JP2011040605A - Ultraviolet irradiation device - Google Patents

Abstract

An ultraviolet irradiation apparatus capable of continuously and efficiently cooling an ultraviolet irradiation unit including an LED chip with a simple configuration.
A housing includes at least a cooling water introduction part and a cooling water discharge part. Each of the plurality of LED chips 40 includes at least a light emitting element 42, an anode electrode 46, and a cathode electrode 44. The cooling block 50 is composed of a conductive member, and is configured to contact a portion other than the anode electrode 46 in the LED chip 40 including the cathode electrode 44. The cooling block 50 is configured so that at least a part thereof is grounded. The cooling member 50 includes a cooling water passage hole 52 that is watertightly connected to the cooling water introduction portion 128 and the cooling water discharge portion 126 and is configured to communicate the cooling water introduction portion 128 and the cooling water discharge portion 126.
[Selection] Figure 1

Description

  The present invention relates to an ultraviolet irradiation device having a plurality of light emitting diode chips (hereinafter referred to as LED chips) that can irradiate ultraviolet rays.

  Conventionally, in a semiconductor manufacturing process, a method of modifying a work by irradiating a work such as a semiconductor wafer with ultraviolet rays is used. For example, a technique has been widely used in which ultraviolet rays are irradiated from an irradiation unit including a mercury lamp to ink or resist applied to a workpiece to cure or dry them.

  However, in recent years, LED chips capable of irradiating an irradiation unit with ultraviolet rays have been used instead of mercury lamps. The reason for this is that the LED chip has an advantage that it has a longer life than the mercury lamp, can save power, and is less likely to cause harmful substances. For example, in an ultraviolet irradiation device used for UV curable resin or the like, the lamp life is about 3000 hours in the conventional surface modification with a lamp, whereas the LED chip can have a light source life of 12000 hours or more. It has become.

  In the prior art using an irradiation unit including an LED chip, a configuration in which the LED chip is air-cooled with a cooling gas or the like is usually employed in order to suppress heat generation of the LED chip that is a semiconductor element. In addition, some of the prior arts adopt a configuration in which a heat sink connected to an LED chip through an insulating layer is water-cooled (see, for example, Patent Document 1).

JP 2009-65128 A

  However, the irradiation unit using the LED chip has a problem that the irradiation intensity is lower than that of the irradiation unit using the conventional mercury lamp. Moreover, if the LED chip that is a point light source is continuously irradiated with ultraviolet rays with the ultraviolet intensity necessary for reforming a large-area workpiece in a short time, the LED chip will be turned on in a short time after lighting. It has been found that as the temperature increases, the intensity of the ultraviolet light decreases accordingly.

  For this reason, it can be said that it is extremely important to effectively cool the LED chip when ultraviolet rays are continuously irradiated. In the technique according to Patent Document 1 described above, the configuration for cooling the LED chip is also employed. However, since an insulating layer is interposed between the LED chip and the heat sink, heat conduction from the LED chip to the heat sink is performed. It can be said that there is a risk of being disturbed.

  An object of the present invention is to provide an ultraviolet irradiation apparatus capable of continuously and efficiently cooling an ultraviolet irradiation unit including an LED chip with a simple configuration.

  The ultraviolet irradiation apparatus according to the present invention is configured to irradiate ultraviolet rays onto a workpiece to be processed by an LED chip that can irradiate ultraviolet rays. This ultraviolet irradiation device includes a housing, a plurality of LED chips, a cooling member, and a power supply unit.

  The housing has at least a cooling water introduction part and a cooling water discharge part. For example, cooling water is supplied to the cooling water introduction unit from a cooling water supply unit disposed outside the housing. Each of the plurality of LED chips is disposed in the housing and has at least a light emitting element, an anode electrode, and a cathode electrode.

  The cooling member is composed of a conductive member, and is disposed in the housing and is configured to contact a portion other than the anode electrode in the LED chip including the cathode electrode. The cooling member is configured so that at least a part thereof is grounded. Furthermore, the cooling member includes a cooling water passage hole that is watertightly connected to the cooling water introduction unit and the cooling water discharge unit and configured to communicate the cooling water introduction unit and the cooling water discharge unit.

  The power supply unit is configured to supply power to the LED chip via the anode electrode.

  In this configuration, the cathode electrode (that is, the ground side) of the LED chip is directly cooled by a conductive cooling member through which cooling water passes. For this reason, since it becomes possible to cool LED chips continuously and strongly, even when UV irradiation is continuously performed by the LED chips, the temperature rise of the LED chips is suppressed, and as a result, continuous irradiation It is possible to prevent a decrease in the irradiation intensity of the LED chip at the time.

  According to this invention, it becomes possible to cool the ultraviolet irradiation unit including the LED chip continuously and efficiently with a simple configuration.

It is a figure which shows the outline of the ultraviolet irradiation device which concerns on embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows schematic structure of an ultraviolet irradiation unit. It is a figure which shows the connection state of a cooling block and an LED chip. It is a figure explaining the distribution | circulation state of a cooling water. It is a figure explaining the distribution | circulation state of an inert gas. It is a figure which shows an example of a structure of a window part. It is a figure explaining the other example of the distribution | circulation state of an inert gas. It is a figure which shows the other example of arrangement | positioning of an LED chip. It is a figure which shows the further another example of arrangement | positioning of an LED chip, and the structure of a window part.

  Hereinafter, the ultraviolet irradiation device 10 according to the embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. The ultraviolet irradiation apparatus 10 can be applied to a semiconductor manufacturing apparatus for performing processes such as CVD, UV curing, dry cleaning, and surface modification. The ultraviolet irradiation device 10 is disposed above a processing chamber (not shown) that performs a predetermined process on the workpiece 25. Here, the ultraviolet irradiation device 10 is used for the modification of curing or drying the ink or resist applied to the work 25 to be conveyed, but the application of the ultraviolet irradiation device 10 is not limited to this. Absent.

  As shown in FIG. 1, the ultraviolet irradiation device 10 includes a power supply unit 20, an ultraviolet irradiation unit 12, a cooling water supply unit 14, an inert gas supply unit 16, and a control unit 30 that comprehensively controls the operation of each unit. At least. The power supply unit 20 is connected to the ultraviolet irradiation unit 12 via a cable, and is configured to supply power to the ultraviolet irradiation unit 12.

  The ultraviolet irradiation unit 12 is configured to irradiate the workpiece 25 with ultraviolet rays. The ultraviolet irradiation unit 12 includes a housing 120 having a cooling water introduction part 128, a cooling water discharge part 126, and an inert gas introduction part 124. A window portion 122 configured to transmit ultraviolet rays is provided on the surface of the housing 120 facing the work 25. The window part 122 is configured to transmit ultraviolet rays having an output wavelength of 200 to 400 nm. Examples of the material of the window part 122 include a plate-like body made of plastic, glass, quartz, or the like having a thickness of about 1 to 5 mm. The window 122 is preferably configured so that it can be easily attached to and detached from the housing 120. The reason is that the window 122 can be easily cleaned when the organic matter emitted from the workpiece 25 adheres to the window 122.

  As shown in FIG. 2, a plurality of LED chips 40 and a cooling block 50 are arranged inside the housing 120. A plurality of LED chips 40 are arranged in a straight line, and each is configured to emit ultraviolet rays having an output wavelength of 200 to 400 nm. The cooling block 50 has a cooling water passage hole 52 that is liquid-tightly connected to the cooling water introduction part 128 and the cooling water discharge part 126 via a seal member such as an O-ring, respectively. Configured to cool.

  Here, the connection state of each LED chip 40 and the cooling block 50 is demonstrated using FIG. As shown in FIG. 3, the LED chip 40 includes at least a light emitting element 42, a cathode electrode 44, and an anode electrode 46. The light emitting element 42 is disposed on the first surface side of the LED chip 40, while the cathode electrode 44 and the anode electrode 46 are disposed on the second surface side opposite to the first surface.

  The cooling block 50 is made of a conductive and thermal conductive material such as aluminum, stainless steel, copper, and alloys thereof, and is connected to the cathode electrode 44 through crimping, soldering, or the like, and at least one of them. The unit is configured to be grounded. The cooling block 50 is configured to come into contact with a wide range of the LED chip 40 other than the anode electrode 46. In this embodiment, the cooling block 50 is configured to have a substantially rectangular parallelepiped shape in which a rectangular parallelepiped cutout portion 54 is formed at a location corresponding to the anode electrode 46. However, the shape of the cooling block 50 is not limited to this, and any shape other than those described above can be adopted as long as the shape of the cooling block 50 is as wide as possible in contact with a portion other than the anode electrode 46 in the LED chip 40. is there.

  The cooling water supply unit 14 is configured to supply cooling water to the ultraviolet irradiation unit 12. Specifically, the cooling water supply unit 14 water-cools the housing 120 for the purpose of preventing heat generation from the LED chip 40 in the ultraviolet irradiation unit 12, and the cooling water is supplied to the cooling water introduction part 128 of the housing 120. And the cooling water discharged from the cooling water discharge portion 126 of the housing 120 is collected. As a result, as shown in FIG. 4, the cooling water introduced into the housing 120 from the cooling water introduction part 128 reaches the cooling water discharge part 126 via the cooling water passage hole 52, and then the cooling water supply unit. 14 is again guided to the cooling water introduction part 128 via 14. In this embodiment, a configuration in which the cooling water is circulated while being appropriately cooled is employed. However, a configuration in which the cooling water from the cooling water discharge portion 126 of the housing 120 is circulated and not reused may be employed. .

  The inert gas supply unit 16 supplies the inside of the housing 120 with an inert gas (for example, nitrogen) cooled via the inert gas introduction unit 124 in order to cool the inside of the housing 120 as necessary. Configured as follows. As shown in FIG. 5, the inert gas introduced into the inside of the housing 120 from the inert gas introduction part 124 is formed in an exhaust hole provided in the window part 122 or between the window part 122 and the housing 120. It is introduced into a lower processing chamber (not shown) through a gap and exhausted from an exhaust part of the processing chamber. By adopting such a configuration, the window portion 122 is cooled and an air flow is generated around the window portion 122, so that organic substances generated from the workpiece 125 are less likely to adhere to the window portion 122.

  As described above, the ultraviolet irradiation device 10 is configured to cool the cooling block 50 and the housing 120 by water cooling and directly cool the LED chip 40 in contact with the grounded cathode electrode side. For this reason, since the LED chip 40 can be effectively cooled, it is possible to prevent the problem of a decrease in illuminance due to heat generation in the LED chip 40.

  The configuration of the window 122 will be briefly described with reference to FIG. The window portion 122 has a function of diffusing or condensing the ultraviolet rays from the LED chips 40 on the workpiece 25 in order to uniformly irradiate the workpieces 25 with ultraviolet rays emitted from the LED chips 40 arranged in a plurality. Moreover, the window part 122 is provided with the function which prevents the organic substance emitted from the workpiece | work 25 which modifies with an ultraviolet-ray directly attaching to the LED chip 40. FIG.

  As described above, the window 122 is a plate-like body made of plastic, glass, or quartz. When the LED chip 40 is at a high temperature, it is necessary to use heat-resistant glass or quartz. If the temperature is low, a transparent plastic material may be used.

  In the example shown in FIG. 6, the window portion 122 uses a plurality of spherical or aspherical processed lenses, and the shape and arrangement of the plurality of lenses is a honeycomb shape. It is not limited to.

  Further, in FIG. 5 described above, nitrogen is introduced into a space located between the LED chip 40 and the window 122 as a means for preventing contamination by sublimates from the workpiece 25, and the nitrogen in the window 122. Although an example in which the air flows uniformly on the window surface has been described, a configuration as shown in FIG. 7A or 7B may be employed instead of the configuration shown in FIG.

  In FIG. 7A, an inert gas discharge unit 127 is further provided, and the inert gas introduced from the inert gas introduction unit 124 moves along the window surface of the window unit 122 while moving to the inert gas discharge unit 127. An example of collection is shown. In the case of adopting this configuration example, the inert gas introduction portion 124 is provided at one end portion in the longitudinal direction of the housing 120 while the inert gas discharge portion 127 is provided at the other end portion, or is inert. It is preferable that at least one of the gas introduction part 124 or the inert gas discharge part 127 is provided in the longitudinal direction of the housing 120. The reason is that by adopting such a configuration, the inert gas easily spreads over the entire window portion 122.

  Further, as shown in FIG. 7B, the inert gas introduction part 124 may be disposed above the LED chip 40 and the cooling block 50. By adopting such an arrangement, the inert gas can be used for cooling the LED chip 40.

  In the above embodiment, the method of uniformly irradiating the conveyed work 25 such as a roll-shaped or plate-shaped film with the ultraviolet irradiation device 10 equipped with the LED chips 40 arranged in a line has been described. It is also possible to arrange the LED chips 40 in a plurality of rows in order to irradiate the large-area workpiece 25 with ultraviolet rays.

  For example, as shown in FIG. 8, it is possible to arrange the LED chips 40 in a matrix and irradiate the entire area of the fixed workpiece 25 with ultraviolet rays. In this case, if the cooling water passage holes 52 and the notches 54 corresponding to the number of columns or rows of the LED chips 40 are provided, the LEDs can be efficiently used regardless of the increase in the number of LED chips 40. The chip 40 can be cooled.

  Further, as shown in FIG. 9A, a plurality of LED chips 40 can be arbitrarily arranged on a circular cooling block 502. In this case, a window 123 for diffusing or condensing ultraviolet rays is provided in a housing in which a plurality of light-emitting diodes are mounted in order to uniformly irradiate ultraviolet rays to the workpiece 25 having a large area. Is particularly preferred. For example, as shown in FIG. 9B, a circular window 123 having a plurality of lenses configured and arranged in a honeycomb shape may be employed.

  As described above, the ultraviolet irradiation device 10 irradiates ultraviolet rays in the range of 200 nm to 400 nm, but the ultraviolet rays in the range of 300 nm to 400 nm adheres to a resin such as a film agent used for a flexible substrate or a flexible display. Can also be used for the purpose of curing the surface. Ultraviolet rays in the range of 200 nm to 300 nm can be used for removing organic substances on the surface, modifying them, and erasing device charges during semiconductor manufacturing processes.

  The description of the above-described embodiment is an example in all respects and should be considered as not restrictive. The scope of the present invention is shown not by the above embodiments but by the claims. Furthermore, the scope of the present invention is intended to include all modifications within the meaning and scope equivalent to the scope of the claims.

10-UV irradiation device 12-UV irradiation unit 14-Cooling water supply unit 16-Inert gas supply unit 20-Power supply unit 30-Control unit 40-LED chip 50-Cooling block 52-Cooling water passage hole 54-Notch 120-housing

Claims (3)

An ultraviolet irradiation device configured to irradiate ultraviolet rays to a workpiece to be processed by a light emitting diode chip (hereinafter, LED chip) capable of irradiating ultraviolet rays,
A housing having at least a cooling water introduction section and a cooling water discharge section;
A plurality of LED chips disposed in the housing and having at least a light emitting element, an anode electrode, and a cathode electrode;
An electrically conductive member arranged in the housing and configured to contact a portion other than the anode electrode in the LED chip including the cathode electrode, and configured to be at least partially grounded A cooling member comprising:
A power supply unit configured to supply power to the LED chip via the anode electrode;
With
The cooling member is connected to the cooling water introduction part and the cooling water discharge part in a watertight manner, and includes an ultraviolet ray provided with a cooling water passage hole configured to communicate the cooling water introduction part and the cooling water discharge part. Irradiation device. The cooling water introduction part and the cooling water discharge part are provided on surfaces located on opposite sides in the length direction of the housing,
The plurality of LED chips are arranged along the length direction of the housing,
The ultraviolet irradiation device according to claim 1, wherein the cooling water passage hole is formed so as to extend along a length direction of the housing. A light transmitting member that is disposed on a surface of the housing facing the workpiece and that irradiates the workpiece with the ultraviolet rays irradiated from the plurality of LED chips;
The ultraviolet irradiation apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising: an inert gas spraying unit for spraying an inert gas onto the light transmitting member.

Images