HK1070416B - High-speed dryer - Google Patents

Description

High-speed drying device

Technical Field

The present invention relates to a drying apparatus for drying a semifinished product washed with a nonvolatile liquid or a volatile liquid in a process of manufacturing a flat panel display, a liquid crystal display, a semiconductor device, or the like.

Background

Conventionally, in the semiconductor field, a semi-finished product is washed with a volatile liquid typified by an alcohol such as isopropyl alcohol and a nonvolatile liquid typified by water. As a method for drying these objects to be washed, high-purity gas drying typified by high-purity nitrogen gas, hot air drying, infrared ray or far infrared ray drying, vacuum drying, centrifugal drying (スピンドライ), or the like is used.

In any of these methods, it is difficult to avoid problems such as oxidation, thermal damage, and contamination of the surface of the object to be cleaned. In addition, there is a problem that the original cost or the running cost is too high.

In the drying method using hydrophilic isopropyl alcohol which is easily evaporated, it takes time to dry, and since the amount of isopropyl alcohol used is large, there is a problem of environmental pollution.

In the case of using heat, infrared rays or far infrared rays, the drying time is long and particles are easily attached. In this case, there is a problem that the surface oxidation is accelerated by the residual moisture on the surface to be washed.

The surface of the object to be washed cannot be completely dried by the centrifugal method, and moisture remains on the surface of the object to be washed, thereby accelerating the oxidation of the surface. In addition, the control device is also relatively complicated, and drying requires a long time.

In either case, a high-purity nitrogen gas is often used to prevent oxidation of the object to be cleaned, which, of course, increases the running cost. In addition, neither of them can solve the problem of the tendency of the size of the object to be washed to increase.

Disclosure of Invention

The object of the present invention is to provide a method for removing residual liquid from the surface of a body to be cleaned reliably and quickly. A high-speed drying apparatus which can effectively dry a substrate while preventing surface oxidation.

To achieve this, the residual cleaning liquid of the object to be cleaned is first removed to the extent that the surface of the object to be cleaned is not allowed to be oxidized by air due to its presence, and then the object to be cleaned is immediately placed in a super-drying apparatus to completely remove the residual cleaning liquid of the object to be cleaned.

In order to achieve the above object, a high-speed drying apparatus according to the present invention includes a super-drying chamber for drying an object to be washed with a nonvolatile liquid or a volatile liquid by blowing air while conveying the object along a conveying path; a drying air nozzle is arranged in the ultra-drying chamber and is vertical to the conveying direction of the object to be washed, and drying air is sprayed towards the surface of the object to be washed by the drying air nozzle in the vertical direction, so that ultra-drying environment air is kept without destroying the air balance in the ultra-drying chamber; the method is characterized in that: a residual liquid removing chamber configured to remove a residual liquid from a surface of the object to be washed by blowing air is disposed adjacent to the ultra-drying chamber upstream of the conveying path, the residual liquid removing chamber and the ultra-drying chamber being formed in an inner casing, and an outer casing surrounding the inner casing with a space; the transfer passage communicates the inner casing, the outer casing, the residual liquid removal chamber, and the super-drying chamber; an air nozzle for jetting air is arranged in the residual liquid removing chamber, the air nozzle of the residual liquid removing chamber inclines towards the input port to generate air flowing in the direction opposite to the conveying direction of the object to be washed, and the air from the residual liquid removing chamber is prevented from entering the adjacent super-drying chamber. Removing the residual washing liquid from the residual liquid removing chamber to a limit that does not allow the surface to be washed to be oxidized by air due to the presence thereof; next, the object to be washed is moved into an ultra-dry environment in the ultra-dry chamber, and the residual washing liquid in the object to be washed is completely removed. Thus, the object to be washed can be dried more quickly and at a lower running cost than any conventional method.

As an example, an air nozzle for ejecting air may be disposed in the residual liquid removing chamber, and a dry air nozzle for ejecting dry air may be disposed in the super-drying chamber. Since the ultra-dry air is used, the same or more drying effect as that of the high-purity nitrogen gas can be obtained. The use of the nozzles enables a desired drying effect to be achieved with relatively little air or dry air, and a plurality of nozzles can be easily arranged as required, and can be made to correspond to the size of the object to be washed as it becomes larger.

The air nozzle of the residual liquid removing chamber is inclined toward the input port to generate air components flowing in the direction opposite to the conveying direction of the object to be washed. The efficiency of cleaning solution removal is improved and air from the residual liquid removal chamber is prevented from intruding into the super-drying chamber. In the ultra-drying chamber, a drying air nozzle is arranged perpendicularly to the conveying direction of the object to be washed. To minimize disturbance of the internal atmosphere and to prevent outside air from entering the inside of the super-dry chamber from the environment around the drying device (in a clean state).

A pipeline for sucking used air from the residual liquid removing chamber is arranged in a space between the outer casing and the inner casing. The line is connected to an external suction pump.

An ion generator (イオナイザ -) is disposed at the output side of the super-drying chamber in the space between the outer casing and the inner casing. The object to be washed exposed to the jet of high-speed super-dry air in the super-dry chamber may be electrically charged by friction with air, and therefore, the charge is neutralized by ions.

In the residual liquid removing chamber, the air nozzle disposed in the residual liquid removing chamber is inclined by 15 DEG in the vertical plane toward the input port in the direction opposite to the conveying direction of the object to be washed, and is further inclined by 25 DEG to 45 DEG in the horizontal plane from the direction perpendicular to the conveying direction of the object to be washed, so that the air nozzle can effectively remove moisture from the surface of the object to be washed and can make the conveying air jet flow toward the input port on the opposite side of the ultra-drying chamber. Preventing intrusion into the ultra-dry chamber.

The high-speed drying apparatus and the washing apparatus can be connected by connecting the transport path for transporting the object to be washed to the washing apparatus.

Other objects and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the following description of the preferred embodiments of the invention.

Drawings

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a high-speed drying apparatus of the present invention.

Detailed Description

The following describes a high-speed drying apparatus for drying an object to be washed with water with reference to the drawings.

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a high-speed drying apparatus. Partially drawn in dashed lines to represent the interior. The high-speed drying device is configured in clean environment gas. In the figure, a residual liquid removal chamber 1 and a super-drying chamber 2 adjacent to the residual liquid removal chamber 1 are formed in an inner casing 3 (dashed-dotted line). The outer case 4 (chain line) surrounds the inner case 3 with a space 5. The conveying roller 6 for conveying the object P to be washed communicates with the inner casing 3, the outer casing 4, the residual liquid removing chamber 1, and the super-drying chamber 2.

The object P to be washed with the nonvolatile liquid or the volatile liquid is transported in the direction of the arrow by the transport roller 6, passes through an opening (not shown) provided in the outer casing 4 and the inner casing 3 and having a size allowing the object P to pass therethrough, and is then sent into the residual liquid removing chamber 1. The conveying roller 6 is rotatably supported by the support plate S. The transport rollers 6 may be disposed to face each other vertically with the object to be washed interposed therebetween.

In the residual liquid removing chamber 1, the residual liquid is removed by blowing air from the surface of the object P to be washed. As shown in the figure, air nozzles 7 for ejecting air are disposed vertically in the residual liquid removing chamber 1. The clean air is supplied to the buffer tank 8 through a high performance filter (not shown), and is supplied to the air nozzles 7 uniformly up and down after filling the buffer tank 8. In order not to complicate the drawing, only the upper and lower air nozzles 7 are shown, but a plurality of stages may be arranged in the conveying direction indicated by the arrow.

The air nozzle 7 of the residual liquid removing chamber 1 is inclined in the vertical plane toward the inlet (not shown) so as to generate an air component flowing in the direction opposite to the conveying direction of the object P to be washed. Such inclination is confirmed to have a great influence on the efficiency of removing the liquid from the surface of the object P to be washed. Repeated experiments confirmed that the most effective removal of liquid was at an angle of inclination of around 15 °.

Further, since the air nozzle 7 is provided perpendicular to the traveling direction of the object P to be cleaned, the inclination angle with respect to the traveling direction is gradually changed in the horizontal plane, and the influence of the inclination angle in the horizontal plane on the cleaning liquid removal can be also found. The effective tilt angle ranges from 25 to 45.

The air quantity of gaps for the water diversion device of the existing hot air drying device needs 1.5-3.0Nm for one gap³About/min; and the amount of air in the nozzle 7 is 0.2Nm³The washing liquid can be fully removed after about a minute.

The inlet of the residual liquid removing chamber 1 is formed to exactly match the size of the object P to be washed. To improve the sealing degree, prevent the invasion of the outside air as much as possible and ensure the inner clean air zone.

In the space 5 between the outer casing 4 and the inner casing 3, discharge ports 9 into which the used air from the residual liquid removing chamber 1 flows are arranged at the upper, lower, left and right corners of both side surfaces of the casing, and pipes from these discharge ports 9 are connected to an external suction pump. The internal pressure output side of the space 5 is higher than the input side so that the used wet air is exhausted to the space 5 without entering the super drying chamber 2.

The air nozzles 7 are also arranged in the super-drying chamber 2 so as to face each other with the object to be washed interposed therebetween. The dried air for the super-drying is supplied from a super-drying generator, for example, a compact air dryer (not shown) manufactured by synergetics chemical co-Ltd, a pressure-stabilizing box T is provided to moderate the pressure fluctuation thereof, and the dried air is supplied from a dry air inlet 10 through a duct from the pressure-stabilizing box T, stored in a buffer box 11, and uniformly supplied to the nozzles 7. The ultra-dry chamber 2 has a sealed structure for preventing the entry of outside air and blocking the outside air, and maintains the ultra-dry ambient air in the chamber by maintaining the ultra-dry air injected from the air nozzle 7 at a positive pressure.

In the super-dry ambient air, the object P to be washed from the residual liquid removing chamber 1 is exposed to the jet of super-dry air from the nozzle 7.

The nozzles 7 may be arranged in pairs below the transport path of the object P to be washed, but a plurality of stages of nozzles 7 may be arranged as necessary.

These nozzles 7 may be arranged perpendicularly to the conveying direction of the object P to be washed. If the air inside the super drying chamber 2 is slightly inclined from the vertical direction, the air balance is lost, and the super drying ambient air is not maintained because the outside air enters.

In the super-drying chamber 2, the object P to be washed can be dried with a small amount of dry air in a short time. The atmospheric dew point temperature of the super-dried air was about-80 ℃ and the water content was about 0.5 ppm. This moisture content is comparable to that of high-purity nitrogen (purity 99.999%).

The nozzles 7 may be arranged at 0.2-0.3 Nm/nozzle³The/min super-dry drying air can achieve sufficient effect. However, the conventional hot air drying device using the slit cannot be practically used because the required amount of air is too large.

An ion generator 12 is disposed on the output side of the super dry chamber 2 in the space 5 between the outer casing 4 and the inner casing 3. The object P to be washed is neutralized by static electricity generated on the surface by the ultra-dry air blowing and air friction.

In the conventional drying process of flat panel displays, liquid crystal devices, semiconductor devices, and the like, expensive nitrogen gas is used for preventing the formation of an oxide coating film by air oxidation, but in the high-speed drying apparatus of the present invention, the object to be cleaned from which the residual cleaning solution is removed is dried by spraying super-dry air for a short time to prevent air oxidation, and thus, a drying effect equal to or higher than that of high-purity nitrogen gas can be obtained.

Since the size of flat panel displays, liquid crystal devices, semiconductor devices, and the like has been increased, the conventional drying system has an excessively complicated structure and high running cost, and cannot be solved by drying such a large-sized device.

Claims (4)

1. A high-speed drying device is provided with a super-drying chamber for drying an object to be washed by a nonvolatile liquid or a volatile liquid by blowing air while conveying the object along a conveying path; a drying air nozzle is arranged in the ultra-drying chamber and is vertical to the conveying direction of the object to be washed, and drying air is sprayed towards the surface of the object to be washed by the drying air nozzle in the vertical direction, so that ultra-drying environment air is kept without destroying the air balance in the ultra-drying chamber; the method is characterized in that:

a residual liquid removing chamber configured to remove a residual liquid from a surface of the object to be washed by blowing air is disposed adjacent to the ultra-drying chamber upstream of the conveying path, the residual liquid removing chamber and the ultra-drying chamber being formed in an inner casing, and an outer casing surrounding the inner casing with a space; the transfer passage communicates the inner casing, the outer casing, the residual liquid removal chamber, and the super-drying chamber; an air nozzle for jetting air is arranged in the residual liquid removing chamber, the air nozzle of the residual liquid removing chamber inclines towards the input port to generate air flowing in the direction opposite to the conveying direction of the object to be washed, and the air from the residual liquid removing chamber is prevented from entering the adjacent super-drying chamber.

2. A high speed drying apparatus according to claim 1, wherein a pipeline for sucking used air from said residual liquid removing chamber is disposed in a space between said outer casing and said inner casing.

3. A high speed drying apparatus according to claim 1 or 2, wherein an ion generator is disposed at an output side of said ultra-drying chamber in a space between said outer casing and said inner casing.

4. The drying system according to claim 1, wherein said air nozzle disposed in said residual liquid removing chamber is inclined by 15 ° in a vertical plane toward the inlet port in a direction opposite to the conveying direction of the object to be washed, and is further inclined by 25 to 45 ° in a horizontal plane from a direction perpendicular to the conveying direction of the object to be washed.