TWI398615B - Heat treatment apparatus - Google Patents

Description

Heat treatment device

The present invention relates to a heat treatment apparatus for a monolithic cleaning furnace or the like used for the production of a liquid crystal color filter, and more particularly to a heat treatment apparatus for making the pressure in the furnace negative under the furnace.

In a heat treatment apparatus such as a one-piece cleaning furnace, a part of the treatment film on the surface of the substrate to be heated which is heated in the furnace is partially vaporized to generate a gas containing a vaporized substance. When the gas leaks out of the furnace, the vaporized material is precipitated as a sublimate due to a decrease in temperature, which may contaminate the external environment.

Therefore, in the prior art heat treatment apparatus, the pressure in the furnace is made negative to the outside of the furnace, so that the gas in the furnace does not leak out of the furnace.

In addition, a catalyst wall is provided on the most downstream side of the hot air flow path in the furnace to promote oxidative decomposition of the gas generated from the processing substrate, thereby suppressing the occurrence of the sublimate. (For example, refer to Patent Document 1).

In addition, a heat treatment device for arranging an exhaust pipe below the opening in the furnace and sucking the gas in the furnace through a suction hole provided in the upper surface of the exhaust pipe (see, for example, Patent Document 2).

[Previous Technical Literature] [Patent Literature]

[Patent Document 1] Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 2006-17357

[Patent Document 2] Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 2008-96003

However, when the processing substrate in the furnace is carried in and out, when the opening of the opening is opened, the low-temperature ambient gas outside the furnace flows into the furnace, and the sublimate adheres to the inner side of the door. Then, the sublimate falling from the inner side of the door may cause staining of the processed substrate to be carried in/out.

In the heat treatment apparatus described in Patent Document 1, it is not considered that when the opening portion is opened, the low-temperature ambient gas flows into the furnace, causing the sublimate to adhere to the inner side surface of the door, and cannot be prevented from being inside the door. The sublimate falling from the side causes the substrate to be stained. Further, in the heat treatment apparatus described in Patent Document 2, it is necessary to have a post-treatment for removing the sublimate from the gas after the suction, and at the same time, it is possible to increase the temperature in the furnace which is lowered by the suction, thereby causing the running cost. increase.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to provide a heat treatment apparatus which does not require the addition of complicated post-processing such as a cleaning operation in a furnace, and which does not cause an increase in running cost, and can suppress an inflow of a low-temperature environmental gas when the opening portion is opened. The sublimate is attached to the inner side of the door, and the contamination of the substrate can be prevented in advance.

The heat treatment apparatus of the present invention is provided with a furnace, a door, and a heater. The furnace has an opening that allows the processing substrate to be carried in and out. The door is used to open and close the opening. The heater is disposed at the door to heat the door at least when the opening is open.

According to this configuration, when the processing substrate is carried in and out of the furnace, at least the shutter that opens the opening and the ambient gas around the inner side surface of the shutter are heated by the heater. Even if the ambient gas outside the furnace flows into the furnace through the open opening, the temperature of the wall surface or the ambient gas near the opening in the furnace is not drastically lowered, and the occurrence of the sublimate can be suppressed. The sublimate is attached to the inside of the door. Further, since the temperature in the furnace is suppressed by the driving of the heater, the driving cost of the heater is used to maintain the processing temperature in the furnace. Therefore, the driving cost of the heater provided at the door and the driving cost of the means for supplying the warm air into the furnace are offset, and when compared with the case where the door is not provided with a heater, The operating cost of maintaining the furnace temperature at a predetermined processing temperature does not increase significantly.

Such a structure is suitable for use in a case where a pressure adjusting portion that makes a negative pressure outside the furnace is provided. In a device equipped with a pressure adjusting portion for preventing contamination of the sublimate caused by the ambient gas in the furnace, the external gas easily flows from outside the furnace due to the pressure difference between the inside and outside of the furnace being opened at the opening. In the furnace, by having the above-described structure, it is possible to suppress the occurrence of sublimate in the vicinity of the opening in the furnace, and it is possible to prevent the sublimate from adhering to the inner side surface of the door.

Further, when the shutter is constituted by a plurality of shutter members and each of the openings is selectively opened and closed, it is preferable that the heaters are independently disposed in each of the plurality of shutter members, and the heater is used. At least the inner side surface of the shutter member that opens a portion of the opening is heated. The inner side surfaces of the plurality of door members can be individually heated, and the external air flowing into the furnace from the open portion can be surely heated while the substrate is being loaded/removed.

According to the present invention, the addition of the treatment after the complicated operation is not caused, and the increase in the running cost is not caused, and when the opening portion is opened, the inflow of the ambient gas due to the low temperature can be prevented from causing the sublimate to adhere to the inner side surface of the shutter. It is also possible to prevent the contamination of the substrate from being treated in advance.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS Fig. 1 is a side cross-sectional view showing a heat treatment apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. The heat treatment apparatus 10 heats the processing substrate 100 accommodated in a plurality of sheets in the furnace 11 of the furnace 1 at a predetermined processing temperature for a predetermined period of time. The furnace 1 is formed with an opening portion 12 at the front. A plurality of shutter members 2 are disposed in the entire opening portion 12. The plurality of shutter members 2 constitute a sliding door as a door of the present invention. Each of the shutter members 2 is freely movable in the vertical direction on the front surface side of the opening portion 12. Among the plurality of shutter members 2, the upper door member 2 is moved upward by the position at which the processing substrate 100 is loaded/unloaded in the furnace 11, and one portion of the opening portion 12 is opened. .

The robot device 200 is disposed on the front side of the furnace 1. The robot apparatus 200 carries in and out the position of the processing substrate 100 in the predetermined up-down direction of the furnace interior 11.

A hot air circulation device 3 is disposed in the furnace 1. The hot air circulation device 3 heats the ambient gas in the furnace 11 and supplies it to the furnace 11 so that the temperature in the furnace 11 can be maintained at a predetermined processing temperature. The hot air circulation device 3 also serves as the pressure adjusting portion of the present invention for maintaining the furnace 11 at a slightly negative pressure outside the furnace.

When the processing substrate such as the glass substrate coated with the treatment film is heated in the furnace 11, a part of the substance constituting the treatment film is sublimated and contained in the atmosphere of the furnace 11. When the inside of the furnace 11 is equal pressure or positive pressure outside the furnace, when the processing substrate is carried in/out and the opening portion 12 is opened, the sublimate in the ambient gas in the furnace 11 leaks out of the furnace, which is decontaminated as cleaning. Ambient gas outside the furnace.

Therefore, by maintaining the inside of the furnace 11 to a slightly negative pressure outside the furnace, even when the opening portion 12 is opened, the ambient gas in the furnace 11 containing the sublimate does not leak out of the furnace.

Fig. 2 is a perspective view of the door member (the inner side of the furnace) of the door member used in the heat treatment apparatus. A heater 4 is attached to the back surface of each of the plurality of shutter members 2. The heater 4 is constructed by covering the both surfaces of the insulating plate 42 in which the heating wire 41 is embedded or mounted by using the heat-resistant insulating materials 43, 44 of mica or the like. The heater 4 is fixed to the back surface of the shutter member 2 by, for example, a screw.

The heater 4 is not particularly required to have a complicated control means as long as it has a capacity capable of generating heat to a temperature of, for example, about 150 °C. However, it is also possible to control the door member 2 that selectively drives only the loading/unloading position of the upper and lower gusset processing substrates 100 (see FIG. 1) under the condition that the responsiveness of the heater 4 is sufficiently fast. Heater 4. Even in such a case, the electric power required for heating the entire heat treatment apparatus 10 does not largely change. By heating the furnace 11 by the driving of the heater 4, the amount of heat to be generated in the hot air circulation device 3 (refer to Fig. 1) can be reduced. Therefore, even if the heater 4 is driven, there is no significant increase in the running cost.

Further, the arrangement position of the heater 4 is not limited to the back surface of the shutter member 2. It can also be mounted in front of or inside the door member 2.

Fig. 3 is a cross-sectional view showing a main part of a processing substrate of a heat treatment apparatus when it is carried in and out. When loading and unloading the processing substrate 100 in the furnace 11, the upper door member 2 is moved upward at the storage position of the processing substrate 100 in the furnace 11 so that one of the openings 12 is carried in/ The exit 12A is open.

Since the inside of the furnace 11 is a negative pressure outside the furnace, when the loading/unloading port 12A is opened, the ambient gas outside the furnace flows into the furnace 11. When the ambient gas outside the furnace is compared with the ambient gas in the furnace 11, since it is relatively low temperature, the temperature of the ambient gas in the furnace 11 is lowered to 100 to 150 ° C near the loading/unloading port 12A. The situation.

When the temperature of the ambient gas in the furnace 11 is lowered, the substance vaporized from the treatment film of the processing substrate 100 by the heat treatment is cooled and precipitated, and adheres to the inner side surface of the shutter member 2 as a sublimate substance ( back). The sublimate attached to the inner side surface of the shutter member 2 is dropped by the action of the vibration of the shutter member 2 during the upper and lower movements, and the processed substrate 100 that is carried in/out is contaminated.

Therefore, in the heat treatment apparatus 10 of the present invention, the shutter member 2 is heated by the heater 4. In this manner, the outside air that has flowed into the furnace 11 through the loading/unloading port 12A is heated, and the temperature in the vicinity of the loading/unloading port 12A of the furnace 11 is not lowered, and the substance vaporized from the processing membrane is not reduced. The sublimate will not adhere to the inside of the door 2.

Fig. 4 is a cross-sectional view showing a main part of a processing substrate in which a processing substrate is carried in and out. In the present embodiment, a micro heater (small-diameter sheathed heater) 104 is fixed to the back surface of the shutter 2 via the fixture 141. The microheater 104 has flexibility and can be easily disposed at a high density on the entire back surface of the shutter 2.

Further, when the microheater 104 is fixed to the back surface of the shutter 2, the fixture 141 does not have to be used. The microheater 104 is formed by sequentially covering the heating wire with an insulating material, a small-diameter SUS tube, or the like. Since it has flexibility and is easily processed into an arbitrary shape, it can be fixed to the back surface of the shutter 2 by any method.

Fig. 5 is a perspective view of the door member of the heat treatment apparatus according to still another embodiment of the present invention as seen from the back side. In the present embodiment, each of the shutter members 102 is constituted by a plurality of shutter pieces 121. The plurality of shutter pieces 121 are arranged to be aligned in the longitudinal direction of the shutter member 102. Even when a temperature difference occurs on the front side and the back side of the shutter member 102, the respective shutter pieces 121 can be displaced in the longitudinal direction to prevent the door member 102 from being bent.

In this case, the individual heaters 204 are fixed to the back surfaces of the respective shutter pieces 121. Even when the shutter piece 121 is displaced, the damage of the heater 204 can be prevented. Further, the power supply line can be easily configured by constituting each of the heaters 204 by a micro heater or a mica heater.

The description of the embodiments above is intended to be illustrative only and should not be taken as limiting. The scope of the present invention is not indicated by the above-described embodiments, but is expressed by the scope of the patent application. Further, the scope of the present invention includes all modifications that come within the meaning and scope of the claims.

For example, the present invention can be similarly applied to a heat treatment apparatus having a hinged door having a plurality of shutter members for freely rotating the upper end portion or the lower end portion in the hinge.

1. . . Furnace body

2. . . Door member

3. . . Hot air circulation device

4. . . Heater

10. . . Heat treatment device

11. . . In the furnace

12. . . Opening

12A. . . Move in/out

41. . . Heating line

42. . . Insulation board

43, 44. . . Insulation Materials

100. . . Processing substrate

102. . . Door member

104. . . Micro heater

121. . . Blocking door

141. . . Fixture

200. . . Robotic device

204. . . Heater

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS Fig. 1 is a side cross-sectional view showing a heat treatment apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Fig. 2 is a perspective view of the door member used in the heat treatment apparatus as seen from the back side.

Fig. 3 is a cross-sectional view showing a main part of the processing substrate of the heat treatment apparatus when it is carried in and out.

Fig. 4 is a cross-sectional view showing a main part of the processing substrate of the heat treatment apparatus when it is carried in and out.

Fig. 5 is a perspective view of the heat treatment device according to still another embodiment of the present invention as seen from the back side of the door member.

2. . . Door member

4. . . Heater

41. . . Heating line

42. . . Insulation board

43. . . Insulation Materials

44. . . Insulation Materials

Claims (5)

A heat treatment apparatus comprising: a furnace having an opening for loading and unloading a processing substrate; a shutter for opening and closing the opening; and a heater provided at the shutter at least when the opening is open The door is heated; the door is a plurality of door members that are disposed to be movable in the vertical direction, and is configured by a plurality of door members that selectively open and close one of the openings, the heater system Each of the plurality of door members is independently disposed. The heat treatment apparatus according to claim 1, wherein a pressure adjusting portion is included to make the inside of the furnace a negative pressure with respect to the outside of the furnace. The heat treatment apparatus according to claim 1 or 2, further comprising a driving unit for driving a heater disposed on the door member at least one of the plurality of opening members disposed in the plurality of shutter members. The heat treatment device according to claim 1 or 2, wherein each of the plurality of shutter members is arranged such that a plurality of shutter members are arranged in a longitudinal direction, and each of the plurality of shutter members is provided on the back side. Individual heaters. The heat treatment device of claim 3, wherein each of the plurality of door members is configured to extend a plurality of door pieces along a length In order to arrange the arrangement, each of the plurality of shutters is provided with an individual heater on the back side.