JP4568675B2 - Plating equipment - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a plating apparatus, and in particular, a plating jig for holding an electronic circuit board such as a silicon wafer is placed in a plating tank, and is provided to supply power for plating the electronic circuit board of the plating jig. The present invention relates to a plating apparatus that prevents corrosion of a power supply shaft and its related members by removing a plating solution adhering to the surface of the power supply shaft.

  Conventionally, in order to plate an electronic circuit board, for example, a semiconductor substrate, with a plating apparatus, a single electronic circuit board is clamped and placed in a plating tank of the plating apparatus, and a transfer apparatus for the electronic circuit board is provided. ing.

  For example, as shown in Patent Document 1, in a through-hole plating apparatus for a printed wiring board, the upper end of the printed wiring board as an electronic circuit board is clamped by a clamper, and the plane of the printed wiring board is set in a substantially vertical posture. A continuous transfer device is provided for continuous transfer in the same direction. In this case, before the printed wiring board is plated, it is necessary to remove air bubbles in the through hole of the printed wiring board. Therefore, the vibration device generates vibration in the direction perpendicular to the plane of the printed wiring board on the plating tank. And a tip of a vibration transmitting portion for transmitting the vibration of the vibration device to the clamper is provided so as to be located at a position where the clamper passes or close to the pass position.

  Accordingly, when the printed wiring board held by the clamper is transported in the plating tank and passes through the vibration transmitting portion, the clamper itself is vibrated by the vibration device, and the vibration in the direction perpendicular to the plane of the printed wiring board is provided. As a result, bubbles in the through hole of the printed wiring board are removed.

  The above-mentioned clamper is provided so as to run by rollers that sandwich the rail provided on the plating tank from above, below, left and right. Further, the clamper is engaged through a driven engagement portion of a driven engagement rod that protrudes from a drive chain provided in parallel with the rail, and moves following the movement of the drive chain. It is provided to do.

Each printed wiring board is plated in the plating tank while each of the plurality of clampers grasps a single printed wiring board and continuously travels and conveys the rail.
JP 2004-281444 A

  By the way, in the conventional plating apparatus, when the electronic circuit board is plated by the plating apparatus and then transferred to the next process by the transfer apparatus, the plating liquid adheres to the electronic circuit board. Is conveyed while dripping from the electronic circuit board. At this time, since the plating tank and other processing tanks have power supply portions such as electrodes and conductive wires for supplying power, there is a problem that the plating solution dripping from the electronic circuit board is applied to the power supply portion. When the plating solution is applied to the power supply unit, the power supply unit is corroded, which causes a problem in that a power supply failure occurs or a corrosive substance enters the plating solution.

  The present invention has been made to solve the above-described problems.

In order to achieve the problem to be solved by the above invention, a plating apparatus according to the present invention comprises a plating jig that holds an electronic circuit board to be plated and includes an electrode terminal portion that conducts to the electronic circuit board. In a plating apparatus that is put into a tank and performs plating on the electronic circuit board of the plating jig,
A feeding shaft provided so as to be able to advance and retreat to and away from the electrode terminal part of the plating jig put into the plating tank;
An air blowing device that injects air from both sides in a direction perpendicular to the advancing / retreating direction of the power supply shaft toward the power supply shaft;
It is characterized by having.

  In the plating apparatus of the present invention, in the plating apparatus, the air blowing device includes a pair of air blowing pipes provided on both sides in a direction orthogonal to the advancing / retreating direction of the power supply shaft, and the air blowing pipes. It is preferable that it is comprised from many air blowing holes provided in the longitudinal direction of this through the space | interval suitably.

  In the plating apparatus of the present invention, in the plating apparatus, the electronic circuit board is preferably a semiconductor wafer.

  As can be understood from the means for solving the above-described problems, according to the present invention, even if the plating solution that hangs down from the plating jig hangs down on the power supply shaft of the plating tank, it is injected from the air blowing device. Since the plating solution adhering to the surface of the power supply shaft is surely removed by the air, the power supply shaft or a related member of the power supply shaft, for example, a spring for urging the power supply shaft forward or a conductive material for supplying power to the power supply shaft It is possible to avoid corroding wires and causing power supply failure.

  Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

  Referring to FIGS. 7A and 7B, the plating apparatus 1 according to this embodiment uses an electronic device such as a semiconductor wafer (hereinafter simply referred to as “silicon wafer”) or a printed wiring board by, for example, a semi-additive method. It is used when forming a wiring pattern on the surface of a circuit board.

  Generally, in the semi-additive method, for example, a seed layer made of a conductive material such as copper is formed on the surface of a base substrate such as Si, and after the resist layer is applied to the seed layer, the resist layer is exposed. Then, development is performed to form a resist groove of the wiring pattern. Next, a conductive material such as copper is deposited in the resist groove by a plating apparatus such as electroplating. Thereafter, the resist layer is removed, and the portion of the seed layer unrelated to the wiring pattern is etched to manufacture an electronic circuit board having a fine wiring pattern.

  The plating apparatus 1 according to this embodiment is an apparatus for copper plating, for example, a silicon wafer as an electronic circuit board to be plated. In FIGS. 7A and 7B, the first shower rinsing tank is sequentially arranged from the right end to the left side. 3, pickling tank 5, two first water washing tanks 7, five copper plating tanks 9, three second water washing tanks 11, second shower water washing tank 13, unloader area 15, and loader area 17. It is arranged on the line. Furthermore, the plating apparatus 1 includes a plating jig transport apparatus for traveling and moving on the LM guide rails 19 arranged substantially parallel to the lines of the processing tanks and transporting the silicon wafers to the processing tanks. 21 is provided. Further, a partition wall P having a height approximately equal to the height of each processing tank is provided between the line of each processing tank and the plating jig transport device 21.

  Although the detailed description of the plating jig transport device 21 will be described later, the plating jig transport device 21 includes a clamping device that clamps and unclamps a plating jig that holds a silicon wafer to be plated with copper. A jig lifting / lowering device is provided for lowering the plating jig clamped by the clamping device into each of the processing tanks and for lifting the processed plating jig from the processing tanks.

  The outline of the operation of the plating apparatus 1 shown in FIGS. 7A and 7B will be described. In the loader area 17, a number of plating jigs holding a silicon wafer in advance are accommodated. The desired plating jig is clamped by the clamping device of the plating jig transporting device 21 and then pulled up by the jig vertical movement device, and then the first right end as shown by the arrow in FIG. 7B. It is conveyed to the shower rinsing tank 3.

  The plating jig is put into the first shower rinsing tank 3, and the silicon wafer in the plating jig is washed with shower water. Then, it is conveyed to the pickling tank 5, and the surface of the said silicon wafer is pickled in this pickling tank 5 as a pre-processing process of copper plating. Subsequently, it is conveyed to the 1st washing tank 7, and the acid adhering to the surface of the said silicon wafer is removed by washing with this 1st washing tank 7.

  The two first washing tanks 7 are for cascade washing. This is washed once in the downstream tank and then introduced upstream. As a result, rough washing and finishing washing are performed.

  The plating jig washed with water as described above is transported to the first copper plating tank 9 out of the five copper plating tanks 9 and is plated with copper in the first copper plating tank 9. This copper plating process takes about 23 minutes, for example. Accordingly, the plating jig transporting device 21 moves to the loader area 17 after unclamping the plating jig that has been put into the copper plating tank 9 and immersed in the plating solution.

  Then, the plating jig transporting device 21 clamps the plating jig holding the second silicon wafer to be processed next in the loader area 17 with the clamp device, and this second plating jig is used as the first shower. It is conveyed to the washing tank 3. Similar to the first plating jig described above, shower water is washed in the first shower water rinsing tank 3, then pickled in the pickling tank 5, then washed in the first water rinsing tank 7, and then second. It is conveyed to the copper plating tank 9 and plated with copper.

  The plating jig conveying device 21 moves to the loader area 17 after unclamping the plating jig put into the second copper plating tank 9 as in the case of the first copper plating tank 9. After the second plating jig is clamped, it is processed in each processing tank in the same manner as the first and second plating jigs, and then transferred to the third copper plating tank 9 to be copper plated. The fourth and fifth plating jigs are similarly performed.

  In this embodiment, the time required for processing from one shower rinsing tank 3 to the first rinsing tank 7 by one plating jig is about 1 minute 30 seconds, for example. When the tool is transferred to the copper plating tank 9 and the copper plating is started, the silicon wafer in the first plating jig has passed about 25 minutes.

  Therefore, in this embodiment, after the wafer in the fifth plating jig is put into the copper plating tank 9, the plating jig in the first copper plating tank 9 is clamped again by the clamping device of the plating jig transport device 21. Then, after being lifted by the jig vertical movement device, it is transported to the second washing tank 11 as indicated by the arrow in FIG.

  The first plating jig is put into the second washing tank 11 and the silicon wafer in the plating jig is washed with water, whereby the plating solution adhering to the surface of the silicon wafer is removed.

  The first plating jig washed with water as described above is transported to the second shower rinsing tank 13, and the silicon wafer in the plating jig is washed with shower water in the second shower rinsing tank 13, so that the cleaning is surely performed. Is done. Thereafter, the first plating jig is put into the water tank in the unloader area 15 and is unclamped from the clamping device of the plating jig conveying device 21. The reason why the plating jig holding the copper-plated wafer is put into the water tank in the unloader area 15 is to prevent the copper plating on the surface of the wafer from being oxidized.

  As described above, the second, third, and subsequent plating jigs are processed in the same manner as the first plating jig.

  Next, the plating jig conveying device 21 will be described in detail.

  Referring to FIGS. 2 and 3, the plating jig transport device 21 includes a base portion 23 that travels on the LM guide rail 19, a support column portion 25 erected on the base portion 23, For example, an LM guide actuator 27 as a jig vertical movement device arranged so as to extend in the vertical direction along the support column 25, and is driven in the vertical direction by the LM guide actuator 27, and to the line side of each processing tank. A carrier portion 29 arranged to extend, and a clamp device 35 provided on the carrier portion 29 for clamping and unclamping a plating jig 33 for holding, for example, a silicon wafer 31 as an electronic circuit board to be copper-plated , Is composed of.

  The LM guide actuator 27 lowers the plating jig 33 clamped by the clamping device 35 in order to put it into each of the above processing tanks, and pulls up the plating jig 33 after the processing from each processing tank. This is a jig vertical movement device.

  Further, a cable bearer 37 for electric wires for supplying a current for operating the plating jig transporting device 21 is provided between the lower portion of the support column 25 and the carrier unit 29.

  As shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, the plating jig 33 is a rectangular flat plate for holding the silicon wafer 31 and is made of vinyl chloride. The upper part is a hole for clamping. 39 is provided. Further, for example, four electrode pins 41 as electrode terminal portions for energizing the internal silicon wafer 31 are exposed below the clamping hole portion 39. FIG. 3 is a view of the inside of the plating jig 33. In the plating jig 33, conductive wires 43 are provided to be electrically connected to the electrode pins 41 and the internal silicon wafer 31. The silicon wafer 31 is held inside the plating jig 33 in a state of being opened to the outside so that it can be uniformly processed in each processing tank.

  4A and 4B together, the clamp device 35 described above has two clamp shafts 45 arranged on the left and right of the carrier part 29 in FIG. The both ends of each clamp shaft part 45 are supported by the left and right bearing parts 47 in FIG. A clamp arm 49 having an L-shaped cross section is fixed to the two clamp shaft portions 45 with, for example, a bolt BT. When the two clamp shaft portions 45 rotate, the two clamp arms 49 are moved to a plating jig. It is comprised so that it may pinch | interpose from both sides of 33, or may open | release. Further, at the lower part of one clamp arm 49, two hooking parts 51 for being inserted and hooked into the clamp hole 39 of the plating jig 33 are projected, and the lower part of the other clamp arm 49 is projected. Is provided with a hooking hole 53 into which the hooking portion 51 is inserted.

  A gear 55 is fixed to the left end portion of the two clamp shaft portions 45 in FIG. 3, and a rack 57 that meshes with the gear 55 is provided on a clamp cylinder 59 provided on the upper portion of the carrier portion 29. The cylinder shaft 61 is provided. The stroke ST of the clamping cylinder 59 is as shown in FIG.

  With the above configuration, when the cylinder shaft 61 of the clamping cylinder 59 is lowered by the stroke ST, the rack 57 is lowered as shown in FIG. 4A, and the left gear 55 in FIG. 4 rotates in the clockwise direction and the right gear 55 in FIG. 4A rotates in the counterclockwise direction, so that the two clamp arms 49 rotate in the direction of unclamping the plating jig 33. .

  On the other hand, when the cylinder shaft 61 of the clamping cylinder 59 rises by the stroke ST, the rack 57 rises as shown in FIG. 4B, and the left gear 55 in FIG. 4B, the right gear 55 in FIG. 4B rotates in the clockwise direction, so that the two clamp arms 49 rotate in the direction in which the plating jig 33 is clamped. The two latching portions 51 of the clamp arm 49 are inserted into the two latching hole portions 53 of the other clamp arm 49 after being inserted into the clamping hole portion 39 of the plating jig 33.

  In addition, as shown in FIG. 3, a weak electricity supply pin 63 is supported on the upper portion of the carrier portion 29 so as to be movable in the vertical direction at a position where the tip of the pin 29 abuts against the upper end of the plating jig 33. And it is urged | biased by the direction which always protrudes downward via the spring 65. FIG. Therefore, in order to clamp the plating jig 33 with the clamping device 35, the tip of the weak electricity supply pin 63 is abutted against the upper end of the plating jig 33 when the carrier portion 29 descends, and further resists the biasing force of the spring 65. Then, the carrier part 29 descends. Next, the plating jig 33 is clamped by the two clamp arms 49.

  Next, the copper plating tank 9 constituting the main part of the embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

  Referring to FIGS. 1A, 1 </ b> B, and 5, there is a plating jig insertion portion 67 for inserting a plating jig 33 inside the copper plating tank 9. A jig insertion guide portion 69 for guiding both sides of the metal plate and inserting it into the plating jig insertion portion 67 is provided in a rail shape. 5 and 6A of the copper plating tank 9, five power supply shafts 73 arranged at the same interval as the five electrode pins 41 of the plating jig 33 are provided on the left side wall 71. Is inserted into the hole 75 for the power supply shaft provided in the projection and protrudes into the copper plating tank 9, and the three power supply shafts 73 except for both sides of these five are inserted into the plating jig insertion portion 67. The plating jig 33 is provided so as to be movable back and forth in a direction to abut against the five electrode pins 41.

  5 and 6A of the copper plating tank 9, an air cylinder 77 as a power supply shaft drive unit for moving the five power supply shafts 73 forward and backward is placed on a mounting table 79. A support bracket 83 for holding the five power supply shafts 73 is fixed to the tip of the cylinder shaft 81 of the air cylinder 77. In FIG. 6A, the support bracket 83 has a front and rear support pieces 85A and 85B having a y-shaped cross section, and the three power supply shafts 73 have the same spacing as the five electrode pins 41 of the plating jig 33. The support pieces 85A and 85B on the front and rear sides of the support bracket 83 are supported so as to be movable in the front-rear direction.

  Each of the power supply shafts 73 is provided with a flange portion 87 protruding in the outer peripheral direction at an intermediate position in the longitudinal direction, and a spring provided between the flange portion 87 and the support piece 85B after the support bracket 83. The flange portion 87 is in contact with the support piece 85 </ b> A in front of the support bracket 83. Each of the three power supply shafts 73 is configured to be supplied with power by a conductive wire 91. The air cylinder 77 and the five power supply shafts 73 are entirely covered with a power supply shaft cover 93.

  The air blowing device 95 that constitutes the main part of the embodiment of the present invention will be described. The air blowing device 95 includes three wires for removing the plating solution adhering to the surfaces of the three power supply shafts 73. Air is configured to be injected toward the power supply shaft 73 from both sides in a direction orthogonal to the advancing / retreating direction of the power supply shaft 73.

  In the air blowing device 95 of this embodiment, a pair of air blowing pipes 97U and 97L are opposed to the upper and lower sides of the five power supply shafts 73 in FIGS. 1 (A), 1 (B) and FIG. A plurality of air blowing holes 99 for injecting air toward the power supply shaft 73 are provided in the air blowing pipes 97U and 97L. That is, the plurality of air blowing holes 99 are provided at appropriate intervals in the longitudinal direction of the lower portion of the upper air blowing conduit 97U, and are appropriately disposed in the longitudinal direction of the upper portion of the lower air blowing conduit 97L. It is provided through an interval.

  Note that the air injected from the numerous air blowing holes 99 is blown toward the portion of the power supply shaft 73 immediately after protruding from the side wall 71, and the power supply shaft 73 that moves backward is the power supply shaft. Before entering the service hole 75, the plating solution adhering to the feeding shaft 73 is surely blown off.

  Further, as shown in FIG. 1 (A), one end side of each air blowing pipe line 97U, 97L is closed, and the other end side of each air blowing pipe line 97U, 97L is an air supply source (not shown). The air is supplied from the air through the air supply pipe 101.

  With the above configuration, when the plating jig 33 is inserted into the plating jig insertion portion 67 inside the copper plating tank 9, the cylinder shaft 81 of the air cylinder 77 moves to the right arrow in FIG. As a result, the support bracket 83 moves rightward, so that the three power supply shafts 73 simultaneously pass through the respective power supply shaft hole portions 75 provided in the side wall 71 as shown in FIG. Then, the tip of each power supply shaft 73 is abutted against the corresponding electrode pin 41. Even if the cylinder shaft 81 of the air cylinder 77 further advances further, it can advance against the urging force of the spring 89, and the tip of each power supply shaft 73 can reliably correspond to each electrode pin by the urging force of the spring 89. 41 is in a state of being abutted against 41. In this way, the silicon wafer 31 in the plating jig 33 is copper plated in the copper plating tank 9.

  After the copper plating is completed, air is blown out toward the three power supply shafts 73 from the air blowing holes 99 of the upper and lower air blowing pipes 97U and 97L in FIGS. 1 (A), 1 (B) and 5 in advance. Yes. Then, as the cylinder shaft 81 of the air cylinder 77 moves leftward in FIG. 6B, the support bracket 83 moves leftward, so that the three power supply shafts 73 are simultaneously retracted, and each power supply shaft 73 is moved back. The tip of each is separated from the corresponding electrode pin 41 and retracts to the original position shown in FIG.

  As described above, when the five power supply shafts 73 are retracted, the plating solution adhered to the surfaces of the five power supply shafts 73 by the air blown out from the air blowing holes 99 of the upper and lower air blowing pipes 97U and 97L. Is surely removed.

  Incidentally, conventionally, when the plating solution is applied to the feeding shaft 73 of the copper plating tank 9, the feeding shaft 73 is corroded. Further, after the plating process, the feeding shaft 73 is shown in FIG. In A), (B) and FIG. 6A, when retreating to the outside of the left side wall 71, that is, into the power supply shaft cover 93, the plating solution adhering to the power supply shaft 73 is taken into the power supply shaft cover 93, There is a situation in which corrosion is transmitted to the spring 89 or the conductive wire 91, which may increase the electrical resistance of the conductive wire 91 and cause power feeding failure. When the feed shaft 73 is made of titanium, the feed shaft 73 itself does not corrode, but the flange portion 87 of the feed shaft 73 is made of a member of another material, and the flange portion 87 is connected to the feed shaft 73 with a bolt. For example, the flange portion 87 is also corroded.

  However, in this embodiment, after the plating process, when the plating solution drips from the plating jig 33 and passes over the other copper plating tank 9 and is conveyed to the second washing tank 11 of the next process, Even if the dripping plating solution is applied to the power supply shaft 73, the plating adhered to the surfaces of the five power supply shafts 73 by the air blown out from the upper and lower air outlet ducts 97 U and 97 L of the air blowing device 95 as described above. Since the liquid is reliably removed, the above situation can be avoided.

(A) is a schematic perspective view of the air blowing apparatus which comprises the principal part of the plating apparatus of embodiment of this invention, (B) is a fragmentary sectional view of the arrow IB-IB line of (A). is there. 1 is a schematic perspective view of a plating apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. It is the side view seen from the left side of FIG. (A), (B) is schematic sectional drawing of the arrow IV-IV line | wire of FIG. It is a front view of the plating tank containing the principal part cross section in embodiment of this invention. (A), (B) is an enlarged view which shows the operation state of the VI section of FIG. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS The whole layout of the plating apparatus of embodiment of this invention is shown, (A) is a top view, (B) is a front view.

Explanation of symbols

1 Plating equipment 9 Copper plating tank (plating tank)
15 Unloader area 17 Loader area 19 LM guide rail 21 Plating jig conveying device 27 LM guide actuator (jig vertical movement device)
29 Carrier 31 Silicon wafer (semiconductor wafer; electronic circuit board)
33 Plating jig 35 Clamping device 39 Clamping hole 41 Electrode pin (electrode terminal part)
43 Conductive wire 45 Clamp shaft portion 49 Clamp arm 51 Hook portion 53 Hook hole 67 Plating jig insertion portion 69 Jig insertion guide portion 71 Side wall 73 Feed shaft (feed portion)
77 Air Cylinder (Power Supply Shaft Drive)
89 Spring 91 Conductive wire 95 Air blowing device 97U, 97L Air blowing line 99 Air blowing hole 101 Air supply pipe

Claims (3)

In a plating apparatus that holds an electronic circuit board to be plated and includes an electrode terminal portion that conducts to the electronic circuit board is put into a plating tank, and plating the electronic circuit board of the plating jig,
A feeding shaft provided so as to be able to advance and retreat in order to contact and separate from the electrode terminal portion of the plating jig put into the plating tank;
An air blowing device that injects air from both sides in a direction perpendicular to the advancing / retreating direction of the power supply shaft toward the power supply shaft;
A plating apparatus characterized by comprising:   The air blowing device has a pair of air blowing pipes provided on both sides in a direction orthogonal to the advancing and retreating direction of the power supply shaft, and a plurality of air provided at appropriate intervals in the longitudinal direction of each of the air blowing pipes. The plating apparatus according to claim 1, comprising a blowout hole.   The plating apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the electronic circuit board is a semiconductor wafer.

Images