm or the transfer can be configured to move only in one direction (horizontal direction), and independently of this, the moving body descends while holding the substrate, so that not only the vacuum decompression drying process but also the entire process side of the substrate manufacturing can be performed. Even the process can be simplified and the implementation of the robot arm or the transfer means of the transfer can be facilitated.

The substrate is preferably configured to be separated from the bending holder and placed on the support pin according to the lowering of the moving body. For this purpose, the bending holder may be configured to be positioned lower than the upper end of the supporting pin when the moving body and the fixing body are joined together. have. This is to allow the substrate to be separated from the bending holder to be lowered on the support pin since the bending body is lower than the upper end of the support pin when the moving body is lowered and coupled to the fixing body. Therefore, the substrate may be naturally lowered on the support pins by only the coupling of the movable body and the fixed body without a process or driving means for lowering the substrate separately on the support pins.

Meanwhile, the present invention provides a first step of preparing a fixed body having a support pin capable of supporting a substrate, a second step of receiving a substrate and mounting it on a moving body, and moving the moving body to engage the fixed body. And a fourth step of transferring the substrate mounted on the moving body to the support pin of the fixed body, and a fourth step of depressurizing and drying the vacuum drying chamber formed by the combination of the moving body and the fixed body. This combines the step of combining the movable body and the fixed body and the step of supporting the substrate on the support pin in a vacuum vacuum drying process of the substrate, the combination of the movable body and the fixed body can implement the support of the substrate soon In order to simplify the vacuum vacuum drying process, it is possible to prevent pressure leakage and foreign material inflow into the vacuum drying chamber.

Here, the third step is preferably configured to include the step of separating the substrate from the moving body and seated on the support pins according to the lowering of the moving body. This allows the moving body in the state mounted on the substrate to be lowered and combined with the fixed body, thereby naturally lowering the substrate onto the support pin of the fixed body, thereby eliminating a separate support pin movement process and removing the driving means for moving the support pin. To do that.

As described above, the present invention simplifies the configuration of the vacuum decompression drying apparatus by eliminating the need for a separate driving means for the movement of the support pins, and simplifies the process by omitting the process of moving the support pins separately, thereby preventing waste of costs. And efficiency can be improved.

In addition, the present invention prevents the pressure leakage and foreign matter inflow in the vacuum drying chamber by sealing except the exhaust port for vacuum in the fixed body, it is possible to reduce the risk of stress breakdown due to the pressure difference inside and outside the vacuum drying chamber.

Hereinafter, a vacuum pressure drying apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

However, in describing the present invention, well-known functions or configurations are omitted to clarify the gist of the present invention, and the same or similar reference numerals will be given to the same or similar functions or configurations.

Figure 2 is a cross-sectional view showing a cross-sectional view of the vacuum reduced pressure drying apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention, Figure 3 is a concept that the substrate is mounted on the moving body provided in the vacuum reduced pressure drying apparatus of FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view showing that the substrate is supported on the support pin while the fixed body and the moving body of the vacuum vacuum drying apparatus of FIG.

As shown in FIG. 2, the vacuum decompression drying apparatus 100 according to an embodiment of the present invention includes a movable body 110 capable of lifting and lowering according to the driving of the driving unit M, and the movable body 110. The substrate shuttle 120 which is provided at the lower side and moves together with the moving body 110 to mount the substrate G, and may be combined with the moving body 110 to form a vacuum drying chamber 101 therein. A fixed body 130 having a support pin 131 capable of upwardly supporting (G), and a pressure reducing unit 140 that sucks air from the vacuum drying chamber 101 to reduce the pressure inside the vacuum drying chamber 101. Can be configured.

First, the substrate G, which may be dried by the vacuum vacuum drying apparatus 100 according to an embodiment of the present invention, may be a silicon wafer substrate, a liquid crystal display (LCD) substrate, or a plasma display apparatus. The substrate may be a plasma diplay panel (PDP) substrate, a field emission display (FED) substrate, or a substrate for a device such as an IC chip or a mechanism having a logic circuit or a data storage device.

The moving body 110 is coupled to the fixed body 130 to form a vacuum drying chamber 101 therein, and can be moved up and down by the driving unit (M). The moving body 110 is formed in a rectangular plate shape in FIG. 3, but the shape of the moving body 110 is dependent on the shape of the substrate G to be positioned therein. Therefore, if it is to be mainly used for a circular substrate (G) such as a semiconductor wafer substrate, of course, the shape of the moving body 110 can also be circular.

Since the moving body 110 is generally used in an environment higher than room temperature and lower than the average atmospheric pressure during the decompression and drying process of the substrate G, that is, in a physically and chemically poor environment, the moving body 110 has some degree of heat resistance, durability, and corrosion resistance. It is preferably made of a material that can be. In addition, unlike the case of Figure 1 corresponding to the prior art, the vacuum decompression drying apparatus 100 according to an embodiment of the present invention is a vacuum drying chamber on the side of the fixed body 130, not the side of the moving body 110 It is preferable that a side wall 130a is formed to form 101, which means that the robot arm or transfer does not allow the substrate G to move to the moving body 110 but to the moving body 110. This is to reduce the driving power of the driving unit M by reducing the weight of the moving body 110 because it does not cause structural interference in the transfer process of the substrate (G).

The substrate shuttle 120 is provided on both sides of the lower end of the moving body 110 and is a component that horizontally receives the substrate G from the robot arm or transfer and supports the substrate G upwardly. The substrate shuttle 120 includes a bending holder 121 capable of supporting both edges of the substrate G upwardly from the bottom, and a connection portion 122 connecting the bending holder 121 to the lower portion of the moving body 110. do. An interval of each substrate shuttle 120 provided on both lower sides of the moving body 110 may be smaller than at least the size of the substrate G so as to support the substrate G upwardly. However, if the size of the substrate G to be transferred is not constant according to the process as the screen sizes of the liquid crystal display LEDs vary, the slides or slides may face each substrate shuttle 120 in a direction facing each other. It can also be configured to shift by adjusting the interval.

Meanwhile, in the substrate shuttle 120, the length of the connection part 122 connecting the bending holder 121 has an important technical feature. That is, in order to allow the moving body 110 and the fixed body 130 to be coupled and at the same time the substrate G mounted on the substrate shuttle 120 can be transferred to the support pin 131, as shown in FIG. 4. When the body 110 and the fixed body 130 is coupled, it is preferable to set the length of the connection part 122 such that the bending holder 121 is positioned at a lower position than the upper tip 131a of the support pin 131. Therefore, when the moving body 110 descends and the substrate G contacts the support pin 131, the substrate G is separated from the bending holder 121 and naturally placed on the support pin 131. As a result, the vacuum drying chamber 101 may be formed only by driving to lower the movable body 110 to couple the movable body 110 to the fixed body 130, and the substrate G may be seated on the support pin 131. It becomes possible.

The fixed body 130 is a component that forms a vacuum drying chamber 101 in combination with the moving body 110, and a plurality of support pins 131 are provided to support the substrate G upward therein. . Unlike the support pin 131 is moved through the fixed body in the prior art, in one embodiment of the present invention is provided in the fixed body 130 itself, it is necessary to form a through hole in the fixed body 130 There is no possibility that the pressure of the vacuum drying chamber 101 leaks or foreign matter enters through the through hole. In addition, since the vacuum drying chamber is operated at a pressure lower than atmospheric pressure and a temperature higher than room temperature, if a through hole is formed in the fixed body, there is a possibility of being vulnerable to stress fracture, but in one embodiment of the present invention, the fixed body ( Since it is not necessary to form the through hole in the 130, the durability of the fixing body 130 may be increased.

The fixed body 130 preferably has side walls 130a forming the vacuum drying chamber 101. As described above, when the side wall 130a is provided in the moving body 110, there is a risk of structurally obstructing the transfer of the robot arm or the substrate G of the transfer, and the weight of the moving body 110 is increased. This is because the load applied to the driving unit M is increased. In addition, an exhaust port 130b for sucking air in the vacuum drying chamber 101 may be formed at any point of the fixed body 130. The exhaust port 130b is connected to a pressure reducing unit 140 to be described later to reduce the pressure of the vacuum drying chamber 101. As such, the vacuum decompression drying apparatus 100 according to the exemplary embodiment does not intentionally form any passage except the exhaust port 130b, thereby preventing a pressure leak in the vacuum drying chamber 101 and preventing external foreign substances. Can block the inflow of

The support pin 131 formed on the fixed body 130 is a component that ultimately supports the substrate G received from the moving body 110 descending from the top. Since only the support pin 131 supports the substrate G after the moving body 110 and the fixed body 130 are coupled, the plurality of support pins 131 can stably support the substrate G upwardly. It must be properly arranged. However, since the substrate G has a larger area and a smaller thickness due to the development of advanced technology, if the number of the support pins 131 is too small, the bending stress is large on the substrate G. Bending deflection may occur, whereas if the number of the support pins 131 is too large, there may be a risk of scratching or deformation due to the contact between the substrate G and the support pins 131, as well as contact areas. Since there may be a problem such as deterioration of the process performance, the number of the support pins 131 is preferably set in consideration of such circumstances.

As described above in the technical configuration of the bending holder 121, the length of the support pin 131 is a support pin 121 is a support pin when the moving body 110 and the fixed body 130 is coupled as shown in FIG. It is preferably configured to be positioned lower than the position of the top tip 131a of 131. Therefore, when the substrate G contacts the support pin 131 while the moving body 110 descends, the substrate G may be separated from the bending holder 121 and naturally seated on the support pin 131.

Unlike the prior art, the support pin 131 is not configured to penetrate through the fixed body 130, but is preferably attached to the fixed body 130, but this is the support pin 131 is fixed on the fixed body 130. This does not mean that it must be attached so that it cannot be moved at all. In other words, the support pin 131 is mounted on the stationary body 130 to adjust the distance between the support pins 131 on the stationary body 130 or to configure an appropriate position of the support pin 131. Sliding or shifting does not interfere with the technical construction of the present invention. If the pressure in the vacuum drying chamber 101 is leaked to the outside or a through hole through which external materials may be introduced is not formed in the fixed body 130, the support pin 131 moves inside the vacuum drying chamber 101. Is as much as possible. Accordingly, the support pins 131 are fixed to be detachable so that the number of the support pins 131 can be adjusted according to the size of the substrate G to be supported upward or by the conditions such as compliance. Attaching to the body 130, or in order to adjust the distance between the support pins 131, attaching the support pin 131 to the fixed body 130 to be able to slide (Slide) or shift (Shift), It is naturally included in the scope of the present invention.

The decompression unit 140 is a component that depressurizes the vacuum drying chamber 101 by sucking air in the vacuum drying chamber 101 through an exhaust port formed in the fixed body 130 or the moving body 110. The pressure reduction unit 140 may be configured with a vacuum valve 141 connected to the exhaust port to open and close the air passage and a vacuum pump 142 generating a pressure reduction suction force.

Hereinafter, the vacuum pressure drying method S100 according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described with the operation of the vacuum pressure drying device 100 described above.

5 is a flowchart sequentially showing a vacuum vacuum drying method according to an embodiment of the present invention.

As shown in FIG. 5, the vacuum decompression drying method S100 according to an embodiment of the present invention includes a preparation for preparing a fixed body 130 having a support pin 131 capable of supporting the substrate G. The first step (S110), the second step (S120) for receiving the substrate (G) is mounted on the moving body 110, and moving the moving body 110 to combine with the fixed body 130 and the moving body Decompressing and drying the vacuum drying chamber 101 formed by the combination of the moving body 110 and the fixed body 130 and the third step (S130) for transferring the substrate (G) mounted on the support pin 131 It may be configured as a fourth step (S140) to dry.

The fixed body 130 in the first step (S110) refers to the fixed body 130 of the vacuum reduced pressure drying apparatus 100 according to an embodiment of the present invention. Therefore, a plurality of support pins 131 are provided on the fixed body 130, and through-holes through which internal pressure may leak or foreign substances may be introduced except for the exhaust port, are not intentionally formed. .

The second step S120 refers to a step of mounting the substrate G transferred in the horizontal direction from the robot arm or the transfer to the bending holder 121 of the substrate shuttle 120. In this case, the robot arm or the transfer only needs to be driven in one direction (horizontal direction), and since the transfer of the substrate G in the vertical direction is made according to the movement of the moving body 110, the robot arm or the transfer There is an advantage that the configuration for driving of the device becomes simple.

In the third step S130, the moving body 110 on which the substrate G is mounted is lowered by the driving unit M, thereby combining the moving body 110 and the fixed body 130, and also attaching the substrate G. The transport and seating functions on the support pins 131 may be simultaneously performed. More specifically, when the moving body 110 descends and the position of the bending holder 121 reaches the same height as the top tip 131a of the support pin 131, the substrate G contacts the support pin 131. When the moving body 110 is further lowered, the substrate G is separated from the bending holder 121 and is supported upward in a floating form by the support pin 131. As a result, the movable body 110 is combined with the fixed body 130 to form a vacuum drying chamber 101 sealed therein, and at the same time, the substrate G is seated on the support pin 131. Therefore, the result of the formation of the vacuum drying chamber 101 and the seating on the support pin 131 of the substrate G is simultaneously obtained by only one process of lowering the moving body 110. Compared to the process and the process for mounting the substrate by the support pin is raised separately, the process is simplified.

The fourth step (S140) operates the vacuum pump 142 to suck the air in the vacuum drying chamber 101 through the exhaust port and the vacuum valve 141 to depressurize the vacuum drying chamber 101.

According to the vacuum drying decompression method (S100) according to an embodiment of the present invention as described above, the process of moving the support pins 131 separately in order to seat the substrate (G) on the support pins 131 becomes unnecessary, the process Simplification of cost reduction and efficiency increase are possible.

In the above described exemplary embodiments of the present invention by way of example, the scope of the present invention is not limited to the specific embodiments as described above, by those of ordinary skill in the art to which the present invention belongs It is possible to change as appropriate within the scope described in the claims.

1 is a cross-sectional view showing a cross section of a vacuum vacuum drying apparatus according to the prior art.

2 is a cross-sectional view showing a cross section of the vacuum reduced-pressure drying apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

3 is a conceptual diagram illustrating a concept in which a substrate is mounted on a moving body provided in the vacuum vacuum drying apparatus of FIG. 2 and the moving body descends.

Figure 4 is a cross-sectional view showing that the substrate is seated on the support pin while the moving body and the fixed body of the vacuum vacuum drying apparatus of FIG.

5 is a flowchart sequentially showing a vacuum vacuum drying method according to an embodiment of the present invention.

<Description of Symbols for Main Parts of Drawings>

110: moving body 120: substrate shuttle

121: bending holder 122: connection portion

130: fixed body 131: support pin

131a: upper tip of the support pin 131b: exhaust port

141: vacuum valve 142: vacuum pump

Claims (10)

A fixed body having a support pin capable of supporting the substrate; A moving body coupled to the fixed body to form a vacuum drying chamber therein; A vacuum pump for depressurizing the vacuum drying chamber through an exhaust port formed in the vacuum drying chamber; Including, The moving body is coupled to the fixed body by moving in the state of mounting the substrate and the vacuum reduced-pressure drying apparatus, characterized in that for transferring the substrate to the support pin. The method of claim 1, The support pin is a vacuum reduced pressure drying apparatus, characterized in that fixedly attached on the fixed body. 3. The method of claim 2, And the movable body lowers the substrate on the support pin while lowering the upper portion of the fixed body. The method of claim 3, wherein The moving body is a vacuum reduced-pressure drying apparatus, characterized in that further comprising a substrate shuttle for passing the substrate to the support pin through the substrate. The method of claim 4, wherein The substrate shuttle, A bending holder configured to be bent to support a lower portion at the edge of the substrate; A connecting portion connecting the bending holder to the moving body; Vacuum reduced pressure drying apparatus characterized in that it comprises a. The method of claim 5, The moving body receives the substrate from the horizontal direction and is mounted on the bending holder, the vacuum pressure drying device, characterized in that descending in the vertical direction to lower the substrate on the support pin. The method of claim 6, According to the lowering of the moving body, the substrate is vacuum decompression drying apparatus, characterized in that configured to be separated from the bending holder and placed on the support pin. The method of claim 7, wherein When the movable body and the fixed body is coupled, the bending holder is lower than the upper end of the support pin, the vacuum reduced pressure drying apparatus, characterized in that. A first step of preparing a fixed body having a support pin for supporting the substrate; A second step of receiving the substrate and placing the substrate on a moving body; Moving the movable body to engage with the fixed body and transferring the substrate mounted on the movable body to the support pin of the fixed body; A fourth step of depressurizing and drying the vacuum drying chamber formed by combining the movable body and the fixed body; Vacuum reduced pressure drying method characterized in that it comprises a. The method of claim 9, The third step is a vacuum reduced-pressure drying method comprising the step of separating the substrate from the moving body and seated on the support pin in accordance with the lowering of the moving body.

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