TWM465965U - Treatment equipment having quantitative loading device - Google Patents

Abstract

Dosing device (1) comprises: an accumulator (2) with an inlet (3) and an outlet (4); at least one supply line (5) opening into the accumulator; a weighing device for the accumulator; a flow measuring unit arranged downstream of the outlet; at least one controllable outlet valve; and a discharge line. The accumulator comprises an inlet for pressurized gas and the outlet is arranged in a bottom portion of the accumulator. Independent claims are also included for: (1) a treatment station for wet chemical treatment of workpieces using a treatment medium having at least one liquid component, comprising a treatment tank, a medium supply line, which terminates in the treatment tank, and at least one dosing device with at least one supply line and a discharge line, where the supply line is fed using a corresponding component supply line, and the discharge line opens in the medium supply line; (2) a treatment plant for wet-chemical treatment of workpieces, comprising at least one treatment station; and (3) providing the liquid component within the framework for the wet-chemical treatment of workpieces to be used, using the above dosing device, comprising (a) supplying the component into the accumulator using the supply line, (b) at least partially filling the accumulator with the component, (c) supplying a stationary gas above the component at the residual volume of the accumulator, under pressure, (d) degassing and soothing the component present in the accumulator, (e) determining the amount of the component present in the accumulator, (f) opening an outlet valve and detecting the amount of component flowing under pressure from the accumulator via the outlet valve and the subsequent discharge passage using flow measuring device, (g) closing the outlet valve, when the amount has flowed equal to a preset target amount, (h) determining the quantity of the component present in the accumulator, calculating the difference of the amount present in the accumulator before opening of the outlet valve, and comparing the difference with the preset target amount, where a deviation between the calculated difference and the target amount generates an error signal.

Description

Processing device with dosing device

This creation is about the field of processing equipment. In particular, the present invention relates to the field of processing equipment for wet chemical treatment of workpieces by means of liquid components in the case of using a dosing device.

For example, the manufacture of articles such as solar cells or semiconductor components typically involves the use of stripping (eg, etching), surface modification (eg, doping), cladding (eg, metallization), or cleaning (eg, rinsing) of the substrate. A plurality of wet chemical processing steps, the substrate typically comprising or consisting of tantalum, glass, ceramic, epoxy or plastic. Since in most cases, a plurality of such wet chemical processing steps are continuous, the related equipment provided on the market has at least one, but mostly a plurality of continuous wet chemical processing stations, hereinafter also referred to as For "station". The items to be processed are transported from one station to the next in a batch (batch) or continuous (in-line) manner. For economic reasons, today's stations have been standardized as much as possible in terms of their size so that they can be replaced in a simple manner when a station fails or a new process is to be built. Wet chemical treatment is usually carried out in a treatment tank assigned to the station. The applicant also sells such processing equipment under the name "NIAK".

Of course, each wet chemical processing station of such equipment must obtain a supply of one or more media such as (deionized) water, etching solution (acid or hydrazine), electrolyte, and the like. For this purpose it is necessary to complete the mixing of the treatment medium or The ingredients themselves are delivered to the pool in the correct amount. Therefore, high formulation accuracy is indispensable for stable and good processing results.

To this end, the component supply conduit guiding the liquid component (hereinafter also referred to as "liquid") is connected to a so-called dosing device. The amount of liquid to be output is usually determined by means of a separate control device.

Typically, each processing station also has a special dosing device, control device or the like for the medium or components of the medium. As a result, such stations contain a plurality of dosing devices along with fluid conduits that are typically laid and joined "as needed", respectively. In order to be connected to the central component supply, an undefined area is vacated on the lower, rear and/or upper side of the station. Accordingly, when assembling devices consisting of individual stations, the connection of each station must be considered separately, which is not only time consuming, but also a source of connection errors.

Typically, some or all of the ingredients or handling elements of the station must be replaced, for example for maintenance purposes. Sometimes it is necessary to clean or even change the fluid piping, valves, etc. of the medium in order to change the medium. This means that at least the entire station, and possibly even the entire equipment, must be shut down for a long time, since usually the fluid components that are present in large quantities must all be dismantled separately and maintained separately. Again, this also applies to electronic components such as sensors or indicator meters.

Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide an apparatus that avoids the disadvantages of the prior art.

In particular, the present creation should provide a processing apparatus that reduces the number of dosing devices necessary for wet chemical treatment with different liquids.

The purpose of this creation can be achieved by using the processing equipment described in claim 1 or 2. Further advantageous embodiments can be derived from the description and the figures.

The present disclosure discloses a processing apparatus having a processing tank that can be fed via a media supply conduit for wet chemical processing of the workpiece by means of a processing medium. The treatment medium has at least one, but usually has a plurality of liquid components. The processing apparatus also includes at least one dosing device having a separate outlet conduit.

According to the present creation, each liquid component necessary for processing within the entire apparatus is assigned to a separate dosing device. This means that such a device no longer has a preferred dosing device assigned to the individual treatment stations, but instead dispenses each liquid component to be used within the device by means of a separate dosing device. This makes it possible to significantly reduce the number of necessary dosing devices, in particular in the case where the number of liquid components to be supplied in a large number of cells is clear, compared to the previously described devices.

Thus, nevertheless, the appropriate type and amount of ingredients can be dispensed into the various processing pools via the dosing device assigned to the device (rather than to the individual processing stations), according to a first embodiment of the present invention, Each of the outlet conduits of the dosing device is connected to the media supply conduit of the treatment tank via a controllable switching valve. Therefore, it is possible to control separately Which component is dispensed into which processing pool of the device.

According to an alternative embodiment, the device does not have a switching valve, but each outlet conduit leads to each treatment tank and has a selector valve that is controllable and only in one component The selector valve is only opened when it is sent to the processing cell. Here, the dispensing amount of the ingredients is determined by a dosing device belonging to the ingredient, and the position is determined via a corresponding selection valve.

Particularly preferably, the component(s) and the medium supply line of such a processing device are terminated in the receptacle of the inlet and outlet conduits of the dosing device that leads to the quick interface. In other words, the processing device can be connected to one or more dosing devices by means of a corresponding quick interface already mentioned above.

It is also particularly preferred for the processing device to have at least one recess for at least one dosing device which is embodied as a dosing module, into which the dosing device can be inserted. This means that the processing device is suitable for accommodating a standardized ingredient module that can be inserted into the device, so that in particular when the quick interface described above is provided, the ingredient module can be replaced in an extremely time-saving manner. In addition to the geometry, such a standard can also relate in particular to connection points for fluid, electrical or other interfaces.

Preferably, the processing device is divided into one or more processing stations. Such a processing station performs a wet chemical treatment of the workpiece by means of a treatment medium having at least one liquid component. Such a station includes a processing tank containing a processing medium, a medium supply conduit terminating in the processing pool, and at least one quantitative addition Material device. Preferably, the dosing device has at least one inlet conduit and outlet conduit. At least one inlet conduit of the dosing device can be fed by means of a respective component supply line, and the outlet line of the dosing device is passed into the medium supply line. Because the processing station includes only one processing cell, the processing station is used to perform processing steps (eg, etching or cleaning of the workpiece).

The ingredient supply line is used to provide a liquid component which should be fed into the treatment tank of the treatment station by means of a dosing device.

Since the outlet conduit of the dosing device is passed into the medium supply conduit, one or (when a plurality of dosing devices are present) the various components are mixed into the treatment tank in a formulation-accurate manner, wherein the media supply conduit itself terminates in the treatment In the pool. Alternatively, it is also possible to mix (and thus mix) into a common mixing line connected to all dosing devices, which itself terminates in the tank. Finally, it is also possible for each dosing device to have a plurality of outlet pipes and to pass to separate pools. Here, each dosing device has a corresponding number of discharge valves and/or has additional valves placed directly before the outlet of the tank.

Furthermore, it is particularly preferred to configure the dosing device as a dosing module, since a plurality of the dosing modules can be provided, so that the dosing module can be replaced without taking a lot of time. Another advantage is that this optimized module has a small structural size and a more compact structural shape. This has a positive impact on the exhaust problem present in wet chemical equipment, as the more compact and preferably encapsulated (closed) modules provide less gas that would condense in the equipment and typically have etchability. The role of the face.

According to a preferred embodiment, the treatment device has a dosing device as described in detail below.

Such a dosing device comprises a reservoir having (at least one) inlet and (at least one) outlet, at least one introduction conduit for the medium or a component of the medium, into the reservoir, for storage contents The weighing device, the flow measuring device disposed downstream of the outlet, the at least one controllable discharge valve, and the outlet conduit. Furthermore, the reservoir has an inflow opening for a preferably inert compressed gas, and the outlet is arranged in a lower region of the reservoir.

The reservoir is an intermediate reservoir as a liquid component that can flow from the external storage container into the reservoir via the introduction conduit. Preferably, the main stop valve is located in the region of the inlet. In addition, another function of the reservoir is to calm the liquid components flowing into it.

A weighing device is used to determine the amount of ingredients contained in the reservoir. The weighing device subtracts the net weight of the reservoir from its measured weight. The resulting difference is the weight of the ingredients contained in the reservoir.

The flow measuring device is capable of measuring the amount of ingredients leaving the reservoir. Preferably, the device has a density and temperature compensator to achieve as accurate an measurement as possible.

The function of the at least one discharge valve is to control the contents of a portion of the discharge reservoir. The discharge valve is arranged downstream of the reservoir and is therefore located before or preferably after the flow measuring device.

This dosing device has the following advantages: the dosing device The magnitude measured by the flow measuring device can be controlled in a simple manner by redetermining the amount contained therein after the liquid is withdrawn. If the values are inconsistent, it means that there is a measurement error, and in the simplest case, the measurement error is displayed via the warning light, so that the corresponding measure can be activated. As long as the insufficient processing results are derived from the ingredient measurement error, there is no need for time-consuming lookup errors. In fact, this error can be seen long before the incomplete processing results appear, which not only saves time, but also helps to avoid the costly waste.

As described above, the processing apparatus of the present invention is capable of reducing the number of dosing devices required for wet chemical treatment with different liquids, particularly in the case where the number of liquid components to be supplied in a large number of pools is clear.

Figure 1 shows schematically a processing device 14, which comprises a row of processing cells 15. Furthermore, the treatment device has two dosing devices 1, 1'. The processing tank 15 is capable of obtaining a supply of the processing medium B via the medium supply conduit 16. The treatment medium consists of a plurality of ingredients F that remain in separate tanks 16. Each tank is fluidly connected via a component supply line 19 to a metering device 1, 1 ' provided for a corresponding liquid component F. Therefore, each liquid component F necessary for processing in the entire range of the apparatus 14 is distributed to a single dosing device 1, 1'.

Each dosing device 1, 1' has a separate outlet conduit 10, 10'. Furthermore, each of the dosing devices 1, 1' derives a conduit 10, 10' is connected to the medium supply conduit of the treatment tank via a controllable switching valve 17. This allows the amount of specific components in a particular processing pool of the device to be individually controlled. The central controller of the device 14 is not shown, the central controller must be connected to a controllable switching valve 17, and the central controller controls the local evaluation and control device of the dosing device 1, 1 ' ( Not shown), enabling the dosing device to dispense a desired amount of the desired liquid component F to the outlet conduit 10, 10'.

An alternative embodiment of the processing device 14 described above is shown in FIG. For the sake of visibility, the features already described are not described here. In contrast to the above-described embodiment, the device 14 shown here does not have a controllable switching valve, but each of the outlet ducts 10, 10' leads to each treatment tank 15 and has a selector valve 9' (Only the left side of the figure is provided with reference numerals). The selector valve is controllable and the selector valve is only opened when a component F" should be fed into the treatment tank 15. Here, the amount is determined via the dosing device 1, 1 ' belonging to component F. And the position (and thus the pool) is determined via the respective selector valve 9'. Also not shown is the controller of the upper stage and the control line, which in this case must also reach the selector valve 9'. One possible way is to dispense with the discharge valve (not shown) of the dosing device 1, 1 ', since the function of the discharge valve is borne by the selector valve 9'.

A preferred dosing device 1 is shown in accordance with FIG. 3, the reservoir 2 having an inlet 3 and an outlet 4. The liquid component F to be dispensed can flow into the reservoir 2 through the inlet 3 via the inlet duct 5. For this purpose, a (main) shut-off valve 6 must be opened for access.

The reservoir 2 is connected to a weighing device 7 which is capable of measuring the weight of the liquid component F' of the reservoir 1 contained in the reservoir. The device is a spring balance in Figure 1.

The bubbles (without reference numerals) present in the liquid F' can rise (small arrows) and accumulate in the upper region 2' of the reservoir 2. Thus, the bubbles are automatically remote from the outlet 4, which is arranged in the lower region 2" of the reservoir 2 which is as free of air bubbles as possible.

The outlet 4 leads to a flow measuring device 8 which is capable of determining the amount of liquid component flow (or a value associated therewith, such as a flow rate). The component F" thus dispensed leaves the dosing device 1 via the discharge valve 9 via the outlet conduit 10.

Furthermore, the reservoir 2 has an inflow opening 11 for the compressed gas G in its upper region 2'. The compressed gas G is preferably supplied via a pressure equalization section 12 for adjusting the compressed gas G. The components of the reservoir, in particular the inflow valve, are not shown for reasons of visibility.

The elements of the dosing device 1 are controlled via an evaluation and control unit 13, which is connected to the shut-off valve 6, the weighing device 7, the flow measuring device 8 and the discharge valve 9 via a control line (dashed line, without reference numerals) . The evaluation and control unit 13 is preferably controllable by a control unit (always not shown) assigned to the processing device of the previous stage.

1,1'‧‧‧Quantum feeding device

2‧‧‧Storage

2’‧‧‧ upper area

2"‧‧‧ Lower area

3‧‧‧ entrance

4‧‧‧Export

5‧‧‧Introduction of pipeline

6‧‧‧Shutdown valve

7‧‧‧Weighing device

8‧‧‧Flow measuring device

9‧‧‧ discharge valve

9’‧‧‧Selection valve

10,10’‧‧‧Export pipeline

11‧‧‧Inlet

12‧‧‧pressure section

13‧‧‧Evaluation and Control Unit

14‧‧‧Processing equipment, equipment

15‧‧‧Processing pool

16‧‧‧ cans

17‧‧‧Controllable switching valve

18‧‧‧Component supply pipeline

19‧‧‧Media supply pipeline

F‧‧‧liquid components

F’‧‧‧ contained in the reservoir / remaining components, storage contents

F"‧‧‧Distributed ingredients, outflows

G‧‧‧Compressed gas, gas

B‧‧‧Processing media

Figure 1 shows a processing apparatus having a plurality of batching modules.

Figure 2 shows an alternative processing device having multiple batching modules.

Figure 3 shows a particularly preferred embodiment of the dosing device.

1,1'‧‧‧Quantum feeding device

10,10’‧‧‧Export pipeline

14‧‧‧Processing equipment, equipment

15‧‧‧Processing pool

16‧‧‧ cans

17‧‧‧Controllable switching valve

18‧‧‧Component supply pipeline

19‧‧‧Media supply pipeline

F‧‧‧liquid components

B‧‧‧Processing media

Claims (8)

A processing apparatus (14) having: a treatment tank (15) capable of being fed via a medium supply conduit (19) for wet chemical treatment of the workpiece by means of a treatment medium (B), the treatment medium (B) having at least a liquid component (F); at least one dosing device (1, 1 ') having a separate outlet conduit (10, 10'), wherein each liquid component required for processing is carried out over the entire range of equipment (14) (F) are assigned to a separate dosing device (1, 1 '), and wherein each of the outlet pipes (10, 10') is via the controllable switching valve (17) to the process cell (15) The medium supply pipe (19) is connected. The processing apparatus (14) of claim 1, wherein the one or more components of the processing apparatus (14) and the medium supply conduit (18, 19) terminate in one or more of the dosing devices (1,1') leads to the receptacle of the export duct (10, 10') of the quick interface. The processing device (14) of claim 1, wherein the processing device (14) has at least one groove for at least one dosing device (1, 1' configured as a batching module) The dosing device (1, 1 ') can be inserted into the recess. The processing apparatus (14) according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the processing apparatus (14) has: a dosing device (1, 1 ') for providing a workpiece to be a liquid component (F) used in the range of wet chemical treatment, wherein The dosing device (1, 1 ') comprises a reservoir (2) having an inlet (3) and an outlet (4); at least one introduction conduit (5) leading into the reservoir (2); for use in the reservoir a weighing device (7) containing a substance (F'); a flow measuring device (8) disposed downstream of the outlet (4); at least one discharge valve (9) capable of being controlled; and an outlet pipe (10, 10') Wherein the reservoir (2) has an inflow port (11) for compressing the gas (G), and the outlet (4) is disposed in a lower region (2") of the reservoir (2). A processing apparatus (14) having: a treatment tank (15) capable of being fed via a medium supply conduit (19) for wet chemical treatment of the workpiece by means of a treatment medium (B), the treatment medium (B) having At least one liquid component (F); at least one dosing device (1, 1 ') having a separate outlet conduit (10, 10'), wherein each liquid liquid required for processing within the entire device (14) The ingredients (F) are all assigned to a separate dosing device (1, 1 '), wherein each of the outlet pipes (10, 10') opens into each treatment tank (15) and has a selector valve (9' ). The processing apparatus (14) of claim 5, wherein the one or more components of the processing apparatus (14) and the medium supply conduit (18, 19) terminate in one or more of the dosing devices (1,1') leads to the receptacle of the export duct (10, 10') of the quick interface. a processing device (14) according to claim 5, wherein The processing device (14) has at least one recess for at least one dosing device (1, 1 ') configured as a dosing module into which the dosing device (1, 1 ') can be inserted In the groove. The processing apparatus (14) according to any one of claims 5 to 7, wherein the processing apparatus (14) has: a dosing device (1, 1 ') for providing a workpiece to be a liquid component (F) used in the range of wet chemical treatment, wherein the dosing device (1, 1 ') comprises a reservoir (2) having an inlet (3) and an outlet (4); at least one is connected to the storage a introducing pipe (5) in the device (2); a weighing device (7) for the storage contents (F'); a flow measuring device (8) disposed downstream of the outlet (4); at least one capable of a controlled discharge valve (9); and an outlet conduit (10, 10'), wherein the reservoir (2) has an inlet (11) for compressing the gas (G), and the outlet (4) is disposed in the storage In the lower area (2") of the device (2).